“How did it go? All good?” he came to her and asked.
“What the hell do you want from me? Don’t you get the idea that I don’t want to be around you? Just stay away from me, Chase. I’m warning you!” she snapped at him, barely containing her tears and letting anger take over her.
“Oh, I get the idea just fine. But don’t tell me what to do, love. Don’t push me away because of whatever happened inside.” He caught her by the elbow. She had to give him credit; he had left a mule behind in stubbornness.
“You are not close to me that I have to push you away, Chase.” She uncurled his fingers from her elbow and stormed away. A lone tear escaped her eye, and Trent decided to run into her that moment.
“Lennie? What happened? Are you alright? You are crying.” Like she needed to know. “I am fine, Trent. I need to catch the bus. I’ll see you around.” She walked away, leaving Trent behind.
*
“What did you say to her? I told you to stay the fuck away from her, Lincoln.” Trent shoved his shoulder, but Chase only had eyes following the brunette who was exiting the campus. “Tell me what you said to her that made her cry. She has enough to deal with already, I swear to God if you mess with her, I’ll …” Chase cut him off in mid threat. “Shouldn’t you go after her and see what’s actually wrong instead of giving me the bullshit I don’t care about, Cadman?”
Chase headed to the campus gym. He needed to do something that occupied his physical strength or else he was just a minute away from going after Elena. All the earlier plan of breaking her and making her surrender was long out of the window. That look on her face made him want to punch something hard. He started hitting the sandbag. She was so closed off and reserved that he couldn’t fathom anything about her, and that’s what made him more and more frustrated. If only he knew what was going on inside her head or what was worrying her. He never once cared about a human’s wellbeing. Then why didn’t Elena stand in that category?
Maybe it was all about that first night when she had hung onto him like a broken bud. Was that what he wanted? Her all vulnerable and broken? What kind of a man was he then? It disgusted him to even think about it. He punched and kicked the sandbag until sweat ran down his body and his shirt was drenched and his knuckles burned. No pain was enough to take his mind off the image of Elena.
He wished someone would punch him for thinking what he had been thinking all along. Maybe he’d allow Trent to do that honor. He’d be more than glad to do so.
“Where are you, man? Coach’s asking for you for an hour.” His phone buzzed with the text from Daniel, one of the team members, when he’d changed back into his jeans and T-shirt. It had slipped his mind that he had practice. “Be there in ten,” he texted back and stepped out of the gym.
“Chase, here you are. I have been looking for you since after the class. Where have you been?” Sandra locked her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him, but he moved his head away. She pouted in protest. “I’ve to get to the practice. I’m running late, Sandra.”
“You are always rushing somewhere. Either to do the practice or following that new slut of yours. I don’t know what you see in her. She is just arrogant and all attitude.” Chase pushed Sandra away and glared at her. “Don’t talk about Elena like that. Do you understand me, Sandra?”
“What, is she your girlfriend now? Is that why you are not hanging around with us anymore?”
Neil and Jacob also came to where he was standing. “I don’t have to explain my private life to anybody. But if I hear any of you disrespecting Elena, I’ll be the one taking answers. Don’t forget that. And spread the word if you have to. Who goes after Elena has me coming after them.”
He could break necks for her if he had to. That was what he was feeling inside. It was better if no one gave him the reason to take out his anger on himself or someone else.
*****
“This is not working anymore, Elena. I can’t afford to have a klutz on my restaurant. Where is your mind? This is the third order you have got wrong,” Quinn barked at her.
“I’m sorry, Quinn. I’ll have it changed.” She started to take off when Quinn stopped her. “There is no need for it. I can’t allow this to go on anymore. You are fired.”
Fired? Was he kidding? Three years she had worked for him loyally and that’s what she got in return? Oh, who was she kidding, it was the fates against her in this combat. First she’d lost her scholarship and now the job that paid her peanuts. Maybe it was all sorting out for her. Giving her the signs of how her life was falling apart and what miserable attempt she was making to fix it. The truth was, she never had a chance.
Changing out of her uniform, she decided to walk back to campus, which for only God knows how long was hers. She had no idea how she was going to pull through it. Ask Jonathan for money. That’s the least he can do as a father. He already has enough to spare. A random thought crossed her mind, and she pushed it away as quickly. Ask her father for money? She’d eat rat’s poison far more happily. By the time she reached the neighborhood, it was already dark. She had no heart to head back into the same dorm, watching the same faces and the same walls. She looked around and found the flashing light of the nightclub. Yes, club. She needed to get drunk and maybe hook up. The end of a shitty day could be better than the start.
Loud music welcomed her as she entered into the club. It was Friday night and the place was overcrowded, mostly with the familiar faces from the college. Most of them were glancing at her with strange expressions. She made her way to the bar. “Beer, please.” The bartender shot her a suspicious look. “Can I see the ID?” Of course. She fished out her driving license and handed it to him.
She took a long gulp of the amber liquid and tried to soothe her mind. Better yet numb it.
“Having a bad day, Elena?” She turned to find Sandra standing next to her. “None of your concern.” She looked away.
“Oh, it’s my concern all right when you are making the hot news all over the campus.”
