Chasing Bliss (33 page)

They stared at each other, but he didn’t answer her.

“What else happened today?”

He looked her in the eyes; he couldn’t lie to her. “I can’t…I just can’t tell you.”

Bliss took two steps away from him, and Chase noticed her trying to put distance between them.
“This is all about that guy Wolf, isn’t it? What’s going on with him? Is he looking for you?”

“Not anymore. Wolf’s dead,” he said flatly.

Bliss seemed shocked. “
Really?
Did you have anything to do with that?”

Chase didn’t answer her, and he couldn’t bring himself to maintain eye contact. She took another
step away from him—something else he noticed—but he didn’t open his mouth. Bliss looked at
him like she was afraid of him, and that broke his heart. He’d die before he hurt Bliss.

“
Who are you, Chase?”
she asked, looking at him in disbelief, rubbing her temples. “I mean
you’re this sweet, romantic, wonderful person to me…but…but I’d have to be blind and stupid not
to wonder if you’re also not somebody totally different—somebody I don’t know at all.
Who the
hell are you, Chase?
”

He reached out to touch her, but Bliss stepped away from him.
That hurt
. He disregarded her
move and reached for her again, and she darted away from him like he had a contagious disease.
Chase frowned. “What’s the matter, Bliss? You don’t want me to touch you? You scared of me?
Don’t say you’re scared of me, Bliss. Please.” Chase wasn’t one to beg anyone, let alone a woman,
but if Bliss wanted him crying and on his knees, that was what he would do to keep her. She was
staring at him with extra wide eyes. He took a step toward her, but while she didn’t retreat, she
looked like she was ready to run if he came any closer. “Bliss! Please, baby,” he said, struggling to
keep his voice calm. “It’s me. I’m just me…Chase. That’s who I am, the man who loves you.”

She looked at him like she was searching his eyes for the truth. He took another step toward her,
and she bolted away from him and ran into the bedroom.

Oh God! This can’t be happening!
He didn’t mean to run after her, but that was exactly what he
did. “Bliss!”

She ran into the bathroom and tried to slam the door in his face, but he grabbed the knob.

“Stop, Bliss! You act like I’m gonna hurt you! Bliss, please. Stop!
Please
!” Chase was yelling at
her and acting aggressive, and when he caught himself and realized it, he cautiously backed away.
He could hear her crying—because of him—and it ripped his heart out. Chase leaned with his back
against the dresser and waited for her. It was time for a time-out. Things were escalating out of
control. He waited for her for twenty minutes, until she stopped sobbing.

Bliss cracked the door open, and they stared at each other. Her eyes were red, and her face was
puffy from crying, but he was so glad she’d come out of there that it was almost irrational.

“You ready to talk?” Chase asked in a very tentative voice. He was afraid to move, fearing she’d
bolt back in the bathroom.

She wiped the tears off her face with the heel of her hand. “Yes,” she said with a weak smile.

That’s at least a good sign.
“Okay,” he said and pushed away from the dresser. He stood there
indecisively. “Are you gonna come over here, or do you want me to come over there?”

She started crying again, but she was still smiling. She wiggled her finger at him. “You come
here.”

“Okay.” He walked over to her, and she opened the door all the way.

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him like she loved him. “This thing between us is
bigger than we are, Chase. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know. I love you more than anything, Bliss. You’re not gonna leave me are you? I’ll do
anything you say. Just please don’t go.”

She smiled at him. “I love you too. I can’t go anywhere. Seems like we’re meant to be, Chase.
Come here.”

He frowned and stepped into the bathroom with her.

Bliss handed him a white plastic stick off the counter. “I
have
to marry you next Saturday. We
made a baby.”

She caught him off guard and knocked him for a loop with that one, and his mouth dropped
open. “Oh shit, Bliss,” he said softly, his voice filled with wonder and surprise. He wanted it and
meant for it to happen. It had been his aim. He was just shocked it had happened so quickly. “Are
you serious?” His heart was beating fast; this was monumental.

Bliss smiled and raised his hand, holding the pregnancy test up to his face. “Look at it.”

He did, and she was. “Oh shit, Bliss,” he said again.

Bliss couldn’t stop herself from smiling at him. “Is that all you can say? Are you happy?”

He smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Are you gonna marry me?
Really
marry me?”

She nodded, smiling and crying at the same time. “Uh-huh. I can’t wait.”

He kissed her slow and tender, with all the love he had in his heart. “Yeah, I’m happy, Bliss—
real happy.”

