Trust (8 page)

After a bit of playful
negotiation, Chase agrees that it's only fair for him to be naked as well, and
an hour later the two of us are lying on his bed, amongst a heap of sweaty
sheets.

"You hungry for
dinner yet?" he asks, pushing himself up onto an elbow to look down at
me. 

"Why?  Did you
decide to give the waiter a show after all?"  I lift up onto both of my
elbows as well and stare down his chiseled body to his spent cock.  I wonder
how long it'll take for that to become useful again? 

"Hmm, I was thinking
that when they deliver it I could at least put on a robe."

"I don't know,"
I say, shaking my head.  "I don't remember that being called out in our arrangement."

"Does that mean we
have to go back to the bargaining table?"

"Well, I'm just not
sure why I would agree to reopen negotiations after everything has been settled
to my satisfaction."  I smile at him, running a finger along the lines of
his hard abs.  How much time does he spend in the gym, anyway?

Chase reaches down,
pressing a hand against my thigh and spreading my legs.  "I don't know, I
think I have an idea about how to get you to
reopen
them..."  He
slides down the bed, his strong hand still holding onto my upper thigh as his
thumb brushes against my still moist folds.

"Wait a
minute," I protest, "that's not fair, that's not what we were talking
about reopening."

His lips kiss my thigh,
right below where his hand is and then higher as he stops holding me open.  His
gamble pays off when I don't close my legs on his head.  He kisses me again,
this time a little bit higher.  "Okay, you're right, maybe I should stop
then."  One more kiss just below my aching core and he lifts his head up
to look at me.

"Well hold on,"
I say, almost finding it hard to catch a breath.  "No one said you should
just walk away from the negotiation table.  I'd like to see where your current
strategy is headed."

"Ah, I thought you
might."

Now his head dips down
again and there's no more teasing.  His lips brush against me right before I
feel his hot tongue invade my pussy.  I arch my back against his bed and moan.

"Fuck you taste so
good," comes his muffled voice.  His hands grab one of my legs and slip it
up and over his shoulder, giving him deeper access to my center.  This time I
scream as he pushes his tongue deeper inside of me.  Chase's hands are holding
me by the waist, pulling me hard against his face.

"My clit," I
pant.  "Don't forget my clit."

He makes a satisfied
noise as he pulls his tongue from me and drags it slowly up to spin circles
around the center of my pleasure.  My body shivers with excitement as the
stimulation grows to an almost unbearable level.  No one has ever made me come
so hard or so fast as Chase Anderson.

"Fuck..." I
practically yell the word, dragging it out into its own sentence as Chase's
tongue draws a powerful orgasm out of my body.

"You win," I
say after catching my breath.  Chase is using one of my thighs as a pillow and
running his fingers lightly up and down my other leg.  "You can wear a
robe when you answer the door.  I'm hungry all of a sudden."

Chase laughs as he rolls
out of bed.  "I'll find the menu."

By the time I wake up the
next morning it's after ten, which is still better than the almost noon of the
day before.  This time Chase is still next to me, still drained from a long
night of fluid loss.  We really only managed to watch half of a movie. 
Apparently spending the whole night naked turned out to be very distracting for
both of us, and neither of us could concentrate on the television. 

Parched, I push myself
out of bed and walk into the other room to get a bottle of water from the mini
fridge.  After a long drink I sit down on the couch, pulling my phone out of my
purse to see if Evelyn had anything else to say after I left the conversation
last night.

Turns out she did, but
most of those messages were buried under an avalanche of missed calls and other
texts from Harrison who was frantically trying to reach me when he noticed I
didn't show up for the flight.  I wince at that.  I should have probably warned
him I wasn't going back.  The flight was due to leave at ten so he was already
in the air and who knows what he was thinking.  Still, he's been an asshole and
I'm kind of happy he's worried about me.  Serves him right.

I skip his messages for
now and scroll through Evelyn's.  She wasn't happy that I wasn't coming home
either, but she totally understood and sounded a bit jealous.  She made sure to
note numerous times that she expected a complete blow by blow when I got home,
and the fact that he's tweeting about me and I'm skipping my flight for him
means that she's not going to accept any excuse from me that there is nothing
to tell.  I just shake my head and smile, imagining the things I could tell her
when I got home.

