by Elle Harte
I didn’t really know what to make of it. I was sitting in a stupid bistro with a stranger I met and I had zero plans for the next moment. Suddenly, my life looked bleak and downright scary. I was supposed to be brave and I wanted to feel it but I couldn’t help being terrified. Maybe that was why Chase’s being there was reassuring.
Before I could think of something to say, the smell of seafood hit me and within moments of that, the server was placing dishes on our table. "Steamed pork dumpling, Fried Rice with Seafood and crispy garlic for the lady," she said, setting down my food in front of me. "And Shredded Pork with garlic sauce and Roast pork fried Rice for the gentleman. Is the wine to your taste?"
Chase responded in Mandarin and the woman left. “I thought we came for drinks,” I reminded him. But he was too full of himself and I was on my second glass of wine. Besides, the smell of shrimp scallop had already settled in my nostrils. It would be a shame if after all that foreplay my stomach went without shrimp.
“Just eat,” he said, and started digging into his pork dish. “You can take me out for terrible food when you win the lottery.”
“It’s not terrible,” I had already dipped into my seafood sauce and maybe it was the wine talking or my twenty-four hours fast, but it tasted pretty good.
I’m not an idiot, I knew he was doing it because he was worried and wanted to make sure I ate and he also knew I wouldn’t order it myself. It was the kind of thing I would do. If I still had the money. I tried not to think about the embarrassment of being in a situation that led me here, or for letting a stranger pay for my food. To be honest, I wasn’t that hungry. But I didn’t know how long I might have to go without food. I mean, there were soup kitchens and shelters, eventually I would figure something out but until then I had no idea what hell the next moment was going to bring.
Chase continued to look less at the food and more at me. It was flattering but also a bit unnerving and it wasn’t just attraction, it was more than that. It was concern.
“Do you live around here?” he asked.
“Uh, no.” This was just the place that I happened to reach in a ridiculous subway roulette but I didn’t tell him that.
“I’m not from around here either,” he said. “I live in East Village.”
“I’m from Manhattan,” I don’t know what possessed me to give out that information voluntarily.
“Williamsburg is a long way from Manhattan.”
I didn’t know what I was doing pretending to act like I wasn’t carrying my entire life with me in those two bags and no money.
Maybe it was fun pretending to be like other normal people for a while longer. Or maybe it was denial. If I had a phone, Nick would be calling. Knowing Nick, he was going to find me eventually, so I wanted to make the most of his absence until then.
I was on my fourth glass of wine when the server came back inquiring if we wanted anything. Chase looked toward me but he could see that dessert was the last thing on my mind. Despite my love for seafood, I didn’t eat much. I just wasn’t hungry. It was nerves. I always had trouble eating when I was excited or anxious. He asked for the bill. Time to face the music, Blayne. It was a good two hours that you spent with him and food and water and shelter. But now, you’re on your own.
I was freaking out. Everything had happened so fast, I didn’t get a chance to think. I could have been smarter about leaving but I wasn’t in the capacity to think rationally. Was that why I was in this mess? Because I refused to make smarter choices and I made dumb decisions rule over me? But I couldn’t let Chase know all that. When the server went to get our bill, Chase pushed a fortune cookie in my direction.
"I don't believe in fate." I don't even think that was true. I was just afraid of learning something I didn't want to hear. Some prophecy of my imminent doom. It would have been a death sentence considering the state I was in, mentally.
"You look like you can use some divine wisdom today," Chase said, and slowly pushed the cookie a little more toward me. I eventually gave in. He watched intently as I broke the cookie apart in the middle, and unspooled the tiny strip of paper.
"Do not believe in miracles—rely on them."
“Yikes,” Chase said. “That’s not sublime at all. I think God is trying to tell you something.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted the world to know how much pain I was in. I felt like I was losing my mind and getting my heart ripped out of my chest at the same time.
With the food finished there was no reason left for either of us to stick around. Chase paid the bill and stood, and picked up the heavier bag. He stood by the door and held it open until I was safely through it. I was still completely unprepared to face whatever lay ahead and that gesture was too much for me.
Outside, it had gotten colder and Chase looked even more concerned as he set down my bag on the sidewalk, in the pouring rain. I would have let him help me but I was too afraid of the consequences to let him get any closer.
There was something about his demeanor that told me he wasn’t going to let it go and I was right. As soon as we were outside, he was back to convincing me for another leap of faith. But I was too anxious, too apprehensive to even look at him because I knew he would be watching me with those eyes and I couldn’t risk falling into their trance again.
But I also couldn’t be rude to him after everything he had done. He had been polite and attentive throughout our conversation and once I stopped him, he hadn’t pried to find out my business. Not to forget he had been extremely well-behaved and courteous.
If I ever got out of this mess, I would give him a call and find out if there was any way I could repay his kindness. “You should leave me your number,” I said, still avoiding those eyes. “I’ll call you and we can have that lunch I owe.” I wanted to add when I’m not stranded and on my own, but I didn’t even know how long that would last.
