Never Say Never, Part One (Second Chance Romance, Book 1) (5 page)

“Let’s not get it twisted. I was being a total dick. Chances are I would’ve gotten the snot beaten out of me either way.”
 

The first real laughter she’d experienced in weeks, maybe months, leaked out of her like air from a balloon.
 

“All right.” She plopped the card amidst the slew of others and waved. “Thanks for the apology and I’m glad you’re alive and well. I gave your phone to Chastity by the way.”
 

“Oh? How do you know my sister?”
 

“I kind of swiped your phone after I called 911,” she showed her teeth in discomfort, “and put it in my bag without thinking.”
 

“You found me? You got the ambulance to pick me up?” Chase stared at her as if he’d seen her for the first time.
 

“I thought you knew.”
 

He shook his head and glanced out the window again. The sun had started setting, hues of orange and pink spread out over the city, visible between the buildings.
 

“It was nice meeting you, Chase.” He wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. Still arrogant and infuriating, but not the same guy who’d groped a stripper in a seedy club. At least, that was how it seemed.
 

Emily clutched her handbag to the side of her silk blouse and turned to leave.
 

“Emily,” he said, and sat up straighter in his hospital gown, “Go out to dinner with me.”
 

“What?” She froze and her heart did too.
 

He fumbled a bit, then regained his composure. “Let me make it up to you. I’d like to take you out to dinner to say thank you for, ya know, saving my life.”
 

This hit too close to home. If she went with him she’d be entrapped by the idea of what she’d wanted for so long: a real man who loved her. But that was a lie. It didn’t exist. She knew that now.
 

“Thanks,” she said, with a small sad smile, “but no thanks, buddy.”
 

Emily winked and walked out before he could stop her again.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Emily sighed and shouldered her bag. The night sky was spangled with stars, and puffs of cloud scudded across the moon. Her shift started in ten minutes, and she’d be late, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
 

A week had passed since the hospital, but he was on her mind most days. She hated it and she couldn’t grasp why.
 

There wasn’t a chance she’d fit into his world, she’d gotten a glimpse of it at dinner with Chastity, and there was no way she’d let herself be abused again.
 

She wanted more than a stripping career and a dead drug addiction, but she had to get her life back on track. More than her future alone depended on it.
 

Emily set her jaw and clip clopped down the road in her stilettos – she was used to dancing and walking in them by now. The shadows on either side of the road spread far over the sidewalks, but she wasn’t afraid tonight.

Big Nick hadn’t threatened her since Chase had turned up outside The Tease. Maybe he was worried she’d report him to the police.
 

She skipped over the blood stain on the concrete – the spot where she’d found Chase – and hurried towards the corner.
 

“You’re gonna be late, girlie.” Nick appeared beside her and nabbed her arm.
 

Emily wriggled it, but he didn’t let go. “All the more reason to get to the club on time.”
 

“Where’s my money? It’s been a week.”
 

Fear pooled in her mind, filling the calm gaps. In the rush of discovering Chase and the lack of attention from Big Nick, she’d completely forgotten.
 

“I don’t have it,” she replied through gritted teeth.

“You don’t have it.” A slow grin opened in front of her, revealing yellowing teeth and that fantastic nicotine breath she loved. What a turn on.
 

“I have about $1000 at home. I can give you that so long.” She’d have to set aside money once a week. Maybe she could convince him to let her pay in installments.
 

“That wasn’t the deal, girlie. You owe me 10 000 big ones, and you had a week. Now, your ass is finally mine.” Nick reached around and grabbed her butt with both hands.
 

“Let go.”
 

“A deal’s a deal, bitch.” He forced her backwards and pinned her up against a dingy brick-faced building. “Wanna bring out that pepper spray now?”
 

“Get off me, Nick. I can get you the money, I need more time. Be reasonable.”
 

“You’re a coke whore. I can’t trust your word, only your body.” There was a soft release of pressure above her crotch. He’d undone the front buttons on her jeans.
 

This couldn’t be happening.
 

Big Nick pressed against her and his crotch invaded her privacy.
 

Oh yes, this was happening. It wasn’t a nightmare, the haunted dreams of a past life or a future terror. This was her against a wall, facing off against a witless drug dealer who’d attempted murder a week before.
 

“Nick,” she gasped it and he guffawed into her hair, “get off me. There must be another way.”

“I gave you months, bitch. No more chances.” He pulled her jeans down an inch and she grabbed them and pulled back.
 

The street was empty. There wasn’t hope of help. She’d have to handle this herself. How?
 

“Please, give me another week. I can get the money.”
 

“No.” He forced his mouth onto hers and stuck his slimy tongue between her lips. She bit down hard.
 

“Aahhhhhhhh!” Nick’s muffled scream rose above them in a cloud, and she tasted the copper of blood. She let go of his slug of a tongue and spat the blood on the ground.
 

“Don’t fuck with me!” She yelled at him, but he spat too and then backhanded her across the cheek.
 

Emily’s slammed into the bricks behind her.
 

“You’re gonna die, you little bitch.” Nick drew back his fist and she shut her eyes. This was what she’d amounted to. A statistic on a dark New York street. ‘Unnamed Victim of Mugging Dies Outside Mediocre Strip Club’. That was her tiny heading in a local paper.
 

