Page 41 of Chase

“That’s my woman you had your hands on, Joel”

“I had no idea she was yours, Chase, shit!”

He now has Joel by the throat. I suppose I should stop this. Using my ‘listen to me now’ authority voice, I calmly say, “Let him go Chase. Now!”

Chase doesn’t look at me, but I know he hears me because he lets pervy guy go.

“Get the fuck out of here.” He whispers to Joel in a deathly tone. Joel splits straight away. Looks like he had a little bit of common sense after all. Chase takes a few deep breaths, and I know he’s trying to calm down before he deals with me. When he finally glances over, and takes in my short dress, his eyes narrow.

“Where have you been?” he demands.

“You have got to be kidding me! I came here to surprise you!” I say heatedly.

“We aren’t fucking over, Layla, just because Ryder doesn’t approve. That’s his problem. I left you alone when you were seventeen cos you were too young. I’m not backing off of you, ever,” he says seriously. “You should have told me you were coming, I would have told Kade to cancel his party!” he reaches out to touch me, and I move out of his reach. His eyebrows draw down. “Baby..”

“You know what Chase? Fuck. You. We are done. Go fuck one of your whores,” I hiss through clenched teeth.

I try to make a dramatic exit, but he grabs me and picks me up, lifting me over his shoulder. I struggle, so he slaps my ass, kind of hard too. Bastard. Well it’s safe to say Chase has driven me to use profanity as every single adjective. And to think over a week ago I only swore in emergencies. Asshole. Apparently I said the last word out loud because he slapped my ass again. He throws me on my bed, less gently then he could have, and my dress lifts up to reveal the lace thong I wore for him. The heat in his eyes almost makes me forget why I’m mad, but then that heat turns into anger. Why he is angry, I have no idea. I can see his lip and jaw turning red from where Ryder punched him. I knew he could have hit him back, but Chase had refrained. I think they are both evenly matched, who knew who would have won that fight.

“That fucking guy was grabbing you while you were wearing that? What the fuck Layla!” he starts pacing, “You walked through a house that is filled with men, wearing that little piece of scrap! Now please enlighten me as to why you are so mad? Because we had a party and I didn’t tell you? Because your cousin is an asshole who thinks I’m not good enough for you?” He’s fuming. But so am I.

“No that’s not why I’m angry at all Chase. Yes this whole Ryder thing is... I don’t even know what it is. But maybe it’s because I came home early because I missed my man, only to find him throwing a wild party, some whore sitting on his lap. No, that isn’t even the worst part. The worst part would be the girl he has sleeping in his fucking bed!!!” I scream the last part, and tears drip from my eyes.

Chase’s eyes widen, and I think he finally understands just how much damage has been done. His voice is soft and gentle when he speaks, like one would talk to a skittish animal.

“Baby, what..”

“Get out, Chase. If you don’t get out now, I’m packing my shit, and I’m not coming back.”

He curses. “We are going to talk about this, lock the door after me. I’m going to deal with this shit, including your cousin.” He tries to kiss me, but I push him away. The look in his eyes is heartbreaking, but right now I could care less. He leaves and I lock the door, strip, turn out the lights, and put my iPod on full volume and go to sleep.

I wake up before the ass crack of dawn, opening my door slowly so it doesn’t creak. I’m in total stealth mode. I’m wearing a black cat suit (I’ve been looking for an appropriate occasion to wear it, and I figure this is it) and black ballet flats. After spending the night crying and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to suck it up and move on. People break up every day right? Women meet men that they think are perfect for them, then find women sleeping in their beds, right? Well, I’m not moping around anymore. Well I will be, just not where he has the satisfaction of seeing it.

I slip outside the door and find my first problem. Chase is sleeping on the floor outside my door. Either he knew I was going to do a runner or he was just worried about me. He looks so young like this, black locks falling on his face. He looks so hot with the stubble too, damn him. And that dimple. I’m gonna miss that damn dimple. I sneakily step around him, my bag on my back, and tip toe to the front door.

Before I can exit something occurs to me. Is Chase not in his bed because someone else is? New mission accepted. I head to his room and peak inside. The bed is empty.

I turn from his room and come face first into a hard chest. Looking up into curious blue eyes, I thank my lucky stars it’s the easiest going of the group. I wrap my arms around him and watch his eyebrows rise and his eyes widen. He takes in my attire causing his lips to twitch.

“James,” I whisper, “I’m going to Nikki’s, I just need some time alone, away from him.”

James puts his arms around me and sighs. He leads me outside to my car. “What happened last night Layla?”

I jump in my car and he gets in the passenger side.

“Short story is. I came home early, you guys were having your orgy, I see a girl on Chase’s lap and there was a girl in his bed.”

“Aubrey.” James whispers to himself.

“Who is she?” I demand. James plays with his lip ring, and avoids my question. “Oh and Chase is friends with my cousin, Ryder, who is not happy we were together,” I sigh dramatically.

“He’s going to kill me if I just let you drive away, you know. Last night he came storming out of your room, and kicked everyone out. Aubrey included. That was a first, that’s for sure. He and Ryder had a long ass chat, Ryder said he will be back to talk with you tomorrow.” He sighs, “Come home tonight Princess, don’t let him kick you out of your own house.” He gets out of the car, and makes his way back inside, as I’m pulling away from the house.

I decide to check into a hotel, paying with my emergency credit card. If this wasn’t an emergency, I don’t know what was. I text Nikki and let her know what’s going on, avoiding all of Chase’s numerous texts and calls. I have a shit load of calls and messages from Ryder too. I reply to him and let him know I’m perfectly fine.

Chapter Seventeen

An hour later I’m sitting in bed, surrounded by various orders of room service. I randomly decide to google Chase Jackson. I’m surprised when various articles and pictures pop up; Chase with a man, I assume is his father, and Chase with various women of all ages, at rich people functions. I click on a popular article and read through it. One line catches my eye and my eyes must have popped from my head. It says, ‘Chase Jackson, the only child of Wayne Jackson, CEO of Jackson Enterprises, has hired popular Vegas showgirl, Aubrey Belle, to headline at his popular strip club ‘Heat.’ There was so many things wrong with that sentence. First of all, he owned a strip club? Since when? Aubrey was a Vegas showgirl? I read a text from Chase.

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