Enjoying the Chase (62 page)

She laughed and frowned, her eyes flicking
down to my hand. “
I don’
t see a
ring,” she countered.

Shit, have I lost my ring? Wait, I
’
m not married… yet.
But I did have the strong urge to get in a cab and go and get
engaged right now. I looked at my watch. 11:37 pm. Would Rosie still be awake?

I laughed and slapped my forehead. “I
meant, I
’
m thinking about getting
married,” I corrected, shrugging.

Coraline giggled next to me. “
Yep he
’
s officially taken,
sorry, sexy. Me, on the other hand…” She trailed off, raking her eyes down Emma
’
s body. I burst out laughing. Watching
Coraline flirt with a girl right in front of me was kind of hot.

Emma smiled politely and shook her head. “
I don’
t swing that way, sorry.”

Coraline clicked her tongue. “Yeah, I
’
m sorry too.” She pulled away, obviously
deciding to find someone else that did swing her way.

Emma stepped closer to me again so we could
talk over the banging music. “I haven
’
t seen you for a while,” she shouted.

I shrugged. “I
’
ve been hanging out with my girl a lot. You
’
ve met her, haven
’
t you?
The hot one with the legs that seem to stretch on forever,” I replied, sighing
as I thought about Rosie
’
s legs.

“Yeah, I
’
ve met her,
”
Emma
answered.
“You two are serious then?”

I nodded enthusiastically. “As serious as a
heart attack.”

“Nice analogy,” she teased, rolling her
eyes.

“So what about you? You seeing someone?” I
asked.

Her smile fell off her face as she shook
her head. “Not any
m
ore. We broke up last week.” Her
chin trembled as she answered.

I groaned and stepped forward, wrapping one
arm around her. “I
’
m sorry, Emma.
The guy
’
s obviously a prick. You
’
re better off without him,” I assured her.
Emma was a great person, and she was great in the sack from what I remembered,
the guy was a fool to lose her.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes with one
finger, smudging her make-up. “
I guess.
”

“Want to talk about it?” I offered,
actually hoping she
’
d say no, this
wasn
’
t my thing at all. I was
hopeless with advice. My relationship experience branched as far as Rosie York,
and even then I had no idea what she saw in me.

Emma smiled at me gratefully. “Okay,” she
agreed as another tear leaked out of her eyes, wetting her lashes.

“Want to go out the back, or outside or
something? I can
’
t really hear you
in here,” I suggested, nodding to the front door. She nodded, and followed
behind me as we weaved through the crowd. When we were about ten feet from the
door, a fight broke out. I grabbed her hand and yanked her back behind me so
she wouldn
’
t get hurt. The doormen
were there immediately, breaking it up, but it would take them a few minutes
before we
’
d be able to get past. I
sighed and pointed to the bathrooms at the back, dragging her along behind me.
It would be quieter in there for us to talk.

Emma seemed to talk for ages – crying and
wailing about this guy that she
’
d
been dating that had cheated on her last week. She was really cut up about it;
she really liked him by the sound of it. The whole time I
’
d just sat there, awkwardly patting her back, wishing I hadn
’
t offered. I had no idea what to say, when she
looked at me to say something I just said he wasn
’
t worth it, or that she
’
d
find someone else better.

When Emma
’
s tears had finally dried up, I breathed a sigh of relief. This was
the reason I didn
’
t have very many
girls as friends, the emotional drama was too much for me to cope with. I wasn
’
t mentally able to cope with things like this
happening.

“You sure you aren
’
t up for a little one night stand? I could really do with a
pick-me-up,” Emma joked, laughing.

“You
’
ll find someone, Emma. Go watch sad movies, and eat ice cream until
you throw up. Don
’
t do random guys
in bathrooms, that
’
s not going to
help you get over him,” I advised.

She smiled sadly. “You
’
re a good guy, Nate.”

“I
’
m the best,” I joked, making her laugh and roll her eyes. “Come on
then. Let
’
s go get wasted. This
has sobered me up a little,” I suggested, holding out my arm for her to take.
She smiled and looped her arm through mine as I flicked the lock on the door
and headed out to spend some more cash on drink that was sure to come back up
before morning.

~ Rosie ~

When I woke in the morning, I squeezed
my eyes shut again, wanting more sleep. The trouble was, the little thing that
was jumping on the foot of the bed, singing Hotdog Hotdog Hot-diggedy-dog, had
no intention of letting me sleep more. I groaned a little and turned my head,
looking for Nate’s handsome face. Immediately, disappointment settled in the
pit of my stomach because his side of the bed was empty. I sighed when I
remembered that he’d gone out with his friends and sister last night. He was
working today too, so I wouldn’t even get to see him until tomorrow.

