Killer: A Bad Boy Romance (12 page)

She enunciated the last word with a lascivious twist and I shuddered. “You got it,” I squeaked. A blush rose up my neck and covered my cheeks and face. “I met someone.”

“How?”

I thought quickly. “I, uh, met him at the club. He saw me singing and asked me out afterwards.”

“You little slut!” Jackie said in an approving tone. “I knew you’d move fast when you got that gig.”

I blushed even redder. “Stop,” I insisted. “It’s embarrassing.” 

There was a rush of heavy footfall in the hallway and I cringed, expecting Chase to tear my door down.

“Tell me about him,” Jackie said casually. “Entertain me. I have to work tonight and I’m so bored.”

“What are you doing?”

“Stop trying to change the subject, you weasel. It’s a play party, and I’m working it with another girl. Hey, wanna come? There are some men who
love
virgins there!”

My blush deepened so red that my face was itchy. “Shut up,” I muttered. “He’s older. Tall, muscular, short hair, green eyes. He was in jail.”

“Lacey, what the fuck happened to you? Did you turn into me? He sounds brutally hot,” Jackie gushed. I felt a wave of anxiety flood my body when I thought about Chase and Jackie meeting. She was gorgeous, with long red hair and piercing light eyes. I was her shadow whenever we went out; it was probably one of the reasons I’d always been single.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But there’s a problem. He’s being weird.”

“Oh, honey,” Jackie sympathized. “What happened?”

I sighed deeply. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I think he’s just done with me. I probably wasn’t good enough in bed.”

Jackie laughed, a hoarse scratchy sound that I wasn’t expecting. “Sweetheart,” she said, still giggling. “No one’s good the first time, don’t you get that?”

I shrugged, even though she wasn’t there to see me. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know what I thought would happen. But he’s ignoring me and being a dick now, and I don’t know what to do.”

Jackie was silent for a moment. “Just get rid of him, he sounds like a piece of shit,” she advised. “Trust me, Lacey, you don’t want to be with someone who treats you like that.”

I knew she was right, but it hurt my heart to acknowledge that I hadn’t just been paranoid. I had desperately wanted her to tell me that Chase’s behavior was normal, or a code for how much he really loved me, or something like that. Instead, knowing that I really was the problem made me feel like shit. I wished that I’d never met him.

“I wish I hadn’t done it,” I said flatly. “I feel like shit now.”

“Don’t,” Jackie said. “Virginity is a social construct. Don’t let men make you feel shitty about yourself. He sucks, but if he doesn’t want you anymore, that doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Then why did he get so much attitude after we fucked?”

“Men are impossible,” Jackie said. “Don’t try to figure them out. It’s not worth it, girly girl.”

We chatted for a few more minutes and then hung up. The footsteps hadn’t moved in the hallway, and I resigned myself to Chase having heard everything. But when I opened my bedroom door, he wasn’t there. The apartment was silent. I realized that I must have heard something upstairs and mistaken it for Chase’s heavy footsteps.

“Chase?” I called out; there was no answer. “Chase?” I called again, cautiously peeking into the hallway. He wasn’t there. I padded into the living room. The faint roar of a movie was playing on my laptop, and I realized that he’d fallen asleep on the couch. There was a coffee mug on its side, and spilled coffee had leaked onto the upholstery and onto the white carpet on the floor.

I set my mouth in a line and my jaw twitched.
Inconsiderate asshole
, I thought angrily.
He doesn’t even respect my apartment, much less me
.

“Chase!” I yelled, loudly this time. He woke with a start and blinked at me a few times, running his hand through his short hair.

“What?” he barked at me, sounding sleepy. I glared.

“Get out,” I replied. “I don’t want you here anymore. Get the fuck out of my apartment.”

Chase slowly sat up on the couch and rubbed his face. “Lacey, what the fuck are you talking about?” He looked at me with wide eyes. “Why the sudden anger?”

I laughed bitterly. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who froze
me
out! Not to mention that if I hadn’t run into you, I wouldn’t be in danger in the first place!”

“You just want me out of here so you can call that yuppie asshole,” Chase sneered.

“Don’t talk that way about Mark,” I said smoothly, watching Chase’s reaction. “He’d treat me a hell of a lot better than you do. I was thinking about calling him for a date tonight anyway.”

Chase didn’t say anything and I waited to see if he’d call my bluff. After a minute, I reached in my phone and pulled up Mark’s information. Holding it up to Chase, I said, “And don’t you love his picture? It’s him with his kids! Aren’t they cute?”

Chase looked away. He didn’t say anything, and anxiety began to gnaw at my stomach in a desperate way. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t taking the bait; every other time we’d talked about Mark, it had pissed him off to no end.

I continued. “I can take care of myself, asshole. I can do what I want, and I can see whomever I want to see. I have friends who look out for me, and I’m not stupid. I want you to leave, right now.”

Chase didn’t move. He faced me with his piercing green eyes. “Lacey,” he repeated, sounding much too calm for the situation. “I’m not sure what you’re getting flustered about.”

