Worth the Chase (10 page)

“Well hello there… what a lovely surprise.” Simon Masters’ sinful voice filled my head as I shoved his hand away. I had gotten involved with him once and that was enough to show me just how much of an idiot he really was.

“I would say hello, but I need to be on my way, so maybe next time.” I snapped rudely which must’ve amused him because the smile on his face seemed to grow larger.

“That’s what you said last time.” Simon’s voice was deep and his eyes held danger. He was far from the good boy that my father wanted me to be with. He was a bad boy with a capital B.

“No.” My teeth ground together. “If I recall, I said leave me the fuck alone last time, but since you want to be a bigger douchebag than usual I guess I’m going to have to−” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because a blur startled me from my thoughts as I was shoved back behind a solid body. His stance hostile and ready to throw down as he pushed in between us.

“When a lady says no, she means NO.” I knew that voice. My heart seemed to beat out of my chest at the actual thought of Chase coming to my rescue, and somehow I was slightly pissed that he hadn’t allowed me to fight my own battle.

“Winchester.” Simon sneered, his groupies growing around us. I could tell by the intense glare Chase had in his eyes and the clenching of his jaw that he was ready to fuck Simon’s world up.

“Step. The. Fuck. Off. Or I’ll make you.” I could no longer hear the Chase I knew in his voice. The man before me was an entirely different one. A man on a path of destruction, a man that wanted to show his dominance to another man.

Simon didn’t seem one bit phased by what Chase had to say. In fact, his hand lifted pushing on Chase’s shoulder as if to taunt him into throwing the first punch. I knew I needed to step in because if I didn’t Chase was going to hand Simon his ass, and it would be him that would be disciplined.

Simon Masters always got away with things. They could have proof and he still would walk away unscathed. I guess that’s what happens when your family sits on the board of directors for the university you attend.

Pushing against Chase’s back, I squeezed in between them. There was barely enough room to breathe, let alone push Simon back, but I did. His eyes narrowed in anger, and as he lifted his fist to Chase, I knew that I had put myself in the wrong place.
I felt his fist against my cheek before I could even muster a muscle to move. The intensity of the blow forced me off my feet, causing me to land hard against the ground.

Screaming surrounded me from every angle as all hell broke loose.
Chase charged Simon, knocking him on his ass. His arm came up and then down, fast and hard as he slammed his fist into Simon’s face.

I could hear doors opening and a voice asking what was going on, as the hall begun to clear up. That told me I needed to break this up before someone with authority saw everything unfolding and Chase suffered the consequences. Jumping to my feet with my cheek throbbing, I pulled on Chase’s shirt.

“Chase, please stop!” I begged, hoping he would answer my plea.

“You’ll pay for touching her, you fucker!!!” The venom in Chase’s words told me he wouldn’t forget this as he listened to me and moved, letting Simon up.

“Bring it. I look forward to it, asshole.” Simon laughed with blood covering his teeth as he turned the opposite way and walked away, his groupies following suit.

A professor stood at the end of the hallway, looking directly at us just as the hallway became completely clear.

“Everything okay down there?” he asked with concern.

“Yes,” we both replied in unison as I kept my back to him. A few seconds had passed before I heard a door close. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that he had reentered his classroom, leaving Chase and me alone.

I held my hand to my cheek as a single tear slid down my face. I wanted to hold the pain in, but I couldn’t. I hated crying, but I couldn’t stop the tears this time.

“Gia.” His voice soothed the pain inside as he pulled my hand away to look at the bruise that I was sure was forming.

His eyes said it all, the pain inside of them floored me. He was blaming himself for what had just taken place, and there was no way I would let him do that. The way he stuck up for me told me that nothing else mattered to him but me, not even the shit that had been said between us this morning.

“It’s not your fault…” I tried to say but choked up. Everything that had been going on was catching up with me. My emotions were as thin as ice in the month of March and I knew if I stood here a moment longer, staring at him that I would break.

“I know it’s not. All I care about is if you are okay or not?” he whispered to me, brushing a few strands of hair away from the mark that now marred my face.

His fingers grazed the skin, and I felt a shudder work its way through my body. Chase had that effect on me, he could make the pain go away. He could make the happy that much brighter. He was everything, and he didn’t even realize it.

“I’m…” I could feel the walls around me cracking. The way he was looking at me made everything else fade to black.

“I will make him pay for hurting you, Gia. He won’t get away with this. I don’t care if he meant to hit me, the second he raised his hand to you is the second he fucked up.” I pulled away from him, my body and my heart took notice immediately. The warmth inside of me evaporated into nothing but a mist settling around my still beating heart.

“I can’t do this right now.” I took another step back, seeing the anger in his eyes. I couldn’t even bare to look at him right now without breaking down. Here he was standing in front of me, comforting me, promising to fight for me as if we were more than Gia and Chase. More than the
‘just friends’
we were supposed to be.

“Gia,” he said my name helplessly.

“No, Chase. I can’t. Not right now.” I put my hand up, stopping him from coming any closer while taking another step away.

I felt damaged, and not just because of Simon. I needed distance and time to settle whatever it was that was going on between us.
I wanted him like I wanted my next breath, but I was desperate for love, and being desperate for something always lead to heartache.

“Gia, please,” Chase whispered, and I could hear the sadness laced in his plea.

Unable to stand there a moment longer I found myself running, racing towards anything that wasn’t him.
At the end of all of this it wouldn’t be me with the broken heart. It couldn’t be. I wouldn’t let it be.
 

