Chasing Leah (Journey Series) (15 page)

I sit back stunned in my chair
and play with the food on my plate. I just figured Chase had moved on after I
told him I wasn’t looking for that kind of relationship with him. “Well I
really don’t know what to say to that Chase.”

“Don’t worry Leah. I’m not
giving up on you and since you’re so resistant and always trying to avoid me I
think I need to step up my game a little bit.”

We finish up a beautiful meal
and after we all help clear the table and help with dishes, the family shifts
to the expansive family room that overlooks there beautifully landscaped
backyard with a small fishing pond. Chase is conned in to playing a game of
Candy land with his younger sisters and Caleb and the others felt like it’s
time to play 50 questions with Leah. I’m asked about what I’m studying, where
I’m from, my family, and many others.

After I explained my home life a
bit, Chases mother wipes away a stray tear, “Oh Leah you are such a beautiful
and strong young woman, I can’t imagine what it must be like not to have family
around. And you are obviously doing a great job with
Caleb,
he’s such a sweet little guy. Anytime you need anything honey, you can always
come to one of us.” All of
Chases
sisters nod their
head in agreement and murmur kind sentiments to me.

After joining everyone in some
card games for a few hours, Chase jumps up and wraps an arm around my
shoulder.“Well Leah I think we should be heading back now.
Calebs
probably worn out and ready for bed.” Instantly there’s an array of shouts from
the younger girls. “No Chase and Leah stay, please, please, please?!?” They all
shout and beg jumping around the room. The youngest, Belle, wraps her tiny arms
around me and looks up at me with her wide blue eyes, “Please Leah?” I bend
down and give her a hug, “We’ll be back sometime soon.”

“Promise?” she asks. “Pinky
promise,” I say as I wrap my pinky around her tiny finger.

“Kay,” she says excitedly. “Next
time we can play princesses and have a tea party and I can show you my pretty
tutus….”

“Okay
Belley
,
I think she gets it.” Chase interrupts her as we’re both wrapped in crushing
hugs. “Here you two go,” Mary says as she hands us a canvas bag.
“Plenty of leftovers to last you the weekend.”
She wraps me
in a hug and whispers in my ear. “We’ll see you soon Leah. Take care of my baby
boy.”

“’Kay Mom,” Chase says as he
ushers me to the door. “We’re going, let her out of your clutches.” He leans
over and plants a kiss on his
moms
cheek. “See
ya
soon everyone.”

After dragging a very resistant
Caleb away we make our way out to the jeep and load up our leftovers into the
back. Apparently he really fit in with the family and did not want to leave.
After promising him we would come back for a play date, he reluctantly left
after being peppered with kisses and hugs from all the girls. What a little
ladies man.

“So was it bad, did they
overload you with questions,” he asks as he pulls out of the driveway.

I laugh at the worried expression
on his face. “No Chase everyone was fine, really. I loved your family, you’re
so lucky to have all of those siblings. And your mom is just the sweetest.”

“I’m glad you got along with
everyone. Mom loved you too I can tell and believe it or not with being so
sweet and all, she is hard to impress.”

My phone rings and I reach down
to pick it up off of the floor after shuffling around to find it. Unknown
caller comes up on the screen. “Hello?” I answer. “May I speak to Leah Rossi
please,” a gruff voice asks.

“Yes, this is she. Who is this?”

“Ms. Rossi, this is Detective
Barnes from the Nevada precinct here in Detroit. I’m sorry to have to tell you
this over the phone but your mother Marie Rossi was brought into the emergency
room tonight and was pronounced dead on arrival.”

My hands begin to tremble as the
news the detective has just relayed to me begins to sink in.

“But what?
How….what happened? Why?” I manage to stutter out. Chase looks over with a
worried expression and grabs my shaking hand, rubbing light circles across the
top with his thumb.

“I’m sorry
m’am
.
We received a call from a motel off the interstate from a Tank Harvey. He had
left your mother for a few hours and when he came back he found her
unresponsive with an empty bottle of pills and a letter that she left for you.”

I drop the phone and shake my
head repeatedly trying to erase the words from my brain.

