The Debt 10 (Club Alpha) (10 page)

God,
this might actually be real.

Please
let this be real.
 
Please don’t turn
out to be another lie.
 
I can’t take
anymore disappointment.

A few minutes later, Chase was back by
her side, chatting with her friends like they’d all known each other for
years—like he was one of them.

She was seeing a different side to Chase
now, and she loved it every bit as much as she loved the private, sexy side
that he’d already displayed to her.

This was exciting in a whole new
way.
 
Standing next to him, feeling
his protective aura as he cracked jokes and then looked at her to see if she
was smiling or laughing, sometimes grabbing her hand or touching her arm, her
shoulder.

Every look gave her a thrill, every
smile, every graze of his hand, made her shiver with delight.

And then it was over, as Chase announced
that he’d had a blast, but needed to get home to rest up for practice in the
morning.

“Kick their ass on Sunday,” Todd said,
raising a cup.

“Will do, partner,” Chase said.

“Bye, Haley—I’ll call you,” Faith
whispered to her friend, as Haley grinned from ear to ear.

“Love you, babe.”

The entire rest of the crowded was still
cheering Chase Winters enthusiastically, as he pulled Faith outside, moving
quickly through the throng that was waiting in line still to get inside.

People called out to them.

“Chase, can I get a pic bro?”

“Take a selfie with my phone, Chase!”

“Chase, let me suck your cock!” one girl
shrieked.

As they arrived at his car—a black
Lexus that was slightly lower profile than his other sports car—a couple
of drunken men approached them.

“Chase buddy, would you sign my hat?” one
asked.

Chase shook his head as he unlocked the
car, and it whooped twice, lights flashing.
 
“No can do, boys.
 
Me and the lady have to get going.”

“Come on, man, don’t be a stuck up
fuckin’ prick,” the other drunk said.

Chase escorted Faith to her side and
opened up her door.
 
“Get in,
quick,” he whispered, and she did as she was told.

As he walked toward his side, the other
guy called out to him.
 

“Winters, you fucking pussy!
 
Miami’s going to crush you.
 
Fucking Green Bay exposed you, asshole!”

“Okay, buddy.
 
Whatever you say,” Chase told him, opening
his door now.

As he stooped down to climb inside, one
of the two threw a beer bottle.
 
Faith heard it shatter against the outside of the car just next to
Chase, and then he straightened up and went after the two men, who were already
running away.

Faith screamed, as Chase managed to grab
the slower one by his coat.
 
He
literally picked the man up off the ground, flipped him upside down, and then
let him drop on his head.

She screamed yet again as she saw the man
hit the pavement and his arms and legs spasm like a beetle that had just been
crushed underfoot.
 
She had to close
her eyes at the sheer brutality of it.

A moment later, Chase was back in the car
and pulling out, and then they were leaving the bar behind them.

“Oh my God,” she said, covering her mouth
as they sped off.

Chase glanced at her, turning on the
radio.
 
“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She stared at him.
 
“They threw a bottle at you and then you
dropped that person on the ground head-first.”

Chase laughed.
 
“Nobody got hurt,” he said.

“That looked like he was hurt to me.”

“He was fine.
 
I saw the guy getting up as we were
leaving.
 
I just gave him something
to think about.”

She was calming down as they continued
driving.
 
“That was scary.”

“Life is scary,” Chase said, glancing at
her again.
 

“I’m not cut out for that sort of thing,”
Faith said.
 
“I hate violence.
 
I hate fighting and I don’t even like
yelling.
 
I had enough of that
growing up to last me a lifetime.”

The car got quiet and she realized that
she hadn’t intended to reveal that particular detail about herself just yet.

But there it was.
 
She’d said it.

“So it wasn’t just me who had a fucked up
childhood,” he said, softly.

“No,” she replied, swallowing.
 
Suddenly, she was oddly close to tears.

 
He adjusted his hands on the steering
wheel.
 
“Want to talk about it?”

She shrugged.
 
“It wasn’t that bad—not like
yours.”

“Don’t do that, Faith.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t downplay it.
 
Don’t compare yourself with someone
else, because there’s always somebody who had it worse.
 
But that doesn’t mean your struggles
weren’t real.”

She thought about what he said.
 
“I guess that’s true.”
 
And then she thought about her sister,
and what it must be like right now for her.
 
“My parents are drunks,” Faith said.

Chase nodded.
 
“They get mean when they drink?”

“Sometimes.
 
They fight a lot with each other.
 
When I was little, my Dad screamed at me
a lot.
 
He never hit me though.
 
Never laid a hand on me.”

“Lucky for him,” Chase growled.
 
“If you told me he hurt you…I don’t know
what I might do to him.”

“That’s not necessary.
 
And besides, you can’t use force to deal
with every situation.”

“Not everything,” he said.
 
“But I will set a fool straight that so
much as looks at you cross-eyed.”

Faith had to laugh.
 
“Calm down, big fella,” she said,
patting his muscular shoulder.
 
