A Debt Repaid (1) Read Online Free Page B

asked, just to please him.
    But not her. She wasn’t intimidated by his personality, and she wasn’t interested in his money. Aria was in his office, arguing with him, despite the fact that she was scared of him. Of what he wanted.
    Despite what Douglas had done to her, she was determined to help the bastard avoid jail time.
    Chase didn’t allow himself to analyze her reasons behind that last one. She crossed her arms, he did the same, and they stood there for what seemed like forever, looking at each other.
    Finally, with a shake of her head, Aria broke the silence. “Your word should mean nothing to me, but I want you to give it to me. Swear to me that after I go on this date, and only on this date, you will leave Douglas alone.”

 
     
     
    CHASE HAD GIVEN HER his word. He’d done so because he had every intention of doing as he’d promised. One date. Just a few short hours in his company and her husband would be left alone.
    Aria stormed out of his office right after, without a word. They hadn’t even discussed when and where their date was going to take place. Chase knew how to reach her and she knew where to find him. He wasn’t worried.
    The look on her face when she’d left, now that worried him.
    Since when did he do worried?
    Since he’d met her, apparently.
    More than once over the last few days, Chase had to stop himself from picking up the phone and calling her to cancel the whole thing.  He couldn’t forget the way she’d stared at him before leaving. The helplessness and anger in her stare. What seemed to be betrayal, blazed out of her eyes—an accusation that burned.
    For the first time in a long while, he was dealing with guilt. He fucking hated it. Hated what it was trying to convince him to do. If he canceled his date with Aria, he would never have a chance to spend even that little bit of time with her.
    It was all he was going to get. He knew that now. The more he thought about the way she’d looked at him, the more convinced he became: she was never going to forgive him for blackmailing her.
    Chase wished she didn’t have the effect she had on him. Then he wouldn’t care.
    About her.
    About anything.
    Bullshit. The fact that she had the power to make him care about things was what had him so damned hooked. The woman was a novelty in every sense he could think of. The amount of lust she pulled out of him was ridiculous.
    But lust he knew. It was something he understood. The lust he felt might have been unprecedented—at least as far back as he could remember—but it was still within the realm of familiarity.
    The memory of how her large blue eyes looked was all it took for his predicament to become clear. Indeed, the issue wasn’t that he felt lust when he thought of her—it was that he was feeling a host of other shit he couldn’t make sense of.
    He had no clue on how to analyze what he was going through. The emotions were out of reach. No matter how much he tried to focus on them, they were like blurry images right in front of his face. He knew they were there, but no matter how hard he squinted, he couldn’t begin to make sense of the lines he saw behind the fog.
    Chase knew what his therapist would say to that. He hadn’t felt or recognized any form of emotion besides lust in years. He’d been six the last time he’d felt anything.
    He remembered the connection he’d had with his mother. The hugs and kisses that made him happy. He’d been addicted to them, always running back to her for more. “A momma’s boy” as his father sneered so many times.
    Chase also remembered looking up to his father. Being desperate for his attention—his approval. More than anything, Chase remembered feeling wrong for even wanting his father to care about him. After all, even at the age of five, he’d known deep down what a piece of crap his father was.
    Then, the man had taken Chase’s mother from him. Experiencing it
,
and witnessing it
,
had been bad enough. The fact that money and