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As she snagged a can froerator, Dee heard the front door to the lobby blast open She sed a sip and hollered, "Hold on a erator door shut with her hip In the lobby, she found Chase hovering behind the counter "Sorry, Chase, but they had to go on without you Jacob said for you to meet them at the base If you leave now, you can probably round crew heads out"
"Oh, yeah, sure" He jae pants riding low from the extra pressure
She waited, but he didn’t move "They’re only about ten minutes ahead of you Maybe you can call on the cell phone and ask them to wait"
"I’ll just skip this one"
Dee chewed her lip to keep froh with responsibilities "You could hang out with Emily I think Madison is already asleep"
Chase shuffled from foot to foot "Nah, no need I’ll just hit the road"
Her bottoue with Chase, she decided to phone his ht" He brushed past, his hip buister drawer
Dee stared at the drawer, trying to deny what she knew to be true She’d closed it after e She wouldn’t have been so careless as to leave the drawer hanging open
Chase couldn’t have possibly…She cast a furtive glance at the teen crossing to the door
Instinct told her heopen the drawer the rest of the way, she looked inside The slot that should have held a stack of twenties now contained a lone bill, as if someone hadn’t wanted to be so obvious as to empty out the space "Hey, Chase Hold on a sec"
His jerky look back over his shoulder, the defensive glint in his eyes, confirister
Jacob would be livid Hell, she was livid She couldn’t even bear to consider what this meant for Emily and Madison
She reacted with her heart rather than her head, wanting to save Jacob froo"
With a snap of his head, he flicked a hank of walnut hair frolare taking its place "What money?"
"I’m not stupid, so don’t act like I aness mushroomed from his every step like an insidious threat "Even if there was onna know you didn’t take it?"
He stopped almost toe-to-toe with her The lobby suddenly seeh the eaves while Dee struggled not to flinch How could she and Jacob both have ed this kid?
Chase didn’t look h the silence They both twitched, but Chase didn’t budge
"Fine, Chase We’ll play this your way" She pivoted away to dismiss him, cowardly, maybe, but she wanted him out of the lobby Now She reached for the phone
His hand fell on her shoulder Dee’s sto turn off a ardless of how he looked he was just a kid Pull out the adult authority, put hiet him out the door
Dee plastered her best "schooled his hand loose "Chase, step back"
His bravado slipped Dee aled with relief--until his eyes narroith a ance
Where was the child who’d swung a shovel at snowballs? The boy who’d chased his girlfriend through the snow, the young man who held his baby tenderly?
Chase a her to retreat until the backs of her legs pressed against the computer chair He smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant or in any way childish "You have quite a rep around here thanks to all the gossip No secrets in this town People aren’t sure what to think of your whacky a trash aboutdown her body and back up again, lingering on strategic places
A shiver trickled down Dee’s spine like aicicle Without another word, she pushed past him Maybe she could lock herself in Jacob’s apartrabbed her shirtfront
"Not so fast" He twisted the fabric, yanking her forward "Where do you think you’re going?"
The chill iced all the way through her veins
Where do you think you’re going?
His words echoed in her head, deeper pitched
Where do you think you’re going?
A Midwestern twang sounded, rather than Chase’s local lilt
Fear gripped her tighter than Chase’s fist on her shirt Dee’s feet tangled The shirt pulled taut Panic frothed, higher, higher still, until she screa "No!"
"Calm down" Chase eyed her warily His hold on her still unrelenting, he shook her "Don’t get wigged out or anything Hey now--"
--not so fast, growled the Midwesterner’s voice, a voice from her past