Chapter 23
Chase
A lot could change in six days.
The media scandal hadn’t exactly blown over, but it had evolved in ways I hadn’t expected. At first, a lot of people had been commenting on my father and implying that he was a bad parent for not knowing what I’d been doing, and others had speculated that he’d known all along, and that he’d allowed me to participate in the fights. Either way, they were painting him as a terrible parent and thus a terrible candidate for state governor.
However, that hadn’t lasted long. A lot of other people actually hadn’t cared all that much, or they’d thought that my underground fighting career was cool, and within three days I’d already begun to see the effects of that. It was finals week at college, and every time I walked across campus, I was inundated with requests from guys to help them train. Turns out a lot of people were interested in what I’d been doing, and my reputation had made them think I’d be a decent trainer.
The whole thing had given me a pretty good idea of what I could do to support myself in the future…and Lina, too, if she ever needed it.
But that could wait. I needed to finish my exams first, just in case I decided that college was the right path for me after all. No sense in wasting an entire semester’s already-paid tuition.
I’d been staying at Brett’s place, and he’d been pretty cool about the whole thing. He’d had no idea what I’d been up to with the fights, but he hadn’t given me shit about it, and he hadn’t been pissed at me for not telling him. He’d said I could stay with him as long as I needed to sort myself out, and it had been working out pretty well.
I’d only seen Lina on campus since I’d left the Highland Park house, because I didn’t want to piss off my Dad by going home, and we hadn’t wanted to risk anyone seeing her visit me at Brett’s house, considering what we’d more than likely get up to. The last thing we needed was another media scandal, and Brett always had people over…and any one of them might sell us out if they had an inkling that Lina and I were more than friends.
I’d see her again soon enough, though. My father’s wedding to Nina was tomorrow, and I had a lot of plans for the pale pink bridesmaid’s dress which I knew Lina would be wearing; plans which included tearing that dress off the second we managed to sneak off and get some time alone. Fuck, I missed being able to grab her, squeeze her, feel her…
Right now, I was lying around on the bed in the spare room I was staying in at Brett’s. I’d just finished my last exam, and it was time for some much-needed rest and relaxation.
Of course, there’s no rest for the wicked, as they say.
Brett knocked on the door a second later and poked his head around. “Hey, man. Your Dad’s here to see you.”
“My Dad?” I said, rising to my feet. “What’s he doing here?”
Brett shrugged. “I dunno. He just said he wants to talk.”
Probably wants to give me another lecture on what an asshole I am, I thought. Either that or the State’s Attorney had decided to launch a formal investigation into illegal fights, making an example out of me.
I trudged downstairs to see my father sitting in the lounge room. His main aide, Rupert, was whispering in his ear, and as soon as he saw me, he nodded and walked outside.
“Er…hey,” I said, crossing the room and standing in front of Dad.
“Hello, son,” he said.
There was an awkward tension in the room, and I shifted uncomfortably where I stood. “Do you want a drink or something?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, I can’t stay long. I have an interview to get to. Chase…the reason I’m here is to apologize. I think I overreacted the other day. I shouldn’t have thrown you out and cut you off from your trust.”
Well, that wasn’t what I’d expected to hear…
I stood still, waiting for him to continue.
“What you did—this whole underground fighting thing—it was wrong. We both know you shouldn’t have done it, but that doesn’t mean I should have reacted so poorly. I admit, I had my own fair share of youthful indiscretions back in the day.”
“Oh yeah?”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “I’m sure your grandparents have never mentioned this, but there was a stage during my teen years when I was a little…rebellious. On several occasions, they had to drag me out of bars where I’d been drinking; underage, of course. I also got in quite a few fights, and one time I even tried…err…marijuana, and was caught doing so. The police were called each time, and my parents paid off the right people to keep my name out of any records. You know how it goes.”
“Wow. Wouldn’t have thought that, looking at you now.”
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I tried to imagine my stiff, uptight father lighting up a joint, getting into fights, and being arrested.
“Exactly. Anyway, son, I didn’t come to give you a history lesson. I know that what you did was wrong for various reasons, but I think I’ve done some things wrong as well, in the way that I’ve raised you. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d want to be exactly like me. I shouldn’t have forced you to go to college and follow in my footsteps.”
“Dad, it’s okay. You just wanted to do what you thought was right for me.”
He shook his head before letting out a deep sigh. “No, I wanted to do what was right for me. You were never interested in politics, or anything of the sort, but I chose to ignore that,” he said. “Anyway, I’d like you to move back home…if that’s what you want. I’m also going to have your trust fund unfrozen.”
I held up a hand. “Dad, I appreciate that, but you were right the other day, even if you were harsh. I need to be more independent. I can make my own money, and I shouldn’t have to rely on you for that. Keep the trust. It’s yours, not mine.”
A hint of a smile played on his lips. “Very well. That’s a very mature decision, Chase. Just don’t tell me you’ll be making all your money by going back to those warehouses and fighting again.”