One punch.
I could feel my nails digging into my flesh.

T
wo punches.
The skin cracked against my knuckles as I drove my fist into the punching bag. The only emotion I seemed to be able to handle was anger. It existed deep inside of me, causing pools of darkness to form. Every time I thought of Gia in the fragile state she was in my mind shifted, my world tilted, and everything seemed to do a one-eighty. I craved her so much, I wanted to devour her and make all the tiny pieces I saw fall away that day come back together.

In one week I had found myself in the gym twice a day. The only way to contain the anger that I felt and control my temper was to take out my aggression on the punching bag, so here I was pounding out the shit that caused me to fly off the fucking handle like a crazy motherfucker.

“I’m worried about you,” Chance’s voice caused my concentration to break. My jaw tightened and then my teeth clenched to stop myself from lashing out at my brother. He had never seen me like this before, hell I had never experienced these feelings before, but he had every right to be worried because nothing was the same.

“Nothing to worry about.” I kept it short, wiping away the sweat on my face with my shirt. I always kept shit to myself, bottled up so deep inside of me that sometimes they fought to spill out.

“What happened wasn’t your fault. You know that and so does she. Why can’t you guys just talk it out like civilized adults?” Chance questioned and it only served to piss me off further. I wanted to lay him the fuck out for sticking his nose somewhere it didn’t belong, but at the same time I couldn’t because I knew he was only doing it because he cared.

“There’s no excuse, it happened right in front of me,” I growled, driving my fist into the bag harder.

“I don’t think what Simon did is the only thing that is hurting you.” Chance grabbed the bag, holding it steady as I landed blow after blow against it. The only sounds in the room being that of the chain above clinking and my own heavy breathing. He could assume whatever the fuck he wanted to. I wasn’t going to admit shit to him, my lips were sealed.

“Seeing her break, seeing her that vulnerable was hard. That’s why you feel you’re to blame.” His words stung my skin as if he had poured salt into an open wound, but instead of admitting out loud that he had hit a nerve I punched the bag that much harder, pretending it was his thick skull and I was shutting him up.

“Admit it, Chase,” he taunted me.

“Nothing to admit, Chance,” I retorted quickly.

“You need to talk to her, or at least try to.” I reached for the structure deep inside of me that kept me sane, holding on to it as I pulled away from the bag.

“I can’t,” I sighed.

Chance laughed like I had told him a joke, which caused me to slacken my hold on that one thing that kept me sane at the moment.

“Can’t is simply a word used by lazy people,” Chance laughed like I had told the joke of the year, before continuing on, “You can. You just don’t want to. You’re afraid for the same reasons she is. I heard her talk with Taylor the other night and she’s hurting bad, she’s never felt deeply for anyone like you, and I know you feel the same way.” I couldn’t help the surge of anger that rattled me, I lurched at my own brother without another thought.

“You’re lying, Chance!” I hissed in a fit of rage as we stood nose to nose.

“No, you are! You’re lying to yourself and to her!” he yelled back, pushing against my chest. The intensity in his eyes held me still, wrapping itself around me and causing my frozen heart to beat again, yet it didn’t make what he had said hurt any less.

“I fucked up. The things I said, Chance… I don’t know if they can ever be undone. I don’t know if she will ever believe that someone like me could want more with her. We used each other selfishly, even when our feelings were right there knocking us on our asses. This whole thing is a clusterfuck and I just…”

What Chase, what the fuck did you want to say?

“Just say it,” Chance urged.

“I can’t love someone because I don’t know if they have the same power to love me back. I feel like Gia could be the one, but I’m terrified. Hurting her is the last fucking thing I would ever want to happen, but protecting myself from the same hurt is a natural reflex. What if I fall and she isn’t there to fall with me? I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” I grabbed my hair at the scalp and pulled until it burned. Once again I had poured my heart out to my brother, and I wasn’t even drunk this time.

When I looked up between my hands I saw a smile marring his face. It wasn’t an
‘I told you so smile’,
but a
‘thank heavens you saw the light’
smile.

“That didn’t hurt so bad, now did it?” Chance winked.

“Doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change anything. Everything is still the same.” I reminded him, brushing everything off as I ripped my shirt from my body and headed towards the kitchen. I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard Gia’s laughter. It radiated warmth through me, causing all the dark in me to diminish.

“I think you should go for it. Life is too short to not at least try, especially when it’s something that you want. This time if it’s him who tries to run then you chase behind him as fast as you can, pulling him right back to you.” Taylor’s words settled deep inside of me. She spoke as if she had already experienced love and heartache all at the same time.

The air in the room seemed to catch fire as I entered, my chest heaved out a breath as I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. This whole distance thing was hard. What was harder was wanting to be near her, but knowing that keeping her at an arm’s length was the right thing to do. It was a love hate thing that almost always ended in me hating myself, yet I couldn’t help myself any longer, I needed to see her face. I turned around and caught Gia’s eyes locked on me, they looked into my soul and rooted me to her.

“I’m thinking pizza and a movie tonight?” Chance interrupted my thoughts before I could even get a word out. I didn’t know if what he was trying to do was a good idea, all I knew was I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of her.

“Umm…”Gia hesitantly murmured, “It’s okay if we don’t, I have work to do anyways. You three could have a movie night and I could just, you know−” Taylor elbowed her in the side causing her to stop midsentence.