Up for the Chase (11 page)

Chapter Twenty

Chase

I drove around for
twenty minutes unsuccessfully finding where she would be at until it dawns on me.

“I’m an idiot.” I mutter to myself as I turn
the car around and made a beeline. I pull into the parking lot and I see her sitting on the bench. I see her staring across the street. I can’t help but smile with the memories that fill that waterpark; every time I drive past it I can’t help but think of her, the girl with the pink hair emerging from the cab that day.

I approach the bench and sit down next to her, allowing myself to stare off at the park as well. She doesn’t say anything to me for twenty minutes and I’m not sure if she knows if I am there, but I’m not going to make any sudden movements in fear that she will run away again. Finally I hear her begin to speak.

“It was my turn to run this time.” She huffs.

“What?” I ask her, matching her volume.

“It was my turn to leave you. While you were sleeping, I know that it’s childish, but I couldn’t wake up and you be gone again.” Her words shatter my heart.

“Ariana, I’m sorry.”
I turn, looking to her.

“No, Chase, why did you leave? Answer me now, or let me walk away forever.” I stare at my hands for some time before I let myself speak. I don’t let the words come out until she shakes her head and stands to walk away.
I’m an idiot but I’m still afraid of what she will do to me.

“I was an idiot,
” I stand up, “I should have never left, you scared the hell out of me, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.” she stops and looks at me

“How did I scare you?”
I walk up in front of her.

“I was in love with you. I
had been for weeks. You made me feel things that I didn’t want to feel that I didn’t know how to handle, I was so broken. I’m slightly broken, but I’ve realized over the years that what l feel for you, it’s never going away, and no one can replace you.” I pause and she looks up at me and I can see that she is stunned. I slowly walk up to her; placing my hand on her shoulder and letting my voice lower. “I hated myself for leaving. I still do, and I don’t hate myself because of Avery, I hate myself because I was an idiot, and because I should have never left you. You are the only person in this world that understands and completes me.” I see the water forming in her eyes, “I couldn’t think of a single person that I would rather be the mother of my child, because god—damnit Ariana no matter how much I have tried not to, you’re the only one that I want. You have been the only one that I have ever loved.” I pause and look to her, “I never stopped loving you. All I want is you in my life.” and I close the remaining space between us and press my lips to hers. I feel the water on my face and when I pull back I see that she is crying.

“What’s a matter?”
I ask her, concerned

“Do you realize how long that I have waited too hear that? It’
s not just because of Av is it?” She asks me which causes me to laugh and she looks up to me confused.

“I searched for you for two years without knowing about
her.” And she laughs along with me. “Let’s go back.” I tell her as I pull her into me.

“Wait, Chase.” I pause looking back to her. “Your mother hates me,” and I can’t help but laugh out, not exactly at her, but at the situation.

“Baby, my mother hates everyone, even me. She told me this morning that I was an idiot.”

“She assumed that we slept together last night, and thought that we were being careless.”
She pauses, looking up to me worried, “Are we being careless?” She asked me.

“Probably,” I laugh and look over to her, “Weren’t we always before.”

Ariana

There is something about the way Chase looks at me that manages to send me over the edge, it’s almost like the deep longing look that you can only look for someone who you have actually longed for, and I finally feel complete for the first time since he left me
six years ago.

I will admit that I didn’t want to come back home, but
I finally had to, between work and school there was no way that I could get out of everything.

I
am walking through the terminal with Avery holding my hand next to me; she didn’t seem excited to come home either. I see Hannah waiting for us as we come out of the airport and she runs up to us.

“How was it?” She asks us and Avery jumps up.

“It was awesome.” She shouts as we slide into the car which causes both Hannah and I to laugh out. 

Chapter Twenty-One

Ariana

Its seven thirty in the morning and my phone is ringing, it has been ringing for five minutes straight, and needless to say that I am not a morning person.

“Hello,” I mumble into the phone which just comes out as one syllable.

“Good morning baby,” Chase says into the phone but I can hear some sort of apprehension in his voice.

“Ugh,” I let out as I sit myself up in my bed and look around, I can tell that the sun is just starting to rise. “What’s wrong, you sound like there’s something that you don’t want to tell me.”

