What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (92 page)

She was already getting wet, and she grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand down between her legs. “I’m ready when you are,” she murmured into his ear.

His fingers rubbed her pussy and then he slid two fingers in deep, fucking her slit as she moaned and opened for him.

“You are ready,” he said, his voice thick with excitement.

“I’m so fucking ready. Fuck me before you go,” she begged.

“I don’t have time,” he said. “I’ll be late.”

“Fine,” she pouted, moving his hand away and closing her legs.

“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” he said, grinning.

“Yeah.” She turned her face away, still pouting. She only half-meant it.

But then suddenly he was upon her, turning her onto her stomach on the bed, and pulling his track pants down, and sliding into her from behind. His body pressed into her as he fucked her, taking her quickly.

Already, she was coming, just from the excitement of it—the unexpectedness of his power and speed and aggressiveness.

His cock pushed into her, pulsing, spreading her as his hips smashed into her butt cheeks and the bed squeaked beneath them.

He really was aggressive and full of testosterone, she thought, as he took her from behind and his hands grabbed her hair and pulled her head back.

His lips sucked on her neck and then he pushed himself deep into her and they both climaxed together—Faith for the second time in just minutes.

“Damn,” he whispered, as he pulled out and got out of bed. “You threw me off, girl. I need to hit the road already.”

“I’m glad you took a little time to give me some attention,” she smiled at him, rolling onto her back.

He looked down at her, his eyes still inflamed with need and hunger and desire. “I gotta watch out for you,” he said. “You’re dangerous.”

Funny
, she thought.
That’s what I think about you
.

But she just smiled. “Come back soon. I’ll be waiting.”

“You bet I will,” he grinned in return. And then he picked up his bag and headed out the door.

For some time after she heard the front door close, Faith just lay in bed smiling, like some sort of loopy maniac who’d overdosed on happy pills. And then she rolled over, pushed her face into the pillow and squealed with joy.

For a few minutes, all she could do was smile. How had this happened? How had she gotten here, in this place, with this man?

He was beyond just being the man of her dreams.

He was the man of every woman’s dreams.

Finally, she roused herself from bed and padded into the bathroom and turned on the shower, and waited for the water to warm up.

As the mirror fogged from the steam, Faith caught sight of her own grinning face and thought—
I don’t look like me anymore.

The dour, unhappy, pensive expression she’d always worn was gone.

It was like a miracle. Faith hadn’t even realized just how unhappy she’d always been, until now. Only now, when she was filled with joy, had she realized the depth of her previous sadness and discontent.

Once in the hot shower, she smelled his scent. His shampoo and body wash, and she picked them up and sniffed each in turn, luxuriating in everything Chase Winters.

Oh, thank God we found each other.

She closed her eyes and grinned some more.

After washing up, she got out of the shower and dried off, then found one of his discarded t-shirts and put it on. She liked that it smelled of him, and also it fit her like a long nightgown, coming down to her thighs.

Eventually, she made her way downstairs, humming to herself, and rustled up some coffee.

As she was watching it brew, lost in thoughts about the magic of last night, there came a knock on the front door that made her jump.

“Fed Ex!” someone yelled. “Need someone to sign for this package!” The knock came again.

“Shit,” she said, and then ran by the door. “Hold on just a second!” she shouted.

Running upstairs, she quickly put on her skirt and blouse and then ran back downstairs as fast as she could, hoping the delivery man hadn’t left. When she opened the door, she was already apologizing.

“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting—“ she began, and then the man pushed through the door and past her, and she realized her error.

“Hey!” she cried out. “What are you doing?”

“Relax cupcake. Where’s my boy?” The man was tall, although not as tall as Chase. He was older, but with a cocky stride that somehow made him seem younger than he likely was. His face had deep creases around his mouth and brow.

“You need to leave,” Faith said, leaving the door standing open. “I’m going to call the police.”

The man turned and looked at her, his face wrinkling into a smile. “He isn’t here?”

“Please go. You’re trespassing,” she said, “and I’m going to run outside and have someone phone the authorities.”

“Oh, the authorities,” he said, looking down his nose at her. “Right.” He scratched his chin and spun around. “Winters!” he called out. “Where you at, baby?”

