Page 61 of Chad's Chase

“Yeah,” I said, folding my arms across my chest, defiant. “Big, tall, andworthless.”

Face growing red either from humiliation or rage, Ronnie took one long step toward me. “Listen up, you little bit—”

“Quit it. Both of you,” Chad commanded, his voice a leveled, unperturbed slice of calm confidence, shattering our hot and roiling rage. “Blood, sit down. Ronnie, we’ll finish later.”

I glared at Ronnie, waiting for him to make the first move. Of course, because my ass was badder than his, he huffed and stomped off.

When I heard the elevator open and close, I sat down where Ronnie had been. Chad looked mildly entertained, but the shiner was bothering me. I wanted to drive a knife repeatedly into the chest of whoever hit him.

Speaking of chest…

Chad’s was on display, and for a moment I just stared. The last two times I saw him with his shirt off we were in the dark, so I never got the chance to make out his tats. Now…now he was a beautiful canvas.

His right arm was a sleeve of three-dimensional tribal art, from shoulder blade to wrist. A huge tail, like that of a dragon’s—I couldn’t tell for sure—crept from around his back to his abdomen, the pointy end of the tail disappearing down the front of his jeans. His other shoulder had flames of fire creeping over, seemingly a part of the back tattoo, but the flames were black like the other tattoos, not colored.

On his left pectoral, was one that piqued my interest. An empty birdcage. It was nestled on a bed of black roses, with its little door wide open. Inside, was a small, heart-shaped key, and on one of the petals of the black roses was a clock. Not exactly the kind of tat you’d find on a man, so this one meant something. On his side below that tat were inscriptions. I squinted. Lyrics. Lyrics to…the fuck? Celine Dion? Yeah. Sure as hell those were lyrics toMy Heart Will Go On.

Nowthatwas definitely not the kind of tat one would find on a man. Especially a black-hearted killer like him.

Chad was the most mystifying person I’ve ever known.

After staring at that particular tattoo a lot longer than the others, trying to decipher the story behind it, knowing Chad was watching me, I finally sat down and dragged my gaze from his bare chest to his face.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You deceivingly resembled peace and purity,” he answered after about a minute of studying me. “Guess I prefer it when you’re asleep. Peace reigns.”

He’d been in the library watching me sleep? I wasn’t sure if I should find that romantic or creepy.

“But I told Vivian to wake me when you came back. I told her I wanted to eat dinner with you.”

“Dinner with me?” Chad’s chuckle was tinged with a touch of bitterness as he leaned forward with his arms on the table, staring me down. “What do you think this is, Blood?”

I pursed my lips, holding my cool. He was back to being the shithead he was this morning before the elevator scene.

“Last night, you chose women, remember?”

So that’s what his attitude’s about? The bullshit argument from last night in the garden. Seriously? He was still upset about our fuck meaning nothing?

“What was this morning in the elevator, then?” I asked him, opting not to tell him that all I’d said in the garden last night was a truckload of bullshit. I felt more things for him than I could contain.

“That was me shutting you up so I could leave.”

“Fucking liar.” I laughed, one completely unrelated to humor as I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head. “You are such a cowardlyliar.”

Chad twisted the beer bottle between his fingers, watching me from under his lashes. “What doyouthink it was?”

“Youwantme. Just fucking admit it and stop lying to both of us.”

Lifting the Corona to his lips, he took a swig, then shrugged. “Why bother when it’s one-sided?”

“If it’s one-sided, I’m here talking to you…why?”

“Because you want to fuck. Not specifically by me. Just that I’ll do for now because I prohibited you from ordering a call-girl. Would we be having this conversation if you had that girl?”

I didn’t answer. Mostly because I was stubborn and wanted him to believe his off calculations.

“Look, we have a lot of pressing matters in hand, I can’t do this with you. Today was active. I’m beat. Literally and figuratively. So I’m going to bed.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “Like I told you, I don’t do meaningless sex. My days are numbered, so my time is valuable.”