Worth the Chase (6 page)

The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house as it bounced off the walls. I clenched my fists tightly, forcing in fresh oxygen then headed straight towards the front door.

I needed to move on. I needed to push past whatever fucked up obsession I had with her.
With my hand resting on the door handle briefly, I rolled my shoulders and opened the heavy wooden door, not realizing just how much my life was about to change. Just how fucking hard it truly would be to move on from Gia motherfucking King.

Sweat covered my hands and my heart all but beat right out of my chest. I knew this house, this whole neighborhood. I knew that the second the door before me opened that everything would change.

I should’ve ran. I should’ve confessed my sins to Taylor. Now there was nothing that I could do. Now I would have to pretend as if I didn’t know him. As if I didn’t care about him at all, when all I could think about was him.

He’s all I’ve thought about since I first seen him all those months ago
, I thought to myself as I wrung my hands together nervously.

“Holy shit, this house is…”

“Nice,” I finished the sentence for her, giving her a fake smile. If Taylor could tell that it wasn’t real, she wasn’t letting on, which sent relief coursing through me. She watched me for a moment longer before pressing the doorbell with a genuine smile on her face. She was happy, energetic about it all. There was no fucking way I could go and ruin this for her. I needed to pull on my big girl panties and just deal, that and we had already paid for six months of rent. There was no going back now.

My heartbeat skyrocketed as I heard the click of the doorknob turning as it opened. Wind seemed to stir the air around me, and I almost choked as I looked into a pair of blue eyes that I knew all too well. They flickered straight to me and then to Taylor, and then of course back to me. The shock in his eyes evident and mirroring my own. Thank God for my dark complexion, otherwise Taylor and Chase would’ve been able to see the blush creeping up my neck and onto my cheeks.

“Umm…” He cleared his throat, his eyes landing on mine again. Why was he staring at me?  

“Hi! My name’s Taylor and this is Gia.” Taylor introduced us and then continued on as if she couldn’t feel the tension growing between us. She also failed to recognize the resemblance between Chance and Chase in all her excitement. “We’re here to see the rooms in the basement.” She tilted her head at him. He was still staring at me as he nodded his head yes.

“Umm, yeah. Come in.” Chase welcomed us in, but I could hear the hesitation in his voice. It wasn’t like I wanted to do this any more than he did.

Taylor walked in first and I followed in closely behind her, praying that Chase wouldn’t say anything or make any sudden movements towards me, because if he did I would have to cut him.

“Oh my fudging…” The air escaped Taylor as she gazed up at the ceiling and walls. The house truly was beautiful, a masterpiece if you asked me. Floor to ceiling windows lined the walls, and the ones that didn’t have windows were painted in warm neutral colors with elegant paintings hanging on them. The furniture looked brand new, which is a miracle really considering all the parties Chase had thrown here.

“I’ll take that as a good sign and say this place meets your expectations. The house is my parents, but we live here and by ‘
we’
I mean my twin brother and I.”

“OMG!! I knew you looked really familiar!! I met your brother the other day when I went to surprise Gia at the library. I didn’t want to mention it, though. Some people get really mad when you tell them they look like someone else or irritated from hearing it so many times.” Taylor rambled on full of so much excitement that you would think she had an energy shot before we came over here.

“We’ve gotten told that so much that it doesn’t even bother us anymore. Plus we look a lot like our dad, family genes and all, so yeah we’re pretty used to it by now.” The smugness that I’ve become quite familiar with was back in all its glory, and all I could do was dig my fingernails into my flesh to stop myself from smacking him upside the head.

His arrogance was suffocating, and I swear I was about five seconds away from puking on his prestigious floor. Truth be told, I was ready to leave already and I had a minimum of six months of living left to do in this house. One of us was going to die. It was going to be a bloodbath of epic proportions, and I prayed I was the one to survive it all.  

After Taylor got over the initial shock of my tutor having a twin brother and them being our new roommates, Chase begin to tell us about the house, explaining how his parents had visited Italy when he was a kid and hand picked out most of the artwork and furniture.

“Why are you not shocked by this?” Taylor mumbled under her breath to me. How could I tell her that I wasn’t shocked by the elegance of the house because I had seen it before, without letting her know I had been here and ended up in Chase’s bed?
I couldn’t
.

I was screwed. So fucking screwed.

Chase pointed us down the basement stairs, Taylor in front while he trailed behind me. I could feel the heat from him against my back as he followed closely behind.

“You smell good enough to eat… again,” he breathed into my ear right as my feet hit the last step. My mind was racing, my palms sweating. I was flushed from head to toe. The game he was playing right at the moment was a nasty one. He knew I was stuck, he knew there was no way I could respond to his comments. At least not in front of Taylor.

“It’s beautiful really. Don’t you think, Gia?” Taylor seemed to growl in frustration. I hated that she was the only one
oohhhing
and
ahhhing,
but I knew I couldn’t fake it without making her suspicious.

