Killer: A Bad Boy Romance (24 page)

I gasped. “Headless? Are you kidding me?”

Chase shook his head. “I wish,” he muttered. “But that’s what happens when you fuck with gangs. I had no idea that I was working with The Machetes. I didn’t ask questions when I got a stash. I didn’t take the time to really think about what I was doing.”

That seems obvious
, I thought, biting my tongue. Nodding for Chase to continue, I stretched out. The itchy material of the dress was making my skin hot.

“And before I knew it, they’d fucked me somehow. They accused me of stealing from them, and they set me up. In prison, everyone came after me because they thought I’d wronged The Machetes. I was warned that I’d be killed if I kept looking for them after I got out. But the only reason I was looking for them in the first place was because of Rose.” Chase looked at me and rubbed his chin with two fingers. “Can I smoke in here?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Can you light me one?”

Chase shook his head. “Nope. Gotta keep you as healthy as I can, Lace.”

My cheeks burned at the use of a nickname. “Fine,” I said, pouting. “Keep talking.”

Chase lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. My apartment filled with sour smoke and I wrinkled my nose. “So when I was in the big house, I knew I had to find the leader. That’s who I thought I was looking for. I thought that since I’d fucked over the gang, the leader was the one in charge. This was before Peyton went missing, you know?”

I nodded. “I guess,” I said. “It all just seems so…dangerous, Chase. Why would you get involved in something like this?”

Chase shot me a look. “Hey, it’s not like I chose this life,” he said defensively. “I grew up poor. Don’t you remember that? I told you.”

“I grew up poor, too,” I said slowly. “And I didn’t have an older brother to look after me, either.”

“Good for you,” Chase said in a mincing tone. “But Rose wasn’t a bad girl, Lacey. She was a lot like you. She was smart and driven and beautiful. She didn’t have to get killed for my bad behavior. I can’t blame this on growing up poor.”

I blushed. “Okay,” I said finally, not wanting to ask him again if he really thought I was beautiful. “Keep going.”

“Geez, you’re fuckin’ relentless,” Chase commented. My blush deepened and I looked down at my bare feet. My toes were wiggled into the carpet and I saw my nail polish was already flaking off. “And if you were my sister,” he added, looking at me. “I wouldn’t let you out of the house looking like that. Shit, I wouldn’t let you out of the bathroom.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, enough,” I said finally. “Keep telling me about what’s going on.”

Chase bit his lip. “So I met Peyton almost right after I got out of prison. It was too good to be true; he always knew how to hustle everything I wanted. I didn’t get back into dealing, but I worked with him and did some private investigation shit for him every now and then.”

My eyes widened. “PI work? Really?”

Chase nodded. “I know, I know, it’s a fuckin’ shocker. I’m not very subtle, am I?” He gave me a wry grin. “Try to suspend your disbelief just for a few minutes. I realize now that it was a fuckin’ ruse right from the beginning. But it didn’t feel like that at the time. We worked as a team. I fuckin’ trusted him. I would have done anything for him. He was like a brother.”

The wheels in my head spun round and round, growing faster and more confused by the second. “So basically he just did that to trick you?” I asked. “He just wanted to get ahold of you from the beginning, and he knew all the right things to say.”

Chase nodded sagely. “It kills me to admit it,” he replied. “But yeah, that’s about the sum of things.”

“When did you start to suspect he wasn’t who he said he was?”

Chase gave me a long, hard look. “Are you calling me stupid?”

I shook my head. “Not at all,” I said quickly. “I wouldn’t have gotten it either. But the timing is crucial, don’t you think?”

Chase looked away. “Sometimes I think I’m too late,” he said quietly. “I didn’t catch on for so long. I didn’t start to have any idea until he wanted to always meet in this bar downtown. It was always empty and deserted and I didn’t feel safe having private conversations there.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Do I even want to know where you guys were meeting before?”

Chase shook his head and gave me a dark look. “No,” he growled. “But anyway, this bar was a total shithole. I figured that the only reason he’d want to go there is because he spotted someone else going in. But Peyton was the only guy who ever sat at the bar. I bribed the owner into calling me when The Manticore stopped in.”

“And that’s how you found out?” Despite myself, I was getting wrapped up in the story. I couldn’t believe that I’d been on the edge of something so…sordid for so long.

Chase nodded. “Yup,” he said. “That’s when I started to suspect something wasn’t right. It was hard to believe that this bar was flooded with The Manticore and his cronies every time I wasn’t around. It could have only been Peyton; there was no one else.” He raked a hand through his short crop of hair. “And once I realized what was going on, it was too late.”

I felt a chill run through my body. “You didn’t leave me alone with Peyton after you started to suspect anything, right?”

Chase shook his head. “No, Lacey,” he said patiently. I was surprised; based on his temper, I expected him to really act like a shithead if I accused him of something like that. “No, when I went back to get you, that’s when I started to know.”

