The Promise (54 page)

“You’re a dirty whore just like your friend Ana
!” I feel my fist clenching together instantly and watch the look of understanding creeping over Chase’s face as he tries to push his way through the crowd. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you can keep a man like him, Sophie! I’ll give it another month before he leaves you, just like I’m sure the loser you dated before him did!”

One look at her makes it clear that she knows she’s hit a nerve. She smirks at me with blind satisfaction that can only come to someone who ha
s no common sense. She continues taunting me, this time loud enough so everyone can hear. “In the meantime, I hope both of you whore’s are enjoying my leftovers,” Lauren laughs before taking a final step toward me, meeting my eyes. “Does he ever scream my name when he fucks you, Sophie?"

I vaguely remember hearing Trina gasp and out of the corner of my eye
, I see Chase making his way over to me. His voice is in the background, urging for me to stop, but it’s too late. This time the bitch has gone too far. I turn my body around until I’m fully facing Lauren’s smug grin again, unable to suppress the sardonic laugh that has begun to flow freely from my lips.

The next thing I know, my fist is crashing deliciously against her face.           

Chase

After Sophie punche
s Lauren in the face, all hell breaks loose.

Even though we
manage to break them up, they’ll both still be arrested for fighting. I cringe at the thought of the two of them being locked up in the back of a squad car together, but feel relief when I see two of them pulling up. At least, I felt relieved up until I realize that no matter what happens, Sophie is still going to jail.

Most
ly everyone clears out as the cops come inside, although Nick and Trina stick around to wait with me before I need to head up to the police station. I try to find out from Sophie what happened between the two of them but because everything is happening so quickly, I don’t manage to get the chance.

The police
come over to take their statements and because she doesn’t argue or deny what she did, it makes the process go even quicker.

“Can you tell me what happened between you and Miss Crawford this evening?” The officer asks Sophie.

“Sure,” Sophie starts, still holding his gaze as a contented look crosses over her face as she begins to answer him. “Lauren insulted me and so I punched her hard in the face.” The officer looks up at her, obviously surprised with her bluntness as she continues. “She fell into a table, tripped over a chair and I lunged at her. My boyfriend, Chase Mitchell, pulled me away from her before I could punch her again, but I did manage to kick her in the ribs before he got to me.”

“Was Mr. Mitchell involved in the dispute?”
he asks, with Sophie immediately coming to my defense.

“No sir,” she
answers while shaking her head vigorously. “Chase did nothing wrong at all. I take full responsibility for everything. All he did was try to stop the fight. He wasn’t even on our side of the bar when it all started.”

“Did Miss Crawford hurt you in any way, ma’am?”
he asks her and I see her smirking as she looks up at him.

“No sir, not at all,” she says calmly
, while the officer looks at her in disbelief.

“Ma’am, have you been drinking tonight?”
he asks and she shakes her head, admitting that she hadn’t. He asks her a few more questions before she asks him to hand me the bracelet I’d given her so that it wouldn’t be lost or damaged before willingly allowing the officer to handcuff her, extending her wrists out in front of the both of them.

I
don’t think I’ll be surprised at all if she’s still smiling when they take her mug shot.

As
the police officer opens up her door, Sophie calmly steps up to the back of the car before turning around to face me.

“I love you, Baby,” she calls to me, throwing me a kiss before crouching into the back seat.

I follow her to the station and after waiting four hours for her to be booked in, I finally bail her out. As she walks through the door, I’m waiting for her with my hands in my pockets as she glances up at me. “I’m sorry that you had to spend money on my bail and that I ruined your night out with your friends,” she says quietly as I pull her over to my side.

“I don’t care about any of that, Baby,” I tell her, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks for coming.”

“What did I tell you
before?” I ask and she looks up at me. “I’ll always come for you, Baby,” she smiles, tucking her body in close to mine and kissing my chest as we head towards my truck. We ride home in absolute silence.

Now, looking down at her sleeping figure, I pull into the driveway a couple of hours before the sun will be rising and carry her inside. She wakes up
as I make it halfway to the bedroom and when I sit her down on her feet at the edge of the bed, she finally breaks our silence.

“I need a shower,” she yawns. “I feel disgusting right now.” I nod and take her by the hand, leading her into the bathroom. I turn on the water and
begin to undress her. “I’m sorry, Chase.”

