Being Chased

by Harper Bentley

  --You know I wouldn’t talk about your momma that way. I know she only charges high-dollar

  Julia couldn’t help but snicker out loud at this as she hit “Send,” and damn it if Chase didn’t swerve the car again.

  “You know those driving lessons they offer down at the DMV? The ones that keep you from driving like some just-got-his-license-taxi-driver-who’s-probably-going-to-kill-you-right-before-you-say-hey-buddy-you-might-wanna-watch-out-for-thaaaaaa?” She paused dramatically. “Might be worth looking into.”

  Smartass. He had to focus on his breathing, making himself stay calm because he was about to release a salvo on her that’d rock the ages. His hands gripped the steering wheel, he clenched his jaw and he counted to ten. Fifteen times.

  As they pulled up to the Tower, they both thanked God the trip was over. Julia seriously thought of getting on her knees and kissing the ground when she got out, but she knew Chase was already in a bad mood for some reason, and she didn’t want to push him, so she let him off the hook… this time.

  But Chase wasn’t about to let this go. Not now. Not after he’d planned to put himself out there on her account.

  “Last stop, Princess,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her in the rearview mirror.

  Julia’s head snapped up. Oh, he did not just go there. “I’m not a fucking princess,” she said, glaring back at him.

  “Oh, no? Could’ve fooled me.”

  She kept the glare going. “Whatever,” she mumbled, turning to get her briefcase in hand.

  “Yeah. Whatever. I guess that’s your usual M.O.… you’ve got a boyfriend, but can’t help yourself by trying to seduce the hired help, huh? That give you some kind of thrill?”

  What? She was fuming now. “I did not try to seduce you! As a matter of fact, I think it was you who grabbed me!” she seethed at him.

  “Really? Of course. Yeah. I do that shit all the time… hit on all my clients ‘cause that’s how I roll. Hell, I’ve known you’ve wanted me since the first day you saw me. But you were too high and mighty to give me the time of day, Princess. What? Afraid to get your hands dirty by slumming it with poor college boy?”

  “Well, I never!” Julia hissed. She got out of the car, slamming the door.

  He followed her lead, getting out of his side and slamming his door as hard as she had. “Yeah, that’s the word around the garage, Princess,” he spat, walking around to her, sneering, knowing he was pushing it but too pissed off at himself and her to care.

  The sting of her palm connecting with his cheek shocked the hell out of him, stunning him.

  “Who the hell do you think you are? I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you? Ha! You could only be so lucky! Fuck you!” she hissed, her chin rising up in defiance, as she glowered at him. By God, she was holding her ground. No one was going to talk to her that way, and seeing that she’d made her point, she turned to go inside the Tower.

  Man, she was such a little spitfire. And damned if he didn’t just love it. He reached out and grabbed her arm, jerking her back to face him, pulling her roughly against him, his mouth coming down hard on hers.

  He felt Julia’s hands push ineffectually against his chest as she tried extracting herself from his embrace. As his tongue slid between her lips, he felt her stop trying to shove him away, and then she surrendered to him, a low moan coming from her throat. God, he loved her moans. Her hands moved up, fingers tangling in his hair pulling his face closer to hers as she kissed him back just as fervently. They fit perfectly together, her soft curves molding into his hard angles, and he felt the lust pounding through his veins. God, he wanted her.

  Holy crap. Oh, she loved the way he kissed, the feel of his mouth on hers. His hard body against hers as he clutched her tightly to himself. Wow. She could kiss him for hours, days even. This man just made her melt with his touch. God, she wanted him.

  But wait a minute. What was she doing? He’d been an asshole to her for weeks and she was rewarding him by throwing herself at him? She didn’t think so.

  She broke herself away, pushing off of him, both of them breathing heavily, her lips swollen and red from the kiss, her cheeks flushed as her chest heaved up and down. Suddenly, her hazel eyes turned dark, flashing lightning strikes as she looked at him.

  “This!” she spit out, moving a finger pointing from him and back toward herself several times quickly. “This is so not happening! I’m not going through this shit again just to have you ignore me! Not happening!”

