Banging Reaper (Pounding Hearts 1)

“What’s going on, did Ethan do something?” he asks as we step into my apartment and I can’t hold it back anymore. I dump my backpack on the floor and turn on him.

“You did something,” I say accusingly and narrow my eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Chase asks and takes a step towards me.

“You betrayed my trust!” I snap at him and he looks utterly shocked, like that’s the last thing he expected to come out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry, Avery,” he apologizes, still looking confused and reaches for me.

“You don’t even know what you did, do you?” I ask while walking backwards, out of his reach.

He shakes his head.

“I told you I don’t want your money and you forced it on me anyway. You forced it!”

“Is this about the tuition I paid?” he asks.

“Yes!” I snap. He tries to advance once more and I retreat.

“I don’t want you to have to work for that bastard,” he explains. “I don’t like how worried and stressed it’s making you. Ethan is…”

“Fuck Ethan. You didn’t even ask me!” I can feel the angry tears brewing now. This is so frustrating, being angry at him. I hate it yet I can’t help it. Maybe if I didn’t like him so much it wouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Maybe if I didn’t put so much trust in him, it wouldn’t feel so much like a knife in the back.

Betrayal sucks ass.

“Avery, please,” Chase says softly, pleading.

I close my eyes and will the tears away. I won’t cry in front of him. I take a deep breath and slowly peel open my lids. My eyes glisten but at least I’m not bawling.

“I owe you now, Chase. I owe you more money than I can pay back at this moment.” It’s the story of my life. I just never wanted to feel like this towards him, beholden.

“No,” Chase says forcefully and shakes his head. “You do not owe me.”

Funny, I remember a certain someone saying that to me as well not that long ago.

“I do,” I insist. Vaguely I’m aware that I’m being a little stubborn but damn it, I’m so sick of owing the world. “And I’m going to pay you back. The school won’t refund the money unless I drop the courses I enrolled for. If I drop my courses, I’m screwed. A couple of them are already wait-listed.”

“I don’t want your money,” Chase says and looks at me as if I’m going crazy. And maybe I’m a little crazy right now. I certainly feel like it. “All I did was do what any scholarship would do. I’m just trying to make it easier for you to study and to go school. Your education is so important to you, I'm just trying to help you out.”

“You didn’t ask me,” I growl it at him. “You know who else didn’t ask when he forced his money on me to help me? Huh?”

Chase goes quiet at that.

“Ethan!” I snap. “I needed money, he knew I needed money, and he just did it. You just did exactly what Ethan did.”

Chase’s face hardens as he says, “I’m not Ethan.”

It’s a low blow and I regret it as soon as I say it but I can’t take it back. “Could have fooled me.”

Chase’s jaw clenches but he doesn’t look mad. He looks hurt. He looks as if I just slapped him.

And I’m so angry, I’m so bitter over not only what he just did, but the fact that I’ve always owed someone or something my entire life, I keep on going. “You’re two of a kind. I should have seen it. Two privileged, entitled assholes with so much money you think you can get away with anything. You think you can buy anyone!”

I stomp over to my backpack and Chase just stands there, hard and unmoving. I yank open the zipper, pull my wallet out and grab every bill of cash I have and throw it at him.

“Well you can’t buy me! I won’t be bought. I won’t be owned!”

The bills flutter in the air. There’s so little it’s pathetic, it has to be fifty bucks at most. I’m not making it rain, I’m making it sprinkle.