“Where will you go in this awful weather?” he asked when he saw me struggling with the bags. “Can I give you a ride at least? You can stay the night at my place. I promise not to use my serial killer axe, I hope you know that’s for special occasions only.”
“As promising as that sounds,” I said, trying to play it down. “I’ll have to decline.”
“Are you sure? I make a mean margarita.”
I grinned. “Somehow, you don’t strike me as someone who likes margaritas.”
“Well, looks can be deceiving.”
“Right. And you’re not trying to hit on me or anything.”
“Blayne, I would never betray you. So, if you’re getting some kind of vibe, rest assured that I’m only interested in killing you and dumping you in a lake, not in having sex with you. At worst, I might make a skin suit from your remains. You wouldn’t leave me hanging, would you? A gentleman deserves his skin suit, that’s just Axe Murderer 101.”
I was snickering. Oh my God, this is mortifying! It was absurd and wrong because I shouldn’t be encouraging him, and I shouldn’t have found a reason to joke around, after what happened tonight. It was a monumental incident and there had to be a propriety code that I was breaking, surely, by letting myself fall for him… I mean to say his allure… I mean he was obviously good looking and attractive, that wasn’t something up for debate. He was sin in a gorgeous, crude and stunningly desirable packaging.
His seductive demeanor and the way he walked, and cocked his head to one side when he was being smug. His eyes lit up every time he smiled. A smile that was more bewitching than his rugged good looks and the old-world charm underneath his modern exterior. The kind of man who would pull out the chairs and open all the doors for his woman. Well, he did that for me. Nick would never do something like that. He thought it was ridiculous, and I agree with him but I have my own opinion about it.
“See, I made you laugh. You probably thought that was impossible.”
He was right. But he had been right about most things. That wasn’t a surprise. It was the way I was succumbing to his charms, that bothered me. There was a time when any man’s attention wo
uld feel sinful and immoral, and unchaste. I would run from it. I would let any such encounter die down until I couldn’t even remember it. this pattern had been in place ever since that incident with a high school senior I ‘dated’ when I was still a freshman.
“You’re right. Lame jokes can be funny!”
“Hey, hate the game not the player.”
“I think it’s the other way around.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I like to do things a little differently.”
I was getting comfortable. And I couldn’t get comfortable. Being comfortable was what led me here. I was still engaged to Nick and I was letting this guy flirt with me, why? I felt like I deserved to be punished for it. I might not have all the answers but I knew that going with Chase and letting him save me wouldn’t end well. Maybe I should swear off men at this point rather than letting them flirt with me.
He must have seen the confusion on my face and started to ask me to go with him again.
“Blayne, it’s not a big deal…”
“It is a big deal!” I screamed. That was so unlike me. “For you it might be nothing to invite a random girl to your place at this hour but it’s a big deal to me, Chase. It’s a very big deal because I have a fiancé!”
I couldn’t believe I just told him that. But I was glad that it was out in the open.
“Do I look like the kind of guy who would try to take advantage of your situation?”
“No, you don’t Chase. You look like a really good guy but so did the person who led me here.”
He looked hurt by that. “I’m not going to just let you walk away. Not until I know you’re safe. If you don’t want to stay the night at my place, then I can take you to a hotel. Just spend the night there! Surely, the people at the Ritz Carlton are not conspiring with me!”
“Okay, now you’re just being creepy.” I knew that I should have been polite but I didn’t know what to do. His suggestion was good enough but I couldn’t find it in me to trust him.
On the surface, he was annoyed but I could tell there was more to it. “You don’t have to keep up the act,” he said. “I can tell you’re running away. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care that you don’t want to tell me. But please, just let me help you.”
Even though a part of me wanted him to stay, I didn’t do it. I had to stop making the same mistakes I’d made before. “I’ll see you around Chase,” I said and turned my back on him.
I felt the slight discomfort of a vise grip on my arm as he pulled me toward him hard enough for my head to spin. My hands landed on his chest as I struggled to regain balance.
I was face to face with those eyes… blue and deep. Filled with an insane passion.
He held an attraction for me, that wasn’t a surprise but his eyes told me so much more.
I saw something lingering underneath that gentleness… it was a kind of darkness. Anger. Vulnerability.
Desire.
I couldn’t stop being mesmerized.
I sensed the danger that lay underneath that gentle façade but I still stayed glued to my place.
And I could sense how badly he wanted to let that darkness out.
“I can’t let you walk away, Blayne.”
His words gave me goosebumps. Suddenly, I feared him more than I needed him.
I pushed myself out of his hold, grabbed my bags and started walking. I hadn’t even crossed the street when the tears began falling freely from my eyes, out of my control.
Chase
Angry would be an understatement.
I walked all the way back to my limo in an uncontrollable rage.
Stanton noticed my mood as always and let me fume in the back of the car and started driving. I knew that he would drive me straight back home.
I poured myself a drink and downed it fast. I had to take one more to be able to make conversation.
I dialed Carl’s phone and he picked up right away.
“Sir?”
