I take a quick breath. “What happened after you found out? About Vanessa, I mean.”
“As soon as I learned the truth, Brett tossed her aside like a piece of garbage. In his eyes, she’d fulfilled her purpose. She wasn’t happy about it, despite the big payoff he gave her to keep her mouth shut with the press. So, she came back to me, showed up at my doorstep. Told me she loved me, that he’d tricked her. Begged me to take her back.”
I hold my breath, afraid of what he’ll say next.
“No matter how many doors I slam in her face, she keeps trying. Keeps calling.” I feel myself relax as he shakes his head in disbelief. “Brett’s probably paying her to do it, hoping it’ll fuck with me, even after all these years.” He pauses. “And considering the fact that her call made you run from me, yesterday, I guess it’s working.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper again, for an entirely different reason. “I shouldn’t have bolted without talking to you, first.”
His hand squeezes mine and though he doesn’t say anything, I know he’s accepted my apology.
“Why are you here, Chase?” I force myself to ask. “Why are you telling me all this?”
He glances at me, and those green eyes are so intense, I’m pinned to the spot.
“The second I saw you, jumping up and down on the sidelines of a sport you didn’t understand, cheering for the wrong team and still somehow having more fun than everyone else in that stadium, Iknew. Knew I wanted you in my arms, in my bed, in my life.” His eyes are liquid heat — molten lava, burning into mine. “I’m used to getting what I want, Gemma.”
I stop breathing.
“Still, I was going to stay away from you, keep you out of all this shit, even if it killed me.”
“Why?”
“Because you aren’t built for deceit or lies or darkness. I’m shadow and you’resunshine. You’re not like me. You’re just… different.”
“Bad different?”
“Different in the best way possible. My world — it’s monochrome. Black and white. But you…” His voice gets lower, huskier. “You’re painted in every shade on the palette. You’re screaming color. A fucking rainbow.”
I pause for a moment, trying to process that. “Past tense?” I ask finally.
“What?”
“You said you were going to stay away from me.Were, notare.” I swallow hard. “Past tense.”
He looks at me, his eyes searing into mine, and the expression on his face makes my heart clench with hope.
“I was trying to keep you out of this shit with Brett. Now that he knows… you’re in it, whether I like it or not.” He steps closer and I tilt my head back to hold his gaze. “I’m not staying away anymore, Gemma. I can’t. Iwon’t. And I could give a fuck who knows it.”
“You barely know me,” I whisper.
“I know enough.” His words are so adamant, I don’t question him.
For a moment, we’re quiet.
“You’re wrong, you know,” I say after a while, looking back at the water.
A pause. “About?”
“You’re not all shadow and darkness. Maybe Brett is, maybe your family is, but not you.” I scrape together the courage to say the next part. “You’re kind and caring, even if you hide it beneath that dominant, bossy, pain-in-the-ass arrogance. And when you laugh…” I inhale sharply. “You make the world light up.”
His hand squeezes mine and I force myself to look at him. His eyes are burning so bright, it almost hurts to meet his gaze.
Almost.
“People who laugh like you do aren’t dark, Chase,” I whisper. “Not where it counts.”
His expression is serious as he echoes my words. “You barely know me.”