Chapter 11 #2
“Oh. I want. But if you’ll excuse me, there’s something I forgot to take care of after today’s work. Wait here for me. I’ll be right back and then I’m going to kiss you and make it so you forget what it’s like to have any other man put his lips on yours.”
“It wasn’t even a kiss,” I begin.
Too late. Chase flashes me a grin that doesn’t quite meet his dark blue eyes, then leaves the cabin.
I almost follow after him. The strange way he was acting…
I probably should’ve. But I trust him, and he said that he had to take care of something he forgot, and I figured it had something to do with whatever scavenging the team got done today—and I believe that for about five minutes before a loud commotion sounds from outside the cabin and I know… I just know… that Chase is in trouble.
I’m partially right. When I follow the painful sounds of thudding flash and a gathered crowd, I see that he’s definitely involved, but Chase isn’t the one in trouble. Oh, no. It’s Nicky who is flat on his back, Chase straddling him as he punches the handyman in the face.
Fuck!
I’ve never seen this side of Chase before. In a flash, I remember Chase admitting that he was the one who jumped Scott Green back in middle school. Chase is taller and stronger and even more determined now as he beats the shit out of Nicky.
He’ll kill him. I’m one hundred percent positive of that. If I don’t stop him, he’ll kill him.
“Chase? What are you—no! Stop this!”
I’ll say one thing for him. Chase pauses as he hears my panicked voice, head shooting up to search for me. Unfortunately, that gave Nicky the chance to buck Chase enough that he can get a sucker punch in while Chase is distracted.
Stupid move. Chase hits him again.
“Enough!”
I’m not the only one who was summoned by the fight. David comes running from the pavilion, grabs Chase beneath the arms, and hefts him up before hauling him backward. It takes monumental effort, and I think he only managed to do so because Chase realized that Nicky stopped fighting back.
That doesn’t mean he goes quietly.
“He kissed my wife without her permission! He fucking touched her when he knows she’s mine!”
“He fucking touched her!”
“I said enough, Knight. You hear me?”
Chase jerks out of David’s grip. For one horrible second, I think he’s going to swing at him, too, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he runs his bloodied knuckles through his hair, and tries to get himself under control as a group of three survivors crouch down next to Nicky to make sure he’s still breathing.
A women with her in a dark braid that I haven’t met yet shoots David a thumb’s up.
David wheels on Chase. “Take a walk. Cool off. But don’t go far. Veronica’s gonna want to talk to both of you.”
Chase doesn’t say anything. He just spits blood from where Nicky must’ve caught his lip and nods, walking away from the crowd.
I run over to him. His gaze snaps to mine.
Then he grabs my hand and pulls me away with him, and I… I don’t even try to stop him.
Chase brings me to the edge of the lake.
We don’t have anything like this at the Grave. Growing up, Chase was like a fish in the water. He loves swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. He’d spend hours at Cheesequake Park. Grabbing a rod and heading to Sandy Hook with Mr. Knight was one of his favorite things to do.
Since our arrival at Sunnyside, he finds as many excuses as possible to head down to the lake.
It’s October, and the breeze blowing off of the water means there aren’t that many survivors who like to hang out here.
Sure, there’s a bonfire raging nearly every night for safety reasons, but it’s still more comfortable for the groups on break to gather at the pavilion.
No one is in sight as Chase reaches the shoreline and turns toward me. They’re probably all back by the cabins, trying to figure out what just happened, while we wait for David to report to Veronica.
It’s not going to be good. I tell you that much. Chase just attacked another survivor. I don’t think Veronica is going to let that stand, even if he thinks he had a good reason to go after Nicky.
I have to say something, though. What? No idea, but I try anyway.
“Chase—”
“Don’t ask me to stand there and let somebody else try to claim you.
Because I can’t. You belong to me. You always have.
I just had to wait for you to remember that, but if you think I’ll let you slip out of my hands, baby…
I’ll burn this fucking world down first, then dance with you in the ashes when we’re the only ones left.
You see, I lost my mind when I thought I lost you. And now... now everyone still here knows it.”
