CHASE (The Heartbreak Club Book 1)

by Elle Harte

  She looked a little sad when she answered. “They belong to a friend,” she said. “I… ran into him last night.”

  “You spent the night with him?”

  She looked furious. “Why are you being so intrusive?”

  I couldn’t keep pestering her. “I’m sorry.”

  I started to walk silently when she turned to me. “I didn’t sleep with him.”

  “You don’t need to clarify anything…”

  “I do! Chase, last night I passed out and this guy, I used to date him, he found me and took me home. My clothes were wet…”

  “So, he helped you out of them, rather generously I must say.”

  “Nothing happened, Chase.”

  “Where’s the friend now?”

  She paused and I realized it was something to do with what happened with those men. It was the only reason she would be so uncomfortable talking about it. “The friend sold me out.”

  “He called your fiancé? That’s how he knew where to look.”

  I was mentally coming up with ways to kill a person without your future wife finding out. Future wife? I couldn’t believe I was just thinking about it. This was getting out of control. I don’t know what she did to me to cause this kind of reaction.

  She picked out a dress from one of the racks and scrutinized it. “Anyway, I won’t be talking to Jason ever again.”

  Jason. Jason and Nick. They didn’t know it yet, but they’d done the biggest mistake of their lives. There was nothing I could do in front of her because I knew she would tell me to let it go but how could I let it go? Those men were threatening her. I don’t know why they didn’t use their weapons, I saw that they were packing. They didn’t use it today, but tomorrow, in some dark alley or an empty open street they wouldn’t be afraid to use it to intimidate her.

  “I’ll go try it on,” she said and headed to the changing room. I took out my phone and called Carl. “Jason was the name of the other guy,” I told him. “I don’t have a last name bug he lives in the area so he must frequent the bars and restaurants. Find him. He’s the one who sold her out to Nick Callahan.”

  “I’m on it.”

  I ended the call when I saw her walking up to me dressed in a peach colored dress that hugged her body in just the right places. It made her skin glow, showed off those pretty freckles. Her red hair looked even more vibrant. Her eyes, a pure shade of hazel and green, reflected the color of the dress. And the effect of all this was my brain becoming defunct and being taken over by her raw innocence and her mesmerizing beauty.

  “I… uh… I uh, the dress…” that was so articulate Chase, well done on making a complete fool of yourself. She’s going to get the impression that you can’t even speak two words in front of a girl. It’s like being back in high school all over again.

  “You hate it,” she said, looking concerned. “Oh my God, I look hideous, don’t I?”

  Great. Now you led her to believe that this dress, which was made for her, looked hideous.

  “I’ll go change,” she said but I grabbed her arm. It took a while but I finally managed to get the words out. “The dress looks great, Blayne.”

  She looked up at me with confusion. “You mean it? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

  “No,” was pretty much the only thing I could say.

  “Okay then, we should probably go buy it.”

  “Why don’t you get a few more?”

  “Chase!”

  “Listen to me, Blayne you have interviews for jobs, or whatever, you’ll need these clothes. People don’t care what you’re going through. If you’re not dressed for the occasion, you lose.”

  “Can I help you with something?” the hot looking store attendant was standing right next to me and I hadn’t noticed. When did I stop noticing hot store assistants? I smiled at and she went on full flirt mode.

  “We need a few more like this one,” I pointed to Blayne’s dress. “Only the best.”

  The attendant took the dress from Blayne and nodded. “I have some amazing options in the next section, why don’t you come with me?”

  “Actually,” Blayne said. “We’re good. We just need to buy the one.”

  “Blayne, if she believes she has something of value she can show then don’t you think we should give it a try?” I threw a flirty glance the attendant’s way. Blayne looked at me and at her and realized what was going on but instead of getting indignant, she looked fine with it.

  “Why don’t you go and see what she wants to show you, Chase?” Blayne said. “I’ll wait here. And again, I only want the one dress. Nothing else. If you force me to buy anything more, I will leave right this minute.”

  I couldn’t believe she didn’t feel anything, when I went to the next section with that girl. Was she that good at hiding? I doubted that. But the alternative was that she didn’t care enough to be mad at me or her? When she told me about Jason, I was fuming inside.

  When we were behind that section and standing among the new dresses, the attendant looked at more and less at the racks. “This is our best collection,” she said. “You’ll find every big-name designer and every trendy new cut available here. We also have some casual items in this new range, you can find them over there.”

  “How many pieces in total?”

  She looked around. “Thirty, not including the casual jeans and blouses.”

  “I want them all in her size,” I said. “If you fuck up, I will be having a very uncomfortable and unfruitful conversation with your owner.”

  “Yes, sir…” she looked a little confused. “I’m assuming you’re doing this without telling her.”

  “You assumed correctly.”

  “What should I do with the dresses you just bought?”

  I thought about it. “I’ll have someone pick them up,” I said. “Hold on to them.”

  I started walking back to where Blayne was waiting for me, when the attendant called out for me. “You don’t have to leave so quickly.”

