What the hell was wrong with him?
He should have begged her to stay. He should have done a hundred things differently to make sure that she didn’t walk out that door and–
“Chase?” came the softly spoken word that had him slowly turning around to find Amy standing behind him, giving him a hopeful smile as she wrung her perfectly manicured hands together.
“What the hell do you want now, Amy?” Chase asked absently as he glanced down at his phone and felt his stomach drop when he didn’t see a response.
Shit!
Too fucking desperate to play any games, he sent Sloane’s brothers a group text begging them to tell him where their sister was, hoping that one of them took pity on him before it was too late even as he ran the possibilities through his head. She could be at her parents’ house, with one of her brothers, or at one of the thousands of fucking hotels in this state or at the fucking airport. If he couldn’t find her, then he’d wait there, hoping that groveling would be enough to stop her from leaving and if it wasn’t…
He would–
“I moved my office last year,” Amy said lamely, gesturing to the building across the street and since he didn’t fucking care, he ignored her as he called Sloane.
“Come on, baby, pick up,” Chase said, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried not to lose his fucking mind while the phone continued ringing.
When it went to voicemail, he bit out a curse, hung up and found himself staring at Amy in disbelief when something she’d said caught his attention. Telling himself that he’d misunderstood her, he asked, “What did you just say?”
“I said that I missed you, Chase,” Amy said, giving him a hopeful smile.
“You missed me?” he repeatedly hollowly.
“Yes,” Amy whispered as her bottom lip trembled and she gave him that look that had broken him too many times over the years.
“Unfucking believable,” Chase said, shaking his head in disgust as he looked back down at his phone and called Sloane again, telling himself that it wasn’t too late to fix this.
“Are you mad at me?” Amy mumbled prettily, worrying her bottom lip in a well-practiced move that used to leave him feeling like he was an asshole.
Now, it just pissed him off.
“You’re fucking unbelievable,” he said, shaking his head in disgust.
“I panicked, Chase. I’m sorry, but I was so scared.”
“You were scared? I was fucking terrified!”
“I-I didn’t know what to do,” Amy said around a broken sob as she wrapped her slender arms around herself.
“You knew enough to fuck my best friend,” he snapped at her, shaking his head in disgust because he couldn’t believe that she was trying to waste his time with this bullshit.
“It was a mistake!”
“No, coming here was a mistake,” Chase said, returning his attention to his phone.
“Please, Chase! I love you!”
“I don’t love you,” he said, trying to figure out what he should do next.
“You don’t mean that! We’ve been together since we were children, Chase,” Amy said around a sob.
“And that didn’t stop you from marrying another man,” he pointed out as he sent Sloane’s mom a text message, hoping that she took pity on him and told him where he could find her.
“It was a mistake, Chase. I was so scared and I needed you, but you weren’t there and…and Thomas was. He was there for me and I was so lonely and–”
“And he can fucking have you because I already have what I want,” Chase said, sighing in relief when his phone chimed, letting him know that he had a message. When he read it, he realized that it might already be too late.
Chapter 41
Orlando International Airport
For a moment, all Sloane could do was sit there, staring down at her phone as she tried to make sense out of what just happened only to drop her head back against the bathroom wall with a sigh.
They’d fired her.
She came to the airport with absolutely no idea what she was going to do next, just hoping that the agency would be able to give her something short-term so that she could get through this without losing her mind and…
Somehow, they already knew about Chase.
She’d barely managed to say her name when she was suddenly asked to hold while they got a manager. Apparently, she’d violated too many rules for them to ignore that they hadn’t known where to start. They hadn’t been happy to find out that she’d decided to stay with Chase when she’d taken a leave of absence, but that apparently paled in comparison to the fact that she’d been sleeping with him for the past five months. They hadn’t given her a chance to explain, not that she could, Sloane admitted as she sat there, staring down at her phone while she tried to figure out what she was going to do now.
Sighing heavily, she forced herself to get up and cross the small distance to the bathroom sink so that she could stare down at the reason why she came in here in the first place. Slowly exhaling, Sloane grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder before she picked up the pregnancy test and tossed it in the trash. Feeling numb, she grabbed her suitcase and made her way back to the waiting area, sat down and laughed without humor as she dropped her head in her hands while she tried to figure out the best way to tell the man that didn’t love her that she was pregnant.
She’d been hoping to buy herself a little time with this job, put a little space between them while she came to terms with the fact that he didn’t love her before she came back. Now, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. The only thing that she knew was that she wasn’t ready to face Chase, not yet.
She just needed a little time to wrap her mind around everything and figure out what she was going to do now. For a moment, she considered crashing at her parents’ house, but she wasn’t ready to talk about what happened and she knew that if she suddenly showed up at their door, unable to stop crying every time someone mentioned Chase’s name that they would have questions, questions that she didn’t want to answer right now.
