Nodding, he said, “You really didn’t leave me with any choice.”
“You got me fired, asshole,” Sloane snapped, shaking her head in disgust.
“You’re welcome,” Chase said with a heartfelt sigh.
“Oh, my god, are you insane?”
Frowning, Chase asked, “How else was I supposed to make sure that she fired you?”
For a moment, she could only stare at him and then, finally, common sense kicked in and had her heading for the door, muttering, “Asshole,” as she went.
“You’re pregnant?” he called after her.
“Yes,” Sloane bit out evenly as she leveled a glare on the men that had helped the asshole currently following her.
“Were you planning on telling me?” Chase asked as he caught up with her.
“And take that honor away from the men that had me thrown in a holding cell? I would never dream of doing such a thing,” Sloane said dryly as she followed the exit signs, only pausing long enough to grab her bags.
“They didn’t know that I didn’t know,” Chase said, at least having the good grace to wince.
“Well, now you know,” Sloane said as she quickened her pace, deciding that she’d deal with this later, much later, when she no longer had the urge to kick the large bastard that had just ruined her life.
*-*-*-*
“Shit!” Chase muttered as he struggled to keep up with her.
“Just leave me alone, Chase.”
“I’m afraid that I can’t do that,” Chase said, doubling his efforts to catch up with her as he ignored the pain shooting up his legs and back. He should have taken a fucking muscle relaxer before he left.
“Oh, and why’s that?”
“Because I’m never letting you go,” he said, reaching for her.
“You already did,” Sloane said as she stepped away from him and kept going.
“And I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice,” he said, rushing to catch up with her only to mutter, “Shit!” when he was forced to walk faster.
“I heard what you said,” she said, not bothering to glance back at him this time.
“What?” he asked, biting back a wince as more pain shot through his legs, threatening to drop him on his ass.
“Last night. I heard what you said. I was worried about you because you’re a stubborn pain in the ass that refuses to use your cane, so when you didn’t show up after a few minutes, I went looking for you. I heard you tell him that you didn’t love me,” Sloane said, making him realize just how badly he’d fucked everything up.
“It was a mistake,” Chase said, somehow managing to catch up with her, again.
“No, staying here was a mistake,” she bit out.
“Sloane–”
“Just leave me alone, Chase,” she said, sighing heavily as he was forced to slap his hand against the wall when his legs threatened to give out and drop him on his ass.
“You know that I can’t do that,” he said, struggling to keep going and–
“Shit!” Chase bit out harshly as his trembling legs finally gave out, dropping him on his ass.
“You really can, though,” Sloane said as she kept going, leaving him with no other choice but to pull himself back up.
“I’ll crawl on my hands and knees after you if that’s what it takes, but I’m not letting you go. Not now. Not ever,” Chase bit out, making her sigh as she turned around and–
“What the hell are you doing?” Sloane asked, rushing to his side when she spotted him struggling to get to his feet.
“Really regretting not grabbing my cane,” came the rueful comment as he gave up trying to use the wall to pull himself back to his feet and slowly slid back down to the floor with a sigh. “I need to call a timeout.”
“A timeout?” Sloane asked, her lips twitching with amusement despite the fact that she still looked pissed and…hurt. Christ, he’d never seen her look so sad before and knowing that it was because of him damn near killed him.
“I’m sorry, Pookie,” he said, moving to stand up only to end groaning when a cramp tore up his leg.
“For being an asshole or for forgetting your cane?” Sloane asked absently as she glanced around the busy terminal, most likely looking for an abandoned wheelchair so that she could push him into oncoming traffic.
“Both,” Chase said, reaching up so that he could brush his fingertips along her jaw. “I’m sorry that I hurt you, Pookie, but I’m not sorry that I got you fired. You hated that job.”
Pulling away from his touch, she shook her head as she glanced away from him. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not,” Chase said as he reached over and pulled her onto his lap until she was straddling his thighs.
“You don’t need to do this, Chase,” she said, biting her bottom lip when it began trembling.
“I’m not doing anything that I don’t want to, Pookie,” he said as he reached up and cupped her beautiful face in his hands. “You scare me.”
“How?” Sloane asked, frowning as she reached up to cover one of his hands with hers.
“Because I don’t think I would be able to handle it if something happened to you,” he said softly as he leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’m terrified that I’m going to lose you one day.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” she promised him as he sat back against the wall with a sigh.
“You don’t know that.”
She opened her mouth to argue only to shut it with a sigh. “You’re right. I don’t know what the future holds, Chase, but I know that I want to spend it with you.”
“Does that mean that you’re willing to marry me?” Chase asked as he gently caressed her cheek.
Shaking her head, Sloane said, “No, that means that I’m willing to give you another chance,” as she dropped her hand away and carefully climbed off his lap with a heavy sigh.
“What will it take to get you to say yes?” Chase asked, biting back a wince as he forced himself to ignore the pain shooting down his legs and stood up.
“Making me believe that you’re doing this because you want to and not because you’re trying to do the right thing,” she said with a sad smile as she reached down and grabbed her bag.
“I can do that,” Chase said, having absolutely no idea how he was going to make that happen, but he would find a way.
Chapter 42
“We’re going to get in trouble,” Teddy said, throwing a nervous look back over his shoulder as he slowed down only to groan when Deb tightened her hold around his trembling hand and kept going, searching for somewhere to hide before it was too late.
“We need to hide,” Deb reminded him as they quickly made their way past the pool doors and kept going.
“I don’t understand,” Teddy mumbled, worrying his bottom lip as Deb debated going to Grey’s office, but…
No, they couldn’t risk Kim seeing them. They needed to hide until it was time for her to leave and then, they’d sneak into Grey’s office and tell him what happened. He’d fix this and if he couldn’t…