I didn’t even notice when Chase slid beside me. “Hey, darlin’,” he whispered in my ear, causing me to jump.
I put my hand over my pounding heart, irritated that my intense connection with Breccan had been broken.
“Hey. What’s up?” I whispered back. We were live on set, where chatting was heavily frowned upon due to open mics.
Chase bent, speaking directly in my ear. “I just heard from my girlfriend, Meg. She was able to get the rest of the week off and is flying out here. Tonight. And…” he paused, turning my body a bit and grabbing my hands. He pulled them against him and slipped something into my palm. “I got the ring. I’m going to propose.”
My face lit up in excitement and I threw my arms around him. “Oh my God!” I squealed ever so quietly in his ear. “That is amazing. I’m so happy for you!”
I wrapped one arm around him, pulling him into a hug, but ended up pulling his face almost directly to mine like we were kissing. As I let go, Chase flew backwards, being knocked into the ground.
“You keep your fucking hands off of her! Do you hear me?” Fire raged in Breccan’s eyes. His breaths coming in short and heavy, shouting as he pulled a fist back, punching Chase in the eye.
“Oh my God! Breccan, stop! What the hell are you doing?” I cried.
Breccan didn’t let up, pulling back for a second punch. “If I ever see you try to touch her again, I’ll kill you. I swear to God I will. She’s mine, you piece of shit. Mine!”
I didn’t know what to say or do, just standing frozen on the set as Breccan punched Chase again, and a third time. Security came running to break them apart, but I couldn’t move, too in shock. She’s mine. Breccan’s words echoed in my head, but I didn’t understand them at all. Why was he so angry? Why did he go off like that?
Just as security separated Breccan from Chase, Miranda grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my skin as she whirled me around. Venom spewed from her eyes and she slapped me hard across the face. “You fucking cunt,” she swore. “You’re not good enough for him. You’ll never been good enough. He belongs with me!”
I brought my hand up to my stinging cheek, wiping blood from my nose, too taken aback to say or do anything. A third security guard wrapped his beefy arm around Miranda’s tiny waist just as she struck me a second time. Her nails scratching down my arm as he hauled her away, screaming profanities at me the entire way.
“Are you okay?” someone asked me, handing me an ice pack. “Do you need medical attention?”
The sudden chill from the ice on my cheek knocked me out of my haze and back into the present. I shook my head. “I’m… I’m okay,” I managed to get out.
My jaw nearly dropped on the floor when I looked at the scene around me. The floor was stained with drops of Chase’s blood. Equipment and tables had been knocked over in the struggle, broken glass was strewn about. The entire back side of the set looked like a bomb had gone off.
It was then that I saw the red light atop camera one. It was recording. It was still recording. My eyes flashed to the host, who had a handheld microphone up to her mouth as she reported live, exclaiming, “Breccan Laughry goes off the deep end, violently attacking an innocent bystander. And that’s not all; his on again, off again girlfriend Miranda Deveraux got in on the action too, slapping this woman here and calling her names we can’t mention on TV.”
The reporter shoved the microphone in my face, the camera and lights wheeling around as they focused on me. “Miss, can you tell us your name? What’s your relationship to Breccan and Miranda? What set them off?”
“No… no comment,” I stated, holding my hand over my eyes as the lights blinded me. It was all I could think of to say.
“Is Breccan on drugs? Can you tell us anything?” she tried again.
I needed to get out of there, fast. I pushed her microphone out of my face and turned on my heel, practically sprinting out of the studio and not stopping until I got into my car.
I had no idea what happened to Breccan. Or Miranda. Or Chase. Oh my God, Chase! I needed to find out if he was okay.
I got in my car and plugged in my Bluetooth, dialing his number. It went straight to voicemail. I tried a second time and then a third, but each time it went directly to voicemail.
Assuming they took him to the nearest hospital, I set my navigation system and began to drive to Cedar Sinai. I found a spot in the garage and made my way to the emergency room.
“Can you tell me if Chase Walker has been taken here?”
The receptionist barely glanced up at me. “Are you family?”
“No, but—”
“I can only give that information out to family. Sorry.” She didn’t give me a chance to argue, calling “next” to the person behind me and I was shoved aside.
Grumbling, I went back to my car, trying Chase on his cell again. I drove to another nearby hospital, but he wasn’t there either. Still not answering, I had no choice but to head back home.
What awaited me as I pulled up to my crappy apartment was insanity: pure and simple. At least a dozen news vans had set up on my street, with twice as many photographers and other nosy busybodies milling about. “Ho-ly shit.”
They were here for me. I knew it. I stopped my tiny Honda Civic hatchback in the middle of the street and put it in reverse, but another car had pulled in behind me, blocking my escape route. I had no choice but to move forward, directly into the eye of the storm.
