The Debt 12 (Club Alpha) (9 page)

***

They went to bed early and Faith woke up
early, too.

It was in that weird time when you didn’t
know whether to say it was late night or technically morning—somewhere in
that gray period before the sun had even begun to peek above the horizon.

It was still dark in the bedroom, and for
a brief moment, she’d forgotten where she was.

But now, as she turned and saw Chase
sleeping soundly next to her in bed, she began to smile.
 
Even as tired and groggy as she was,
Faith felt a surge of relief and love and thanks that he’d come into her life.

Despite all the drama and uncertainty and
craziness, she was definitely in love with him.

And
I really do think he loves me too.

That made her smile even wider.
 
She wanted to plant kisses on his face
and body, but she didn’t want to wake him up.
 
In fact, she was hoping to get a couple
more hours of sleep herself, but as she tried to close her eyes and fall back
asleep, her mind raced.

She felt restless.
 
Getting up, she went to the bathroom,
leaving the light off, and then came out, yawning.

It wasn’t even daybreak.
 
There was time to get some shuteye.
 
Monique’s flight would depart at seven
o’clock and the private jet was apparently at a smaller airport just about
forty minutes away.

Somehow, though, Faith had a strange
feeling inside her belly.
 

I
need to go check on Monique and make sure she’s okay.

But she didn’t want to wake her up
either.
 

It was like they’d been saddled with a
moody fifteen-year-old for the night, and the last thing Faith wanted to deal
with was waking that moody teenager up.

She didn’t know why she was so convinced
that something was amiss.

Just
forget about it.
 
You’re being neurotic.
 
Leave the girl alone.

Faith stood just inside the bedroom,
uncertain.
 
Watching Chase’s chest
rise and fall slowly as he lay in bed, unaware of what was going on.

And that’s when Faith heard the distinct
sound of a door opening down the hall.
 
Instantly, she knew it was the door to Monique’s room.
 
And
then footsteps,
going ever so slowly, trying to be quiet so as not to wake anyone up
.

But Faith wasn’t going to give Monique
the satisfaction of making a quiet getaway.
 
She opened the door to the master
bedroom and looked out on Monique as she headed for the stairs.

Monique was fully dressed and walking
almost on tiptoe.
 
It was quite
clear that she was leaving the house in the dead of night, making her escape.

“Hi there,” Faith said, folding her arms.

Monique looked startled, but quickly
composed herself and went on the attack.
 
“What are you doing—stalking me?”

“I’m not the one stalking people around
here.
 
I think that would be your
fiancé.”

“I have to go,” Monique said, her head
hanging slightly as she hesitated at the landing.

“Did he convince you it’s going to be
different this time?” Faith asked.

“You don’t know him.”

“I don’t need to.
 
I know he put his hands on you.”

“We both have issues and he’s
trying.
 
He’s sorry.”

“Don’t go,” Faith said.
 
“Please, this is a mistake.
 
I know you’re scared—“

Monique’s eyes flashed as she turned her
face towards Faith.
 
“You don’t know
me, either.”
 
She looked down
momentarily, taking a deep breath before looking up once more.
 
“I’m sorry I’ve caused you both so much
trouble.
 
And I know I’ve been an
unpleasant houseguest.”

“It’s okay. We just want you to be safe.”

“I needed the time away from Steve to
really think things through, and he needed it too.
 
But now we’ve decided to give it another
try.
 
And I’ve made my decision.”

Faith shook her head.
 
“You’re making a mistake.
 
He’s going to hit you again.”

“I don’t think so.
 
Me leaving really scared him.
 
Even Chase doing what he did
helped.
 
I think now Steve knows how
I feel sometimes.”

Monique smiled in the semi darkness of
the hallway, and Faith could tell it was over.
 
The poor, misguided woman had truly made
up her mind.

“If you ever need to talk, I’ll be here,”
Faith said.

“Thanks.”
 
Monique gave a sad wave and then she
walked downstairs and left out the front door.
 
Faintly and briefly, as she left, she
was illuminated in the glare of headlights from a nearby car.

That was Velcro’s car, Faith decided.
 
He was outside waiting for her, ready to
entrap her again in his web.

The door shut again and Faith felt like
screaming and crying in frustration.
 
Her stomach was in knots.

“Don’t sweat it,” Chase said from inside
the bedroom.

She startled a little.
 
“How much did you hear?” she asked,
turning and seeing that he was awake now, and sitting up in bed.

“Enough,” he replied simply.
 
He turned the small lamp on next to his
bedside.

“I feel angry,” she said.
 
“Like I want to have a fit.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he laughed.

 
“What’s so funny?” she said, walking back
into the room.

“You being so surprised she went back to
him,” he said.
 
“That’s what happens
ninety-nine percent of the time in these situations.”

“Now what’s going to happen?
 
What do we do?”
 

“Nothing, that’s what,” Chase said.
 
He was in boxers and nothing else.
 