“I’m glad I gave you guys some entertainment.”
“Even broke you are snarky.” Sandra’s comment pinched something inside her. Broke? This wasn’t news to her. “Just leave, Sandra. Go find someone else to listen your bullshit,” Elena said bizarrely.
“Just because you have Chase shielding you like a knight and you pretending to be a damsel in distress, doesn’t mean that you have an edge over me. He is doing this out of pity. I mean look at you. Who’d want to look at you twice?” Sandra’s revelation made her shoot her head up. “What do you mean? What did Chase do?”
“Stop acting like you don’t know anything. He threatened everybody to stay out of your way and not say anything ill about you. Like the entire college doesn’t know that you are fucking his brains out and that has made him dumb as a drum.”
He did what?
She needed something stronger than beer. Sandra was long gone, but Elena’s head was still working. All the alcohol had done nothing to numb her ability of over-thinking. Her phone rang, and she looked down to see it was Trent. She was never going to hear the end from him about running away from him in the morning.
“Hi, Trent.”
“Elena! Thank God. Where the hell are you? I’ve been calling you for hours.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’m fine.”
“What happened earlier? Are you alright?”
“I lost my scholarship.” There was no point in keeping it a secret.
“Oh Lennie,” he began.
“Trent, don’t, please. I don’t want to hear it right now.”
“Where are you right now?”
“You are not coming here.” Valerie’s parents were in town and Trent was supposed to be having dinner with them. If she told him that she was drinking herself to death, he’d come over.
“Alright, I won’t. But at least tell me so I know where to find you later.” Fair enough. “I am at the club.” She disconnected the phone and tuned out the rest of the world. The air aro
und her had changed, and she felt his presence before she saw him. She turned and there he was; Chase, sitting at one of the loveseats. Hs eyes were on her and his face was dark with some unknown emotion. If only she was as good at reading emotions as she was with numbers.
Sandra’s words came back to her, and she looked at Chase again. He was still looking her way, oblivious to the bimbos around him. Elena wondered if what Sandra had said was true. Even if it was, what difference did it make? Chase was still Chase, and she was still herself. When the turmoil inside her brain refused to lessen, she depended more on alcohol. Until a hand gripped the glass over her knuckles.
“That’s enough for you for a night.” It was Chase’s voice. But his tone was so different from the other times. It was grave and dense. She risked a look up to his face. It wasn’t his usual cocky expression there. It was something else, something more.
“Nobody tells me what I do.” She tried to free her hand, but he didn’t let go. “Start getting used to it. Now enough. You are not drinking anymore.” He made her drink a large glass of sparkling water and then took her elbow. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’m just making sure that you reach your dorm in one piece, Elena. Get up now.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I am staying and I’m drinking more. You can go and kiss your ass, Lincoln.” Her head was spinning now. “I lost my scholarship and then I got fired from my job. Now you can’t tell me what to do. I’m fed up from everybody telling me what to do.”
She didn’t know what made her spill her guts to him, but she couldn’t take it back now. She braced herself for his sympathy lecture. But it never came. “Just spit it and get over with it, Chase. You don’t need to create anticipation. You don’t have to keep your pity for me inside you.”
His fingers caught her jaw, and he tilted it upwards. “First thing, Elena, out of a hundred things that I feel about you, pity is none of them. Secondly, if you ever use this tone with me …”
“Then what? You are going to silence me? How?” It was definitely alcohol speaking and not her.
“Don’t tempt me, Elena. Come with me. We are leaving now.” We, now that’s the word that sounded nice. Chase took her hand and led her out of the club. Elena couldn’t miss the eyes that followed them. Almost half of the club was looking at them. Some had smirks on their faces, the rest, which belonged to the female part, were glowering.
“Wait!” Elena stopped in tracks. “Have you threatened everyone to stay away from me?”
Chase sighed and looked at her. “Can we not talk about this?”
“No, tell me. Why did you say so? Do you want people to think I’m a broken, pitiful, small girl that cannot take care of herself?” She was yelling at him now. Mental note: Never drink this much.
“Stop creating a scene, Elena. We’ll talk when you’re sober.” He was dragging her now and people were gawking. Even better.
Elena shoved him on the chest. “We’re talking now, Chase. Tell me.” The answer to her demand came, but not as words, it was Chase’s lips that covered her mouth and forbid her to speak anymore. She tried fighting him, but he caught both her arms in one hand and pulled her neck up to meet him halfway. And then she gave up. His mouth moved along hers in perfect sync like it was made for her. With each stroke, he was branding her. And she let him. She was too tired of fighting her attraction for him. When she kissed him back, he groaned and let her hands go. She fisted her hand in his hair with a fierce grip. The next thing she knew, he had her pressed against the hard wall and was devouring her like she had never been devoured before.
She wanted him. She wanted him in that moment so she could forget everything else. Everything that was falling apart in her life. And that’s exactly what she did. She reached for his shirt. “No,” Chase whispered in between kisses and caught her hands and pinned them on either side of her face. “I want you, Chase.” She was begging him.
