She licked her lips and looked down. “I don’t know. I mean, I know I didn’t deserve it, but I put myself in that situation. I barely knew him, and I went to that party because I was naïve enough to think he was interested in me. My mom said it was wrong, my friend said it was wrong, but I did it anyway. And I paid the price.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “So you made a decision for yourself. So you didn’t do what someone else expected of you. That’s not a crime, and you certainly didn’t deserve to pay a price for it. The only reason that happened was because he was a cowardly piece of shit. A fucking lowlife. It had nothing to do with your choice to go to a party, regardless of who didn’t want you to go.”
Andie nodded, chewing on the inside of her lip. “The thing is, though, on some level, even in my own heart I knew I shouldn’t be going.”
Chase leaned over, sweeping her hair behind her ear. “It’s still not your fault. But now you know better. You should never ignore your instincts. You don’t have to do what other people tell you to do, but you should always do what your heart tells you.”
Andie nodded as she looked down. It was so different from what she’d always been told. Use your head. Love with your head. Everything always logical, sensible, careful.
She thought back on everything that had happened that night: declining Colin’s proposal, going to see Chase, returning to his house a second time to confront him, baring herself to him, mind, body, and soul. None of that was sensible. None of it was careful. Yet it all felt right.
She looked at him then, lying next to her and looking up at her with a sentiment so pure that it made her eyes well with tears.
You should always do what your heart tells you.
She took Chase’s hand and pressed her lips against his palm.
“I finally did,” she whispered.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Ok a y, now I really have to go to bed,” Andie said after she yawned heavily into the phone.
“You’ve been saying that for the past hour,” Chase said, shifting on the couch to look at the clock. “It’s after one.”
“I know,” Andie pouted. “So stop talking to me.”
Chase laughed, stretching across the length of his couch. “I can’t. I like your voice too much.”
“Mmm, you’re good,” Andie said sleepily.
“Remind me again why you have to be at the restaurant at six in the morning?”
“Because we’re hosting a bridal shower and a retirement party back to back tomorrow.”
“And which one of them starts before the sun comes up?”
“Neither, smart-ass,” Andie said. “But there’s a lot of organization and setup and behind-the-scenes stuff that needs to be done. It’s gonna be a busy day.”
“Well then, what are you doing talking on the phone at one in the morning?”
She laughed softly, and Chase smiled. He really did love her voice. And her laugh. And the sleepy little noises she was making into the phone as she fought sleep to talk to him. But he knew he had to stop being selfish, considering the day she had in front of her.
“Okay, time for you to get some sleep.”
“Okay,” she sighed, sounding like a kid who was just told it was her bedtime.
“You sure you don’t want some company? You might fall asleep faster if there was someone in bed with you.”
She laughed throatily, and Chase grinned. “Nice try, but I’m pretty sure if you came here, I’d get no sleep at all.”
“Suit yourself,” he said airily.
Andie yawned for the fourth time. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Alright.”
“Good night, Chase.”
“Andie, wait,” he said suddenly, hoping she hadn’t hung up.
“Hmm?”
Something had been bothering him ever since the night they admitted their feelings for each other, the night they slept together for the first time. He hadn’t even thought about it until a couple of days after that, when she came back to his apartment after she got off of work. No sooner than she walked in the door, their hands were everywhere, ripping and pulling at clothes until at last they fell into a tangled heap of limbs and moans on his couch. And two nights ago, he had gone to her apartment with plans to watch Dumb and Dumber, but they barely made it through the opening credits before the movie was forgotten.