CHAPTER 24
Joanie
Billie looked up from the table she shared with her three bosses and gave me a look that demanded muffins. When I brought more over to their table, one of her bosses looked up at me. From that close, I could make out that one of his eyes was blue and the other was brown. Looking over at Billie, I wondered how the hell she wasn’t crushing on at least one of her bosses already. The guy with the different eyes, though? He was hot.
“Thanks.” He hesitated. “We got approached by the Mayor to participate in some battle… What’s the deal?”
Billie sat up. “It’s nothing. The Mayor is just being weird. Ignore him.”
The man sitting next to Billie in their booth quirked an eyebrow as he looked down at Billie. “Doesn’t sound like nothing.”
I cleared my throat. “It’s definitely nothing.”
Chase manifested behind me. “It’s not nothing. It’s a battle of the sexes and it seems like these two ladies are trying to cheat you three out of playing.”
I shifted to get his hand off my back but he just followed my movements. “Why do you care so much about the stupid battle now?”
“I care because one of yours shot one of mine. You ladies are going down.” Chase wagged his brows at me and leaned in. “Want to get an early start in the office?”
Billie laughed awkwardly. “You guys are way too busy to play games. Forget you ever heard about it.”
The third boss sat forward. “I think we’ll be able to make time to play a few games.”
Chase nodded. “Good men. Now, if you’ll excuse us, my business partner and I have a meeting to get to.”
I let Chase lead me to my office and told myself that if we did have sex, no one would have to know. We could be fast and quiet. It’d been a few days since I’d had sex with Smith and being around them so often was making me needy all the time. A quickie with Chase was exactly what I needed.
“We need to have a serious talk about expanding, Joanie.” Chase leaned against my desk and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Bear and Smith have already bought in. As soon as you give me the green light, we can start making real plans. Seeing how crazy this place can get showed me that we need to expand faster. You need more than just this one place.”
My mind reeled from the shift in directions. I thought we were going to have sex and instead, he was talking about things I’d already said no to. I shook my head and buried my face in my hands. “I hate you.”
Chase went still. “What the fuck?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want to expand, Chase? I’m never going to change my mind.” I turned away from him. “I’m happy with the way things are.”
“If something happens, you’re fucked, Joanie. Don’t you give a shit?” He grabbed my arm and pulled me back around to face him. “Why are you so against this?”
“Why are you so for it?” I was angry we’d gone back to our same song and dance. Of course, sleeping together wasn’t going to make him stop pushing. “I could buy you out. I have a small nest-egg now.”
“I’ll never sell. I’m in this for the long haul. You need help. You need a plan.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I know you know life can turn upside down overnight, Joanie. You have no backup plan.”
“I didn’t have one the first time around, either. Yet, I made it.” I saw him start to speak and held up my finger. “No. Listen to me. I don’t want more than this. If it’s not big enough for you, walk away.”
“You made it this time. What about next time? What if I hadn’t planned for shit going wrong? Imagine where I’d be now, sweetheart. I’m just trying to help.”
“What shit went wrong with you?” I studied his expression and leaned closer. “What happened?”
“You fucking know, Joanie.” He looked away and sighed. “Everyone fucking knows.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to know. What is it?” Reading his suspicious vibe, I held up my hands. “I cut myself off from the rest of the world when I came here, Chase. I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t watch the news?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s depressing. When I moved here, I decided I didn’t want any of that stuff invading my new life. The tabloid stuff, I mean.”
“You’re not kidding.” Chase sank into my office chair. “I thought everyone in the country knew. There’s a reason everyone was so kind to me when I first got here. They all felt sorry for me. I thought you knew.”
“I’m pretty sure people were just nice.”
“My wife cheated on me and got caught in a very public way. I went through a disgusting public divorce and found out the baby I thought was mine, wasn’t.” He said it like it was nothing but I could see the pain seeping from him. “If I hadn’t had a backup plan, I would’ve lost everything and been left to deal with the nonstop public shaming.”
I walked around the desk and sat in his lap without thinking twice. Chase wrapped his arms around me and held me steady. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“I thought you were just playing dumb about it to save my feelings. Looking back, that was stupid of me because if you could smash my feelings, you would.”
“I never wanted to smash your feelings. Just your ideas.” I looped my arm around his neck and sighed. “What a fucking dumbass.”
“Ouch.” Chase leaned his head back and looked at me through mostly closed eyes. “I don’t know what I did to deserve that.”
“Not you. Her. Your ex. You’re kind of the whole package. You’re hot. You’re hung. You’re smart, I guess. You’re also loaded, which I’m sure was important to her. Who the hell did she cheat on you with? Brad Pitt?”
He slowly smiled and it stretched all the way across his face. “Wow. That was a rave review.”
“I just hate cheating.” I swallowed and met his eyes. “I know what the papers all said about me. I didn’t cheat on my boyfriend. I mean, sure, flashing an entire bar might be considered crossing some lines, but I never touched anyone.”
“I never believed it.” He rubbed his hand up and down my thigh. “I saw you around back then. I was too old to talk to you but I couldn’t help seeing you.”
“That makes me want to run through the wall to get away. I was horrible.”
“No, not all the time. I saw you smile at people and treat them kindly. You weren’t all bad.” He blew out a breath. “All my cards on the table? You intrigued me. That’s the reason I invested when I heard you needed help. I wasn’t going to do anything about it. I was married. It felt good to help you, that’s all. When all my shit blew up, though, I wanted to escape the same way you had. I wanted to know you better.”
“Chase…” I blinked away tears that came out of nowhere. “If you know all that and understand wanting to hide, why are you pushing so hard for the expansion?”
“I just want to help.”
“And I just want you to listen.”