Meant for Me (A Second Chance standalone)

by L. P. Dover

  Chase coughed and then burst out laughing while pulling out his phone. “You are too much, Claire. I love a woman with fire.” Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him and stared out the tinted window of the Mercedes.

  Chase dialed a number on his phone and when the person answered on the other end he responded, “Yeah, I have her, and no, she didn’t put up a fight,” he paused, and rubbed his neck, “well not much of one anyway. Once I mentioned harming Mason she complied immediately.” He listened to the other person speak a little longer and then hung up the phone.

  “All right, everything is set to go for four o’clock,” he said.

  “Four o’clock?” I gasped, turning to face him. “That’s six hours away. What are you going to do with me until then?”

  Chase moved closer and moved the hair away from my neck so he could speak into my ear, “Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’re going to spend a little quality time with me. You might enjoy it.”

  So help me, God, please don’t let him try anything with me. There was only so much fight one has in their body, and I was getting close to my limit. A tear escaped the corner of my eye, but I knew I mustn’t show fear. I was beginning to think I should’ve ran when I had the chance.

  Blindfolded and with my hands tied in my lap, I sat quietly in the backseat while Chase talked heatedly on the phone outside the car. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I heard my name come up a couple of times. The only thing that kept me sane was that at four o’clock I would see Mason again.

  “You’re awfully quiet considering the circumstances,” the driver said, sounding curious. “Most people in this situation would be frantic, but not you. I find that rather interesting.” It was the first time he’d spoken since being in the car, except I wasn’t exactly in a talking mood.

  Clenching my teeth, I sat up straighter and pursed my lips, refusing to acknowledge him. He must’ve been watching me in the mirror because he chuckled and turned around in the seat, making the leather creak as he moved. “You’re angry. That’s a good thing,” he admitted. “Don’t worry, though; Chase isn’t going to do anything to you. Our boss specifically said for him not to and if he goes against that he’ll find himself in a ditch with a bullet inside his brain. Anyway, I heard what you did to him at the party. I wish I could’ve seen it. I never understood why he wanted revenge on Mason when he constantly fucked other women behind his wife’s back. The ladies love him though.”

  Disgusted, I spat angrily, “He’s a worthless piece of shit. I should’ve hit him harder on the head with that bottle and put him out permanently.”

  “Would you have really killed him?” he asked in wonder. Taking someone’s life wasn’t something I would do lightly, but if it came down to my life or my attacker’s … I would gladly pick the former.

  “If he tries to do me harm I will in a heartbeat. I’m not anyone’s victim, especially his.”

  Just about the time I finished saying that, Chase opened the car door and huffed as he scooted in beside me. “It looks like we’re going to Erick’s,” he suggested indignantly. “It appears he has a soft spot for Mason’s bitch here and wants her in good hands before the fight. His exact words were that I wasn’t capable of achieving that.”

  That’s for damn sure, I wanted to say, but taunting him wasn’t a smart move.

  “You know, it’s a shame Erick didn’t give me the chance to fight for you,” Chase added, “but who knows, I might get lucky. I don’t know why Erick even wanted to give Mason the opportunity to get ahead anyway. He doesn’t deserve to win.”

  “Wait,” I shouted. “Are you saying the fight is going to be over me?”

  Chase tapped me on the chin with a finger, saying, “That’s right, love.”

  “Well, what happens if Mason and the other guy don’t want to fight for me?” I stormed impatiently.

  I could feel his breath on my face as he moved closer, whispering in my ear, “Then you, my lovely goddess, will belong to me for the night if they don’t comply. I’m pretty sure they’ll both fight to the death to keep you from me.”

  My blood boiled.

  “Who gives Erick the right to determine who I belong to? That’s not his choice to make. I would rather rip out my own hair and choke on it than spend a night with you. I do know how to fight and I will kill you if you so much as touch me in that way,” I argued vehemently.

