Never Doubt Me: Judge Me Not #2(30)

Will shrugs. “Sure, bro, whatever you say.”

I don’t mean to be so harsh with Will, especially after he’s already had a rough morning with Cassie leaving. But I sure as f*ck don’t want him involved in my mess. Or what will probably end up turning into a f*cking mess.

Because one thing is certain: Doug Wilson is not going to be searching out and upsetting Kay. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that motherf*cker stays far, far away.





Chapter Six


Kay


I come home from work on Friday, swap out my summer-green sundress for denim shorts and a peach-tone baby-doll tee, and then head across the driveway to the house.

“You look cute,” Chase says when I walk into the living room, where I find him and Will eating pizza and watching TV.

I plop down on the sofa next to Chase, lean over and grab a slice of pizza from his plate. “I see you started without me,” I say, before biting into a big glob of cheese and pepperoni.

“Sorry, babe,” Chase says.

Will looks up from where he’s stretched out on the floor in front of the TV. “Don’t be mad at Chase. It’s my fault we started without you. I was starving.” He takes a large bite of pizza, as if to illustrate the point, and once he’s finished chewing, he adds, “I couldn’t wait.”

“I’m not mad,” I say, smiling at Will. “I’m just teasing you two.”

After a few more bites of pizza, I recognize the distinctive flavor. I turn to Chase and ask, “Did you pick this up from Pizza House?”

I’m surprised Chase chose that particular restaurant. On account of Nick, we tend to avoid the place.

But, sure enough, Chase replies, “Yep.”

His short response, though, leaves me with the impression he doesn’t care to discuss his Pizza House run. I have to wonder why.

Chase suddenly reaches over to the end table and grabs an unopened can of soda. “Thirsty?” he asks, his lips curving into a mischievous smile.

When I see he’s offering me a lemon-lime soda—of course, it’s Chase’s favorite—I decide to have some fun.

Accepting the can from Chase, I make a show of reading the label. “Oh, big surprise, lemon-lime.” I huff and roll my eyes mock-dramatically. “I swear I can never get anything else in this house.”

Will, poor kid, misreads me once again. He sits up and offers to get me something else.

“There’re other things in the fridge,” he says, his expression serious. “Juice, water, beer—do you want any of those?”

Chase chuckles. “Kay is just giving me a hard time, Will. She loves the lemon-lime shit.” His eyes slide to me, and he winks. “Don’t let her tell you anything else.”

Will then takes the opportunity to endorse his brother’s love of lemon-lime soda. He sings the praises of how that particular flavor is “truly the very best.”

“God,” I interject, “you two are so much alike it’s scary.”

“I guess,” Will mutters, glancing away. “Whatever.”

Will acts like he doesn’t care, but it’s evident in the smile he’s trying to hide that he’s pleased by my comment. Chase picks up on Will’s satisfaction and smiles over at me. For some reason, though, Chase’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. I know something has to be weighing on his mind. But, for the life of me, I can’t imagine what could be bothering him. He spent the day with Will, and they seem to have gotten along well. Heck, from what I’ve observed thus far, they’re getting along great.

That leads me to wonder if something happened at Pizza House. I hope there was no trouble with Nick Mercurio—or anyone else, for that matter.

Chase interrupts my reverie when he asks if I want to watch a movie. “Sure,” I reply.

Chase, Will, and I pick out a comedy and spend the evening in front of the TV.

Later, when Chase and I are going up to bed—no need to tromp over to my apartment and sleep there since Cassie is gone—I ask, “Everything went okay today, right?”

He replies, “Yeah, fine…today was great. Cassie left with her mom, Will and I went fishing down at the creek, and then we picked up the pizzas.”

I slow to a stop at the top of the stairs. “No problems at Pizza House, then?”

Chase drapes his arm around me. “Of course not, Kay.”

“Did you see Nick?”

“Yeah,” Chase says slowly, “he was there.”

I glance up at him, but instead of meeting my eyes, he urges me to start down the hall. “Let’s go to bed, Kay.”

“All right,” I acquiesce.

We stop by the bathroom to brush our teeth. But Chase finishes up before me and says, “See you in bed.” He then heads to the bedroom.

Hmm, something is definitely off.

A few minutes later, when I enter the bedroom, the first thing I notice is how the small lamp by the bed illuminates Chase’s tattoos, as well as all the hard muscles in his back. He looks so good, even when turned away.

I decide I’m done worrying about possibly nothing. If Chase claims things are fine, then I should take him at his word.

I crawl into bed and lean over him to switch off the light. As the room goes dark, Chase rolls onto his back. He grasps my waist and pulls me down on top of him.