Page 34 of After the Chase

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, what do you think of the houses? Did I do a good job?”

“I didn’t expect anything less. It looks great, Ty. I’m proud of you.”

“Awww how fucking sweet is that? Look at Ty blushing. He loves getting praised, don’t you Ty? Especially by Ivan, his daddy,” Aaron jokes and Tyler scowls.

“He’s not my “daddy” Aaron. Will you stop with that?”

“No shame in the daddy game. Just saying,” Aaron says.

“Does Lev not need you at the meeting, Aaron?” Ty says.

“Nope. I was told to wait.”

“Anyway…” Seb says to cut the teasing. “I hear Noah met with Marcus?”

“He met with Marcus? That guy is fucking hot,” Aaron says so nonchalantly like he’s ordering food. But the comment annoys me a little.

“Is he?” I ask, pretending to not be bothered.

“Oh yeah, when Carlos met him it caused quite the jealous freakout from Si,” Aaron says, laughing at the memory. But now I’m even more annoyed. Carlos is the new business partner to the Kozlov brothers and his partner, Simon, is one of their guards.

“Aaron, can you ever just read the room?” Kai says, finally looking up from his phone.

“What?” Aaron says, acting innocent.

“Chase, you truly have nothing to worry about, so get that look off your face,” Ty says, and I look at him wide eyed. Was I that obvious?’

“I know.”

“No you don’t, because you look jealous. Noah is freakily obsessed with you and only you. He barely even notices those guys in there with him and they are hardly ugly. You out of anyone should know this.”

I relax a little because this is true. For a brief moment I felt a stir of jealousy that Noah was in a room with a hot guy, forgetting how his mind works.

“Aside from the hotness, did Noah mention what he thought about Marcus?” Kai asks.

“He said he was an arrogant dick. Nothing complimentary, but then again Noah never gives compliments. He hates the public in general,” I say.

“I like Noah. He’s right,” Aaron says, and Seb laughs.

“Weirdly, I think Noah fits in here better than he thinks. I assume you will move back here if he goes through with the deal with Marcus?

Huh. I never thought about that.

“Really, is that an option? Chase, it would be amazing to have you home again,” Tyler says as he rests his hand on my shoulder.

“I guess we will wait and see.”

CHAPTER NINE

NOAH

This house reeks of vanity, making my skin itch every step I take further inside. The whole place screams ‘my dick is bigger than yours’. The only part I liked was what the guys call “the holding pen” down in the basement. I remember when I spent a little time down there with them, I was quietly impressed with the set-up. But the rest of the spoils, not for me.

Dima is dressed sharp today in his custom made italian suit that’s a dark navy with a white open shirt underneath. His hair is as dark as night and cut like it was art. The color of the suit highlights his tan and sharpens his features. He’s a good looking guy, I suppose. Jules, who is walking beside me, remains silent. He’s the only one who doesn’t really chatter nonsense for the sake of it and he gives off a laidback vibe.

Dima leads us into what I assume is his office from the over the top large desk with a leather chair that looks more like a throne. That prick Lev is standing scowling in the corner, and the guy I remember from Brazil is here too, Carlos, I think his name was. This guy is pure elegance without trying and stands out like a sore thumb against all the tatted hard guys in the room. He looks like a vogue model. If anyone had a dream of hot psycho gay men, they need to join this family as I’ve never seenanything like it. Its a horny fucker’s wet dream. As long as I’m taken out of the equation, because I’m more likely to cut you to pieces.

“Noah, take a seat,” Dima says, and his voice is softer than normal. I think he is being polite. I take a seat and lean back into the chair, my legs spread as my hands tap on the chair arms. I’m starting to get bored. It’s all the talking, it makes me want to hurt someone.