Chasing Leah (Journey Series) (28 page)

I snort out a laugh before
standing up and angrily tossing the throw pillow back onto the couch. “Yeah
well he can pretty much persuade anyone. You should have just punched him in
that stupid sexy smirk I’m sure he was giving you and slammed the door in his
face. I’m not surprised you believed
him,
you’re like
the most naïve person around. Thanks for being such a great friend!” I shout
out before practically running to my room and slamming the door behind me.

I glance over at Caleb who’s
curled up with his arms wrapped around that damn stuffed bear Chase got him.
Stupid bear.
Luckily my mad fit hadn’t caused him to move an
inch.

I instantly regret my words and
wish I could erase them and the hurt look that covered
Allys
face. I head to bed though and figure I’ll deal with her in the morning. That
would be one relationship that I couldn’t live without, she really is like a
sister to me and I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life.

                                                                                                                                                               
               
*****************************************

A few weeks went by and I
managed to pick up my ‘Avoid Chase’ game pretty easily. Maybe I had picked the
wrong career path in nursing I could totally be one of those secret spies. I
still got plenty of phone calls and text messages almost on a daily message
from him but I deleted those before reading them. Caleb asked a few times when
he could see Chase but after awhile he must’ve given him because he gave up
that topic pretty quickly.

Ally had
been
understanding
with my outburst at her and she had kept mum on the whole
situation after that. I kept myself busy with work and school once again and
used up most of my free time at the campus
rec
center
and Caleb loved to go swimming in the pool with the water slide. I knew I could
most definitely avoid Chase there since he always used the convenient gym at
the complex.

 
But I was basically going through the motions,
even with the betrayal it was still hard just
to
completely shut off all thoughts and feelings I had for Chase. That asshole had
wormed his way right into my heart and I didn’t know how to get him out.

Remy had tried to chime in after
the whole situation too. She had showed up that night after the band was
already done performing and she admitted she didn’t see Chase which only added
fuel to the evidence I had. He was probably buried under
Missys
massive chest by that time. I hope she smothers him to death with those things.
Remy said that she heard through Mark that was Chase was pretty miserable
without me though and he had never seen him that bummed out before. Good I hope
he was miserable, it’s not like I did anything wrong.

Plus I had other things to deal
with like the strange behavior from Ally. She and
Skylar
were no longer attached at the hips like Siamese twins anymore and I couldn’t
remember the last time I had seen him. She always seemed to dance around the
topic whenever I brought it up and insisted she just wanted some time with me
and Caleb. I couldn’t blame her for that though. I loved having her around and
so did Caleb. He loved being spoiled by the both of us.

Of course my espionage all came
to a screeching
halt
almost a month after seeing Chase
for the last time. I knew it was bound to happen since we lived right across
the hall from each other but I didn’t have myself prepared for it. I forgot one
of my papers that was due that day and rushed home to get it before my class
started and bam, I ran into a solid wall of muscle. Without looking up I knew
it was
Chases
familiar body and I tried to shove past
him quickly but it was a loss effort.

“Whoa Leah, stop please.” He dug
his fingers slightly into my shoulders as I pushed all my weight against him
and of course he didn’t move a
freakin
’ inch. “Chase
I really can’t do this right now, just move.”

He placed two fingers under my
chin, forcing me to look up into his glowing green eyes. That was the one thing
I was trying most to avoid, those eyes still managed to melt the ice on my
insides and I quickly found an interesting spot on the wall behind him. He
sighed in defeat when I still refused to look at him and dropped his hands to
his sides.

“Fine go ahead Leah, just keep
running and avoiding me, it’s what you do best.”

“Excuse me? I’m pretty sure I
have a right to avoid you,” I jab a finger into his chest as I feel the anger
rise up in my chest, I’ve been keeping it in for the past month and he’s
causing it to bubble over.

 
“
Its
not my fault you messed something perfectly good up. I love you so much,” I
stop myself after I realize what words just came out of my mouth. I don’t want
to give him any hope in rekindling our relationship and I’m pretty sure I just
saw one of those hopeful looks just
flutter
across his
stupid perfect face.

“Loved you so much,” I correct
myself. “You fucked that up Chase with that slut. I’m sure you’ll be real happy
with her. Just make sure to schedule a doctor’s appointment, stat. I’m sure she
gave you a few special presents.”
“Leah, please just let me explain. It’s not like that at all. We still have
something here. You’re the only one that I love, the only one for me. No other
girls matter please, especially not that one. Just give me five minutes.”

“Fine Chase,” I unlock the
apartment door and hold it open for him to follow me in. He just stands there
looking at me from the hallway with a hurt look still plastered on his face.

 
“C’mon times a ticking, you now have about
four minutes left. Just promise you’ll leave me alone after this.”

He finally follows in while
shutting the door behind himself and trails behind me as I go towards my room
to find the missing paper. “Can you at least look at me well I try to explain
myself,” he whispers to me.

“’Kay I’m all ears Chase.” I
flop down on my bed and he kneels next to me as I see his throat working with a
thick swallow. “I never touched her Leah.
Ever.
I
wouldn’t…I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Really Chase. I’m pretty sure
after all the alcohol you consumed that night you were really thinking clearly and
don’t even try to use that as an excuse.”

“I admit I drank a lot that
night. I was celebrating the job that I landed,” he takes another swallow
before continuing on, “but Teddy was with me all night and he can back up my
story. I know you don’t think he’s a very reliable source but he’s never lied
to you before, right? And besides he’s practically been waiting outside your
door ever since we started dating waiting for me to screw up so he can swoop
in.”

