Chapter Twenty-Five
Carly
Dark clouds roll across the sky, blanketing half the city in darkness as the sun shines bright on the other side and it represents my mood perfectly. On the one hand, I’m happier than I’ve ever been because of Chance but as soon as I feel an ounce of that happiness, I feel guilty for even daring to be carefree for a moment. My sister is trapped in a hell I can’t even imagine and there is absolutely nothing I can do for her. Except worry.
Chewing on my thumbnail, I sigh and press send on my phone, hoping Mercedes will be as understanding as she has been for Ali recently. Although, it doesn’t look good when your two newest hires suddenly need a bunch of time off.
“Hello?” she answers, sounding breezy and uncomplicated. I envy her.
“Hey, Mercedes. It’s Carly.”
“Hey, Chick. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if it would be all right if I worked from home, today?”
There’s a pause and I hold my breath, waiting for her reply. “Yeah, sure. That shouldn’t be a problem. Is everything okay, though?”
No.
My world is falling apart.
“Yeah. There is just some stuff going on with my family I need to deal with and I’m afraid I would be too distracted to work if I came in.”
“Of course, Carly. Whatever you need.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “I want you to know this isn’t going to be a regular thing for me, either. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I called into work.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We all need to take a day to deal with shit from time to time. I get it. As long as the page goes live on time, I’m good.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we’re on schedule.”
“Perfect. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
“I will. Thanks.”
We hang up and I toss my phone on the couch, turning back to the window to watch the clouds swallow up the last few rays of sunlight. That’s fitting. My thoughts drifts to Ivy again and what she’s doing right now. Even if Julian’s not there, she has to be terrified and I hate that I have no way to reach her to tell her that I’m coming to get her as soon as the guys come up with a plan, which could be any day now. Whenever I ask Chance, he just tells me Streak is on it, but each day moves slower than the last. I hope she can feel it, though. I hope she knows I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s safe.
“Hey, Princess,” Chance says, strolling out of the bedroom after his shower and I glance over at him for a second before turning back to the window. “You hungry?”
I shake my head and he sighs as he walks over to me. He slips his arms around my waist and pulls me into his body. It’s the only piece of comfort I can find these past couple of days.
“You’ve got to eat something, baby.”
I shake my head again. “I can’t.”
“Look at me,” he whispers, stroking his thumb across my cheek and washing away some of my stress. “We will get your sister out of there as soon as humanly possible but you not eating or sleeping isn’t going to help her. I know you’re worried, but you are starting to worry me.”
“How am I supposed to eat when she’s stuck at that house, scared out of her mind and waiting for me? She came to me for help and I’m useless.”
Sighing, he pulls me tighter and I bury my head in his neck, his familiar scent relaxing me further. I know he’s right but it’s not that easy. I’ve spent the last two days worrying that Julian found out she sent Rosie to me and hurt her again or worse. Thinking of my baby sister going through the same thing I did kills me, but the thought has crossed my mind that he may be forcing himself on her. My breathing stutters and Chance’s hand slips into my hair, massaging the back of my head.
“Let’s go do something today.”
Prying myself out of his hold, I shake my head. “No. I have to stay here.”
“Why?” he asks and I whip my head around to glare at him.
“She might need me.”
He nods, taking a tentative step toward me. “And if she does somehow find a phone, she’ll call your cell, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And if Streak finds anything, he’ll call my cell so what exactly is keeping you locked up in your penthouse all day long?”
I open my mouth to argue with him, but I can’t think of anything keeping me here. He’s right. If Ivy manages to get her hands on a phone, the number she knows is my cell number and with Rosie unwilling to help us, no one will come here. But how can I go out and do something when she’s in trouble?
“It feels wrong to go live my life when she’s in trouble,” I admit and he nods his head.
“I know, sweetheart, but what would Ivy tell you to do if she were here right now?”
I think back to our lunch date not so long ago and how much she was pressuring me to find someone. If she were here right now, she’d yell at me for letting a perfectly good man go to waste. I fight back a smirk.
“She would tell me to lock you in the bedroom and stay there until we were too weak to walk.”
He chuckles. “I like the way she thinks but I have something else in mind first. Indulge me?”
“Yes,” I whisper, nodding. How could I ever say no to him anyway? Especially when he gives me those pleading eyes. He grins, smacking my ass and I jump.
“Go change into something you don’t mind getting dirty.”
