Free The Debt 10 (Club Alpha) by Kelly Favor Page A

them.
    “Oh my God,” she said, covering her mouth
as they sped off.
    Chase glanced at her, turning on the
radio.   “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    She stared at him.   “They threw a bottle at you and then you
dropped that person on the ground head-first.”
    Chase laughed.   “Nobody got hurt,” he said.
    “That looked like he was hurt to me.”
    “He was fine.   I saw the guy getting up as we were
leaving.   I just gave him something
to think about.”
    She was calming down as they continued
driving.   “That was scary.”
    “Life is scary,” Chase said, glancing at
her again.  
    “I’m not cut out for that sort of thing,”
Faith said.   “I hate violence.   I hate fighting and I don’t even like
yelling.   I had enough of that
growing up to last me a lifetime.”
    The car got quiet and she realized that
she hadn’t intended to reveal that particular detail about herself just yet.
    But there it was.   She’d said it.
    “So it wasn’t just me who had a fucked up
childhood,” he said, softly.
    “No,” she replied, swallowing.   Suddenly, she was oddly close to tears.
      He adjusted his hands on the steering
wheel.   “Want to talk about it?”
    She shrugged.   “It wasn’t that bad—not like
yours.”
    “Don’t do that, Faith.”
    “Don’t do what?”
    “Don’t downplay it.   Don’t compare yourself with someone
else, because there’s always somebody who had it worse.   But that doesn’t mean your struggles
weren’t real.”
    She thought about what he said.   “I guess that’s true.”   And then she thought about her sister,
and what it must be like right now for her.   “My parents are drunks,” Faith said.
    Chase nodded.   “They get mean when they drink?”
    “Sometimes.   They fight a lot with each other.   When I was little, my Dad screamed at me
a lot.   He never hit me though.   Never laid a hand on me.”
    “Lucky for him,” Chase growled.   “If you told me he hurt you…I don’t know
what I might do to him.”
    “That’s not necessary.   And besides, you can’t use force to deal
with every situation.”
    “Not everything,” he said.   “But I will set a fool straight that so
much as looks at you cross-eyed.”
    Faith had to laugh.   “Calm down, big fella,” she said,
patting his muscular shoulder.   “Take it easy.”
    He laughed along with her.   “Shit, I must be getting hyped up for
the game already.”   Chase shook his
head.   “Sometimes I’m too
competitive for my own good.   And it
gets me in trouble.”
    “Yeah, that must be it.”   Faith smiled at him.   And then her smile faded.
    It
gets me in trouble.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing her
expression.
    “I was just thinking about Club Alpha,”
she told him.   “And I don’t
know.   I guess I got scared.”
    “Listen,” Chase said, his voice earnest,
“I let them know I won’t be using their services anymore.   And I also let them know that you’re strictly
off-limits.   Have you heard anything
from them?”
    She explained to him what had happened
with her boss getting slapped around, and the promotion, and the phone call to
her from that creep named Max.
    Chase listened and when she was done, he spoke
calmly.   “But all of that was the
same day we had our fight.”
    “Yes,” she said, feeling a slight relief.
    “And they never got in touch with you
after that, did they?”
    She shook her head.   “No, but—“
    “That’s because I spoke to them later
that night and told them to end it,” he said.   “It’s over, Faith.   I’m not going to let anybody mess with
you like that again.   You hear me?”
    “Yes.”
    “You believe me?”
    She thought about it for a long time. And
then she answered him.
    “Yes, I believe you,” she said,
surprising even herself with this admission.
    A moment later, Chase had parked, and
then they were getting out of the car and headed back into his home in Beacon
Hill.
    “I want to tell you