Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts 5)

Jesus Christ.

Mentally slapping myself, I jerk my head away.

Only to find Chase glaring at me.

Ugh, was he watching me watch Emmett the whole time?

Chase doesn’t say a word, and he doesn’t have to. The look on his face says it all.

My face burns with heat, and I try to think up an excuse to explain away what I was doing but come up with nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

With all the shit I’m in, you’d think I wouldn’t have the time or emotional energy to become fixated on a guy of all things.

But that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Shaking his head like he’s disappointed, Chase turns away from me, directing his glare at Emmett.

Emmett must feel the weight of it because he glances back, his gaze colliding with Chase’s. The two of them glare daggers at each other, neither attempting to mask their animosity.

And suddenly I feel like crying.

What am I doing? What am I causing?

What the fuck am I destroying?

My throat begins to close up on me, and I’m on the verge of saying fuck it all and making a run for it when my phone starts to vibrate and ring.

Glancing down at the screen, for a second I just want to crawl into a fucking hole and die. It’s the last fucking thing I need…

But maybe this is the universe’s way of giving me the out I need.

Or punishing me even more for what I’ve been doing.

Snatching my phone up from the desk, I stand up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Chase asks without looking at me.

I try not to take his tone personally, given what’s recently happened, but still bristle a little on the inside. “I have to take this call.”

Finally Chase drags his attention away from Emmett to look at me. “You can take it right here, where I can see you and protect you.”

Whatever irritation I was feeling immediately evaporates. He might be rough around the edges, but at his core Chase is truly a good guy. A good guy who doesn’t really know me but seems to want to protect me.

If only he knew what he was protecting.

“I can’t,” I explain. “It’s my father… I have to take it privately.”

Chase continues to stare me down as if his glare alone will force me into submission. I have no choice but to lift my chin and stand my ground.

I can’t give in on this, unfortunately. I have to speak to my father, and it has to be in privat

e. If I don’t, there will be severe repercussions.

Repercussions that are more frightening than anything that Chase could do to me.

My phone stops ringing, the call most likely going to voicemail, and I cringe. If my father calls back and I don’t pick up, there will be hell to pay.