Page 46 of After the Chase

"Oh. Well. That's…wonderful. Sorry, you have just taken me by surprise," she says as she recovers quickly, her professional smile returning. "I'll draw up the paperwork this afternoon."

"Good."

Noah turns to me, and I see triumph in his eyes. Yet again he has gotten what he wants and is doing this for us.

"What do you think?" he asks me.

"It's perfect."

And it is. Isolated and secure, but beautiful in a cold, modern way that matches Noah's aesthetic perfectly.

"Then it's ours, baby."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

NOAH

Later in the evening, Chase is waiting at the hotel entrance when I bring the car around. He slides into the passenger seat, bringing the scent of expensive cologne. He looks delicious tonight in dark blue jeans, and a figure hugging white henley shirt. He still has his tan from our travels which makes his blue eyes pop. I’m wearing my go to look, all black with leather jacket and the attitude to match.

I merge onto the highway, heading toward the clubhouse as the city lights blur past us, reflected in the wet pavement from earlier rain. Chase is quiet for several blocks, and I know it as a sign of him overthinking before he speaks. It’s something I hope to work on with him, that he just says what he thinks without stressing.

"What are you thinking?" I ask.

"They're going to see us together, it just feels like a big deal."

"It is."

He's quiet for another moment, his fingers tracing a pattern on his thigh.

"Earlier, when you were talking about…claiming me in front of everyone. Were you serious?"

I glance at him, then back at the road. "No."

"No?"

"I would never do that."

"But you said…"

"I said it to see your reaction and to get you flustered.” I merge into the right lane, my voice level. It’s quite amusing that he even thought I would ever expose that side of him to anyone. It’s bad enough people have eyes that can see him.

"I would never make you do that, Chase, not in public. You know this."

"Why not?"

"Because I would never let any man or woman look at you that way." My hands tighten on the steering wheel at the very idea, which makes the rage inside of me bubble to the surface.

"I would never let anyone fantasize about you on your knees, about your mouth, about what you look like when you're being used."

Chase's breathing has changed, and sounds deafening in the quiet car.

"If any man in that clubhouse looked at you sexually," I continue, my voice turning edgy and cold, "if any of them allowed themselves to imagine touching you, I would know. And I would take them somewhere private."

"Noah…"

"I would start with their hands," I say, as if discussing a surgical procedure. "The hands that dared to imagine touching you. I'd use bolt cutters, and I mean the industrial grade kind. Then I would remove each finger at the second knuckle. Slowly. One at a time. Cauterize the wounds so they don't bleed out too quickly because I would want them conscious for all of it."

Chase makes a small sound in his throat, he fucking likes me talking to him like this. It’s like I’ve won the lottery, the very fact he has come over to my side so willingly. My dick twitches at his responses, and I just get carried away in the moment.