Page 31 of A Touch of Heaven

I get up, needing air, and walk downstairs when I bump into the last person I expect. She’s trying to sneak out. Her hair is a mess, and her dress is disheveled. I feel wrecked as I watch her close the door to Chase’s room.

I am such an idiot.

I felt sorry for him after seeing what a mess he was in the club. He looked so sad but the encounter in the club is just another one of his games, and I’m done playing them.

As of this moment, Chase Anderson is officially nothing to me.

I try to ignore her as I continue down the stairs of my beach house, not hers. She has no right to be here, but I do, and I won’t let her intimidate me this time. The boy’s rooms are down here. Only mine and Harpers are upstairs, along with another living space with couches and such, but she doesn’t know that.

She sees me and gives me the biggest smirk she can manage. “Hello, Tink,” she mocks the name that Nate gave to me. She can take Chase. I don’t care anymore, but I won’t let her take what I have with Nate.

I roll my eyes, choosing to ignore her, when she grabs my wrist. “I said hello, Brooke. People with manners usually respond.”

I turn to her, giving her the biggest glare I can manage. “What do you want, Chloe?” I spit out, pulling my wrist out of her grasp.

“Nothing from you, Brooke. In fact, I’m getting everything I want,” she laughs, and my god, I want to kill her. “Chase and I are getting back together. You should know that so you’re going to see me around a lot more, so you might want to develop some manners and graces around me. I’m sure Chase will put you in your place if not.”

Everything about this girl I hate. The shrill voice, her sheer arrogance, even down to her sweet and innocent little routine she’s perfected over the years.

“You act like I give a shit about Chase and who he dates Chloe. I don’t. I’m here with Nate for a vacation. Chase just happens to be here with his friends,” I say with as much confidence and indifference as I can muster.

She laughs, and her eyes narrow at me. She grabs my wrist again, her nails digging into my flesh, pulling me close to her as she grins at me. “Don’t think I don’t see how you look at him. Like a little lost puppy following him around, begging for scraps of his attention. Well, get it through your head. Chase could never want you, Brooke. How could he when he has me?”

Chase’s words flash through my head from earlier when he said I couldn’t compare to Chloe.

Did they discuss that?

Did they laugh at me?

Pity me?

I can feel tears escaping my eyes. I never want to cry around her. She smiles even more as she realizes she’s won. They did talk about me, it’s too similar.

“Aww, poor little Brooke crying at not getting her way.” She stands there smirking at me. “Keep those tears coming, Brooke because it’s the only way you’ll realize you’re nothing to him. Hell, you’re a little slut kissing his brother while your pining after him. How could he ever want you?”

Rage is filling my body, sending fire through my veins, but as quickly as it’s heating them, an icy cold follows them as I realize the truth. Chase doesn’t care at all about me. If he did, he wouldn’t have gone back to her after what I told him and how I feel about her.

I’m feeling numb as I realize I’ve been betrayed by the man I love, but truthfully, the man I love doesn’t exist. He never did. I feel blood trickling down my wrist as she holds it tightly and digs her nails even harder. She’s like a big cat tearing at the flesh of a gazelle she’s caught.

“Get your hands off Brooke.”

A sharp, cold voice sweeps through the house. We both turn and look, and it’s Asher. Asher has a dark streak in him. Everyone sees it. He can switch in an instant, but right now, he looks like a monster that’s about to destroy everything in his path.

He’s standing there in black sweatpants. His bare chest heaving with anger. His hair is swept over his forehead, and his eyes are as dark as midnight. He’s staring at Chloe’s hand around my wrist. The way her nails are drawing blood from me. Chloe immediately drops my wrist as she realizes where his eyes are drawn. Even she knows not to mess with him.

“Don’t sweat it, Asher. We were just having some girl talk.” She turns on the smile I’ve seen her use before. The sickly sweet one she uses with Chase. He walks over and pulls me behind him quickly. I wince slightly in pain as he squeezes my bleeding wrist.

He leans into Chloe, and I see him whisper in her ear. His whole body is tense. I can’t hear what he’s saying to Chloe, but I watch her face drain of all color and tears fill her eyes. She shrinks back into herself, and I watch her nod. She doesn’t even look at me as she quickly stumbles out of the house. I never want to be on the receiving end of those dark eyes when he’s in a mood like this. It’s like he’s not him but something else.

I watch him stare at the door she just left through. Slowly, I can see the tension leave his body. Whatever he just said terrified her, and I wonder what it is. I’ve never seen Chloe back down from anybody. He turns to me, and his eyes fall to the half-moon crescents left on my wrists from her nails. He walks over to me and pulls up my wrist tenderly.

“Let’s get this sorted, shall we?” His voice is a lot calmer and more caring than moments ago. He pulls me over to the stools in the kitchen and pushes me gently onto one of them to sit down. He presses a cold, wet towel into my wrist and looks up at my eyes. He’s gentler now. Back to the Asher I know and love, and he smiles warmly at me.

“I don’t know what she said to you, Brooke, but that girl is not worth your tears.” He wipes his thumb under my eye, catching one. “Why was she even here?”

I shrug as if I don’t care, but truthfully, it’s like a knife is implanted deep into my heart. “She came out of Chase’s room… I think they…” I trail off, not needing to say the word.

“Motherfucker,” he says under his breath, and I laugh. He looks back up at me, smiling. “That’s the Brooke that keeps making the Anderson brothers crazy.” My face drops as tears threaten to spill again. I’m so sick of crying.

---