Pranked (49 page)

“
D
id
she know we were in Macau?” I’ve been stewing on this whole house issue since we left, and given the length of time it’s taken for us to get back to Vegas, I feel like I’ve held my tongue long enough. Chase hasn’t said a word about it, nor has he looked or acted concerned other than to mention a couple of times that he hoped the deal hadn’t fallen through. It annoys me that the thought Denise could be manipulating him and using the house as an excuse hasn’t even crossed his mind. I want to say something, but I don’t want to come off as a paranoid, jealous psycho if it turns out I’m wrong.

We’re in his car, heading to a meeting with her so he knows who I’m referring to, which saves me from having to say her name.

“Uh, yeah. I had to let her know where I was in case something like this came up.”

“I see.” So he’s still been in contact with her. Of course while the house deal is still pending I really can’t expect anything different. I turn my head to look out the window, trying to keep him from seeing the expression on my face. The ghostly reflection of Chase stares at me through the glass as I struggle to seem disinterested, as if I had simply been curious. It still only takes him a moment of studying me.

“You think she asked me to come back just to ruin our vacation, don’t you?” It’s impossible to hide anything from this man, which is usually infuriating, but this time I’m happy he’s finally clued into the possibility. And I didn’t even have to be the one to bring it up.

I shrug. “I was just asking.” I only pause for a beat before my tongue continues, almost of its own accord. “But now that you mention it, that does seem to be a possibility.”

“Lila,” he begins, his hand reaching out to touch my knee.

“She wants you back,” I cut him off. I’ve said it before, and I know he doesn’t really believe it, but there’s nothing more obvious to me.

“Even if she does, who cares? I don’t want her.” He reaches up, putting his fingers under my chin and turning my head to look at his deep blue eyes. A lock of his blond hair rests just above the left one. “I want you. Only you.”

The car pulls into the parking lot of Denise’s office as he leans in and gives me a quick kiss. I know what he’s saying is true, that it shouldn’t really matter whether Denise wants him or not, as long as he isn’t interested. But I can’t help that it still bothers me. I imagine her sitting around, scheming up new ways to try to break us up and win him back. It’s petty and jealous, but I can’t wait until Chase finally stops talking to her completely.

We head into the office where the receptionist tells us that Denise will be right out, guiding us to some plush leather chairs where we can sit and wait. The office is impressively decorated, which doesn’t surprise me given who works here. Chase mentioned that she only deals with high end clients with expensive houses, so they would expect this sort of atmosphere. Plus it fits with her own personality and tastes. She’s clearly in the right job for her, which just makes my own jealousy spike harder. I wonder whether or not I’m over-reacting after all. Maybe my feelings toward her are less founded in reality than I think. Maybe I’m just jealous of her success, about how well put together she is, or my own insecurities about how a man like Chase would be better off with someone like her than someone like me.

“Chase, darling,” I hear Denise’s annoyingly shrill voice before I see her. She sounds ecstatically happy until I turn around and she notices me as well. “Oh, and you brought your little friend.”

“You remember Lila,” Chase says, standing up. Denise comes forward to give him a kiss but Chase backs up a step and shakes her hand instead. I watch her eyes flit down to his hand in surprise and a quick grimace darkens her face before she turns it into an obviously fake smile.

“Of course. Lila, dear, there’s a coffee machine around the corner. Francesca can show you. I need to borrow Chase for a few minutes. House stuff, you understand.”

I open my mouth to protest, but Chase beats me to it.

“I see no reason why Lila can’t join us.” He reaches toward me and grabs my hand and I appreciate it. Especially when I see the look on Denise’s face. This time she has trouble hiding it as quickly.

“Oh, of course. Fine. Well, if you’ll follow me then.” Denise turns on her heel with a barely audible huff and leads us to a conference room. She closes the door and passes some papers to Chase as we all sit down.

“So what’s the big emergency?” he asked, as he flips through the papers in front of him.

