Steal You Away

Chapter Sixteen

Chase pulled his truck in behind Mackenzie's dilapidated jeep. His dually dominated over her poor excuse for a vehicle as he turned off the diesel engine. Every time he saw the damn thing it made his blood boil that any man would willingly let his woman drive a vehicle as woefully unsafe as that one. His eyes landed on the taped up taillight and suddenly he had an urge to go back to the Mustang to give Justin a lesson on how a real man treats a woman. And not the kind of lesson he would easily forget, but one that would make him walk funny for at least a month and would require surgery to remove Chase's boot from his ass.

"Whose piece of shit is that?" Trent asked, gathering the still sleeping Mackenzie in his arms.

"It's hers," he grumbled, opening his door and running around to help his bother with Mackenzie. But, to Chase's disappointment, he had already managed to climb out of the truck with their woman still snug in his arms. A little twinge of resentment nipped at his heels when he was left holding nothing but her purse, but he quickly brushed it off. After all, he'd had a lot more time under his belt with her than Trent did and it would be beneficial to all of them if she got more comfortable being around his brother.

"That thing needs to be towed to the dump," Trent muttered, shuffling Mackenzie in his arms. "I'm frankly surprised I haven't pulled her over for that taillight."

"And you're not going to either," Chase warned, leading the way up the flight of cement steps to her apartment door.

"The county needs all the money it can get," Trent defended as he started up behind him. "Besides, it's for her own good and it'll teach her a lesson. That taillight is a hazard and needs to be replaced, not only for the other driver's safety, but for hers as well.

Chase sighed and adjusted Mackenzie's purse over his shoulder before turning on his brother who sounded like a page out of the road safety manual.

"Did it ever occur to you, Einstein that the reason she doesn't have it replaced is because she can't afford it?" He snorted and put his hands on his hips. "If you haven't noticed, our girl isn't exactly living in the lap of luxury and is working two damn jobs. You need a new coffee maker for your office? Fine, set a speed trap down at the end of Main, but leave Mackenzie alone."

Tent's stubborn gaze collided with his and they had a mini stare down on the front stoop. Eventually, Trent's lips twitched and he threw his head back, barking out a laugh.

"You look like mom!" he snorted, jostling Mackenzie up and down as he chuckled.

Chase looked down at his hands nestled on his hips and Mackenzie's tattered, brown, leather purse hanging off his shoulder. Damn. He did look like mom. Shaking his head, he flipped his sniggering brother off and unzipped the bag. Hesitating, he scowled down into the void. He was about to enter where no man should ever go, the inside of a woman's purse. He could feel the sweat start to bead on his upper lip as his hands delved inside. Quickly, he rooted around desperate to find the keys and get the hell out of there. Oh fuck, was that a tampon? He jerked his hand out as if it had bit him. Shaking the bag, he listened for the telltale jiggling sound and dove his hand back inside in that general direction, hoping like hell he didn't run into anything else.

At least, his fingers brushed against metal and he yanked out a keyring the size of a high school janitors. What the hell does one person need with so many keys? Holding them up to the light, he started thrumming through them, looking for one that might open the door.

"What's the hold up?" Trent asked impatiently.

Chase glared at him and thrust the five pounds of keys in his face. "You want to play eeny, meeny, miny, moe...be my guest. I'll happily stand there and a hold a beautiful woman in my arms while you fumble with this mess trying to figure out which one opens the damn door."