“He’s at practice.”

The man spun back to face her again. He was wearing a sleek leather jacket that was hanging open, with a t-shirt beneath and gold chains that hung down around his neck and over his upper chest. His curly brown hair was short, and his five o’clock shadow had flecks of gray in it. “My boy does have that work ethic. Always did.”

“Can you please go now?” she said, shivering, folding her arms across her chest. “Before I—“

“Call the police.” He grinned toothily. “You know, you might not want to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he said. “I’m an old friend of his. My name’s Boogie. Charles, actually—but everybody in Detroit knows me as Boogie.”

“Well, Boogie,” she said, trying to sound confident, “Chase never mentioned anything about you, and I don’t think he was expecting your visit.”

Boogie nodded. “Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.” He pulled a toothpick out of his jacket pocket and inserted it between his lips. “I mean, I didn’t really plan this visit in advance. I’m not one for formalities.”

Faith was getting more and more uncomfortable as Boogie stared at the inside of the house, with his droopy eyes and his eerie, confident grin like he knew all the secrets she didn’t. “I’m going to leave now,” she said, starting out the door, fully intending to call the police and Chase from somewhere safe.

Anywhere, as long as it was away from this creepy man who claimed to know Chase.

“I recommend you don’t call the police, though,” Boogie told her.

“I’m sure you would recommend that,” she retorted, as she got to the threshold.

“I mean, you and I both know our boy has a lot of baggage from the past,” he continued, casually.

Faith froze as she heard his words. “What?”

“He was a funny cat back then,” Boogie said. “Back when he used to run the streets with me. Wild kid. And I do mean
wild
,” Boogie said, laughing appreciatively. “Some of the shit I seen that boy do would turn your hair white.”

Faith turned and stared at him. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re even talking about. He’s never mentioned you.”

“Well now, I believe that,” Boogie said, walking over to a table and picking up a small sculpture. He nodded like an art buyer for Christie’s auction house, appreciating what he was holding. “Look at this shit. Now I know our boy didn’t buy this fancy shit himself.”

“What do you want?”

Finally, he made eye contact with her, and his eyes blazed. “I want what’s coming to me,” he told her. “And it’s been too fucking long.”

“I don’t know anything—“

“Listen…uh…what’s your name?” Boogie asked, stepping forward.

She stepped back. “I’m not telling you my name.”

“Okay, Cupcake. I’ll just call you that from now on. I like that name.” He grinned. “Me and Chase, see—we have an understanding. Now, if you run along and call the police, we both know they could show up and find out all sorts of things that our boy don’t want anybody knowing.”

Faith felt cold chills run up her spine. “Are you blackmailing him?”

His eyes didn’t waver. “We have a nice little arrangement. We’re friends, Cupcake. I took care of that boy like he was my own, and now he takes care of me.” Suddenly, his head turned and he glanced upstairs. “Let me see if he keeps the stash where I taught him.”

And then Boogie darted up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Faith gave a little yelp, but she realized soon that the man had little to no interest in her. She glanced at the wide open door.

I need to call the police.

But her phone was upstairs in the bedroom.

And by the time she got someone else to let her use their phone, and certainly by the time the police arrived—Boogie would be long gone.

Besides, he’d been right about Chase having baggage he didn’t want coming out.

This man knows things about Chase that nobody else knows.

Faith deliberated, but finally decided she at least had to see what he was doing upstairs so she could tell Chase what had happened.

Slowly, she climbed the steps and went to the master bedroom. Just as she was peeking inside, Boogie emerged from the closet holding a large stack of cash in his hand. It was more money than she’d ever seen at once in her life.

Boogie grinned, showing her his prize. “See? He always did what I taught him. And he still does. Kept the stash under the false floor in that nice closet of his.” Boogie sniffed the stack of bills and made a satisfied face. “Mmmm…smells like green, baby. Smells like freedom.” He took the cash and stuffed it into a small black satchel hanging just inside his jacket.

“You’re stealing his money,” she said, as Boogie brushed past her and down the stairs.

“This is my motherfucking money, Cupcake,” he called over his shoulder. “You just ask him.” And then he disappeared out the front door.