I pushed myself up to sitting, smiling at
DJ. “Morning, Baby,” I mumbled, yawning. I was tired because Nate had called me
during the night, drunk off his face, singing down the phone that I was the
best girlfriend ever, and that he couldn
’
t wait to see me. He
’
d
then proceeded to list all the dirty things that he would do to my body next
time he saw me, which, of course, made it hard for me to fall back to sleep because
I was overexcited. The phone call was worth a little tiredness today though. My
favourite part was when he
’
d
started musing about how funny it would be to have sex on bubble wrap. I smiled
to myself just at the thought of him alone. I really was in trouble. The player
had completely won me over. I was completely at his mercy, and he seemed to
have no idea about it.

“I
’
m starving, Momma,” DJ whined, rubbing his stomach, giving me the
pouty lip.

“Come on then, let
’
s get breakfast.
” I swung my legs off the bed
as he jumped down and shook his head.

“I
’
m not hungry for breakfast,” he countered. “I
’
m starving for those candies that Nate broughted me last night.”

I smiled.
“Oh really?
Well I ate those when you were in bed, so it looks like you
’
re stuck with Cheerios,” I joked, sticking my
tongue out at him.

“You ate my candy? I
’
m telling Nate on you,” he scolded, frowning.

I smiled, wondering if I would get a
spanking for that. Deep down I hoped so.

Setting my hands on DJ
’
s shoulders, I guided him out of my bedroom. “I didn
’
t really eat them, but you
’
re not having that for breakfast.”

He huffed and squared his shoulders. “Nate
would let me. Where is he anyways? Is he coming over today?” His face lit up at
the thought. DJ adored Nate, probably almost as much as I did, which kind of
made Nate all the more special to me. In four and a half months he had
completely changed our lives, making everything seem better, easier and
happier. I never thought I would ever be this happy. I never wanted a man after
what Josh did, but now that I had Nate, I couldn
’
t imagine life without him.

“He
’
s working, Baby. We
’
ll
see him tomorrow night.” I smiled and headed into the kitchen, making him some
cereal and flicking on the coffeemaker. I had a feeling I would need quite a
few cups to get through the day without falling asleep.

He sighed and nodded, obviously missing
Nate as much as I was. Everyday just seemed to drag when I didn
’
t see Nate
’
s smile, or hear his laugh. Things were moving pretty fast between
us. We were still waiting for the L word to be exchanged before he would let me
ravage him, but that didn
’
t mean
that I wasn
’
t completely satisfied
though. Nate just seemed to have some sort of magic over my body and what the
man could do with his hands and his tongue made my eyes roll back in ecstasy.

But it wasn
’
t just the sex that my body needed him for. I actually just missed
cuddling up to him or holding his hand. I missed the rhythmic breathing that
blew down my neck while we slept; I missed waking up to his smile. I just
missed every part of Nate Peters, and it had only been fourteen hours since I
last saw him. I really was pathetic. It was like he
’
d turned me into some sort of lovesick puppy. Me, Rosie York, the
girl who vowed never to let a man have power over her again, had completely let
down her barriers and let a player into her life.

I set a bowl of cereal down in front of DJ
and sat opposite him, nursing a cup of strong coffee. “Want to go to the park this
morning?” I offered, needing the fresh air to wake me up.

He nodded eagerly. “Can I call Auntie Paige
and see if she wants to play at the park with us?” DJ asked, speaking with his
mouthful and dribbling milk down his chin.

I grimaced and nodded. “Sure, but swallow
the mouthful before speaking next time, okay?” I requested, watching as he
wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his pyjamas. He smiled sheepishly and
carried on shovelling the food in his mouth like he hadn
’
t eaten in weeks. Clearly he was going through some sort of growth
spurt – either that or he had worms. He just didn
’
t stop eating lately, and I was seriously starting to struggle with
money because of it.

On top of that, he
’
d grown about two inches in the last two months, meaning I
’
d had to shell out for new clothes. Josh hadn
’
t paid my child support either, so this month
was an extremely hard one. I had already borrowed money from my parents just to
tide me over until Josh
’
s ‘
overtime payment’
came through from work, but I
was down to my last fifty dollars to buy food for almost two weeks. Soon we
’
d be eating from tin cans and frozen packets.

Josh seriously was a waste of air
sometimes, but I couldn
’
t just
dismiss him, even though I wanted to. I couldn
’
t cut off that money altogether, because I literally wouldn
’
t have enough money to survive if I did that.
I was now at the point where I needed to start looking for a second job. If
Josh carried on missing his payments, DJ and I would find ourselves out on the
streets if I missed my rent. I
’
d
worked two jobs before; it was hard, but something that I had to do to get us
through. I
’
d already decided to
ask the Principal of my school on Monday if they needed any extra cleaning
staff. An extra hour every day would make all the difference.

I always pretended to Nate that everything
was fine because I didn
’
t want him
to know how hard I struggled to make ends meet. Nate would help me, I knew he
would, but I couldn
’
t lay this
burden at his door. Secretly, I was glad that Josh had let me down for this
weekend so that I hadn
’
t had to go
out with Nate and his friends last night – I was drowning in debt and my credit
card would bottom out soon. Sometimes I felt like the weight of the world was
on my shoulders. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked, how much I strived
to be a great mom, there was always something in the way making it feel like an
uphill battle with me pulling a ten ton rock behind me.