I shook my head. “Nah. I’ve decided to open my own fitness center. There’s a lot of guys who don’t know the first thing about how to keep themselves fit and healthy, and I can help.”
Dad rubbed his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I see. Wouldn’t that cost money to start up, though?”
“Yeah. But I have some cash left over from my winnings. I donated the rest earlier, and I was going to save this last ten percent and invest it so that I’d have more money to donate in the future, but I figured I could use some of it to start up this gym, and then when I’m making enough, I’ll still have some to invest in charities.”
“That’s very generous of you. And what about college?”
“If it’s okay with you, I was thinking I’d drop my political science major and study business instead. On a part-time basis. That way I’m learning the ins and outs of running a business, but I’ll also have time to set everything up.”
He nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. I’d be happy to continue paying your tuition.”
I shook my head again. “Nah. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
He nodded slowly. “All right. Just know that if anything happens, I’ll be here to help. That’s what fathers are for.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “You didn’t get in any legal trouble over the whole illegal fight thing, did you?”
“No, and you’re off the hook too. While the SA’s office doesn’t condone the fights, they know they’re fighting a losing battle trying to stop them—so to speak—so they’re concentrating on bringing down worse offenders in other areas. Drug dealers, and so on.”
I sighed with relief. “That’s good, I guess.”
“Anyway, I better be off,” he said, checking his watch. “Thanks for the chat, son.”
“All right. No worries,” I replied. “Wait, before you go…how’s the campaign? Did I ruin everything?”
He smiled and shook his head again. “Rupert has informed me that the fallout has
n’t been anywhere near as drastic as we predicted. We’ve lost some votes from certain areas, but we’ve gained others we’d probably have never had if this hadn’t happened. See, there’s a certain demographic we didn’t have before; younger working-class men. Neither candidate had them, because most of them usually don’t even bother voting, but my team have been out polling various members of the public for the last few days, and it seems that a lot of them have decided to head to the polls on election day just so they can vote for me. Apparently I’m ‘cool’, because of what my son has been doing.”
“Are you serious?” I said, arching an eyebrow. Christ, the world was a strange place sometimes.
He chuckled. “Yes. Ironic, isn’t it? I thought you’d lost me the election, but as it turns out, you actually helped somewhat. I’m still slightly behind Eric Bond overall, but I’m still in with a chance. I might turn this around and win after all.”
“That’s great. I’m glad to hear it,” I said. “And again…I’m sorry for what I did.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “In a way, I’m glad this happened. I feel as if I know you better now. I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t know you anywhere near as well as I should have before this, given that you’re my son. But…I’m proud of you, Chase. You really seem to have figured things out for yourself, especially in these last few days.”
“Thanks,” I said softly. He’d never said he was proud of me before, not even once.
“I’ll see you bright and early at the church for the wedding tomorrow,” he said.
“All right. Looking forward to it.”
With that, he left, and I went and sat down on the sofa, rubbing my temples with my fingertips. Jesus…I hadn’t expected any of what had just happened. Yes, I’d been a complete dumbass by keeping up my underground fighting for so long, but I hadn’t fucked up my Dad’s campaign anywhere near as much as I’d thought I would, and it had somehow brought us a lot closer together.
I guess there really was a silver lining to every cloud. Suck on that, Tripp, I thought bitterly. You thought you’d screwed us, but you didn’t do shit.
There was a sharp knock at the front door a moment later, and I heard a muffled feminine voice on the other side. “Hello? Chase, are you home?”
“Lina?” I called out. I hadn’t been expecting to see her till the wedding tomorrow, but maybe she hadn’t been able to wait. Thank God for that, because I wasn’t sure I could wait any longer either.
I opened the door, and my heart sank as I saw Jessie standing there instead. She was wearing tight black jeans, a low-cut top, too much mascara, and enough perfume to suffocate an entire army.
“Hi, sexy,” she purred.
I rolled my eyes. “What are you doing here?”
She giggled; a shrill sound which made me want to strangle myself to death just so I wouldn’t have to hear it. “I heard you were staying here. I thought I’d come visit.”
She pushed past me and pranced over to the sofa before sitting down and patting the seat next to her. “Come, sit! Talk to me.”
I folded my arms. “What do you want, Jessie? I have things to do. I don’t really have time to chat.”
She pouted. “Aw, come on. Exams are over! It’s not like you need to study. I just wanted to talk for a little while. Our dads are competing against each other for governor, you know.”
“I know. So what?”
“Well, we have so much in common, so I think we totally need to hang out more,” she replied, fluttering her eyelashes at me.
For fuck’s sake. I didn’t want to be her friend, especially after the way she’d treated Lina. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like she was planning on leaving unless I gave her at least five minutes of attention, and I couldn’t be fucked dealing with the drama she’d likely cause if I tried to kick her out.
“Fine,” I said, sitting down across from her. She could have five minutes, and then she was out. “So you want to talk about the election, huh?”