“Oh, there’s no big emergency anymore, I took care of it,” Denise replies casually. Both Chase and I look at her sharply, but she’s staring down at a copy of her own papers, carefully avoiding our gaze.

“Excuse me?” I say, trying to keep my voice from being a shriek or yelling
I told you so
to Chase.

“Denise,” Chase begins, raising a hand to me. His voice is more measured, but I can see that he is steaming as well. “On the phone you told me that something very serious had come up, and that I needed to come in right away to deal with it. We took the first flight out of Macau.” His blue eyes are like ice now as he continues to stare at his ex-girlfriend.

“And it was important. Very. There was a problem with the inspection. But I handled it.” She looked up now and saw the icicles being directed at her. Shifting uncomfortably, she continues to try to explain herself. “I tried to call you back, but I guess you were already in the air. The inspector found some faulty wiring, but I have an electrician that does some work for me sometimes. I had him go over and take a look. He was actually able to fix the issue in a few hours and the current owners paid for it. I thought you’d be pleased.”

I could see Chase’s jaw tense as he continues to stare at Denise. I want to say something, but I know I don’t have to anymore. Chase can finally see what I’ve always seen.

“We were half way around the world.” The words are coming out slowly, as if he is chewing each one of them off and spitting them out.

“Yes, I realize that,” she said, her gaze dropping down again as she fiddles with the forms in front of her. “As I said, I tried to reach you to tell you that I resolved it. It could have been a deal breaker. From what I understand, the way the wiring was at the fuse box could have been a fire hazard.”

Chase is breathing heavily now, keeping his emotions under control. I wish he’d stop holding back, I really want to see him let her have it.

“Fine,” he finally says. “Are we all set then?”

“Yes, there are just a few things for you to sign. I’ve marked them on each page.” She slides a pen forward and he snatches it up. Without another word he begins to sign each page until he’s finished. I look over at Denise who meets my gaze with a smug little smile. If we were eight years old, I expect she would stick her tongue out at me.

When he’s done, he pushes the papers back toward her. “Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s it. With your acceptance of the inspection, all purchase conditions have been met. Other than waiting for your closing date, there’s nothing left standing in the way of you and this house. Congratulations.”

Chase stands up and turns to the door. He’s still seething. “Fine then. Lila, let’s go.” He yanks the door open and strides out without another backward glance. I’ve never seen him this angry, and I’m only glad it’s not directed at me.

This time it’s me who turns and flashes a smug little smile as I too get up to leave. “Looks like your little plan to sabotage us backfired again,” I snark.

Denise purses her lips as she looks up at me. “I don’t need to sabotage anything, dear. Chase and I are inevitable. Unlike you, I can accept him for who he is, I don’t judge his lifestyle or his past. I’ve seen girls like you come and go from his life. You think the two of you are going to end up living happily ever after, but you still have no idea who he is. He won’t marry you. He can’t. So go and have fun. I’ll be here for him when you guys break up. He’s been mad at me before. It’ll pass. Just like you.”

I open my mouth to respond, but instead just shake my head and turn away, walking through the door after Chase. She’s just trying to hurt me. I can’t let anything she says bother me or she wins. No one ever said anything about marrying Chase anyway.

But what did she mean,
he can’t?

“
I
know
, I know, you were right.”

We’re standing outside the real estate office, but Chase is pacing back and forth instead of getting into his car. I haven’t ever seen him this upset. His hands are tightly bunched balls and he looks ready to punch a hole through the brick wall next to us.

“I’m sorry, Lila. We should have stayed in Macau, it was silly to come back for this. We can go back if you want. We can head right to the airport again.”

The last thing I want to do right now is get back on another plane, but he knows that after a quick glance at my face. “I’m sorry,” he repeats.

“It’s not your fault,” I shrug. “How could you know?”

“You knew.”

“I suspected.”

“You knew. I’m sure the whole story about the inspection is a load of crap. Denise has really gone too far this time.”

“So what are you going to do?” I know what I want him to do, but it can’t come from me. Not directly. Anyway, he offered it in the past. Back in my apartment in Toronto.

