Chapter 11: Chance
I woke up to the warm rays of sunlight on my naked body and the sweet smell of fresh air. I had a smile on my face, and when I stretched, my groans were met by those of the bedsprings as I lazily waited to be brought back to the land of the living. The open window brought a cool breeze into the room, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn’t wake up coughing to the suffocating smell of lingering cigarette smoke or with a bourbon-infused headache.
Ashlyn lay next to me, one arm flung over my chest, her face buried in my shoulder. Her blonde locks gently wrapped her face the way the blanket wrapped her body, and her eyes shifted underneath closed lids as she dreamed. She was breathing softly, her body barely moving, and only when I shifted did she mumble something incomprehensible and hug me tighter.
She was absolutely gorgeous, and if it weren’t for my rumbling stomach, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave the bed at all.
Images of last night replayed in my head, and I couldn’t believe how much I had enjoyed the sex. For once, it had not been all about fucking. It had been passionate, sensual, a mix of touches and emotions that was new and foreign to me. Yet, it had felt right. I never thought that I could feel this way about anyone, but with Ashlyn, all of that seemed to fall into perfect place.
I gently kissed her forehead, and slowly slipped out from under her arm and the comfort of the covers. I stretched, my body letting out joyous clicks and cracks, and I had to admit that I felt incredible. Like a new born man. As if nothing in the world mattered anymore. There was no company waiting for me back in Austin. There were no women running after my money. There were no late-night parties I was expected to attend. No one wanted anything from me; the world had forgotten I existed.
And it felt fucking great.
I washed my face, took a quick shower, and made my way downstairs. I found my pants, pulled them on, and hummed as I strode into the kitchen. It took me a while to find out where she kept everything, but within ten minutes I had the stove ablaze and breakfast in the making.
There was a small radio by the sink, and I turned it on, dancing to the music as I worked. It was like I couldn’t even recognize myself. The last time I had had the patience to listen to an entire song had been in college. Now I felt like a man with a dozen quarters in his pocket and a jukebox all to himself.
“Sexy,” I heard Ashlyn say from behind me.
I turned around and smiled as she leaned against the kitchen door, clad only in my shirt, her hair tied back so that her eyes shone like twin jewels. I could wake up to this every day, I thought.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” I said.
“You didn’t,” she said. “The radio did. Actually, startled me. I’m not used to someone else in the house.”
“Breakfast?”
“Oh God, yes,” she smiled, trudging to a chair by the kitchen table and folding herself in it.
“I’d like to say that I’m making the Chance Special, but I’d be lying,” I said. “Haven’t made breakfast in a while, so I’m probably going to ruin everything.”
She nodded and gestured at the stove. “Probably burn down my kitchen while you’re at it.”
One of the pans was engulfed in flames, and I quickly pulled it away and dropped it into the sink, immediately turning the cold water onto it. “Damn!”
Ashlyn laughed. “What do you do in the mornings?” she asked. “Pick up a bagel from Starbucks or something?”
“I usually have Alice get me something,” I said, staring at the mess in the sink.
“Who?”
I froze for a beat. “What?” I asked, trying to buy myself some time.
“You said Alice gets you breakfast?”
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Alice. My secretary.”
“I thought Alice was your sister.” She gave me a suspicious eye.
“No, Pauline is my sister,” I muttered, hoping I was remembering the lie I’d told her correctly. “Alice my secretary.”
Ashlyn raised her eyebrows at me. “You have a secretary?”
“Don’t all successful entrepreneurs have secretaries?” I asked.
“You didn’t strike me as the kind who would need one.”
“Hey, just because I came into town in a beat-up Chevy doesn’t mean I don’t have money,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at her and hoping I could lie my way out of the corner I’d painted myself into.
“Whatever you say, Mr. Sabbatical,” she said. “And wouldn’t your sister and your secretary be wondering where you are? I mean, they’d be expecting you in Houston by now, right?”
“She’s my sister, not my mother,” I said, suddenly remembering that I had switched my phone off after calling my mother on my first day in Ludwig, and hadn’t checked it since. “Come to think of it, I haven’t checked in with her in a couple of days. Maybe I should.
“Maybe you should.” Ashlyn got up and tapped me on the chest, pushing onto her toes to kiss me. “Go check in, and I’ll make us breakfast,” she said. “I really hope you’re better at business than you are at cooking.”
* * *
I stepped out onto the porch, waiting for my phone to start up while Ashlyn took over in the kitchen. I sat down on the porch swing, kicked my legs up and enjoyed the fresh air and silence around me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had never felt this relaxed in my life.
The doctor’s voice came to mind.
Learn to enjoy life, Mr. Ridder. Before your bad habits kill you.
