Читать книгу The Best Man - Jaymie Wright - Страница 10

Chapter Six

The two of you make your way upstairs to Chase’s office, leaving your brother passed out on the sofa. Once you make it, Chase goes to get the bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses, and you begin checking everything out.

You make your way down the long bookshelf against the wall, looking at all the books and art pieces he has placed on it, and right in the center, you notice a very familiar picture frame on display.

It’s one of the matching picture frames you made for him when you were kids, and it still has the picture of the two of you that you put in it. Your heart begins doing flips, and a knot starts to form in the pit of your stomach at the thought of him holding on to it after all these years. You hold it up and turn to him.

“I can’t believe you still have this thing,” you say, surprised.

Chase laughs and asks, “Why?”

“Because I made these for us in, like, the first grade.”

Your heart fills up with warmth that he’s kept it all this time just like you have. Yours has its own special place on your desk with a necklace he got you a couple of years later. He comes over to you with a look of pure happiness. He takes the picture frame from your hand and looks at it like he’s looking at a lost piece of art.

As you stand there watching him, you can’t help but think, It’s just popsicle sticks, crazy glue, and shells we found down by the river that summer. The nicest thing about it is where it says “best friends” on the top, and I love you on the bottom and that’s only because my mom helped me write it. Well, and the picture, even though it’s faded.

He takes a moment before he answers you and lets out a breath, then says, “I could never get rid of this.”

He stands there staring at it as if it were lined in gold. You look at him like he’s lost his mind, and he speaks again.

“This came from my best friend when I needed it most. I didn’t handle it well when my dad left me and my mom, and you and Nick stayed by my side and when you gave me this… I remembered how lucky I was and that whatever was going on with my parents wasn’t my fault. That I have people who care about me.”

You remember back to that summer. You and Nick had made a promise to give Chase the best summer ever. His father had run out on him and his mom once again, and she fell into a drunken binge. She loved the man straight to insanity, and he didn’t care. He was always putting them down and having affairs behind his mother’s back.

Chase takes a short breath and says, “It’s my most valuable possession.”

He finally looks up from the picture, and you see a look in his eyes that you’ve never seen before. It’s a vulnerability in him that he has become very good at hiding. Then he lets out a low chuckle and puts the picture frame back where it was and says, “How about we open that bottle?”

You nod and follow him over to his desk. He opens the bottle and pours you both a glass. You raise your glass to make a toast.

“To the H2O. To you, Chase, you did it.”

Chase raises his glass and adds, “To friends. Without you guys, I couldn’t have done it.”

You both drink up, take a seat, and reminisce on memories you have from your childhood. Before you realize, the bottle of champagne is almost all gone. Chase pours you both one last glass. You walk over to the windows behind Chase’s desk and take in the view of the park and the cityscape behind it.

“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”

Chase walks up behind you, looking over your shoulder.

“This is what sold me on the building. Being able to look out at that after a long night. I couldn’t think of anything better.”

You glance over at him and notice that he’s looking back at you. Chase has never looked at you like that before. A look of desire in his eyes. You feel a fire burning in your core.

You finish off your glass and say, “Well, I guess I’d better get going.”

As you turn to head for the door, Chase follows and says, “Here, let me walk you out.”

The two of you walk toward the door, and Chase says, “Thanks again for coming tonight. It meant a lot.”

You give him a knowing smile and say, “Well, I kinda owed you one. You know…for saving me…again.”

He lightly grabs your elbow and stops you, standing only inches away, and looks you in the eyes—sending a jolt of electricity through your body and straight to your core. He tells you, “I’ll always be there when you need me.”

You’ve never seen this side of Chase before. His eyes look hungry for you. Like you’re the only other person who exists. You stand there frozen, and a lump forms in your throat. Not able to move or even speak. You’re doing good to breathe. This is the moment that you’ve dreamed of for so long.

Before you can bring yourself back down to reality, you feel Chase wrap one arm around you and place the other on the back of your neck, pulling you toward him, closing the gap between you, and you feel his lips press against yours. It’s soft and passionate.

You’re overcome with heat and a rush of nerves that takes over every inch of your body. To feel his rock-hard body against you, his perfect lips on you, is something you’ve only ever dreamed about.

You both stop to take a breath and get caught in each other’s gaze. There is an intense desire growing between the two of you. Without any hesitation he kisses you again, stronger, deeper than the last. You go weak at the knees as he presses you back against the wall, never skipping a beat. He’s feeding every desire, every fantasy you’ve ever had about the two of you.

He stops and looks at you. Taking you in. he says, “Alex, I’ve wa—”

He stops before he finishes what he’s saying and pushes himself away from you. You stand there lost, not sure just happened.

Why did he just stop? Did I do something wrong?

Then you hear, “Hey. Guys? Where are you?”

It’s Nick stirring around downstairs. You see the guilt wash over Chase. He runs his hands through his hair and says, “I’m sorry, Alex… Just forget this happened.”

“Chase—”

But before you can get another word, out he interrupts you.

“No, Alex. I’ve had too much to drink. Just please forget anything happened. I’m so sorry.”

Before you can say anything else, he rushes out the door to tend to Nick. You’re left standing there alone, completely crushed. But you never forget…