Page 50 of A Touch of Heaven

A husky voice snaps me out of my mind, and I realize Chase has been sitting on the bench behind me. I wipe the tears from my face, not wanting him to have the satisfaction of seeing me like this. He will never see my tears again if I can help it.

“Please don’t, Chase. I don’t need you telling me how I’m nothing right now. I already know that.” I’m surprising myself with how much venom is in my voice.

“I wasn’t going to…are you okay?”

I turn around to face him. He looks earnest. I can see in his eyes that he regrets how he spoke to me, but I don’t care right now.

I just broke my best friend’s heart.

“Do you care?” I growl.

He gets off the bench, walks toward me, and cups my face, pulling it toward him, and my heart betrays me, skipping a beat. Damn traitor. I can’t think clearly when he touches me.

“Of course, I care about you, Princess. I’m sorry I ever told you differently.”

He looks deep into my eyes, and I don’t even know what’s real anymore. Those eyes pull me into his world and make me forget everything, but I can’t. I can’t forget how he treated me. I can’t forget my best friend, yet I need him right now. I need him to sit by my side as I think everything over. The way we used to on the docks.

“I want to get drunk. I mean, absolutely shit-faced, wrecked, don’t even remember my own name drunk. Can we just put all this shit between us away for one night and forget it, please? Come with me. Let’s just forget everything just for tonight. No bullshit. I don’t want to know how sorry you are. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to know what’s going on between you and her. I just need to get drunk and numb everything.”

“Me and her? We’re…” he stops after I throw him a glare. “Okay. But we really do need to talk, Brooke, at some point.”

I know he’s right, but I can’t face it now. I need the man who held me when I found out about my dad; I need the man who can just be there quietly to hold my hand.

“I know, but not now, please.”

He takes my hand in his and kisses it.

“Okay. No talking. Just lots of alcohol. Check.” He smirks, putting his arm around my shoulders as we walk down the deck. But what I don’t see at this moment is Nate looking out the window, thinking he just lost his girl to his brother.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

CHASE

She looked beautiful sitting on that beach this evening. Her hair down loose over her shoulders. A sweet little summer dress. Her shoulders were bare. I wanted nothing more than to walk over to her, pull her into my arms, and apologize for everything over the last few days, never letting her go and beg her for her forgiveness.

I had been a dick; I knew it. I fucked up, and I lost everything I ever wanted that night. Now she’s here with me in the booth of a bar. I watch her knocking back shot after shot, trying to erase the pain from the last few days. Asher told her everything, which means I can finally come clean to her, but she’s told me she doesn’t want that yet, and I’ll respect her wishes.

She’s a little buzzed and is slurring her words ever so slightly. Not quite to the point of being drunk, but not far off. She’s leaning against the back of the booth, her knee resting on the seat as the other drops to the floor.

My beautiful princess is showing every inch of herself to me without knowing. Her dress is draped over her upper thighs. I try not to look down and keep my eyes up on hers, but fuck me, that’s a struggle.

“So, want to tell me what was with the shouting upstairs yet?” She scrunches her nose up in that little cute way she does.

“Me and Nate are finished.” She laughs a little. “I don’t know if we ever started. Can we be finished if we didn’t start?” She shrugs, rambling a little, and I push the Coke to her that I ordered for her earlier, and she rolls her eyes, taking a sip.

“So, what happened?”

“I’m not in love with him. He wants me to be, but I’m not. I can’t pretend there’s something there when there isn’t, no matter how much he wants me to. I love him, I do, but not like that.”

I feel like a dick, but my heart soars at hearing that. I gently place my hand on her leg, squeezing her thigh.

“I love my brother, you know, Brooke, but you always have to do what’s right for you. His heart is broken right now, but I’m sure he will be okay. He just needs some time.”

“Yeah, but that’s no reason to say what he said,” she tells me.

My eyes narrow at that, wondering what he said to her. I’ll be pissed if he’s said something unkind to her. I scoff at myself for that. Considering what I did the other day, I have no right to think it, but I do.

“What did he say, Brooke?” She looks up at me and snorts as she takes another sip of her Coke.

---