Chapter Twenty Three
The next day, I’m sitting at the dining table with Kade, playing scrabble. I had guilt tripped him into playing it with me, but now I think he loves it.
“So, I hear you and Derek have been hanging out lately.” Kade says, looking annoyed.
“Yeah, he’s been a good friend,” I tell him.
“Friend?” He scoffs. “You know he wants you right?”
I shrug. “Other than the very first day, he’s been nothing but a friend and has made no moves. I like him.”
“Just be careful, alright,” Kade warns ominously.
Just then, Chase walks in, takes us in and a smile tugs at his lips. Then his eyes land on Kade and his smile drops, a muscle working in his jaw.
“Kade,” he says calmly. “What the fuck is that you have in your hand?”
Kade looks at his hand, then his eyes widen. I look to see what the hell is going on and almost laugh when I see Kade eating one of Chase’s Twix bars.
Kade bites his lip to contain his smile. “I will replenish your stash bro, I swear.”
“I knew it was you stealing them!” Chase growls, storming off into his room.
Kade and I look at each other and burst out laughing.
“Do you think I’m allowed to eat his chocolate?” I ask, still giggling.
“You should try it. That would be the test of true love if he shares with you,” Kade says, his body shaking with laughter.
“Well, to be fair, I’m the one who usually buys it all for him when I do the grocery shopping.”
“I love you doing the grocery shopping. Thanks for the huge box of extra-large condoms you bought me by the way,” he says, eyes twinkling.
“Yeah well I figured I was doing my part for humanity by making sure you don’t knock up half of the city!” I tease.
Kade puts his hands over his heart and pretends to be hurt. “You wound me, Layla. I’m glad you know me so well though, huge penis size and all.”
I blush, “Yeah well, your penis was the first one I’d ever seen,” I admit, avoiding his eye contact.
“Are you serious?” he says, chuckling, “What a great first impression you got then, no need to thank me.”
“Could your ego get any bigger?” I hiss, my face bright red.
“Hey, you’re the one who told me I had a massive penis,” Kade says through a fit of laughter. I stick my tongue out at him.
Chase walks back into the room and we both shut up straight away, both our bodies shaking silently.
******
Nikki comes over later that night, completely dolled up. I’m surprised to see her here. Her hair is tied up in a complicated bun, her green eyes smokey. I sit up on my bed, and take in her mini green satin dress, and her sexy strappy shoes. She is dressed to kill.
“Where are you going, Nikki?” I sound confused.
“More like, where we are going. Get fucking dressed, Layla! You owe me a girl’s night out!” She has her ‘don’t mess with me’ face on.
“But..”
“But what? Come on, we haven’t been out dancing since the night you met Chase. The bar doesn’t count, we didn’t dance. I’ll give you thirty minutes to get ready.”
And she walks out of my room. I moan. I am so not in the mood to go out, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I force myself into a hot shower, and quickly blow dry my hair and apply my makeup. I skip my usual red lips and instead go for a darker plum, it looks sultry and daring. A light dust of gold on my eyes, winged eyeliner and some fake lashes, and I’m good to go. I put on a white chiffon dress, with a slip underneath, and my studded rock star stiletto sandals. I exit my room and walk into my lounge area. Nikki is sitting there arguing with Kade, but as soon as I walk into the room they stop. They both take me in from head to toe, and Kade whistles.
“Are you trying to kill my brother?” he demands.
“Not everything is about your brother.” Nikki snaps.
Well then. “Um, Nikki, shall we go?”
Chase chooses that moment to walk in. He does a double take when he sees me, his gaze raking me over.
“Where the fuck are you going dressed like that?” he asks, his tone aggressive.
“Girl’s night out.” We are having a silent war with our eyes. His are saying, “The fuck you are,” and mine are saying, “Watch me.”
Surprising me, he calms himself down, and nods. “Okay baby, you deserve a night out. You girls have fun.” He smiles at Nikki and then walks out.
Huh. Why do I feel strangely disappointed there was no confrontation? Kade is looking shocked too. Nikki grabs my hand; we say our goodbyes then jump in the car. Chase didn’t even kiss me goodbye, or anything. I have no idea what to think right now.
“How come you’re driving today?” I ask Nikki. We usually take a cab so we can both drink.
“Not drinking tonight, I have a presentation tomorrow I cannot be hung over for.” She glances over at me and smiles. “See how mature I’m getting?” She waggles her eyebrows and we both giggle.
“What’s the deal with Chase?” she asks nosily. That’s Nikki, straight to the point.
“What’s the deal with Kade?” I use her line against her. She wrinkles her nose then grins.
