Chase lowers his voice, his breath soft across my neck and perhaps it should make me weak, perhaps that’s why he did it, but he’d underestimated me.
“Pack. A. Bag.”
I spin around in a blur, brace my hands against the countertop, feeling the swell of my breasts pushing against his core. Chase draws back a sharp breath at the same time I raise my chin in defiance. I keep my gaze down for a moment longer, then flick my eyes on him.
His darken instantly.
My chest draws heavy and I give myself a moment, trying not to trip over the beat of my own heart.
“No,” I counter, bluntly and matter-of-factly.
Chase sucks on his front teeth, looks over the top of me.
He shakes his head, takes a step back, and I think he might take his leave until he says, “Suit yourself then.”
He careens around the corner, stepping into my small room, snatching up the cotton tote bag I had slung over the door handle, and rifling through the set of drawers that sit in the corner before I register what he’s doing.
And I follow after him, latch onto his bicep, try my best to pull him away.
“Get out of my shit?—”
But he stops rifling. Actually, he completely freezes, and I know he’s found it.
I watch my hand slip. Crossing my arms over my chest, I let the wall catch me. Chase doesn’t look at me, in fact, he closes his eyes and exhales so loudly I feel it hit my chest.
My cheeks heat at that, a cool sweat sweeping across the back of my neck.
His movements play in slow motion now. He opens his eyes, reaches back inside and with a trembling hand drags out the gun. He rests it at the lip of the drawer, then takes another breath.
“What the fuck…” He pauses to exhale. “Are you doing w-with this?” he stutters.
I scoff, stick my tongue against my cheek and look away.
“Dammit, Laiken!” He slams the drawer shut, and I flinch when a photo frame of me and Jade falls to the carpet, cracking the glass.
“Look at me,” he says.
I don’t. I look at the pieces of me and his sister shattered at his feet.
“What the fuck are you doing with a gun?” he repeats. “And where the fuck did you get it?”
His words are spoken with such vehemence I can’t help but shiver.
I bite into my bottom lip when it wobbles, but I find the strength to step away from the wall. I flick my eyes back to his. “Are you for fucking real?”
Chase edges closer to me, darkness in his eyes.
I stand taller, shake my head, avert my eyes from his again, and stare at the lilac wall across the room.
Silence is thick between us, suffocating, and I cut my gaze back in his direction, closing the gap between us. I only stop when the tips of our shoes touch.
Then, I reach out, wrap my shaky hand around his, around the gun. I try to tug it away. He doesn’t let me. His thumb locks over mine, it’s trembling too. We stay coiled together when I ask him, “Did you forget that you left me and I had no choice but to protect myself?” I spit my words in his face, watching the tendons at his neck strain, his jaw clench. “You. Fucking. Did. This.”
When he says nothing, I allow room for levity. I laugh, because If I don’t, I’ll cry.
I lick my dry lips, push a little closer. I’m shaking uncontrollably, barely keeping myself together. “You’re selfish. And you’re disgusting. And you lost the privilege of being close to me a long time ago,” I whisper, pausing the moment he tightens his grip around my thumb. “Don’t you ever…” My voice rises, then I swallow the lump in my throat. “Ever…question me again.”
Chase’s eyes stay locked with mine for a moment longer, then he lets them drive over me. His tongue pushes over his top teeth when he leans in just enough to make the air between us choke.
