Being Chased (21 page)

"T
hat was so embarrassing. I hated you guys that summer," Julia said laughing. "So, what brings you here?"

"Dad knew you guys would be here, so he and Mom thought they'd get away for a bit, too.
Plus, they haven't been to the house here in a few months, so Mom wanted to check on it. I'm just staying for dinner, but come into town with me now. I need to hit Saks and then Ralph Lauren for some summer stuff."

"Okay! I need to look at some new sandals anyway." She grabbed her purse and they were out the door, driving in
Jack's Porsche convertible with the top down. Thank God she'd worn her hair in a ponytail or it would've been a repeat of this morning's 'do by the time they got there.

In the meantime,
Chase was having the time of his life. He'd caught several tuna, striped bass and cod. But the best part was when he'd caught a twelve-foot long Mako shark, which took him nearly an hour to reel in. The guide took his picture with the shark and told him that when they got back, they'd have it prepared so he could take it with him to eat later.

Julia
and Jack spent the entire day shopping. He found several shirts and slacks to wear for when he played golf with clients. He worked for his father, who owned a medical supply company, and Jack was in charge of new accounts on the East Coast and had to schmooze potential clients a lot to ensure the company would get their business.

Julia
found a pair of Jimmy Choos that she couldn't live without and some Louboutins that had "Fuck me, hard" written all over them. While trying on the last pair, she snickered at Jack because the shoes obviously lived up to their reputation as he looked at them, tongue hanging out of his mouth. She wondered if Chase would respond the same. She told Jack she couldn't wait to wear the shoes out dancing, so he changed his mind about going back to the City that night and they decided to go out to a local dance club after dinner. On their way back to the beach house, they stopped at one of their favorite little ice cream shops.

"So, how's everything going? You told me there was some little
hottie you were into when we were at the benefit. How's that working out?" Julia asked him then licked her ice cream cone.

"Well, she was really into my wallet more than she was me, so I had to cut her loose." He chuckled. "It's so hard to find a good woman these days. That being said, when are you gonna marry me,
Julia?" He laughed at the look on her face. "I'm just kidding. I've seen how you look at that bodyguard of yours." Julia's face turned red and her eyes got great big. Shit! Was she that transparent?

"I, uh, we, um," she stammered.

"It's okay, Julia. What's the big deal?" Jack laughed, taking a bite of his sundae.

"The big deal is it's been such a mess!
Chase is scared to death his dad will find out and fire him. So, he went through this stupid 'I like you but I'm not willing to screw with my job for you' phase, which turned into 'Screw it, I don't care if I lose my job,' which went right into 'I can't screw it or you because it'd distract me from keeping you safe,' to 'I wanna screw you and forget about everything else,' which became 'I finally screwed you and now we're really screwed,' to where we are now which is 'I wanna screw your brains out; let's not screw this up.' Jack? Why's your face all 
screwed 
up like that?" She snorted. He'd been trying to follow along with all the "screwing" and he looked totally lost.

"
Argh! Stop
screwing
with my head!" he laughed. "Are you trying to tell me that you're sleeping with him?" he asked, puzzled.

"That
 
was
 kind of the gist of my entire diatribe just now."

"So, are you in love with him?"

She blushed.

"Never mind." He chuckled.

"What?"

"I've seen women in love before,
Julia. You're one of them. I think it's good. Yeah, it's a good thing. You deserve to be happy. And he seems like a pretty good guy."

"Thanks,
Jack. You're such a good friend. But please don't say anything to anyone, okay?"

"Got it. Your secret's safe with me."
And it was. Jack was anything if not loyal.

Julia
had called Allen on their way back and he'd told her to let Jack know that his parents were eating dinner with them and that Jack should plan on attending too. When they pulled up, he kissed her cheek, telling her he'd see her in a bit, and that he couldn’t wait to get to know the man who’d stolen her away from him which made her laugh as she got out of his car.

Chase
had gotten back thirty minutes earlier and now sat on the back deck drinking a beer. He'd brought in the prepared and packaged shark and Allen had told the caterers to serve it for dinner. Chase was pretty stoked about that, and he couldn't wait to tell Julia.

As he relaxed in the deck chair, he saw some fancy little Porsche convertible pull up, realizing it was
Julia and the Jack dude from the benefit. He felt his blood pressure skyrocket when Jack kissed her, which looked like a full-on kiss from where he sat. Hollywood was 
so
 looking for a whole lot of fist being introduced to his pretty face. Jesus. And Julia had just kissed him right back! What the fuck?

Chase
sat there for a few minutes wondering if he’d just seen what he thought he had. Yeah, he was pretty sure they’d kissed. He’d been suspicious of them before, but she’d denied it. Now he had cold, hard proof. At least he thought he did. Thing was, he and Julia hadn’t committed to each other, were still stuck in that “are we or are we not a couple” stage, and it nagged at him that his reluctance to make a damn decision when it came to her made him feel responsible for where they stood now, so how could he blame her for keeping her options open? And the thought of her even having options just pissed him off even more.
 
