“Yeah,” Etta whined. She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. I didn’t believe her for one second.
“What a coincidence.” She stood up quickly with her hands balled into fists. “It’s fine if you don’t believe me.” “That’s a relief because I don’t.” “Whitney has already agreed to help me with the costs,” Etta explained, hardly trying to contain the smile that was brushing across her tear-stained features. My temper was boiling. “You stay away from her. Whitney is a sweetheart, but she is very trusting.”
“Which is why I thought you might like to help me instead.” “Why the hell would I do that?” I asked. “Because you know I can get more money out of her than you,” she pointed out. I couldn’t deny she had a point, but still, I was smarting from how we had left things and was really suspicious about what she planned to do with my money. “I never stopped loving you, you know,” Etta added, coming closer. That was the clincher. If she hadn’t said that, her attempt to insinuate herself might have actually worked.
I snapped. “You never loved me. You can’t love anything. They would have to compete with your ego first.” She looked up at me stunned. “I loved you, you know. Almost too much. I joined the army to try to forget. Do you have any idea what really happened in Afghanistan?” “I—” “It’s fine, most people don’t. Here, let me help.” I ripped open the front of my shirt, the buttons flying across the room, taking it the rest of the way off and letting it fall on the floor. From my waist just above my belt to my shoulders, my upper back was a pattern of crisscrossing scars resembling an argyle sweater. It was something I’d tried to keep hidden. I always kept a tank top on when I fucked. The only person who had seen the scars was Ann who had led the extraction team.
“Fuck,” Etta whispered. “I told you no.”
I was about to tell her to leave when she did the job for me, running for the door, her hand over her mouth.
Chapter Fourteen
Ashlyn
On the way home, my back hurt a bit from cleaning, but otherwise, I felt good. It was nice to be back to work again. It hadn’t really been that long since I’d lost my waitressing job but that was the way I was raised, I felt really bad if I wasn’t making my own money. I wasn’t usually the sort to take charity. Even when I needed it. What happened with Chase had been an odd exception.
My stomach growled as I opened the apartment door, looking forward to what Chase had for me.
“I’m home,” I announced. “Katie is asleep,” Chase hushed me. “Oh, I see,” I said, quietly closing the door. “How was your day?” he asked, getting up from his desk and walking over. “Tough but good. It sucked being away from Katie, but I’m here now.” “Indeed you are,” he agreed. “What’s for dinner?” “Dinner?” he asked, looking confused. I frowned. At lunch, Chase had promised to make some sort of spectacular dinner. Did he forget? “Um, yeah, remember? Before I left after lunch? You told me not to eat because you were making something?” “Oh, damn, I forgot,” he said, putting his palm to his forehead. “Oh.” I looked down, not wanting him to see the disappointment on my face. “Yeah, sorry, I got distracted,” he explained.
Chase walked back over to the couch and sunk down. He looked miserable, leaning forward and rubbing his temples with two fingers. “What happened?” I asked. “Etta came over. Unannounced. Things got a bit nasty.” I sighed. No wonder he got distracted. It was becoming clear, again, that Etta was the main concentration of his life. I needed to confront this before my feelings for him got worse.
I sat down on the couch, facing him. “It is clear you have feelings for her.” “Yeah, though none of them are good,” Chase said. “Really?” I asked, surprised. “It’s you I can’t get out of my mind,” he confessed, taking my hand. “What?” I asked, truly shocked. He scooted closer, taking my face in his large hands. “It was part of why I was so upset when you disappeared like that. I-I love you.”
I’m not quite sure what happened. Some sort of tension broke, and we started kissing passionately. Chase leaned down so he could reach my mouth, both his hands gently squeezing my ass. I hummed contentedly, rubbing my crotch against the bulge forming in the front of his pants.
In one swift, sure movement, Chase swooped me up into his arms and carried me easily into the master bedroom, neither of us breaking our kiss. It was obvious what was going to happen, and I couldn’t have been happier. Chase lay me out near the foot of the bed. I kept completely still as he slowly undid my sneakers and took them off, followed by my socks. Moving up, he unbuttoned my pants, lightly pulling the fly all the way down. Taking my jeans by the cuffs, he kissed me softly down my quivering legs as he pulled them down. Returning to my waist, he softly circled his fingertips against the front of my cotton panties, my pussy already getting wet. “Good girl,” he whispered. I had expected him to go right for my pussy, but as usual, he surprised me. Sitting me up, Chase got behind me and pulled off my shirt. Undoing my bra, he lowered it away and dropped it on the floor. Running his hands down my back in alternating waves, he then ran them up my sides and around to my tits, gently cupping them. My nipples stood up hard against his soft, warm palms. As he fondled me, he leaned in, planting soft kisses up and down the back of my neck. Each gentle touch made me moan.