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Closing the door behind his sister, Chase went back over to the mini-bar, pouring and throwing back a double scotch. Neither this, not the one he had while the guests had been there seemed to have any effect on him. It made sense that he could hold his liquor, particularly considering his size but the man seemed to have the tolerance of a baby elephant. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, breezing past me, the smell of scotch hanging around him like cologne. “Okay,” I said, not sure what else to say. Chase didn’t slam the door. If he had, I would have been a lot more worried. He didn’t seem to be about to beat me, which was always a good thing, though it did surprisingly little to assuage my fears about the current situation.
Etta didn’t strike me as the most charming person in the world, but she seemed to still be really into Chase. I couldn’t blame her, really, because I was too if I was honest with myself. Yet he had been so cruel to her. From what he told me, he hadn’t expected her to come, and they definitely had a history but he had basically set her up and, despite my distaste for her reaction, my heart went out to her a bit when she stormed out. I probably would have been upset too in her position, especially if I suspected he was lying. Which, of course, he was. And I was helping him. Worse, I was involving my daughter in the lie.
The guilt bubbled up like thick black acid from the core of my being. Adrenaline hitting my brain like a brick. I had to do something. I had to move. Going over to the minibar, I drained an entire bottle of orange juice that I assumed Chase used as a mixer, in an attempt to wash down the rising tide of guilt and nausea. It worked on the first but not the second.
Searching through the apartment, I found a good-sized suitcase and started piling it with everything I owned that I could get in, urgency burning inside me like a fever. This whole thing had been a mistake and there was only one way out.
I had no idea where we were going to go. I just knew we couldn’t be there when Chase got home. Something in the back of my head was telling me that we were going to have to go anyway now that the deed was done. We had served our purpose in throwing off his ex. Now we were at the end of our usefulness to him.
I didn’t want to believe that Chase was like that — like he would use us like that, but then I remembered how he had threatened the landlord. He made the nasty little man completely change his approach with just seven little words ‘you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.’ I wasn’t about to hang around and find what that was really like.
Getting the suitcase full, I went into the guest room where Katie was already awake and wiggling on the bed. Putting her on the floor so she couldn’t fall off, I closed the door and found her bag, starting to fill it with as much of her stuff as would fit.
“We go?” she asked. “Yes, honey, we need to find a new place to stay. You need to go to sleep.” “Chase!” Katie shouted, meaning she wanted him to read her a story before bedtime. “Chase isn’t here, honey,” I said. “Chase!” she shouted again, not understanding at all. I picked her up and rocked her as she kept saying Chase’s name, the declarations soon giving way to sobs. Just when I didn’t think I could feel any worse, there it was. I had let Katie get attached to Chase, and now we were leaving — like we had left her dad.
It was surprising how fast Chase had grown on her, it had only been two days, but there was no denying that he had. Finally crying herself to sleep, I put Katie down on the bed, surrounded by pillows just in case while I finished packing.
It was dark out by the time I finished. Putting Katie’s bag on my back, I wrapped her up and carried her to the door, pulling the suitcase behind me.
Chapter Nine
Chase
The apartment was eerily quiet as I opened the door. Katie might have been down for bedtime, and Ashlyn was keeping quiet, but I still got a feeling in my guts, like I always did before something bad happened. I usually had a pretty good idea of whether or not I would win a case the minute I walked into a courtroom. The last time the answer had been ‘no’ was more than three years before.