  “Ooh, I like it rough, baby, but given who’s fighting for you I hate to admit that I’m probably not going to get the chance. I haven’t had any complaints from the women as of yet so I honestly think you’d enjoy it.”

  “Ugh …” I scoffed. “What about your wife? Aren’t you married? How could you do something like this to her?”

  “Easy,” he remarked flippantly. “I find a girl and I fuck her. Have you seen the amount of women that flock to us after the fights? I’m curious to see how you handle it after watching Mason get chased by countless women day in and day out. You won’t stand a chance against a fresh piece of ass every week.”

  “You’re disgusting,” I sneered.

  Chase and the driver both laughed. “I aim to please,” he joked.

  For ten minutes, I listened to Chase and the driver talk about the fight, who they thought would win, and what they hoped would happen to Mason. They still never told me who the other fighter was. Blowing out an annoyed breath, I interrupted their joking and demanded to know, “I want to know who the other fighter is. Tell me who he is.”

  I had a feeling I already knew, but I wanted to hold out hope that I was wrong. My suspicions were confirmed almost immediately when Chase scoffed and answered, “Oh, come on Claire, I know you’re not stupid. You know who Mason will be fighting, and one thing’s for sure, Wade’s determined to see it through to the end. That boy is completely hard up for you. It’ll definitely be interesting to watch him go against Mason, not to mention the amount of money riding on this fight.”

  “How much are we talking?” I asked, my voice a harsh whisper.

  Chase chuckled and patted my knee. “Five million dollars, baby. However, that’s only for a submission. The bloodier the fight, the more money you get paid. Who would’ve thought that a piece of pussy would be worth so much.”

  Scooting as far away from him as I could, I leaned my head against the window, trying to keep the bile from rising in my throat. Did Summer go through this same shit when her husband was killed?

  “You know this is considered kidnapping, right?”

  “No, it’s not,” Chase countered matter-of-factly, “you came with me willingly.”

  “You threatened me,” I shouted. “How is that willingly?”

  “I didn’t force you to come. I just suggested that it might be in your best interest. There’s a big difference there. You are more than welcome to back out of this, except I wouldn’t recommend you do that. Erick has a lot riding on this fight. He gets pretty angry when things don’t go his way and bad things tend to happen when he gets like that, but when things do go his way he’s very rewarding.”

  Rewarding for whom? I wondered. It sure as hell wasn’t going to be me. From every angle of looking at this, it appeared I was the one who suffered the most. The fate of my life for one night hung in the balance between two men … my lover and a friend who used to be more.

  Either way, I was going to lose.

  I had to stay blindfolded until I was escorted into Erick’s house and put in a room. Chase took off my blindfold and thankfully he left immediately along with the guy who drove us. “Thank God,” I whispered to myself.

  The room I was brought to happened to be a large suite with a bedroom and separate sitting room. Everything was done in all golden hues from the walls to the pale yellow bedspread on the king size bed. It was really bright and sensual … not what I would imagine one of Erick’s rooms to look like. The sitting room doors were open so I walked toward it and gasped, not expecting to see Erick sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

  “Now don’t you thi
nk this is better than spending your time with Chase?” he asked smugly.

  Glaring, I crossed my arms across my chest, pursing my lips. “That all depends on what you have planned for me. From what I hear, you’re threatening to hand me over to Chase for a night if Mason and Wade don’t fight for me. I don’t think that inspires me to want to be anywhere near you.”

  He patted the seat beside him and motioned for me to sit, but instead, I walked right past him and sat in the chair on the opposite side. “I’m not going to give you to Chase,” he explained incredulously. “I may be an arrogant son of a bitch, but I would never give someone like you over to him. He doesn’t exactly know that at the moment, and the only reason why I’m doing it is so I can get a good fight out of your guys. They both hate him and they’re not going to want to see you with him.”

  Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and said, “Now whoever the winner is, that’s who you will leave with. What you do after that is your own business. I may like you, but I’m going to give you a fair warning. If I so much as hear a peep out of your mouth about what went on tonight after it’s all over I’m going to make sure you stay silent for a really long time. Do you understand?”

  Closing my eyes, I nodded, lowering my head. “I understand, but what about Mason and Wade? One of them could get hurt or even killed.”

  “Oh, I truly hope so,” he uttered honestly. “It makes for good entertainment, and the guys know the risks. However, what you fail to realize is that this whole thing wasn’t completely my idea. It was brought to my attention by someone else.”

  “What? Who?” I demanded. By the gleam in Erick’s eyes I already had my answer.

  “No, it couldn’t be possible,” I cried, shaking my head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “Believe me, sweetheart, Wade would.”

  “What if I don’t cooperate and agree to the terms,” I countered stubbornly. “What if I don’t want to be fought over, huh? Are you going to kill me?”

  Chuckling, Erick quickly got to his feet and slammed his hands down on the arms of my chair. Gasping, I moved as far back in the seat as I could, but he kept getting closer. His eyes looked almost black and the smile he had on his face had turned into an evil sneer. “That is all up to you, Claire, on if I kill you or not. Frankly, I think that’s a bit extreme considering all you have to endure is just one fight. All you have to do is suck it up and keep your mouth shut. However, if you want to be stubborn, I have my ways of making you change your mind.”

  “How?” I breathed, swallowing hard.

  “Oh, Claire,” he murmured, closing the space even more. “I researched a lot of things about you, sweetheart. How would you like to have your vineyards and your winery taken away from you? I’m pretty sure I have the means to come up with something, or better yet, how about Cooper Davis?”

  Eyes going wide in panic, I clenched my teeth and hissed, “What about him? He has nothing to do with this.” I couldn’t allow Cooper to be brought into this.

  “You didn’t think I’d find out about him, did you?” Erick boasted. “Well, it wasn’t hard to do a search on you and see pictures of you with him. There are plenty of them out there. So would you change your mind if I told you I could get him kicked off the football team and have his career ruined for the rest of his life? I don’t think he’d appreciate that at all now would he, especially, if he finds out it was all your fault?”

  He looked down at his watch and then back to me with a smug grin on his face. “Tick-tock, Claire. I don’t have all day.” If he was bluffing, I would have no way to prove it, but if he was telling the truth, I could lose everything. There was no thinking … I had to do it.

  “Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll agree to the terms of the fight.”

  He patted me on the cheek. “I knew you’d see it my way, and now that we’ve come to an agreement I’ll leave you to your thoughts. Mira, my housekeeper, will bring you lunch here shortly and anything else you desire. You’re not a prisoner, but I strongly suggest you stay put and not cause trouble. I have cameras in all my rooms so if you do something stupid I’ll see it.”

  Slowly, he moved away from my chair and ambled toward the door. Before he walked out, he turned to me one last time and grinned. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

  My reply to that was a certain middle finger and a scowl, and I heard his laugh the whole way down the hall.

  When Erick walked out of the room, he left the door standing wide open. He said I wasn’t a prisoner, but he also said he had cameras in all the rooms. That alone basically said I was being watched. My safest bet was to stay put, so I did. Mira, Erick’s housekeeper, came in with a tray of food and set it on the table in front of the couch while I was looking at the books on the bookshelf. Mira was a middle-aged Asian woman, with short, black hair to her shoulders and wearing a blue uniformed smock that reminded me of what hotel maids would wear. She smiled kindly at me when I turned to acknowledge her.

  “Your lunch, Miss Claire. If there is anything else you would like don’t hesitate to let me know. You can reach me through the messaging system by the bedroom door. You’ll see my name on the keypad and all you have to do is press it and I’ll come.”

  “Thank you, Mira. I appreciate that,” I said wholeheartedly. I had no clue if she knew why I was actually there, but again, I didn’t want to reach out to her and have everything come crashing down on me.