Chapter 19

“I
told you that negro was gonna get you pregnant, didn’t I? It was all in his eyes, Bliss. You
could smell it on his damned breath. I knew it,” Tasha said, grinning. She sat across from
Bliss eating pancakes and turkey sausage, while Bliss nursed dry toast and weak tea.

Bliss didn’t answer her right away, because she was trying real hard to keep from throwing
up.

Tasha kept smiling and eating. “Yep, I told you. Chase came up in here with his fine ass and his
charmingly boyish swagger and knocked your ass down, and then he knocked your ass up. I knew
you needed a condom for his ass—no pills, no shots, no foam. You needed a goddamned
barrier
method
for that fertile brother.” She leaned forward and pointed her fork at Bliss. “Your mother’s
gonna kill you…and your daddy’s gonna kill Chase.”

Bliss drank some of her tea. “Nobody’s killing anybody. Everything’s gonna be fine.” She was
still dressed in her robe, and she should have been ready an hour ago. They were in St. Lucia, and
Chase and Bliss were getting married the next day, and they’d all flown down the prior afternoon.
Bliss’s parents had arrived very late the night before, along with her sister and brother, and she
only had about a half-hour before they were supposed to meet for a late brunch. Bliss frowned at
Tasha. “Why are you eating all that now? You won’t even be hungry when you get there.”

Tasha ate the last of her sausage and licked syrup off her fingers. “I had the munchies. I’ll have
‘em again at brunch.”

Bliss smiled and shook her head. “You better stop blazin’ trees. You’re gonna get fat.”

Tasha looked pointedly at Bliss’s midsection. “Not before you do.”

“Later for you, Tash.”

They shared a laugh and then settled back in their chairs.

Tasha smiled and looked at her a long time. “You look happy, Bliss.”

Bliss laughed. “That’s because I am.”

“Good. In that case, I’m happy for you, but…” She trailed off and looked at the closed bedroom
door. They were in Bliss and Chase’s suite, and he was in there getting dressed.

Bliss frowned, not feeling where the conversation was going. She pushed her engagement ring
up on her finger and blinked at Tasha. “What? Go ahead and tell me what you want me to hear, but
go easy on my husband. I’m serious, Tasha.”

Tasha sucked her teeth. “Listen to you!
Go easy on my husband
. Girl, he ain’t your husband
yet. Right now he’s your baby’s daddy. Lighten up! This is just me—Tasha—and we talk shit to
each other, remember? You’re my girl, Bliss, and I would never try to ruin your big day for you.
Although I do have to admit that I’m a little jealous—
not hating
. Never hating, just jealous.” She
leaned forward and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do you really know what you’re getting into?
As much as I like Chase, he got some real gangster shit about him. Don’t ignore that just ‘cause
you love him, Bliss. That shit ain’t play-play.
That shit is real
.”

Bliss sighed. “Come on, Tash—”

Tasha leaned even closer and grabbed her hand. “Listen, Bliss…I stitched Chase’s head up
myself. I saw his X-rays. Whoever hit him in his head like that wasn’t his goddamned friend. They
were tryin’ to hurt him real bad. A little to the left, and they would have. His brother is a drug dealer
whose club was
on the news
gettin’ shot—”

Bliss held her hands up. “I know about all that stuff. We talked about it,
all of it
. This is
our
decision, and none of that other stuff matters. The only thing that does matter is that we love each
other…and we’re having a baby.”

Chase walked in the bedroom looking handsome in a cream Prada shirt and a pair of jeans.
“Hey, Tasha. What’s up?”

Tasha gave him the once-over. “You look nice, but Bliss’s mother is gonna make you tuck your
shirt in.”

Chase sat next to Bliss and kissed her quick. “Yeah, well, speaking of Bliss’s mother, you could
use a little Visine to keep her off you.” He smiled when he said it, so Tasha wasn’t offended.

She got up and came around the table. “Your ass wasn’t complainin’ when I was sewin’ your
head up.” She put a hand under his chin and looked into his eyes. “Very nice. The hemorrhaging
cleared up nicely,” she said in her doctor-like voice. “You’re a fast healer,” she noticed, since she’d
only taken the stitches out a couple days earlier.

“Thanks to you.”

She shrugged and picked up her bag. “Anytime, but keep you gangster shit to a minimum
please.”

Chase’s eyes twinkled. “I’m no gangster, Tasha. That was Cyrus’s beef, not mine.”

She smiled at him knowingly. “I’ll bet you got a bridge you want to sell me too. Y’all better
hurry up. This brunch is for you, you know. See you downstairs.” She threw some shades on and
slammed out the door.

