CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Chad

“Chad? Chad, wake up.”

I woke up with a groan to the sound of Zoe’s voice. I stretched out my arms and legs and looked up at Zoe through sleepy eyes. I smacked my lips and smiled back at her.

“Morning,” I said, my voice hoarse. There was a drum beating in my head that made me wince. “What did you do to me last night? I think I’m going to need a pot coffee before I’m good for anything.”

“There’s a fresh pot in the kitchen,” Zoe said. It was then that I noticed she was fully dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Where are you off to so early in the morning?” I asked, reaching for her.

“It’s almost two in the afternoon,” she said, pulling away. “I’ve been out to a meeting with my publisher. Just got back.”

I felt a pulsing between my legs and looked down at my morning wood pupping like a tent under the sheet. I kicked off the sheet and took my cock in my hand and gave it a good morning squeeze. I wiggled my eyebrows at Zoe and smiled. “Looks like I’m not the only one happy to see you. Why don’t you get undressed and climb on board?”

Her smile faltered. Her expression told me something was wrong. Oh fuck, here we go again. I was about to get kicked out of her life all over again.

“What’s the problem?” I asked, suddenly shy, pulling the sheet back over my withering cock.

“I’ll pour us coffee in the kitchen.” She got off the bed and moved to the door. “Get dress and come out. We need to talk.”

I frowned. I hated those words. Nothing good ever came after those four words. Not to mention the way she said it sounded extremely familiar, and I could see from the way she nervously played with her hands that needing to talk was going to ruin my day. I sighed and sat up in bed, my hard-on now a distant memory.

“What is it? Just tell me”

She shook her head and stood up. “Get dressed,” she said. “I can’t take you seriously like that.”

I didn’t want to be taken fucking seriously. I wanted answers, and at the same time I didn’t want a replay of what had happened years ago. Last night had been incredible. I had never experienced anything like it after she had left me, and I wanted more. A part of me believed there could be more, and just thinking about what she wanted to talk about me left me frustrated.

I took my time, showered for longer than I needed, and tried to cool off. This was a conversation I didn’t want to have. Not now. Especially not after last night.

I found her in the living room, drinking her own mug of coffee and gesturing to mine at the kitchen counter. I took a sip, then a longer one, and silently wished my headache away. I wanted to be clear for this. I sat down on the couch opposite her, already anticipating what was coming.

“Is this the part where you tell me what an awful mistake last night was?” I asked, setting my mug down and looking her in the eye.

She looked away. “Stop that.”

“No, really, because if it is, then I’ve heard it all before,” I said, feeling the anger rising inside me before I could hold it back. “I have to admit, though, it’s a lot quicker this time around. Just one night. Not bad.”

“Chad, that’s not what this is.”

“Then what is this?”

She put her mug down next to mine and bit her lower lip, a sure sign that she had no idea how to tell me whatever it was she wanted to tell me. “I got some news this morning,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “Not very good news. Horrible news, actually.”

I waited, a part of me already scoffing at whatever excuse she was going to throw at me this time. I suddenly felt incredibly stupid. Stupid for letting my guard down. Stupid for thinking this might have gone somewhere, that we could have picked up where we last left of. Stupid for even trying to rehash the past.

You should have just stuck with the easy lays, man.

“Your fight with Mark… It’s all over the internet,” she said.

“It wasn’t really a fight,” I said smartly. “It was more of his face hitting a table.”

“Please, this isn’t funny,” she said. “My publisher called me in this morning. Mark is also their author. He makes them a lot of money. There could be complications.”

I frowned. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about what happened last night going viral, but I wasn’t the first person to get into a fight in public and have his face all over the internet. I patted my pants for my phone, knowing that Martin had probably already worked up a shit storm and was ready to bombard me with a load of crap I didn’t want to deal with. Besides, no publicity is bad publicity. Wasn’t that the saying?

“Mark’s trying to press his weight with the publishers,” Zoe continued. “He may try to get them to break my contract.”

“That’s bullshit,” I replied, clenching my fists. I was already imagining that bastard’s face in front of me. “They can’t do that anyway. You can sue them. Surely you have a contract.”

Zoe shook her head. “They won’t do break my contract,” she said. “But they are insisting that I stay out of whatever Mark throws at you.”

“Me?” I blinked at her. “What could the fucker to do me?”

She glanced up at me, and for a split second, I thought I could see tears in her eyes. They were gone just as fast when she turned away and reached for her mug again.

“Mark’s suing you, Chad,” Zoe said. “And he’s threatening to sue me, too. The publishers can convince Mark to leave me out of it, as long as I steer away from the spotlight on the lawsuit.”

“What?” I barked, confused as hell. Too much information in one sentence, and my headache wasn’t helping. I glanced at my voicemail. There were a dozen calls from Martin. Bad publicity was one thing, but a lawsuit? That could ruin everything. It was definitely going to screw up any plans of opening in New York. I didn’t even register the rest of what she said.