  Mira left the room, and as soon as I lifted the cover on the tray, my stomach growled and began to cramp. I was hungry, but there was that gnawing fear of being poisoned plaguing the back of my mind. Groaning, I turned back to the books and scanned the shelves. There were mainly books on art, architecture, medieval castles, and Old English literature. I was pretty sure Erick didn’t have any romance novels, but it didn’t hurt to look.

  Frustrated, I lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Would it have hurt to have a TV in here if I’m going to be stuck here for five hours?” I mumbled to myself.

  “There’s one in my room,” a tiny voice replied.

  Bolting upright and grabbing my chest, I sucked in a shocked breath as my gaze found a little girl in the doorway, smiling shyly. She stared at me for a moment before tiptoeing in the room. “Geez, you scared me, little one. What’s your name?” I asked delicately.

  Looking down at the floor, she whispered, “Madison.”

  Is she Erick’s daughter? I wondered. She was the most adorable little girl with blonde ringlets and bright blue eyes. What made her even cuter was that she wore a pink tutu and purple leotard. She almost looked exactly like me when I was her age.

  Smiling back at her, I said, “You have a very pretty name, Madison. My name is Claire.” Slowly, she made her way to the table and inched closer to me, looking down at the food.

  “Are you going to eat your lunch? Mira always tells me not to waste my food,” she scolded with her hands on her hips. Biting my lip, I tried to hide my smile because it looked like the little girl was being serious.

  To appease her, I sat on the floor in front of the little table and slid the tray closer to me. There was a triple decker club sandwich with a mound of French fries. Picking up my sandwich, I took a huge bite and lifted a brow at her. “Are you happy now?” I asked her, talking with a mouth full of food.

  She giggled and sat beside me on the floor. “Can I have a French fry, please?”

  I pushed the plate over a little so she could reach it. “Of course, help yourself to as many as you want, Maddie.”

  She dug in and we both ate them all up before finishing the sandwich together. “Are you my mommy?” she asked, gazing up at me with her innocent blue eyes.

  “Oh, honey, no I’m not. I’m just a visitor here today. Does your mommy not live here with you?” I wasn’t about to tell her the truth of why I was there, but it wouldn’t hurt to get more information on who she was. A little girl like her didn’t need a father like Erick who manipulated and hurt people.

 
Madison shook her head. “No, my mommy’s in heaven. I don’t remember her, but I saw a picture of her in my daddy’s room. He told me it was my mommy in the picture. You look just like her.” My throat closed up, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and take her away. It was strange to think that Madison thought I looked like her mother. Even stranger was how could a sweet thing like her come from someone like Erick?

  Turning to her, I ruffled her little curls and lifted her chin. “My mother’s in heaven, too, Maddie. I miss her every single day.”

  “Will you be back after today?” she asked.

  Sadly, I shook my head. “I don’t think so, sweetheart. I’ll be leaving here in just a couple of hours. I have to go back home soon.”

  “Where is your home?”

  “It’s in California. I came down here to visit some friends,” I explained.

  “Is my daddy your friend? I don’t like his friends. Mira makes me stay away from them and always sends me to my room when they come over. I don’t ever see my daddy much.”

  Not knowing how to answer, I switched the subject. If I was being watched I didn’t want to get on the subject of her father or his people. “So, Maddie,” I announced, pointing to her frilly pink tutu. “Do you dance? I used to take ballet when I was little.”

  She beamed and jumped to her feet. “I do ballet, too. Mira takes me every Tuesday and Thursday. Do you want to see? No one ever comes to watch me other than Mira.”

  This little girl was breaking my heart. I never grew up in a house where the housekeeper watched after me instead of my own parents. I couldn’t imagine how lonely it had to be.

  Smiling brightly, I nodded my head and motioned for her to start. “I would love to watch you dance. Show me what you’ve learned.”