She came the rest of the way down and looked outside to see which direction he’d gone. But Boogie, if that was even his nickname—or Charles, if that was even his real name—had disappeared as quickly as he’d come.

Faith felt herself begin to tear up.

Only now did she realize how scared she’d been, as her entire body began violently trembling.

All of the warmth and happiness she’d been feeling earlier had been washed away in seconds by that horrible man and everything he represented.

Because what he represented, she understood now, as the cool wind whipped against her face—was reality.

She and Chase weren’t going to run off together like some fairytale couple, after all.

There was not going to be any happily ever after for them.

Chase Winters had a dark, horrible past. He’d told her a little of it, but she knew she’d only begun to scratch the surface of things.

And now, apparently, someone from his past was making visits to his present, and Faith had a terrible feeling that it was only going to get worse from here on out.

F
aith frantically tried
to call Chase, leaving a message that it was very important he call her right away. And then she’d even typed “911” into text, knowing he’d likely be freaked out by the urgency of her attempts to contact him.

But what was she supposed to do?

Chase had been robbed. That man—he’d called himself Charles, Boogie, whatever—that man had taken a lot of money from Chase and Faith had done nothing to stop him.

She was still shaking, even half an hour later, as she once again peered out the window to the street, just to make sure “Boogie” wasn’t lurking nearby, waiting to do some new piece of nasty business.

Of course, he had no reason to stick around. He’d come into Chase’s home and gotten what he was after.

Money.

She could still picture the man’s hooded eyes, the wariness and slyness in his gaze, and the confidence of his gait. How old had he been? He’d moved with the ease of someone still relatively young, but his beard had flecks of gray and she’d noticed deep creases around his mouth and on his forehead.

He might have been thirty-five or even fifty for all she knew. The man had frightened her with the way he’d talked knowingly of Chase’s sordid past, “running the streets.”

Faith shivered.

She partly wanted to leave Chase’s apartment and go home—go somewhere safe. But what was safe nowadays? Between Club Alpha and now this new shadowy figure who’d entered the picture, Faith wasn’t sure that she could trust anything or anyone to keep her out of harm’s way.

And to think, just a short time ago she’d been basking in the glow of hot sex and the feeling of being loved. Chase had even said he was falling in love with her.

He said he was falling in love, which should have been something to celebrate. But instead she felt only dread and fear.

Faith sat on the couch, checked her cell, and waited for Chase to call her back, while she occasionally peeked out the window, just to be sure.

As she was waiting, her phone rang. Hopeful it was Chase was finally returning her calls—she glanced down and saw her sister’s number instead.

“Shit,” she muttered, but then figured it might keep her mind off her anxiety to talk to Krissi for a minute or two. Answering the phone, Faith tried to keep her voice light. “Hey,” she said.

“Is it true?” Krissi practically shrieked in her ear.

“Ouch,” Faith said, squinting and pulling away from the phone. “Try not to burst my ear drum.”

“I can’t help it,” her sister yelled. “People sent me pics from last night and they’re either crazy good at photoshop or you’re leading a secret life.”

Faith sighed, realizing that of course the news had made its way around town by now. “It’s true,” she admitted.

“It’s true? Are you serious? Chase Winters was really with
you
at the bar last night,” her sister said with disbelief.

Faith had to smile now. “Yes, he really was with
me
.”

And I’m even sitting in his home right this very instant
, she wanted to say, but held her tongue. Especially since that might warrant her admitting that she’d been present while some strange and sinister man robbed him of potentially thousands of dollars.

“How did this happen? I feel like I’m dreaming,” Krissi said.

Faith laughed painfully. “Tell me about it. I know the feeling.”

“He’s, like, the most popular guy on the planet and he’s hot—and rich—and he’s got women everywhere who want him.”

“Right,” Faith said, her jaw tensing, “so why would he want to be with a dog like me?”

“That’s not how I meant it,” Krissi told her. “Come on, Faith. Don’t be mad. Tell me how you even met him.”

Faith scratched her head. “We met at the game the other weekend, when we all went to the VIP box. Remember how they brought me down for the meet and greet?”

“And he saw you and fell instantly in love,” Krissi said. “That’s romantic.”