“That son of a bitch,” I hissed. I let my eyes come up to hers. “So, what does this mean for us? You and me?”

Zoe took a sip from her coffee and gave me a pitiful look. “I’m sorry, Chad, I just can’t do this. Not now. Not with a new book coming up. I have to be on Costa Rica in a week, and if Mark plays dirty, the publisher might just ground me to pacify him.”

“To pacify him?” I asked, looking at her as if she were crazy. “What about you? I thought you were a big shot author? How about pacifying you?”

“Mark isn’t small league, Chad,” Zoe said. “Besides, I don’t want to go head to head with him on this. The more he pushes, the dirtier it will get. I don’t want to go through all that.”

“So, you’re going to let him just walk all over you and force you to push me away?”

Her head snapped up, and she looked at me with eyes that shot daggers. I didn’t give two shits about making her mad. I was equally pissed off, and didn’t really care if I hurt her feelings or not. This whole thing was fucking ridiculous. I suddenly regretted ever coming to New York City.

“I’ve thought long and hard about this,” Zoe said.

“Since when? This morning?” I asked, scoffing. “Looks like you made up your mind pretty fucking quick.”

“That’s not fair,” Zoe said. “You can’t expect me to just throw away everything I’ve worked for all these years just to be with you.”

“Just to be with me?”

“Well, I mean— “

I held up a hand to stop her right there. “You know, I thought this time things could have been different, but I was obviously either too naïve or too fucking stupid to realize that I was just banking on a stupid dream. But you know what? You’re right. You have worked too hard to throw everything away just to be with me.”

“Chad.”

“No, that’s fine,” I said, pushing off the sofa to make my way to the door. “Have fun in Costa fucking Rica, Zoe. Great to see you, as always.”

She followed me to the door. “Chad, seriously, it doesn’t have to end like this.”

I turned around and shot her an angry glare that made her stop in her tracks. “End like this?” I asked. “Honey, you can’t end what never started. We fucked, that was it. I’m seeing it all clearly now. Thank you for opening my eyes. Next time I need a reality check, I’ll be sure to call Zoe Maxwell. Or just pick up your fucking book and read for myself how our story ends.”

I stormed out, slamming the door behind me.

I didn’t ever expect to see Zoe Maxwell again.

* * *

“You really fucked up this time, man.”

I was in the back of a taxi on the way to the hotel. My phone was to my ear, and Martin was screaming at me. I didn’t hear half the things he said, every second word either ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’, his voice coming through as static with every shout. At one point, I had to hold the phone away just so I could hear him properly.

“What the hell were you thinking? Are you fucking insane? You just threw the shit we’ve been fucking working on for years away, and for what, some girl?”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “How bad is it?” I asked.

“How bad is it!” Martin huffed. “How fucking bad do you fucking think it is?”

“Martin. Calm the fuck down and just tell me. How bad?”

“Very bad!” Martin yelled. “Colossal! So bad we might as well kiss Body by Chad New York City goodbye!”

“It’s a lawsuit, not the death sentence,” I said, trying to act calm when I was anything but. I kept imagining that Mark guy in front of me as I pounded the living hell out of him.

“It might as well be!” Martin shot back. “The guy’s suing for millions, man! And he’s fucking quick, too. You beat the shit out of a lawyer, a well-connected New York lawyer! He’s coming for us like a bat out of hell, man! This is fucking bad!”

“Can we settle?” I asked.

“Are you drunk? Did you not hear a word I just said? This isn’t about money, dude. He’s already rich. This is about revenge!”

“Can you calm down, or am I going to have to punch you to your senses?”

“Fuck you, Chad!” Martin said. His voice seethed in my ear. “I worked my ass off to get us where we are, and you threw it all away just because you couldn’t control your temper!”

“Hey, you weren’t there. The guy was being a dick.”

“I didn’t have to be there to know that it could have been handled better than breaking his nose!”

I shrugged, not really believing that. To me, the guy got less than he deserved. If I had been just a little less aware, if I hadn’t been preoccupied with chasing after Zoe, I probably would have broken more than just his nose. Probably should have, too.

“Get your ass to the hotel,” Martin finally said, sounding a bit calmer but still angry as hell. “We have a meeting with our lawyers to figure out how we’re going to fucking handle this.”

I didn’t want to meet with any lawyer. Right now, my mid was spinning. I was angry, pissed off that everyone was pissed off at me. A part of it was the lawsuit, but most of my anger was targeted towards Zoe. I couldn’t believe I was reliving it all over again. I wanted to turn around, go back to her apartment and continue fighting. I wanted to shout, blame her for everything that was happening, say things that would make her feel like shit. Make her feel the way I did right now. Then I wanted to take her into my arms and tell her it was all going to be okay.

“Fine, I’m on my way,” I said through clenched teeth. But Martin had already hung up.