I look at her
, angling her head up to face me and kiss her gently. “I’m sure she deserved it, Baby.”

“
Oh, she definitely deserved it,” she starts. I grin into her hair as I push her shirt from her shoulders, before helping her step out of her shorts and panties. “I’m not sorry I hit her. If given the chance again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” she says with all honestly, while running a brush through her tangled hair.

I catch her watching me undress as steam fills the room. “I’m just sorry if it upset you. I know it ruined everyone’s night
and probably embarrassed you in front of your friends. It cost you a ton of bail money, which I will pay you back Monday when I can get to the bank. I am sorry for that.”

We step into the shower and begin lathering each other’s bodies, both savoring in the feeling
as the hot water hits our sore, exhausted muscles.

“I’d never be embarrassed of you and my friends all love that you punched Lauren in the face. Most of the girls have
been itching to do it for years,” I laugh. “As far as the money goes, I don’t care about that. You don’t owe me a penny, Baby, but I do wish you’d tell me what the hell happened back there.” I watch her rinsing her hair out and massage her shoulders, causing for her to moan in appreciation.

“She was just being rude at first,” she starts. “I told her to back off
, made her look stupid, and I guess that it pissed her off. When you walked up, I turned to answer you and she started insulting me under her breath.”

“What the hell did she say about you to upset you so much, Baby?” I ask. Sophie has a temper, but I can’t imagine what Lauren could have come up with that would have made her angry enough to hit her
or react in that way.

“It’s not what she said about me, Chase. I don’t care what she says about me,” she explains
, stepping out of the shower and handing me a towel before wrapping one around her body. “She insulted our relationship, called Ana and I dirty whores … She said she’ll give it a month before you would leave me like ‘the last loser’ and that in the meantime she hoped that Ana and I were enjoying her leftovers. Even then I tried to walk away, but when she asked me if you’ve ever screamed her name when you fuck me…?” she says, shaking her head as my mouth falls wide open in shock. I’ve always known Lauren to be jealous of Sophie, but I had no idea she’d go that far. “That’s when I punched her in the mouth.”

“I can’t say that I blame you,” I tell her honestly as I walk over to her, cupping her cheek in my hand as she leans into it. “I’m so sorry, Baby. I can’t believe she said all of those things.”

“No need for you to apologize,” Sophie says
, turning her head slightly to kiss my palm. “Nothing was your fault.”

S
he slips her bracelet back on quickly before walking back through to the bedroom. I can tell there’s something else she wants to say to me but she doesn’t seem to want to bring whatever that something is up in conversation right now..

“What
is it that you’re not saying?” I ask her as she climbs into bed.

She chew
s her lip nervously as I take a seat on the side of the bed next to her, reaching over and gently pressing on her chin, making her release her lip.

“Don’t bite your lip, Baby. It drives me crazy,” I whisper huskily
and see that I’m making her blush. “What is it you want to say?” I watch her as she appears to be turning it over in her mind for a few moments as she studies her hands.

Finally, her eyes meet
with mine.

“Before I say this, I want you to know how much I hate myself for it,” she
begins, waiting for me to give her the give ahead to continue. “I know you have mutual friends and this is an awful thing for me to even say, but I really want you to please promise me that you won’t see her anymore.” To say that I’m surprised would be a bit of an understatement, but I have no problem whatsoever agreeing to this.

While I know
that Sophie isn’t the kind of woman who would typically ask for these kinds of things, with everything considered, her feelings towards Lauren are completely justified. Before I can say this though, Sophie begins to talk again, while placing her face in her hands, “Oh my God! I’m so sorry, Chase. I swear I am not this girl. I hate feeling this way because I do trust you and I know that you wouldn’t do anything with her, but just the thought of her being near you makes me so crazy mad and I can’t handle it,” she looks up at me, with a mix of both regret and embarrassment seeping into her eyes. I pull her into my chest.

“Okay,” I
answer without hesitation. “I won’t go anywhere near her anymore, Baby.”

“Really
? Just like that?” she asks, releasing a breath of relief for which causes me to laugh softly.

“Yep,” I nod. She pulls away from me and look
s into my eyes, hers being wide with disbelief.

“You don’t think I’m being completely unreasonable and ridiculous?”
she asks me as I push the damp hair away from her face.

