“Oh really?” he said, interrupting Jonas mid-sentence. “Just watch me.”
Anxious to escape, Chase turned around and stalked through the crowd. His gaze combed the lounge area, searching for the beauty in the tangerine dress. His feet slowed then stopped on the dance floor. Damn. The corner booth was empty. Demi was gone.
Chapter 3
“We’re going to the carnival-themed party at Tropicana Beach Club tonight,” Jonas announced, picking up his coffee mug. “Amber Rose is the special celebrity guest, and I’m dying to meet her.”
Chase sat at the round table with his brothers and cousins, picking at the vegetarian breakfast entrée he’d ordered from the hotel restaurant. His thoughts were a million miles away. An hour earlier his chief operating officer, Mercedes Williams-Apeloko, had called him from Manhattan in a panic and their conversation still weighed heavily on his mind.
His cell phone buzzed and he glanced down at the table. He’d received another email from his COO—the third one that morning—and reading the Ivy League graduate’s message caused his eyes to narrow and his temperature to rise. Last Monday, to coincide with National Romance Day, his company had launched its new dating app, Sparks, but to disappointing results. Sales were low, reviews were poor and, for the first time ever, Chase had doubts about the success and profitability of one of his company’s apps.
Is this a sign? The beginning of the end? Is Mobile Entertainment in trouble? Chase dismissed the thought. From day one he’d given a hundred percent to the company and he couldn’t imagine Mobile Entertainment ever failing. Not after all the sleepless nights, the personal sacrifices he’d made and the fourteen-hour days he’d spent slaving away at his desk.
His gaze fell across his gold, class ring on his left hand. It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman at Columbia, but it’s been eight years since I graduated. After obtaining an honors master’s degree in software development, he’d searched for a job with no luck. Out of boredom, he’d created a kid-friendly mobile game to entertain his nephews and nieces and, when he’d learned they were obsessed with the app, he’d created more. He’d sold his first app for a million dollars and caught the eye of several influential businessmen who’d provided him with venture capital funding.
Six years later Mobile Entertainment had both mobile and web games, international investors and celebrity fans. Last November he’d won the Innovator of the Year award from the Wall Street Journal and his life had changed overnight. He’d been invited to do a Ted Talk, to speak at conferences all over the world, and had been featured in dozens of business magazines. Through sheer drive, determination and hard work, he’d made a name for himself as an internet entrepreneur, and he wanted to achieve even greater success in his field.
Hanging his head, Chase slowly rubbed the back of his neck. Had he made a mistake creating the dating app? Had he gotten in over his head? Encouraged by the marketing department to create an app to rival the online dating giants, he’d worked tirelessly on Sparks for months, confident millennials would love its unique features. He’d given his marketing manager, Katia Fedorov, unlimited funds to promote the app, but all for naught. Sparks was a bust, a colossal failure, and Chase didn’t want to spend another dime on it. And, regardless of what Katia thought, hiring a celebrity spokesperson was out of the question.
Chase picked up his glass and drank his orange juice. He needed to do something to relax, to take his mind off his troubles. His cousins, Kendrick and Antonio, had planned an afternoon bus tour to Ibiza Town, and Chase was looking forward to spending the afternoon with his family, checking out the sights.
“Are you still sulking because baby girl ditched you last night at Infamous?”
Chase glared at Jonas, envisioned himself wringing his neck. Last night, after Demi had left, he’d joined his brothers at the bar. It hadn’t mattered how many tequila shots he’d had, he still couldn’t get the fiery beauty out of his mind. “I’m not sulking, and Demi didn’t ditch me, so shut up.”
One by one, his family members admonished him about his demeanor, and they were so annoying Chase regretted joining them in the restaurant for breakfast. Pain stabbed his side, stealing his breath. Pressing his eyes shut, he willed it to stop. It intensified, flooded every inch of his body.
Bitter memories filled his thoughts, and a cold chill flooded his viens. Last year, while horseback riding at his favorite equestrian club, he’d fallen off his horse, resulting in serious injuries. He’d broken his collarbone, fractured his wrist, elbow and shoulder, and had to have emergency surgery on his right leg. Worst of all, the force of the fall had caused testicular trauma, ruining his hopes of ever being a father. He’d spent weeks in the hospital and had endured months of physiotherapy, but he still had excruciating headaches and back pain. Since his horseback riding accident, he’d relied on prescription medication to deal with his symptoms, but sometimes the inflammation in his back was so intense tears came to his eyes. “LeBron’s here,” he lied, gesturing across the room with a nod of his head. “Is that D-Wade with him?”
Everyone at the table turned around, searching for the NBA superstars.
Chase reached into the front pocket of his navy blue shorts, retrieved the plastic pouch and ripped it open under the table. He put the pills in his mouth then took a swig of water.
“That’s not LeBron.” Kendrick forked eggs into his mouth. “Dude’s too light.”
“Damn, bro, you may wear glasses but you’re still blind as hell,” Jonas said with a laugh.
“It’s too bad Lyndsay missed,” Chase grumbled.
Everyone erupted in laughter and the grin slid off Jonas’s mouth. Chuckling, Chase bumped fists with Ezekiel and Remington. Two years earlier, Jonas had been shot with a BB gun by an enraged ex-girlfriend at a Memorial Day barbecue, but his brother still hadn’t learned his lesson. He was still breaking hearts for sport, and Chase feared one day he’d be mistaken for Jonas and caught in the crossfire of his brother’s lies.
“Chase, don’t joke about that. I could have died,” Jonas scolded, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “If I hadn’t taken cover behind that bouncy castle, she might’ve killed me and you’d be crying in your orange juice now...”
Chase’s cell phone rang and he glanced down at the table. His ex-girlfriend’s picture and number popped up on the screen. Why is she blowing up my cell? he wondered, strangling a groan. Can’t she take the hint that I don’t want to talk to her?
Chase pressed the decline button, and finished eating his entrée. Juliet Wilmington was impossible to please and from day one their relationship had been plagued with extreme highs and lows. He couldn’t
win with her; one minute he was the man of her dreams, the next he was an insensitive jerk with no heart. If he’d learned anything from his horseback riding accident, it was to live in the moment, not the past, and that’s what Chase was going to do—move on once and for all.
“Have you spoken to Juliet recently?” Kendrick asked, glancing down at Chase’s cell phone.
“No, and I don’t plan to. We’re over for good this time and I don’t want to be friends.”
“That’s going to be hard.” Ezekiel wore a skeptical expression on his face and Chase worried his brother was going to give him another long-winded lecture about relationships “We’ve known the Wilmingtons our whole lives, and Juliet’s tight with Mom, Moriah, Antonella and Kym. In fact, they’re planning a humanitarian vacation to Nepal in May.”
Chase cursed. “Seriously? She’s unbelievable.”
“Damn, bro, you sure know how to pick them,” Remington said with a wry smile.