“You do. Trust me.” He searched my face for a long time and wiped the remaining tears from my cheeks. “You're special Harper, it's not hard to love you.” Dropping his hands from my face, he stood up and left the room.
After I rinsed off my body, fixed my hair and make-up and got dressed in my new outfit, I grabbed the ring and tested it on my fingers before leaving it on the ring finger of my right hand. Looking in Bree's full-length mirror, I smiled to myself. She really knew how to shop. I was wearing a short sleeved see-through green top that was fitted on my chest and flowed down to cover my bottom, with a black camisole underneath, faded skinny jeans and my black UGGs. I wasn't the best at saying thank you, but I hoped the family knew how much I loved everything.
“Woo! You look hot!”
I spun in a circle to show Bree her creation, “I love it! It's perfect for me.”
“I knew it would be.” She winked as Konrad came up behind her with drinks and they sat at one of the poker tables.
I stood behind her chair and tried not to look like I was searching for Chase. All of a sudden the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I looked to my right to find him staring at me and unconsciously biting his lip. My face flamed and I tried to pay attention to Bree losing Konrad's money instead of those lips. As Chase walked by, he grabbed my right hand and rubbed his thumb over the ring he gave me before dropping it and sitting at the other end of the table. I watched two games and reveled in Chase's booming laugh as everyone at the table ragged each other for losing money. Konrad stood up after the second game and gave me strict orders to sit in for him and to not lose his money while he went to the restroom. Guess he forgot that I was so horrible people wanted me to play with them because it was a guarantee they would get my money.
“You better just hand over all his chips now Princess, they won't be here by the time he gets back anyway.” Chase teased and flashed his signature smirk.
“It's about time.” Bree whispered leaning into me.
“For what?”
“He must've finally got some. This is the happiest he's been in two weeks.”
Not that I had any right to be, but I was instantly jealous of whoever he had been with. My heart clenched just thinking about Chase in that way. I felt like I was cheating on Brandon with my thoughts alone, and I hated it. Thankfully Konrad came back before I could do any damage, because not only did I not have any idea what kind of hand I had, but I could feel Chase's eyes on me every few seconds and it was seriously distracting. The tension between us was palpable, even in this room full of people and I needed to get away from him. I walked around until I found Mom and Dad sitting at another table and wrapped my arms around her neck.
“How are you guys doing over here?”
“I'm winning! Can you believe it Harper?” Mom's smile was contagious.
“No, have you been cheating?” Bree's family taught me to play, and if anyone was as bad as me, it was definitely Claire.
“Course not! But I'm pretty sure Robert is.” She mock whispered.
I laughed and grabbed her empty beer bottle, “Need another?”
“Oh yes please, sweetie!”
“Anyone else?”
Three other people I didn't know said yes so I headed for the kitchen and grabbed five.
“Nu uh. If I'm not drinking, you're not drinking.”
I shot a sideways glance at Chase, “Well then why don't you have one?”
“Because I don't drink anymore.” He shrugged and looked around the kitchen for a moment.
“Since when?” I hadn't seen him drink in months, but I didn't know he'd actually stopped.
Chase stopped looking around and pierced me with his blue eyes, “Since I was a jackass and hurt my Princess.”
He said my Princess. My. I had goose bumps covering my body. “Huh...I didn't realize.”
“You're the one that told me I should stop.” He said it matter-of-factly.
“But I didn't mean you had to Chase. You're grown, you can do whatever you want.”
“I know. Nothing good ever came from drinking though.”
Who was this guy, and what did he do with Chase? “Do you want to split one? Nothing will happen from half a beer, right?”
He slapped his stomach and raised his voice an octave, “I guess my little body can handle half a beer.”
“You're so dumb. Help me with these, I'm hanging out at your mom's table.” I never could call them Mom and Dad in front of Chase. Thinking about them as my parents when I had these feelings for him was beyond awkward.