I managed to pull into my designated spot and stepped out of the car. I was swarmed immediately, microphones shoved in my face, and flashes blinding me as people screamed my name. Guess they figured out who I was. I held my hands up and ducked my head, not replying at all and rushing as quickly as possible into my building.
Only when the door closed did I let out a breath of relief, thankful none of them followed me inside. I was turning the key to unlock my door when my neighbor Cassidy opened her door and stepped into the hallway. “Um, I don’t know what all of that is about, but you’re really inconveniencing a lot of people. You really should be a little more courteous of your neighbors,” she huffed.
After everything that I’d been through today, all of the complete madness, to come home and listen to the irony of her accusations was the final straw. I doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down my face. Cassidy scrunched up her face in disgust and turned back into her apartment, slamming the door.
I wiped my eyes, still disbelieving the gall she had to accuse me of being a bad neighbor. I went inside, tossing my keys on the table and plopped on the couch, just laying there with my eyes shut. I must have drifted asleep, because the next thing I knew it was dark outside. Someone was lightly tapping at my door. Forgetting momentarily that it could be a reporter, I swung the door open without thought, shocked to see Breccan standing there.
“Hi,” he started. He had changed since I’d seen him last, wearing worn jeans and a maroon Henley, a baseball cap pulled low on his head. His hands were shoved in his back pockets and he rocked a bit on his feet.
“What are you doing here?”
He glanced around the hallway. “Can I come in? I had to scale three fences and cut through several back yards to get here unseen. I don’t want to make things worse by a reporter catching a glimpse of me now.”
I moved back, allowing him to step inside, and closed the door behind him. When I turned back, Breccan had taken a seat on the couch, hanging his head in his hands.
“I’m so sorry for everything. I royally fucked up and I know it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What the hell happened on the set, Breccan? Why did you go off like that? You were in the middle of an interview for crying out loud.”
“I know, Jesus, Cora, don’t you think I know that?”
I threw my hands in the air. “How the fuck am I supposed to know? You cut me off for weeks, barely speaking to me and refusing to even look me in the eye after…” I couldn’t finish. My hands shook as the anger came roaring back to me. Anger not jus
t for today, but about everything that happened since our night together.
“It’s just, when I saw him touching you, holding you like that. Seeing that it was him that made your eyes light up like they used to for me, I snapped. I couldn’t take having to watch another guy making you happy. Making you smile.” He stood, walking over to me. He ran his hands down my arms, sliding around to my back and pulling me to him. My body ached being near him, craving him like he was water in the desert, happily moving closer and breathing him in. “I want to be the one to make you smile, Cora. To touch your luscious skin. To make your eyes light up.”
No! I couldn’t do this to myself again. I pushed back on his chest, stepping out of his reach. “No. You don’t get to come in here after icing me out for weeks and say things like that. It’s not fair.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. There’s a lot I want to make up for.”
“Well you need to start with Chase. Do you know why I was hugging him, Breccan? I was congratulating him. He was going to propose to his girlfriend tonight.”
He winced. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit.”
Breccan was silent for a few seconds, scrubbing his hands through his hair as he spun in a slow circle. “This is where you live?” he asked, wrinkling his nose at my hand-me-down futon and tossed to the curb mix-matched furniture.
“Yes,” I jutted my chin up. I wasn’t going to let him make me feel bad. I was doing the best I could, trying to make it on my own.
Breccan came to me once again, cupping my face in his hands as he laid a soft kiss on my lips. I instantly melted against him, craving more.
“Come home with me. Let me take you home and we can start over. Forget everything that happened these last two weeks. Forget Chase. Forget Miranda. Forget it all and start over. Just me and you.”
He pulled me closer, kissing me again. God, it was so tempting. And I wanted it so badly. Wanted him so badly. Wanted everything he was offering.
But hearing Miranda’s name was like a slap to the face. I couldn’t.
I shook my head, putting my hands on his and moving them away from my face. “No. Breccan. I can’t.”
He tried to replace them, but I stepped back. “Cora, just… give me a chance to make this right.”
My heart clenched, practically screaming at my head to go back to him. Run back to him and let him kiss me silly. But my head remembered where the road led, and I couldn’t go back.
“I’m sorry, Breccan. I’m done. I can’t do it anymore and can’t allow myself to be put in that position again.” I went to the door and held it open for him to leave. “My contract is up and… I’m not coming back.”
His eyes slid shut slowly as he took in my words, knowing I was serious. “Cora,” he tried one more time.
I held the door open wider, shaking my head. Breccan stepped through it, his eyes pleading.
“Goodbye Breccan.”
I closed the door on Breccan, on any possibility of “us,” and then went and cried myself to sleep.
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Breaking All the Rules (Billionaire Romance) (The A List Series (Book 2)) Page 5