“But the good news is, we don’t have to make
that drive to the airport anymore.”

“You keep making jokes but it’s not very
funny.
 
She’s back with that
monster.”

“It’s not my problem.
 
Or yours.
 
Time to let it go.”

“But we can’t let him get away with it.
 
We need to go to the media or something.”

Chase raised his eyebrows.
 
“If she won’t leave him, there’s nothing
left to do.
 
I can’t fight this
battle all by myself.
 
The press
will have a field day if I make an accusation and even Monique denies it.”
 

“You don’t know that she’d deny he hit
her,” Faith said.

“Yeah, I do.”

She felt suddenly angry, looking into his
emotionless eyes.
 
“You might even
be relieved she went back with him.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, his voice
hardening.

“Because, now you don’t have to go out on
a limb.
 
You can go back to
pretending everything’s normal even though you know what’s happening to her.
 
Go back to your life guilt free.”

“Don’t blame me,” he said.
 
“This isn’t my fault.”

“We should’ve done more,” Faith said.

“You can’t save Monique,” he told
her.
 
“Hell, why don’t you try and
save yourself before worrying about everyone else?”

Faith flinched.
 
“Save myself from what?”

“You sit in judgment of me and Monique
and everyone else.”
 
He shook his
head.
 
“But tell me one risk you’ve
ever taken, one risk that could’ve cost you anything.”

“I trusted you,” she said, but instantly
knew that was the wrong response.

Chase made a sarcastic face.
 
“So now we’re going to score cheap
points?”

“It’s not a cheap point,” she shot back.
 
“You’ve done nothing but warn me how bad
you are for me in every way.
 
But I
still keep trying to believe in you.”

“You keep trying to make this about me,”
he told her.
 
“But you know this has
nothing to with me and everything to do with you avoiding the truth.”

“And what’s the truth?”

“That you need to get your own damn life
before you can judge mine.”

She stared at him until the tears filled
her eyes, and she was consumed by anger and hurt and a sense of
devastation.
 
“So that’s what you
really think of me,” she said, looking away and wiping her eyes.
 
“That I have no life.
 
That I sit in judgment of everyone
else.”

“I’m just being honest,” he said.
 
“It’s not fun when the shoe’s on the
other foot, is it?”

“You’re just being cruel,” she whispered.

 
“Come on,” he said, laughing a
little.
 
“I was just getting you to
look at yourself instead of always putting that high-powered microscope on me.”

“I hate you,” she said, turning to face
him again.
 
“I really do hate you,
Chase Winters.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” she continued, feeling that she
was losing control.
 
“I hate your
arrogance, and your cruelty, your self-centeredness.
 
I don’t give a shit about football.
 
And I don’t—“

“Stop it,” he commanded.

She did stop talking briefly, because she
realized that for the first time, she might have truly pushed him too far.
 
But now that the feelings were churning
in her body, she didn’t really want to stop pushing.
 
She wanted to see him break down the way
he’d broken her down so effortlessly, dismantling her like a child’s toy.
 

“What if I don’t want to stop?” she
asked, smirking defiantly.
 
“What if
I keep going?”

Chase’s expression was dark and
cold.
 
“I don’t think you want to go
there,” he said softly.

“I do, though.
 
I want to go there, but you’re too
scared to go with me,” she said.
 
“Every time something real comes up, you’re the one who runs away,
Chase.”

He smiled bitterly.
 
“This is pathetic,” he said, getting off
the bed and walking past her.

She chased after him.
 
“You’re pathetic!” she said, getting in
his way as he attempted to leave the room.
 
“You accuse me of being afraid.
 
You ran away from your past and your still running, still hiding.
 
You don’t want to deal with anything but
your stupid football career.”

Chase nodded.
 
“So now we’re even.
 
Two cowards trying to
hide together.
 
Maybe we
shouldn’t bother anymore.”

“Good riddance,” she yelled, trying to
hurt him now.
 
“This wasn’t
real.
 
This was all just pretend and
we both know it.”

But as she looked up at him, she realized
that quite the opposite was true.

He gripped her wrists and pulled her
towards him, until her body was pressed tightly against his.
 
She could feel his cock through his
boxers, erect and insistent against her stomach.
 
“I don’t believe you,” he growled.
 
His eyes gleamed intensely.
 
“I think you’re terrified that what we
have is real and now you have to deal with that reality.
 
And it can be ugly and you want to push
me away and run back to your simple little world where everything’s easy.”

She breathed out a shuddering
breath.
 
“You don’t know a thing
about me,” she lied.

He grinned knowingly.
 
“I know how badly you want me to kiss
you right now,” he said.

“Fuck.
 
You.”
 
She said.
 
But she was still lying and they both
knew it.

Her nipples were stiff and tender, her
pussy was already soaking wet.
 
And
her entire body was gravitating towards him as if she was the moon and he was
the earth.

She couldn’t hope to resist the pull of
him, the magnetism that he had was like a force of nature—and she didn’t
want to resist anymore.