Chapter 4
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We’re both exhausted when we tumble into the apartment after a long shift at The Greasy Spoon. I reek of cigarette smoke and nachos. All I want is a hot shower and to pass out.
“Took you long enough.” A deep voice rumbles from the middle of our living room.
Chase flips on the light as I slide out my knife, preparing to deal with the dumbest intruder in the world. He’s about to find out that Hell hath no fury like a woman robbed.
I stop when I realize that laying across my couch, with his muddy boots kicked up on the side, is the hottest burglar I’ve ever seen. Short, spiky hair, a rockin’ bod, and covered in ink as far as the eye can see. He’s got bad news written all over him.
He can take whatever he wants. Shit, I’ll help him load up our TV.
Chase tenses next to me. “Jesus, Sam, what are you doing here, and how the fuck did you get in?”
“Found your poorly hidden spare.” Sam flips him a key that he catches and pockets.
“Whoa! Whoa, you know this guy?” I raise an eyebrow to Chase while pointing my knife toward the couch.
“Don’t remember me, sweet cheeks?” The hot stranger grins up at me with a knowing smile.
I’m sorry, what the fuck did he just call me?
“Please say he’s a burglar so I can stab him,” I beg Chase, gripping the knife in my hand as I take a threatening step forward.
“He’s not a burglar, he’s family.” He spits out the word like it’s a disgusting taste in his mouth. Come to think about it, both of them have the same chiseled jawline and dark eyes. Sam. . . this must be Chase’s douchey older brother. Damn, he looks a lot different than he did in high school.
“You really shouldn’t keep wild animals as pets, bro.” The Tatted God shakes his head, dismissing me with a single, cold look.
Asshole.
“I’m not going to ask again. Why are you here?” Chase gets out between gritted teeth.
“This little game is over, you’re gonna stop playing house with this creepy bitch and come home. Now.” His jaw ticks. He flicks his eyes over to me in disgust as if I kidnapped and corrupted his innocent baby brother.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You come barging in ordering me around like I’m still your snot-nosed kid brother? Fuck that, and fuck you.” Chase’s eyes flare with anger. I haven’t seen him this pissed off since I lost his emergency cash in a poker game.
“Who the fuck am I? Let me tell you, little bro. I’m the motherfucker who took the worst of the beatings when you were my snot-nosed kid brother. The same asshole who stuck around that piece of shit town to keep an eye on Dad. And that jackass who carried our unconscious mother into the ER two nights ago.” His expression is cold and unforgiving.
“Wha—Mom? Is she okay? Shit, shit, shit.” Chase drops to the couch in shock.
“She was stable when I left, but the doctors said—He really messed her up, man. I didn’t think she was going to wake up.” His voice is thick with emotion.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Chase is back on his feet. “Just give me a few to get my shit together,” he says quietly before walking to his bedroom and slamming the door behind him.
I’m rooted to the floor, staring at the couch my best friend was sitting on only seconds before. He doesn’t open up about his family much, but I know from the few times he’s talked about his mom that they used to be really close. I’m devastated that something happened to her, but a selfish part of me is terrified for what that means for us.
He’s going to leave me.
“Just let him go and stay out of it. This is a family affair now,” Sam snarls from across the room where he eyes me warily.
I flip him the bird as I cross to Chase’s room and let myself in. He’s in a frenzy, ripping clothes out of his dresser and shoving them into a suitcase. Slipping in between him and the dresser, I lock my hands around his wrists. I can’t ask him not to go, so I say nothing, but I know the words are written all over my face. Please don’t leave me.
“I have to go, Reap, get out of the way,” he warns, refusing to look me in the eye.
Wrapping my arms around his bulky frame, I continue to say nothing. After a few moments, his tensed muscles relax against me. “I shouldn’t have left her alone with my piece of shit father. I never thought—he never hit her before. This is all my fault. Goddamn it, I. . . I shouldn’t have left her.” He burrows his face in my hair, unable to bite back the tears any longer.
I have no words of wisdom, nothing to ease the pain, so I hold him tight. I know what it feels like to be riddled with that kind of guilt. It’s not something I would wish upon anyone.
Breaking away, his reddened eyes find mine. There’s a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know what he’s going to say before the words are even released.
“You have to come with me.”
“Chase. . . that’s ridiculous. You know I can’t.” I try to take a step back, but I bump into the dresser.
“I thought I could escape my past, and my family—run away and hide from everything. Look where it has gotten us, Reap. We live in this dump, barely scraping by. Your nightmares haven’t stopped and I know you’re fucking miserable here. We have to stop hiding, grow the fuck up and face our demons.”
“Please don’t ask me to go back there, Chase.” I whimper pathetically, anxiety snaking its way through my body.