“
M’am
,
m’am
?”
I hear but I
can’t listen to what else he has to say. Nothing else matters but that my
moms
gone and now I literally feel like I have no one left.
Sure she was never there for me but she was still my mom, I still loved her or
maybe the idea of her. Chase scoops up my phone from the floor and finishes the
conversation with the detective. By this time I realize that we’ve already
arrived back at our apartment complex and our sitting in the parking lot.

“Leah,
baby
are
you okay?” Chase asks me in a low soothing voice.

“I don’t….I
um
….I
don’t
know how to…..” I can’t manage to form a single
thought as I feel the tears filling my eyes. But I can’t let them spill out,
not in front of Caleb. He doesn’t need that drama in his life. And now I guess
that’s all gone for good.

Chase jumps out of his seat as
he tugs me across the
drivers
side and wraps me in a hug. I breathe in the reassuring scent of Chase-soap
mixed with a subtle spice of cologne.
“
Shhh
its okay.
The detective told me everything, you don’t need to explain, let’s
just get you two inside.” And with that I remember the only important person
here, Caleb. If I’m going to break down it won’t be in front of him.

 He sets Caleb down in the
hallway and I begin to aimlessly search through my purse for my keys with
blurred vision from my tears. “No Leah. I’m not letting you stay alone, your
coming to my place.” He lifts a finger to my lips, trying to stop the oncoming
argument that he knows I’ll put up. But I don’t have the energy to
fight,
I just let him lead me into his apartment. He makes
up the extra bed he has in his spare bedroom and tucks Caleb into bed,
who
was almost asleep on his feet. Apparently he can sleep
anywhere
too,
he didn’t even bat an eyelash about
being in a strange bed.

I’ve never been in
Chases
apartment before but with the shock I don’t even look
around. He sits down on the leather couch in his living room and pulls me onto
his lap covering me with a blanket that was sprawled across the back.

I mindlessly wipe away the tears
and notice I’ve soaked the front of his sweater. “I’m sorry,” I sniffle out as
I try to wipe at his chest. “Leah you don’t have anything to be sorry about.
You just found out some pretty bad news, I don’t mind having a damp sweater.”

“I know Chase but obviously
me
and my mom were never close. I didn’t expect to feel that
kind of emotion. I’m a mess.” I mumble out, trying to wipe at my face which I’m
sure is covered with running mascara.

“Leah I know the situation. But
she’s still your mom, you have the right to cry,” he pauses and looks down at
me, running his fingers through my hair. “And you’re not a mess, you look
beautiful. I hate to say it but you make crying look sexy,” he says as he wipes
a stray tear from my cheek.

I snort out a laugh as I try to
stop the tears, “Thanks Chase that really makes me feel better.”

“You need some sleep,” he says.
“I’m
gonna
go make my bed since I’m sure it’s a mess
and you can borrow one of my shirts to sleep in.”

“That’s okay Chase I can take
the couch,” I insist. I feel bad enough as it is invading his apartment.

“No way Leah, you need a good
nights worth of sleep. I’ll be right back.”

I look around his apartment
after he heads down the hallway to his bedroom. Surprisingly the whole place
seems to be well organized. I figured Chase would have the ultimate bachelor
pad, being a single male college student. There’s framed pictures placed on
shelves and end tables of Chase and his sisters and a few of him and his band
mates.

“Here,” he says as he walks back
into the room and tosses a faded black shirt at me. “Pretty sure you know where
the bathroom is right?”

Our apartments are exactly
identical to each other just flip flopped so I head down the hall. I pull off
my clothes and slide the shirt on that reaches all the way past my knees with
Chases height compared to mine. I look in the mirror over the sink and note my
puffy, bloodshot eyes.
Sexy, not so much.
I splash
some water on my face and walk out to meet Chase in the hall way.

“Kay you sleep in here, I’ll
take the couch.”

I walk into the room and am
instantly swept up by the scent of Chase. Like the rest of his apartment, its
tidy and I notice the feminine touches I’m sure his mom or sisters added to the
apartment with pictures scattered around and little mementos from
Chases
childhood. I wish my relationship with my mom had
been different, I wish we could have had the gift of what Chase has. I wipe a
stray tear away as I stand next to the bed.

