Unfortunately, the hitch in my breath and the tears swimming in my eyes didn’t make me sound near as fierce as I intended.
Chase sighed and dropped his arms. “I’m not going to make you leave.” He turned to Mimi. “You guys can go. I’ll take care of her.”
“She can’t go back upstairs,” Mimi argued.
“I know,” Chase said softly. “She can stay in my extra bedroom down here.”
Chapter 7
I gasped. “I don’t think so!”
He shrugged again. “Fine then. You can go back to jail. Because those are your choices. Me or jail.”
“I can’tlivewith you,” I said. “You’re aman.”
Everyone, including Chase, laughed.
“Glad you noticed,” he said dryly.
I felt my cheeks burning. “You know what I mean. I can’t live under the same roof as a man. It’s…well, it’s not proper.”
“Nowyou worry about being proper?” Chase asked. “What about the eighty gazillion times you’ve been arrested? One of those times being naked in public. What about your overnight jail visits? When did all that suddenly become proper?” He gave me a tight smile. “Honey, that ship done sailed a long time ago.”
“Besides,” Mimi said, “you’re already living under the same roof. You live upstairs.”
“That’s different,” I argued.
Gilda snorted. “How so?”
“Fine,” I said snippily. “But if my parents call, I’m totally lying to them.”
Chase frowned. “I thought they were free-loving and open-minded?”
I snorted. “Yeah. As long as it doesn’t pertain to their little princess.”
Chase threw back his head and laughed. “Fair enough. If your parents call, lead them to believe nothing has changed.”
“Darn right,” I grumbled.
“So we’re cool here?” Mimi asked.
“We’re cool,” Chase said. “I’ll bring some stuff down for Alexa and she’ll stay down here for the next week or however long it takes for her to recover.”
“I’ll probably be better in a couple days,” I said quickly. “I’m a pretty fast healer.”
Ingrid snorted. “Wait until you get older. You won’t be saying that then.”
The girls waved goodbye and a few seconds later I watched with trepidation as their car sped away. I had no idea what to do, and I didn’t want to look at Chase.
“Why don’t you tell me what you need from upstairs,” he said. “I’ll go grab it, and then we can put some ice on your ankle. If it gets much worse, we may need to go get it x-rayed.”
There was no way I was telling him I didn’t have medical insurance to go to the doctor. He’d really freak out then. Instead, I nodded my head and gave him a list of items ranging from toothbrush to pajamas.
“You’re cool with me going through your things?” Chase asked. “I know it’s sort of an invasion of privacy.”
I smile. “It’s cool. I don’t have a lot, and I’m not embarrassed by anything I do have.”
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” He turned to Rocky. “Stay here with Alexa.”
