Chance Taken

12

Veronica

So close, I came so damn close to finding the men who took Ariel. So close to making sure they were punished, that they were locked up for good. To giving her the justice she deserves. She’d be able to move on completely after that, socialize again, go out with friends, maybe even move out of the guest house at my parents' house and find a boyfriend.

And then Chance walked in and completely shattered that dream.

What is with him? Why is everything in my life just exploding whenever he’s around?

As soon as we entered my office, Trixie grabbed the papers she’d given me, told me she was sorry amid loud sobs, then bolted out the door. She was outside again before I realized what was happening, and I had no chance of catching her.

Now the adrenaline from trying to anyway is pumping so hard through my veins that I can hear my blood whooshing and I can’t stop shaking. Or pacing up and down my office, not even caring how many times I bump into a chair or edge of a table.

So damn close.

The door chime sounds and I stop mid-step, shaking on the spot, staring at the open door and daring to hope that she’s back, that she changed her mind.

But it’s Chance who walks in, slowly and cautiously, like he’s afraid to approach me. He should be, I want to scratch his eyes out, or worse. And I think he knows it, because he stops in the doorway, filling it up almost completely with his bulky frame.

“Why?” I snap at him. “Why did you have to chase her away?”

He takes a tentative step towards me, but stops again. “It had to be done. Nothing good would’ve come out of Trixie’s dumb plan.”

“Nothing good? Nothing good?” I ask shrilly and close the distance between us that he’s so afraid to cross and poke him in the chest with my index finger. “Only good would’ve come out of it. She was going to give me the names of the men who abducted my little sister, the monsters who held her captive and made her do unspeakable things. The assholes who ruined her life forever. They were never caught, but now they would be. If you hadn’t scared her off.”

My breathing has deteriorated into heaving gasps delivering that speech, I’ve poked him so many times I’m sure I’ve broken skin and I can no longer control my sobbing.

There’s a pained grimace on his face and he looks disgusted as he looks at me. I don’t care. But for some reason he’s not moving away from me and leaving like he should. Like I need him to before I lose it completely.

“I’m sorry about what happened to your sister,” he says quietly, caringly even. “They’ll never get to do it to another woman. You have my word.”

“What is that even supposed to mean?” I snap, amid worsening sobs. “Stop lying. Stop pretending you’re anything but a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m not one of those poor, broken women like Trixie. You can’t intimidate me, and I can see right through your nice guy act.”

He shakes his head, looking exasperated and disgusted now, and I have no idea why he’s even still here. “I never want to see you again.”

My sobbing has finally stopped, and I stride over to my desk to get my purse. “I’m going after her,” I announce.

“You won’t find her,” he says.

“I’m going to try,” I snap back. “She needs my help and I need her to give me the information she promised me.”

He takes hold of my arm as I try to walk past him, doing it much more gently that I would’ve thought he was capable of. I don’t mind it, not at all, it’s the first time I’ve felt grounded, since he walked into my life and I don’t really want him to let me go, but I yank my arm out of his grasp anyway. He looks just as stunned as I feel.

“Trixie doesn’t want help, you’d be wasting your time,” he says. “I should know.”

“Why are you saying that? How can you say that?” I snap. “She’s clearly in a lot of pain. She couldn’t stop crying before. She needs help.”

“I offered and she told me to go to hell,” he says quietly. “And we’re all in a lot of pain. Some of it is down to her. But it’ll all be alright soon.”

He’s trying to tell me something and I’m not listening. Or I am listening, but he’s just not being clear. I could rush out of here and chase after Trixie, but he’s right, I’ll probably never find her. She most likely went to one of those biker hangouts around town that I’m afraid to drive past, let alone enter. Though in my current mood I just might. My best bet is to stay here and keep him talking. Maybe he’ll let something slip.

“Why is she in pain?” I ask. “And why are you?”

He does a weird sort of double take as he looks at me, as though he’s seeing me for the first time, and at the same time like he’s surprised I’m standing here asking him that.

“It’s a long story,” he says and doesn’t continue.

My blood is boiling again and whooshing so loud in my ears I can hardly hear myself think.