Lost Without You: Book 2 in the Chasing Olivia Series (2 page)

“I understand, I would have questioned what I saw, too.” He brings my hand up toward his mouth and places a soft kiss on the back.

“How did you find out I was here?” I ask, knowing in the back of my head what the answer would be.

“Brenda called me, told me you were getting married.”

“Probably not one of my smartest choices,” I murmur.

“He had everyone fooled.”

“I feel so stupid, more so because I didn’t see it when I was dating him in college. Over a year,” I sigh. Closing my eyes, I try to push away my pain, to no avail. As I open my eyes, I catch Chase gazing at me.

“What?” he asks, questioning the confused look that’s plastered across my face.

“I need time. I need to process everything that’s happened today,” I say. He tilts his head, as if he doesn’t understand. “I need to go back to my room.”

“Whatever you need,” he whispers, running both hands through his thick hair. I stand up, gather my wedding dress, and walk toward the entrance of the hotel. I feel his eyes burning through me, but I keep walking, not having the courage to look back.

I scuff the tip of my shoe along the boardwalk. In the span of ten minutes, I went from marrying one guy, to another professing his love for me, and now I’m walking into the hotel alone. The same hotel I was supposed to spend my honeymoon in—the same hotel Evan will be coming back to. As I walk through the glass doors, I head straight to the front desk. I can’t go back to that room, where I might run into Evan. I can’t look at him right now. He played me for an idiot, all while he was having an affair—and he wasn’t even using protection.

My anger washes over my face in a hot wave, but I clear my thoughts and focus on getting into a new room. A nicer room. Maybe a presidential suite, on Evan’s tab, of course. Smiling to myself, I politely ask the clerk for a manager. A short, stout man comes out from behind a closed door.

“Can I help you?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say, my head held high. “I just got married and we have decided to upgrade our room.”

“Certainly Mrs . . .” he pauses.

“Gallagher,” I respond. He looks at the computer screen, clicking and scrolling, nodding to himself. “Yes, we have the six hundred square foot king bedroom suite with balcony and ocean views available.”

“That will be perfect,” I beam. “I will need the other suite as well. For guests,” I say, thinking of how else I can make Evan’s bank account miserable.

“Of course.” He smiles as he hands me a key card. “I will have the suite ready for you in half an hour.”

“Excellent.”

Swiftly rounding up my bathroom necessities and clothes, I throw everything into my bag and check the room over once more before leaving as quickly as I came in.

I rapidly make my way to the other side of the hotel and open the door to my new suite. Dropping my bags near the end of the bed, I move toward the hotel phone and dial Brenda’s cell.

“Hello,” she murmurs.

“It’s me. I switched rooms.”

“Oh my God, are you okay?” she asks, her voice unusually high.

“No, not really,” I mutter. “I should have known, right?”

“I knew he was up to no good, but I didn’t see that one coming,” she says, still in shock.

“They deserve each other,” I say.

“Want me to come over?”

“No. I’m just going to sit here and listen to the ocean for a while. The new room has a balcony overlooking the ocean. Evan is going to be pissed when he sees the bill.” I manage a small giggle.

“Good. The cock-sucking douche bag deserves it.”

“Where are you?”

“Sitting on the beach, listening to Evan and Brandi fighting.”

“Still?” I ask, surprised.

“Yup. If I didn’t want to kill him, this would be entertaining. She is ripping him a new asshole,” she chuckles.

“Come by tomorrow morning. We can have some girl time before heading back to reality.”

“What’s the new room number?”

After giving it to her, she says good night and I hang up the phone. I slide my hand over my lap, feeling the silk of my wedding dress one last time before stripping it off and letting it pool on the floor. Stepping out of the dress, I throw it in a crumpled heap on the chair in the corner, half of it falling toward the carpet, and move to pull out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt from my bag. After changing, I slide open the glass doors to the huge terrace and plop myself on one of the lounge chairs.

Breathing in the salty air from the ocean, I try to relax, try to clear my mind, but the events from today swirl around, almost consuming me. Tears roll down my cheeks as the weight of what could have been falls heavily on my shoulders. I almost married a man who had been lying to me for years, and in turn, almost lost a man who is truly good to me—good for me, in every way.

I allowed Evan to make me doubt everything I felt, and now I don’t know what’s real anymore. I sniff, wondering if I can even trust Chase. I want to, but I’m so unsure of what to feel.

Feeling drained, I move to the king size bed and wrap myself in the duvet, just wanting to forget it all and sleep. I haven’t slept well since Evan asked me to marry him, which should have been a sign. I should have listened to my gut. Swiping the remainder of tears from my cheeks, I will myself to stop crying. Evan doesn’t deserve any more of my tears, and Chase . . . well, I’m not sure about him.

The bright sun shining through the glass doors rouses me. I blink several times before rolling from the bed and stumbling to the bathroom, kicking my wedding dress on the way.

I hear a knock at my door as I exit the bathroom, and open it to find Brenda.

“Good morning,” she smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Hi,” I murmur as she walks past me.

“Do you want me to do something with that?” she asks, motioning her head toward pile of tulle on the chair.

“No, I’m going to donate it. Do you know if Evan left?” I ask.

“Last night. They were still fighting when they got in the cab,” she says, smirking.

“They are so perfect for each other,” I giggle. Her face shows signs of relief as her lower lip twists into a smile. “You don’t have to walk on eggshells, you know. I’m really not that upset.”

“Good,” she breathes. “What do you say we go get breakfast?” She glances at her watch. “Or lunch.”

