Page 91 of Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

CHAPTER 8

brAD

I’m not sure what happened. One minute, I’m returning from making out with Charlie in the study, and the next, Chuck is pulling me into the kitchen and glaring at me.

“We had a deal.”

“What are you talking about? My team won. You owe me.” But I’m thinking about Charlie and how soon I can get him home without getting noticed.

“Not about the game.” He thrusts a finger toward the door. “About Charlie!”

“What?” I give him my full attention. His face is the same color as Kansas City’s coach when they missed the field goal. Chuck isn’t irritated. He’s pissed. Oh shit.

“You agreed to keep Charlie safe.” He punctuates his words with a jab to my chest.

I pull myself up. Not sure where this is going. “Charlie can take care of him?—”

“That guy hurt him, Brad.” His voice shakes with emotion. “He had to go to the ER.”

I try to hide my relief at his words. This isn’t about Charlie and me. “No, he didn’t.”

“I just talked to Tom. He heard it from Shelly.”

Tom probably called to gloat about KC losing and mentioned Charlie. “He went to urgent care, not the ER. And only because Raja insisted.”

The incident happened a few days ago. One of the volunteers had shown up drunk and Charlie fired him on the spot. He got in Charlie’s face, and I shot to my feet, ready to defend him if needed. I didn’t want to undermine Charlie in front of the others. Charlie tried to calm him down, but the guy lost it. When he grabbed Charlie, I didn’t hold back. I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt him.

But Charlie had the guy on the ground before I even reached them.

“He handled it, Chuck. You should have seen the way Charlie took that guy down.”

His face crumples. “He has bruises. They had to do x-rays.”

“Nothing is broken. He’s fine.”

He glares at me, his nostrils flaring. “You were supposed to keep him safe.”

The door slams open, and Minni stares at us with her hands on her hips. “What’s going on in here? Why are you shouting?”

“It’s nothing.” Chuck tries to sneak away, but Minni grabs his arm.

“Tell me what’s going on right now.”

“Fine.” He shoots me a glare like this is my fault. “I asked Brad to keep an eye on Charlie. Keep him safe if anyone tried to mess with him.”

Instead of yelling at him like we both expect, her face falls. “I’m no better. I asked Brad to put in a good word for the town. So he’d stay.”

Chuck laughs and shakes his head.

The door opens and Harper enters right as Chuck says, “I can’t believe we both asked Brad to take care of Charlie.”

“Guilty,” Harper says. “That makes three of us.”

Maybe now I can convince them that Charlie can take care of himself. Except the strangled gasp tells me it’s too late. Charlie stands behind Harper, his eyes filled with angry tears. He gives me a hurt look and takes off.

I try to get past the others in the room, but they’re all telling me it’s okay. Charlie will be fine. I finally break free and catch him at the door. “Wait, let me explain.”

Charlie swings around and raises his chin. “No explanation needed. You did a great job of taking care of me. Keeping me safe at work. And everything. Seriously, you’ve gone above and beyond.”

“That’s not…I wasn’t…I can explain. But not here.” Not without telling them we’re together. Were together. I guess that will be Charlie’s decision.

“It’s fine, Brad. You’re relieved of duty. You’ve done enough.”

I want to beg him to listen, but instead, I go for practical. “But the thing is a lot of work,” I remind him. His eyes tell me he can’t handle this. Not right now. “I just want to help.”

“All I need you to do,” he says in a flat voice, “is to stop helping.”