“Having fun, meathead?” A familiar voice spoke up nearby.
 

“What the fuck?” Nick let go of her, and she slumped against the building and sank to her haunches, her stilettos dug into the backs of her thighs.
 

“There a problem here?” It was Chase, standing in a clean white shirt and tailored pants. He was a vision off Wall Street, without the tie and smoking cigarette.
 

“You.” Big Nick backed off slowly, in the direction of the club.

“Me.” Chase wiggled his head and pointed two thumbs back at his chest. He brought out his smartphone and entered a number on it. “And I’m about two seconds from calling the cops. I think they’d be really interested in you, big guy.”
 

Nick met Chase’s gaze and stared into his eyes. He held up two fingers. “You looking for a second round, buddy?”
 

“Sure.” Chase rolled up his sleeves. “Sobriety has its advantages.”
 

“Sobri – ?” Big Nick mouthed the word.
 

“It means I’m sober and I’m going to kick your ass, dumb fuck.”
 

“Stop it.” Emily spoke and scuffled upwards, trying to regain her composure. She didn’t need either man dead in the gutter – it’d be too much for her conscious and a run in with the cops was out of the question.
 

Big Nick grinned wide and reached out to dust off Emily’s shoulder. “Better keep that merchandise clean. I don’t like no dirty girls.”
 

Chase pounced, bringing his arm down and smacking Nick’s away with a surge of power. Emily tottered back a few steps and the bouncer’s eyes widened in disbelief.
 

“Now, you’re gonna get –”
 

But Chase met his ire with a cool look and reached round the back of his pants, as if to unholster a gun hidden there.
 

“I’m leaving.” Nick shot her rage reduced into a single expression. “You’re late for your shift, Candy Lane. And you can bet I’ll be watching. This prick won’t be around to protect you forever.”
 

“Lemme make this clear, ol’ buddy ol’ pal,” Chase intercepted Nick’s scowl and continued, “you touch this woman again and I’ll have you up for assault. Trust me, I have the funds and the contacts to have you jailed for a very long time.”
 

Big Nick didn’t reply, but turned on his heavy-booted heel and strolled around the corner, keeping his back straight in confidence, though there was tension in his shoulders.
 

“What was that about?” Chase helped her off the wall and held her a second longer than he had to.
 

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Sure looked that way.”
 

“Just leave it.” Emily snapped at him, then evened out her breathing and redid her jeans. “Thanks for your help. I guess we’re even now.”
 

“Nah, I think you owe me one.” Chase dusted himself off and looked back down the road. Cars began streaming by. Typical.

“What?!”
 

“You’ve been nothing but antagonistic ever since we met. The first time we spoke, you insulted me.”
 

“Hello, the first time we met you flicked my nipple!” Emily huffed and folded her arms to shield her breasts.
 

Chase didn’t skip a beat. “And what fine nipples they were.”
 

“Asshole.”
 

“Aha! Now, you definitely do owe me. How about dinner tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at eight.”
 

So that was his ploy. Emily blushed and scratched the back of her neck. This was dangerous territory.
 

“I won’t take no for an answer, by the way.” Chase interrupted her preliminary ‘no’.
 

“All right.” Emily sighed. “I’ve got to get to work.”
 

“I’ll walk you to the corner.”
 

They reached the corner and Chase gave a cheery wave to the bouncer hovering beside the door. Emily gave him her address on a scrap of paper and he folded it up carefully and placed it in his top pocket.
 

“Tomorrow at eight.” He nodded and moseyed off in the opposite direction without a backward glance.
 

Emily’s heart beat at a mile a minute. Chase was a distraction she didn’t need.
 

What had he been doing outside the strip club?

CHAPTER EIGHT

“You look beautiful tonight.” Chase said it softly, but she still caught it over the raucous laughter in the Mexican restaurant, El Paso.

“Thank you.”
 

She’d chosen a spicy red number which clung to her form, with a low neckline and for the evening. He’d phoned ahead to tell her they were going to El Paso and she’d been overjoyed.
 

This was her kind of scene. She’d always wanted to teach Latin ballroom.
 

A waiter appeared with their El Paso Margaritas and she buried herself in hers to steady her nerves.
 

“I didn’t think you’d come out.” Chase snacked on his grilled shrimp quesadillas and took a sip of his drink.
 

“And miss this?” She waved a hand to encompass the vibe in the restaurant. It was open, friendly and hopping with vibrant guests and waiters. It was fantastic.
 

“I’m glad you did.”
 

The conversation had slowed after the mains had arrived, but Emily didn’t want to care. She did, but she didn’t want to. He’d swept her off her feet and she couldn’t figure out why.
 

This man was out of her league.
 

She had so much to worry about, Nick, her past, the people she needed to protect and rescue, but she was drawn in by this guy.
 

Could she trust him? Did she want to?
 

“Chase, thanks for this, I really appreciate it, but I don’t think I’ll be able to come out with you again.” She needed to get this out of the way, so she could enjoy the rest of the evening with him. “I’ve got too much on my plate right now.”
 

He glanced at her meal and chuckled. She’d finished her quesadillas ages ago.
 

“You know what I mean.”
 

“Unfortunately, I don’t. You talking about that bouncer guy, what’s his name?”
 

“Big Nick. But he’s one part of it.” The waiter removed her plate and refilled her Margarita.