Chapter Thirty Three
Hand in hand, Chase and I are walking in the shopping mall. I dragged him shopping, he claims to hate it, but I’m pretty sure he’s as excited about buying baby things as I am. I’m now four months along, and I have a little baby bump. Chase thinks it’s adorable. I’m eating a large ice cream cone, and Chase is teasing me about it, making pervy comments, when I see Aubrey. She looks the same, she’s wearing a barely there mini skirt and a tight top. Chase looks over to see what I’m staring at, and he instantly tenses. She sees us, and her face pinches even more than usual. Her face goes a little red; I can almost see the steam coming out of her ears. She walks over with a sneer on her face.
“Still together I see. How lovely,” she says sarcastically.
“Of course we are. Not even you could tear us apart,” I say dryly. I hold my hand up so she can see the ring.
She looks down at it and then her gaze goes to my stomach, and her face goes pale. She looks up, looks at Chase, and starts crying.
“This should be us. Not you and her! It always was supposed to be us.” She whispers the last part.
“No, Aubrey, it wasn’t. You know that too, you need to let it go,” he says this in a soft, soothing voice.
“Wait until your father hears about this! He’s gonna be livid! You know he was expecting us to end up together!” She is grasping at straws now.
“I couldn’t care less. It’s what I want, not what he wants,” Chase counters.
“You said you would never get married, that you weren’t the commitment kind!”
“Obviously I’ve changed, Aubrey,” he tells her gently. She puts her head down, sobbing dramatically.
After a few moments, she looks up, mascara running down her face, then she scowls. “You’re right, Chase, you’re absolutely fucking right. Wanna know a secret?” She leans in and fake whispers “Lilly wasn’t fucking yours.” She steps back and has the ugliest grin on her face. I look up to see Chase, and he looks like he’s going to be sick. The color has drained from his face, his eyes gone dead.
“What?” He whispers, shocked. He obviously did not see this one coming.
“It’s true. You think I was just going to sit around and wait for you? I have men lining up for a chance with me. Lilly isn’t yours. I always knew it.”
“All this time... I fucking mourned her, I still do.” Chase is at a loss for words, so I take over.
“You’re a fucking bitch! And the worst kind of woman, Aubrey!” I growl. I swear, if I wasn’t pregnant right now.
Chase is shaking. Shit, I gotta get him home. He looks like he wants to hit her. I know the feeling.
“Come on babe, she’s not worth it.” I turn to look at Aubrey, my eyes narrowed to slits. “Karma’s a bitch, Aubrey.” And before she spits any other venom out of her mouth, I drag a silent Chase home.
******
After Chase stayed quiet the entire ride home, staring out the window, I was starting to get worried.
“Chase, honey, talk to me,” I beg.
“What if she was lying?” he says.
That is a good question. I wouldn’t put it past her. But then again, she just gave up her only hold on Chase.
“Why don’t you still visit Lilly’s grave. We may never know the truth, but I think she is yours no matter what, because you loved her,” I tell him softly.
He considers it, and then nods. “I know you aren’t going to like this, but I need to talk to Aubrey, I want to know, no, I need to know, if I was her father.”
“I understand,” I tell him softly. He takes my hand in his, and I sigh in relief. He’s not shutting me out. We can get through this, together.
******
We are on our way to see Chase’s dad. I’m nervous, mainly because Chase is nervous. He is tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, and I can see different emotions play on his face. I’ve heard that Chase’s dad is a dick. From various sources, Chase included. There is some whole cheating whilst married fiasco. I’m pretty sure Chase’s mum didn’t know he was married at the time she was already pregnant with Chase. We pull up at a huge mansion. When I say huge, I mean HUGE. I blink.
“This is where your dad lives?” I repeat, for the third time, mouth still hanging open.
Chase glances over at me, “Yes, Layla, this is where he lives.” He gets out of the car while I sit here, still staring at the house. Chase opens my door and gently pulls me out, giving my lips a few soft kisses. I’m worried about coming here. Anyway, I’m pretty damn nervous right now. “Come on, baby, it will be fine, okay?” Chase assures me as he rubs his hand on my stomach in a protective gesture. I nod. I glance down at my outfit, and hope I’m wearing something appropriate. I went with a long black maxi dress and gold sandals. My hair is in a long fish braid, and I’m wearing neutral make up, browns on my eyes and a nude lip.
“You look like an angel, Layla; you’re perfect, so stop stressing,” he says softly.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I say more to myself than Chase.
After we are invited in and seated some kind of posh looking room, Chase’s dad walks in. I know it’s him instantly, because he looks a lot like Chase. Dark thick pepper and salt hair, he has similar features and blue eyes of a different shade. There is one difference though; his blue eyes don’t contain the warmth that Chase’s do. He looks mean. His posture is rigid, and I can tell he has kept himself in good shape over the years. Chase and I stand up to greet him.
“Son,” he acknowledges Chase, “It’s been a long time.” He walks up to him and puts his hand on his shoulder, than glances over at me. “And who is this beauty?” he asks in tone that doesn’t quite seem appropriate. Chase grabs my hand protectively and pulls me closer to him.
