Page 72 of Chasin’s Surrender

To get away from the leeches and liars—I was.

“First, we need to talk about the benefit concert.” Bobby launched into her role as my assistant and keeper. “I already spoke to Nixon about it, he knows that this is important to you, and if at all possible, you don’t want to miss it.”

Shoot, I’d forgotten that the benefit concert was coming up in a couple of months. I hoped that Gemini Group would catch the stalker way before then, but Bobby was right, I didn’t want to miss it.

“The venue’s pretty small. Can Nixon provide security or oversee a group if we bring in—”

“No outsiders,” Holden cut in. “The six of us handle security.”

“It’s in Nashville,” I told him.

“Don’t care if it’s on the moon. If you think Chasin’s gonna let anyone other than us cover you, you’re wrong.”

“I’ll talk to Chasin tonight, get his opinion.”

“You’ll talk to Chasin?” Bobby breathed.

“Yeah…”

“Awesome.”

That one silly word hung between us. It felt like it weighed a ton. I didn’t have to ask what she meant, because I knew why she thought it was awesome I was going to talk to Chasin. I never asked for anyone’s opinion about my life, my decisions, or my career. Only Bobby. So if I was asking Chasin, she knew what that meant.

I was letting him in.

I was done fighting it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing my future. One that would include Bobby at my side because she wasn’t quitting. That was a huge relief. I needed her both in my personal life and my business. She was smart, loyal, and my voice of reason.

As dinner time approached, Chasin texted and told me he was still caught up at the office and for us to eat without him. This worried me but I didn’t push.

Holden, Bobby, and I ate. I went up to Chasin’s room and played my guitar while fiddling with some lyrics I was working on. As usual, I lost track of time. When I looked at my phone, I couldn’t believe how late it’d gotten and that Chasin wasn’t back yet.

Just when I was considering getting dressed and demanding Holden drive me to the office so I could check on Chasin, the front door opened. Then I heard voices downstairs.

I glanced at the clock on my phone again and forced myself to stay upstairs. I’d give him ten minutes to talk to Holden before I went down there and demanded he talk to me.

That would be a change of pace. I smiled at the thought of being the one to pry information from Chasin for once.

You got one life, baby, just one.

And if things worked out, I’d be living it with Chasin by my side.

The butterflies hit my stomach and I decided I really liked the way they felt.

21

Chasin knew he’d been a dick. This time unintentionally. He did have shit he needed to take care of at the office—none of it pressing but important nonetheless. He’d left because he was pissed at his parents, embarrassed at their presence, but also he needed to wrap his head around what had happened.

Or more to the point, what he’d felt when Genevieve had wrapped herself around him, doing her best to protect him from the two people who’d continuously caused him harm. Incidentally she’d succeeded in cushioning the blow. He wasn’t nearly as angry as he normally was when he had to deal with his mother alone.

“You get your shit sorted?” Holden asked as soon as he walked into the house.

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask his friend the same question. Years, Holden’d been playing a stupid game with a good woman. A woman who had belonged to him heart and soul but Holden had let her go. And all it had taken was one drunken night and a bad decision for her to be lost to him in a way Holden hadn’t been prepared for.

Chasin was the only one who knew all three sides of the fucked-up love triangle. Each side was at fault. However, one of the people in the equation was gone, in a very real way, never to return. It was time Chasin came to grips that a man he’d loved like a brother and respected deeply wasn’t without responsibility in continuing to drag his marriage through the mud by keeping the Holden-Charleigh-Paul saga very much alive.

Paul had loved Charleigh when she wasn’t his to love, then he’d taken advantage of a very drunk Charleigh a month after Holden had ended things. She was hurting and vulnerable, and as much as it fucked with Chasin’s head to think about it, Paul took advantage of that, thinking he’d found an in.