“Yes,” she said, throwing her head back and pushing her tits out. “It’s so hard sometimes, being the child of a famous politician. Don’t you agree?”
“I guess,” I said. “But it’s not all bad. And considering the fact that you’re carrying around a two-thousand dollar purse, I don’t think you have too much to whine about.”
She giggled. “I suppose. It’s just all these smear campaigns,” she said, batting her eyelashes again. “They’re so hard to deal with. People are saying the meanest things about my Daddy in the papers right now.”
“Well, count yourself lucky. They aren’t saying anything about you.”
“You mean like how they’re saying stuff about you, with your fighting thing?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“It’s pretty sexy, you know. Everyone thinks so, and I always knew there was something different about you. Something…mysterious. And exciting. I totally had a heart attack when you almost lost that match and practically split your head open. I thought you were going to die.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth a second later, as if she’d said too much, and my eyes narrowed as her last words sank in. “What? How’d you know about that? That was weeks ago. The media only just found out about what I’ve been doing six days ago.”
Her eyes widened with guilt, and I sprang to my feet. “Holy shit. You were there, weren’t you? You saw.”
She didn’t answer, and I narrowed my eyes as jigsaw pieces seemed to fall into place in my mind. “You’re the one who took it to the media, aren’t you? Fuck, this whole time I thought it was my cousin, but it was you, right?”
Everything suddenly made a lot more sense. If it had been Tripp, then he would’ve also told them about me and Lina, yet that particular piece of information had escaped the media’s attention. Now I knew why. It hadn’t been him; he was too scared of me after what I’d done to him. It had been Jessie all along.
“Um…” She tried and failed to construct a response, casting her eyes helplessly around.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, and she yelped with surprise. “How’d you find out?” I said, leaning right down in her face. “You’re not the sort of girl who goes to that kinda shit. Or are you?”
“Maybe I am,” she said, pulling back and twirling a piece of hair around her finger.
Fuck, if she was a guy, I’d have laid her out with one punch by now. She was the most infuriating person I’d ever met.
“Tell me how you knew,” I said through gritted teeth. “And tell me why the fuck you’d do this to me.”
“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It was me. I overheard that little bitch talking about it in a café with her friends one day. That girl you’re always defending. Your stepsister, or whatever she is.”
“Lina?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh. I heard her talking about it. She wasn’t yelling or anything; I was just right near her table, so I heard bits and pieces. She was a total bitch to me that day, by the way.”
“Yeah, which you totally deserved.”
“Whatever. Anyway, I decided to find out if she was being serious. I got a friend of mine to find out where the next fight was, and I went and watched. Then I realized it could help my Dad’s campaign, so I told him. He waited until last week to leak it to the media, because his team said this is the best stage of the campaign to be smearing the opponents.”
“You hypocritical bitch. You were just whining to me five seconds ago about people talking shit about your Dad, and you were the one who outed me and almost fucked my Dad’s campaign?” I snarled.
She shrugged. “Chase, I still like you,” she said. “But I needed to help my Dad win. Doesn’t mean I don’t still want a piece of this.”
She reached forward and grabbed at my crotch, and I swatted her hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me,” I said. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not interested.”
She smiled sweetly. “Don’t you get it? This makes it more fun for the both of us.
A sleeping with the enemy kinda situation. I’ve always wanted you to fuck me, and now you can hate-fuck me. That’s the best kind of sex.”
Bullshit. I knew better. Sex was nothing without love. Lina had taught me that.
“Get. The. Fuck. Out,” I said.
“No. You can pretend all you want, but I know you want me. A girl like me is priceless,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Unlike that trashy stepsister of yours who you seem so fond of.”
“Priceless?” I scoffed. “Jessie, you’re the opposite of priceless. You’re bought and paid for. I have it on good authority that your nose and tits are especially bought and paid for.”
I expected her to pout and finally give up, but she smiled instead. “See, it’s good, isn’t it? Now you’re really playing the game,” she said breathily. “Keep saying all these nasty things to me, Chase. I know you don’t mean them…but it makes me so hot…”
Christ, she was messed up. She was actually getting turned on by me saying horrible things to her.
“That’s enough, Jessie,” I said, grabbing her arm and hauling her over to the door. “Out. Now.”
“Fine,” she said, breaking out of my grip as my fingers loosened on her arm. “I’ll go. But not before I do this.”
Before I could stop her, she launched herself back at me, wrapping her hands around the back of my neck as her lips closed over mine. Just as I went to shove her away and yell at her to stay the fuck away from me, the front door opened.
We were standing right by it, in full view of whomever was there.
“Chase, what the…?” An all-too familiar voice spoke, trailing off as it cracked with emotion.
I pushed Jessie away only a split-second after her lips crashed down on mine, but the damage was already done. Lina was standing by the front door, with the most heartbroken expression on her face that I’d ever seen.
Oh, fuck.
Chapter 24
Lina
So this is what I got for thinking it would be a nice idea to drop by Chase’s place for a quick visit…
Score - A Stepbrother Romance Page 16