Chapter 8 #2
In an instant I was on him, doing everything in my power to put his head though the marble pillar behind him.
I should have let security handle it, but the situation required urgency and them niggas were moving too slow.
The man gasped and sputtered as I held him high off the floor and my people tried to pry me off of him.
“W-Wait! Let me go man! I ain't mean to do that shit! I’m sorry!”
“The only reason you claiming to be sorry now is because a man stepped to you. You had no problem getting in her face because she’s a woman, but when I’m in yours you wanna be sorry? Nigga I’ll beat the fuck outta you!”
“Chase, let security handle it,” Niko said.
I almost listened, but when I caught a glimpse of Amaya still standing there frozen in fear, with tears in her eyes, that damn near signed the niggas death certificate—if I ended up being the one in chains behind this, then it would be well worth it.
It took three security guards and a deputy to peel me off his ass, and by then the corridor was more crowded and I noticed the paparazzi in the background.
“We need to go,” Jocelyn whispered. The next thing I knew, my security was whisking us away.
The shit looked like it was straight out of a movie the way they moved us through the crowd, getting us to our cars and damn near tossing us in.
Somehow in all the commotion, we ended up completely mixed up with Jocelyn, Niko, and Johnathan in the first SUV, and me and Amaya in the second SUV.
As soon as we were settled and moving, her phone was going off with a call from Jocelyn.
“Hello,” she answered softly, making me mad all over again when I noticed the slight shake in her voice.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she squeaked. “Jocelyn, I’m fine.
He just scared the shit out of me for a second.
I’m good though… Nah, I don’t need anything else, you go and have fun, I think I’m gonna just wrap everything up and head home… Okay, girl. Bye.”
She hung up, then looked at her phone, cursing under her breath.
“Shit, they’re already posting about it.”
“It's already hitting the blogs?” I asked, shaking my head. These people were fuckin’ ridiculous. “Can I see?”
“You know you could see this on your own phone if-”
“I know Amaya, just let me see, please.” She rolled her eyes and handed me her phone which was pulled up on the gossip site ShaySpillstheTea with comments rolling in by the second.
New Courtroom Drama Unlocked!
@ShaySpillstheTea
Chase Andrews allegedly hemmed up a rogue inmate at the L.A. County Courthouse just moments ago. Somehow, the inmate was able to escape custody and made threatening gestures to a member of Chase’s team.
Video linked below.
@FlyersChic85: Oh my GAWDDDDD. Did you see how he checked that nigga for her? We love a touch her and die!
@NsstyyDncr: PLZ! And how he whisked her away!? Sign me UPPPP!
@FreakedOutFan08: I'm already working on the fan fic now! Chase looks like he would put u thru a fxckn mattress!
Everrrrr4eva: You see how he protected her!?! That man ain’t got a harmful bone in his body, no way he did what Chanel said!
“Well at least the consensus seems to be leaning in our favor,” I said with a shrug.
“Okay, this may be good,” she mumbled and rubbed her temples. I paused looking over at her in concern.
“You good?” The look on her face wouldn't even allow me to conjure up a nickname for her. She looked like she was in pain.
“I'm good,” she answered lowly. “Just a migraine. I get them all the time.”
I nodded, remembering how rough those were on my mother. I knew she wasn't necessarily good, regardless of how tough she tried to play it.
“What can I do to help?” I asked sincerely.
“Nothing, nothing… I'm good. I just forgot my pills at the house. I can get them later. I'll be fine,” she assured me.
“Nah, we can go get those now. I'm not about to have you out here suffering and shit,” I said before turning to the driver and requesting he take us to her rental.
“No, it's no big deal. I have work to do today and they usually take me out for a few hours, so let's just get to work on debriefing.” She shook her head and then winced, covering her eyes from the sunlight.
“Amaya, I don't know what part of what I just said sounded like a question. But we're going to get your fucking medicine,” I asserted.
The driver raised his brows looking between us in amusement, but he knew who signed his checks, so he went ahead and drove us to their house like I requested.
“Put these on,” I said, handing her my sunglasses.
She finally listened and threw them on, leaning her head back.
I knew for a fact that she had a pair of her own in her bag, but fuck that, she was wearing mine.
The further we rode, the worse she seemed to get and by the time we made it to their rental, I was ready to put hands on someone again just because she was in pain.