“No
, but even if you were, I’d still agree to it,” I say, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek, lips and neck. “What did I tell you, Baby? There’s nothing you can’t ask me to do for you,” I whisper into her neck.

Pushing her back onto the pillows as I pull the towel from
around my waist, I settle in between her open thighs, positioning my forearms on either side of her head. “I love you, Sophie. I’ll do anything for you.” She smiles at me as I press my lips against hers.

I f
eel her chest gently shaking beneath me and when I pull away so I can look at her, she clamps her eyes shut to hide the tears from me, but she’s too late. I lean down and kiss the stray droplet from her cheek, moving her chin back so she’s facing me again. “What’s this? Why are you crying, Princess?” I ask her quietly, but she just shakes her head, looking up at me with her impossibly bright green eyes without answering me.

“I don’t deserve you
, Chase,” she manages through a choked breath. I shake my head to disagree but she holds her finger over my lips. “In less than twenty four hours, I’ve threatened to leave my job to choke your ex to death with her own apron, embarrassed you in front of all of your friends, punched that very same ex in the face, gotten arrested, cost you hundreds of dollars in bail money, made ridiculous demands of you and now I’m crying like an idiot while you’re trying to seduce me and your response is that you love me. Are you seriously going to argue this with me?” I laugh lightly and brush my fingers across her cheek, collecting the new tears that have accumulated.

“
Always,” I answer. “We’re perfect together, Baby. There’s no denying that is there?” She shakes her head at me and I lean in to kiss her lips softly. “Then stop with your crazy talk and let me make love to you,” I whisper against her lips.

“I love you too,” Sophie whispers and wraps her hand around my neck, pulling my lips down to meet hers. She kisses me deeply a
nd I make love to her until the sunlight kisses her skin.

***

Before my bar
room brawl with Lauren, Chase had invited Nick and Trina over for a cookout on Sunday, along with another couple he knows that are also in town for the reunion. I’m not looking forward to it since I made such an ass out of myself, but I know that it’s important to Chase.

Things are a little awkward between us today because a couple of hours ago,
we finally discussed me moving in with him. I told him that I wanted to wait a little longer. The hurt that had taken over his entire face broke my heart, but I can’t take back what I said to him.

“Chase
, I want to move in with you but I just can’t leave Ana hanging with the bills,” I explained. “Plus, we’ve not even been together six months yet and Ana’s more than just a roommate to me. Let me talk to her and see if we can figure out a way to ease everyone into the situation and then maybe in a few months we can talk about it again.”

“Sophie, I understand not wanting to screw Ana over with the bills,” he
’d said. His eyes met mine and I could see he was fighting back the frustration that was sitting inside of him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked back at me with orbs as blue as the sky as he sighed. “I don’t understand anything else about your reasoning but I get the money thing.”

“What do you mea
n?”

“I mean
, why does it matter how long it’s been, Baby? If it’s something we both want, who cares if it’s been four months or four years or even four days?” He shrugged and then walked into the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer, tossed the cap onto the bar before he turned and faced me again. “Like it or not, you live here already, Sophie. You haven’t been back to your apartment in weeks. You’re just paying rent over there, Baby. I don’t know what you need to ease into because it’s already happened.” Since I knew he was right, I couldn’t think of anything else to say to him. “Just be honest with me. If you don’t want to move in right now then that’s fine, but don’t give me bullshit excuses, Sophie. You could at least tell me the real reason behind it.” I focused my gaze on my feet while I tried to decide what to say to him.

I kn
ew the reason why I wouldn’t commit to moving in, but I didn’t want to hurt him. At the same time, he deserved my honesty. Chase nudged my chin up with his hand and forced me to look at him as he held me there. “Tell me.”

“I’m scared,” I
finally admitted as I let out a deep breath.

“What are you scared of?” It’s a logical question but one I d
idn’t want to answer it. Things had been different when I moved in with Jack.

I’d moved out of my aunt’s house and into
Jack’s on my eighteenth birthday because I knew without a doubt I was going to marry him one day. I knew I was only taking the next logical step.

Although I kn
ow that this is also the next logical step with Chase, I don’t want things to change between us. I’m scared that as soon as I officially move in with him, things won’t be the same between us anymore. We’ll spend our time talking about bills, yard work and cleaning. I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose the passion we have.

