Page 86 of Chad's Chase

Looking JK over, I nodded. “I guess behind the shit ton of asshole you wear, you’re actually a worthy person, huh?”

Then came the crooked grin. “Does that mean you’ll apologize for grabbin’ a married man’s dick?”

Oh hell. “I. Did. Not. Gra—”

“She killed Alina’s parents, JK.” This was from Chad. Blurted out, as though he would’ve exploded if he’d held it in any longer, just needing to tell someone.

My gaze traveled over to him and he was gripping the countertop, restraining himself.

“Whoa,” JK muttered.

“And I’m just so fucking conflicted right now because I think I’m falling in love with her, but at the same time I just wanna cut off all her fingers then put a bullet in her heart. How do I choose between loving her and killing her? How do I choose between destroying her heart and keeping it to myself?”

Dead silence, then, “Look, man, this shit’s a hundred and fifty shades of fucked up. Way over my head.” To me, he directed the question, “Did she see your face? Alina, that is.”

I shook my head no. “I was wearing a mask.”

“Good,” he said with a single nod of his head, his expression grave now. Like this was his no-nonsense face. “Considerin’ I’m practically Alina’s guardian right now, and Chad’s incapable of makin’ any rational decisions since you popped up, I’mtellin’both of you to keep this shit to yourselves. Alina doesn’t need to know her favorite cousin’s new girlfriend is her parents’ killer. She’s in a happy place right now, and I’d like for her to stay there.”

As he pushed up from the bar stool, readying to leave, I suddenly didn’t want to be left alone with Chad. “As for you two…”—pause— “this is toxic. Dys-fuckin’-functional. Wrong. I swear this is the most screwed-up ‘relationship’ I’ve ever witnessed. And in my honest opinion, you don’t belong together. You two need to split and fuckin’ run before one of you ends up killin’ the other.”

When he turned to leave, Chad grunted, a sound that clearly read “I completely disagree with you”, and JK stopped and spun back around. “Like I said, that’s my honestopinion. But lemme ask both of you this: How many times have you thought about knocking the other the fuck out?”

I looked at Chad. He looked at me. And then we both looked away. Don’t know about him, but I thought about knocking him out quite often, he was so arrogant and frustrating.

When nothing but silence met JK’s ears, he uttered, “‘Nuff said,” then turned and left us in our mire.

I envied JK, because if I could get away from us, I would, too.

After discovering how strongly I still loved Chad, my drive and desire to kill him had waned until it completely vanished, replaced with an all-consuming, all-encompassing burning desire to fuck him all the time and love him into eternity. But nowhehad a blazing urge to kill me and—

Holy shit… his words came crashing into me, as if they’d just flown by me as a jumble of irrelevant letters when he’d said them, but only now did they make sense.

Because I think I’m falling in love with her…

He was falling in love with me. But hell, he also wanted to kill me. So should I be afraid or fucking flattered? Should I pick up my skirt and run for the hills or throw some imaginary dices, gamble, and hope to God he chooses to love me?

Of course, I knew the sane option to go with, but here I was once again deliberately playing stupid, because I didn’t want to lose my Blood again.

I was loving all wrong. So fucking wrong.

Across the kitchen island, Chad now had his back to me, facing the fridge, popping strawberries into his mouth. One after the other. One after the other. One after the other.

Easing off the bar stool, I rounded the kitchen island and gingerly walked up to him. When I pressed my body up against his, he just stared over the top of my head, refusing to acknowledge me. At least he wasn’t pushing me away.

I reached up and pried the fruit bowl from his hand, setting it on the countertop.

He let me.

Taking his right hand, I brought it up to my neck in a strangulation hold, then put my other hand over it and forced him to squeeze.

Chad’s eyes finally snapped to mine, confusion waltzing within them. “What—”

“Choose now, Blood,” I whispered. “We can’t go anywhere from here unless you choose. We can’t be running from our adversaries and from each other at the same time. So choose, now…love me, or kill me.”

Brows drawn together, Chad eyed me like I was a madwoman.

“I’m yours either way,” I told him. “Whether to love or to kill, I’m yours.” Not like I had anything to live for anyway. Despite his betrayal, Chad was the closest thing to a family I had left. I had nothing and no one. Nothing but a shit-ton of guilt, fear, nightmares, and ghosts that haunted me.