Instead, he sauntered over to me and leaned on the car beside me like there wasn’t World War III going on inside his house. A panel on the side of the car thumped to the ground. Neither of us so much as twitched.
“Wow. Talk about going out with a bang.” My throat was scratchy from all the excitement. It was too much for one day, so I resorted to sarcasm. It was my crutch.
He shook his head at me. “Let’s get you inside and take a look at that nasty gash. Then you can tell me what in God’s creation happened.”
It was sad, but right now I’d follow him anywhere, even into the fiery pits of hell. I just didn’t want to let him out of my sight. I nodded and let him lead me next door. He carefully cleaned the wound as I grimaced like a baby.
He grinned at me. I scowled at him. “You’re enjoying this,” I stated.
He shook his dark tousled head. “No, not really.”
“Liar.”
His gunmetal eyes sobered. “I don’t like seeing you in pain.”
That I believed. I swallowed, trying not to get lost in his velvet eyes. “It hardly hurts anymore.”
“Liar.”
Our smiles mirrored each other. Tonight was the first night in two weeks that I felt like the barrier he’d been building around himself was gone. Our eyes locked, and something passed between us. My tattoo tingled frenziedly, and I knew he was as captivated as I was in this moment. I wanted to close the space between us, but was too chicken shit. Why didn’t he make the first move? At least then I would know what to expect.
He cleared his throat. “So what did you do this time?” he asked teasingly.
Leave it to Chase to shatter a perfectly good moment. “Emma went mental and tried to run us of the road, then Lexi choke-slammed her. It was awesome.” I was never good with details.
He arched a brow. “Awesome huh?”
I grinned, loving that the jab went to his ego, the desired effect. He could be so predictable. “Well, she is pretty kickass for a girl,” I retorted.
Leaning back on the wall, he crossed his arms smirking like he was hot shit. “Oh yeah. I happen to think I’m pretty awesome.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why am I not surprised?” I made the mistake of blinking, because suddenly he was in front of me and I was staring into a pair of glittering eyes the color of platinum.
“Speaking of awesome, I hear you’ve acquired a new trick,” he said. The low and sexy tone of his voice tickled my belly.
I tilted my head back. “Travis told you huh?”
He brushed my hair back from my head, feathering lightly over the cut on my head. I expected pain, but felt nothing but a dull ache. “It looks like you got more than a tattoo from being soulbond to me. You heal as well. Fast.”
My hand immediately went to my head where the cut should have been. There was nothing but tenderness to the touch. No bumpy raised skin. “Why couldn’t I get anything cool like super speed or inhuman strength?”
He snickered. “Well, on the flipside you aren’t as breakable anymore.”
I punched him in the side which only rewarded me with a chuckle. That was what he got for standing so close.
“Brat,” he uttered under his breath and laced his fingers with mine.
My stomach back flipped.
“I better get you off your feet. Who knows how much blood you’ve lost. I wouldn’t want you fainting on me,” he said, leading me toward the family room.
I snorted. “I’ve never fainted in my life.”
Raising that damn brow with the hoop in it, he called my bluff.
“Fine. Before meeting you,” I added.
He laughed. “Angel Eyes, you just don’t give up graciously.” He collapsed onto the couch.
I stared down at him. “Where would you like me to sit? I’m the patient here and you take up the whole thing with that Viking body.”
Grinning, he tugged me down beside him. “Right here,” he whispered, weaving a secured arm around my waist. Heat grazed over each part his hand touched before settling cozily on my hip.
In his arms the gut-dropping fear from the day dissolved. I rested my hand on his beating heart. “Do you think they will get past this?” I asked, thinking about Travis and Lexi under the same roof with boiling tempers.
It was scary how in tune we were. He didn’t need to ask who I was talking about. We apparently were wired into the same frequency. “Eventually.”
“By eventually, do you mean once we figure out what to do about Emma?”
“Don’t worry about that now. Just rest.”
That meant yes and I’ll handle it. I didn’t press him, but I wanted to. My droopy eyes won over. I guess I was just too worn out to think about all that right now. I just wanted a few stolen moments in his arms while he wasn’t pushing me away. So I took advantage of being in his embrace and snuggled deeper into his chest, closing my eyes in serene peace.
When I awoke sometime in the middle of the night, sprawled out on the couch, I was alone. He had snuck out on me again. Probably best. But my heart didn’t agree and that worried me.
Chapter 19