There’s also Ana. I know she and Drake will work things out and as soon as I move out, she’ll
most likely move in with him, and then that part of my life will be over. I know all of this but don’t know how to say it, so I choose to do the cowardly thing. I stand there and stare at Chase blankly. “Sophie?” He whispered, which brought me back to reality.

One look in his eyes and I kn
ew that I would have to tell him.

“I’m scared because I know moving in with you is going to change everything,” I said quietly. He start
ed to shake his head but I stopped him. “Yes it will, Baby. Not just in our relationship, but it’s going to change my entire life. I know that and it scares the hell out of me,” I said as I looked into his sad eyes. “Chase, I love you so much. There’s nothing I want more than to be with you, but I don’t think I’m ready for a step that big yet,” I confessed.

He sa
id that he understood and that he would give me all the time I needed, none of which I deserve, but I didn’t miss the look of disappointment that crossed into his eyes. I didn’t miss it then and I don’t miss the fact that it’s still lingering behind his smile right now. I hurt him and nothing I can say or do will fix it right now.

It’s now
five thirty and I hear a knock on the door, signaling that Chase’s friends have arrived. He pokes his head out from around the bar and meets my eyes while holding up his hands. “Can you grab that, Baby? I’ve got marinade all over the place in here.”

I nod
to say yes and head over to the door, taking a deep breath before pulling it open to see Nick, Trina, and Chase’s other friends standing on the other side of the threshold Trina greets me with a hug as Nick smiles, kissing my cheek and then whispering through a small chuckle, “Nice right hook, girl!”

The other couple introduce themselves as Tommy and Savannah. Tommy is
almost as tall as Chase and Nick but has light brown hair and roman features. Savannah’s long blonde hair is a shade or two darker than mine and frames her ivory face and as she sidles up closely to Tommy. I don’t miss the silent exchange between them.

Chase
has already informed me that she’s close friends with Lauren, so I’m sure hanging out with me for the night isn’t exactly what she had planned. I smile sweetly at the both of them as I open the door wider. I watch them walk by as they go in search for Chase.

Once the greetings are all in order,
his friends make their way to the porch where he’s getting everything ready.

As t
ypical as any other barbecue I’ve ever been to, the men huddle around the barbecue pit, discussing grilling strategies, while the girls and I talk amongst ourselves. I have no problem starting a dialogue with Trina, who I’ve already taken to, Savannah, however, seems to be conflicted about talking to me.

I can’t help but notice
that every once in a while, her gaze meets Tommy’s as he silently tells her to talk, but I don’t mention or press it any further. I understand her alliance with Lauren because they’re close. Although I can’t stand her friend, I can appreciate Savannah’s loyalty. I would do exactly the same for Ana in a heartbeat.

I excuse myself to the bathroom and
as I walk out of Chase’s bedroom door, I see Savannah walking in through the back door.

“Can I talk to you, Sophie?” she asks hesitantly
. I nod at her, gesturing for her to take a seat on the couch. I sit across from her, turning my body to face her and after a moment of watching her staring nervously at her hands in her lap, I break the silence.

“Savannah?” I say
, my voice finally making her look at me. “Listen, Chase told me that you’re really close friends with Lauren so I know this has to be uncomfortable for you. I know he and Tommy have been good friends for a while. I’m sure that with everything that happened last night, you’re feeling pretty awkward right now.” Savannah nods as I continue to speak. “Well, let me help you out with this, okay? I want you to know that although I have no intention of going anywhere, I’m also not going to force you to be friends with me. I hope we can all get along because I think you’re probably a really nice person, but I respect your loyalty. If that means we can’t be friends, then so be it, but I think we should at least come to an understanding for them.” I gesture to the window where Chase and Tommy are laughing about something, when I turn back to look at her, she nods with a small smile.

“Sophie
, just to be clear on something, I do like you,” Savannah starts. “This is just weird because Lauren is one of my best friends. Not only did you give her one hell of a black eye, for reasons that even I can understand, by the way,” she admits, “we both know that she wants him back.”

Although her words are blunt, there isn’t a drop of venom
within her tone. I laugh lightly at her words as I meet her eyes.

“Well Savannah, I think The Stones said it best when they said you can’t always get what you want,” I
say and she smiles meekly. “We’ve been through a lot together. We’re not going to let anyone come between us so easily.” Savannah nods her understanding.