She just needed to get out of here, just for a little while, Sloane decided as she looked up at the announcement board, taking in all the upcoming flights, not really caring where she went just as long as it wasn’t here. With that in mind, she grabbed her bags and headed to the nearest ticket counter.
Needing a moment, Sloane stepped in the longest line that she could find so that she could look for her wallet. She’d buy a ticket on the first flight out of Florida, find a hotel with twenty-four-hour room service and spend the next month crying her eyes out as she tried to figure out how she was going to do this and then…
She’d come back and hopefully have an idea how she was going to break it to her family that she was pregnant, unemployed, and most likely black-listed from ever working in home health care ever again. Then, she’d tell Chase that she was pregnant and go from there, but for right now, she really just needed to get the hell out of here.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but at the moment, it was all she–
“I’m afraid that you’re going to have to come with us,” came the announcement that she almost ignored thinking that he was talking to someone else until he added, “Miss Maxwell.”
At that, Sloane looked up only to frown when she saw that she was surrounded by airport security. “What’s going on?”
“You’re on the No-Fly List,” the man standing in front of her said, gesturing for her to follow him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Sloane demanded as one of the men grabbed her suitcase while another man pulled her bag off her shoulder and she found herself walking toward a door with “Security” spelled out in black lettering.
“There’s been some sort of mistake here. I’m not on any list,” Sloane said as she was led through a security door and down a long hallway.
“Then this shouldn’t take long to sort out,” came the response that had her sighing and wondering what else could go wrong today as the
y stopped in front of a white metal door with a small glass window.
“This way,” came the murmured demand as the door was opened, revealing a small room with a metal table and chairs bolted to the floor.
“Can I get you coffee or something to drink while you wait?”
Absently shaking her head, Sloane mumbled, “I can’t have coffee. I’m pregnant,” as she stepped inside.
“I’ll have someone bring you some water then,” he said, giving her what he probably thought was a reassuring smile before he left, shutting the door behind him with an ominous click.
Nodding, Sloane sat down on the cold metal chair and dropped her head in her hands, struggling to hold it together, she just wanted to go home and pretend that none of this happened. There was something seriously wrong with her, Sloane decided as she sat there, trying to figure out exactly how she’d ended up here.
She should have kept her mouth shut, allowed herself to pretend that he loved her, taken the test as soon as she thought that she was pregnant and–
Spent the rest of her life hating herself for settling for something that she didn’t want. She honestly wasn’t sure how she’d expected her life to turn out, but she’d never imagined that she would end up like this. God, if she could go back…
She would have made the same choices, Sloane realized with a sigh. Even knowing that Chase wasn’t in love with her, she couldn’t regret falling in love with him no matter how much this hurt, and god, did this hurt. She knew that it was only going to hurt worse when it finally sank in. She really wasn’t looking forward to that.
The sound of the door opening had her wondering what else could go wrong. When she felt a cold bottle pushed against her arm a moment later, she absently mumbled, “Thank you,” as she dropped her arm and found herself staring at Chase as he sat down across from her.
“What are you doing here?” Sloane asked as her gaze flickered toward the door, noting that it had been left open and even as she had to wonder what the hell was going on.
“I called in a favor,” Chase said, drawing her attention back to find him watching her.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked, unable to help but frown.
“I couldn’t let you leave.”
“So, you had me detained by Homeland Security?” Sloane slowly asked, trying to make sense out of what was going on here and failing miserably.
“It seemed like my best option at the time,” he said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.
At her blank stare, he added, “I couldn’t take any chances that you’d get on a plane, so I asked Hunter for a favor.”
A sinking feeling had her asking, “You called my boss, didn’t you?”
Nodding, he said, “You really didn’t leave me with any choice.”
“You got me fired, asshole,” Sloane snapped, shaking her head in disgust.
“You’re welcome,” Chase said with a heartfelt sigh.
“Oh, my god, are you insane?”
Frowning, Chase asked, “How else was I supposed to make sure that she fired you?”
For a moment, she could only stare at him and then, finally, common sense kicked in and had her heading for the door, muttering, “Asshole,” as she went.
“You’re pregnant?” he called after her.
“Yes,” Sloane bit out evenly as she leveled a glare on the men that had helped the asshole currently following her.
“Were you planning on telling me?” Chase asked as he caught up with her.
“And take that honor away from the men that had me thrown in a holding cell? I would never dream of doing such a thing,” Sloane said dryly as she followed the exit signs, only pausing long enough to grab her bags.
“They didn’t know that I didn’t know,” Chase said, at least having the good grace to wince.
“Well, now you know,” Sloane said as she quickened her pace, deciding that she’d deal with this later, much later, when she no longer had the urge to kick the large bastard that had just ruined her life.
