Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHASE
It was becoming blatantly obvious that Addison and I were not on the same page.
And I’d be lying if I said her display of jealousy—no doubt seen as irritation to anyone else—didn’t please the fuck out of me.
Because if she cared as little as she’d been pretending, she wouldn’t have a reason to be jealous because she wouldn’t care who or what I did, including participating in a bachelor auction. But she cared. A whole fucking lot.
Now I just had to get her to admit it.
My knee was throbbing like a mother, so thank God it was about time for my next dose of ibuprofen. I made my way to Levi’s old room and the attached bathroom to grab the pills but stopped short as soon as I opened the door.
Addison startled at my intrusion, a squeak leaving her before her surprise turned to annoyance and she pinned me with a scowl. “Jesus, Chase!”
Her hair was wavy, the ends just brushing her bare shoulders, her eyes smoky and dark. She looked sexy as fuck, and I wanted to bend her over the counter and remind myself exactly how sweet she was. Exactly how well she took me.
I couldn’t stop my gaze from sweeping over her, but with every inch it traveled down her body, my brow pinched more and more.
She wore a skintight red strapless dress that left very little to the imagination.
A dress I’d seen her in once before—the first New Year’s Eve after she’d moved back home to Starlight Cove following college graduation.
When we’d started hooking up on a consistent basis.
I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her that night.
So much so that I hadn’t even stripped her of the dress before fucking her in a darkened hallway not nearly far enough away from the rest of the partygoers.
I’d shoved her panties to the side, tugged down the front of her dress to gain access to her perfect little tits, and taken her right then and there.
The memory alone had me hard as a fucking rock, and my gray sweatpants did very little to hide that fact.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped. “You can’t just walk in whenever you want.”
“I needed some ibuprofen,” I murmured, unable to tear my eyes off her. “Didn’t know you were in here.”
She blew out a frustrated breath and tossed a brush into her makeup bag. “This isn’t going to work.”
“You’re right about that.” That dress had to go. Preferably on my bedroom floor. Or hers. I wasn’t picky.
She scowled harder. “If you’re going to stay in the room next door to me, you need to knock before you come barging into the bathroom.”
I ran a hand over my mouth, my gaze sliding over every inch of her, and shook my head, dazed and barely able to form words. “Figured you’d lock it.”
She glared at me in the mirror, her eyes narrowed and her tone sharp. “I haven’t had to lock this door in years. I forgot. And believe me, I’m cursing myself for that now.”
I didn’t bother to hide my slow perusal or appreciation of her. I wanted Addison to know exactly how much I wanted her. Exactly how much I craved her. Exactly how fucking gone I was for her.
Though her legs weren’t very long, they were a feast for my eyes tonight.
Especially with those black heels that had to add four inches to her minuscule stature.
Her feet were going to be killing her by the end of the night, but I couldn’t deny how fucking hot they looked.
I wanted those heels propped on my shoulders while I fucked her, and I made sure my eyes conveyed exactly that when I met her gaze in the mirror.
From the way her lips parted and her nipples tightened beneath that formfitting material, it was clear she wasn’t immune to me, either. It was something, at least.
“What if I’d been in the shower?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
My cock was hard as a fucking rock, and it only got harder at the image her innocent question conjured. “Then I’d have been the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.”
She huffed out an irritated sound. “That comment would be inappropriate on a normal day, but considering I’m getting ready for a date, it’s exceptionally bad.”
I snapped my head up to meet her eyes in the mirror.
A fucking date? I didn’t even bother to hide my response to that bomb.
Anger. Frustration. Jealousy. They all rushed through me, the thought of my girl going out with some other asshole unsettling me.
I couldn’t hope to hide my reaction, and she saw every single emotion as it flitted across my face, her responding expression a mixture of fury and satisfaction.
As soon as the latter registered, realization dawned. That dress? Those shoes? Her doing this after the little fiasco downstairs? No doubt about it—this date was designed solely to piss me off.
“With who.” It was less a question and more a demand, but I couldn’t help myself.
“That’s definitely none of your business.”
“How long has this been planned for?” I’d bet my good knee it was something she’d set up today—something that was a direct response to the bachelor auction discussion downstairs.
The one I didn’t give a single fuck about, the one I wouldn’t be participating in, and the one that had no bearing whatsoever on the two of us.
I hadn’t had eyes for anyone but Addison in more than a decade, and that wasn’t ever going to change.
“Also none of your business.”
I ground my molars together, biting back everything I wanted to say or do.
Instead, I stood leaning against the doorframe, stewing and silent, and watched as she finished getting ready.
Running her fingers through her hair and adjusting the loose waves.
Applying another coat of mascara. Painting those lips I’d had wrapped around my cock more times than I could count a bright, vibrant red to match her dress.
Fuck me. No, seriously, fuck me in the ass with a cactus. It would be less painful than watching her go out with another man.
She was a fucking siren tonight. A drop-dead gorgeous hellcat, and some other bastard was going to be on the receiving end of it.
After giving herself a final once-over in the mirror, she turned and headed into her bedroom without a word. Since she didn’t slam the door in my face, I took that as my invitation to follow.
Without glancing my way, she grabbed a small black purse and transferred items into it. Wallet. Keys. Lipstick.
A fucking condom.
She was doing this to mess with me, but it didn’t stop me from clenching my hands into fists, my jaw tightening right along with them. Jesus Christ, if I had anything more than stumps for teeth by the end of the night, it’d be a goddamn miracle.
Without a word, she strode out of her bedroom, her ass and those legs a goddamn sight for sore eyes as she headed straight for the stairs.
“You’re seriously doing this.”
“Doing what?” she asked, feigning nonchalance, but it didn’t work on me. Addison hadn’t been nonchalant about a thing in her life. She was chalant as fuck, and I loved every ounce of it.
“Going out on a bullshit date just to fuck with me.”
“Believe it or not, I’m capable of making decisions without considering you at all.” She grabbed a black coat from the rack by the front door and shrugged into it.
I glanced out the window to the dark parking lot to find a car idling there, the douchebag sitting nice and warm inside. “He’s not even coming to the door? Seriously?”
She rolled her eyes. “Relax, Grandpa. This isn’t 1956.”
“Give me a second to grab my shoes, and I’ll walk you out.”
“I don’t need an escort.”
“The fuck you don’t. You’re in four-inch heels, and the sidewalks are covered in ice. Give me a fucking second.”
Instead, she waved to someone behind me and called out a quick, “Bye,” before opening the door and slamming it in my face.
Fuck my shoes. Who needed them anyway?
I yanked open the door to follow after her, except a hand shot out and slammed it shut once again.
I glanced over, coming face-to-face with Avery.
A scowling, pissed-off Avery, who wore an expression that clearly said she wasn’t impressed with me or any of my bullshit.
Though that wasn’t anything new—she’d looked at me the exact same way when I’d officially met her at One Night Stan’s the other night.
“Addison’s a big girl,” she said. “She can handle walking to a car by herself.”
I scoffed. “Did you see those shoes? She could break her neck.”
“Better than her heart. Again.” She shot me a pointed look and stepped in front of the door, arms crossed. “Addison’s going on her date, and you’re going to let her.” Her voice was firm, hard, leaving absolutely no room for me to argue.
My mind was whirring with possibilities, but I saluted her and headed up the stairs two at a time, my knee screaming the entire way. Yeah, I’d let Addison go on the date, like Avery said.
But I never promised I wouldn’t join her.