He downed what was left of his beer and opened another. This shit with her would never have worked anyway, so just fuck it. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, idiot.

Julia
went inside seeing the caterers working on dinner but neither Chase nor Allen was anywhere to be seen. She greeted the caterers then went to her room to put her shoes away and shower before dinner, after which she threw on some shorts and a t-shirt then walked into the living room but the guys were still gone. Hm. She was going to ask if any help was needed in the kitchen when she spied Chase sitting on the deck looking handsome as ever.

"Hey! How'd the fishing go?" she asked
with a big smile as she went outside.

How could she act so innocent? "It was good. Interesting
, to say the least. Guess it wasn't as interesting as 
your
 day, though. How'd your date with George Clooney go? I see you two still can't keep your hands off each other." He snorted out a sardonic chuckle and took a pull on his beer. This was definitely going to get ugly. She'd hurt him and he just didn’t have it in him to hold back.

She frowned in confusion
. "Why do you say that?"

"I just saw you kissing."
And if looks could kill, well, yeah.

"He kissed me on the cheek,
Chase. We're friends. That's it."

"Looked lik
e a whole lot more from where I’m sitting.” He eyed her as he took another drink. “How long have you been seeing him? He your standby or something? I suppose you're sleeping with 
him,
 too?" He sneered and brought the beer to his mouth again taking a long draw, narrowing his eyes at her.

"
No
, I'm not sleeping with him! God, you're such an asshole!" She turned to go back inside, sick of being accused of something she hadn't done.

"I might be an asshole,
 
Princess
, but at least I can keep it in my pants."

She whipped around
and glared at him. "Yeah, like you did with Emma? What
really
happened when you were with her, Chase? Because from the way you two acted that night, you can't tell me you didn't fuck her."

He threw back his head and laughed
. "Like I'd bang someone with her baggage! Although she was fuckhot.” He saw the hurt in Julia’s eyes for just a second before she covered it up quickly. Yeah, twist the knife in deeper, buddy boy. He needed to shut his mouth, but he couldn’t help himself. She’d hurt him and he was tired of being yanked around. “Go ahead and deflect your guilt off on me. If you're screwing pretty boy, it's none of my goddamned business; just make sure you leave me the fuck alone while you're at it or I might just have to call a spade a fucking spade."

Clenching her fists at her side, she hissed,
"What are you saying? Are you calling me a slut?"

"If the shoe fits, baby." He smirked at her and took anoth
er swig from his bottle, knowing he was being a prick but he couldn't keep from lashing out at her after what he’d just seen.

"Fuck you!
" She spun around and went inside and to her room, furious, slamming and locking the bedroom door. God, he was such a jackass! She fell on her bed and screamed into the pillow.

Son of a bitch. Seemed this wa
s where they always ended up. Good. Times. Chase sighed, clenching his jaw, mad at the entire fucking world but mostly at himself for acting like he was ten years old. Well, she was too good for him anyway. He knew that. He just didn’t want to believe it.

Allen and his guests arrived a bit later, including Collin and his family along with Jack and who Chase assumed were his parents. Hadley had come in, but thankfully, left him alone. After he went to his room to wash up, he came out to see that everyone was seated.

Hadley
had grabbed Jack to sit by her, so the only place left for Chase to sit was by Julia. Fucking great. She looked like she'd been crying. And wasn't he just damn proud of himself. He sighed taking his seat next to her, and she shot him a look that said, "Mess with me and I'll cut you." Seeing that there were some sharp-ass knives on the table, he was so going to make damn sure to behave himself.

Throughout
dinner the air surrounding them was on fire. She was pissed. He was pissed. And bon appétit, motherfuckers.

But
everyone did enjoy the shark Chase had caught, complimenting him on making a fine catch. He couldn't even feel proud he was so angry.

"So,
Chase, what is it you do?" Franklin asked him.

"I'm in law school right now. Second year."

"Well, isn't that wonderful! What type of law?"

"Corporate."

"Oh, that line of law will definitely keep you honest, son."

"Oh, I won't have a problem with that. I'm a
 totally
 honest person... unlike some of the people I know." And if anger were a tangible object and eyes could shoot it out, Julia would've just then drawn a bead on him, hitting him upside the head with a shit ton of it.

Chase
thought dinner would never end. He just wanted to go to his room and relax, but Jack's parents kept asking him questions and making small talk. They were very nice people but he wanted to get the hell out of there. That's when he found out that Julia and Jack had made plans to go out.

"So,
Chase, I guess you'll be accompanying Julia tonight then," Allen said.