*-*-*-*
“Shit!” Chase muttered as he struggled to keep up with her.
“Just leave me alone, Chase.”
“I’m afraid that I can’t do that,” Chase said, doubling his efforts to catch up with her as he ignored the pain shooting up his legs and back. He should have taken a fucking muscle relaxer before he left.
“Oh, and why’s that?”
“Because I’m never letting you go,” he said, reaching for her.
“You already did,” Sloane said as she stepped away from him and kept going.
“And I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice,” he said, rushing to catch up with her only to mutter, “Shit!” when he was forced to walk faster.
“I heard what you said,” she said, not bothering to glance back at him this time.
“What?” he asked, biting back a wince as more pain shot through his legs, threatening to drop him on his ass.
“Last night. I heard what you said. I was worried about you because you’re a stubborn pain in the ass that refuses to use your cane, so when you didn’t show up after a few minutes, I went looking for you. I heard you tell him that you didn’t love me,” Sloane said, making him realize just how badly he’d fucked everything up.
“It was a mistake,” Chase said, somehow managing to catch up with her, again.
“No, staying here was a mistake,” she bit out.
“Sloane–”
“Just leave me alone, Chase,” she said, sighing heavily as he was forced to slap his hand against the wall when his legs threatened to give out and drop him on his ass.
“You know that I can’t do that,” he said, struggling to keep going and–
“Shit!” Chase bit out harshly as his trembling legs finally gave out, dropping him on his ass.
“You really can, though,” Sloane said as she kept going, leaving him with no other choice but to pull himself back up.
“I’ll crawl on my hands and knees after you if that’s what it takes, but I’m not letting you go. Not now. Not ever,” Chase bit out, making her sigh as she turned around and–
“What the hell are you doing?” Sloane asked, rushing to his side when she spotted him struggling to get to his feet.
“Really regretting not grabbing my cane,” came the rueful comment as he gave up trying to use the wall to pull himself back to his feet and slowly slid back down to the floor with a sigh. “I need to call a timeout.”
“A timeout?” Sloane asked, her lips twitching with amusement despite the fact that she still looked pissed and…hurt. Christ, he’d never seen her look so sad before and knowing that it was because of him damn near killed him.
“I’m sorry, Pookie,” he said, moving to stand up only to end groaning when a cramp tore up his leg.
“For being an asshole or for forgetting your cane?” Sloane asked absently as she glanced around the busy terminal, most likely looking for an abandoned wheelchair so that she could push him into oncoming traffic.
“Both,” Chase said, reaching up so that he could brush his fingertips along her jaw. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, Pookie, but I’m not sorry that I got you fired. You hated that job.”
Pulling away from his touch, she shook her head as she glanced away from him. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not,” Chase said as he reached over and pulled her onto his lap until she was straddling his thighs.
“You don’t need to do this, Chase,” she said, biting her bottom lip when it began trembling.
“I’m not doing anything that I don’t want to, Pookie,” he said as he reached up and cupped her beautiful face in his hands. “You scare me.”
“How?” Sloane asked, frowning as she reached up to cover one of his hands with hers.
“Because I don’t think I would be able to handle it if something happened to you,” he said softly as he leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’m terrified that I’m going to lose you one day.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” she promised him as he sat back against the wall with a sigh.
“You don’t know that.”
She opened her mouth to argue only to shut it with a sigh. “You’re right. I don’t know what the future holds, Chase, but I know that I want to spend it with you.”
“Does that mean that you’re willing to marry me?” Chase asked as he gently caressed her cheek.
Shaking her head, Sloane said, “No, that means that I’m willing to give you another chance,” as she dropped her hand away and carefully climbed off his lap with a heavy sigh.
“What will it take to get you to say yes?” Chase asked, biting back a wince as he forced himself to ignore the pain shooting down his legs and stood up.
“Making me believe that you’re doing this because you want to and not because you’re trying to do the right thing,” she said with a sad smile as she reached down and grabbed her bag.
“I can do that,” Chase said, having absolutely no idea how he was going to make that happen, but he would find a way.
Chapter 42
“We’re going to get in trouble,” Teddy said, throwing a nervous look back over his shoulder as he slowed down only to groan when Deb tightened her hold around his trembling hand and kept going, searching for somewhere to hide before it was too late.
“We need to hide,” Deb reminded him as they quickly made their way past the pool doors and kept going.
“I don’t understand,” Teddy mumbled, worrying his bottom lip as Deb debated going to Grey’s office, but…
No, they couldn’t risk Kim seeing them. They needed to hide until it was time for her to leave and then, they’d sneak into Grey’s office and tell him what happened. He’d fix this and if he couldn’t…
Deb glanced back at her baby brother, watching as he struggled to keep up. She couldn’t let them get their hands on him, not again. She would do whatever it took to keep him safe, including breaking her promise to Grey.
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