“Take it easy.”

He laughed along with her.
 
“Shit, I must be getting hyped up for
the game already.”
 
Chase shook his
head.
 
“Sometimes I’m too
competitive for my own good.
 
And it
gets me in trouble.”

“Yeah, that must be it.”
 
Faith smiled at him.
 
And then her smile faded.

It
gets me in trouble.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing her
expression.

“I was just thinking about Club Alpha,”
she told him.
 
“And I don’t
know.
 
I guess I got scared.”

“Listen,” Chase said, his voice earnest,
“I let them know I won’t be using their services anymore.
 
And I also let them know that you’re strictly
off-limits.
 
Have you heard anything
from them?”

She explained to him what had happened
with her boss getting slapped around, and the promotion, and the phone call to
her from that creep named Max.

Chase listened and when she was done, he spoke
calmly.
 
“But all of that was the
same day we had our fight.”

“Yes,” she said, feeling a slight relief.

“And they never got in touch with you
after that, did they?”

She shook her head.
 
“No, but—“

“That’s because I spoke to them later
that night and told them to end it,” he said.
 
“It’s over, Faith.
 
I’m not going to let anybody mess with
you like that again.
 
You hear me?”

“Yes.”

“You believe me?”

She thought about it for a long time. And
then she answered him.

“Yes, I believe you,” she said,
surprising even herself with this admission.

A moment later, Chase had parked, and
then they were getting out of the car and headed back into his home in Beacon
Hill.

“I want to tell you something,” he said,
as they walked inside, and he turned on the lights and then locked the front
door behind them.

Faith looked up at him, feeling his
nearness now, and realizing that there was still the intense electricity
between them—a connection that only seemed to grow more and more intense
with each passing moment.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing
something like concern in his dark eyes.

He smiled, reaching out and putting his
hands around her waist and pulling her towards him.
 
“I wanted to tell you the reason I was
following you tonight.”

She looked down, her face flushing.
 
“Oh, right.
 
I almost forgot you did that.”

“Ever since the last time I saw you, I
haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.
 
I was fucking up during practice, and that
never happens to me.
 
But I couldn’t
stop wondering where you were, what you were doing, wanting to see you again.”

She felt her breath leaving her.
 
“Then why didn’t you try and call me
until tonight?”

 
“Because I really don’t want to hurt you
or fuck up your life.”

 
“Then just don’t do it,” she said
simply.
 
“Be good to me.”

“I intend to be,” he said, his strong
hand grabbing her behind the head as he leaned into her, his lips closing in on
her lips.
 
“I tried my best to stay
away from you, Faith.”

“I tried, too,” she admitted.
 
“I tried to forget you, pretend it never
happened.
 
And I couldn’t do it
either.”

“I think we’re stuck with each other,” he
whispered, and then he began kissing her, and she could feel the desperate
intensity of his need.

They kissed for a long time that
way—just standing in front of the door, their bodies close, hands
exploring each other’s bodies, breathing each other’s air as if it was all
either of them needed.

Chase pulled away and broke off the kiss
and then took her by the hand.
 
“Come on,” he said softly, leading her up the stairs and into his
bedroom.

Something in his demeanor was different
this time than it had been previously, as he led her to his bed, and Faith
stood beside it, looking up at him.

“Would it make you nervous if I told you
that I have serious feelings about you?” he asked her.

She shook her head.
 
“No.
 
At least—not in a bad way.”
 
She smiled hesitantly.
 
“It’s the good kind of nervous.”

He touched her cheek and then kissed her
again, as his hand trailed down to her waist.
 
“I want you so fucking bad right now,”
he murmured.

“I’m right here,” she told him, her pulse
quickening.

They started to undress one another.
 
Faith had never felt anything like
this.
 
She was staring into his eyes
as he looked back at her, unflinching, completely as ease.
 
And despite the butterflies in her
stomach, Faith wasn’t scared to be vulnerable with Chase.

They stripped down, and now she was just
in her bra and panties, and Chase was in his boxers.
 
His chiseled body was like a thing of
beauty—an eighth wonder of the world.
 
How could God have even created such a
perfect human specimen?

She allowed herself to run her hands over
his massive chest, and then she couldn’t resist kissing his skin, licking his
nipples, and moving down to where she could feel his hard cock bulging out of
his boxers.
 
She sucked on the head
of his cock through his shorts and he groaned.

And then suddenly, he was picking her up
off the floor, like she weighed less than a pillow, holding her up so that she
could wrap her legs around his waist.
 
He pressed his face into her breasts and began sucking her nipples
through her lacy bra.

His tongue was sweet and rough and
arousing, as he flicked and sucked her breasts.
 
And then he allowed her body to slide
down a fraction, so that their faces were opposite each other.

Chase looked into her eyes.
 
“I never thought somebody like you even
existed,” he said.

Being held by him was like nothing she’d
ever imagined either, and in that moment she simply wanted this feeling to last
forever.