They had cake. I sidled up next to him to see what the cake said.
We will miss you
“I’m good,” I said.
While I was upstairs having a shitty morning, he was being thrown a party by co-workers because he was moving five floors away.
“Come see me when you’re done,” I told him and turned to leave.
Chase grabbed my arm, not letting me go.
“Stay,” he whined. “Why are you leaving?”
“Some of us have to work, Chase.” My icy tone took him by surprise. I turned on my heel and walked away. As I did, I heard footsteps trying to keep up with me.
“Hey,” he said.
We arrived at the elevator, and I pressed the button.
“Hey.” He grabbed for my hand. “Mare, are you mad at me?”
The elevator doors opened, and we both got on. As soon as the doors closed, he grabbed both my hands and forced me to look at him.
“Talk to me, Mare.”
“I’m just having a bad day, it’s not you. I’m sorry.”
He yanked me against him, enveloping me in an embrace. His hand held my head against his chest as I pulled him tighter against me. The warmth of his body against mine helped calm me. It brought me down from the peak of my anxiety.
“Let me help you, babe. What can I do?” he asked.
“This is helping, thank you.”
He kissed the top of my head as the doors opened.
Gage waited on the other side.
CHAPTER 20
Chase
Every muscle in Maryellen’s body went stiff in my arms. Her small gasp against my chest before pulling away echoed in the silence of the cavernous elevator. This was the moment she had been dreading. What she wanted to avoid at all costs. The reason she didn’t want to enter a relationship with me in the first place.
And it had happened.
I shifted and put myself between them as if to protect her. From what, I had no idea. But it was true fear coming from her shaking body.
“Hey guys, everything OK?” Gage asked. His eyebrows drew together and his head tilted toward me, as if he thought I’d done something to her. Of course, that would be his first thought. “What’s going on? Are you OK, Maryellen?”
He stepped toward us as the doors of the elevator began to close. Holding them open with his hand allowed Mare and me to exit. I watched Gage move toward her, and she put her hand up, stopping him. There were unshed tears in her wide eyes as she stared, her eyes bouncing between the two of us.
We watched her take off running in the opposite direction of her desk and never look back.
“Chase, what the fuck is going on?” Gage’s voice was deep with anger, obviously making assumptions.
I pressed the button to retrieve the elevator. There was no way I was sticking around to be accused of hurting the woman I…
“Where do you think you’re going?” Gage pushed me by the shoulder, away from the elevator.
