by T. J. Kline
“I have to get a hold of him,” she muttered.
“Who?” Franklin looked up from the file he was reading.
“Chase.”
“The cop who kicked Alyssa off Justin’s place?” He arched a brow in question.
“Long story, but yes. I have seven missed calls from him but no messages.” She scrolled through her contacts and pressed the button for Alyssa. Maybe she could give her some information. “Alyssa, have you see Chase? He’s been calling but now he’s not answering.”
“Bailey, he left a while ago.”
The oxygen was sucked from her lungs. “He’s hurt, Alyssa. Where would he go?”
“I have no idea. He kicked Justin out, dropped Gracie off with Julia, and said he’d be back in a few days. Bailey, Justin gave him the letter and said he didn’t look good when he left.”
Of course he didn’t look good. He had a broken rib and a concussion, and Justin just let him drive away? She had to find out where he went. “Okay. Thanks, Alyssa.” Bailey tried to run through her conversations with Chase before she’d left, hoping there might be a clue where he’d gone.
Alyssa dropped her voice slightly. “Did you get everything worked out?”
Bailey could hear Justin in the background and appreciated Alyssa keeping quiet about the situation. The last thing she wanted from Justin was another I-told-you-so. She’d catch enough crap from him when she got back.
“Yes, I should be heading back tomorrow, and Franklin is the best.”
He looked up from his desk with a grin. “If that’s Aly, tell her I said hello and she’s welcome.”
Alyssa laughed into the receiver. “Give him a hug for me and tell him that I owe him yet again.”
“Would the two of you like me to put her on speaker so you can talk?” Bailey pressed the button on her phone. “If you hear from Chase, call me, okay?”
“I’ll call as soon as I know anything. In the meantime, Franklin, take Bailey to the best dinner you can on short notice, on me. Bailey, don’t feel like you have to rush to get home, unless you want to. I have everything under control at the clinic.”
“Thanks, Alyssa. I owe you again.” Bailey hung up and looked over the desk at Franklin. “Would you mind if I take a rain check on dinner tonight? I don’t think I’d make very good company.”
He leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you kidding me? You owe me, too, and I want a concert.” Franklin grinned. “There’s a great karaoke bar down the street and, unless I’m mistaken, you’re about to put this talent I’ve heard so much about under a bushel to hide forever. I’d like to hear you before you retire.”
She tipped her head to one side. It would be fun to at least see the city now that she knew she wasn’t staying, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself until she knew Chase was safe.
“What do you say we skip dinner and just blow off a little steam?” He rose from behind the desk and brushed his hands down his immaculate suit pants. “No offense, but after dealing with Allen today, I need a drink. Even talking to that man makes me feel cheap.”
“Fine,” she agreed, indulging him. “But at least let me go by the hotel and change clothes. If this is my only big performance, let’s make it a good one.”
Tomorrow, she was heading home. Even without the lights and the fame, Chase made her feel more complete than any outrageous stunt, more powerful than any roaring motorcycle engine, and more adored than any applause. With Chase, it didn’t matter what anyone else thought about her, as long as it was his hands driving her wild.
AS HE EASED back into the seat of the truck, minding his ribs, Chase rubbed his face. He was beat, but in a good way. Spending the afternoon with Rachel and Mason, meeting her new husband, he felt better that he had in over a year. He would give anything to have Lance back, but seeing her and Mason happy was a salve to the guilt he fought. Rachel had reminded him several times over the day that things happened the way they did for a reason and, while he wasn’t sure he believed it, he had to agree that Lance would have liked Eric. They were so similar in personality that Chase had felt immediately at ease with the man. He couldn’t have hand selected a better man to take Lance’s place in Mason’s life, and Eric doted on the boy like he was his own. His phone rang from the seat where he’d tossed it and he saw he’d missed several calls, including four from Bailey.
