Page 69 of Chad's Chase

I opened my eyes and found his eyes boring into mine with such raw emotion, I wished I could reach out and touch him.

“I guess I knew all along that you knew, but I preferred to believe you didn’t, because I liked being with you. I thought if you knew it was me, you wouldn’t kiss me the way you did, touch me, or take me. And I thought maybe you were thinking the same thing: as long as we didn’t say it out loud, it wasn’t real. I wasn’t me and you weren’t you.”

Chad let out a quiet laugh, as if that was the most ludicrous thing. “The second I saw you on that stage, I knew it was you. And I knew Iwantedyou. I didn’t see Tweety Byrd, so I never thought of you as Tweety Byrd. I sawJhay. So mature, mind-numbingly beautiful and physically flawless, you booted all rational thoughts right out of me. Only two things made sense to me: I needed to steal you, and I needed to keep you. Even if I died in the process—because, I mean, youweretrying to kill me.”

At the latter, I laughed. “Yeah…um, sorry about that.”

After a moment of contented silence, I asked, “Along with your father, who else is after me?”

This was nice. Being with Chad was nice. However, there was still a ton of unfinished business. With the unverified revelation that my old captor, The Voice, was Chad’s father, I couldn’t understand how the guy was sitting so calm and unperturbed right now. While I was there still struggling to wrap my head around the whole thing, wondering why on earth would his own father want him dead.

With an immense sigh, Chad shifted from kneeling to sitting on the ground, resting his head on the couch. “Can I just sit here with you for a while? I…I missed you every day, Jhay.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

His fingers found mine, lacing them together, and the next ninety minutes cruised by as we sat in absolute silence.

In a world like ours, a world of chaos, rage and war, turmoil and tragedy, death masks and evil veils, silence was a luxury.

Silence was golden.

It was Vivian who tugged us back to the present, beckoning us for dinner. By then, my limbs were in full function. If I ever saw that stupid doctor bitch again, I’d be returning the favor with a little twist to it.

Sitting up on the couch, I stretched, mumbling, “And just like that, another day bites the dust.”

Ta-da-dum. Day over.

In its slow and humble descent, the sun’s weak tangerine glow cast symmetric slim rays through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the sunrays like security laser beams, slicing through and through the penthouse.

Evenings here had a different feel than back at my apartment. Evenings here were beautiful and soothing, shifting shades, especially as it reflected in Chad’s deceivingly warm dark eyes.

If only there wasn’t a hose of shit waiting somewhere nearby to start spraying on us, I could remain here with him. Because damn, no, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want the moment we were having to end. Ever.

But life was a bitch.

It ended.

Chad stood up from the floor and stretched, too. “We missed lunch. Come on, let’s eat.”

“Andthenyou will tell me what the hell is going on?” I really hated being left in the dark.

“Yes.” Reaching down for me, he pulled me up by my arms and pressed me to him. “As long as you’re here, inside this building, you don’t need to worry. This place is a fortress. The windows are bulletproofed. I imagine you already know this considering you’ve been trying to get to me for months. If you could’ve gotten in, you would’ve gotten in, wouldn’t you?”

“I won’t feed your ego.”

Chad flicked a finger at my lips. It stung, but I smiled as I winced, because it was such a familiar gesture. One he used to do to me when I was a feisty little thing, always mouthing off at someone. It stung like a mofo, but it was always effective in getting me to shut up.

“I’m just assuring you of your safety here. Outside is a different story. So just breathe easy for now, okay?”

Folding my lips to quell the sting still lingering on my lips, I nodded.

Chad grinned. “Nice to see that still works.”

“Fuck off.”

Another finger flicked at my lips again, and I chucked him.

Jerking a step back, he full out laughed now. That sound, oh how I loved it.