  And with that, she turned on her heel, stomping away, while he watched her disappear into her building.

  Him ignore her? Jesus. It was then that Chase knew he was in over his goddamned head.

  ****

  As Julia entered the building, her hands went to her face as she tried to calm herself down. Her eyes had filled with stinging tears, and as they fell to her cheeks, she angrily wiped them away hating that she cried when she was mad. Stupid estrogen! But, God, Chase could kiss, she mused, running her fingers over her lips.

  Crap! She snapped herself out of that thought and vowed that she’d be in control from here on out; she wasn’t letting him mess with her head anymore. After pulling herself together she headed toward the elevator.

  “Ben-efit!” she said knocking her knuckles to Ben’s as she entered the lobby.

  “Julus. What’s up?” He snorted.

  “What?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, twisting her head to the side. “I don’t even know what that means!” Shaking her head when he just grinned, not answering her, she made for the elevator. Just as it opened, she hopped on then hollered back at him with a giggle, “I’m out before I decide to go on a Ben-der!”

  ****

  Chase parked the car and got into his own, ready to drive back to his apartment. But instead of backing out and driving home, he sat there letting the engine idle, his forehead resting on the steering wheel. He needed to get back in the game. He had tests to study for and this speed bump he'd hit was making him crazy. If he were honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d never been so attracted to a woman as he was to Julia, and that he had no idea what to do with this fact, no clue how to figure it out at all. Obviously, the way he’d handled things earlier was not the answer. He’d been such an ass, and she probably hated him now. Great. He'd have to call Layton when he got home. His brother always knew the answer to his problems.

  ****

  As Julia rode the elevator up, she smoothed out her jacket, checking her hair and makeup in the mirrored wall. Damn him. If Chase thought he was pulling this again, he was sorely mistaken. Just, seriously, who in the hell did he think he was? Like she was just his little plaything he could come on to whenever he wanted. Not. Happening. But damn it if she wasn’t attracted to him. Yet he made her so mad she couldn’t even see straight. Jeez. What was this, some sort of sick masochistic phase she was going through? Ugh.

  “Hey, Allen!” she yelled as she walked into the apartment.

  “How’d work go?”

  “Fine!” Wow. He’d let it slide that she’d called him Allen. Hm.

  “And that’s ‘Dad’ to you!”

  Of course. She rolled her eyes.

  “Can you come in here a minute?”

  Rolling her eyes again, she walked to his office then came up short as she entered, seeing a woman sitting at his desk as if they’d been having a meeting. “Oh! Hi,” she said.

  The woman appeared to be older than Julia but was very attractive with long, black hair and big green eyes.

  “Julia, I’d like you to meet Maggie Devlin. Her father was a good friend of mine.”

  “Very nice meeting you,” Julia said, shaking the woman’s rigid hand.

  “A pleasure, I’m sure,” the woman replied.

  Huh. Had this Maggie chick just insulted her? Julia couldn’t quite tell. Whatever. She reminded her of her spoiled cousin Hadley who she couldn’t stand anyway. After that awesome little encounter, she excused herself. She showered then changed into
a tank top and pj pants, heating up the lasagna that Peggy had made for dinner. As Julia waited for the lasagna to bake, she opened her laptop to check her email.

  ****

  Chase was pissed at himself, at the situation, so instead of waiting he called Layton on his way home. They usually talked to each other once a month or so just to check in, and though they’d just talked two weeks before, he needed Layton’s advice now. He would’ve talked to his brother Gunner, but Gun would’ve just given him the same advice that Brock had—fuck her then move on. Lay was the oldest, more career oriented, not still being led around by his dick, and he’d know how to help.

  “What’s up, little bro?” Layton answered with a smile in his voice, which automatically made Chase feel better. He missed his older brother.

