Trust (28 page)

“
Who the fuck do you think you are?
”

I
stood up from the chair as soon as I see Denise coming down the hallway, unsure
what she is capable of doing.  Obviously Chase has told her that he never wan
ts to speak to her again, and she decided that I
’
m to blame.  She gives me no chance to
answer before she continues.

“
You’ve
known Chase for what, a couple of weeks
and you
’
re already demanding that he break off
friendships
he’s
had for years?
”
She turns
to
look at Chase who is standing behind her with a raised eyebrow. 
“
Seriously?  Don
’
t you see how this is some serious
stalker type behavior, Chase?  Who does that?
”

“Denise,”
he says, his voice starting off calm in
the face of her storm but rising as he
speaks,
“don
’
t try to turn this around.  This was my
decision, it had nothing to do with Lila other than
it’s
become clear to me that you
’
re trying to sabotage my relationship
with her, and I
’
m not going to stand for it.  We were
halfway around the fuckin
g world on vacation and you
told me there was an emergency.
”

“And I
handled-”.

“Bullshit,”
he practically roars, cutting her off as
all calmness flees his demeanor.  From the corner of my eye I see the
receptionist shift around in her seat, clearly uncom
fortable
at witnessing this.  As much as I had wanted to see this myself earlier, I
’
m now regretting getting my wish.

She
whirls back to me now, her eyes full of fire. 
“
You little bitch, do you really think
this is going to help you land a man like Chase
?
”

“I
’
m not trying to land anyone.
”  It
’
s impossible for her to conceive of the
fact that I
’
m not after Chase for anything other
than himself. 

Now
she throws her head back and laughs, but
it’s
a deep laugh, unlike the shrill one I
’
m used to hearing. 
“
You
’
re so naive.  You don
’
t know anything about Chase.  You had no
idea he was even buying that house, he told you it was his and you believed
him.
”

I
shake my head, unwilling to let her goad me into a fight.  I
’
m past the house issue.  It
’
s not going to
bother
me.  S
he’s
not going to bother me. 
“
I know about the house now, and I
’
m fine with it.  Chase had his reasons
and I get it.
”

“
Do you?  You understand his reasons?
”
She spins again to face Chase. 
“
Does she know the reason Chase?  The
real
reason yo
u
needed a new house?
”

“Denise…”
Chase begins, his eyes flitting to me
quickly where I see a flash of something in them that I haven
’
t seen before.  Fear? 

“
You
didn’t
, did you?
”

“
I explained my feelings to her,
”
Chase says
quickly. 
“
She understands e
nough about how I feel to know the house is a symbol that I
’
m changing my ways.
”

Denise
laughs again, still the deeper throaty laugh. 
“
Stop trying to shoot an angle here,
Chase.  You
’
re not at the poker table.  Let me help
you out.  You obviously are ver
y serious about your
little girlfriend here, and I can see why.  So young and pretty.  But what
relationship can last without complete honesty?  I don
’
t think
y
ou’ve
been completely honest with Lila here,
have you Chase?  So yes, let me help.
” 
She turns b
ack to me again, the
smile on her face very disconcerting.  I want to tell her that I don
’
t want to hear anything she has to say,
that I know s
he’s
only going to try to poison my
relationship with Chase with whatever comes out of her mouth, but the words w
on
’
t come to my lips.  Despite knowing that whatever she tells
me is going to be twisted or designed to hurt me or our relationship, I still
want to hear it.  The fact that I saw fear in Chase
’
s eyes make
s it even more important.  It
’
s obviously something
he’s
worried about me find
ing
out
. 

“
Chase needed this new house, because he
can
’
t take you back to his existing house.
”

My
brow furrows.  Existing house?  He has another one?  My brain races around
trying to figure out what that means before Denise can
continue, before she can twist the truth around to make something innocuous
sound worse than it is.  Is something wrong with his last house?  Why would I
care?  Is it a huge mansion and she thinks
I’ll
think
he’s
stuck up?  Or is it tiny and rundown,
with
tenants living in it because
he’s
a secret slumlord?  Whatever it is, I
can
’
t imagine why I would care beyond
wondering why he
wouldn’t
tell me in the first place. 

“
And he can
’
t take you back to his existing house,
because someone already lives there,
right Chase?
”

Slumlord
it is.  Or something like that.  Or maybe
he’s
got an old roommate there he
doesn’t
want me to meet, or could he still have
been living with his parents?  The possibilities spin through my head in the
mere moments before she continu
es, making time seem
to slow with each new piece of information she doles out.  S
he’s
clearly savoring this.  Letting each
bit hit me so she can watch for a response and build on the suspense. 
Everything she does is designed to manipulate and this is no e
xception.  S
he’s
trying to make something small into
something big again as a last ditch effort to hurt us.  But
there’s
nothing she can say at this point that
we can
’
t get through.

“
So tell me, Chase.  When were you going
to take little Lila here to meet
your wife?
”

Except
that.

The
look on Chase's face tells me all I need to know.  Even though I know Denise is
trying to hurt me, and I can't trust much of what comes out of her mouth, I
know
 
s
he’s
isn't lying about this.  His mouth
opens, but no
thing comes out right away and I can
almost see the wheels spinning in his head as he tries to figure out what to
say.  I save him the trouble, shaking my head. I don't need to hear anything
else.