My brow shoots up. “Where the hell are you taking me?”
“You’ll see soon enough,” he says with an evil grin on his handsome face. “Now, go change.”
With a sigh, I march into my bedroom and fight back a smile as I dig my favorite jeans and pink V-neck t-shirt out of the dresser. After changing, I slip on a pair of sneakers and meet him back in the living room. His gaze travels down my legs before slowly trailing back up as his grin grows.
“You look cute as hell, Princess.”
I roll my eyes and he holds his hand out to me with his truck keys jingling in his other hand. “Ready?”
“I suppose.”
He scoffs, opening the door as I lace my fingers with his. He locks the door behind us and glances over at me as we head toward the elevator. “Are you going to pout all damn day?”
I shrug, turning away to hide my smile. “I might. You’ll just have to deal with it since you forced me out today.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asks with a hint of something in his voice that draws my attention to him. We stop in front of the elevator and he presses the button before winking at me. Before I can do anything else, he pulls me into his arms and starts tickling me.
“Chance!” I scream, wiggling in his arms as he tortures me.
“Are you done being a brat?” he asks, his fingers digging into my side and I nod as I try to shove his hands away.
“Yes! I promise.”
His hands fall away and I bend over, breathing heavily as the elevator doors slide open. I flash him a glare, but he just grins as we step into the car and the doors close. I hate to admit it, but I do feel a little bit better than I did in the apartment. If I ever tell him that, though, he’ll never let me forget it. I lean against the back wall of the elevator and Chance stands next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as he presses a kiss to the side of my head. I soak up the affection, letting it warm me from the inside out. God, why did I fight this for so long? It feels so right that I can’t imagine what I was thinking before.
When the doors slide open on the first floor, Chance takes my hand again and leads me out to his truck, opening my door and helping me hop up before he walks to his side and slips behind the wheel. He fires up the engine and grins in my direction, earning a puzzled look from me that makes him laugh. Whatever he has planned must be good if he’s this excited about it. I remember the haunted restaurant he took me to on Saturday and I’m fighting back a smile of my own, feeling a little of his excitement. Chance isn’t a dinner and movies kind of guy. He puts time and thought into anything he does, even something as small as showing up with pizza and ghost hunter shows on DVD to distract me from the issues with my sister like he did last night. He’s the kind of guy that would insist on writing his own vows or bring his wife flowers just because. Underneath that cocky, sarcastic, devil-may-care exterior is one of the sweetest, most caring, loyal men I’ve ever met, which is just one reason why I felt safe enough to trust him with my heart.
“What are you thinking about over there, baby?” Chance asks, breaking through my thoughts and I smile over at him.
“You.”
His brows shoot up in surprise. “Me? Good things I hope?”
“Always.”
“You seem to be feeling better,” he comments and I eye him warily.
“I’m not going to tell you that you were right.”
He throws his head back and laughs as he reaches across the seat and grabs my hand. “I expect nothing less from you.”
Before I can ask him what that means, we pull into a parking lot surrounded by tall pine trees and I scowl as I study the sign above the door.
“An animal shelter?” I ask, my gaze flicking to Chance. “What are we doing here?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Curious, I bite my lip as he parks the truck and watch him walk around the front to open my door. He helps me down and laces his fingers through mine as we walk toward the entrance, the sound of barking growing louder with each step. Chance opens the door and we step inside as the woman at the front desk looks up.
“Can I help you?”
Chance turns to me. “Stay here and I’ll be right back, okay?”
I nod and he releases my hand to jog up to the front counter. He starts whispering something to the woman and she glances over at me and smiles. What the hell is going on? Finally, the woman nods and points down a hallway before Chance turns and motions me over. When I reach him, he grabs my hand again and starts leading me in the direction the woman pointed.
“Um… what are we doing, Chance?”
He grins back at me. “You’ll see.”
Halfway down the hallway, he stops and pulls a door open as the sound of barking intensifies. We step into the room and I barely hold back a squeal at the rows of dogs in cages watching us.
“First stop on the tour is the adoptable dogs room. I thought we could say hi to these guys before we go to our next spot.”
I walk to the first cage and lean down, letting the gorgeous French Bulldog inside sniff my hand. After a second, he licks it and I smile. “And what is our next spot?”
“Sorry, Princess,” Chance says, laughing. “That’s still a surprise.”