“Oh, well,” he continues to talk but I cannot hear what he is saying because simultaneously the doorbell begins to ring.

“Chase, let me call you back because now someone is at my front door, apparently it’s the m
orning to wake me up.” I’m annoyed.

“No, no, no, Ariana, that’s what I have to talk to you about.
” He rambles out.

“You know who’s at my door?” I ask him extremely curious.

“Yes,” I open my bedroom door and begin to make my way down the stairs. I see the outline of a face in the window that sits next to the door as I descend the stairs and the doorbell sounds again, I hope whoever it is doesn’t wake up Av.

“Well, you better tell me fast before I swing open the door because I don’t want him to wake up Av.”

“It’s your father.” He says quickly.

“My what?”
I say stunned into the receiver.

“You’re father, he called me about ten minutes ago and I panicked and didn’t know what to say. He said that he was in Savannah looking for you.”

“How did my father call you?” I ask.

“I found him when I was looking for you and gave him my number in case he found you first.”
He admits.

I stand before the front door terrified to open it and face the man that will stand in front of me, the man that threw me out of his house many years ago. When the doorbell sounds again and I am so angry that I cannot say anything back to Chase
so I hang up, place my phone on the entryway table, and swing the door open stepping out and causing my father to step back abruptly.

“Shh, it’s Saturday. You’re going to wake her up.”
I bite out.

“Can I come in?” he asks stunning me again.

“No” I say, bluntly.

“Why not R, I am your father.”
He states and I can’t help but laugh.

“No, you used to be my father.
A father doesn’t throw his daughter out of his house.” I challenge him.

“R, it’s freezing out here.” I sigh and cross my arms in front of me.

“Fine, but you better make it fast, and if she come downstairs. You’re out.” He nods.

“That’s good enough for me.” he says and I open the door looking up the stairs, God blessed me when he sent me a child who would actually sleep in during the morning. “This is an incredible house, R.” he says as we walk into the living room and sit down.

“Thanks.”

“So
, how are you doing?” At first my mouth drops open until the laughter escapes it.

“Really, after how you left everything, that’s what
you, say when I let you into my house. Not I’m sorry.” He’s quiet as he looks to me unsure what to say and I continue to laugh. “Let me put some fucking coffee on first, it’s too damn early to deal with you un-caffeinated.”

“Ariana, language,” this statement causes me to laugh even louder.

“Really, you’re the one that taught me that.” I say it as harsh as I mean it to come out but I am still unprepared for his reaction as if I have stabbed him in the heart. For a moment, still with a stone-cold face, my heart hurts as well.

“R, I’m sorry.” He says as I reach up to grab for the coffee and I freeze completely stunned as I slowly turn back away.

“Who are you?” both of our faces turn to the sound of the small voice on the stair case.

“Oh, Avery, why don’t you go back upstairs and get dressed.” I walk up to her and smile as she turns around and walks back up the stairs.
I’m about to tell him to leave when he catches me off guard.

“R, she is beautiful.” I hear my father tell me.

“I know.” I’m getting ready to tell him to leave when he adds…

“She looks just like. . .”
he trails, stunned.

“Chase. She looks just like Chase. I know.”

“Chase?” he asks me, “the one that was looking for you.”

“Yeah, Dad.”
He laughs sitting down and looks up to me. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just I liked him.” he tells me as my phone begins to buzz on the table.

“Yea, I did too.” I silence my phone again.

I watch his mouth open as he begins to say something as we both are sidetracked by a loud bang from Avery’s room and then her scream I rush up the stairs and walk into her room to see her lying on her side clutching her arm.

“Sweetheart, what happened? Let me see your arm.” I say quickly.

“I fell off of my bed” she says sitting up and as she lets go of her arm I feel my head begin to get foggy as the
middle of her arm hangs down.

“Everything all right?”
I hear my father asks as he enters the door.

“Do you have a car?” I ask him feeling as if I am going to pass out.

“Yes,” he says quickly.

“Can you take us
to the hospital?” Because I can’t seem to focus on anything I imagine that he looks to Avery and then he says.

