50 Shades of Pain ✅

Chapter 74: Late Shop Night

Chase lets out a sigh as he takes a step back, overlooking the progress they had made on the midget that night since the conversation. One down, three to go it seemed as everything had gone together as expected. Chase had to appreciate the guidance from CJ in helping him where they got stuck, and appreciated the lessons offered. He was looking forward to sharing his wisdom with Alex when they spent their next night in the shop together working on the midgets.

He glances at his phone, seeing a message from Ryan as he reads it over.

When are you going to be home? Alex is asking where you are. 

Chase takes a deep breath as he looks at the time, realizing he had been at the shop a lot later than he originally intended. It wasn't totally surprising, knowing how easy it was to lose track of time while working on the midgets. It seemingly happened to Alex a lot of other nights, bringing forth those late night snack trips. 

He was also worried about you being at the shop by yourself. I assured him CJ was there with you.

Another deep breath as a series of thoughts flood through Chase's mind at once in reading the simple text message. It was just supposed to be a simple upset, but yet it brought forth a slew of emotions.

This was supposed to be Alex's special place. This was supposed to the perfect example of everything he built. This was supposed to be his place of pride in knowing how it had come together. This was supposed to be his escape from the pressures of the real world. 

Now, this place held a different meaning for him. It was the place where he had been attacked. It was the place that was the subject of the nightmares keeping him up at night. It was the place that everything wrong had happened at once - in that very corner to the left of where Chase was standing.

How was Alex supposed to step back within these four walls without thinking about what happened? How was Alex supposed to come here and have the fun he deserved without thinking of the pain? 

It just seemingly added to the many reasons as to why it wasn't fair what had happened.

CJ is welcome back at the house tonight, too. Alex wanted me to tell you that. He didn't want the welcome to change with everything that happened in knowing the guest room was open for him to stay at him. He didn't want to put him out in knowing he came to help.

Chase smiles in assurance to the last message, knowing it'd be great for CJ to see Alex for himself and check in. As much as CJ had offered the great words of wisdom to try and ease Chase's pain over what happened, he knew it was shared by CJ as well. 

He heard the regrets in feeling something was off that night. He heard the regrets in having left early before someone else arrived, leaving the door wide open for what happened. Even though CJ wouldn't straight out admit as much as Chase had, he was feeling the same regrets over what happened. 

"Remember what you told me?" Chase questions, catching CJ's attention as he looks over at him with a nod. "Remember those words yourself as it's not your fault as to what happened for you leaving early. I don't blame you, Alex doesn't blame you. We couldn't had known what was going to happen." 

"I know," CJ comments as he puts the final tools away for the night, knowing the next of the cars would have to wait until tomorrow. With a yawn escaping him, he knew there was no way they could get through another one. "I keep telling myself that every time the thought comes to my mind. That's what you got to keep telling yourself - you can't control her, or what happened. You can't change what happened. Living in the past and having regrets over what happened doesn't make it better or allow us to move forward." 

CJ then makes his way over to where Chase stood, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, hoping he wasn't overstepping the boundaries of their new found friendship together that night. However, knowing Alex as well as he did and hearing what he went through, he was going to do whatever it took to ensure Alex had the support he needed to move forward.

"We can't change what happened," CJ starts as Chase looks over at him. "We wish we could take away the pain and make it disappear, but nothing is going to do that. We can just begin to move forward. How do we do that? We support him through the pain. We support him through the feelings. We allow him to feel everything that comes with it, and we support him with whatever he needs. A shoulder to cry on, someone to vent to, someone to just hold so he feels safe. 

"We remind him that he's safe with us. We remind him that he's safe here again at his shop. We remind him of why this is a special place. We rehash all those great memories that we've made here. We think of those positive times. We take each day one at a time, beginning to let go of the pain as to what happened and put it behind us. That's all we can do.

"You've been through this before. You know better than Ryan and I what it means to go through what he went through. You know the emotions. You know the pain that he's going through. Just be there for him, comfort him, and help him in knowing all of that. That's all you can do now, Chase. I saw the way he was with you - patient, comforting, just there as a friend. I saw how he gave you the small assurances that you needed those days at the shop afterwards. Now that's what he needs in return.

"You both are amazing together for one reason - the comfort and understanding. That is what will help him more than anything. Now, are you ready to head home and get this started?"