The Troubled Billionaire

Chapter 40: The Stranger

Seeing her again took me back to the moment Xander, her and I talked at the beach as they looked at me with glowering eyes and cautious stances. The way her lips lifted up into a smirk as she regarded me with a smug look on her face was enough to tell me that she has some plan formulating inside that sick and twisted head of hers—and Chase is obviously a pawn in that plan of hers.

My eyes narrowed to slits as I saw her approach me, the smirk plastered on her face still not dropping, with an uncomfortable and disgruntled looking Chase walking beside her. She never once dropped the hand she had wounded around Chase's arm, slapping it right to my face that she has — once again — something that I used to have; something that is now hers, hers to possess and undermine. I know that there was definitely something going on the moment she hugged me and apologized for her wrong doings. And now, judging by the satisfied look plastered on my face, I say that her plan went well.

As she and Chase arrived in front of me, each of them possessing different expressions, I managed to pull myself together and let a look of solidarity play its way onto my face. Megan slightly raised an eyebrow at my change of expression, but it was subtle enough for only myself and her to notice that single movement, Chase still looking aghast by the scene unfolding in front of his very eyes. Megan then quickly plastered on a tight smile on her face, to which I returned with the same amount of enthusiasm — in this case, none.

"It's so good to see you again, Amber!" She said, her grip on Chase's arm tightening slightly, making him look at her fleetingly before his eyes shifted back to me.

Chase forced a smile to plaster upon his lips. "Good to see you again too, Amber." He said, his voice undoubtedly raw with a certain emotion as his gaze pierced through the depths of my soul.

Hearing my name escape his soft, angelic voice was enough to make my heart ache once more. Even though he stood here in front of me, his new girlfriend — or should I say fiancee now — wrapped around him like I once have been, was not enough to penetrate the gates of my already broken heart. No, it was not the sight in front of me, nor was it the way he seemed to be entirely enjoying her presence that made me feel the piercing pain of a longing heart — it was the way my name rolled off his tongue so naturally and beautifully, like his voice was made to say my name more than once, and how his gaze was still able to affect me more than it already did. Seeing him gaze at me with a certain softness that could only come from him, and how his eyes were filled with emotions that I dare not to hope I would ever see in those same eyes again. Those were more than enough reasons to make me feel that pang again.

I forced a smile on my face as I gazed back at him. "Good to see you again too, Chase." I said, trying hard not to notice the way my voice seemed to break slightly upon saying his name roll of my tongue. I heard him subtly suck in a breath, which Megan obviously noticed since she slightly tightened her grip on Chase's arm once more. He looked at her once more before gazing back at me with a small smile on his face.

Megan cleared her throat with a slight glare my way, making my gaze lift from Chase to her and making her drop the glare and replace it with an innocent look. I raised an eyebrow at what I noticed as a small teasing smile played on my lips.

"Oh I'm sorry, do you have a cough? I can give you some cough drops if you want." I said, as I started to rummage through my bag for effect.

I heard a low chuckle come from in front of me, and I instantly knew whose laugh that was. I didn't even have to look up and stare at those mesmerizing jade eyes for me to know that a smirk is playing on his lips as he tried to cover it up with an innocent look on his face. The thought of it made me smile — only a little. Because as soon as that certain thought registered in my brain, it made me remind myself once more of how much I know him and how much he can hurt just simply being in my thoughts.