Trust (26 page)

I
take a deep breath,
letting it out in a sigh that
shudders a bit more than I like. 
“
No,
it’s
fine.  If
it’s
an emergency with the house you should go.  We can go out
any time.
” 
Just not here in Macau.

“Okay,”
he nods. 
“We
’d better get packing.
” 
Chase moves to the closet
to pull out the suitcases, still talking as he does. 
“
I’ll
make it up to you, I promise.  Thanks for not being more
upset.  I know
it’s
disappointing.  I was looking forward to taking you out
tonight as well.
”

I am
disappointed and upset.  Not so much at
missing out
on a night out, but on the circumstances.  I don
’
t know if
it’s
because of all of the thinking
I’ve
been doing about her lately, but the
mere fact that Denise is involved in us having to rush back has made me
suspicious. 

“
Did 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 e
xpression 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
s
houldn’t
really matter whether Denise wa
nts 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 talk
ing 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 wor
ks 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.  S
he’s
clearly in the right job for her, which
just makes my own jea
lousy 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 brough
t 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 b
efore 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 Cha
se 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 paper
s 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 s
he’s
staring down at a copy of her own papers, carefully
avoiding our gaze.

“
Excuse me?
”
I say, trying to k
eep 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, a
nd 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 cont
inues 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 spitt
ing 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 w
ay the wiring was at the fuse box
could have been a fire hazard.
”