Page 31 of Hard To Love

Chapter Ten

Walking up to the entrance, I could feel the bass of the dance music vibrating through the brick exterior of the club. It was quite early by New York club standards, but the line outside had already extended down the block and stretched around the corner. Fortunately, Chase had left my name with the doorman and I breezed through the VIP line and got right in. All of a sudden goose bumps broke out on my skin thinking how this was where it all started. I couldn’t believe how much had happened over the course of seven days.

The club seemed darker than I had remembered it; like I was seeing it through a new set of eyes. The place must have been making bank in spite of the incredible real estate costs because it was packed, even this early on a Fridaynight.

I wound my way through the crowd and made my way upstairs to the office.

Standing outside his door, I debated on whether to knock or not? We had agreed to meet for a late dinner tonight after ‘round two’ this morning. He had no idea I was ahead of schedule, so I took that as a perfect opportunity to get him back for the stunt he pulled last night with the fake no-show. Performing a twenty second makeover, I grabbed my lip gloss and applied it to my lips and then smoothed my skirt out with my hands. After taking a deep breath, I smiled, and started to walk in.

My steps faltered. And my eyes blinked several times, hoping they could erase what I was seeing.

Chase was standing in front of his desk with his arms wrapped around a woman. Not just any woman, but the beautiful bombshell that I saw him with the first night at the club. The woman he insisted was just an employee. Her skimpy red dress left little to the imagination and this encounter looked nothing like a monthly performance review with the boss. My heart started pounding through my chest and the feeling of panic welled up inside me.

“Shit!” I blurted out, as he looked up at me.

The woman rested her hand on his chest as if staking a claim. I was shocked and confused and unsure how to react. It was clear that I was interrupting an intimate moment that I was never supposed to see.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Chase’s head bounced between the woman, and me. The struggle in his eyes was apparent. “Hey,” he finally said. “I wasn’t expecting you so early.” Clearly, I thought to myself. He removed the woman’s hands from his chest and slowly pulled away from her. “Would you mind waiting for me downstairs?”

My mind stalled, then started tripping over the words that left his lips without a trace of guilt. They were strong and confident just like the man himself. I felt dismissed and wanted so badly to tell him where he could go. Preferably where the sun didn’t shine.

Closing my eyes, I decided to keep my mouth shut. As I turned to walk away, I could feel her eyes staring back at me. I could almost feel the invisible darts that were being thrown my way. Despite Chase’s confident reply, my stomach started to swirl and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

As I walked out the door he called out, “Emily, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right down, okay?”

Jack’s words from our lunch earlier replayed in my head. He told me to be careful and listen to my gut. Unlike Cassie and Jonathan who would fall under Chase’s spell the second he smiled at them, Jack was different. At first, I laughed his warning off, but there was something about this woman that made me uneasy.

I slowly crept to an empty stool at the end of the bar in my haze of self-pity. Sliding onto the stool I placed my purse in my lap, and forced myself to take in a couple of deep, cleansing breaths. A good-looking man with the name, ‘Zach’ on his nametag, walked over to me from behind the bar and extended a warm smile.

Zach was muscular and tall with spiky black hair, and with interesting tattoos all over his arms. As he got closer, I noticed his fashionably ripped jeans and the piercing in his eyebrow. He looked like the type of man a mother would warn her daughter about. I could see where he would be good for business.

His eyes flickered with interest as he greeted me. “Hi there, sugar, what’s your pleasure?”

“I’ll have a white wine please.” I paused and replayed the past few minutes in my head, and changed my decision. “No, wait. I need something stronger.” I folded my hands together and let out a deep sigh, frustrated that I couldn’t even decide on a drink.

He arched an eyebrow at me, “Would you like me to make you a Mind Eraser, it looks like you would like to forget something or hopefully, someone?” A sly smile slid across his face as he checked me out.

Visions of Chase upstairs with another woman had me feeling more than a little angry. Despite his protests to the contrary there was something about the brunette upstairs I didn’t like. The way she was looking at me seemed like she was sending me a warning. He told me last week that they were friends, but my woman's intuition told me there was definitely more to the story. I could feel it with every fiber of my being. I figured if he could play that game, so could I.

After two of Zach’s special drinks and thirty minutes of rethinking the encounter upstairs, I decided that my bartender friend was becoming more attractive by the minute. I smiled and leaned into the bar so that we were just inches apart giving him a flirty smile. Just as I was about to say something, his eyes snapped to attention when a strong hand landed on my shoulder.

“She’s going to switch to a white wine, put it on my tab. She’s with me.” Chase said, in a very calm, cold and controlled voice.

Did he really just cut me off from my Mind Eraser? How dare he, I was enjoying that drink. Who the hell did he think he was ordering for me?

“Sure thing, boss,” Zack said, backing away and looking uncomfortable.

Chase’s hands tightened on my shoulders as he twisted me around on the bar stool so that we were facing each other. He leaned in to give me a kiss, but I instantly pulled away.

His eyes searched my face. “Are you mad at me?”

“Seriously?” I glared at him. My voice was laced with sarcasm. “I can order my own damned drink, thank you very much.”

With his eyebrows raised, an incredulous, concerned look filled his face. “He makes those drinks for women he plans on taking home to fuck, which won’t be happening.” He told me with his hard jaw set in stone, “and something tells me that’s not why you are upset. What did I do?”

Well let’s see, I thought to myself. What did you do? I immediately started to tick everything off in my brain. I just found you in the arms of another woman. A woman who clearly was comfortable enough to just walk into your office and demand to know who I was that first night. The same woman who called while you were driving me home and said she needed to speak to you because “it’s personal,” whatever the hell that meant. On top of it all, the harlot was giving me a look that said “Back Off. He’s mine.” And just to put a cherry on top of a shit sundae, you dismissed me so you could continue whatever the hell it was that you were doing with her in the first place. What part of this could he possibly not understand?

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