Chase starts to rub small circles on my back and shoulders instantly relieving some of the tension that’s built up. He really does have some magic hands. “I’m glad I could be here Leah. She was still your Mom though so it’s okay to cry, maybe you’re crying more for what you never had with her and now you won’t ever have that opportunity.”
“You know you’re actually a genius for being such a pretty boy.” I say as I feel my eyelids grow heavy from the relaxation brought on by Chases expert hands.
“Uh thanks,” he laughs out. “I guess that’s a compliment.” We lay there together a bit longer and I can’t help but enjoy the warmth of Chase. I wouldn’t mind sleeping with him every night if possible. Maybe taking things slow with Chase would work if I just tried, life can be taken away in the blink of an eye just like my mom. I hear the slow steady breathing of Chase and realize he’s fallen asleep and I close my eyes and do the same after the draining day.
Chapter 16
Leah
I wake up the next morning to the enticing smell of coffee wafting into the room and realize Chases warm body isn’t beside me. I rub my fingers over my eyes and can fill the puffiness still there from the tears the night before.
“Hey sleepyhead,” Chase says as he walks into the room with a cup of coffee in one hand and his laptop in the other. Caleb is following closely at his heels and he jumps onto the bed with a squeal. “Mommy, mommy me and Chase were playin’ games. You can play too if ya want.”
“Oh yeah, what were you guys playing?”
He replies back between each bounce. “Um hide and seek,” bounce, “duck duck goose,” bounce, “ring around with rosie.”
“Wow you’ve been keeping him pretty busy, huh?”
“I was trying to keep him occupied so he wouldn’t try to wake you up,” he says as he flops down onto the bed by my feet.
“Why what time is it,” I ask as I stretch my arms above my head.
“Its almost 11.”
“Wow I can’t believe I slept that long, I normally like to sleep at least past 7 but not that long.”
“You needed it. Can you grab my glasses for me off of that nightstand?”
I reach across the bed and grab a pair of square black frames and hand them back to Chase as he slides them on to look at the screen of his laptop.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses, do you normally wear contacts?” That would explain the brilliant green color of his eyes, I knew it couldn’t be natural.
“Nope I just use these for reading sometimes,” he says as he stares down at the screen intently, occasionally clicking the mouse.
“Oh well they definitely give you a more studious look.” I stand on my knees and run my hands through the mess of his short dark hair. “And with your hair grown out now you don’t look like such a bad ass, more like the sexy teacher all the girls dream about.”
He grins back at me as he slides back to sit next to me with the laptop balanced on his knees. “Good that’s totally the look I was going for.” Caleb squeezes his little body in between us and stares intently at Chases laptop. He types in a few more things and then turns to me.
“So when I took over the phone call for you last night from the detective, he said that it would be best for you to come to Michigan. They have some paperwork for you to sign since you’re the next of kin and then you can handle any funeral arrangements that you decide on. I figured we should probably leave pretty soon it looks like it’ll be about a six hour drive.”
I hold up a hand in protest, “Whoa, whoa Chase. We? I can do this on my own, you don’t have to chauffer me around. I don’t need to depend on you.”
He grabs my hand and kisses each of my fingers and I can’t help the butterflies that shoot through my stomach just from the simple touch of his lips.
“Leah I WANT to be there with you. You don’t always have to do everything on your own. Besides it’s a long weekend, we still have three days left till classes start back up. We can make a road trip out of it. And I can take care of Caleb while you’re handling everything.” I press my lips together contemplating what he said. This would definitely be a next step in a relationship with Chase. And of course he played the Caleb card, which kind of makes sense, he doesn’t need to be around to hear that stuff. Three days alone with him. I guess we could use it as a trial without the distraction of school and work.
“Well…” I say as I try to contain my smile looking at Chases defeated expression.
“Please Leah?”
“Okay, fine. You can come with me. I guess.” I tack on at the end.
His face transforms as his smile lights up his face reaching into his eyes as he jumps up off the bed, grabbing a duffel bag out of his closet. “Awesome, since I already made reservations for us. You should run over to your apartment and grab a few things for you and Caleb. He can stay here with me.”
“Oh you were pretty presumptuous in thinking you could convince me to let you tag along, huh?” I teasingly ask as I climb out of bed.