Author's note: If you're reading this around the 2nd of June 2022, I would suggest reading the last couple of chapters to re-jog your memory because I'm a lazy piece of shit who hasn't updated in over a year. LOVE YOU!
I'M NOT SURE how much time had passed while I stood facing the outside of my bedroom door. But it was long enough for me to remember the lines of the wood used to make the slab. I mean, wow, great craftsmanship right there.
Oh fuck I sound like my grandfather.
"Jones?" I hear, slightly muffled, from the other side. It was followed by a slight chuckle and a soft "You wanna open that again?"
Every and any atom in body instantly freezes, "Uhhh....gimme a sec."
Taking a deep breath, my eyes flutter close as I try to calm my rapid heartbeat and the intense urge to throw up everything that was in my stomach including the lining. The rest of my life was waiting on the other-side of the door and I'm asking for a moment?
Okay, I've officially fucking lost it.
I press down on the black, antique handle and push the door inward.
He was still there, on one knee with the most heartwarming and tear-jerking smile I have ever witnessed in all of my twenty one years on this planet.
"...Hi." I breathe out.
"Are you just going to stand outside the room while I do this...?" Chase trails off as I glance down to see that the toes of my Birkenstocks barely touched the threshold of the door. I shuffle into the room and gently close the door the behind me.
I throw him a sheepish smile over my shoulder as the door clicks shuts.
"Now I can continue?" Chase laughs lightly under his breath and I nod. He glances at the box in his hand and straightens out his shoulders. I almost swallow my tonsils as his hazel eyes raise back up to mine, "I—wait, come closer."
I don't move an inch.
Chase's smile softens even more, "Jones?"
I shuffle forward until I was standing just above him.I didn't know what to do, where to look or even where to fucking put my hands. So I clasped them in front of me and stared down at Chase. I could barely form any coherent sentence so I just kept my mouth shut.
I have a strong feeling that this is the first time I've ever willingly been quiet in my entire life.
"Okay...fuck. Never thought I would forgot every word in the english dictionary but here I am..." Chase chuckles as he glances down at the box in his hand, "I've been hyping myself up for this for the past three weeks."
Past three weeks?
"But then you and your selfless, stubborn soul had to go and put the breaks on that plan for a while." Chase scoffs as his hazel eyes glance back up at mine and I died. Just flatlined right there and then. Or at least, it felt like I did. "And now we're here."
I try to form a smile as Chase reaches up with his spare hand and untangles my hands. One falls to my side as the other gently squeezes Chase's. My eyes were welling up with tears now and I was just hoping that Chase's speech wasn't long because I was about to go blind from all the salty liquid.
"I don't know how many times I have to say this for it to finally get through your thick skull but there is only you, Hayden Jones. And there will only ever be you. No human, out of eight billion fucking people on this planet, could ever rival what you make me feel." Chase continues to explain as his thumb gently caresses the side of my hand, "Fuck Jones, you make me feel."
I blink and a tear rolls down my cheek.
"And I'm still not use to that. Before you came to Caldwell, I had only ever known anger and rage and the taste of blood. But in you stumbled and though I had never felt peace, I remember thinking that it would have felt a lot like you." Chase explains and I'm taken aback.
Shit, Everett is smooth as fuck. I mean, I always knew that but the revelation kinda just hit me now.
"And when you left—when you left me, so did my peace. I was back to where I was two years ago. Except the fury and the pain was so much worse, more than I could ever imagine. I mean, shit, I know they tell you not to pin your happiness on someone but I couldn't help but do that with you." Chase laughs again and his smile softens, "You're my own little version of peace, Hayden."
As my heart and brain shuts down for the umpteenth time in the past two minutes, I start wondering how they're going to fit death by Chase Everett's marriage proposal on my gravestone.
"And I know you did it for my sake, that you were saving me from myself. But I would give up my career and future anytime and any-fucking-where if it meant you would stay. The only future I have ever known or ever envisioned for myself is you." Chase continues as I sigh out heavily, "It's only you, only me and only us. For the rest of our fucking lives, Jones."
I laugh, kinda shocked to hear my own voice again. Well I'll be damned, I thought I swallowed my voice box when I opened the door for the second time.
"Now, the question I've been wanting to ask for fuck knows how long..." Chase asks as my smiles grows wide across my face. He continues, "Will you marry me?"
I was speechless. My brain had suddenly forgotten the connection it had with my mouth.
So I nodded. I nodded eagerly and truthfully and sincerely.
Chase's face lit up with a large grin as he quickly pulled the ring from the box. It was a gorgeous two band gold engagement ring with a large oval diamond sitting pretty on top. I don't think I had ever worn something as important as this before.
I mean, wearing Chase's hoodie for the first time is up there but this is much, much better.
He slips the ring onto my finger, a perfect fit, and I swear I felt an entire truck load of weight and burden and heaviness lift from my shoulders.
Falling to my knees before him, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him towards me. I kiss him deeply and patiently, my face streamed with salty tears but I didn't care.