My phone came to life, and almost immediately the notifications went crazy. I frowned, lifting the screen up higher to avoid the glare, and watched in horror as my instant messaging notifications rose to almost one hundred missed messages. I groaned, cursing myself silently for even turning the damn thing on. I could almost feel the onset of a headache. I could feel my heart catching in my chest.
I swiped and unlocked the screen, bringing up the messaging app. I braced my elbows on my knees and bent over the phone, frowning as I read the first few messages. Some were from board members, some from shareholders, and others from acquaintances I had made from random social circles. But there was one thing in common; everyone was wishing me a speedy recovery.
From what?
Before I could scroll through the rest, the phone vibrated and began to ring. Alice’s number flashed on my screen, and I quickly answered.
“Where the fuck are you?” she almost yelled. “I’ve been calling you for two days!”
“I had my phone off,” I replied, standing up and beginning to pace across the porch.
“No, shit!” Alice countered. “I could tell. I called your mother, and she said you hadn’t arrived yet.”
“You called my mother?”
“I needed to reach you,” Alice explained.
“The point of me leaving was that I couldn’t be reached,” I said. “That’s why I turned off the phone.” I stopped. “Wait, what’s so urgent that you had to call my mother? And why is everybody wishing me a speedy recovery?”
“We’ve got a big problem, Chance,” Alice said. “I have no idea where you are right now, but you need to haul ass back here.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s Dennis!” Alice hissed.
“Yes?”
“He’s got everyone thinking that you’re on drugs, and the reason you left was because you had checked yourself into some kind of rehab.”
“He did what?”
The messages suddenly made a lot of sense. Why Dennis had done it, though, I had no idea. I remembered stressing on the fact that I didn’t want anyone to bother me while I was away or even know I was sick, but this was a little bit of a stretch. He could have just told everyone I was away on business.
“It’s all over the news, too,” Alice said. “Someone leaked this nonsense to the press, and they’re really running with it. You’ve been a television sensation since last night.”
I frowned. What the hell?
“I don’t get it,” I said. “Why would Dennis do that?”
“Why? Really?” Alice scoffed. “Seriously, for a man who runs a multi-billion dollar company, you can be thick as a brick sometimes.”
“For a woman who is still on my payroll and hopefully wants to remain that way, you really need to learn boundaries,” I shot back, angry at the tone, and even angrier at how confused I was by all this.
“Okay, well here’s the shit you’re in,” she said. “Your so-called best friend has called an urgent board meeting to discuss the implications of your ‘drug problem’ on Ridder Technology. On the agenda? A vote as to whether or not you’re suitable to run this company anymore.”
“What?” I shouted, feeling every muscle in body tense. A sudden burst of rage exploded inside me. “That’s my company!”
“Yeah, but the board decides who runs it, remember?” Alice said. “Get back to Austin, Chance. Dennis is screwing you. He’s trying to take over as CEO.”
“I’m on my way,” I said. My chest started to ache, but I ignored it.
I hung up and fought the urge to throw the phone against the wall. Christ, did I need a cigarette and a drink. I couldn’t believe Dennis would do this to me. After everything we’d been through together, after all that I had done for him, and he was taking the first chance that I was away to try and steal the company from right under my feet.
Can he even do that?
Of course he could, if he had the support of the fucking board, who was not that happy with me at the moment. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for it to happen. If that fucker thought he could mess with what I built, he had another thing coming. I was already thinking up different ways to rip him apart once I laid my hands on him. Not only that, but he was slandering my name, too.
I clenched the phone in my hand and went back inside, making my way to the kitchen while trying to think of what to tell Ashlyn. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw my face on the small television sitting on the kitchen table.
Ashlyn turned to look at me, the tears in her eyes barely masking the anger that flamed behind them.
* * *
“You lied to me!”
The sound of her shouting made me cringe, and although I had been trying to calm her down for the past ten minutes, there was no breaking through the wall of rage that shrouded her. I would have had better luck talking to a log.
“That’s not entirely true,” I argued, trying to keep my voice down in hopes she’d do the same. It wasn’t working so far.
“How is it not true?” she yelled. “You told me you were on fucking sabbatical. You never told me you were a drug addict! Did you run away from rehab or something? Oh Christ, is the law after you?”
“Jesus, Ashlyn, I’m not a fucking drug addict!” I couldn’t hold my anger back anymore, and my voice bellowed across the kitchen. “That’s a rumor started by an asshole who is trying to steal my company from me!”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?” she asked. “After all the other lies. You told me you were just some entrepreneur, not a fucking billionaire!”
“I said an entrepreneur of sorts.”
“Stop it!” she screamed. “Stop playing with your words to get yourself out of this!”