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the door. When he didn’t move, I walked into the kitchen and yanked the new coffee pot out of the plug. It was still brewing and there was the hot hiss of steam as I dragged it over to the door. Chase watched me with wide eyes but he didn’t speak as I opened the door to my apartment and threw the coffee maker in the hall. He creased his forehead and glared at me.

“I know you hated it, sorry I was nice to you,” I spat. Cold air from outside was coming in and giving me goosebumps but I didn’t budge. Chase eventually rolled his eyes, then got to his feet.

“Okay, okay, I’ll give the cupcake some space,” he said demurely.

“Fuck you!” I cried out, blinking back tears. “Stop fucking patronizing me, Chase McIntyre!”

He rolled his eyes and stormed out. I slammed the door behind him, bolting the lock and the deadbolt. Eventually, I heard his footsteps storm out to the parking lot and gradually fade.

My apartment looked like a disaster zone, and it smelled like a man. Gritting my teeth, I got to my hands and knees and scrubbed at the carpet until the coffee stain had faded to a light tan. It was still visible, but you had to look for it to really see it. Angrily, I threw the mug into the sink. It broke into three pieces, and I glared at them defiantly. Blinking back tears, I wiped my eyes with the backs of my hand.
Fuck him,
I thought.
He didn’t even care about me at all
.

With Chase gone, I didn’t feel alone. I didn’t feel scared. All I felt was an overwhelming, drastic sense of relief. When I heard a knock on the door, I set my mouth in a line, expecting to tell him off again.

Cautiously, I walked over and peered out the peephole. Thankfully, Jackie stood on the other side. She was holding a pizza box in one hand and a box of wine in the other.

“I heard you could use some cheering up,” she said wryly. “Can I come in?”

Chapter Seventeen

I’d been in the blackest of moods when Jackie showed up, but now her presence felt like a relief. It had been so long since I’d been alone with anyone other than Chase that it was almost like I’d forgotten how to talk to my friends. Jackie was the perfect companion; I still didn’t tell her anything about the so-called “danger” that I was in with Chase, but she knew almost everything else. As far as she knew, I’d met him at the club and taken him home for a steamy affair. If she saw all of the coffee in the trash, she had the good sense not to ask.

“It’s so good to see you,” I admitted, on my second glass of wine. “I’ve missed hanging out so much.”

“You got a good dicking,” Jackie said with a grin. “Don’t apologize for that. I’m glad you were able to have some fun.”

“I’m not sure it’s worth this,” I pointed out numbly. “I feel like absolute shit.”

“Don’t,” Jackie said. “Breakups suck, but at least you didn’t really know him. What did he go to jail for?”

I blushed. “Possession,” I told her after a long pause. “But I don’t know of what.”

She wrinkled her cute little upturned nose. “Probably best not to ask,” she advised. “So you wanna come to this party tonight?”

I blushed. “I don’t think so,” I told her. “I’d be too nervous.”

“You just walk around and make money,” she said with a grin. “It’s fun sometimes.”

“I bet all of your clients would love to hear you say that,” I teased. “I’m not good at faking it like you are.”

She yawned. “It is a skill,” she admitted. “The first time was no fun for me, nor the second. But these parties are a cakewalk. After this, I don’t have to work for a week. So we can hang out and do lots of girly stuff. How’s your work schedule?”

I pulled out my phone. “I have a break from school for a couple of days, but I have shifts at Dawning Center.”

Jackie groaned. “Ugh, Lacey, you and those kids,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’d get so sick of those brats.”

I frowned. “They’re not brats,” I protested. Jackie raised her eyebrow and I burst out laughing. “Okay, well most of them are good,” I amended. “And some of the dads are really sexy.”

Jackie wrinkled her nose. “I don’t really see anything sexy about men with kids,” she said. “The attention is all on the kid, all the time. What about you? Don’t you want someone devoted to you?”

My mind flashed to Chase and his constant supervision over the past few weeks. “Not really,” I said. “I’d actually like to be with someone who had a life of their own.”

Jackie’s lips curved into a smile. “Maybe you’re more mature than I thought,” she admitted grudgingly. “I admire that about you.”

I flopped onto my back on the couch. It smelled like Chase and I turned my head so I wouldn’t get sucked into a whirlwind of nostalgia. But it was too late, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him for a moment. His giant body, the way he handled me like I weighed nothing. I felt so light and airy and protected in his arms; it was such an incredible feeling. And his scent…the spicy, masculine musk of him covered everything I owned now. It was like a constant reminder of how much he’d wormed his way into my life. I couldn’t believe that I’d thought I was falling in love with him. In lust, maybe, but not love. There was no way I could love someone who would just ice me out like that.

“Hello, earth to Lacey,” Jackie called out. I snapped out of my reverie and blinked at her.

“Sorry,” I muttered, blushing. “I can’t stop thinking about that guy.”

“So think about someone new,” Jackie said with a dazzling grin. “Tell me more about some of those hot dads at your work.”