Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,76

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know?"

"Because you cashed my check soon enough."

By now, my head was reeling. So Chase had purchased the dress? I didn't know why he'd ever do such a thing, but he didn't appear to be lying. In fact, I knew he wasn't lying, because Angelique wasn't disputing that she'd been paid, only that she hadn't been paid enough.

Regardless, this whole scene was so ugly and embarrassing that I felt a nearly uncontrollable urge to run for the exit. But I didn't.

I couldn’t.

And why?

It was because I recalled all too well that only a few hours ago, I'd been the one confronted by a blast from my past – two blasts if I counted Ginger. I'd been ambushed, plain and simple.

And Chase had rescued me.

He hadn't hesitated either. He'd even made me look good at his own expense.

I was still trying to figure out what – if anything – I should do or say, when Angelique gave Chase the look of death and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "You are such a pig!"

I spoke up. "Actually, he's a perfect gentleman."

Slowly, she turned to look. "Excuse me?"

From beside her, Chase said, "Mina, I've got this."

"No." I dug deep and summoned up a smile as I looked back to Angelique. "He's very chivalrous, too, as you can see."

At this, she laughed. It was an ugly sound, devoid of any real humor. "Chase Blastoviak? Chivalrous?" Even though we were standing very close, she towered over me by at least three inches. As I stared up at her, she leaned close and said, "Honey, whatever you're smoking, you should lay off before you O.D."

With my smile plastered in place, I replied, "Well, Sweetie, if I'm high on anything it's the company of a perfect gentleman. And I'm sorry if he broke your heart, but that only proves what a nice guy he is."

Okay, even to my own ears, that made no sense. Still, I was too far gone to stop now. After all, Chase hadn't backed down when he'd been challenged.

With this in mind, I announced, "And just today, he rescued me from two villains."

This only made her snicker. "Villains, huh?"

I stiffened my spine. "Yes. Dastardly villains." I glanced at Chase. "And he didn't ask for anything in return either."

Angelique gave a snort of disbelief. "What'd they do? Rob your fucking stage-coach?"

I smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Sure, why not?" she said. "I just love a good story."

Next to her, Chase said, "Angelique, you need to leave. Now."

Again, she whirled to face him. "I'll leave when I’m good and ready."

"Terrific," he said. "As long as you're good and ready now."

"Or what?" she said. "You'll have me tossed out?"

He shrugged. "I might."

"Yeah, well good luck with that," she said. "Because I'll have you know, I'm here on assignment."

Chase looked unimpressed. "Yeah? What kind of assignment?"

"That little 'festival blitz' you're planning?" Angelique smirked, first at him, and then at me. "I'll be covering it for The National Dirt."

And with that, she flounced off, leaving me staring after her.

Chapter 52

Mina

The moment his condo door closed behind us, I turned to Chase and said, "I'm just gonna get changed, okay?" I glanced back toward the door. "And then…maybe you can take me home?"

Chase frowned. "I'll take you home whenever you want, but you don't need to go." His words said one thing, but the anger in his eyes said another.

I gave a humorless laugh. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I do."

After Angelique's sudden departure, we'd waited only a few minutes – just long enough for Chase to pay the bill – before we also left. Our departure hadn't been discreet either, considering that nearly everyone in the restaurant had been staring.

In all fairness, they'd done plenty of staring on our way into the restaurant, too. But where that had been the kind of staring people always did when they spotted a celebrity, the staring on the way out fell more along the lines of, "Oh, look, there's a human swine with a dress-swiping hussy."

It was the kind of attention that nobody wanted, particularly Chase, judging from how ticked-off he'd looked as we'd left the restaurant.

He still looked ticked off.

And unless I was mistaken, the target of his anger wasn't only Angelique. It was me, too.

If I hadn't suspected this already, his grim silence during our walk back to the condo would have been a dead giveaway.

He hadn't said a single word.

Sure, our walk had taken only a few minutes, but it had felt