“Yes. It’s perfect for us, Tay,” I answered her, focusing on anything but the huge ass elephant in the room named Chase.

My eyes glided across the immaculate hardwood floors to the floor to ceiling windows that mirrored the ones upstairs, and then to each door in the basement. I could only assume they lead into the bedrooms, bathroom, and the laundry room.

Taylor wandered off into one while I made my way into another. Of course, Chase followed me and as soon as my hand twisted the doorknob and we walked in he interrupted the silence.

“I refuse to let you stay here.” His voice was stern and the way he was looking at me told me he wouldn’t back down. I wanted to roll my eyes and tell him I didn’t like the fucking idea any more than he did but refused instead. I wouldn’t let him know anything about my feelings. If this bothered him then I was happy, so fucking be it.

“Well, Chase you have no say. Our parents already paid for six months of rent for Taylor and me, so I suppose I’m your new roommate,” I said in a hushed tone as I looked around the vacant room pretending that he wasn’t even in here with me.

“These closets are huge!” Taylor’s voice echoed through the basement and into the room I stood in as she gushed about the closet space.

“I’ll make you regret this,” he growled in my ear as I walked past him and out of the room, heading straight into another room that led into the bathroom which had a shower and a bathtub that would make any woman weak in the knees. I wanted to jump in it right this second and soak my problems away. Chase being the very first of many.

“I already regret ever meeting you, so I have you beat,” I shot back at him, turning around not expecting to come face to face with him. The close proximity began to mess with my head, making me want to take his lip into my mouth and bite it all while telling him to fuck off. So I backed away before I did something crazy like kiss him again.

“This place is excellent. When can we move in?” Taylor asked urgently as she walked into the room we were in. Chase smiled at her, it was fake, though, simply because it didn’t cause a twinkle to form in his eyes. Yes, I had realized that when he was genuinely happy his eyes twinkled.
      

“Whenever you want. The rent has been paid, so it seems you’re free to do so whenever.” Chase shrugged his shoulders and handed a pair of keys to Taylor before reaching into his back pocket and bringing forth a second set, handing them over to me.

“Gia!!!” She squealed, grabbing the keys from Chase and wrapping me in a gigantic hug, well as big as her five-foot stature would allow.

“I know, I’m excited too,” I whispered into her ear while Chase glared at me. His stare promised war. He was angry that he had been fooled, that for once he had been screwed by a girl and that it wasn’t him doing the screwing. I guess he still hadn’t gotten over our night together, which was fine because I hadn’t either, but at least I was keeping it together.

As his eyes narrowed further, I knew he would never be able to hold that anger in. One way or another he would find himself coming back to me, and I would be forced to deliver an everlasting blow.

I had my fill of Chase Winchester. He had nothing to offer me.

I thought as I told myself one of the biggest lies I have ever told.
 

I paced the floor in my bedroom so many times, I was positive I was wearing a hole right through it into the basement. My veins were filled with fire, my mind was far from thinking rational thoughts. All I could think about was how I was going to make her pay for all the damage she was about to cause. I had never hurt a woman in my life, but Gia was pushing every button I had.

She knew exactly what to say to set me off, knew exactly what she needed to do to push me to the edge, and with one look I cracked under pressure. She was an addiction, a contradiction to everything I ever wanted in a woman. The fire she caused swirled deep inside of me, the embers of said fire burning pieces of my flesh in her wake.

She was dangerous.

She was evil.

The devil in sheep’s clothing, and she had the power to destroy. She held the match to start the fire, to burn everyone and everything between us.

I sat on the counter in the kitchen watching as the girls moved random items into the house. A lamp that looked like a shoe, clothes, and did I say clothes? Shoes, and more shoes. Jesus, when would it end? When the basement became a women’s boutique?

I waited as patiently as I could for them to ask for help. I knew it was coming, I could see the frustration filling Gia’s eyes as hers met mine in a gridiron glare. She was relentless. Her anger seemed to grow more with every box she heaved in, but it was once Taylor was outside and she was alone inside with me that she finally spoke.

“You could be a gentleman and help us.” Her tone said she was pissed, and I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face. At least she finally felt how I did.

“As you know I’m not a gentleman so…” I trailed off as if I wasn’t entertained with the conversation. The truth was, I had never wanted to talk to someone more than her. Hell, we didn’t even have to talk. I just wanted to be in the same room as her. She made me happy even though I would never admit it to her. She closed the holes inside of me, filling them with everything good in her and forcing the bad away.

“You’re right, why on God’s green earth would I ever think that?”

“All that is left is the mattresses and bed sheets.” Taylor, her spunky little red headed friend, yelled into the house stopping me from responding. I had caught the way she and Chance walked circles around one another, reminding me of Gia and myself.