Page 131 of Grace

His smile warms my heart.

“I’ll get rid of all the videos as soon as I have a little time.” He says it so low only I can hear. The promise steadies me a little, but the thought of people jerking off to us… it makes my stomach turn. Disgusting. Sick. Perverted. I feel nauseous when I think about how much money our videos must’ve made Lucas.

“We should leave.”

He traces the line of my spine. I snuggle closer against him, and a wide smile breaks across his face—making me smile, too. I love it when he smiles.

“Out there,” I say, staring into the distance, “I’ll get confused again. You have no idea how people look at me.”

“Then think about how they look at me, because I’m the bad guy.”

He presses a quick, hard kiss to my lips and flips the blanket open. I curl into a fetal position, covering myself.

“This was unfair.”

Chase smiles again, then slips out of bed, lightning-fast. He pulls on his underwear and jeans with one movement, then hands me my cold, stinking, wet clothes. I shudder when the damp T-shirt hits my sensitive skin. As soon as I button my pants, he holds out a sweater.

“It’s warm out there.”

His gaze flicks to my breast. The outline of my nipples is unmistakable. Heat floods my face with shame. I take the sweater with my eyes downcast.

I didn’t ask Lucas to kidnap me without a bra. The memory leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

“You know he’s already seen them, right?” I ask carefully.

“That doesn’t mean he needs to see them one last time.”

“Chase… you have to accept the fact that I lived with him for two years.”

“But you were mine during those two years, too,” he says. He cups my face and kisses me—passionate, possessive, hard enough to wipe my mind clean. I press into him, melting against his body, snuggling against his lap.

“I’m afraid,” I whisper, making sure he hears what I’m really saying.

“Listen to me, Grace. The only person you need to answer to is yourself. Don’t think about how people look at you or talk about you. The most important thing is being happy in your own fucking life, you understand?”

I laugh loudly. Tears fill my eyes. “Happiness is like a butterfly—beautiful and short-lived.”

“Happiness isn’t a state. It can’t last. Just like pain can’t last forever. Emotions change like the seasons. Nothing is constant, and nothing is eternal.”

“And your obsession with me?”

His lips twist into a dark, cold smile.

“It seems there is something constant in life, after all,” he whispers, his voice low and sensual.

Dim lights glow in the thick night. On the driveway, I can see the acid-green Pontiac and the polished Harley. My stomach clenches, and my throat and heart constrict painfully. Cyrus deserves better than this after everything he’s done for me. But when I think about how much making love with him hurt… not physically—emotionally. I couldn’t spend a lifetime with him. Not after what happened between Chase and me.

Chase opened my eyes and gave me a chance to open my heart to a love that’s been lurking there for years—a love like an old injury that keeps flaring back up.

“I’d like to do this alone.”

His jaw tightens, and a flash of wild, dangerous anger flares in his eyes—enough to tear the man in that house to pieces. My knees shake, and a knot forms in my throat and belly as I climb out of the Chevrolet and walk to the house. I draw a deep breath and turn the doorknob. My heart stutters, and my mind goes blank. I slam the door behind me and run straight into his arms. I hold him tight, breathing in his familiar scent deeply.

“You aren’t hurt,” I whisper. Tears well up and spill down my face. His huge arms wrap around me as he buries his face in my hair.

After the outburst, I pull myself free and force my voice into something light, conversational.

“How is Greta?”