  I only flirted with her to make Blayne jealous and to get her to do what I wanted. Now that my task was done there was no need to make small talk with the attendant or even give her any more of my time. “Don’t take too long,” I said. “She’ll get suspicious.”

  The rudeness was not lost on her but she had no way of protesting. It wasn’t like she was the only person I’d pissed off in my lifetime. She would get over it. If I tried to make nice with everyone I would just be wasting my time. And my time was only allowed to special people. People like Blayne. I guess you can say I’m not exactly a friendly person. Or that I’m rude and overbearing. I don’t know what to tell you to be honest.

  Blayne was standing next to a beautiful red dress and I was hoping she would want to at least get that but instead she just started walking to the shoe section and I followed her. She chose an elegant pair of pumps with high heels and the store rang them both for us. I paid for the items, the stuff that I bought in front of Blayne and the ones that I told the attendant to hold on to. I would have to find some way to give it to them without making her feel uncomfortable.

  We got out of the store and headed to my car and the next thing on the agenda was a phone but I knew she would start protesting, so I told Carl to get me a new iPhone that I would hand to her later. After that, we sat down to eat at the same Chinese place where we’d sat the previous night because I wanted to do something that I could only do at that restaurant.

  Blayne looked a little surprised that we were going to eat at the same place again, but I could tell that she liked the food and perhaps that place was starting to grow on us both. It was something so subtle and trivial that in the beginning I didn’t think much of it. It didn’t occur to me that this had simply become ‘our place.’

  Halfway through her cheesecake dessert, Blayne broke into her fortune cookie.

  “Try everything once, even the things you don’t think you will like.”

  She read it aloud to me and I smiled. “You know t
hey’re not talking about a new flavor of vanilla, right?”

  “They’re not talking about a new flavor of male either,” Blayne shot back. “This is Chinese wisdom, not 3000 Bar Jokes.” She smirked and gestured to my cookie. “Well? What does yours say?”

  Blayne was really into this stuff, I found that interesting. Was I? I don’t know to be honest. There are things that I still didn’t understand, fate and destiny and foretelling of the future are few of them. Still, I broke into my fortune cookie.

  She started to get restless when I continued to read mine and did not read it out to her immediately. “It says here that I should sleep with a hot new girl with red hair and green eyes. Hmmm. I wonder where I can find someone like that…”

  The look on her face was priceless. She was shy about the hot girl comment, and I could see a deep blush creeping up her neck and her cheeks. It was adorable to look at. It made me want to do more things just to see her blush like that.

  “I’m joking,” I said. “You’re not hot, I assure you. You’re ugly in fact. Do you want to hear what it really says?”

  She smiled and gave a nod, so I read it out to her. “The time is right to make new love connections.”

  “Give me that,” she snatched the piece of paper and looked at it. She was silent when she realized I hadn’t embellished it.

  “I wasn’t lying,” I said.

  She handed me back the strip of paper and twisted hers up and discarded it into the untouched dessert plate. When she wasn’t looking, I took it off the plate and carefully placed it inside my wallet with my strip. I didn’t want her to think I was some creep. She didn’t even know me, I get that. But I couldn’t help it.

  I couldn’t help falling for her every second of the time we were together, as well as every moment of the time we spend apart. She was in me, no she was a part of me. I don’t know why I was getting so close so soon, it couldn’t end well. Not like this but I had to give it a shot. Who knew, maybe the Chinese wisdom fortune cookie knew something I didn’t.

  Blayne

  We were finally at the hotel. It was strange being in the same car but it was stranger when he held the door to his suite open for me and I felt the adrenaline bursting through me. I stepped in and he led me through the foyer to the den where we sat in front of a gigantic flat screen TV and he poured me a glass of wine.

  I took it because I was still nervous. I was trying hard not to look at him but that was a hard feat to accomplish. “You can go take a bath,” he said. “Don’t you want to get out of these clothes?”

  The clothes were still bothering him. Unbelievable. So, he could flirt in Chinese and put the moves on stunningly blonde shop attendants but I couldn’t wear some guy’s clothes apparently. Regardless, I did want out of these clothes for plenty of my own reasons and I wanted to burn them.

  I held my wine glass in one hand, and picked up the shopping bags with the other and went to the bedroom. I set the bags down and headed to the bathroom. Then, I stripped out of Jason’s clothes and stuffed them into a laundry hamper. I let the warm water run and filled the tub, and finally ventured in with my wine glass and for a moment I was in heaven. Usually, that kind of peace of mind would always bring about anxious thoughts about Nick but not today. I was only thinking about the man in the next room, and everything that happened between us. It was strange but when he was around me everything felt different. Even now, just knowing that he was in the next room made me feel a strange pleasure rising inside my body. Maybe the wine was getting to my head. I had a few glasses back at the bistro and now this one, it had to be the reason I was feeling so… Hot? Excited? Erotic?

  But remembering the way he looked when he was stepping out of the car that morning, and the confidence with which he just lifted me up when I was hurt, and the way he gently placed me in that car and took care of me…

  No. I couldn’t let myself think that way. It didn’t matter how big of a sham my engagement with Nick was, it was still an engagement.

