Page 55 of I Hate You More

I was a hairbreadth away from pulling the whole thing over when a strong pair of arms wrapped around me, holding me up. I slowly lifted my gaze to meet an annoyingly familiar set of blue eyes and flushed with embarrassment. Of course, Chase of all people was there to witness my humiliation.

“Ally?” Chase asked, his face dawning with recognition. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What areyoudoing here?” I replied, stepping out of his grasp, putting much-needed distance between us. He was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a light blue shirt that brought out the striking color of his eyes. I’d never seen him look so smart. He’d clearly made an effort to dress up, but I couldn’t understand why.

He frowned and glanced over his shoulder before turning back to focus on me once more. “I was visiting my grandpa.”

“Oh.” I started to frown myself. The air between us was fraught with tension, and he seemed uncomfortable in my presence. His usual scowl was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t make things between us any easier. “I was visiting my grandma,” I explained. “How often do you come here?”

His tense expression eased at my question. He was probably just grateful I wasn’t bringing up last night. “With my parents away, I promised to visit my gramps when I could,” he replied. “I like spending time with him, so I try to come as often as possible.”

His explanation chipped a crack in my hardened heart, and I wished I didn’t know a kinder side of Chase existed. I already had enough confusion where he was concerned. I didn’t want to see any more evidence that maybe he wasn’t as bad as I’d always assumed.

“You guys should have left some of the cleaning for us this morning,” he went on. “I woke up, and the house looked brand-new.”

He looked genuinely apologetic, but I could only muster up a shrug in response. I just wanted Chase to go back to being dismissive of me. I liked it far better when I knew what to expect from him, and his nice, friendly act was putting me on edge.

He swallowed before he continued. “Look, about last night—”

“There you are,” someone called behind Chase.

Frustration briefly flickered in his eyes at being interrupted, but it quickly disappeared as he turned to face the old man slowly hobbling toward us and started to smile. I recognized the man as Bart, Connie’s admirer.

“And I see you’ve got a friend,” Bart added as his gaze fell on me.

“Gramps, this is Ally,” Chase said. His voice faltered over my name, and I wondered why he sounded so nervous to introduce me. He was probably embarrassed to be associated with me, just like he had been after seven minutes in heaven. “Ally, this is my grandpa, Bart.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

Bart’s ice-blue eyes studied me before he smiled and nodded. “So,thisis Ally,” he said, giving Chase a nudge with his elbow. I could have sworn Chase started to blush.

I lifted an eyebrow at their interaction, and Chase quickly tried to fill the silence. “I told Gramps that I was living with you and Shane.”

“Ah, okay…”

“She’s just as pretty as you said,” Bart continued. Chase’s cheeks were definitely flushing pink, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of shock running through me. He’d told his grandpa I was pretty? I was surprised he’d mentioned me at all, but I couldn’t believe he actually complimented me.

“What brings you to our neck of the woods, Ally?” Bart asked. He still had a wide grin on his face but seemed to have realized his grandson wanted to change the subject. I was also happy to talk about something else. The thought of finding out what else Chase had divulged to his grandpa about me was somewhat terrifying.

“My grandma Clara also lives here,” I said. “I come and visit her and her friends, Cora and Connie, whenever I get a chance.”

Bart’s eyes lit up even more at the sound of Connie’s name. “You know Connie?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve known her since I was little.”

“Well, make sure to put in a good word for me,” he said. “We had a really lovely walk this morning, and I’d like to do it again sometime.”

Bart was just as sweet as Connie had said, and I was pretty certain she wouldn’t need any encouragement from me to walk with him again. It sounded like Bart was doing just fine on his own.

“I’m sure she’d like that too,” I said. “Anyway, I should probably get going. It was really nice to meet you.”

“You too, my dear,” Bart replied. “Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you around here again soon.”

“You will.” I flashed him a smile before I turned and quickly walked away. I couldn’t bring myself to meet Chase’s eyes. I was already feeling confused after last night, and discovering that Chase had been talking to his grandpa about me didn’t help.

I was halfway down the corridor when I heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming up behind me. “Ally, wait up,” Chase called.

I frowned and slowed my steps as Chase ran up beside me. “Did you need something?”

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