“Wow you make that shirt look so
much better than I do,” Chase whispers into my ear as he wraps his arms around
my waist giving me instant
goosebumps
and making me
love the feeling of his arms around me. “Yeah,” I twist my body around so I’m
now wrapped in his warm embraced and pressed against his chest. “Boobs tend to
make anything look better.” He smothers a laugh against my hair before placing
a kiss on my forehead. “That is so true.”

“Thanks for
being there tonight Chase.
I can’t imagine how it would have been if I’d
gotten that news alone. I’d probably still be a mess sitting on the floor of my
apartment. I didn’t want to break down in front of Caleb. He doesn’t even know
about her.” I stand on my tiptoes and give him a kiss on his cheek. He turns
and places a tentative, gentle kiss on my lips as he wraps his arms around my
waist, his hands resting on the small of my back through the thin fabric of his
shirt.

I let myself melt into the
warmth of Chase and slowly place small kisses all across the length of his
chiseled jaw that’s slightly rough with a layer of stubble. My lips come back
to his which are warm and still taste of the cherry pie we had for dessert. He
lets out a small groan as I snag his bottom lip with my teeth, sucking it into
my mouth.

He over takes the kiss as he
probes my mouth tentatively with his warm tongue mixing with mine, starting off
gently and then moving on fiercer as if he’s trying to taste every part of my
mouth. I feel the coolness of his tongue ring as he flicks his tongue in and
out and over every inch. I place my hands at the hem of his sweater and slide
them underneath, gliding my fingers up across his flat stomach and abs, grazing
the sprinkling of hair across his chest as our kiss seems to grow wilder. I
pull my hands out and try to yank his sweater over his head and he grabs a hold
of my wrists.

“Leah, stop.” He breathes out
heavily. I look down at his hands in confusion and drop my eyes to the floor
sniffling, “Why? Don’t you….” He quickly interrupts me as he puts a finger
under my chin forcing my eyes to his. “Of course I want you, your all I think
about day and night, from the time I wake up in the morning,” he pauses, “well I
guess that’s not true, you tend to invade my dreams too so I guess I’m always
thinking about you. Trust me I’m all for this Leah,” he says motioning between
us with his hands. “But I don’t want our first time together to be like this
after you’ve had such a
shock,
it’s been a long night,
so let’s get some sleep. If you’re feeling the same way in a few days there’s
no way I’ll be putting a stop to that.”

He gives me a sexy grin and
gently places a soothing kiss on my forehead before pulling open his closet door
and grabbing an extra pillow and blanket from the top shelf. “If you need
anything, just yell I’ll be right out on the couch,” he says as he turns to
head out the door.

“Chase, wait,” I say as I reach
for his hand. “Stay, please.”

He rubs the bridge of his nose
with his fingers, “Leah really I only have so much self control,
I
don’t think I can tell you no more than once tonight. I am
a guy and all.”

“I think I can control myself
now,” I jokingly say. “I meant just to sleep, in the bed.
With
me.
I’m so tired of being
alone,
I just need
you to be here with me tonight.”

He raises an eyebrow at me,
“Okay I have no problem being here for you.  As long as you think you can
resist yourself from jumping on top of me, I guess I can do that,” he adds,
lightening the mood.

“
Haha
you’re so funny and awfully full of yourself.”

“Well when
ya
got a body like this,” he says as he points to himself, “you do get sort of an
ego.”

“Oh jeez and here I thought you didn’t
know how sexy you were, turns out you’re your biggest fan.” He laughs out loud,
“Well someone has to be the president of my fan club, figured I’d be the best
for the job.” He rifles through his dresser and pulls out a pair of black
athletic shorts. “I’m
gonna
go take a cold shower and
change, I’ll be back in a minute,” he says as he heads to the bathroom
connected to his room. Apparently I got him all worked up. Woops.

I slide back the covers to his
bed and fluff up one of his pillows as I
scootch
into
bed.
Mmm
I’ll have to steal one of these pillows to
take back to my apartment and sleep with. They have the smell of Chase and his
clean soap scent mixed with yummy manliness.