  Layton was a former Army Delta Force soldier who’d received an honorable discharge after being injured on a mission while serving in “parts unknown.” When he and their dad got to talking shop, Layton always teased Hank that while Delta did all the covert work (read as the real work), the SEALs took all the credit. There’d been some pretty tense moments over the years when Layton had been deployed, the family not knowing where he was or if he was okay since what he could tell them amounted to exactly jack shit, but the whole family had given a collective sigh of relief when he’d returned home, albeit injured. The bullet he’d taken in his left thigh from an enemy sniper had shattered his femur in three places, just short of nicking the femoral artery, and had led to an eighteen-hour surgery, a titanium rod and many screws being used to replace the bone. He’d had over a year of rehab, not to mention some killer scars. Layton downplayed everything, but he’d damn near died. If he’d been just two minutes away from the closest medic, he would’ve bled out and not lived to tell his story. But he had, and he’d persevered with the help of his family and now only walked with a slight limp.

  So while he was laid up, he’d written a movie script about his ordeal that’d gotten picked up by an agent and sold to a major movie production company. It was now in its pre-filming stages with producers being courted, directors sought and actors being cast. Of course, most details of the mission were obscured because of its highly classified nature, but Hollywood loved that shit, so everyone benefitted.

  Chase couldn’t be any prouder of him.

  “Hey, Lay. How’s everything going?”

  “Good, can’t complain. Well, I could, but I won’t.” Layton chuckled. “How’s everything there? How’s school going?”

  “School’s going fine. Tougher than shit at times. But I’m hanging in there.”

  “Good deal. So what’s the problem?”

  Layton always knew when something was wrong. He was six years older than Chase and somehow had always read him like a book. When Chase was twelve and had snuck into Layton’s room, stealing one of his girlie magazines to show his buddies, Layton had immediately known just from the look on Chase’s face. Nothing got past the guy. Chase had ended up doing a month’s worth of Layton’s chores, including having to clean out the attic in the middle of July and missing the Yankees-Red Sox game, just so Layton wouldn’t tell on him. Chase knew it was only fair because if their dad had found out, he would’ve lit him up. He’d taught his sons to respect women, not objectify them, and he knew his punishment would’ve been a lot worse from his dad. Too bad he hadn’t been smart enough to blackmail Layton right back with telling their dad. Oh, well. Live and learn, sucker.

  “Well, you know the girl I’m contracted out to, right? Julia?” Might as well get it all out there. “We, uh, we kissed a couple weeks ago but we haven’t talked since and now I think she has a boyfriend and I don’t know why but I keep thinking about her and I got so mad tonight I almost wrecked the fucking car and I kissed her again and she hates me even more now but I probably didn’t stand a chance anyway.” As he’d said all of this in one breath, he sucked in some air after baring his soul. And, damn it, this blew big time having to rehash all the details.

  “Slow down, Chase,” Layton said, knowing this was a big deal if Chase was getting involved with a client. Layton had worked for their dad a few times before he’d left for Los Angeles so he knew the ins and outs of the business. Knew this was serious shit. “So what led to all this?” Layton asked.

  “I don’t know. I mean, the first time I had to take her to a club and she looked so damn hot. She tripped getting in the car and I caught her, and we kind of had a, hell, I don’t know, a moment or something. Then we flirted all night while she was dancing, and when I dropped her off at her apartment building it just happened. Then today I’d decided to just say ‘Fuck it’ and she walks out with this guy, and she was acting so smug and full of herself, that it just pissed me the fuck off, and I couldn’t keep my big damn mouth shut but when she smarted off back at me, I couldn’t help but kiss her again.” He needed to remember to breathe.

  “So what’s the problem? Why don’t you just ask her out?”

  “Well, fuck, Lay, I need this job, it fits perfectly with my schedule and you know about the no-fraternization policy. Pop would fucking fire my ass, so it’s probably not a good idea to be macking on my goddamn client, ya think?”

  “It depends. What’s she like? You’ve never really talked about her before now.”

  Chase sighed. “She’s great. She’s a damn smartass but she’s so intelligent. Quick-witted. Gorgeous. Shit. I don’t know. I mean, I thought she was worth it. I was going to ask her out tonight then she comes out of her office hanging all over that fuckwit. What the hell?”