“Damn it!” He ignored Alyssa’s call and tried calling Bailey but it went to voice mail. He needed to talk to her but he wasn’t sure how he could express his gratitude over the phone for what she’d unknowingly encouraged him to do. He didn’t even bother to leave a message and called Alyssa instead.
“Finally,” she breathed into the phone. “Bailey called looking for you. Where are you?”
“Pendleton. Is she okay?” Please, don’t let anything have happened to her. “I was planning on trying to find her tonight. Any suggestions on where to start looking?”
“Chase, are you sure you’re okay? You were just in the hospital and—”
He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I am, just tired, sore, and a little hungry. Where is she?”
“I’m not sure exactly where she is right at this moment. I’ll be right there, Justin,” Alyssa called. “Bailey will kill me if Justin shows up, so get your rear over to Franklin’s office. He’s helping her deal with her band manager.”
“Your attorney, Franklin Monroe?”
“Just let him play with his cereal,” she yelled. “Chase, give Franklin a call. If she’s not with him, check the Four Seasons. Then go get her and both of you get your butts back where you belong. I can only stall Justin so long before he drives down there to find her himself. If he finds out I helped her get down there . . . just go get her.”
The phone disconnected in his ear and he looked up directions to Franklin Monroe’s office on his GPS. He would do whatever it took to keep Bailey close, even if that meant handcuffing her in his truck and finding an all-night chapel.
BAILEY LAUGHED AS Franklin pushed her back onto the stage with the microphone. As much fun as karaoke was, it didn’t compare to singing with a live band, but she knew this was as close as she was going to get for a long time. She had to admit, it felt good to have people begging her to sing, telling how much they loved her voice, especially in a place where they heard amazing singers every day. This was her swan song and she was happy to enjoy it.
As the first drumbeats of Sara Evans’s “Born to Fly” sounded, she saw Franklin glance at his phone before looking up. The glare from outside blinded her as she followed his gaze, but through the lights she could see what looked like a man enter and take a seat at their table. Assuming it was one of his clients or a friend, she let the music take her away. The song had always been a favorite of hers, almost a theme song for her life. Now, instead of asking her to settle down and give in to the expectations others had set for her, Chase understood how much she had to offer and he didn’t want to squash her spirit. He let her be as wild as she wanted, encouraged her, and that was something she’d never felt from anyone else.
As the song finished, she stepped off the stage, shaking the DJ’s hand as he begged her to come up and do a few more. She waved him off with a promise to come back up before she left the bar.
“Excuse me.” A woman stepped in front of her, her long blonde hair piled on top of her head, wiping at tear-filled eyes. “You’re Bailey Hart, right?”
There was something about this woman that seemed vaguely familiar but Bailey couldn’t quite grasp the memory. “I am.”
She held out her hand but the woman rushed her, hugging her tightly. “You probably don’t remember me, but my daughter, Melanie, was in the hospital in Placerville when you came to sing one weekend. She’d just been diagnosed with leukemia. It made such an impact on her. She . . . she . . . ”
Bailey didn’t remember the woman or her daughter but felt a deep connection with her anyway. So many kids came through the hospital ward, most on their w
ay to the next, bigger, more well-equipped hospital, but all the children had the same need for something—anything—that might make them forget their pain, even for a short while.
“Come sit down for a moment,” she said, urging her toward the table where Franklin was waiting, looking concerned.
Bailey shook her head and gave the woman her seat. She wiped away the tear that snuck down her cheek. “I’m sorry, it’s been a year but I still miss her.”
“Tell me about Melanie.”
The woman turned her face toward Bailey. “She loved music so much. She’d been learning piano when she was diagnosed, so we set up a keyboard in her room.”
Bailey remembered a tiny girl with huge brown eyes who’d offered to play for her. She’d been one of the first kids Blake had introduced her to, and she’d been so proud of the song she’d learned to play on her new keyboard. They’d shared several afternoons singing together, Bailey harmonizing for the girl, until Blake had informed her that the child had been transferred to the care of a larger hospital that could better treat her needs. “I remember her,” Bailey whispered. “I was so sad when you left and I didn’t get to tell her good-bye.”