“Will you keep an eye on her?”
“Of course. You know you can count on me.”
That was one of the few things in life that I was sure of. “Thanks.”
“Sir, it’s my job.”
It wasn’t and we both knew that but that was the reason I could count on him. The man believed in loyalty. When it came to loyalty, I had always been lucky. Both Stanton and Carl would bring me back from the mouth of death. They’d risked their own lives to save me plenty of times. Stanton was older and more loyal to my father and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I left the more personal tasks to Carl.
After a while, when he saw that I was calmer, Stanton finally decided to speak. “She won’t be coming then, Mr. Cooper?”
“Guess not.”
“Does she have a place to stay?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea what her financial situation is but I know that it’s bad or she would be in a hotel.”
“Maybe she knows someone who can help?”
“I doubt it.”
“You need to give her some time to adjust.”
“You know time’s the one thing I don’t have.”
“I realize that but still.”
“You think I’m coming on too strong?”
Stanton hesitated to respond and that was answer enough.
Blayne
I felt like the world was mocking me, and laughing at my pain. I was getting drenched in the cold rain and shaking. I wanted to open my eyes and for the nightmare to be over but it wasn’t a nightmare.
I was looking for a bus shelter when someone sped past me, in a blur and I realized it was some guy in a hoodie and he was running with my smaller bag. Instead of letting it go, I ran after him. I realized my mistake because not only was I running in heels in the pouring rain and that was next to impossible, but my bones hurt and I couldn’t keep up with his rapid pace.
Once again, I was forced to give up.
I took calculated steps back to the bench and the downpour had become so thick I couldn’t see the bench and I panicked. Maybe this was all in my head. Maybe I was in a car crash and dreaming in a comatose state. Maybe Nick wasn’t…
I bumped into something with great force. At first, I thought it was a wall because the object was so massive and since visibility was so scarce but then the wall grabbed me by the shoulders and kept me from hitting the ground face first.
“Are you okay?”
No one ever asked me that. I’d always been the one who took care of others. I didn’t know what it felt like to be asked. But before I could respond, I noticed white spots dancing around my eyes and I felt his grip on my arm tighten.
I barely noticed eyes, green with golden flecks that weren’t visible now but I knew that they existed. Thin mouth and a stubble and a calming voice. I can’t explain what his presence felt like exactly but it was familiar. I barely caught a glimpse of blue and black ink on his neck and peeking out from under his jacket.
“Blayne?” he was clearly surprised. His spicy cologne was everywhere, and it was the same scent that always took me back to a time I had tried to forget. But by the time I realized that I had been holding on to him so I could stay upright, it was too late. It was useless to feel embarrassed so I tried to get out of his hold.
“I’m fine…” I didn’t know who I was trying to convince.
“Hey…” his words dissolved into oblivion as the dancing spots became sun streaks and exploded within my sight.
Chase
I wish she had allowed me to be there for her in some way. But I guess that was one of the reasons why she made my heart go wild, because despite everything she’d been through she was still trying to be strong.
Why couldn’t she see how that made her even more desirable? She walked the earth like she didn’t know what she was worth. As though her worth was merely with some asshole she left behind. But I was nothing if not determined. I would show her, what she should mean to someone. How much more she deserved.
I was still try
ing to figure out how to do that without looking like an idiot, when I entered the loft and noticed there was someone already there. I could see them hovering by the refrigerator.
“Don’t you have anything good in here?” she said, without turning toward me. She was draped in a towel that stopped at her mid-back, I could see her shoulder blades. “It’s all fruit and raw vegetables.”
“Well, I didn’t know I was having company,” I said, walking over to her. “Or I would have stocked up on trans-fat.”
Kira closed the fridge door and turned toward me, popped the lid off a soda can. “Why are you all wet?”
It made me feel a little self-conscious. “Because I was walking in the rain.”
“You were walking in the rain?” she said. “Is Stanton sick?”
I couldn’t believe she was commandeering my house and my evening. “And what the hell are you doing living here?” Kira said, gesturing to the place. “What kind of boring millionaire lives in a loft?”
“I do,” I said, taking off my suit jacket and placing it on the back of a bar stool. I loosened my tie and walked up to her, and she let me. “Do you want the towel on or off?” she asked me in a low voice.
“On please.”
“On it is… for now. But I can’t promise you anything until we know how this evening progresses.”
I went to the liquor cabinet and poured us both a glass of my favorite whiskey. She took out some Chinese takeout from the fridge and started eating it on the breakfast bar.
She washed it down with the soda. “Cooper, is it okay if I stay with you for a few days?”
“What’s wrong with your apartment?” I took a seat on one of the breakfast stools and sat next to her.
“Can’t you just let me stay here without the interrogation?”
She was hiding something, I could tell. I didn’t appreciate when people kept things from me. But I’d known Kira for years. Refusing her in her time of need didn’t seem appropriate.
“Who let you in?” I was curious.
Kira continued consuming the food held up her free hand. They were the only other set of keys to my place. “Kira, when did you…”