Don't Hide From Me

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “Seriously!” he said, unable to believe the man was pushing this hard.

  Julian fastened his belt as the plane started to move. “Well now you’ll have to listen to me.”

  “What, so you can tell me you’re married?” He glanced to Rose, who looked as if she’d rather have been anywhere than right there.

  “Was. Past tense,” Julian said. “We divorced not long after you disappeared, Rose. She knew I was gay, and I’m pretty sure Luc has already shared that with you.”

  Luc was trying to look anywhere but at the man he kept telling himself he couldn’t have feelings for.

  “So what was it? She found out and left you?” Rose asked, and Luc stared up at the overhead, searching for the switch for some air. He twisted it.

  “Sylvie and I were friends. She understood that my family, the Worthingtons, have a deep history in politics, in money, and being gay would never be allowed. So she married me to…”

  “Keep your secret,” Luc said for him, feeling not an ounce of sympathy but trying to knock him down a peg or two.

  “Basically, yes. She had her life, I had mine, and it worked for a time. In public, we were the perfect couple, because we were friends, good friends. I loved her. But she couldn’t keep up with it. She met someone, and she’s now living in Houston with some oil guy, married again and, last I heard, three months pregnant.”

  What was he supposed to say, sorry? He thought not. “So does your family know the truth about you?” he said instead, and this time he really watched how Julian seemed to hesitate. “Don’t answer that. I can see you still haven’t told them, so I’m confused about why you’re here and why you’re chasing me down, insisting on talking. What exactly is it you want?”

  “We have something, or I thought we did, and I told you before I…”

  Luc lifted his hand to the flight attendant as she pushed the refreshments cart and stopped beside their row. “Vodka, straight up,” he said and reached for his wallet, but Julian already had his out and handed over his credit card.

  “Make that two,” he said. “Rose, anything?” he added as if this were nothing unusual.

  “Just water, please,” she replied and then looked out toward the window, the clear sky. Luc wondered what she was thinking of this situation, of him.

  He took his drink and waited until the flight attendant had moved on. “So let me get this straight. In your mind, nothing has changed. You want to have a relationship with me, but your family can’t find out, so we can’t ever really move in together, and you have to keep a separate place for appearances, again for your family, because you’re still a closeted gay, yet you expect me to go along with this and somehow be okay?” He really stressed the last point. “No, Julian. You tell your family, your friends, your entire entourage, clients, business partners, and whoever else, because I’m not some dirty secret. I have feelings. I’m not hiding who I am, what I feel, because I want it all. I want to settle down, and I want a family.”

  There, he’d said it, and he took in Rose and Julian, who were both staring at him as if he’d done the one thing no one could have expected.

  Chapter 6

  How could she explain to anyone this feeling that everything she knew had changed? Her soon to be ex brother-in-law was on a plane beside Luc, who was her soon to be brother-in-law via her live-in boyfriend, the guy who had hand delivered her divorce papers to Travis along with the message Sign it or your career is over. That was all she knew of their conversation except for the fact that Chase had assured her she was safe. Oh, and then, surprise, Chase had also asked his brother to dog her heels while she tidied up the last of her grandmother’s estate, which had basically hung in limbo for the past year while Rose had been in hiding.

  She was tired as she followed Julian and Luc off the plane, both of whom had fallen into relative silence since Luc had stated his need for a family and a public relationship. She was well aware the Worthingtons would never accept it, never allow it, not from Julian.

  “You have everything?” Luc said as he fell in beside her on the ramp. “We can skip the baggage claim and go right to the doors, where I know Vic is waiting.”

  Julian was still walking ahead of him.

  “Just this,” she said as she squeezed the strap of her overnight bag and her light brown fringed purse over her other shoulder, fighting the need to pull out her phone, call Chase, and yell, “What the fuck?”

  She stared up at Luc and then glanced to Julian ahead of them. Luc just shrugged. When they were clear of the ramp and in the main part of the airport, Julian turned around and rested his hand on Luc’s arm to stop him.

  “I need to talk with you still,” he said. Then he moved beside Rose, basically sandwiching her between Luc and him.

  “We’ve talked,” Luc said. “There’s no common ground here. I made myself clear, and there’s no room for compromise. It’s a simple choice, and now that I know who you’re related to…” He stopped talking, and Rose felt all kinds of alarm bells ringing.

  “What exactly does that mean?” Julian asked.

  Rose wanted to kick Luc for even hinting at her personal business. He must have known, as the look he gave her was filled with remorse.

  “Nothing, just never mind,” he said. They had started walking again, but now Julian was watching Rose far too closely, far closer than she’d have liked.

  “Rose, I never asked what happened with my brother,” he said. “You were there one day, and then you were gone. He was beside himself, even hired a detective to find you. It was as if you’d disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  What could she say? She often wondered whether Travis’s family knew what kind of monster lived inside the man she’d married. Travis had been a poster child for his family: successful, smart. He would one day inherit everything the family had, their position, power, money.

  “Rose, you don’t have to tell him,” Luc said, and she suddenly found herself stopping. She touched her stomach and wished Chase were here instead of miles away, hours away from picking her up.