It surprises me that
Harrison didn't call Evelyn to ask if she'd heard from me, so I jump back over
his messages to see if he mentions doing that.  If he did, I can stop feeling
guilty about not telling him.  Despite how he treated me and the fact that I'm
sort of happy to hear that he seems to be genuinely worried about my safety, I
do feel bad that I completely forgot to let him know that I wouldn't be there
today. 

I don't see anything in
any of his texts to indicate that he thought of talking to Evelyn, so I switch
over to the voicemails he left.  He does sound worried, making me feel even
more guilty, until I get to the last one where he mentions his intention to
call my parents as soon as he lands to find out if they had heard from me.  Of
course he wouldn't call them before he got on the plane.  Too cheap to pay the
long distance charges on his cell phone.  So maybe he wasn't quite as concerned
as I thought.

Still, if he does call my
parents they are liable to do something crazy like contact the US embassy or
something, so I decide to call him back to at least let him know I'm still
alive.  Besides, with him already on the plane I at least won't have to
actually talk to him directly.  I certainly want to avoid the real reason I'm
staying.  That's still not a conversation with him that I'm ready to have.

It takes me a minute to
mentally compose what I'm going to say.  I need something that sounds clear and
final, but without giving away too much.  I don't really want to lie to him,
he'll find out about Chase eventually, but I don't really want to tell him
about us just yet either.  I have the advantage in being able to leave it as a
message and not have to worry about him peppering me with questions.  I'm not a
great liar.

I dial his cell, trying
to keep the rough monologue in my head and hoping I won't sound like a fumbling
idiot trying to dance around the most important part of the story. 

It only rings once.

"Hello?  Lila? 
Where the hell are you?" comes Harry's unrecorded voice.

Shit.

I'm silent, caught by
surprise at having Harrison actually answer the phone when I was completely
expecting his voicemail.  The clock on the desk across from me says ten thirty
seven.  Why the hell isn't he already on his way back to Toronto?

"Lila?  Are you
there?  I hope you're on your way to the airport.  The flight was delayed but they’re
expecting to board in a few minutes.  Where the hell are you?"

"I'm not
coming," I finally find my voice.  The speech I'd prepared has fled my
mind completely so I have to wing it.

"What do you mean
you aren't coming?  Where are you, Lila?  Where have you been?  I have your bag
here with me."

"I'm... I'm just
staying in Vegas for a little while.  I need some time."

"Lila, what the
hell.  You haven't spoken to me at all, you have to let me explain about-"

"Stop," I say. 
Surprisingly, he does.  "It's over Harrison.  It really is.  It's not
about the other night, although that was certainly the last straw, but it's
been coming for a long time.  I think we both knew it.  There's nothing left
for us.  It just wasn't working."

"Lila, I-"

"Stop," I
repeat.  "Please, just stop.  Take my bag and drop it off with Evelyn. 
I'll let you know when I get back to Toronto.  I just wanted to call and let
you now that I was okay."  So that you wouldn't freak my parents out.

"Lila, can we just
talk about this?  I can change my flight as well."

"No!" The last
thing I want to do is have Harrison still in Vegas trying to meet up with me. 
I don't want to be responsible for him anymore, and I'm not ready to have the
conversation about Chase.  He'll say it's too soon.  It probably is too soon,
but I don't care.  It feels right.  Chase makes me feel right.  "It's over
Harry.  Please stop texting me.  I have to go."  I hang up before he gets
a chance to say another word.  This time I turn my phone completely off.  I
need a break from my old life for a few days.  From Harry, from Evelyn, from
everyone.  I'm here with Chase, and Chase is the only person I'm interested in
spending time with.

With that thought, I head
back into the other room and slip back into bed with him, snuggling up to his
warm naked body with my own.  This is exactly where I want to be.

It took me three days to
even turn my phone back on again.  I wasn't exactly avoiding Harry, Evelyn, or
anyone else, I simply forgot about it.  Chase and I have been busy almost nonstop
since then, and whenever we do have a free moment we usually spend it in his
hotel without clothes.  Not because Harry took my bag back with him to Toronto,
either.  Chase took me on a little mini shopping spree and bought me enough new
outfits to last a week.  But the way we've been avoiding wearing any in the
hotel room means they'll actually last much longer.

