Page 24 of Made For Me

“Chase Grant,” he says his name.

I shake my head. “Sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name.” I roll my lips as I hear him groan.

“Fine, it’s Thor,” he jokes with the nickname I gave him the first time I met him.

“Did you bring your hammer?” I can’t help but fuck with him.

“If you don’t let me in, I’m calling Max and telling him I can’t get in touch with you.” He knows he just won this game. “Then I might even call my dad and say.” He trails off.

“Ugh,” I groan. “Fine, you win.” I press the button to let him up and I unlock the door. I open it and step out into the hallway and can hear him walking up the stairs. He gets to the top of the stairs as he looks right and then left. He does a chin up when he finally sees me standing here. I fold my arms over my chest as he walks to me and I ignore how much better I feel with him here. “That was a low blow,” I accuse when he’s close enough to me that I don’t have to raise my voice and wake up my neighbors.

“It wasn’t a low blow.” His voice is low. “It was the truth.” When he gets within a foot of me, I smell his cologne.

“You would not have called them.” I shake my head. “You would have called Michael for sure.”

“Negative. He wouldn’t even answer my call. Besides, when you want things done, you call in the big guns.”

“Oh, good God,” I huff, turning and walking into my apartment, feeling Chase right behind me.

“It’s so dark in here,” he observes as he closes the door behind him. I walk to the wall and turn on the light. I look back at him as he stands there in my entryway taking up so much space. I’ve never had anyone in my space before. It’s my safe place and I keep it drama-free, which is why I never invite anyone over. “Are you okay?”

I think about lying to him, but instead the word comes out before I can stop it. “No.”

CHAPTER14

Chase

I watch her turn and walk into her apartment and I follow her. “It’s so dark in here,” I say as I close the door behind me. She walks over to the side where she turns on a lamp. The soft yellow light fills the small entryway. She stands there with her hair tied on top of her head, wearing shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. Her nose is red and her eyes look like she’s been crying. “Are you okay?” It’s a loaded question and I wonder if she’ll be honest with me or try to sugarcoat things.

“No,” she answers me honestly, and I don’t know why, but I want to lean in and grab her in my arms and say it’s going to be okay. She turns around and walks into the apartment, I follow her as she passes a small round table with four chairs. The living room is to my right as she moves down another small hallway. She turns and I stop at the doorway, watching her walk toward her bed. The king-size bed fills up most of the room with a white side table on each side. I spot the flowers on the side table where she sits, wondering if she is actually dating someone. It’s not as if she announces when she dates anyone. My stomach knots at this thought, and all I can do is watch as she pulls the white cover onto her legs.

She looks over at me. “Are you okay with me coming into your bedroom?” My whole body feels as if I’ve taken five scoops of pre-workout. I don’t want her to feel like I’m intruding in her space.

She laughs at my question. “You’ve seen me naked.” She leans back on the pillows propped behind her back. “And given me a bath.” She puts her phone on the side table next to the flowers.

“This is true,” I say as I walk into the room, feeling like every single step I’m making is burning my feet.It’s fine,my head tries to calm my nerves down,it’s just Julia.

“You are the one who wanted to come in,” she reminds me as I get to the side of the bed, and I see another frame but this time on the bedside table next to me. I pick it up and it’s a picture of her with Jillian and her mom, taken at her sister’s wedding. “I’m not going to bite.” I look at her and she rolls her lips. “I mean, unless you want me to.”

I shake my head and ignore what she said. I also ignore the way my cock stirred thinking of her teeth on me. “This is nice,” I compliment as I sit on the bed with my feet off it since I’m still wearing my shoes. I look around and see she has the television mounted on the wall in front of her bed. “Feels homey.” I inwardly groan at how awkward my words are right now.

“You mean because it’s cluttered.” She points at the chair in the corner I didn’t see with a pile of clothes on it. I notice the lace bra hanging on the side of the chair. It’s baby blue, and if she wears it, there is nothing to hide.

“It’s not cluttered.” I shake my head and cross my hands, putting them over my lap so she won’t see my cock is fully hard. “It’s lived in.”

She throws her head back and laughs, and I look over at her. “Well, if you actually lived in your place, instead of just staying in it, maybe yours would be the same.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe, but I’m not home long enough to do anything.”

“Yes, you are.” She rolls her eyes. “You just need to, I don’t know, unpack your shit.”

“I don’t really have shit,” I say honestly. “I have my clothes. I spent years living out of a backpack.” I look over at her, and with only the light from the television, I can’t see her eyes, and it bothers me. “Maybe, eventually, I’ll feel like I’m not just crashing there and it’ll look lived in.”

“Or, maybe you just need to find a place that’s yours and not someone else’s.” She points at me and I’m about to answer her when the phone rings from the inside of my jacket pocket. I jump up, grabbing it, and for some weird reason I expect it to be Max telling me to get the fuck out of her bed, but instead it’s the food.

“Hello.” I put the phone to my ear and whisper to her, “It’s the food.”

“I’m here with the food, but you didn’t put the apartment number,” the man informs me, and instead of giving him the number, I walk out of the bedroom and to the front door.

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