Page 43 of I Despise You
I dash across the room to get my phone, and I take a few photos of the pills and the container. When I’m done, I return the pills and the shirt back to their place, hoping Chase won’t notice anything.
Just as I’m about to close the drawer, I spot the edge of something. A piece of paper, maybe. I glance at the door, listening for a few moments for any signs that Chase may be coming back, and then I push at the shirt to reveal more of my latest discovery.
It’s a photograph of a woman. I take a photo of it too. Footsteps echo in the hallway, coming closer, so I shove the photo back and return everything to its original state.
I rush back to the bed, and my chest is still heaving when Chase opens the door. His hands are full of food, and he dumps it all on the bed.
“Your sandwich,” he says, handing it to me.
“Thanks.” I focus on the sandwich, doing my best to calm my breathing.
As we eat, I can’t stop thinking about the pills and the woman. Who is she? She seems young, with long dark brown hair and light-colored eyes, but the photo felt older under my fingers when I touched it.
And the pills... If Chase used them to drug Kayla, then why does he still have them? Are they actually his? Maybe he needs them if he has a medical condition no one knows about, and Kayla took too much by accident or she thought they were something else.
It feels like I’m trying to find excuses for Chase and possible explanations to prove his innocence rather than his guilt. But maybe Vanessa is wrong, and he is innocent. There’s no way for me to know at the moment.
But if Chase has those pills for a legit reason, why don’t they have a label? It’s more likely they’re illegal, but it’s also possible Chase just doesn’t want anyone to know what for he’s using them.
And here I am. Trying to find a reasonable excuse, and I don’t even know why. But when I’m with him like this, he seems... nice, I guess. If someone told me everything that happened was a misunderstanding, without knowing any more details, I’d believe them.
But I can’t lower my guard around him. He’s still Chase, and I don’t know all that much about him.
When we’re done eating, we clean up a bit and make sure there aren’t any breadcrumbs on the bed covers or the floor.
“We should play a game,” Chase says.
“What game?”
“Something fun.” His lips pull up into a smile, and he grabs a box from his closet. After opening the box, he spills playing cards that I’ve never seen before on the bed.
“I don’t think I know this game,” I say.
“It’s something I got from a friend. He made it. I’ll teach you the rules.”
“Okay.” I eye him carefully as we settle on the bed, sitting cross-legged across from each other.
Chase’s explanation leaves me more confused than anything else, but there are images on the cards. Images of half-naked people, and some symbols in the corner. I haven’t played card games much, but I think some of the cards have more value than the others.
“Pick one of your cards and place it in the middle,” he says. “We need to do it at the same time.”
“Okay.” I put one of the cards down at the same thing as he does, and a small laugh erupts from his throat.
“What?” I’m so clueless about this he can probably trick me.
“See this red symbol? It’s stronger than mine. You win this one.” He catches the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head.
I stare at him, my mouth falling open, my gaze trained on the strong muscles of his chest. Heat fills my body, and I force my eyes up.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Whoever is out of clothes first, loses.”
My eyes widen. “What? No! You didn’t say anything about that! And it doesn’t sound fair.”
“You’ve been naked with me before.” He flashes me a smile. “And it’s totally fair. You can’t get out of the game now. If you do, there’s a penalty. Those are the rules.”
“What’s the penalty?” I narrow my eyes at him. So much about thinking he’s nice. He’s an ass who just wants to see me naked. He lulled me into a false sense of security, and now he’s taking it back. I should leave.
