Page 127 of Love Collided

His lip curled. “Pathetic. This is pathetic. How the fuck did my son become such a pathetic excuse for a man? You think a woman is going to want that? After your money is gone and days go by, she will drop you like trash. Do not come crawling back to me to fix your fucking life. And you better be out of this apartment by tomorrow or the cops will be escorting you out.”

He turned, cursing, as he stormed out and slammed the door.

I stared at the door before finally turning back to Scout.

Her mouth was open and eyes wide.

“Chase, you just blew up your entire life.”

“Wasn’t that the plan?”

“Yeah, but someone telling you they are going to blow up their entire life for you and actually watching it happen was different.”

“For you, with you, same difference.”

Her hands moved around my waist as I closed her in a hug.

“You still have your abs. There’s always that.”

“What a relief.” I leaned down, kissing her, pleased when she moved in closer.

“Are you okay, though? You just lost everything.”

“Not everything. You’re still here. I was a little worried for a second there that you changed your mind.”

“I didn’t even waver,” she said, smiling, “But just having me is not enough.”

“I’m fine, Scout. I want you more than anything he has to offer and even if I had nothing, I would prefer to live my life how I want. You just made that decision a lot easier.”

“And you’re going to move out of this place?

“Yes, by tomorrow apparently. And hopefully, you know of a pretty redhead that would still let me stay with her while I look for a place?”

“Move that bed to my apartment and you can move in.”

“Done. Absolutely done.”

“Why don’t we grab some stuff and head back over there for the night and come get the rest tomorrow?”

I nodded, grabbing a few things, and heading out. I somehow managed to drive us back to her place and make it upstairs, but every part of me was suddenly bone tired. The day’s events were too much to grasp.

But I had her, and when we got into bed, she wrapped herself around me, and I was never so sure of my decisions in life. I was on the right track. I wasn’t sure what I was doing next, but it didn’t matter.

I had her.

THIRTY-SIX

CHASE

Scout had been rightabout a lot of things, including the fact that my condo looked like no one had ever lived there. Aside from my clothes and two boxes of random items, I had nothing. The sad reality that I had never really built a life, even though I had worked hard every damn day, hit me hard. At least this time, all the work I did would have a better outcome and I could make sure of it.

For the first time in a long time, I was excited about what came next, even when I didn’t know what that was.

I checked my phone, expecting some sort of update from Scout, but there was nothing. She had left two hours ago to grab food, insisting I stay to finish all of this today. The diner was twenty minutes from here on a bad day, and Scout could probably get there and back in twenty minutes.

I called her again, her voicemail picking up again.

I’d assumed we were meeting back here to eat and finish up, but maybe I was supposed to meet at her place. It’s where I was going next anyway, since Scout was letting me stay with her until I found a new place.

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