I began laughing into the kiss and he did to. I lean back from the kiss and frown, "Did you really have to call me dumb?"
Chase sighs and rolls his eyes, "Of course that's the only thing you got out of that speech."
I sigh dramatically, "Can't believe you insulted me in my own marriage proposal. I mean, talk about getting off to a rough start—"
I'm suddenly cut off as Chase grabs a gentle hold of my cheek and pulls my lips back to his, chuckling slightly as our mouths connect. I didn't care and instead let our lips make up for the lost time.
But shortly after, I pulled back. Chase moved his head forward, his mouth trying to follow mine and when he couldn't find it his eyes flickered open and he groaned out a little in frustration.
"You're going to need to slow down there on the celebrating, Everett." I chuckle as I wrap my hand around the nape of his neck and rest back on top of my heels.
Chase narrows his gorgeous hazel eyes on my slightly and his hand slips onto my cheek, deft fingers tilting my chin up slightly to his as he brings his lips to hover above mine.
"I haven't touched you for four fucking weeks." He whispers softly as his eyes flicker from mine to my mouth and the pad of his thumb swipes across my slightly swollen bottom lip, "I'll celebrate you on this goddamn floor if I want to, okay Jones?"
Holy fuck.
As attractive as that sounded, there was an ounce of sanity in my reasoning and I push to my feet. Chase groans out again as I walk from him and over to the bedroom door. I spin on my heels, facing him with an all knowing smirk as I wrap my hand around the door knob and yank the door open.
Noah, Spencer, Penn and Vera all suddenly collapse onto the ground while cursing out in pain. Behind them stood my mother, David, Levi, Hayley and Michael with startled expressions on their faces.
Their eyes move from Chase to me and then back to Chase.
"So...?" Mom breaks the awkward silence.
"We've got another wedding to plan!" I exclaim as I lift my hand up that now felt a thousand times heavier with the ring on the fourth finger.
Everyone erupts into screams of congratulations as the four that were on the floor begin to pick themselves up off the floor.
But my mother being my mother rushed forward, pushing all of them back down to the ground in an attempt to get to me. I could only laugh, thinking about how chaotic this engagement had been but not wanting it to be any other way.
-----
"It's not going to disappear, Jones." Chase chuckles lightly as he moves towards me his body pressing against me and he throws an arm across my bare belly beneath the white sheets. His head dips and he presses his lips to my shoulder lightly.
I continue to hold up my left hand in front of me, moving it every so often so the huge fucking diamond sitting on my ring finger caught the light of the setting sun. I couldn't get use to it—I don't think I ever will.
"I've never seen something so expensive of my hand before." I mumble and we both stare at the shiny rock as I bring my other hand up and run the pad of my thumb over it, "I'm going to have to start talking with my hands more just so I can show it off."
Chase laughs lightly again and begins to trail kisses up my shoulder before his mouth finds a soft and sensitive spot right before my neck. His leg slips between mine and his body rolls over onto mine more as his mouth and tongue caress my skin.
I hum, "Or maybe I just move it to my middle finger. I use that one a lot."
I feel Chase's lips stop moving before he sighs heavily and rests his forehead against my shoulder. Frowning slightly, I reach up and smooth my hand around the nape of his neck and keep it there.
"What?" I question.
"I'm trying to fuck you again Jones but you're too distracted by the ring." Chase scoffs as he picks his head up and his face hovers close to mine, "Maybe I should've proposed to you after we made love at least three times."
My eyes narrow on him, "Hmmm, I might need to rethink about accepting your proposal. It sounds like you're just in this for my body."
"I am." Chase admits before a small smile crosses his lips and he leans forward, pressing his lips to my cheek, "And your beauty—" He places a kiss to my forehead, "And your mind—" He then lowers his head beneath mine and presses a kiss to my chest, "And your soul."
He then pulls back and his piercing stare hits me square on. The same hazel gaze I saw when I first woke up in that dorm room. The same hazel gaze that has been deeply ingrained in my very being ever since.
"I'm in this for you, Hayden. All of you." Chase assures me and the deadly combination of his words, his gaze and just him had me both speechless and breathless for a few seconds.
I then reach forward, taking a hold of the side of his face with one hand and I bring my lips to his. Chase's hands find my waist and he falls onto his back, pulling me with him. My legs part on either side of his body and I feel him at my apex.
Our lips mould together like no time had passed between them, our rhythm neither hasty nor slow. We understood each other both mentally and physically, unconsciously and subconsciously.
It wasn't in the way that we were made right for each other but in the way that we had become right for each other. I had learnt and grown so much since I had met Chase and I am so fucking thankful for it.
And the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life showing how grateful I am because he exists in it means more to me than anything.
I feel Chase's hands drop from my waist, to my back and then he cups my ass in his large palms. He moves me back and forth against his length, letting my know he's ready and I reach down between us.
He buckles under my touch and I gently bite his lower lip, a smirk slowly forming across my face. I lift myself up, holding Chase's gaze with mine as I hold him at my centre.
The door slams open.