I thought back to that night and everything that had happened. Our faux date at the restaurant; the waitress unable to take her eyes off of Chase. I’d been jealous for one of the first times in my life. Remembering it didn’t exactly make me feel any better, but a mirthless giggle escaped my lips.

“And then?” I looked up.

“And then all the pieces started to fall into place,” Chase said finally. “That old man and I made a bargain. He sold me a gun. I drove out to the warehouse where I knew Peyton was hiding. I was ready to ambush them and the one of his thugs attacked me from behind. Before I knew it, I was tied up and helpless.”

“Wait,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “How do you mean you just went out there? If you knew about it before, why didn’t you check it before now? Don’t you think that would have helped you find out about Peyton?”

Chase gave a jerk of his head. “That’s not exactly it,” he admitted. “I…I got a phone call from Peyton. He said that he had you.” Chase made eye contact with me, then looked at the floor. “I went ballistic, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t
want
to believe it, Lacey, but it felt like I had no other choice.”

I felt like someone had dropped me into a lake of ice water. A chill ran down my spine and through my limbs. Tears came to my eyes and I felt as though my heart was going to stop beating.

“They threatened you with me?” I whispered, finally. Chase nodded. He looked ashamed. “And what did they say about me when I got there? Why did you believe them?”

Chase looked supremely uncomfortable. “They had a recording,” he said in a low tone. “It was your voice. They must have been spying on us at some point. They had you calling my name.”

I shook my head. “That never happened,” I stammered. “I’ve never even seen one of them before!”

Chase shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said stonily. “They had you.”

The tears that had welled up in my eyes now threatened to spring unbidden down my face. Chase gave me a strange look and it took a few moments for me to realize that it was sympathy. The attention was too much to bear; tears started rolling down my cheeks and I covered my face in my hands.

“Don’t cry, Lacey,” Chase said in a strangled voice. “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

Chapter Thirty Three

My body was racked with sobs and I could barely breathe through my tears. Chase came over and sat close to me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. I kept crying and crying, unable to make myself stop no matter how secure he was making me feel. I closed my eyes tight and buried my face in his chest. Chase wrapped his arms around me and stroked my back.

“Are you gonna be okay?” he whispered in my ear, nuzzling me softly. I don’t know if it was the fact I was already upset or the fact that it had been weeks since we’d touched, but between my legs started to grow warm and tingly. I swallowed hard, feeling confused by the flood of emotion in my body. Part of me wanted to keep sobbing on Chase’s shirt and the other part of me wanted him to carry me back to my bedroom and rip my dress off.

“I’ll be fine,” I said through sniffles. Chase exhaled loudly and put a hand under my chin. He tilted my face up so I was looking right at him. “What?” I asked softly.

Chase bit his lower lip. “Lacey,” he said in a gruff voice. “I really am sorry about this. More than you know. No matter what happens, I promise I’ll always keep you safe.”

A hot tear squeezed out of my eye and rolled down my cheek. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I muttered. “You don’t have to keep me safe, Chase.”

“Yes I do,” Chase growled in return. He leaned in close and I could smell a hint of beer and tobacco on his breath. It was like the return of an old friend and I closed my eyes in happiness. I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his.

“I’ve missed you,” I admitted in a soft voice without opening my eyes. Chase sighed. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close against his chest. Through my thin dress, I could feel his heart beating. I closed my eyes and tilted my face up for a kiss. When our lips touched, it was like they’d never been apart.

Chase kissed me with urgency. He slipped his tongue between my lips and caressed my own with his. I moaned softly into his mouth and Chase grunted and picked me up. Without breaking our kiss, he set me back down on his lap and pressed into my back with his hands. The itchy material of my dress scratched against my skin and made me squirm. Chase grunted softly and pulled the hemline up, spreading my legs on his lap and wrapping them around his torso. I could feel his muscular body pressing against the sensitive spot between my legs and a wave of desire pushed through me. I groaned softly as Chase’s hands slid down to my ass and squeezed each cheek firmly.

“I missed you, too,” Chase whispered in my ear when we broke apart. “But don’t tell anyone or I’ll have to do some awful things to you.”

Shivers ran through my body when he said “awful things.” I looked up at him with a blush across my face.

“Don’t be too awful,” I teased. “I might not survive to tell the story.”

Chase growled. “I’ll do anything I want,” he replied. “And you’ll still enjoy it, Lacey. I know you always like what I do to you. You love it, Lacey,” he repeated. Chase buried a hand in my hair and yanked my head back so we were gazing into each other’s eyes. His bright green orbs penetrated my whole body and I felt as though I couldn’t move. I bit my lip, unable to speak. Everything Chase had said to me was the truth. I loved everything he did, I loved every way that he touched me. I could never manage to think about it afterwards, but he knew how to turn me on like no other. With a smirk, I thought about how Mark’s touch would have left me limp. This dress would have been wasted on him.

As if reading my mind, Chase nuzzled my shoulder. “No one can please you like me,” he growled in a low voice. “No one can make you come like I can, Lacey,” he murmured into my body. “You’re all mine, forever.”