“This is my fiancé, Layla.” Chase beams at me as he says it, and I can see the pride in his eyes. I can’t help the tentative smile that spreads across my lips.
As soon as Chase said the word fiancé, the atmosphere immediately became tense. His dad, Chase told me his name was Dean, looks over at Chase with a sneer.
“Fiancé? What has gotten into you, Chase? I thought you were going to settle down with that lovely girl Aubrey?”
I grimace at her name.
“That’s enough father, me marrying a stripper would make you happy?. I love Layla, and I’m going to marry her. Aubrey is history, and good fucking riddance!” Chase hisses.
Dean glances over at Chase thoughtfully. “Why would you want to...” He breaks off and nods. “I see. You’ve knocked this girl up. That would have to be it.” He glances over at me and pins me with an evil look. I look over at Chase, just in time to see his eyes flash rage.
“You have some fucking nerve...” he starts walking towards this father ready for a confrontation. I grab his hand, my eyes pleading with his.
“Chase, can we just go please,” I ask him softly. I wanted to get out of here. I really didn’t deserve this.
“You don’t need to marry her Chase, I can write her a cheque,” his father says snidely. He actually starts to pull out his cheque book. “Aubrey’s father and I, have been waiting for the both of you to finally tie the knot. Our plans won’t be ruined because of some infatuation you have.”
This is a disaster. Chase sits me down on the chair, and stares directly into my eyes. “Stay here for one minute angel. Can you do that for me?” he asks in a tender voice. I nod. He kisses me on the forehead, and then glares at his father.
“Other room. Now,” he growls, his teeth clenched. They both walk out and Chase gently closes the door. A few moments later, I can hear a lot of yelling and Chase saying the word fuck a lot. Then I hear a crash. I feel horrible. I don’t want to cause and even bigger rift between them.
A few minutes later Chase walks back in and takes me by the hand. His knuckles are bleeding. I glance at him worriedly, “Chase, are you okay?”
“Let’s go home baby,” he tries to say gently, but I can hear the controlled rage laced underneath. I nod. I could not get out of here fast enough.
******
“I’m so sorry, Layla; you shouldn’t have had to listen to that. I fucked up.” Chase has been apologizing for the entire ride home. It’s not his fault, at all, but I still feel terrible. “I had no idea he would be that much of a bastard,” he grumbles miserably. I take his hand and entwine our fingers.
“It’s okay, Chase, but I don’t really want to go through that again,” I say bluntly. “It was awkward as hell, and I feel like shit now. I don’t want you to fight with your dad.” I take a deep breath. “Wait a minute; you’ve known Aubrey for a long time. I thought she was just a random girl you met and dated.”
Chase sighs. “Yeah, I’ve known her since we were kids. I never really had anything to do with her. I hadn’t seen her for years until I ran into her in Vegas, by then she was a popular showgirl. She followed me back home and asked for a job at Heat. We started seeing each other after that. Let’s not talk about her anymore,” he says, voice pleading. Aubrey is obviously still a sore subject. The car is silent for a few moments.
“I’m not taking you there ever a fucking gain, baby. I’m so sorry. You should never be treated like that, especially by someone I brought into your life. Fuck!,” Chase suddenly blurts out.
“Chase, stop. It’s not your fault okay,” I tell him again. I lean over and kiss him on his cheek, and his jaw. He sighs. Instead of going to the apartment we go to Kade and James’ place. Both boys are sitting on the deck, Kade is on his laptop and James is reading some huge business book.
“Hey you two, any idea where Nikki is?” I say as I take a seat next to Kade. Chase storms into the kitchen, probably to pour himself a drink. He needs it.
“Said something about a fucking date.” Kade says in an icy tone. Okay then.
“Hey Layla, how you feeling?” James asks.
“I’m okay,” I say, giving James an easy grin.
Kade looks at me knowingly. “Dickhead?”
“The biggest,” I mumble dryly. Chase walks over, two drinks in hand. He hands me an apple juice, and takes a seat.
“Well, don’t leave us in suspense,” Kade drawls.
I groan. I do not want to relive that conversation.
“It doesn’t matter,” Chase says in a hard voice.
“That bad, huh,” James mumbles.
“I don’t know why you even bothered,” Kade adds, earning a heated glare from Chase.
“I’m serious, Chase. She is pregnant; she doesn’t need added stress from our family bullshit.” I think Kade has a death wish.
I look into my apple juice, which has suddenly turned extremely interesting.
“You think I don’t fucking know that?” Chase barks, “He is my baby’s grandfather after all, I just wanted to give him a chance. He may be an ass, but he was a decent father to me growing up.”
“Yeah well you could have told him alone, not drag Layla into that awkward shit. You sprung that on him, of course he was going to react badly,” Kade spits in return.
“I fucked up, Kade, but you need to back the fuck off!”
“Both of you need to stop it!” I yell, standing up. “It was an ugly situation, I will admit, but it happened and it’s done. I’m not fragile, you are both over reacting! So stop fighting. Now,” I demand.
The brother’s all exchange glances.
“Is she bossy in bed?” Kade asks, lip twitching.
Chase slaps him on the back of the head.
James laughs.
I love these men.