"Are you two done celebrating yet!?" Noah exclaims as he marches in. I fly off Chase and onto the mattress beside him, instantly pulling the sheets over me.
"NOAH!" Chase and I scream out at him in frustration as we glare at him from the bed.
"I am absolutely ravenous and Penny says we can't leave without you guys." Noah explains, completely ignorant as always, and takes a seat at the end of our bed, "I'm thinking Mexican, you guys game?"
He stares at us. We stare at him. Silence fills the space between us.
Noah raises his eyebrows at us, "Well?"
"Can we please talk about this later when we're not butt-fucking-naked?" I ask, my breathing still ragged from being both horny and frightened. Noah pauses before waving his hand through the air.
"Oh please, I've seen you both naked, it's not a big deal Hay." He brushes off as he begins kicking his leg through the air like a child and stares around the room innocently.
Chase's head lifts up and he turns to me with a raised eyebrow, "He's seen you what?"
"Uh...you know what? Story for another time." I say as I press my palm against Chase's face, blocking out his penetrative gaze and I smile sheepishly at Noah, "I'm suddenly very hungry and Mexican sounds so amazing. Give us five minutes to get ready and we'll meet you guys downstairs."
"Hell yes!" Noah pumps his fist through the air as he jumps to his feet. I throw my legs over the side of the bed, still holding the sheet to my chest and Noah pauses as he glances down at the ground, "You might need new underwear though. Those are absolutely shredded—nice work, man."
Noah grins as he walks towards Chase with his hand up.
"Noah." Both Chase and I warn and Noah instantly spins on his heels.
"Right, right. I'm leaving." Noah nods as he hastily exits the room, closing the door behind us.
I chuckle as I stand up from the bed, walking over to the white dresser and open the first drawer. I pull out the first piece of clothing I could see; a loose tiered sundress where the straps tied at the shoulders.
"I swear, that boy has spidey-senses when it comes to me and you being in very awkward positions." I mumble as I pull the dress over my head. The white material draped down my body, ending at my mid-thigh and contrasting perfectly with my sun-kissed skin.
"Yeah..." Chase trails off as he pushes himself up onto his elbows. His gaze lifts to me in question, "Why has Noah seen you naked?"
Instantly, I exclaim loudly, "Hurry up, Everett! Your fiance is hungry."
In a panic, I grab his black t-shirt from where it lay on the ground and threw it at his chest before walking out of the room and into the hallway
I mean, Noah was right; seeing me naked wasn't a big deal. When I was still very fresh from our break up I may have had a bit too much to drink, woke up severely hung over, walked into kitchen to see Noah sitting at the island eating cereal and unbeknownst to me, I was naked as the day I entered this shit-hole of a world.
Poor dude dropped the whole bowl into his lap. I mean, we're both over it now. I've walked into the bathroom a few too many times to see him flexing naked in our bathroom mirror as well. We're even.
But if I could keep Chase in the dark a little longer then maybe when can have angry make-up sex later—and that is always a favourite. Grinning and feeling giddy, I all but skip across the hall and enter the bathroom, my gaze still locked on the beautiful ring on my hand.
in case you didn't see my message on my profile, hello.
nice to meet you. i'm gracie.
you probs don't remember me because it's been fucking ages since i last updated. and if you have forgotten me, fair enough. i wish i could forget me too.
anywho, here's the long long long fucking long awaited update and hopefully more is to come.
i am back and hopefully better than ever.
i have been rewriting bad boy roommate during my time of being basically dead and i have also written a few more books. i am deciding whether or not i should publish these on a platform where i could get some financial help.
the past year as really kicked my ass down, sideways, up, down again and all fucking around and it would definitely help me out a lot.
but i know what it's like to be broke as fuck and i will post on wattpad as well but these will be smaller and slower updates—possibly with a few restrictions as well. but i'm still deciding this and want to know if people would be willing to pay. it wouldn't be expensive or anything, just a little bit to help me out.
it would also mean i could focus on my writing more and it could possibly become my main job for me.
i will be publishing the information and possibly aesthetics for these new books as well as the rewritten version of bad boy roommate on wattpad soon just so you know what you would be paying for if i did indeed switch to another platform as my main publishing website.
as i will be focusing on finishing this book, my other books will be put on hiatus and i will return to them when i am ready. i apologise to those who are waiting for an update and i will hopefully be able to revist them soon but for now, bbs is more than enough as i'm still working through the rewrite of bbr.
seriously, i love the rewrite so much. there's so many more chapters. i'm currently at chapter twenty eight and hayden has just found out her mother is engaged. the full book will definetly be one that will need to be paid for and i will cut some chapters out when i post on wattpad—but it'll still be succint.
there are different story lines and plots and more character development (and a whole lot more sexy sexy high tension moments between chase and hayden because i sure have had too long to fantasize about it). it is definitely becoming something i am proud of.
anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter! there's a few more chapters to come and a whole lot more shit to hit the fan.
message me if you have any questions or thoughts surrounding the idea of some of my work being paid access. i'm all ears for any opinion as i'm still deciding!