Page 97 of Alpha Chase

“Really?” I ask hopefully, sitting up straighter, unable to rein in my enthusiasm. Then, after a beat, suspicion creeps in and dampens my excitement. “Wait, did you…”

Chase shakes his head. “It was Gray’s call to make. This was all you, Tink,” he drawls, forcing a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “And that super-sniffer of yours.”

I snort, rolling my eyes again, though a satisfied sense of pride blooms in my chest at the notion that everything I’ve been working toward is finally within reach. No more uncertainty about where I’m going to rest my head at night. No more blisters on my feet from putting in too many hours at the lodge to barely make ends meet. In joining the squad, I’ll have a place of my own, a regular salary… and if today was any indication, a hot-ass Alpha by my side. In the span of a week I’ve gone from being a miserable bitch to on top of the fucking world. Fate sure has a strange sense of humor.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket, jerking me from the tangle of thoughts running through my mind. I arch my back and lift my butt up from the seat to retrieve it, my eyes dropping to the screen to read the text message I just received.

Nessa:Char just messaged me to say that it’s slow at the lodge today and they don’t need both of us. She told me not to come in but I can cover the shift if you want to take some time? You still need to give me all the dirt, though!

I frown, typing out a quick response to tell her thanks, but I’ll handle the shift- mostly because I want to give my two weeks’ notice in person- and hit send. I’ll wait to break the news to Nessa in person later, but I’m sure she’ll be just as thrilled as I am.

Chase glances over at me, his brow furrowing when he sees my frown. “Your mom?” he asks tentatively.

“No.” I shake my head as I lift my butt to slide my phone back into my pocket. “It was just Nessa about work.”

I know it wasn’t his intention, but I feel a little pinch in my chest at Chase’s mention of my mom. I suppose most mothers would check up on their daughters after a scene like that, but not mine. Mine didn’t even show up when I wrecked my car and landed in the infirmary. Mine looked me in the eye as I confessed my pain and chose not to believe me. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised- she hasn’t been a real parent to me in a long time.

“My mom’s dead to me,” I mutter, the words bitter on my tongue.

A beat of silence lingers between us before I hear his throat click with a swallow. “I understand.”

Fuck, that was probably the wrong thing to say, considering his own situation with his mother- but he’s possibly the only person who can truly understand what I’m going through right now, given how his own mother cast him aside. While we’ve handled it differently, our pain is pretty damn similar. We both had fathers that loved us and mothers who didn’t know how, and our grief has twisted us both up into these fractured, damaged people with broken pieces that somehow align to fit together.

I turn to look at him, taking in the harsh line of his jaw, the curve of his nose. The light coating on stubble on his chin. His long lashes that frame those dark, captivating eyes that can pull me in with a single glance. A swarm of hornets takes flight in my belly and even though I should be crying right now over what just happened at my house, a giggle bubbles up my throat instead, spilling out from my lips.

Chase flicks me a curious glance, his lips twitching into a smirk. “What’s so funny?”

“We’re fucked up, you know that?” I laugh, my head dropping back onto the leather seat just below the headrest, since this truck was obviously built for giants like Chase. “We just beat the shit outta someone and damn near screwed against the wall after, and now we’re just driving to the lodge, like it’s a normal fucking day.” I shake my head, scrubbing a hand over my face. “What the hell is wrong with us?”

“Who says we’re the ones who are fucked up?” Chase scoffs, slowing to take the turn-off to the lodge on the outskirts of the six-pack territory. “Maybe we’re the normal ones and everyone else is fucked up.” He waggles his eyebrows and another laugh bursts from my throat.

“Somehow I doubt that.”

He grins- a real, genuine smile this time- and veers off the road to turn into the parking lot. We’re both quiet as he pulls the truck into a parking spot close to the employee entrance around the back of the lodge, putting it in park and turning to look at me. He rakes his eyes over me, his heated gaze stirring up the hornets in my belly as they buzz frantically and sting my insides.

“Thanks. For today,” I rush out, suddenly a little flustered. “I feel like I should be pissed that you went behind my back after saying you’d leave it alone, but Nessa was right, Clint had it coming. You didn’t have to do that, but…”

“Yes I did,” Chase interrupts. He reaches over to release the buckle on my seatbelt, scooping an arm around my waist and hauling me onto his lap. My knees straddle his waist, my arms automatically looping around his neck. “No one will ever put their hands on you like that or hurt you again, Vienna,” he growls, cupping my chin in a hand and staring into my eyes earnestly. “That’s a promise I’ll never need to find a way around.”

I can’t keep my lips from spreading into a big, stupid smile, his words making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.Fuck, is Chase Walker my boyfriend now?

He doesn’t leave me to wonder about the answer to that question- he leans forward and claims my mouth in a filthy hot kiss, his lips spelling out the truth against my own. This may have started out as a purely physical, anger-fueled hookup, but somewhere along the way it turned into something real. Something so real that it should scare the crap out of me, but I’m in too deep now, and I’m ready to fucking drown.

“Got time for a quickie?” Chase whispers against my lips, and I jerk back on a laugh, shoving at his chest.

“That mouth of yours sure knows how to kill a moment,” I groan, rolling my eyes exaggeratedly.

His own are clouded with lust as he leans in, licking the seam of my lips. “It knows how to do a lot more than that, little devil. It knows how to make you feel good, how to make you scream…” his hands grip my thighs, fingertips digging in and sending a flood of heat rushing to my core.

“Enough,” I scold, breathless as I cover his hands with my own and pry them off me.

Chase chuckles lowly, eyeing the flush crawling up my neck. “Fine. I’ve gotta try to catch some sleep anyway. Didn’t get much last night.” He tucks a finger under my chin, drawing my face closer as he stares into my eyes. “Still hate me?”

“You know it,” I tease, laying another kiss on his lips for good measure before sliding back to the passenger side of the truck, opening the door, and hopping out. I push it closed with a hip and Chase rolls the window down, calling out to me.

“What time should I pick you up?”

“I get off at nine,” I call back.

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