  An engagement you didn’t want, with a guy you never loved, and that your parents forced you into?

  Regardless, it was too soon.

  I need some strength, God. Don’t let me fall for him. Please.

  I finished the wine and stared at the empty glass for a long time. I was still lonely. The way Nick had betrayed me, it was impossible for me to trust anyone. It didn’t matter that I didn’t love him, I was loyal to him. I wanted to love him. That was my intent when I finally acquiesced to my parents’ pleading and groveling and constant guilt trips. I was fine with being in a not-so-perfect marriage. I just hadn’t known that Nick was nowhere near as loyal to me. I knew the reason he was looking for me. I was the key to his locked treasure and the map to his future. Without me, he couldn’t fool my parents into agreeing with him and his ridiculous schemes.

  There was nothing I wanted more than to see him fail. Not just because he had hurt me, but because I knew what he was now. He couldn’t keep fooling me like he had been fooling my father. If they knew what he was up to they might not like him as much. But there was no way I could prove what I saw. So, I had to keep my silence for now. Until I found a way to expose him and tell the world what they were truly worshipping. They needed to see his true face.

  A knock on the door snapped me out of my reverie, and I heard Chase calling out my name. “Everything okay in there?”

  Why was this guy always so worried? Did he think I was that fragile?

  “Everything is fine,” I responded.

  “Blayne, there’s something that I need to take care of,” he said. “Will you be okay being on your own?”

  “I’m sure I can find a way to function without you, Chase.”

  I could hear his grin from the other side of the door. “I know it will be difficult, but I’ll try to be back before you get too horny for me.” If only he knew the truth. I felt smug, just thinking about the fact that he had no clue about the effect he had on me. That simply knowing that he was in the next room and I was covered only by the foam of the bubble bath, made my skin break into a thousand tiny goosebumps. That the sound of his voice alone brought such a feeling of immense pleasure that reached beyond my mind, and was out of my control.

  I heard his feet walking out of the room and then I couldn’t hear a thing. I was finally on my own. I guess I needed time to think without that incredibly distracting voice saying things I didn’t want to hear or those eyes looking at me like the world was about to end and I was the only way for him to be alive. Don’t get me wrong, it was good having someone look at you like that and if I wasn’t constantly waiting for the flip side and for the other shoe to drop, I might have enjoyed it rather than staying in fear of it.

  When I got out of the tub and came out of the bathroom wrapped in a robe, I had a surprise waiting for me. On the bed, there was a gift-wrapped box with my name on it and when I opened it there was a brand-new iPhone inside the box. A pink post-it was stuck to the screen of the phone with the words: “I did the courtesy of leaving my number in your Contacts List.”

  I shook my head. I don’t know why this guy was doing all that for me. I was certain I couldn’t have been the only woman he had around. he was clearly rich and judging by the way he was talking to the people of the hotel, it was obvious he was used to living here. Or maybe he had all his other women come here and I wasn’t the only one. I mean, not that I was his woman or anything. I changed into the dress that I had bought and took my phone to the den, so I could drink some wine and watch some soap. I raided the minibar for all the Godiva and plopped down in front of the TV.

  What could be better than wine and chocolates and daytime soaps to cure your miseries, right?

  Something about watching other people fail in their fantasy lives made me feel like I wasn’t the only one, and watching them navigate life to reach happiness after all that suffering, made me feel like I could do the same.

  I realized that I should have been homeless right now. I shouldn’t be in some suite wat
ching some Spanish man be slapped by a younger woman who was angry at him for some reason. I shouldn’t be snacking on Godiva or sipping quality wine. I looked at my phone, even though it wasn’t ringing and no one had my number.

  Chloe, I remembered and logged into Facebook to see if her number was on her profile but it wasn’t. So, I sent her a message giving her my new number and telling her to call me back. I was barely done doing it when there was a call on my phone and Chase’s name popped up on the screen. I answered the call but my hands were trembling. Why did the thought of him make me so emotional?

  “Hello?”

  “Speak up, Kitten. I can’t hear you.”

  “Chase.”

  “Who else is going to call you?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Some gratitude for starters. Why don’t we start by you calling me Master?”

  “Why do you always sound like you’re shooting a bad porno?”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry, Kitten. The only porno I’ll shoot with you will be a good one.”

  “Stop calling me that.”

  “What? Kitten?”

  “Chase, please.”

  “Anyway, I called to let you know that I’m going to be late. Don’t go anywhere, please.”

  How could I promise him that? I should have been running as far away as possible.

  “Try everything once, even the things you don’t think you will like.”

  “Okay.”

  He sounded relieved. “I’ll come and talk more. I have to go.”

  “Goodbye.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Kitten.”

  I shook my head but I was laughing. I don’t think anything Nick ever said made me laugh like that. We never shared this kind of connection. I wondered if Nick had that connection with someone else. If he did, that was the person he should have been engaged to. Not that I’m thinking about being engaged to Chase… oh who was I kidding, I could picture Chase in pretty much every capacity.