The Chase (Sequel to The Cuddling Game)

Chess

***Chase’s POV***

**Two Days Later**

I park in front of the house. This one is far less perfect than Abby’s house. There’s toys littering the front porch and some in the front lawn. Chalk drawing are all over the sidewalk leading up to the house. This is what a real house with children should look like.

I knock on the door, waiting for an answer. A woman approximately my age wearing an expression filled

with caution, opens the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes. I’m looking for Abigail Mathers. Is she here?”

A little girl comes running into view. She’s a spitting image of the woman in front of me, the only

difference is the color of her hair.

“I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“Abigail Mathers. She’s an old friend of mine from college.”

The little girl perks up.

“Aunt Abby! Someone here see you!”

I wonder how old she is. She looks old enough to have developed proper grammar, but maybe she just

looks more mature.

The woman steps in, agitated.

“Ava Felicia! Go play with your toys!”

The little girl runs off and Abby appears at the door. Her eyes widen at the sight of me.

“I tried to tell him you weren’t here but Ava ratted you out. I can call the police if you want.”

“Thank you, Bella, but no. Is it okay if I take him to my room to talk? It’s private matters.”

She gives me the stink eye but gives in. I follow Abby to her bedroom. She closes the door behind us.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you before.”

“Warn me about what? The fact that you were going to hold me at gun point and Jonathan was going to

shoot me? Or was it the part where you aimed a gun at my head and then spun and shot Jonathan at the

last minute?”

“I had to get away from him, Chase. I didn’t know that he was going to shoot you but I knew about the

holding you hostage part. He wanted to force you to buy the building. He wanted me to seduce you and

trick you into the whole deal. It wasn’t supposed to go so far, but I cracked and gave myself up to you,

Chase.”

“Stating the obvious isn’t giving yourself up to me, Abby.”

She flops back on the bed, frustrated. She reminds me of a teen who isn’t getting her way.

“I meant when I slept with you!”

“Why would that matter?”

She covers her face, blushing furiously.

“You were my first and only!”

It’s my turn to be surprised by her statement.

“How long were you and Jonathan married?”

“Dated for four, married for five. He believed in abstinence until the sixth year of marriage. Just think,

we were so close to making it those six years.”

I feel honored, but a little creeped out. At least I was her first and only up until this point.

“Did you really mean it when you said ‘I love you’ or was it just a last minute thing to say?”

Her question catches me off guard but it was bound to come up soon.

“I meant it then and I mean it now, Abby. I loved you for a while now.”

She sits up on the bed, crossing her legs under her.

“Really?”

I shake my head, smiling. God my life sounds like a crappy romance novel right now.

“Yes really. It’ll take me some time to get over the fact that you held me at gunpoint and allowed me to

get shot, but I love you.”

She glances nervously at the gauze wrapped around my arm.

“How is your injury? Nothing serious, right?”

I glance at the bandages.

“Nothing serious. A clean entrance and exit wound. The path avoided all of the major things.”

She nods, visibly relieved. It’s quiet for a while. It’s not an uncomfortable silence. It’s tolerable.

“I’m so sorry everything went down like this. Jonathan made me go over my lines over and over again

and threatened to kill me if I didn’t do it. He orchestrated the whole thing. I was just a pawn in his

violent game of chess.”

Her use of terminology reminds me a little of Jonathan’s stuck-up attitude, but I brush it off. She did live

with him for years on end.

“But the tables turned and now he’s the dead one.”

I don’t like the chilling tone in her voice. It’s vacant and void of emotion.

“Let’s just turn the situation to something happy. So Bella has a kid now? Let me guess, she’s married to

Travis now?”

“Yeah. Ava was a happy surprise while they were engaged.”

With one simple change of the subject, the entire conversation changes from anger and sadness to happiness.