We move along, saying hi to a fluffy Chow Chow mix, a bloodhound, and a boxer, before I turn to Chance.
“Okay, we have to get out of here before I adopt them all.”
He laughs, nodding as he leads me back out into the hallway and two doors down. It’s a big empty room and I glance back at Chance with a scowl.
“Sit down on the floor,” he instructs and I plop down as he goes over to a glass door before turning back to me. “Are you ready?”
“Um…” I reply, not sure of the answer. What the hell is going to come out of that door? “I guess so?”
He laughs again as he pushes the door open and whistles.
Nothing happens.
I’m just about to ask him what the hell is going on when about a dozen puppies spill into the room, falling all over each other and themselves, and I squeal. They all zero in on me, rushing over and climbing into my lap. I laugh and pick one up.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, looking up at Chance who’s smiling down at me. “This is amazing. Get down here.”
“One second.” He grabs a plastic tub from the corner of the room and sets it down next to me before sitting on the other side of it. It’s filled with all sorts of toys and I pull out a braided rope toy, which is quickly snatched away by one of the puppies. Another curls up in my arms and licks my hand, content on getting in some snuggles while another chews on one of my fingers. Even with sharp little puppy teeth piercing my skin, I can’t wipe the damn smile off my face.
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, my heart overflowing with happiness. “What made you think of this?”
He shrugs, one puppy licking his face and I laugh. “It’s hard to be grumpy and sad with puppies crawling all over you.”
Well, he’s not wrong. There is definitely something therapeutic about holding these babies in my arms. One puppy, a little brown one that keeps getting knocked back by his over zealous friends, plops down with a dejected look on his little face and I scoop him up, setting him in my lap.
“There you go, little guy. Do you need some loving, too?”
Chance reaches over and brushes his thumb over my cheek as I peek over at him. A wide grin stretches across his face and it makes my heart skip a beat. “I’ve missed that gorgeous smile these last few days.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so stressed lately. I honestly don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here with me.”
He shakes his head. “Princess, don’t apologize. If anyone understands the turmoil you’re going through right now, it’s me. I just want to help in any way that I can.”
“This definitely helps,” I say, holding up the little brown puppy and smiling. Puppy breath wafts into my face and I hold him close to my chest, rubbing his head as his little tail wags against my belly.
“He seems to really like you.”
I nod. “I like him, too. I always wanted a dog, you know.”
“And you never got one?” he asks and I shake my head.
“No. My mother would never allow it. Ivy tried to bring a stray home once and Mother completely lost her shit.”
The little white puppy starts squirming in his arms and he lets it down. It pounces on another puppy and we both laugh. “Let me guess, you wanted something small like a Yorkie, right?”
“Uh, no,” I reply, wrinkling my nose. “I love big dogs like a Great Dane or a Mastiff.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “You are always a surprise, Princess.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” He gazes down at the floor and laughs. The puppies are running low on energy and dropping like flies, one after the other until only a few are still walking around.
“So, why a big dog?”
I shrug, stroking the soft fur of the puppy sleeping in my lap. “I don’t know. I just love how big and goofy they are and they’ll protect you, too. They are like the ultimate best friend. Plus, have you ever been around some of those little dogs? They’re so mean.”
“Shit, yeah. My neighbor as a kid had a Chihuahua and that thing was awful.”
I nod. “Exactly.”
“So, why not get one now?”
“I’ve thought about it,” I admit. “But I’m pretty sure my mother would still have a conniption if I ruined her design with a dog bed and some toys.”
“She didn’t let you decorate anything in your own place?” he asks, leaning back and propping himself up on one elbow. Two puppies jump up from their nap and trot over to him before jumping up to lick his face. He smiles, gently rolling them to their backs and rubbing their bellies as they try to bite him.
“I got to decorate the closet. It is so out of place compared to the stark modern look in the rest of my apartment, but I love it. It’s kind of my safe space.”
“Why not move?”
I sigh, thinking about the money that I refuse to touch. “Ivy and I both got trust funds from one of Mother’s exes when we turned eighteen but I don’t like using that money and I refuse to touch the twelve million that she blackmailed those boys for, so I stay even though I’m miserable.”
“Wait,” he interjects. “You’ve never touched any of that money?”
I shake my head. “No. I can’t. It would be like saying I’m okay with what they did to me or that the money was an acceptable punishment when it wasn’t. Maybe for the other boys it was, but for what Austin and my mother did, for the way they betrayed me, the money wasn’t enough.”
