The Chase, Volume 2 by Jessica Wood Read Free Book Online Page B

Dean. We can still be friends.”
    “The hell we can! I don’t ever want to see you again, you fucking whore!”
    Before she could respond, I hung up on her and turned off my phone.
    A wrath of fury crashed through me as my hand gripped tightly around the phone, revealing the whiteness around my knuckles. I reached for the box that burned against my skin.
    I looked at the box and for the first time in my life, I saw myself for who I was: the biggest fucking fool in existence.
    Without another thought, I threw the box into the nearby wastebasket.
    As I walked back inside the airport, I made a vow to myself. I hadn’t just thrown away a ring inside of that box. No, I’d thrown away much more than that. Along with that box, I threw away the last four years of my life—the person I was, the hopes I had for the future, and all of the emotions that had brought me to this point.
    From now on, I wouldn’t let any woman fool me again. From now on, I wouldn’t believe in love. From now on, I would be a changed man.
    ***
    Present Day
    I must be the only person in the world who hated Thanksgiving. To everyone else, it was a time of love, reunions, and thankfulness. But for me, it was a time of darkness, betrayal, and regret.
    So I was not in the greatest mood on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when Damian had convinced me to have dinner with him and Alexis. As I sat at the bar area of the restaurant waiting for them to arrive, my mind wandered to the one person that’d consumed my mind in the last month or so. Blair.
    I wasn’t sure how she’d gotten under my skin, but she had. But I couldn’t allow myself to accept the feelings that I’d seemed to have developed for her. I couldn’t allow myself to be vulnerable the way I had with the Blonde Bitch. I couldn’t allow myself to become a weak, blind fool again.
    “Hey, buddy!”
    I turned around to see Damian walking over with Alexis, who was carrying Isabella in her arms.
    “It’s been too long, man.” I gave Damian and Alexis a hug before we were ushered to our table.
    “So how are you?” Damian asked after we placed our orders with the waiter.
    I shrugged. “Eh. Nothing much to report.”
    Damian raised his eyebrow and snorted. “I know that look, and it ain’t nothing. What’s the problem? Girl trouble?”
    I forced a laugh. “You know I don’t do girl trouble.”
    “Are you sure, Dean?” Alexis looked at me with doubt in her eyes. Then she looked over at Damian and smiled. “Damian claims he didn’t have any girl trouble until he met me, and look at him now.” She leaned over and Damian kissed her.
    “God, you two are too much. Don’t ruin my appetite.”
    Damian chuckled. “Come on, dude. You’re thirty years old. I know that Katherine—”
    “Don’t call her by her name. She’s the Blonde Bitch to me.”
    “Language, Dean.” Alexis motioned to Isabella, who had a crayon in hand and making circles on what looked like a Frozen coloring book.
    “Oops. Sorry.”
    “Okay, I know the Blonde Witch really messed you up in college, especially when the other guy was Gibson. I still can’t believe they both did that to you. But dude, that was almost a decade ago. It’s really time to get over that.”
    “I enjoy being single.” I watched as Damian and Alexis looked at each other, and it was almost as if they were communicating to each other with their eyes.
    “So who’s the girl?” Damian finally asked. “You can tell us, man. We’ve been good friends for over ten years.”
    “She’s a client.”
    “Oh,” Damian and Alexis said together.
    “It’s not a big deal,” I said quickly. “I don’t even know if I’m really interested.”
    Damian laughed. “You’re definitely interested if you’re saying that.”
    I groaned. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”
    “So what’s the problem?” Alexis asked.
    “I don’t want to be interested in her.”
    “Why not?” Alexis looked confused.
    “Because I enjoy being single. It’s not