"Yes, sir. That I'll be doing. If you'll excuse me,"
he said, heading to his room. Well, wasn't this just all fine and dandy. He'd get to watch her and Tom fucking Cruise make out all night long. Hoo-goddamn-rah.

Julia
had thought about canceling, but screw Chase. She was going to have fun in spite of him. Hadley was excited and had pretty much invited herself, but Jack hadn't seemed to mind. Actually, he seemed to be quite enamored of her. He'd been around her a little when she was younger, and he'd heard from Julia and her cousins that Hadley was a brat, but she was quite the looker, so Julia guessed that he'd somehow forgotten her bratty rep, being blinded by her looks. If he really was into her, Julia would endure an evening of Hadley's fakeness for him.

Jack
knocked on Chase's door to see if he was ready. Without opening the door, Chase said he'd be right there not wanting to be face to face with Matthew McConaughey right now because he knew he'd maim him in some way. He pulled on his navy button down shirt over his t-shirt, rolled up the sleeves, then clenched his jaw and went to face the party crowd.

"Ready, dude?"
Jack asked as Chase came into the living room.

"Yeah, sure,
 
dude
," Chase replied sarcastically. Who the hell did this guy think he was?

"Let's go!"
Julia finished her glass of wine, setting it on the counter and when she came out of the kitchen, Chase's teeth almost fell out.

She had on a black halter-type dress that was
skin tight, her hair had that "bedhead" look to it, and her shoes. Jesus Christ. If those weren't "Fuck me" shoes, then the sky wasn’t frickin’ blue. Julia smirked at him, then totally ignored him as she walked by, hooking her arm in Jack's.

Yeah, this night was going to be a blast.

Going outside, Chase saw that a limousine was waiting for them. Nice.

"Thought you might want to cut loose a little and not worry about having to drive,"
Jack said to Chase, clapping him on the back as they walked to the car.

Hm. Dude might not be so bad after all... after
Chase kicked out all his teeth. "Thanks."

Hadley
came driving up then. She got out of her car, and she was just stunning. She had on a tight little forest green dress that made her red hair and blue eyes really look damned good. Jack was fairly taken with her as he walked over to her. Chase was a little confused as to why Jack was paying so much attention to Hadley and not Julia. Had he been wrong? Had Julia been telling the truth about their just being friends? Well, wasn't he an idiot. He and Julia stood there awkwardly, not saying a word. He finally opened the door sweeping his arm toward the inside, bowing his head a little, allowing her to get into the limo first. She rolled her eyes at him, flipping her hair so it almost hit him in the face. He followed her in, sitting across from her. This wasn't uncomfortable. Nooooo. Not at all.

Julia
opened the wet bar and poured herself a shot of Laphroaig, downing it immediately then poured herself another. She sat back, crossing her legs, looking anywhere but at Chase. He then reached over, smirking, grabbing the bottle and a glass pouring himself some of the scotch, downing it just as quickly as she had then poured himself another, holding the bottle on top of his thigh. Julia glared at him.

"So, I see that pretty boy's hitting on
Hadley? Guess you were telling the truth after all." Damn it. Why was he such a dick?

"You’
re such a dick."

See?

"And then some," he drawled, drinking down what was left in his glass and pouring himself another. She cut her eyes at him. Damn, she was beautiful, especially when she was pissed. He felt like shit now, having accused her, and he knew her well enough that a simple apology wouldn’t cut it right now.

"I can't stand you."

"Join the crowd." He sneered at her.

"God, you make my blood boil! I just want to slap the shit out of you!"

"Get in line, sweetheart."

Jack
and Hadley got in sitting next to Julia, practically smashing her into the door."Oh, sorry! Why don't you sit by Chase?" Hadley asked.

"I'm good."
Damn him. He sat looking at her with that stupid, crooked grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah, why don't you
come sit by me?" He patted the seat next to him. "I won't bite," he said, then muttered under his breath, "not too hard, anyway."

"Fuck you," she mouthed at h
im making him chuckle which only aggravated her more. She realized she could've just said the insult out loud because Jack and Hadley were so wrapped up in each other they wouldn't have known if the car were on fire.

Julia
grabbed the bottle out of Chase's hand, pouring herself another, then held her glass up, toasting him. "Here's to shitty assumptions."

"Hear, hear!"
Chase snorted, leaning over to clink his glass to hers. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward. "You're gorgeous," he whispered, his eyes burning into hers.

She yanked her wrist out of his hand and sat back, glowering at him.
What, had Captain Bipolar forgotten to take his meds today? And did he think he could just turn on the charm and everything would be okay? Uh, not happening. She wasn't going to let him get off that easily for what he’d said to her.

He smiled crookedly at her, downing the rest of his drink. He saw that
Jack and Hadley had now noticed what was going on between them, so he decided to shut the hell up for a bit, not wanting to give Julia’s cousin something to hold over their heads.