“It’s Sunday, I believe they serve brunch. I can definitely use a mimosa.”

“Me, too.”

After eating, we relax at our table on the beach, enjoying the beautiful afternoon. The waves crash along the shoreline as the warm sun beats down on our faces.

“This is so nice, I don’t want to go back,” I mutter with my head tipped back, soaking in the rays.

“Hmm,” is all she says.

“It’s too bad I have to go back to work.”

“Hmm.”

I drop my head to take a sip of my mimosa before leaning back and closing my eyes once more. “I guess I can miss one day of work, stay here another day. It’s paid for, after all,” I continue, chuckling under my breath as I imagine the look on Evan’s face when he sees the charges from the hotel on his credit card statement.

“I have to be at work on Tuesday,” she mumbles.

“Okay. We’ll catch a flight back together tomorrow. I’ll check on times later.” I open my eyes to take another sip and they land right on Chase, sitting at the bar. His eyes are hidden behind designer sunglasses, but when I catch him looking in our direction, he subtly flinches, as if he knows he’s been busted. “Chase is over at the bar,” I mutter to Brenda.

“Will you put the poor bastard out of his misery and invite him over?” She jumps up out of her chair, flailing her arms frantically. “Yoo-hoo, Chase! Over here!”

Good fucking lord, she knows how to get someone’s attention. My cheeks are on fire and I bury my head in my hands. If he can’t see me, I’m not here. “What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper, glancing at Brenda, trying to contain my laughter.

“What I should have done months ago,” she answers, still flailing her arms.

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing me!”

“Oh, Liv. I can do a lot worse than this. See, here he comes.”

“Good afternoon, ladies,” he chuckles, clearly entertained by Brenda’s antics.

“Please, take a seat.” Brenda motions toward an empty chair.

“Thank you,” he says, sitting so close to me, he could be on my lap. “How’s your day going so far?” he asks both of us, but he’s looking right at me. I can see his eyes hiding behind his Ray Ban’s.

“It’s been fantastic,” Brenda beams.

“Yes, it’s been nice,” I murmur into my now empty glass.

“I planned on taking an early evening sail to watch the sun set. Why don’t you ladies join me?” he asks with a tone I can’t quite place. It’s somewhere between hesitant and pleading.

“Oh my God, that would be great!” Brenda says with the enthusiasm of a child at a birthday party.

Chase turns to me. “Olivia, what do you think?”

“Sounds like fun.”

After heading back to the room to change, we wait in the lobby as instructed. Brenda, in her cute floral dress, stands next to me, fidgeting with her purse and mumbling profanities under her breath. I quirk my eyebrow at her, and ask, “Lose something?”

She huffs and grips the bottom of her purse to spill the contents onto the hotel lobby couch, frustrated. “I can’t find my phone in this behemoth thing. I need a smaller bag. Why would you let me buy this? It’s so impractical, like the place where things that never want to be found again go.”

“Let you buy it? Since when have you listened to me about anything involving fashion,” I say, playing with the cuffs to my sweater.

“Relax,” she scolds. “Just be yourself, and let whatever happens, happen.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice someone exiting the elevator. Chase strolls out with a confident swagger, causing my breath to hitch. He has on a pair of khakis, a white polo golf shirt, and those soft leather flip flops I love. God, he is beautiful.

“All set, ladies?” he asks with that boyish smile I was first introduced to when we were paddle-boarding on Davis. I know he’s excited and looking forward to this. We both nod our heads in unison. “I have a car waiting, shall we?” he asks, waving his arm in the direction of the lobby doors.

A town car greets us as we walk out of the hotel. The driver jumps out and around to open the back passenger door for us with a smile and dip of his hat. I smile back, nodding my head, and Brenda jumps past me to slide in first, taking advantage of my distraction. I narrow my eyes and scoot in next, smacking her arm. “Ow! What was that for?” She rubs the spot as if my tap was a punch and tries to hide her smile.

“You know what that was for,” I say out the corner of my mouth, giving her the side-eye. She moves to shove me, but stops as Chase slides in next to me. Not moving her big booty back to her side, she’s awkwardly sprawling in the seat, forcing me closer to Chase. Our legs touch and butterflies hover in my stomach. I shudder as a chill runs through my entire body.

“Are you cold?” Chase asks, and I shake my head. The driver closes the door, gets in front, and pulls away. Brenda breaks the silence.

“So, where are we going, Chase?”

“I chartered a sailboat. It’s like a cruise to nowhere. The sunsets are beautiful from the water,” he boasts. There’s that little boy smile again, and it warms my heart. His eyes sparkle and his nose crinkles. It’s the cutest thing.

“Sounds beautiful,” I murmur.

“So beautiful,” he says, gazing at me. His eyes penetrate my soul, and my skin gets all warm and tingly. He isn’t talking about the sunset anymore, and I blush. Thank God I’m too tan for him to notice.

A few short minutes later, we pull up in front of a marina. The driver gets out and opens both passenger doors. As we exit, Chase says, “The boat is at the other end of the dock. Follow me.”

We head down a long boardwalk flanked by dozens of boats, each one bigger than the next. The boardwalk ends at a floating dock. We carefully step down onto the not-so-sturdy surface while continuing to follow Chase. At the end of the dock is a large sailboat. It has to be at least sixty feet long. There is a man at the edge of the gangplank to help us on board. “Good afternoon, Mr. Remington,” a crew member greets Chase. He nods his head as he makes his way to the gangplank.