“Out of what?” I shouted back. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“You call this not doing anything wrong?” she shot back, pointing at the screen. The networks were having a field day. There was video of me drunk off my ass leaving a late-night party. The banner beneath the video read Billionaire Entrepreneur Drug Addict… Jesus freakin’ Christ.
I sighed and threw my hands in the air. “It’s all a lie. You have to believe me.”
“I should have seen this coming,” she said, talking to herself rather than to me, shaking her head and burying her hands in her hair. “I always choose the crazy ones. Always. Why would this be any different?”
“Ashlyn, please.” I reached out for her.
“Don’t!” she screamed, pointing at me angrily to keep my distance. “Don’t you fucking come near me, you lying son of a bitch!”
“Listen, most of what I said was true,” I tried to reason with her. “My name is Chance Ridder, as you can see from the fucking TV. A week ago, my doctor told me that if I didn’t tone down the stress and every other crazy thing in my life, I’d die of a heart attack before I was forty. So I really am on a sabbatical. I was on my way home to see my mother in Booth. I was just trying to stay anonymous, that’s all. Okay? I didn’t want anyone to know who I was.”
“You should have told me,” she hissed, her eyes drenched. “After everything I told you yesterday, you should have told me. I fucking opened up to you, Chance! I laid my entire life at your feet. And you trampled all over it!” She stopped suddenly, her eyes wide. “I let you into my bed. I trusted you and let you in my bed.”
She grabbed a plate and threw it at me, the ceramic shattering against the wall over my head. “You fucking asshole!” she screamed.
“Ashlyn, goddammit!” I yelled.
“Get out!”
“Ashlyn.”
“Get out!” she screamed, running to me and slamming her fists against my chest, pushing me out the kitchen and towards the door. “Get out, get out, get out, get out!”
She shoved me out the front door, and I let her. I didn’t have it in me to fight her, let alone make her angrier. Right now, I needed her to calm down, and if letting her throw me out of the house would do that, then so be it.
“You can walk to the fucking motel,” she shouted, ripping off my shirt, revealing her naked body underneath. My eyes couldn’t help but stare at her tits. She threw my shirt in my face and slammed the door. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
I sighed, taking in a deep breath before I knocked on the door. There was no reply, but I could hear her on the other side, crying. I slid down to a sitting position with my back to the door, the blood hammering in my head as my mind raced with a hurdle of emotions. My chest was clenching like a son of a bitch. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears. First Dennis, and now this. Yet, all I gave a shit about was making Ashlyn see the real me.
“My name is Chance Ridder,” I started loud enough to be heard through the door. “I’m thirty-two years old, born and raised in Booth, Texas. My father was an abusive alcoholic, but my mother loved him, and on the good days, I actually felt like I had a family. I went to college at Texas A&M, where I met the man who would eventually stab me in the back and try to take my company.”
There was no reply from her, but the crying had stopped.
“I am the CEO of Ridder Technology, founded it fresh out of college and worked my ass off to make it what it is today. I’m not married, I don’t have kids, and for the past five years my life has only revolved around work, parties and women. I’m an only child. Pauline isn’t my sister, she’s my maid. Alice really is my secretary, and the Chevy in Hank’s garage belonged to my father.”
I sighed and waited. Still no reply.
“I am rich. Filthy rich. I have more money than I know what to do with, and then some. I spend my money on alcohol, cigarettes and cars, but definitely not drugs. I live in a penthouse in one of the most expensive areas in Austin in a building I own.
“I wasn’t on my way to Houston. I was going back to Booth, to get away from it all. When you’re in a position like mine, at one point or the other, you feel like you’re invincible, like you would never die. That maybe you can bribe death to leave you alone. But that’s just a lie I tell myself to kind of validate my lifestyle.”
I took a long drag from my cigarette, looked at the thing that was slowly eating away at my life expectancy, and let the smoke out with a sigh.
“I panicked when the doctor told me I was headed for a heart attack. I took the old Chevy, told only a few people where I was going, and left. I wanted a break, Ashlyn. A break from the parties, the stress, everything. I wanted to go where no one knew me, where no one expected anything from me.”
I thumped the back of my head against the door. “I didn’t expect the truck to break down near here. I didn’t expect to spend a couple of days in Ludwig. And I definitely didn’t expect to meet you. Being with you, Ashlyn, the past couple of days, it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It’s new to me, scary even, but in a good way. I didn’t want to lie to you. I really didn’t. And I especially didn’t want you to find out this way. But these past couple of days, and last night, they were incredible, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”
I waited. Nothing.
“Ashlyn?”
There was a shifting movement behind the door. Her voice came through softly. “Go back home, Chance. Leave me alone.”
I closed my eyes in frustration as I listened to her feet retreat deeper into the house. My time with sweet Ashlyn had come to an end.