“You need this, Tess, and fine, yes, I’m selfish and can admit that I need you by my side. You’re the only person I trust. I can’t do this alone.” His eyes plead.
I exhale through my nose and swallow hard. “No matter what happens, I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine.” My voice wavers as I relent and allow him to envelop me in a crushing hug.
“Thank you, Reap, I promise it will be okay. We can do this together.” His relief is palpable.
I break out of his embrace in a huff. “You owe me. Big time. Like if I need a kidney, your ass is taking a knife and carving it out for me.”
A ghost of a smile appears on his lips, but it quickly disappears. “Tess, I love you. I’ve even come to love this city, but I’ve been lying to you, and to myself. Every year I miss my family more. My obnoxious little cousins, Jacob, Uncle Martin and sweet Aunt Sophia. Even my asshole of a brother. This has been a wake-up call, I need to go home and take care of Ma, protect her, even if she was never able to do that for me. I’ve abandoned my family, and this was my punishment. I have to make things right.” He clenches my arm a little too tight, desperate for me to understand.
But I don’t, not really.
I met my mother’s sister twice, and both times, Aunt Lily was more concerned with fixing her makeup and texting her boyfriend than she was with getting to know me. Then there was cousin Ralph. He was creepy as hell with his toothy smile and collection of dead insects. Other than that, my parents were the only family I knew.
Even if Chase’s father is a monster, he still has relatives who love and care about him. So even though I don’t understand, I can’t be the one to stand in his way.
“We aren’t coming back?” I whisper.
He doesn’t answer but places his forehead against mine. It’s a gesture that means our friendship is a bond that can never be severed, or, at least that’s what he said when he was blitzed out of his mind one night. But a drunk Chase has always been more honest than a sober one.
Breaking away before I begin to cry, I tap my finger on the tip of my nose. “Not it,” I choke out. Chase raises a questioning eyebrow. “I’m not telling your hotheaded brother that you added a plus one to this reunion.”
With a deep breath, Chase heads back to the living room. “It will take us a little while to get our shit together, you can wait out here,” he says sharply.
“Us?” Sam’s eyes cut to me, then back to his brother who only nods and swivels to return to his bedroom. “No. She is not coming with us.” He crosses his arms and flexes his muscles.
As if looking threatening is going to change matters.
“Why the fuck not? What’s your problem with her anyway?” Chase snarls.
“You didn’t leave as much as a fucking note when you took off. I was out of my mind with worry thinking you were going to turn up dead somewhere. Then I find out that Little-Miss-Reaper disappeared the same night? Didn’t take long to put two and two together. You abandoned your family, your responsibilities. . . for some tail? I don’t trust her, and from the shit I’ve heard, neither should you.”
Before I can shut him down myself, Chase whirls to face him with a thunderous expression. “She’s coming. We’re taking our own car, and you will shut your goddamn mouth about her before I shut it for you.”
Sam’s eyes flit to me furiously, but he doesn’t say anything more.
And the list of people I need to watch my back around grows by one. Fantastic.
My limbs are heavy as I go through the motions of emptying out drawers and piling all my belongings into a suitcase.
Alder Grove.
I’m going back to the one place I swore I would never return. A single town that holds more enemies than friends, and ghosts that itch to haunt me. I’ve spent years trying to brush off the damage that was done there, to forget the people I left behind, and within minutes my progress has unraveled.
Chase and I, we’ve put down roots here. I know he misses his family, but how can he just decide to pick up and leave it all behind at the drop of a hat? Exhausted to the point of hysteria, I almost burst into laughter at my own foolishness. Roots? We both took jobs that have high turnover rates and chose an apartment that doesn’t require anything more than a month-to-month lease. I’ve purposely alienated myself from people, and Chase’s revolving one-night stands are the closest he gets to human connection. Like dying flowers in a vase we’ve sat here and withered.
What’s more terrifying is the realization that we’ve been biding our time, waiting for this day. The universe wouldn’t have it any other way.
Fate really is a fickle bitch.
Thirty minutes later, the door opens and shuts behind me. I relax when I catch the scent of the musky cologne Chase loves to douse himself in. Muscular arms wrap around my small frame and I relax against him with a sigh.
“Hey.”
“Hey back,” I respond quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
His voice cracks, “I’m sorry I’m not strong enough to do this without you.”
My heart aches for him. “Hush, you and me against the world, remember? Besides, I have a horrible suspicion this was inevitable.”
He rests his forehead against the back of my neck. “It wasn’t always perfect, and you’re a pain in my ass, but I’m going to miss the hell out of this life we made.”
I open my mouth to respond but the words get stuck in my throat, so I settle for a weak nod.
I’m going to miss this life too.