“There’s no point in waiting anymore. The house doesn’t close for another couple of months, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give her that much time to think of new ways to fuck with our relationship. This needs to end now. She can have some other agent in the firm handle the house details until it’s over. Let them argue over who gets my commission.”

I hold back a smile of satisfaction because I know the whole thing pains him. I know he has no romantic feelings for Denise, but he definitely saw her in a different light than I did, and it hurts to find out that a person you care about wasn’t really who you thought they were. Harrison was a different kind of person than Denise, but it still hurt when he cast me aside so cavalierly. I had known we were having problems before that, but it was still a shock to watch him gamble me away out of the blue. Denise has always been a bitch, as far as I can tell, but Chase always refused to see it.

Were there signs that Harrison thought so little of me before he gambled me away that I missed as well? Love truly is blind.

We turn around and go back into the building, stopping in reception as we’d done the first time. This time, Chase is the one to ask me to stay behind instead of Denise. “I think this would go over better if I do it alone,” he says. I know he’s right, but I would still love to see her reaction when he tells her. Instead, I resign myself to just being satisfied that she’ll finally be out of our lives for good and I take a seat back in the comfortable leather chairs of the waiting area.

Chase walks past reception on his way to the conference room we had just left and the woman behind the counter looks up as he passes. “Sir, do you have an appointment?”

“We just left our meeting with Denise Parks. Chase just forgot to tell her something important,” I explain with a genuine smile. Very important.

The woman pauses and then nods, returning her attention to her computer.

A woman like Denise likely won’t accept what Chase has to say without an argument. I wonder whether or not I’ll hear her yelling from where I’m sitting, and then I wonder whether or not I would enjoy it if I did. On the one hand, the bitch deserves it. On the other, who can really blame her for wanting Chase all to herself. I can totally understand that.

Still, I would never stoop to the level that she’s gone to, and that’s what sets us apart. I may understand wanting to hold onto a relationship that you think is worth holding on to, but at some point you have to accept when something is over. Harrison still hasn’t truly accepted that he and I are over, and I probably owe it to him to tell him I’ve moved on and there is no chance the two of us are ever getting back together. He may claim his texts and phone calls are just being friendly, but I know him well enough to tell he’s trying to slowly worm his way back into my life. I wonder whether it would have worked if Chase and I hadn’t come together that first night. I’d like to think it wouldn’t have, that I would have had enough pride in myself to walk away from him completely. But there’s no denying that getting into a relationship right away with Chase made leaving Harry behind a lot easier.

There really never was a future with Harrison. We fought almost from the first day we met, and sometimes I wonder whether or not we were simply with each other while we were looking for someone better. Chase is certainly someone better, and I can see a long term future with him much more clearly than I ever did with Harry. Not that I have been considering marriage yet. Hell, we’ve barely started to say we love each other, so it’s far too early to think about marriage.

Yet since Denise brought it up, now it’s in my head. Can I see myself marrying Chase Anderson? Could I live this lifestyle of chauffeured cars and exotic travel, with hotels and room service and spas? Even though a smile touches my lips as I think about it, I know that I would actually get tired of all of that if that was all we ever did. In a way, the trip to Cuba was what finally made me realize how much I really did care about him, how truly right he is for me. Not just because the two of us got to spend a week together alone, but because I got to see a side of him that I only got glimpses of when we were back here. He has a good and generous heart, and that’s much more important to me than money. That’s why Harry and I would never have worked out.

But then, what was the crack that Denise made about him never marrying me? What did she mean saying that he
can’t
? It’s hard to take anything the woman says seriously, since anything could simply be a ploy or plot to drive a wedge between us. To implant some bothersome thought that would eventually cause stress and arguments between us. Still, there must have been some reason for saying it, and I can’t help but wonder what it was.

“You!”

My thoughts are interrupted by the shrill voice of Denise coming from down the hall. I look up to see her storming toward me, eyes ablaze with anger and Chase following closely behind.