He’s not wrong about that. He just beat the shit out of a guy, and maybe I lost my mind, too, because…
fuck. I’ve never been so turned on in my life.
His lower lip is already swelling. His hair is sticking up on end from where he ran his fingers through it.
His knuckles are a mess… and if I wasn’t so worried about what’s going to happen to Chase next, I might follow through on his offer from earlier and throw him to the ground so I can fuck his brains out.
Control, Holden. Keep control.
Chase is trembling. Not only is he dealing with the adrenaline that came with the fight, but he’s looking at me as though already sure that I’m going to use this to push him away even more.
Poor guy. If he had any idea how much I’m working not to pull him closer…
I move the hand he’s clinging to so that I can get a better look at his injuries. Dropping my head, I skin his skin—letting him know without words that I’m not going anywhere just yet—and then forced myself to smile up at him.
“You were the golden boy of the Grave. What happened?”
It was meant to be a tease. Something to take the edge off of the moment.
Not for Chase, though. He answers me as honestly as he usually does.
“What happened? I lost the love of my life. She didn’t know herself.
Didn’t know me. She left me behind, and when I found her again, I was forced to buy her, then touch her in front of a creep.
Then she was thrown into a cell, and I couldn’t stop it from happening.
I had to watch them lead ‘Xandra’ away, and even if Hallie was the one who walked back in that cell, she’s not my Hallie.
Not really. She’s Holden, and I’m okay with that… but I don’t know if she is.”
Suddenly, I can’t breathe. Know why? Because he gets it. Maybe better than I do sometimes.
I squeeze his fingers. “I don’t know, either.”
He looks away. “Maybe… maybe I should go back to the Grave.”
Everything inside me goes cold. “Why? You said you would stay. Why would you leave now?”
He turns back to look me in the face, his eyes meeting mine. “Do you really think she’s going to let me stay?”
Shit. “You’re right. Veronica isn’t gonna be happy that you beat the shit out of her handyman.”
“I know. And it’s more than that. You need time.
Space. I keep saying I’ll give it to you, but I’m still here every fucking second.
Calling you my wife. Losing my shit because another guy kissed you.
” Releasing his hold on me, he scrubs both hands over his face.
“Maybe you’d figure out who Holden is faster if Chase Knight wasn’t standing beside you waiting for her to become Hallie again. ”
Maybe I would, but I don’t care.
“No.”
His hands fall away from his face, a touch of hope filling the corner of his eyes. “No?”
My hands are free now. I use both to grab his shirt. “No.”
“Holden—”
Pulling him by the fabric of his black muscle tank, I yank him down and kiss him.
This? This is a kiss. I don’t just brush my lips across Chase’s like Nicky tried to do to me. I press against him until he opens his mouth beneath my onslaught, shoving my tongue inside of his mouth so that I can fuck his tongue and show him how desperate I am for him.
His arms wrap around me, and at that moment, I’m reminded of what I already know: Chase Knight belongs to me.
When I finally pull away from him, Chase looks stunned. Good. While I have him off-kilter, I might as well go for a knock-out punch of my own.
“Chase?”
“Mm?”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Anything, baby. You know that.”
I grin up at him. “I thought it was super fucking hot, watching you whale on Nicky like that all because he kissed me.”
Chase’s mouth drops open.
I let go of his shirt and jab him in the chest with my pointer finger. “But don’t do it again. I’m not ready to go back to the Grave yet. I just hope that we can convince Veronica to let us stay.”
To let him stay.
My grin dies. The thought of waking up tomorrow and discovering that he’s been kicked out and has to go back to the Grave without me makes something inside me crack wide open, pushing past my earlier arousal and settling on sudden fear. I want to stay, but I won’t do that without Chase.
I don’t know who I am yet—but I know who I want beside me while I figure it out.
I need him. And, before I try to tell myself that I don’t, I throw my arms around him, burying my face in his chest.
“Don’t leave me,” I whisper. “Whatever happens… promise me that you won’t leave me.”
He strokes his hand through my tangled hair. “They’ll have to kill me first.”