  For the first time since sharing everything with Chase, the first time since finding her footing, she took in the brother-in-law she’d laughed with, had been fond of, and realized she knew nothing about the secrets steeped so deeply in his family.

  “You want to know why I left, Julian?” she said. “Your brother beat me. The last time, he hurt me so badly he put me in the hospital, and he said if I told anyone, he would kill me.”

  Chapter 7

  “I wanted to talk with you about careers, about a job,” Vic said. “You know I’ve never overstepped, and if you have something else lined up, just say so, but I understood you were still exploring your options.” Vic stood behind the bar in his lavish home. Luc could have gotten lost there and lived without seeing anyone, he was sure, for days. He took a seat in the high-back chair beside the unlit fireplace.

  “So you’re taking pity on me, is that what this is?” he asked. He knew Vic didn’t do handouts, though. Vic was the one who’d fucked off on all of them and made his own way, establishing his contracting business now in three states. He had everything: money, resources, and a family. He had never reached out. It had always been Chase keeping them all together, until now.

  Vic looked up slowly. His dark eyes went from warm to cold. His hair was short and dark, his shoulders broad. He carried two glasses Luc thought were filled with bourbon or scotch, but he caught a whiff as his brother held one out to him. Scotch it was. He hated the stuff but took the glass and set it down on the table beside him. Vic said nothing, his cool calmness unsettling, but Luc knew that was just his way when he was assessing a person, a situation. It was what made up the difficult man his brother was.

  “You have options, something lined up?” His brother stood over him, and the way he looked at Luc made him feel as if he were twelve instead of twenty-eight.

  “I’ll find something. I’ll bounce back,” Luc said. “I don’t need to stay if this is what
I’m in for, the third degree, questioning all my choices, my life. If it is, then I’ll say thank you for picking me up, but I’ll be gone in the morning.”

  His brother had an edge that could pull the rug right from under him. There was that smile that touched the side of his lips as his eyes sparked, telling Luc he wasn’t impressed or buying any of the garbage he was spouting. Vic could say everything with just a look.

  Luc lifted his glass and took a sip to break some of the heat focused on him, and he took in Vic, who was walking over to the sofa and sitting down, resting his arm across the back, looking over to Luc but saying nothing.

  Luc took another swallow of the vile stuff. It was bitter, but he welcomed the shock to his senses. It was enough to break him from the shrewdness of Vic’s glare. Then he heard voices: Rose, Fiona. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he managed to keep everything together.

  Vic didn’t say anything as Fiona walked in with Rose. Her dark hair was short, her round face glowing, and her baby bump just showing under her loose cream shirt. She was barefoot in khaki capris, and she had all his brother’s attention. Fiona went to him as he stood. His hand slid around her, and she kissed him. They spoke so quietly he couldn’t make it out.

  He still couldn’t get over the fact that Vic had ended up with the woman he’d secretly pined for as a young man. There were so many secrets there, including the real story of John, their biological son, who was now a young man. Another secret, more hurt. Luc sensed that was a story he’d never truly know.

  “So when is Chase arriving?” he asked as he turned to Rose, who was standing awkwardly, of course uncomfortable with the intimacy of the lovebirds, who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  “On his way,” she said. “Should be here soon—for dinner, anyway.” She forced a smile, and he could tell she was still shaken from what had transpired with Julian at the airport. He stood up and offered his chair, but she shook her head, clasping her hands in front of herself. “No, it’s fine,” she said. “It’s nice to move around after sitting so long. So Julian?” she added, and he wished she hadn’t, since he knew Vic was listening even though he was occupied with Fiona.

  “Who’s Julian?” Vic asked.

  Just as he expected, Vic had been listening to everything they were saying. He could blow him off, though. He did that well.

  Rose flushed. “He’s my ex’s brother, and…” She tucked her lip between her teeth as she sucked it in, her eyes wide. She looked over to Luc. Did she want his permission to continue, or had she realized she’d misspoken?

  “He’s no one,” Luc said just as Vic stepped closer. There it was in his expression, that look he took on when he was figuring out what was going on before Luc could add anything else. Rose was looking uncomfortable, a deer in the headlights.

  “Rose, my brother is a master at evading,” Vic said. “Maybe you could elaborate. Tell me about this…Julian, is it?”

  Rose flushed and glanced away, obviously uncomfortable at being in the hot seat. Vic did intimidate well. Luc, though, understood so much more about his difficult brother, and it was better to give him something than nothing at all.

  “He’s someone I met. I didn’t realize he was related to Rose’s husband. Ran into him in Chicago, is all. No biggie.” Seriously, had he really used the phrase “no biggie”? Even Rose gave him a look as if he’d lost his mind.

  Vic stared at Luc now. The only thing he’d managed to do was focus all Vic’s attention on him. Luc had never really figured out whether Vic was uncomfortable with the fact that he was gay or had just accepted him because he was family. Maybe one day he’d ask, or maybe it was best not to know.

  “You probably don’t want all the juicy details, so I’ll spare you,” Luc said. “He’s not out, whereas I am, and he along with his sister in Chicago doesn’t seem to know that his A-hole brother likes to beat up women.”

