Chapter 34 #2
“Chase, stop.” She places the tips of her fingers gently on my lips to stop me. “I knew you were chronically single when I met you.”
My mouth turns down, hating that description.
It’s all I get in the papers, playboy-bachelor-this and playboy-bachelor-that, and most of the time, reporting hookups that are completely fabricated.
Okay, when I was younger, it was a different story.
But the me of today just cringes and longs for something a little steadier, a little deeper to sink into and start to call home.
“As long as you’re not sleeping with anyone else at the same time as me—”
“Are you fucking insane, why would I do that?” I blurt out, swiftly followed by a plunging thought. “Wait, are you sleeping with anyone else?”
“What? No!”
I groan quietly with relief, dipping my head. “Thank god, because I would have had to hunt him down and rip his head off…or maybe challenge him to a duel.”
“Sword or pistol?” Pepper grins, raises a teasing eyebrow and toying with the hair at the nape of my neck while we slowly dance.
“Pistol, obviously! What is this, the Middle Ages?”
“You’re the one running around challenging people to duels. You tell me!” She laughs in a way that makes her cheeks puff up for a moment.
“I’d duel a hundred men all at once, if I had to.” I grin, swiping a stray hair away that is caught in the gloss on her lips. “I’d do anything for you, Peppercorn,” I add quietly as an afterthought, my chest squeezing as her eyes round in surprise.
I sink my hand into the back of her hair and dip my head to graze our lips, not caring how many eyes we might have on us. “You really do look incredibly beautiful tonight, baby. And I can’t wait to get back to my place and devour that sweet little pussy.”
Her breath rushes into my mouth, sweet and warm.
I give her the faintest whisper of a kiss and then pull back, smirking as my sweet girl groans and leaves her lips angled to me for a moment like I might give her more.
Like she wants me to give her everything I’ve got.
Her big Bambi eyes flutter open, flicked with deep, smoky eyeshadow.
“Chase,” she whispers, tracing her tongue across her lip. My heart races, her eyes glistening with warmth and wide open, baring the flames of her soul for me. “I—”
“Pepper Quinn?”
We both jerk out of the soft little cocoon wrapped around us. Two police officers in uniform stand next to a smug-faced Detective York, his moustache neatly groomed within an inch of his life above the collar of his shirt.
I barely have time to register what their appearance means before one of the officers reaches for Pepper’s arm, attempting to remove her from my grip. I knock his hand away, fixing him with a warning glare as I turn to the detective.
“What business do you have here? This is a private event.”
Moustache simply glares at me before turning his attention to Pepper. “Pepper Quinn, you are under arrest for unauthorized access to a computer system and extortion.”
“What?” Pepper demands, drawing her torso away as the uniformed officer reaches for her again.
Fury licks at my throat, hot and overpowering. I move Pepper behind me, noting that most of the guests have now noticed the interaction and stare unashamedly. “You’ve already arrested her, she’s out on bail.”
The detective grimaces, revealing a chipped front tooth. “Your little girlfriend here has had her bail revoked, because it seems she didn’t stop playing with people’s lives when she got arrested the first time.”
“I haven’t done anything!” Pepper exclaims behind me, a tremble around the edges of her indignation.
“Tell it to the courts, Miss Quinn.” He growls and turns to his officers. “Arrest her, and arrest him too if he obstructs you.”
Flames fan my chest, and my own heartbeat thuds in my ears as I glare at the uniformed officers, one tall and lanky, and the other a stout female. “I’m not letting you take her.”
“Chase,” Pepper says quietly from behind, her hand curling around my arm. “Don’t get yourself in trouble.”
I angle my body to look at her, tears pooling in those beautiful eyes but a small, encouraging smile on her face.
“I’ll be okay, we’ll get this ironed out. I didn’t do what they’re saying.”
“She’s right, Chase.” A low voice appears at my other side, Zeke’s quiet, demanding presence stealing over me. “Let her go, we’ll get to the bottom of this, but there is no sense in you both going to jail.”
I try to swallow, but it gets stuck. No, is all I can think as I turn to face her, the creeping worry I’ve been trying to ignore for the past few weeks in the run up to her trial glaring like an overpowering foghorn.
“It’s okay,” she whispers, leaning up to cup my cheek. “I’ll be okay, but before I go, I need to tell you—”
“We don’t have time for emotional goodbyes, this is an arrest, not a departure lounge. Arrest her!”
I grit my teeth at the prostration of the detective behind us and sense the uniformed officers closing in. One reaches for her again, and I drag Pepper out of reach.
“Wait!” I snap their way, feeling my grip on my control waning.
I feel like I’ve slipped off a cliff edge and I’m tumbling through branches, each layer snapping at my skin and bruising as I plunge toward a reality I don’t want to face.
“Chase, stop!” Zeke pulls me by my arm, strong enough that I jerk back. “You’re making this worse than it needs to be.”
I know he’s right, but I just can’t bear it.
I can’t bear to have her dragged away to face this alone.
My momentary distraction gives the officer an in to reach her, and before I can catch up to what is happening, Pepper is out of my arms and handcuffs are being snapped onto her wrists.
Zeke holds me back as I struggle, a coppery tang coating my tongue.
Mason appears in my eyeline, his face grim. “Zeke is right, let her go and we’ll fix this together.”
“Chase, you have to listen to me!” Pepper snaps, determination coating her pallid face. “I’d planned on telling you when we got home, but one of the ghost IPs that hacked your system was also used to upload a manifesto onto the dark web.”
My brain races to catch up, torn between wanting to tear the officer touching her limb from limb and rushing to understand what she’s saying as the officers begin to drag her away.
“It has to be the key!” she shouts, a tear spilling over her face. “Use it!”
She slips through my fingers like water, leaving me breathless and reeling as she allows the officer to turn her away and march her toward the entrance. The sea of captivated guests part, and one nearby face leaps out amongst them.
My blood turns to ice as Jeremy Rènir Junior lifts a champagne glass to me in silent toast, his face contorted into wicked, malignant victory.
It all clicks into place at lightning speed…
this festering excuse of a man sits at the core of this whole thing.
I know a setup when I see one, and something inside me snaps.
A deep restraint I’ve constructed to keep back a part of me born of darkness and hate shatters, a ringing sound erupting in my ears as everything fades away except his smug face bathed in a haze of red.
I roar with obsidian fury and launch myself at him.