Free CHASE - Volume Two (The CHASE Series Book Two) by M.L. Young

Chapter One
     
    Alexis
     
    I had never once thought that I would meet a person who had such a hold, such a strangle, on me. I received that message, the one from him, from Chase, and I didn’t even know what to think. I had waited for him, tried to talk to him, and got nothing, not even so much as a message telling me to get lost and go find someone else to bother. I almost wished I had. It would’ve made things much easier.
    “Hello, Alexis,” the words said, inked on my screen just as they were inscribed in my mind. It was so nonchalant, like a standard greeting, as if we were just two buddies who hadn’t shared a passionate, carnal night together. He wrote it like his cock hadn’t been inside me, but we both know that was a lie. A big lie.
    What if this was all another game or trick to him? What if he just needed to get laid, and I was the easy target with the bull’s eye on her head? Maybe Chase couldn’t find another woman to be with tonight; maybe he had nobody to please him. I didn’t want that, though, at least not anymore. I wasn’t going to be easy for him—at least I hoped so.
    The cursor on my screen blinked incessantly and I tried to think of the right words to say. Should I even say anything at all? Maybe I should give him the same boring, standard message he had sent to me. Maybe I should make him sweat it out a little bit. Fuck, who was I kidding? This man wasn’t like the others I’d been out with. Usually the woman has all of the power with the man. We can make them do whatever we want, and silence is always the best medicine to get what you want. Not with him, though, not with Chase. He didn’t mess around, and I knew that being rude or heavily guarded could mean he’d drop me like a sack of rotting potatoes and move onto someone else who would give him the attention he so desired.
    “Long time no talk,” I typed.
    My thumb hovered over the glowing send button, begging me to hit it. I felt a little nervous, my thumb slowly and hesitantly floating downwards, before I hit the button and the screen changed, the message displaying as sent. I sat there, praying that he wouldn’t leave me hanging again, like he had before. I wasn’t saying that things would ever happen between us, but to say that I didn’t want to at least see him once more would be a dirty fucking lie.
    My phone buzzed, maybe five minutes later, my hands unable to pick up my slippery device fast enough. I flipped the phone over to see the screen and saw a notification from the app. I quickly swiped it open, the app loading so slowly it shoved a knife through my heart with anticipation. “Come on,” I said, trying to make it go faster. Finally, it opened. The message was there, waiting. I clicked on it and bit my lower lip, the words lighting up my dimly lit screen.
    “Yeah, it has been. I’m sorry for not replying sooner to your last message. I was…busy, for a lack of a better term.”
    Busy ? We both knew that was a load of shit, and I almost wanted to tell him to give me a better excuse than that he was busy. Nobody was too busy, not even the damn President, to write a person a quick message back letting them know they have something going on. It was almost like he slapped me in the face and then made me apologize for being hit. He wanted me to feel sympathy for him, like I should know he was a busy man, but no, I wouldn’t. He might be Matthew Chase, but I’m Alexis Green, and I don’t take kindly to assholes.
    “No, you weren’t busy,” I typed furiously. “You were just playing games, like you always do, at the expense of others. I don’t know if you felt bad about it, or maybe some side girl dumped you and now you’re back to me, but I see right through you.”
    I hit send, a grimace on my face, and I felt my blood pressure rising, boiling inside me like an ant under a magnifying glass. Even though I was getting a little angry, I wanted to see what he had to say, and I wanted to see it now.
    I waited and