The Chase Begins (Now Published so Sample Only)

Chapter 14

© 2013 Sandra Corton

Chapter 14

Her head throbbed, her mouth tasted foul and her eyes were hard to force open. Floral curtains she didn't recognise opened to a view that looked vaguely familiar. She let of a tortured sound as she moved the tiniest bit while trying to figure out where she was. Her stomach heaved threatening an expulsion so she stayed as still as she could.

"Morning Buttercup, how are you doing?" A voice rumbled from nearby.

"Bad." She answered croakily without moving as dizziness took over her for a moment.

"You need to have more fluids." The deep voice said again but in the next instant whatever she was lying on moved as did her stomach.

"Oh no!" She muttered as she dragged her hand to her mouth.

"It's okay here."

She felt a cool something pushed into her hands. She was able to squint her eyes to realise it was a metal bucket of some sort. Thankfully her stomach contents settled briefly as she ascertained the mouth of the bucket. The roiling nausea began again and this time her stomach contents were determined to be released.

"Ugh so sick." She grumbled to herself.

"Do you feel any better?" Chase asked as he leaned over to wipe her mouth with a fresh tissue.

"No." She mumbled.

"Come lean on me, you need to have some water and tablets." He said as he propped her against him.

He leaned over to get the items he had left on the bedside table. She let out an involuntary moan as he placed them into her shaky hands. She managed to swallow the tablets without too much drama and the water felt refreshing in her mouth.

She gingerly lay back down on the bed after that. His mobile phone vibrated on the table near to the bed and he carefully got up to reach it. The disruption sent Brianna's head into a spin while her stomach heaved again.

"Andy what are you ringing for?" Chase accused which was all Brianna heard as her concentration was taken by the dizziness that overwhelmed her.

The pounding in her head increased as Chase began yelling into the phone. She tried to sit up and make sure everything was alright. With a horrible noise she went back to being prone and tried to focus around feeling so unwell.

She decided this was the worst she had ever felt in her life. No sickness had dragged her under as badly as whatever concoction Andy had made for her last night.

"Well Buttercup it seems you can't just yell at Andy when you feel better." Chase said as he sat carefully on the edge of the bed.

"Huh?" Brianna forced her eyes open but quickly closed them as the world spun for her yet again.

"Andy only put one shot in your drink but Lindsay apparently added more when the other two weren't looking. Andy knew one shot would be too much for you so she's been feeling bad about it all night." Chase explained to her.

"Serves her right." Brianna grumbled making Chase laugh.

"She feels even worse since she talked to me and I told her how sick you are."

"Good." Brianna said through gritted teeth as he head throbbed intensely for a moment. "Sleeping now."

She laid her head ever so carefully back on the pillow and he watched as her face eased back into sleep. He grabbed the wine bucket off her that the owners of the hotel had given him. He grimaced at the contents before heading to the bathroom.

His phone vibrated again and he rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he went to answer it.  Seeing his brother's name flash up on the screen just had him groaning. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with Will when Brianna was curled up so innocently on his bed.

"Hey Will I hope you're ringing up to apologise for being such a tool." Chase said before his brother could speak.

"Hah funny but no." Will answered snidely.

"Then what do you want? My girl is sick and I need to look after her." Chase told his brother who sighed.

"She's the problem Chase. Look I don't want to be a dick about this but she's no good for you." Will said seriously making Chase close his eyes and grit his teeth.

"Back of Will! For God's sake don't ruin this for me." Chase pleaded with his brother.

"Do you really think she's the one for you?" Will asked in amazement.

"Yes I do, so let this animosity you have towards her go. She's my girl." Chases voice softened as he gently pushed her hair back off her face.

"Fine. When are you on location and I'm not to be seen?" Will grumbled.

"I'll send you an email with all the details. If there's nothing else I've got better things to do" Chase answered.

"Chase?"

"What Will?" Chase said with a frown.

"Just be careful okay. I don't think she is what you expect her to be."

"Bye William!" Chase said in exasperation.

He hung up the phone wanting to throw it across the room. Why couldn't his brother see Brianna the way he did? He glanced down at her again and knew quite simply that he would give up everything he had for her. She was becoming that important to him.

He lay with her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist gently, trying not to disturb her. She let out a mumble that made him smile. She had been talking in her sleep during the night and her thoughts provided interesting telling. He liked the fact that his name was mentioned a lot, not always complimentary but the positives outweighed the negatives easily. That was enough to give him encouragement.

She awoke again to find her throat dry and raw but her headache had thankfully lessened. She squinted against the light coming to blind her but managed to finally open her eyes fully. The bed was empty so with great care she pushed herself onto her elbows. She finally spotted Chase sitting at a desk with a laptop in front of him. Reading glasses sat on the edge of his nose making a studious image that Brianna admired.

"It's hard to believe that you're the same guy who flashed his naked butt in a movie." She told him the second before she slapped her hand over her mouth and blushed like crazy. She couldn't believe she had blurted that out! 

"So that's what you girls were doing last night hey?" He looked over to her with a cheeky grin making the blush spread even more across her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Slightly better." She showed a tiny gap between two of her fingers as she held them up.

"Then have some more water and tablets. Hopefully they will help you feel even better." He gestured to the bedside table. She slowly turned to find a delicious looking glass of water and two tiny tablets. She gulped both down quickly and felt her thirst slackened a little.