I quickly hopped out to grab her door for her and signaled to the driver that I was going inside without her seeing.
“You didn't have to walk me in.” She mugged me as we walked in the front door.
I looked around the space curiously, finally seeing where she had been laying her head when she stayed out here. It was nice and cozy, five times smaller than my house now, but still seemingly twenty times bigger than the one I grew up in.
“Where's Jocelyn?" I asked. They pulled off before we did, so she should have been there.
“I told her I was coming straight here, so she said she was gonna go out and do some things in the city.”
“Oh,” I whispered. “Well I’ll stay with you until you get to feeling better.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes, then winced at the bright lighting.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
She started to argue, but her face went vacant before she dashed to the nearest bathroom.
All too familiar with the whole process, I went to the fridge, pulling out an ice pack.
By the time she came back, wearing a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, I had stripped down to my undershirt and pants, and had ditched my shoes.
“Really, Chase. You can go now,” she mumbled, accepting the ice pack that I handed her.
“I told you that I’m stayin’ until you feel better,” I said dismissively.
“Chase.” She rolled her eyes, stubborn as fuck, but if she wanted me gone, she was gonna have to move me, or at the very least ask me to leave directly instead of insinuating it.
“You need to eat, which one you want? “ I asked, pulling the premade containers out of her fridge and reading the labels. “Lasagna bake or chicken fried rice?”
“The rice,” she rolled her eyes. I immediately went to heat it up for her. I would have ordered her something, or even cooked, but I noticed that she hadn’t had anything to eat all day and knew that probably wasn’t helping her any. Getting her fed was my number one priority.
We sat in silence as she slowly ate her food, and even more silence when her medicine put her straight to sleep. I put up her leftovers and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen before rejoining her on the couch and falling asleep my damn self. When I woke up, I noticed a text from Nik.
Niko:
Nigga, where you at? You tryna get into something tonight?
Me
Home. I came home and crashed. I’ll probably be in the bed for the rest of the night.
Niko
You good? It’s like 6pm. I know your ass is on a tight schedule and if you take a nap too late in the day, then it messes up the routine.
Me
I’m good. Just been staying up a lot more at night. This shit has me really fucked up.
Niko
Yeah, I know, bro. We got this shit tho’. As long as you don’t piss Amaya off again, this will all be behind us in no time.
Me
Yeah, man. I’m doin everything in my power to keep her happy.
As I sent that last text, I looked over at her peacefully sleeping. At least I could say that I was telling the truth, but if I were to give him my reasoning, he would cuss me the fuck out.
Niko
Aight, bet. Let me know if you change your mind. Later.
I put the phone down just as Amaya stirred herself awake. My dumbass quickly looked off into nothing so I wouldn’t be caught staring and felt stupid as fuck.
“Why are you still here?” she groaned and rolled her eyes.
“I told you like ten times, Darth I’m just making sure you’re good. You feelin’ better?”
“Much better, thank you… asshole.” She softened for just a moment, even the “asshole” felt affectionate, then her face broke into a frown again.
“But you gotta go. This is highly inappropriate.” I scowled, pouted even, but I knew she was right—I had no fucking business even being there.
She was a grown ass woman and had undoubtedly survived headaches before. What the fuck was I even doing?
“You right. Let me get outta here. Is there anything else you need before I head out?” I asked as I sent a text to the driver to come get me.
“I’m fine, just gonna grab a snack and go to bed.”
“Here, I’ll grab it. What you want?” I asked. I could tell that she started to argue, then decided against it.
“Grapes and pineapple.”
“Bet,” I answered, hopping up to run to the kitchen. I made her a quick bowl of fruit and grabbed a water bottle before damn near sprinting back to the living room. The urge to serve her was stronger than my self preservation as I damn near ended my career by crashing into a wall.
“You good?” she asked, giving me a funny look when I made it back to the couch.
“I’m fine. I just miscalculated a turn. I’m good,” I assured her as I sat next to her, handing her the bowl of fruit and watching her lips as she took the first bite.
“Thank you,” she said again, licking pineapple juice that dripped down her lip. I never wanted to be a pineapple more in my fucking life.
“Anytime,” I said back with a smile, only for disappointment to take over when I got the text from my driver letting me know that he was outside. “That’s my ride… I guess I’ll see you in a few days,” I said quietly, knowing that I would miss her every fucking second.