No, it was more like instant sexual attraction. But Faith wasn’t about to admit that to her younger, impressionable sister. “Listen, Kriss, I just need you not to go running your mouth to anybody about this.”

“Everyone already knows.”

“Mom and Dad?”

“I was waiting until after I talked to you to tell them,” Krissi said. “I don’t understand why you care who knows. You guys were out in public together.”

“Yeah, but it’s…” Faith stared out the window again, losing her train of thought as she thought she saw Boogie’s threatening face passing by on the street. “It’s just a crazy time for me right now,” she muttered.

The stranger came more into focus as he passed by outside, and she realized he looked nothing like Chase’s old friend from Detroit.

“You sound upset,” Krissi told her. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“You’re dating Chase Winters. Everything should be incredible.”

“It’s not quite that simple,” Faith replied. Suddenly there was a beep on the line and she checked, seeing Chase’s number pop up. “I have to go, I have another call coming in.”

“Is that him?” Krissi squealed.

“My ear, you did it again,” Faith said, grimacing. “I’ll text you later.”

“Tell him—“

But Faith had already clicked over. “Chase?” she said, licking her lips, feeling anxious at what his reaction to the bad news might be.

“Are you safe right now?” Chase asked, his tone urgent.

“I’m okay.”

“Good, because with the texts and voicemail and everything, you had me worried, girl.”

“I’m not hurt, but something bad happened. This guy Boogie broke in—“

“Don’t say another word over the phone,” Chase told her.

She closed her mouth and waited.

He took a deep breath and she heard him exhaling into the phone. Faith could already picture him standing there in his workout clothes, hair slightly mussed, his eyes faraway as he thought about what to do next.

“Is that person you mentioned—are they still with you?” he asked her finally.

“They’re gone.”

“Okay, just hold tight. I should be back in less than an hour.”

“Chase….” She pursed her lips, feeling more and more like a screw up. “I’m sorry.”

“Just hold tight.”

“Bye,” she said, but her words went into a dead phone, as he’d already disconnected.

She waited for him, and it got harder as each second seemed to pass by so slowly.

He didn’t know about Boogie taking the money, he didn’t know the things Boogie had said to her, or the horrible feeling she had that Boogie was going to do even worse things before everything was over.

Would Chase blame her for the money being stolen?

She hated to think that, but he might. And maybe he would be right to blame her. Maybe she should have called someone—called Chase, for starters. But everything had happened so fast and she’d panicked.

Nothing could have prepared her for that ambush.

Faith waited for Chase to get home, pacing around the apartment, then sitting and thinking, then pacing some more. Watching as texts poured into her phone from friends and relatives as the gossip machine in her hometown worked its way through the community.

Faith didn’t respond to any of them, not even the phone calls that came in from her parents’ house.

She knew it would be her father, possibly drunk off his ass, making stupid statements that Faith wasn’t interested in hearing right then. She ignored his call and didn’t listen to the voicemail.

As for the texts from all her old friends, she didn’t respond to them either. It was all too strange. Last night it had seemed magical for Chase to come out and show himself, put his reputation out there and proclaim his interest in her.

But now in the light of a new day, she wondered if this wouldn’t somehow turn against them.

Perhaps Chase’s openness and willingness to call her his girlfriend would end up creating bigger problems than either of them had foreseen.

You’re just being a Debbie Downer
, she told herself. But it didn’t feel like that to her right then. It felt like she was watching a train heading for a collision with another train, head-on, and she was just waiting for it all to happen.

It was just a matter of time before everything went wrong.

T
he first thing
Chase did when he walked through the front door was take her in his arms.

Faith started to cry, mostly from relief that he wasn’t angry. But also, she realized, it was that she was finally safe again. After Boogie had broken in and taken the money, she’d been completely on edge.

It was only now that she could feel Chase Winters’s strong arms wrapped around her, that Faith could breathe again. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she buried her face against his chest as he hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “Hey,” he soothed, “it’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine. I’m here now.”

After a long moment, she finally pulled back, laughing at her own tears and wiping her eyes. “Sorry, I got your shirt all wet.”

“I don’t give a shit about my shirt. What I’m worried about is you.” He was watching her intently. “Now tell me what happened.”