“Yes, let me pull it around meet me downstairs in five minutes.” I get up and
force myself to stay focused until I put on her shoes and jacket as we walk down the stairs. I am surprised that she has yet to cry. I am still feeling woozy as I slide into my father’s BMW and we begin to slide away to the hospital. I think I finally let myself black out until I feel us slide to a stop. I open my door and usher out Avery as we walk into the doors and I sign her in... It feels so surreal. When they finally call her back I look to my father and smile.

“Thank you, you can go if you want to.”

“Not a chance. I’ll be here to take you home when you get done.” I smile at him and for the first time in a decade I am grateful that he is here. I begin to follow them as I remember something.

“Shit, dad can you call Chase and tell him what’s going on?”
I ask him.

“Not a problem.” He smiles and as I am walking back into the hospital I hear my father punching in the phone number. I remember halfway through the entire process that I have forgotten my phone on the entry table in my haze that I was in.

When we walk back out into the waiting area I see my father and I smile to him until the doors slide open and I see Chase step inside of them. I feel my face fall as I walk over to him and in a hushed whisper say. “What are you doing here?”

“My daughter broke her arm.”
He says matter-of-factly.

“'That’s not a reason for you to drive five hours here.”
I say to him.

“Ariana stop.”

“No,” We sit in a standoff as a squeal comes from behind us and we hear Avery rush over and latch around his legs.

“Daddy,” she lightens the mood slightly as we are discharged and we can leave. “Did you see my cast, look how cool it is.”
She holds it up and he nods looking her over as if trying to make sure that it was all that was wrong with her.

“How are you feeling?” he asks her.

“I feel fine.” She smiles at him in between glances at her cast. Chase looks up at me and I shrug. “I feel like Jello; green Jello.”

“She’s on some pain killers.”
I tell him and he nods his head, slightly chuckling. As if he’s not sure if it’s alright to laugh at his five year old daughter, high.

I clean the kitchen from the dinner that everyone just ate as I hear the footsteps on the stairs; they can only be Chase’s. I’m still mad at him, even if my father’s visit wasn’t completely terrible.

“Ariana” he says to me as I put up the last plate and turn around. “I’m sorry, can I just explain?”

“No, you can’t. Because anything that you say it’s going to matter you still broke my trust.”
I bite out coldly.

“Giving your father your address broke your trust?” I hear the aggravation in his voice.

“No, giving the man that I am trying to avoid, who threw me out of his house. And the man who tried to make me abort my daughter, our daughter, that was breaking my trust.”

“R, you are being fucking ridiculous.” I stand dumbstruck for a moment as I am trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

The only other time that Chase had called me R and meant it was during the week that we were in Laguna. We had gotten into a fight and I probably deserved it. We were out at the beach and we had been drinking since noon when a man approached me.

When Chase came back up to the blanket I was laughing and with him for about seconds before Chase flipped his shit and cussed the man out.

“What the fuck was that R?” he shouts at me.

“Nothing, he just came up and we were talking.”
I admit, technically that’s all we were doing.

“No, don’t play stupid you knew that he was flirting with you.”

“And?” I glare back at him until he huffs and turns around and begins to start walking to the hotel. I finally cave in and say “Chase, wait?”

“What?”
He snaps

“You called me R? You never call me that.”

“Well right now it suits you pretty fucking well.” It had been our first real fight, and that night he had slept on the couch that was across the room from the bed. I cried in the bed once I sobered up.

I can only guess that my crying woke him up. Because he crawled into bed around two and held me telling me that he was sorry and kissing my face.

I stand staring at Chase knowing the reason he just used my nickname that he never says to me. “Get the fuck out of my house, Chase.” I stare back at him. I stare into his soul, and I can see his eyes sadden as he realizes the mistake that he has made.

“Ariana, I’m so sorry.” He apologies. I swear, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

“Get out of my house.” I say again, not letting my voice wavier.

“Can we just talk?” he begs me.

“Chase, get out of my house.
” I scream and then quiet my voice, “You can come pick up Avery tomorrow, and spend time with her, but right now you need to get out of my house.” he finally nods his head and walks out the front door, before it shuts I see him look back one last time and sigh. I think I sec a tear fall down his check as he closes the door.