with a heartfelt sigh and a pout that had him chuckling as he watched her turn around only to smile when she spotted Teddy slowly making his way toward her on his crutches, instantly forgetting him as she focused on the little boy that she had a soft spot for.
She was so good with him, Chase thought, leaning back against the elevator wall as he watched the doors close. Sloane was so damn kind, patient, sweet, and her job was slowly killing her. She hated her job and he couldn’t blame her.
One thing was clear, he couldn’t let her go back. She deserved better than to have her heart broken. He owed her that much. He would try to convince her to find something else and see if he could convince her to take one of those courses that she’d been debating taking and if that didn’t work…
He’d convince her to take the job that Ryan and Grey had offered her. It would make it harder to walk away from her, but he wanted her to be happy. He’d figure it out when the time came, Chase told himself as the elevator opened and he made his way back to their room.
Within minutes, he took his pill, called down to the front desk to make sure that everything was all set for later, and headed back downstairs. Once the elevator doors opened, he stepped out into the lobby and–
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Thomas, who had fucking balls, asked, not that he should really be all that surprised that the asshole came tonight since most of the guys from the station had purchased tickets to help support Shadow House. He’d assumed the asshole would realize that coming here was a bad fucking idea.
“No,” Chase said, stepping past him and headed toward the small path that would take him past the ship and into the large atrium built in the middle of the hotel.
“Chase, look, I just want to talk to you,” his best friend since the academy said as he caught up with him.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Chase said, making his way down the long winding path toward the soft sounds of an orchestra playing only to stop just past the rock overpass next to the baby alligators when Thomas said, “I’m sorry,” because he couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“You’re sorry?” Chase asked, shaking his head in disbelief as he slowly turned around to face the man that had taken everything from him. “That’s really fucking great.”
“Look, I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was with the way that everything happened,” Thomas said with a helpless shrug.
“What are you sorry for, hmm? That I woke up from a fucking coma to find out that you’d been fucking my fiancée or having to deal with the fact that I might never walk again without my best friend by my fucking side telling me that everything was going to be okay? Which one are you sorry for, Thomas?” Chase bit out between clenched teeth as a middle-aged couple quickly made their way past them.
“Everything,” Thomas said hollowly.
Shaking his head in disgust, Chase said, “God, I hope she was worth it.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Chase. I was–”
“I fucking loved her!” Chase shouted, cutting him off because he didn’t want to hear his fucking excuses.
“I did, too,” came the quiet response that took him by surprise.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Chase said with a humorless chuckle as he shook his head in disgust.
“I never meant for any of this to happen,” Thomas said, sighing heavily.
“No? Then explain why you waited until I was in a fucking coma to make your move?” Chase snapped.
“I didn’t,” Thomas said hollowly as Chase stood there digesting his words and when he did…
“You’re fucking unbelievable,” Chase murmured, having heard more than enough for one night and turned around to head into the ballroom when Thomas’s next words stopped him.
“Do you still love her?”
“Not even a little fucking bit,” Chase said coldly as he glanced over his shoulder to find his ex-best friend watching him.
“You love her, don’t you?” Thomas asked only to add, “Sloane,” when Chase just stood there.
Shaking his head, Chase said, “No,” and walked away, in no fucking mood to explain why falling in love with Sloane was the last thing he wanted to do.
Chapter 38
“Are you okay?” Tristan asked as Sloane joined him by the bar set up