  Layton also knew this was a big deal because Chase hadn’t talked to him about a girl since he’d been with Tracy. They’d dated for two years, and Chase had even told Layton he thought she was “the one.” But they’d broken up because Tracy had wanted to “find herself” which Chase found out really meant she’d found another guy, one who had money and was willing to spend it on her. That’d been two years ago, and Chase had been devastated. Since then Layton knew that his little brother had overtly slept with every woman in sight the entire next year, obviously trying to move on from the debacle with his ex, not being one bit interested in having a relationship of any sort with any of them. Yeah. This was big.

  ****

  While she waited on dinner, Julia sat at the kitchen bar reading an email she’d gotten from Paige, a good friend of hers from prep school who was a friggin' brain. She'd gotten a scholarship to Stanford to study chemical engineering and was just finishing up graduate school.

  In her email Paige told Julia that she'd met a really cute guy she'd been dating for a month now, and she'd also been hired by a well-known petroleum company in California. She was so excited and wanted Julia to come see her soon. Julia wrote back congratulating Paige on her new job and new boyfriend and telling her that she'd definitely make plans to visit. She also told her about what had happened between her and Chase, wanting to get Paige's opinion on it.

  Women always did that, didn't they? Asked their friends' opinions about "guy stuff"? Julia rolled her eyes as she hit "send" knowing Paige probably had no more of a clue than she did. But it did make her feel better just throwing it out there to be ruminated over. Hell, Paige was a genius. Maybe she'd have some new insight.

  ****

  “So, do you know who this guy was? You really think it was her boyfriend?” Layton asked Chase.

  “The way she was clinging to the asshat, I just assumed it was. Guess I totally misread how she acted toward me. I thought she was flirting with me, but looking back at it, maybe she just wanted to be friends and was talking to me because she’s a nice person and I’m just ‘the help.’” Chase sighed realizing there may be nothing more between him and Julia. She’d just been trying to be polite by talking to him. God. Why’d he have to be so egotistical all the time?

  “I think you should talk to her about it. Get this shit out there so you’re not questioning everything. If friendship’s all she wants, then at least you’ll know and not be driving yourself crazy.
If she’d like a relationship, then there you go.”

  Layton always knew the right thing to say. Chase felt much better after they hung up, resolving to talk to Julia the first chance he got which, hopefully, would be in the morning. There were no two ways about it. He would ask her on a date, not giving a shit if Haha Dude was her boyfriend or not or whether he’d lose his job, and she’d either say yes or tell him to get lost. Either way, things needed to be resolved.

  ****

  Julia’s lasagna turned out perfectly and the French bread she had with it was great. Peggy sure knew what she was doing when it came to cooking. After finishing and cleaning up, Julia got back on her laptop and out of curiosity Googled Chase. And wasn't that a great idea. At first she found an article about his class from NYU that showed he’d graduated summa cum laude, which shocked her. She knew he was sharp, but, damn, she didn’t know he was that intelligent. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Next, she found a couple of items mentioning awards he’d received in martial arts. Wow. She realized there was a lot about him of which she had no clue.

  She looked through pictures of him at some fight studio wearing the white suit with a black belt that had some stripes on it, knowing that had to have some significance as to the level he was. Wow. There were some action shots of him too that took her breath away. There were also some shots of him guarding various celebrities and political figures. How could she not know all this?

  But as she scanned through more, that’s when the real shock hit. Pictures of Chase showed up from a woman's Facebook page, uh, Tracy something or other, and this Tracy girl was hanging all over him and vice versa. And she was gorgeous. Beautiful. Julia’s breath caught and her face got hot as she viewed him in tons of pictures with this woman, holding hands, kissing, laughing together, looking so happy.

  She sat there stunned. He had a girlfriend. He’d lied to her! So what the hell was he doing kissing her? As her stomach dropped, her hurt turned to disgust toward him. She slammed her laptop shut and went to bed resolving to put him out of her mind once and for all.