  Rose was mortified now, her face red. Even Vic could likely see how uncomfortable she was. Luc felt like an asshole. “I’m sorry, Rose. That was insensitive. But why did you tell Julian at the airport, anyway?”

  The moment she had done so, Luc had watched the shock hit mister tall and good looking. Julian had slipped away and walked out another exit without a word, nothing. He was sure now he’d never hear from him again.

  “Julian wouldn’t let up,” Rose said. “He was dogging you, pursuing you. For the love of God, he tracked you to the airport and got a ticket for the same flight as us. Add to that his shock at our connection, you and me, and of course he had to have wondered what I’d done to his brother, to just up and desert Travis. You heard him. It was a momentary thing. I was tired of everyone thinking it was so simple, so cut and dry. I could see it in his sister’s expression, too, and it was written all over him. Travis’s family always believed he walked on water. They’d never believe it was something so horrific and that it wasn’t all on me. I hated the fact that they chose not to see what their brother was—is.” She crossed her arms and squeezed them.

  Luc could see how white her knuckles were. He wasn’t handling this well at all, and he knew Chase was going to be mad. Hell, he’d have been mad if someone had done this to someone he loved.

  “He followed you here?” Vic said, moving in closer to Rose, looking down at her, his hand in the air. Luc noticed that Fiona too had moved over closer to Rose. She appeared concerned as her hand flattened over the baby, Vic’s baby, growing inside her. He swallowed, seeing how much his brother had. Everything.

  “He followed me, not Rose,” Luc said. “She was just with me.”

  Vic swung around, staring down at him. That might have worked on some people, but Luc had grown up with the moodiness of Vic and knew he’d never hurt him or his family.

  “So explain this to me again,” Vic said. “Why did he follow you, and why has his interest now shifted to Rose?”

  “Who followed who?” Chase said from the doorway, where he was pulling off his shades, casually dressed in blue jeans and a faded orange T-shirt. His blond hair was a little longish, curling just past his ears. Billy Jo was beside him, her teenage freckles fading a bit, her mousy brown hair hanging loose. Curiosity screamed at him from her bright blue eyes.

  Instead of answering this inquisition, he watched Rose slink back and over to Chase, her arms now around his neck as he kissed her, his hand touching her back protectively, possessively. All the while, his gaze never left Luc.

  Chapter 8

  Chase had locked the door behind her. The guest bedroom was large, with hardwood floors, a patterned area rug, and a large four-poster bed. Two wing chairs were angled over by the corner window, and the deep red drapes had been drawn. The overhead light cast a soft glow over the room.

  She shivered as she thought of Chase behind her now, of being alone with him, of what he would do to her. Talking, he was good at, but loving her… He made it seem so easy, always finding ways to settle her to him, to his ways. He had changed her.

  His family seemed to stand shoulder to shoulder no matter what, and that now included her. It was hard, at times, being the focus of so much. Even Luc had shut down, not saying one more word. Chase had taken her hand and led her up the stairs after a brief exchange with Vic. She wasn’t sure what they had talked about other than that Vic would handle Luc.

  Chase had Rose, and now they were very much alone in a locked room where she could feel him watching her. She heard a thunk and took in the overnight bag she hadn’t realized he carried now resting on the floor. Then she glanced over to hers, which was already resting on the bench at the foot of the bed.

  “So you made good time,” she said, then swallowed as she forced herself to face Chase, taking in his perusal of the room as if memorizing every detail of the design, the moldings, the furnishings, before resting his heated gaze on her. The blueness of his eyes was so intense. She wondered whether she’d ever get used to the dynamic that made up this man who had taken over her life. There it was, the lines around his eyes that
crinkled as he stepped toward her, the way he was trying to piece together what was going on and how he could completely take over. He hadn’t pushed yet, but there was time. He could be subtle or direct, and sometimes she never knew quite how it would happen. It was never the same. He said nothing, as he was right in front of her, and she had to look up. He was so tall, so ripped, so amazing, and he still hadn’t touched her.

  “I wasn’t comfortable with you going alone,” he said. “As I drove here, I worried something could go wrong.” He angled his head, really looking at her. “Luc doesn’t talk much. He hides a lot. So you mind telling me what’s what and who followed who?”

  “You should talk to Luc,” she said, wondering for a moment where her business ended and Luc’s began with Julian. It was intertwined in some ways but not others. Who was first, who was second? Did it really matter?

  “I’m asking you. I’m talking to you. Vic’s talking to Luc right now, so I’ll talk to him later. Tell me.” He slid his hand under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. It was gentle but so intimate, too. She didn’t know exactly when it had happened, this comfort she had with Chase, this love that had cracked open a piece of her she’d been convinced would never be reached.

  “Julian, I told you on the phone about him. We ran into him at the law firm with Ann. He followed us to the airport and got a ticket for the same flight, even convinced someone to take his seat so he could sit by Luc. He followed him. He cares for him, but I’m not sure what’s going through his head. He’s never come out to his family, and they’d never understand if he did. It wouldn’t be accepted. I told him about Travis, what he did. Either he doesn’t believe me or the truth is something he won’t admit, I don’t know, but he left without a word. It’s probably too much for him.”