The only time I've spoken
to anyone at all was when I called home from the room phone to let my parents
know I was staying a few extra days in Vegas.  I let them know that Harry and I
had broken up, and used that as an excuse by saying I needed some time away
from everyone. 

But today I'm just
standing around waiting for Chase to finish up doing a photo shoot for some
poker magazine, so I have some time to kill.  I can't avoid it forever. 

Reaching into my purse I
look for my phone, which is side by side with Chase's at the bottom of my
purse.  He asked me to hold it and his wallet, as the photographer didn't like
the bulge it was creating in his pocket.  I pull mine out and switch it back
on.  As I expected, there are a number of messages from both Evelyn and
Harrison.  I flip through Harry's quickly.  Mostly they're just a mixture of
him apologizing and telling me he wants to talk.  From the timestamps on them,
though, they've been getting less frequent as the days tick by.  He hasn't sent
any at all today.  Maybe he's finally getting the hint that it's over.

Evelyn's are surprisingly
not asking about my relationship with Chase.  Well, not
only
asking
about it.  She says she has some news about her job and to call her when I have
a chance.  Evelyn works as a personal assistant at some company.  It's always
sounded like a glorified secretary to me, but at least she has a job.  It pays
surprisingly well, too, which has helped me in the past when I've had trouble
coming up with my half of the rent on time, which is often.  She probably got a
bonus or promotion or something.  Evelyn has always worked hard, so she
deserves it.  I feel bad for not talking to her at all these last few days. 
It's time to rejoin the rest of the world.  I need to call her back.

I glance up to see if
they're still taking pictures of Chase, but the photographer is on the other
side of the big room fiddling with his camera.  Chase is still leaning against
the poker table they were using as a prop, but now there are a couple of young
women talking to him, one of whom has her hand on his arm as they all laugh.  I
drop my phone back in my purse and approach them before things get too
friendly.

"Hi," I say,
shooting a cold look at the girls who seem oblivious to anything other than
Chase.  "You all done or just on a break?"

"Hey
beautiful," Chase says, flashing his smile at me and giving me his full
attention immediately.  "I think we're almost done here.  I was just
getting a touch up on my hair and makeup."

"A touch up,
eh?"  My eyes flit down to the girl's hand that is still on his arm.  He
pulls it back and she removes it.  "They're also fans," he says, his
smile a bit more embarrassed now.  Both of the girls turn to me now that they
see how much attention I'm getting from Chase.  "Girls, this is my
girlfriend, Lila.  Lila, this is Ariel and Sam."

I attempt to give them a
tight, cold smile but I fail, my smile much broader than I mean it to be. 
Chase called me his girlfriend for the first time.  Does he really think of me
that way?  The girls smile back and then turn away, obviously their touch ups
were complete and they were just flirting with Chase.  It happens so often now
I'm almost immune to it.  Almost. 

"Just another few
minutes, then we can go for that swim," he says.  He touches my arm
tenderly, letting it fall down to my hand which he squeezes.  Chase has agreed
to take me back to his house for a swim, since I don't really like the pool at
the hotel.  It's very busy, and it seems like every few minutes someone is
coming up to talk to Chase.  And when they do, some of the women flirt even
harder than these two just did.  It's a lot worse when they're wearing a bikini
and I'm standing right there.  I lean forward and give him a kiss, meaning for
it to be quick but he pulls me a bit closer, letting it linger. 

"I don't want to
mess up your makeup," I say, pulling back.  There are a lot of people
standing around and I'm not sure I want all the eyes on us.  But my excuse is
partially true as well.  No reason to give those girls a reason to come back. 
The photographer approaches so I resume my place at the back of the room to
watch.

The pictures continue for
a few more minutes before I hear the notification sound of a text message
coming from my purse.  I fish around and pull out my phone, remembering I had
meant to call Evelyn back and hoping it was her.  My phone is blank, no new
messages.  I'm confused for a second and then I remember Chase's phone is in my
purse as well.  I pull it out and click the display to see the last message.

11:31 AM Denise: So do
you think you can ditch Lila at some point tomorrow so we can get together?