Page 60 of Chase
“I don’t like to be kept waiting, but for you, beautiful, I would’ve waited all night.” Everything he says feels scripted, almost like he’s got something else up his sleeve. Bells are going off in my head that I shouldn’t trust him and I feel myself take another step back. He notices and raises his eyebrows before scowling at the growing space between us.
“No need to wait on me, sugar. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble making the most of your night.” I shift my weight from one hip to the other.Doesn’t he get the hint?
“Oh I plan on it,” his wolfish smile is back and he flashes his teeth when he reaches out to pull me into him. My body goes rigid at his touch and I jerk away before he can get a grip on my arm.
“Everything okay over here?” The building director asks just as the wall of windows in the lobby quakes under heavy fists that pound the glass from the outside. The angry vibrations send aripple of awareness through my body and I turn my head so fast I give myself whiplash.I’d bet on my lucky stars that that’s him.
“We’re good, right Sloane?” Will insists in front of the building director. He tries to throw his arm over my shoulders and I step away as quick as I can just as his arm flops back down.
I reposition myself in a defensive stance that I learned in kickboxing and feel tingly all over. It’s my adrenaline spiking up and I know I’ll try to drop kick him if he tries anything.
The loud clinks and clanks of Chase rapidly pulling on the locked building doors is enough to now grab everyone’s attention.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I hear his voice clear as day as his threat roars outta his throat and lands on the glass in front of him. It may slightly muffle how loud he is, but it doesn’t take away from the ferocity in his voice. He’s glaring at Will with those angry brown eyes and looks devil mad.
He’s outright defying the building director and shaking his head no when he shouts at him to take a step back from the door. “I’m not fucking going anywhere,” he yells with closed fists, wild eyes, and a laser focus on Will. He’s snarling like a grizzly bear and looks just as big.
Those butterflies swarm when they hear his voice boom. I feel one get stuck in my throat and I’m certain she’s perched on my vocal chords. That’s the only explanation I’ve got for why I sound like I’ve swallowed a frog.
My voice comes out with a croak when I say his name. It’s right above a whisper but I swear on the planets above he hears me. His whole face softens when his eyes find me and I’m grateful he’s here.
“Who the fuck is that?” Will steps to his left and is now directly in my space. He’s taking up most of my view, forcing me to look up at him.
He’s got a stone cold look on his face and I immediately miss the warmth of Chase’s hot chocolate eyes. Will may have broken our eye contact, but the thread between us is still pulled tight and double knotted around my heart.I’m so glad he’s here.
“You know that fucking lunatic?” I can barely hear him over Chase banging up the glass outside and him screaming his head off. I take a step back right into the building director who’s on the phone with campus security and he moves me behind him just as more building personnel walk outta the elevator.
All of a sudden Chase is being yanked around his middle by Drew and Max. Evie buzzes herself into the building and is at my side in two seconds flat, looping her arm with mine. She gives me a squeeze and I feel like I can take a breath.
“What’s g-g-going on? Are y-y-y-ou okay?” she asks and I can tell she’s on high alert and anxious as she looks around. I see what she sees and my own anxiety creeps up my spine. Security all around, a walking red flag standing in our lobby who looks like he wants to spit nails at me, and Chase getting in some sort of trouble while Max and Drew try to keep him calm.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” I tell her and try to mean it.
I answer the campus officers' questions and tell them what's happened in the last five minutes or so. When she asks if I want Will to stay or to go, I insist that I don’t want him here. I don’t want to ever see him after the way he acted tonight.
I feel a ton of satisfaction watching him walk outta the building and let out a breath that I was holding only to have it stolen right outta my lungs.
Chase’s hat goes flying off his head when he lunges for Will. He all out howls when his fist swings. Max and Drew don’t hesitate and pull him back just in time. That snake must’ve donesomething to bait him and I want nothing more than to cut out his tongue.
The boys don’t let him go and keep his arms immobilized. He struggles against them and looks downright wild as he shouts to Will’s back, “Stay the fuck away from my girl.”
It’s at this very second that I know nothing could keep me away from trying to be his. I nearly break out into a sprint and push through those glass doors.
Like last night on stage, I don’t take my eyes off of his when I move toward him. He knows I’m coming for him, and he’s ready for me when I throw my arms around his neck. His arms rip free from Max and Drew’s stronghold and lock around me in an embrace that feels like he never wants to let me go.
And it’s a good thing this man is strong because my knees buckle beneath me when he presses his cheek against mine and whispers in my ear, “This is me trying, Birdie.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
THEBUILDINGDIRECTORbanned me from entering the apartment building for thirty fucking days and it took everything in me to keep my mouth shut. Coach is gonna have my fucking balls when he hears about this. I don’t give a shit what the repercussions are; I give zero fucks if he benches me or has me skate until I puke.
None of it matters. The only thing I care about right now is her. I’m holding my entire life in my arms and now that she’s tucked in close, I’m never letting her go.
She waited with me while I apologized to the Building Director and to campus security for losing my shit. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Will, the frat fuckhead, was bothering her. I wasn’t about to let him get away with it.Hell no.
I’m usually pretty patient but tonight in the locker room I had such an urge to see her that I ended up running straight to her building after I finished the second crane. I needed to talk to her and was gonna wait all night if I had to.
I was in the shadow of my trees when I saw that douche canoe walk into the lobby behind a group of people. He didn’t belong there and he sure as fuck didn’t belong anywhere near my girl. I was ready to smash through that fucking glass door when I saw him try to touch her.