Faith, took a deep breath and let out the tension as she exhaled. “Okay. I got up and came downstairs this morning after you left. And someone knocked and said they were delivering a package.”

Chase put his hands on his hips and stared at the ground, grimacing, as he shook his head. “Oldest trick in the book.”

“And I fell for it,” she replied. “I guess that makes me an idiot or something.”

Chase’s eyes blazed as he looked up again. “I never said that.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I just feel awful. When I opened the door, he barged right inside. Said his name was Boogie or Charles. I wasn’t clear which.”

“Charles Bridges,” Chase said. “But everyone just calls him Boogie.”

“So it’s true, then. You do know each other from Detroit.”

Chase nodded, reached in his pants pocket and pulled out a pack of gum. “We know each other very well,” he said, as he took a piece of gum and popped it in his mouth. “Now tell me the rest.”

“Chase, he—he went upstairs and found money you’d hidden in your closet.”

Chase’s eyes widened and then narrowed again as he registered what she’d told him. “What about the painting? Did he find the painting too?”

She shook her head, her mouth open. “I don’t know.”

“Come on,” he said, his jaw flexing as he chewed his gum, and then he was taking the stairs two at a time as he went up to his bedroom.

Faith followed behind, her heart beating fast, coming upon Chase as he bent down and examined the closet. “Yup, he got everything from there,” he muttered, and then stood up and went to the large modern painting that was hanging above his bed. The thing was enormous, and it looked like nothing but a bunch of red and yellow paint splotches across a very big canvas.

Chase took it off the wall and flipped it over. Nothing looked strange about the painting at all, but Chase moved to a drawer in his nightstand, dug through it and grabbed a small screwdriver.

Then he began unscrewing a few small screws on the back of the painting, and before Faith knew what was going on, he’d peeled the backing from the frame and sitting inside it were stacks of hundred dollar bills, neatly arranged and packed tightly inside the painting.

She gasped involuntarily at the sight of so much money.

Chase glanced at her, half-grinning. “This was where the real money was hidden. I kept a stash in the closet, partly for real and partly as a decoy for people like Boogie. I figured if I put enough in a semi-obvious hiding place, they’d think they’d hit the mother load and leave without tearing the rest of the house apart.”

“So it worked, then,” Faith said, tension unwinding in her chest as she realized that the money Boogie had stolen wasn’t as significant to Chase as she’d feared it might be.

“It worked for now,” Chase said, replacing the backing to the painting and screwing it in once more.

She stared at the painting, wondering just how much money was in there. She couldn’t even begin to guess, but perhaps it was a few hundred thousand or more.

Chase hoisted the painting onto the wall again and repositioned it, making small adjustments to balance it so that it was hanging perfectly.

When he was done there, Chase moved back to the closet, kneeling down and putting the small piece of false flooring in place and covering it with shoes.

Faith couldn’t help but stare at the painting hanging on his wall. “Why do you keep so much cash in your house?”

Chase froze for a moment, as he placed the last shoe on the floor. He seemed to be deep in thought, before finally glancing over his shoulder at her. “You don’t want to know the answer to that.”

A chill ran through her body. “If it’s illegal—“

“Just stop,” he said, getting to his feet and straightening up. “This stuff doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s my problem, my shit, and I know what I’m doing.”

F
aith just stared
at him as the enormity of the situation hit her full force. Chase was still involved in criminal activity of some sort, and nothing she could do would change that.

And he was basically asking her to look the other way, to pretend that things were fine. Except that now she knew nothing was fine. And however bad it was, she could only guess, because Chase refused to come clean.

He stood there, watching her mind spin, while he chewed his gum, looking at her with a strange half-smile on his face. “Don’t stress over it,” he said. “Boogie came and took some money from me that I would’ve given to him if he’d asked me for it.”

“Why would you give that guy money, Chase?” she asked, shaking her head. “He’s a creep. Even I know that.”

Chase walked closer to her. “I owe him a lot. He took me in and showed me the ropes. He was kind of like a Dad to me, and I pay my debts.”

“I don’t think you should have anything to do with him,” she whispered. “He’s bad. Really bad.”