They arrived at the club and went in, finding a table.
Julia immediately excused herself to the ladies room, not wanting to deal right now with the bullshit. Chase followed her, keeping an eye out, and waiting for an opportunity to apologize to her. But after she came out of the restroom, before he could get a word out, she breezed right by him, stopping to sit at the bar, ordering another scotch while watching people dance. The place was packed and the music was blasting. Chase started toward her, but a guy beat him there, asking her if she'd like to dance. She knew Chase would be watching, so she took the opportunity to throw it all back in his face and accepted the guy's offer, going to the dance floor with him. If Chase was going to accuse her of being a slut, she might as well act the part. Ass. The song playing was one of her favorites, so she cut loose, dancing all up on the guy, letting him hold her hips from behind, as she moved against him while he practically ground his dick into her ass.

Chase
had watched Julia accept the douche bag’s offer to dance, and now he was pissed as hell watching them grinding all over each other. He ordered a glass of Glenlivet, downing that shit A-SAP, standing at the edge of the dance floor staring icily at her and Fred Astaire. Quite a few women came by asking him to dance, but he turned them all down. Not good to mix business with pleasure, he reminded himself. The thought made him chuckle mirthlessly.
Such a hypocrite, Murphy.

H
e kept an eye on Julia as she danced several more times with Baryshnikov, and on top of getting angrier at the situation, he was angry at himself. This was his fault. He should've trusted her, but he'd seen what he'd seen, right? He leaned against the bar still keeping an eye on her.

Jack
and Hadley had been on the dance floor from the moment they'd gotten there, and he watched as Jack was making the moves on her. Shit. How'd he miss that one? Several more women came by asking him to dance but he shot them down, not wanting to start more shit with Julia, but really because he didn't want to be with anyone other than her.

Julia
was having a great time dancing with this guy. He was cute and could really dance. And she was glad Chase was watching them. Served him right after the way he'd acted toward her. She'd danced five songs in a row with the guy when a slow song came on. She thanked him, telling him she needed to freshen up since she'd gotten a little sweaty dancing. The guy held her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles sweetly. She smiled at him and turned around running smack dab into a broad wall of navy blue.

"Oomph! Sorry!"
She looked up to see Chase glaring down at her. His hands were on her hips where they'd landed when she'd run into him.

"May I have this dance?" The look on his face scared her a little with its intensity. He looked like he was pissed but also like he wanted to h
ave his dirty way with her. Now. Jeez.

She was
inclined to tell him to leave her alone, but the way his eyes were smoldering into hers stopped her. "I don't know. Think you can play nice?" She smirked up at him.

"Depends on what that entails." His eyes bore into hers
full of passion and fire. He took her left hand into his right, wrapping his left arm around her waist, holding her to him tightly, moving her around the dance floor. "You proved your point."

"And what point would that be?"

"That I'm an asshole and should've believed you. And that I hate seeing you with anyone else. That I wanted to tear that guy's head off for even touching you. That I've been an idiot up till now for not admitting to myself that I'm falling for you."

She
looked up at him, surprised. She so didn't expect this. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled down at her then he bent to kiss her, more than taking her breath away.

"Fuck me
," she whispered as he pulled away.

He chuckled
at her inappropriate mouth. "I'd love to, believe me, but this just doesn't seem a suitable place." He spun them around easily. It felt so good to let her know how he felt about her. "And don't think I don't want to right now because you look hot tonight." He kissed her again, taking her breath away.

She blushed. "Thank you. You're not looking so bad yourself."

They spent the rest of the night dancing together, laughing, and in spite of the argument they’d had or her being followed the day before by someone potentially dangerous, having fun. When the club closed, they met Jack and Hadley at the limo and headed back to the beach house. It was obvious that Hadley had had just a tad too much to drink as she stumbled into the limo. Jack rolled his eyes at Julia and Chase.

"Well, you're all
cozied up together," Hadley said to Julia and Chase in her usual snotty tone, narrowing her eyes as she sat across from them.

"You don't need to be paying any attention to them, beautiful,"
Jack said, placing a finger on her jaw and turning her face toward his. He kissed her, and while doing so, looked at Julia and Chase and winked. Julia snorted. He'd finally figured out that Hadley was still a bitch, but his payback to Julia for allowing Hadley to come with them was his keeping her occupied so she'd forget to mention anything about the couple sitting across from her.

Chase
then realized that Jack wasn't so bad a guy. Matter of fact, he was pretty damned cool.

They got to the house and
Jack put Hadley in his car to drive her to her parents' beach house that was a mile or so away. She could pick her car up in the morning. The limo left and Julia and Chase stood outside the house on the front porch. There were no lights on inside, so Allen must've gone to bed.