I slowly shake my head even
though I regret agreeing with him.
“That girl.
Missy.
She’s a regular groupie, she’s always around at every
performance and constantly throwing herself at me. You’ve probably even seen
her before if you think about it.”

 
Well since all I have to remember her by is a
pair of very fake boobs I probably wouldn’t recognize her very quickly unless
she’s walking around topless. I guess that could be a possibility. “So how
exactly did her underwear end up in your pocket Chase? I’d love to hear your
excuse for that.”

He rubs his hands roughly over
his face at my question. “I truthfully don’t know the answer to that question
Leah. She probably slipped them in when she was trying to grind up on me. Teddy
said before he pulled me
outta
there she wrapped her
whole body around me. She knows about you, I’m sure she’s seen you before so
she was probably trying to make me look guilty. But I’m not really Leah,
please. Teddy saw how much I drank so we left and he took me out for some
coffee before driving me and the truck home. A buddy of his followed us back
and gave Teddy a ride after dropping me off that night. Listen I know I had a
lot to drink that night but I was still in control. Nothing happened.” He looks
back at me with his pleading green eyes.

“How did she know about me
working then and what about her text saying you were complaining about me?”

He shrugs his shoulders before
answering. “Leah all I do is talk about you, the guys probably think it’s
pathetic but I don’t really care. If she was hanging around she probably heard
me saying something about you having to work, I think me and Mark were planning
on coming in the next night with Caleb when you and Remy were working together.
And the whole complaining thing?
I don’t know. She was
probably making it up, hoping you would be the one to check my phone.”

I sit there quietly while
running his explanation through my head and letting the words sink in. I don’t
know what to think, it sounds believable and I’ve definitely seen the girls
that try to throw themselves at the guys.

“Please Leah, just give me a
chance. You have to trust me on
this,
I would never do
anything to hurt you or Caleb. You both mean so much to me.”

 
I make the mistake of looking into his green
eyes again and can see the hurt running through them.

“Fine Chase.
Say I believe you. But we aren’t going to just jump right back into our
relationship,
I need to build the trust back up before we
can go any further. And I don’t want Caleb to get hurt again.”

 
I stand up off the bed to reach for my bag and
he grips me in a tight hug and I’m instantly swept away by the warmth and
familiar scent of Chase.

“If that’s what it takes Leah.
I’ll do anything,” he murmurs into my hair.

“And I’m staying here with Ally,
we don’t need to be living together right now, I just need a little more time.”

I see a flash of pain cross his
face at my words but it’s quickly replaced by a small crooked smile and I know
it’s for the best even if it hurts a little bit. I never intended for things to
move so quickly with Chase and maybe we need to slow things down a bit to see
if things will really work out.

 
We’re still young and even though I’m a little
more mature for my age with the responsibility of having a kid, Chase might
figure out he’s not ready for an instant family.

“I need to get going,” I glance
down at my watch before heading towards the front door. “Shit I am so late.”

“I can give you a ride Leah.”

“No that’s
okay,
I don’t want to have to depend on you for everything Chase. Plus we’re starting
things slow and we’ll see how that goes, ’
kay
?”

“Okay Leah. Do you mind if I
call you later maybe we can catch a movie sometime this week or grab dinner or
something?”

“Yeah that would be good. I’ll
talk to you later.” I wave over my shoulder as I hurry down the stairs.

I’m not sure if our relationship
we’ll ever be the same again even if I do believe him which I’m pretty sure I
do. I know how other girls can be sometimes. And he’s right about Teddy, he’s
constantly trying to win me over with his smooth lines that work on everyone
but me so that makes me believe the stories true. This time I’ll just have to
keep my head on straight with Chase and try not to let my heart lead the way.

Chase

So I finally caught her and
convinced her to listen to me. God I missed her so much, just being around her
instantly calmed me down and made me relax, I was finally able to
breath
normally again for the first time since she shut me
out.

 
And the way she was chewing on that full pink
lip of hers, something I had figured out pretty quickly she did when she was
deep in thought. I just wanted to lean over and bite that lip to taste her but
I resisted. I knew if that happened she would of freaked the fuck out and I
woulda
been back to square one with her. And then she tells
me she wants to take things slow, I don’t think I can do slow with Leah.

 
Whenever I’m around her I want to toss her
over my shoulder and hop the next plane to Vegas, dragging her to one of those
cheesy Elvis chapels so I can put a ring on her finger before her head stops
spinning and she starts doing that thinking thing again.

Nope couldn’t do that, I would
have way too many pissed off people back at home to deal with and I know we
couldn’t do anything without Caleb. He would be just as much of a part of our
little family as Leah would so that definitely wasn’t an option. I needed a
plan to win Leah over and make her see that things with us just couldn’t move
slowly, they were more like a speeding train without the brakes on and no stops
ahead.

I knew I needed to head over to
the one place I always went to and got the best advice.
Moms.
She was still pissed at me with everything that happened with Leah even though
I didn’t do anything wrong, she still said I was an asshole for drinking that
much and letting things get out of hand. I grab my phone out of my pocket
before hopping into my truck and making the short drive to my moms.

“Hey Al….yup I finally got
through to her…….I
know
about damn time…………..
you
think you could help me with something?”

                                                                                                                               
****************************************

Leah

Almost a week had passed since I
had forgiven Chase and he had yet to call. His truck had been missing from the
parking lot anytime I was home and I never saw a sliver of light peeking out
from the hallway. It now seemed like he was the one avoiding me.