"So just out of curiosity here, what did Teresa think of that movie?" Brianna asked unable to help herself as Chase refilled her glass and handed it back to her.

"She told me it was fine if I wanted to flash my nakedness to the world. Then she added that she was going to tell all her friends about it. She intended to have a big movie night, invite everyone she knew, which is basically the whole town to show off her son." Chase said with a roll of his eyes. Brianna couldn't help the laugh that escaped her until the headache pounded into her skull again.

"So that's not you?" She concluded and he sent her a wink.

"Yep that's not me." 

"What do you know Lindsay was right." Brianna mumbled.

"Lindsay right, how?" Chase asked with a snort.

"She reckoned it was a body double. She really only said it to get a rise out of me I think." Brianna frowned as she tried to recall what was said.

"And did it work?" Chase raised an eyebrow at her which she couldn't help but smile at.

"Not for me but Andy and Macy argued over it for quite some time." He let out a grunt at her words and started packing away his laptop. She drank another glass and felt surprisingly better.

"I think I need a shower." She muttered as she pushed herself off the bed and wobbled her way towards the bathroom. "I haven't got anything clean." She stopped in the doorway with a grimace.

"Andy said she would drop you over some clean clothes later." Chase said as his gaze settled on her.

"But I want to get clean now!" She whined, scrunching up her face.

"Then by all means do. You can have a shirt of mine." He tossed an article of clothing at her that landed on her shoulder.

"But I need clean underwear." She grouched and then stopped as his eyes drifted the length of her body, heating her up. "Don't worry I'll be fine." She quickly ran in and slammed the door. She regretted it instantly when her head started throbbing again.

She felt so much better when she turned the shower off. As she dried herself she was finally able to take in everything around her. She was in Chase's hotel room! Panic hit her hard knowing that the owners sent their grandchild to her child care centre every day.

Now it was going to look like she spent the night here. How was she going to face them? Was this going to be her first ever walk of shame? She put her head in her hands and let out a groan.

"Buttercup are you alight in there?" Chase rapped on the door.

"No!" She called out.

She pulled on his shirt and had never felt more naked in her life. She may have been completely covered but the lack of underwear was making her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Now with the thoughts hammering her mind as hard as the headache, she wasn't sure what to do.

"What's wrong?" He asked his voice etched with concern.

"I'm in your hotel room." She answered as she leaned against the door not daring to come out.

"Yes and?" Chase asked her.

"And the owners put their grandchild in my care every week day." Brianna replied her voice rising.

"Right well that explains their reaction last night." Chase said knowingly. Brianna pulled the door open with her eyes going wide as his words registered.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a whisper.

"They were going to call the cops on me. They thought I spiked your drink and was dragging you back to take advantage of you." He sent her a saucy smile.

"Goodness gracious!" She whispered not quite sure what to say to him. "So what happened then?"  She had a desperate need to know even though her face was squashed up as though she was in pain.

"I explained it was all evil Andy's doing. They then handed me a wine bucket the second before your vomit would have hit their clean floor." She closed her eyes on a groan. This was a disaster she wasn't going to be able to explain her way out of. "They understood Bree. There are not going to be any judgements made here. In fact that old couple were as sweet as pie to me after that."

"I can only imagine." Brianna replied dryly as she rubbed a hand over her wet hair.

"Of course if they walked into this room right now they might have very different thoughts to last night." He sent her that wicked grin that always seemed to curl her toes.

"Why?" She asked with a shake of her head.

"Because I know you're wearing my shirt without a stitch of anything else on under there." Her face blushed again at his heated words. "Gives me all kinds of ideas."

He stroked a hand along her bare arm which she quickly pulled away from. His eyes gleamed at her rather triumphantly and she had no idea what had caused that reaction in him. One step closer to her and she was engulfed in his earthy, masculine scent. This time when she felt dizzy she knew it had nothing to do with being sick; it was all from his presence.

"You told me something last night." He said as he skimmed his knuckles down her cheek.

"I did?" She mumbled with a frown as she combed back through her memories.

"Oh yes and it was a biggie."

He sent her a huge smile which instantly made her apprehensive. She knew she talked sometimes when she drank. Between that and it making her sleepy it was why she avoided drinking. Dread had her biting the inside of her cheek hard. Did she want to know what her mind set free to him of all people?

"Just tell me already, get it over with." She told him shortly.

"Sweetheart nothing would give me greater pleasure than knowing that you like me."  His voice lowered humming along her veins with equal pleasure and trepidation.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to focus. What on God's green earth did she tell him? His fingers slipped into her hair making her feel a little fuzzy. Everything went out of focus as he scattered kisses across her face.

"Good golly." She mumbled and he let out a chuckle.

"I love that about you." He told her softly. "In fact I'm starting to love every tiny little thing you do."

His lips landed on hers brushing lightly before pulling away. She leaned into him and grabbed his shirt, needing another of his intoxicating kisses. Hearing his sweet words was more potent than anything she had ever heard. She crushed her lips against his, wrapping an arm around his neck while her fingers unclenched on his shirt to run over his chest.

His hands had a tight hold of her shirt on either side of her waist. That snapped her thoughts back to her. Naked under the shirt remember, her brain reminded her sarcastically. With a harsh intake of breath she pulled away from him.

"You've got to stop doing that." she muttered as much too herself as to him.

"Not from what you told me last night." Chase answered with a laugh as he stepped closer and let his lips slide down her throat.