“Stalemate, bitch.” She says.
I laugh.
“Tonight, we are just going to enjoy ourselves, no hot headed sexy alpha men are going to be on our minds, okay?” She slightly swerves the car and goes over the curb. “Oops.” She mutters, casually. The woman is a horrific driver.
An hour later, a somewhat tipsy me, and a very sober Nikki, are dancing our butts off on the dance floor. She does this move that we learnt on our high school dance team, and I burst out laughing. Nikki used to live down south with me, until her and her parents moved away straight after she graduated high school. We both used to dance and perform on school choreography nights. Our dance teacher was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I still think about her from time to time, she made that much of an impact on my life. I do the next move in the sequence she had chosen, giggle, then turn around and do my favorite grinding move. Rhianna’s ‘Rude boy’ starts playing and that is one of my all-time favorite bump n grinding songs.
Shit just got real.
I turn my back to Nikki, and swivel my hips seductively. Nikki always tells me my figure is similar to Shakira’s, and I’m not so sure about that, however I have the Shakira hip movement down pact. All of a sudden the atmosphere changes, a tension filling the room, and I can feel a pair of eyes on me. I know who it is before I even turn around. No wonder the man acted so nonchalant, he was going to follow me here! I turn around and my eyes make contact with his. He heat in his eyes is filled with promises, promises he means to fulfil. I turn to Nikki and nod my head in Chase’s direction. She rolls her eyes when she sees him, and tells me to go to him. Soon I can see why, because Kade is walking in to take my place as her dance partner. I walk up to Chase, and I can’t help but give him a little smile.
He pulls me into him and whispers into my ear, “You look amazing out there, Layla, I’m hard as a fucking rock.”
I giggle. “You are always hard, Chase.” I flutter my eyelashes at him innocently.
“Around you, yes!” he growls. He pulls me closer and I can feel that he is indeed, extremely aroused.
“I don’t want you dancing like that when I’m not around, Layla. I had to stare down several bastards that were looking at you.” I roll my eyes.
“Come dance with me!” I shimmy my hips against his and he moans.
“You little tease; you are going to pay for that!”
I grab his hand and pull him into the middle of the dance floor. He moves his hips against mine, moving in perfect time with me. He spins me around so my back is facing his front and grips my hips as we dance in rhythm. I lift one of my hands up behind me and wrap it around his neck. It’s like he takes that as an invitation, because he starts placing soft wet kisses on my neck. Holy shit, I am so turned on right now. I spin around and crush my lips onto his. I can tell he was surprised, but he recovers quickly and kisses me passionately. He has missed me, I can tell, just by this kiss. He puts his everything into it, as do I. We pull away, panting, trying to regain control.
“I love you, Layla.” He whispers into my ear. “I love you so fucking much.”
My heart stops.
“You consume me, angel.”
I open to my mouth to say something, what, I have no idea, but he places a finger on my mouth to hush me.
“Don’t say anything baby.”
I don’t say anything, but I do suck his finger into my mouth. His eyes narrow to thin slits, and he bites down on his lip.
“We are going home now.” He says, his voice tense.
He walks over to Kade and Nikki, who now look like they are arguing.
“Kade, can you make sure Nikki gets home safely?”
He nods, “Sure, you two have fun.” He grins mischievously, even adding a sleazy eyebrow waggle.
I stick my tongue out at him playfully and mouth to Nikki, “Is that okay?” to which she hesitates at first, then nods.
Instead of taking me home, we pull up to a fancy apartment complex. I’m assuming this is the apartment he stays in sometimes. We walk to the elevator, Chase stealing kisses at every opportunity. Once the elevator door closes, he’s on me, kissing me, wrapping my long curls in his fist. He pulls back, his eyes piercing into mine, looking soft, but also slightly conflicted.
“Does this mean you’re giving us another chance? Accepting that you’re mine? Cos I won’t take you fucking pulling away from me again.”
I nod. “I’ve always been yours, Chase.”
Chase kisses me again before saying, “I always knew that, Layla, I was just waiting for you to figure it out.”
With that, all talk ceases. We fumble into his penthouse apartment and don’t even make it to the bed. We find the quickest surface, in this case, his couch. We undress ourselves, without finesse or patience, we don’t need slow seduction tonight, we just need each other. He lays me down, none too gently, and then slides into me. This whole night has been foreplay and we don’t need any more. Our lovemaking is almost desperate, I feel like he is claiming me he as his. He flips me over the edge of the couch and enters me again from behind, pounding into me over and over. From the couch we move to the kitchen table, and then finally end up in bed.