Chase laughed and stood up, shaking his head.

Bliss stood too.

“Tasha is bananas. She was tryin’ to convince you not to marry me, wasn’t she?”

Bliss smiled and put her arms around his waist. “No, not really. She was just a little concerned
that maybe I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, marrying a gangster.”

Chase frowned. “I’m not a gangster, Bliss. I’m a businessman.”

She patted his cheek. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure most so-called gangsters see themselves that
way.”

Chase blinked hard and raised his eyebrows. “So what you sayin’, Bliss?
I told you,
I’m not a
gangster. Every business I own is legitimate. I run ‘em straight, and I pay taxes and bills just like
everybody else. I ain’t no drug dealer like Cyrus.”

Bliss looked at him warily. There
was
that one thing still between them. “Okay, baby. Let me
ask you a question or two then. Why did you come home all bloody like that the day you got hit in
the head, and what were you doing the day Cyrus shot you?”

Chase wouldn’t look at her. He smiled and gently stepped out of her arms. “You know I can’t
tell you, Bliss.”

She stared at him. “Why not? I’m about to become your
wife
. I’m not just your girlfriend
anymore.”

“Yeah.
Wife
. That’s the operative word. It’s my job to protect you, Bliss…and our baby. I’m not
tellin’ you ‘cause I don’t really think you need to know. The less you know, the better, at least while
I finish disentangling myself from Cyrus.
When I’m done, I promise you, Bliss, I’ll be done…
unless I just can’t go another way.”

Bliss looked him in the eye. “I already know, Chase,” she said.

Chase looked at her like he was holding his breath, and maybe he was. This was serious. “You
already know what, Bliss?”

Bliss looked at Chase looking back at her. If someone had told her what she
knew
was true about
Chase, she wouldn’t have believed them, even though all the pieces fit. She’d turned everything
over in her mind. She’d made her deduction on Sunday morning, reading the paper in bed, with
Chase sound asleep beside her. It was an epiphany. She’d finally put her finger on what she couldn’t
quite put her finger on, and it hit her right between the eyes like a sledgehammer. She shook her
head slowly. “I don’t think you’re a gangster, Chase. I think you’re something else.”

He spread his feet and folded his arms across his chest. “What am I, Bliss?”

She looked at him with his head cocked to the side and his jaw set defiantly so she could see
the scar underneath. Ice glistened in his eyes. Still, there was that boyishness about him, because
his hands were tucked under his arms, and he couldn’t be still. His body swayed slightly, and
he shifted from one foot to the other. Bliss gave him a small smile, and his eyebrows went up.
“Don’t be like that with me, Chase. I don’t want anything to be between us, baby—not even this…
especially not this. I’d never tell on you, Chase, and I’ll never leave you. I
love
you.” Bliss knew
exactly where she stood in Chase’s heart. She knew she
owned
it. There was nothing she could even
begin to think of that he wouldn’t do for her. He’d move mountains to keep her happy. She knew
it bothered him deeply whenever they argued, and if she decided to walk away from him, it would
seriously fuck him up. She knew Chase was marrying her because he was so in love with her that
it was almost a physical ache when he couldn’t be with her. She knew exactly how he felt, because
she felt the same way about him. She touched his hand, and Chase dropped his funky little posture
immediately, but he looked away from her, even as his fingers curled around hers.

“I never thought I’d meet you, Bliss. I would have done everything different if I had known you
were waitin’ for me. I swear to God I would have.”

Bliss nodded. “I know, baby. I believe you.” She put her hand on his face. “Chase, look at
me.”

He closed his eyes and turned his face away. “I can’t. Don’t ask me to.”

She put her arms around him, and he put his around her and held her tight. “Chase…Cyrus
makes you kill people for him, doesn’t he?”

“Yes.”

She wasn’t shocked because she already knew it was true. “That’s why you’re always fighting
with him, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“You hurt a few people that night at Cyrus’s opening, didn’t you, baby?”

He took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“What about Wolf? Did you do that?”

He didn’t answer that right away. The story had been in the paper for two days, and it was a
gruesome tale. “Yes. Yes, Bliss. Please don’t ask me any more questions. Please.”

She put a hand on either side of his face and made him look at her. “We can’t take back what’s
already happened, but we can always try to do better. No more, Chase. No more.”

He nodded, and that was good enough for her—at least for the moment.

“Good,” Bliss said. She undid the belt to her robe and let it fall to the floor, smiling at him.
“Now show me how much you love me.”

They were an hour late to their own brunch.