“Y’all seem really happy together,” she smiles.

“Thank you. We are,” I confess with a smile. “By the way, I like you too. Come on, they’re probably gonna think we’re in here killing each other or something,” she chuckles before following me over to the porch so we can join the others.

After
speaking together, things go much more smoothly and Savannah joins in with the conversation easily.

They’ve been entertaining me with hilarious stories
, mainly about how Chase had gotten into trouble with Nick and Tommy when they were all teenagers.

We’ve already had
a few drinks and I’m feeling a lot more relaxed as the evening progresses. Trina lets it slip that both she and Savannah dated Chase a couple of years back. The stunned look that’s now over my face must be something because at the same time that Chase’s guilty eyes meet with mine, I hear Nick’s laughter as Trina blurts out an expletive.

“I’m sorry, Sophie. I thought he would have told you. It was nothing, really, just stupid high school bullshit when Nick and I were fighting,” Trina explains. I peel my eyes away from Chase and
turn back to face her.

“Yeah, you would
have thought that he’d have mentioned that, wouldn’t you?” I say sarcastically, shooting him the evil eye as she bites down on her lip with embarrassment. “Don’t worry, Trina, I’m not mad at you,” I say sincerely while patting her on the arm. I turn to face Savannah who’s looking down nervously again. Although they’re trying to play it off, the guys are watching the three of is intently.

“What about you, Savannah? How long did you date Chase?”

“We didn’t really date so much,” she says quickly. I notice as her face turns red with embarrassment and then immediately understand what she means.

I glance over to find Chase
seeming to be suddenly very interested in the meat over on the barbecue pit. As I start laughing though, his eyes turn to meet mine again and his nervousness morphs quickly into fear, only causing for me to laugh even harder.

“Awesome!” I say to Savannah and Trina. They
begin trying to veer the conversation to other things, but my jealousy won’t let me focus. Once a few minutes pass by, I excuse myself and walk inside, making a beeline for the liquor. As I pour the first shot, I hear the door sliding open.

“Sophie
…” Chase says, walking into the house and towards me just as I throw back the whiskey, savoring its burn.

“Well, it’s finally happened, Baby. I’ve finally just gone bat shit
fucking crazy!” I chuckle sadly without meeting his eyes, pouring another shot.

“I’m sorry. I should have
…”

“It’s fine
, Chase, really. This isn’t going to turn into a thing. Go hang out with your friends. I just need a second to myself and I’ll be right out, okay?”

I walk into the bathroom, worried
that I’ll be sick. I’m trying really hard to get my unreasonable irritation under control. I’ve always known that Chase has had a past. I even know there had been a stage where he slept around heavily, but having it thrown in my face isn’t easy for me.

Regardless of any of that though, I know he loves me and
that he’s faithful, so I just have to deal with this and move on.

Should he have told me? Maybe
, but the fact that he never mentioned it doesn’t make me think he loves me any less. I’ll talk to him about it later, that’s certain but for now, I need to calm my jealous nerves and rejoin the group. I take a minute to calm down before I walk out of the bedroom, finding Chase sitting down on the arm of the couch and facing me. “What are you doing, Chase? I told you to go back outside with them.”

“Are you okay?” he asks and I
just shrug at him. “Sophie, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I really didn’t think about it, Baby. It happened such a long time ago.”

“It’s okay,” I say quietly, walking over to stand between his legs and rest
ing my hands on his broad chest. “I just felt stupid for being the only one who didn’t know.” His eyes search mine as he wraps his strong arms around my waist.

“The only reason you didn’t know is because it meant so little to me
, I’ve never even thought about it,” he explains. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah,” I whisper and he squeezes my hips
while kissing me sweetly on the lips. “Just please don’t do that anymore, Chase. It makes me feel like an idiot.”

“Okay,” he s
ays with a playful look in his eyes. “I promise the next time we hang out with someone I’ve slept with, I will tell you before they get to the house.”

“Or maybe just don’t make me hang out with people you’ve slept with,” I say as I smack him on the chest playfully.

“I was just kidding, Baby,” he laughs, kissing me on my neck and tickling me with his scruff before his lips meet with mine again.

“Whore,” I whisper against his lips
. He laughs into my mouth and gives my ass a smack.