Page 30 of Chase

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Theo, 19

Nine, nearly ten years later, and it’s still raining here. Atleast I’m not in a Volvo this time, instead, I managed to get a tiny Hyundai for the weekend. Not that it’s any mor e exciting than a Volvo. It doesn’t matter though, I’m finally here to get back my girl, and take her away from her awful family and come and live with me in the States. I’ll marry her if I need to, but the bottom line is, she’s coming with me.

The rain is coming down so hard, the fields are a blur, and I look like I’ve been drowning by the time I reach the front door. I shake my hands in front of me to rid myself of water and to also try and relieve myself of my excess adrenaline. Am I nervous? Ridiculously so. I haven’t spoken to Izzy since that awful morning when we were found in bed together. That will be down to her bastard family though, not her, not my Izzy. I’ve never lost hope that we’d one day be together, that, as adults, we could be in love in the open. So, when my friends were going out with girl after girl, having fun on dates and in their beds, I was abstaining from any kind of relationship. In my mind, I was already in one; she just happened to live on the other side of the world.

“Theo?! Is that you?” Tilly gasps as she opens the door and pulls me inside. She looks exactly the same, just a little more talented with the heavy make-up she still wears.

“Hi, Tilly, is Izzy home?” I fluster as she leads me into their living room where none other than the guy who punched me for lying with his sister, is sitting in one of the armchairs. Just as I remember him, he stares at me with a scowl. “Ethan.”

“Come back for more, Theodore?” he says, moving his gaze back to the TV screen.

“Not really, though I think it would at least be a fair fight this time,” I reply, unable to hide the look of pure hatred on my face. He slowly moves his eyes to look me up and down andshrugs, seemingly agreeing with me.

“So, is she here?” I ask, not even bothering to hide the impatience from my voice.

“Oh, Theo, darling,” Tilly pouts, “didn’t you hear? Izzy ran off with her boyfriend about a month ago. She hasn’t been seen since, just calls every now and then.

“Boyfriend?!” I gasp with a sick feeling taking over me.

“Yeah, some guy I went to college with,” Ethan mutters, “great guy, especially as he took her the hell away from here. I need to thank him for that.”

“You’re lying,” I growl through my teeth, swinging around to face Tilly. “You hate Izzy, and you hate the fact I chose her. And you,” I call out in Ethan’s direction, “you’re a pure psychopath who gets off on other people’s pain.”

“True,” he replies before getting out his phone to text someone. “I just did you the one favor you’ll ever get from me. Blue toothed you a picture Oscar sent a few weeks ago. Doesn’t look like she’s thinking much about you, Theodore.”

I whip out my phone and open the photo. It’s a picture of Izzy lying in bed, naked and asleep. There’s a guy, just as naked, wrapped around her, nuzzling into her neck.

“I’m so sorry, Theo,” Tilly says with pity in her voice, which only makes me feel all the more sick. “I did try to warn you about her though. You need to meet some of my friends, some nice girls. Isobel’s always been a bit loose with her morals, you shouldn’t take it personally.”

Ethan offers me a cruel smile, clearly enjoying my torment. I so dearly want to smack it off his asshole face. But where wouldthat get me? It certainly wouldn’t change what’s right in front of my face; it wouldn’t stop Izzy from being with someone else far away from here.

“Excuse me,” I mumble through my teeth as I turn toward the door to get as far away from this cursed house as possible. Tilly calls out for me, but I can’t stop. I never want to see inside of these walls again.

I head straight over to Grandma’s house and slam my fists against the door. She opens it, looking all of a fluster, which adds guilt to my emotional cocktail. She looks me over and pulls me inside before making me sit in one of her chintzy old chairs.

“Where is she, Grandma?” I all but cry as I rub my hair, probably spraying her with rainwater.

“I don’t know, Theo, she left about a month ago,” she says sadly. “She came to see me less and less in the months before she went. She didn’t even say goodbye.”

“And she has a boyfriend?!” I snap, looking outraged.

“Oh, gosh, I don’t know anything about that, Theo,” she says, looking confused. “She changed over the years you were gone, and I lost our special bond. She doesn’t tell me anything anymore so I couldn’t tell you if she did or didn’t have boyfriends.”

“I came back for her, Grandma,” I whimper, “I’ve been saving up to come and get her and bring her back to the States with me. I’ve been faithful to her ever since I had to go. Even when I heard nothing, I saved myself for her!”

“Oh, Theo,” she tries to soothe me as she pulls me in so I can let it all out over her shoulder.

I stayed cooped up inside of Grandma’s house for the rest of the weekend, feeling too humiliated and heartbroken to venture outside. When I stepped foot back on home soil, I vowed to never return again.

Isobel Chase? She’s just some girl I used to know.

If only…

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Theo

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