Page 79 of After the Chase

“It’s for his books, inspiration.”

“Inspiration? And here I thought he was a perfect civilian. I’m out,” Lev says, before he leaves the room where only me and Ivan remain with the dead body. Ivan smiles at me as he slowly approaches me, and my instinct is to run.

“Do not come near me, Ivan,” I warn, as that’s the look he gives me when he is about to cross boundaries by being tactile with me.

“I just want to thank you for coming, you didn’t have to, but you did it for me.”

“I did it for Chase, he asked me to come.”

Ivan moves closer to me and in all my life, he is the only person I fear, because one day I know he is going to catch me by surprise and try to hug me.

“You don’t have to say it, bestie. I know deep down you were here for me too.”

I roll my eyes and move fast out of the door before he can say anything else.

“Come on, don’t run,” he says from behind me, following closely. I swear the only reason he is still alive is because he is with Chase’s brother.

When we get into the main bar, the others are still there. Ivan goes to leave first, clearly wanting to get back to the hospital. Ethan follows behind him, his mask already sliding back intoplace. Lev stays behind, chatting to Marcus, and I leave without saying a word.

Outside, the night air is cold and crisp. Ivan leans against the car, smoking a cigarette with shaking hands, and I light my own, allowing the nicotine to relax my bones. Ethan stands nearby next to his car, quiet and thoughtful.

"Tyler will recover," I say to Ivan.

He nods. "I know."

"We should get back to the hospital,” I say as I throw my cigarette to the ground and grind it into the gravel with my boot.

“Thanks for your help tonight, Noah. Can I have just one hug? It would make me feel better,” he says, with his arms open and I flinch with discomfort.

“You have to always make it weird,” I complain as I move to get into the car, as Ivan chuckles.

“It will happen one day, bestie,” he says as he gets into the car. I can say with absolute certainty, it will never happen.

When we arrive at the hospital, Chase is awake, sitting in one of the hard chairs next to Tyler’s bed, scrolling through his phone. He looks up as I enter, his eyes immediately find mine, relief washing over him. He looks at Ivan who still has some blood on his clothing, then back to me as he stands to leave Ivan with Tyler.

"It's done?" he asks.

"It’s over now, baby."

"Is Ivan alright?"

"He’s fine, he did what he needed to do. Now he’s back to his normal annoying self."

I grab my phone and send Chase the video. “I got you something,” I say as his phone pings and he looks down at the message.

"For your books. We can call it evidence based data."

He opens the file without hesitation, watching the footage with total focus. I see the moment his breathing changes and his hand flies to his mouth in shock, but then easies into a look of scrutiny. Like he is assessing the movements and actions of the event. When it ends, he clicks off his phone and looks at me.

"How did it feel?”

"I felt appreciation for Ivan's passion, but I did start to get bored halfway through."

Chase laughs and wraps his arms around my neck and I pull him closer to me, needing his touch.

“Only you could get bored. I think you need therapy,” he says, as he lightly kisses my lips, which is not enough.

"This is our life now, baby.”