“She loved singing with you. But my husband accepted a job in Orange so that she could be treated by a specialist down here. She got better for a while.” The woman’s voice tapered off. “You taught her a song that you wrote, the one about the phoenix rising. It was the last thing we heard her sing.”
Bailey couldn’t fight the tears that stung her eyes any longer. She’d written the song for the children she’d met in the hospital, and for herself. It was a song of escape, a song of freedom from the ties that bound. A song about love overcoming pain.
The woman reached for Bailey’s hand and squeezed. “I was just here celebrating a friend’s birthday . . . when I saw you singing, I had to come and thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?” Bailey couldn’t imagine feeling any more helpless.
“You gave my daughter hope. You helped her find her voice in a time when she felt lost.” She took a deep breath and hugged Bailey again. “I can’t ever thank you enough for that.”
Without another word, the woman slipped back into the crowd, heading toward the exit. Bailey took a deep breath, trying to shut off the flood of emotions raging through her. A hand fell on her shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
She turned her attention to the man seated at the table. “Chase?”
The corner of his mouth tipped to the side. “Did you think you’d gotten rid of me that easily?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
HIS DATES WITH Bailey never seemed to turn out the way he planned for them to. What was it about this woman that took his best-laid plans and cast them aside for something he could never completely foresee? Who could have ever predicted that the mother of one of the kids she sang for in the hospital would turn up in the same bar where Bailey was singing? She swiped at the silent tears slipping down her cheeks.
Franklin stood, handing Chase the address of the hotel. “Here, why don’t you take her back.” He gave her a quick hug. “I’ll call you in the morning, but this guy came a long way to see you.”
“Thank you, Franklin.”
Chase watched as Franklin walked away, leaving him with Bailey, trying to hold back her tears. “Bailey, are you okay?” She nodded.
“I am. Did you hear her?”
“Why don’t you text Alyssa and let her know we’re together so she can stop worrying.” Maybe if he could get her mind focused elsewhere, at least until they reached the hotel, she’d be able to hold back her emotions. Bailey pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a message to Alyssa as he led her out of the bar. Before they reached the street, he pulled her into his arms, his hands cupping her face tenderly.
“I love you, do you realize that?” Unable to speak, she nodded. “I love your spirit and your fire, but I also love this side of you.”
“The side that bawls like a baby?”
“The side that cares so much for a woman in pain or a child hurting that you cry with them.” He wiped at the streaks down her cheek with his thumb. “You try so hard not to let people see this soft side of you, but you should. It’s a part of who you are, Bailey. Part of who we all see. You just don’t realize it.”
“Chase, these are happy tears.” She laughed. “I’m touched by what she told me, but I’m also so happy to see you.” Before he could say anything, Bailey threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips against his in a quick kiss. “How did you know where to find me?”
The last thing on his mind was conversation. Chase cupped the back of her head, dipping toward her, kissing her softly, his lips brushing over hers in a promise of more to come.
Chase led the way, grateful when her phone rang and she answered it, talking to Alyssa most of the way to his truck. It gave him the opportunity to watch her. She looked happy as she chatted, promising she’d explain exactly what happened soon. He’d been right—she was going to fit in here. He couldn’t ask her to return, which left him with only one other option, one he’d been prepared to take in order to ensure he didn’t lose her. Chase pressed the key fob, starting the truck, and moved to her side to open her door as she hung up the phone.
“Alyssa is happy to know you found me and we’re both on our way back to the hotel.” She looked up at him with apprehension in the depths of her blue eyes. “You are coming back to the hotel, right?”
He opened her door and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “I will go wherever you want me, Bailey.” He saw the hope flare in her eyes and felt his stomach flip, praying that didn’t mean what he thought it did.