“Is there anything that would make up for it?” he questions, anger in his voice. I bite my lip as I shake my head.
“Probably not. I trusted Austin and his disloyalty was spectacular. To this day, I don’t understand how he could claim to care about me and then watch as that was happening to me. Or participate. As for my mother, I suppose it was my own fault for expecting anything more of her. She stayed true to who she was by going after the money but I as I laid on that bathroom floor crying, I had hoped she would be more.”
“Baby, you have no idea how much I want to fix it all for you and it kills me that I can’t. I do so much for women like your sister and I can’t do anything to help you.”
I turn to look at him, choked up by how much he cares. “But you do help me, Chance. From the moment we met, you started healing what they broke and there are moments with you where I can let go and not be that girl anymore. At least, for a little while.”
Sitting up, he leans over and presses his lips to mine as he cradles my face. Just as I’m sinking into the kiss, I feel something hitting my shirt and jerk back. Glancing down, I find a wet spot on my t-shirt, right underneath the puppy in my arm and I start to laugh. Chance shakes his head, fighting back a smile.
“Ready to get out of here?”
I shake my head. “Just a few more minutes.”
“Okay,” he says, turning back to watch the puppies climb all over each other.
“I actually have a question for you.”
His eyes widen and he sits up straight. “Oh, shit, this is new. Let me prepare myself.”
“Shut up.” I laugh, shoving him. He falls to one side and a few puppies jump up and swarm him. “I was wondering if you could tell me more about Logan’s grandparents.”
“Yeah,” he replies with a soft smile and from just a look, I can see his fondness for them. “So, as you know, my home life wasn’t great and Logan’s dad ran off when he was a kid so his grandparents watched him when his mom had to work. They had this cabin out in the woods with a lake in the backyard and we loved going out there. Elsie and Samuel were just amazing to be around, you know? They had the kind of energy that drew people to them and as a kid from a broken home, seeing their love for each other and for Logan, it just stuck with me.”
“I was always jealous when I saw a dad and daughter out somewhere, like they were taunting me with the missing piece of my life, you know?” I offer up and he nods.
“Yeah, there was definitely some of that but mostly they taught me that I didn’t have to be my upbringing. Samuel knew about my mom and her boyfriends, so he always made it a point to teach me how to treat a lady and how to be a good man.”
“He did a pretty fantastic job.”
He flashes me a shy smile. “Thanks, Princess.”
“How did they fall in love?”
Chance laughs, shaking his head. “Well, if you asked Samuel, he would tell you about the time he saw Elsie kick a bully in the shin on the playground. They were just kids and he said he knew in that moment she was meant for him.”
“And if you asked Elsie?”
“They had always been friends, but she didn’t find out about Samuel’s feelings for her until high school. After he graduated, Samuel joined the Army and it was hard, but they made it work. After he was discharged, he built the cabin for her.”
“Sounds like you know the story pretty well.”
He nods. “Yeah, well, they told it often and they would look at each other and you could just see the connection. Even as a kid, I recognized it was something special and I wanted it. And now, I’ve found it.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks and I glance down at the puppy in my lap. “I never thought I’d be happy like this. After everything they did to me, I thought this wasn’t in the cards for me, but you showed me how wrong I was.”
“Anytime you need me to straighten you out, I’ll be here, Darlin.”
I roll my eyes and he laughs as I set the puppy in my arms down to play.
“You ready to get out of here?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah.”
We take the puppies back to their cages, making sure they’re all comfy before we head back out to the hallway. Chance takes my hand and pulls it to his lips, smirking at me as he kisses it.
My mood is definitely improved from earlier and despite my objections, I know this is exactly what I needed. Plus, Chance was right. If anything happens, someone will get in contact with us. I can’t spend all day in my apartment, worrying myself to death. If Ivy were here right now, she would insist I get out and have fun with my man.
“So, where to next?” I ask as Chance opens the passenger door of his truck and helps me up.
“The apartment.”
“What? Why?”
“Because, you need to change,” he says, glancing down at my t-shirt. I wince at the dog hair and pee spot before nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, okay.”
Nodding, he shuts my door and circles behind the truck before climbing in behind the wheel and firing the truck up. As we pull out of the parking lot, he grabs my hand and I turn to the window, a smile on my face.
Who knew I could be this happy?