"You
know what, stay here Chase.  You two deserve each oth
er." 
Before he can say another word I turn on my heel and storm out of the office
into the bright Vegas sun.

Chase's
limo is still waiting outside for the two of us, and my bag is still in the
trunk.  I open up the door before his driver, Mark, even has
a chance to get out of the car.  It's time to test whether
or not he'll take me somewhere without Chase.

"Please
take me to the airport."  I don't really have a plan, but
it’s
the only place I can think to run, even
though I feel like I've been down this
path before. 
When will all of the lies stop?

"Shall
we wait for Mr. Anderson?"  I can see the driver looking at me through the
rear view mirror with a raised eyebrow.  I meet his gaze, but I'm not sure what
he sees in my eyes.

"No,"
I shake my head and
take a deep breath.  "Please
Mark, can you just get me out of here?"

The
driver stares at me for a moment before finally nodding, shifting the car into
drive and pulling out of the parking lot.  Whatever it was he saw in my eyes
was enough to convince him
to just go.  Maybe
he’s
used to the women in Chase's life
running from him and his secrets.  Chase told me that Mark has been his driver
for years, so
he’s
probably seen it all.

It
burns me to leave Chase behind with Denise.  In her mind, she probably fe
els like s
he’s
won.  For all I know, she and Chase are
back there fucking on her big conference table, laughing at the foolish and
naive Canadian.

"Hello?"

I
look up at Mark, but I see him pushing headphones into his ear so that he can
speak on the phone
while he drives. 

"Yes
sir, we're on our way to the airport.  Miss Hunter requested that I take
her."  He pauses for a moment.  "Of course."  He pulls his
headset away from his ear and presses a button on his dash.  Suddenly I hear
Chase's voice coming
through the car's speaker.

"Lila?"

"I'm
tired of this, Chase," I say, cutting off his excuses before they begin. 
What can he possibly say this time.  Unless Denise was lying and he isn't
actually married, I don't really see any outs for him.  Even if
he
’s
split or getting a divorce or whatever,
it’s
certainly something he should have
mentioned.  He's always claimed to never have had a serious relationship, even
Denise wasn't in his life romantically for very long.  I think having a wife
qualifies as a se
rious relationship that is important
enough to mention.  "Just tell me one thing.  Is it true?  Are you
married?"

I
already know the answer.  I saw it in his face back at the office.  But I still
feel myself tense as I wait to hear him say it, praying tha
t he'll tell me
it’s
just a big lie Denise made up just to
fuck with us again.

"Yes,
it’s
true."

My
heart sinks. I feel like I am go
ing to
throw up.   "Then we really have
nothing more to discuss.  You're a liar and a cheat."

"Lila,
it’s
not like that."

There
are so many ways for men to justify running around on their wives and
girlfriends.  Chase has a silver tongue and I don't even want to hear what he
has to say.  I don't want him to sway me.  I can't believe anything he has to
say about this.  It wi
ll always be suspect.

"Please
don't go, come back and let's talk about this.  I can explain."

"
I've heard enough from you.  Unless
you're planning on telling Mark to turn this car around against my will, I have
no plans on coming back.”  
 

"I
wouldn’t
do
that." he says. I can hear the pain in his voice but as with everything
else with Chase Anderson, I have no idea how genuine any of it is.  "Mark
will take you anywhere you want to go.  I just wish you would
want
to come back here and talk about
this."

"I'm
done talking to you," my voice snaps like a whip and I hope he can feel
the sting.  I want him to hurt like I hurt right now.  It's not fair that I'm
always the one getting bruised in this relationship.

"Please
hang up the phone," I say, leaning for
ward so
that Mark knows I'm talking to him.

My
voice must be harsher than even I realize because he doesn't even pause to wait
to see if Chase has any objections.  He just presses a button and silence fills
the car.

I
take a deep and steadying breath, le
tting it out
shakily.  Lies are one thing, and I hate them, but even worse is a cheat. 
Cheating in a relationship is the lowest of the low, in my opinion, and
it’s
unforgivable.  I forgave Chase once
before for his lies, but I can't forgive him for cheati
ng on his wife.  He didn't say ex-wife, so that means they're still
married.  And even if they're separated, she probably has no idea what
he’s
doing with his free time.  For all I
know, she thinks
he’s
off in Europe at a poker tournament.  They might not
even be
separated.
  It's not fair to her any more than
it’s
fair to me.

"Mark?"

"Yes
Ma'am?"

"Obviously
you heard our conversation.  You've known Chase a long time.  Did you know he
was married?"

Mark
pauses.  I can see even from the backseat how uncom
fortable
he is with the question.  He fidgets a bit before answering.  "I don't get
involved in Mr. Anderson's personal affairs, Miss Hunter."

Men
and their bro codes or whatever.  Mark obviously doesn't want to rat out his
employer, but I
couldn’t
care l
ess.  "I don't blame
you, Mark. 
That’s
not my point.  I just want to know whether you knew he was
married.  Have you ever met his wife?

He
pauses but then finally nods.  “
Yes."
 

“Have
you ever driven her anywhere?”

He
nods again.  “Yes.”

"Fine. 
And
did you hear when Chase said you should take me
wherever I wanted to go?"

"Yes,
I heard.  Are we still going to the airport?"

"No,"
I say, drawing in a deep breath again.  "I want you to take me to her
place instead.  Take me to see Chase's wife."