He was prepared to stay, to sign on with a local police department, to change his life in order for her to pursue her dream. She was more than worth that sacrifice. But he’d hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
BAILEY SLIPPED HER key card into the slot. She knew she’d made the right decision in giving up the contract with JD. Meeting Melanie’s mother in the karaoke bar had confirmed it like nothing else. Life was too short to waste on guessing, on the pursuit of things that didn’t inspire her. Like a magician’s trick, people were there one moment and gone the next. Bailey’s heart ached with loss all over again. It had begun when she was young, losing her mother, then her aunt and uncle. She’d almost lost Chase in the blink of an eye, and now, finding out that Melanie had been taken, so young. Covering her hands with her face, Bailey turned to find Chase behind her, his arms waiting. She took two steps forward, into his embrace, surrounded by the man who had promised to love her.
“Shh, baby, I know.” His hand moved over her back in soothing circles as Bailey’s sobs racked her body, making her tremble weakly as she clung to Chase’s waist.
She looked up at him, her tears burning as they slid down her cheeks. “I don’t know why I keep letting this hurt so much, why I let myself get so attached to these kids knowing they could leave anytime.”
“It’s who you are, Bailey.” Chase brushed her bangs away from her face and stared down at her. “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. Come here.”
Chase led her to the bedroom of the suite as the anguish threatened to consume her. She knew it wouldn’t change the fact that she would go back to the hospital next week. In fact, it made her more determined to return, but she would change the way she did it. From now on, she wouldn’t just take requests, she would help the kids find a way to express their feelings, teach them to play and sing. She had to reach more of them, to do more.
Before she could share her plans with Chase, he took her hand and pulled her down onto the bed with him, tucking her head under his chin. His fingers played over her arms but he seemed content to simply hold her until the tears soaking his shirt dried. After the confrontation with JD this morning and the emotional confession this evening, the steady, soft beat of his heart lulled her, making her drowsy.
“Bailey?” His voice was quiet, as if he was checking to see if she�
�d fallen asleep.
“Hmm?”
“Why did you leave? Why didn’t you just wake me? I would have come with you.” She felt the muscles of his chest tighten, waiting for her answer.
“I know you would have.” She rose over him to look into his face. “Chase, whether you believe it or not, you’re injured. You weren’t supposed to do anything.” She shook her head at him in awe. “I was only coming down to meet with Franklin and the band to see what was going on with our manager. We needed to confront him about our contract.”
His jaw clenched and she saw his eyes darken. “I see.” His hands stilled on her arm as he took a deep breath. “You’re not living with those guys from your band.”
Bailey tried to hide her smile as she furrowed her brow in mock outrage. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” She slid off the bed and stared down at him with her arms crossed.
Instead of following her lead, Chase crossed his ankles on the bed and tucked his wrists behind his head in repose. “I can since I’m moving down here with you and, I’m telling you, I’m not sharing a place with four other guys.”
“I am a grown-ass—what?” Her arms fell to her sides. “You’re moving down here? But I thought . . . ”
Chase rose from the bed and drew her back into his arms. “I waited a long time to hold you, pissed off my best friend, and faced my past for you. Did you really think I would let you walk away without coming for you?”
“Faced your past?”
“You said I needed closure, so I went to see Rachel.”
“I said that?” She tipped her chin up to look into his eyes. She could see the sadness there, but there was no longer the agonizing self-condemnation. While there was sorrow, the regret was fading.
“It was hard, but I’ve been wallowing in this regret for so long, I’d let myself forget a few things about Lance. Like how much he loved the job, too, and how he didn’t run away.” She could still see the pain of loss in his face, but there was also the beauty of his memories. “Rachel reminded me how Lance always said, when it was his time, he wanted to go out on the job. She’s happily remarried with another baby on the way.” His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone. “She reminded me that Lance would want the same thing for me. I want that with you, Bailey. Even if that means staying here in LA. I’ve already contacted the PD and they are willing to set up an interview next week. My dad will put in a good word for me.”