Page 75 of Alpha Chase

“Hey Ness?” I croak, gritting my teeth as I shift to sit up straighter on the cot. Everything hurts like hell- maybe I should take Juliet up on those painkillers after all.

She turns to face me, eyes rounded in sympathy again. “Yeah? What do you need?”

I blow out a shaky breath, eyes darting to Chase, then back to her. “Give us a minute?”

Nessa purses her lips, gaze swinging between the two of us. “You sure?”

I nod.

She nods back at me, reaching out to give my hand a little squeeze before turning on a heel and strutting around the cot. “I’ll be right outside if you need me,” Nessa chirps before disappearing around the curtain.

I heave a sigh as I settle my gaze on Chase again, but once more, before I can get a word out, he beats me to the punch.

“I know I fucked up,” he mutters, hanging his head. “Just let me make it up to you somehow. Let me take you home, or fuck, come stay with me. I won’t even try to fuck you.”

I arch a brow, eyeing him dubiously.

He holds up his hands, baring his palms to me in surrender. “I swear. Just give me a chance. Let me try to make this right.”

It’s so strange seeing Chase like this. What the two of us share isn’t normal by any standards- we’re not just rough around the edges, we’re a mangled mess, through and through. We fight and we fuck, and then we fight some more. We don’t do tender. We don’t do apologies. We don’t do…this. But damnit if I’m not tempted to try. He’s here, after all. He may not be able to admit it, but sometimes actions speak louder than words.

He cares.

“Okay,” I whisper.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Vienna

“Whatelsedoyouneed?” Chase asks, setting a Gatorade and a bottle of water on the nightstand beside his bed. “You hungry at all? The fridge was just stocked, or I could run out and grab something.”

I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone right now; like some alien body-snatched Chase Walker and is living in his skin. Nessa wasn’t thrilled with my decision to go home with Chase, but when faced with the choice of crashing on that futon mattress on her bedroom floor or Chase’s plush, king-sized bed, my aching body implored me to choose comfort. That, and this sweet, caring version of Chase is one I could get used to. Maybe he’s just taking advantage of my vulnerability, but I don’t have it in me to fight him right now.

“You know what I’d really like?” I murmur, glancing at my reflection in the mirror above his dresser. I raise a hand to my temple, scraping dried blood from my skin with my fingernails. I feel gross, I look gross, and I’ve eyed that giant porcelain soaker tub in his bathroom on more than a few occasions. Heaving a sigh, I spin around to face him, hugging my waist with my arms. “A bath.”

Chase nods quickly, all too eager to please. I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that my request will involve me getting naked.

“Yeah, for sure.” He points to the bed, starting for the large en-suite bathroom. “I’ll run it, you just kick back for a few.”

I stroll toward Chase’s bed as he disappears through the door, sinking down onto the edge and running my fingertips over the soft fabric of his comforter. The last time I was here, in this bed, everything went to hell. It was the beginning of a particularly brutal few days, culminating in my car being smashed to pieces. And now I’m right back here, where it all began. It feels a little too full-circle for my liking, my anxious mind working overtime to figure out when the other shoe is going to drop.

I’m lost in my own thoughts when Chase pops his head out of the bathroom doorway, clearing his throat. “You ready?”

I nod, swallowing down my emotions as I rise to my feet and stride toward him. Rather than pulling his usual move of crowding the doorway and forcing me to squeeze past him to enter, he moves aside, granting me a wide berth as I step into the bathroom. The cold tiles underneath my feet send a shiver skittering up my spine, but my eyes immediately land on that glorious soaker tub, now filled almost to the brim with crystal clear water, and my shiver turns to one of excitement. Tiny tendrils of steam curl from the top of the water, evaporating into the chilly air, beckoning me.

“Uh, that towel is clean,” Chase says, pointing out the fluffy black towel on the rod beside the tub. “There’s shampoo and shit on the ledge underneath.”

“Thanks,” I murmur, eager to submerge myself in the warm water. Lifting the hem of my shirt, I tug it over my head, dropping it at my feet.

Chase doesn’t make a move to leave, and for some reason, I can’t find it in me to ask him to. Despite everything that’s happened between us up until this point, I want him near me. I crave his proximity. His mere presence is a comfort, a fact which should alarm me, but right now, I’m silencing all those anxious, intrusive thoughts in favor of what I truly want.

Him.

I can feel the weight of his stare as I reach around behind my back to unfasten my bra, sliding the straps down my shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. My nipples tighten into hard points as soon as they hit the air, and I don’t have to look to know Chase is staring right at them. The energy in the air intensifies, my heartbeat quickening as I shimmy out of my leggings, stepping out of them as soon as they hit the tile.

Still hyper-aware of his eyes on me, I brace my hands on the edge of the tub, swinging one leg over, then the other. I hiss at the initial bite of the hot water lapping against my skin, but as I sink lower into the tub, the sting dulls, the heat immediately relaxing my aching muscles. My eyes slide closed and I blow out a breath, settling into the center of the tub, pulling my knees to my chest and looping my arms around them as my body adjusts to the temperature.

I can still feel Chase’s penetrating stare, the sound of his ragged breathing making my heart race faster.

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