“No, Elena, you don’t. You are drunk. It’s alcohol speaking, not you.” What the hell was he saying? And why was he even talking? She was giving him what he wanted all along. “Damn you, Chase. I’m asking you to fuck me, and you’re turning me down? Isn’t that why you were following me all these weeks? Now I’m throwing myself at you and you are saying you don’t want me?” Humiliation spread inside her. Lord, could this be any more embarrassing? She pushed him away and tears threatened to fall.
“It’s not like that, Elena. It’s not that I don’t want you. God, I want you so much that I am an inch away from taking you right here where the whole club can hear us. But I won’t. Because tomorrow, you’re gonna hate me. And that’s the last thing I want. I want you more than a sympathy fuck, damn it. Can’t you see that?” He was running his hands through his hair. But she couldn’t keep her eyes on him. Her head was spinning like crazy. And then he began to blur in front of her.
“Elena? Fuck!” That was the last thing she heard.
*****
“Ssh, sweetheart, Daddy won’t hurt you. Just go back into your room quietly and sleep.” Her head was hurting. He was pulling her by the hair and dragging her along the corridor to her room. “Mom!” she tried to yell, but the hard smack on her face absorbed every shriek. “You are just like your mother. Stubborn and willful. All you do is enrage me and then I have no choice but to show you your real place. Just like your mother. Pity.” Another blow came to her and her teeth rattled. “You remind me of her. Every day, every minute. You remind me what a loser I was to marry her.” Smack. No, no more, please, she begged silently.
“Elena, wake up, love. You are having a dream.” That voice. That heartwarming voice. Yes, that’s what she needed. She opened her eyes, and he was right there next to her. And then strong arms engulfed her and she rested her head on that strong chest before giving in to sleep again, with that strong heartbeat beneath her. Everything was perfect. Blissfully perfect. Her abusive father was nowhere near her. Chase wouldn’t let him get near her.
*
Her head was throbbing with pain when she woke up. She looked around and panic began to erupt inside her. This wasn’t her dorm. The flashbacks from last night started coming back to her. Oh God! She had spent the night in Chase’s room? What else had they done? She jumped out of bed, relieved a little to see she was completely dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. The humiliation still lingered inside her. What was she thinking last night asking Chase to screw her? And he had turned her down, hadn’t he? She looked around. He was nowhere in sight. Taking it as an opportunity, she decided to take off. She was just getting into her jacket when the door opened.
“Ready to fly off again, love?” Chase was holding two coffees and a brown bag. “I … I need to go.” She avoided his gaze.
“Of course, you do. But I got you coffee. Will it hurt to stay back a minute and have breakfast?” he offered casually. She agreed, sat down on the computer chair and took a tentative sip of her coffee. It was just the way she liked it.
“I followed you for weeks, remember?” Chase reminded her, and she flushed. “Last night …” she began to say but couldn’t find words. “Nothing happened. You passed out, and I had to bring you here. And just for your knowledge, I slept on the couch.” He pointed to the couch in the corner of the room. “At least until early in the morning,” he said in a low voice, looking intently at her. She lowered her head. So it had actually happened. He had comforted her. It wasn’t part of a dream.
“I had a hard past.” She swallowed. She didn’t know why, but she felt a sudden urge to spill every secret before him. “My dad, he wasn’t exactly … kind.” And then the words came out seamlessly. She told him about the abusive nature of her father. How he treated her mother until she died of a sudden fatal heart attack. And then his abusiveness had changed its direction towards her.
“My Mom never complained. She took his blows and cried silently, but she never once asked him to stop or told anybody. And then she died, not caring what would happen to me. I was fifteen then. I had to live in that
house for three years, suffering. The day I got my acceptance here in Seattle, I ran away.”
She silenced and for the longest time, none of them spoke. And then Chase got up and kneeled next to her. His eyes were glassy yet filled with a fierce emotion. Surprisingly, nothing about it scared her. “I hate that it happened to you, love. You are the strongest person I know. You are unbreakable. That monster you lived with is past. He won’t hurt you anymore.” He took her hands and pressed a kiss on her knuckles.
“He knows where I am and what I do. He keeps tabs on me. But now that I don’t have any scholarship to keep me from completing my degree, I might as well run somewhere else.” She gave out a humorless laugh.
“You are not running away from him, Elena, not anymore,” Chase said to her in a stern voice.
“I’ve no option.” She shrugged.
“Of course you do. You’ll fire a harassment case against him.”
“What? Are you crazy? He’s rich and powerful. Nobody is going to listen to me.”
Chase was silent for a minute. “They’ll listen to you. Just agree and leave it to me.” His voice was filled with promise. She didn’t answer, just stared at him. What had changed overnight?
*
“Ms. Winston, Mr. Andrews wants you in his office right now,” she was informed in the middle of the lecture.
“I’ll come with you.” Chase, who was sitting next to her, held her hand and got up. “No, stay here. I’ll be back.” She put her hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t left her side ever since their morning together. And what’s more, she wasn’t complaining. His presence gave her a sense of security she never had.
“I’m coming with you, Elena.” Talk about stubbornness.
“Chase, please. I don’t want you to come. Please.” He pouted, and she gave a small smile.
“Mr. Andrews? May I?” she knocked his door and entered.
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