Chapter8
Sienna Quinn’s smile sharpened. Her gaze slid to the untouched slice of vanilla sheet cake in front of Lydia Rivers.
Before anyone
could react, Sienna snatched up the cake and–quick as a flash–smashed it into Lydia’s face.
Lydia gasped. Whipped cream frosting smeared across her cheeks and lashes. The VIP room went dead silent.
“Sienna! What the hell are you doing?” Chase Rylan shot to his feet, yanking Sienna back, shock and anger colliding in his voice.
Sienna blinked innocently. “Wasn’t I supposed to do the most thrilling thing? That was pretty thrilling.”
Lydia trembled–not from the sticky sweetness but from the naked humiliation. She wiped the frosting from her eyes, cleared her
vision, and fixed on Sienna’s faux–innocent face.
Then, with everyone watching,
She.
The crack echoed through the room.
slapped Sienna. Hard.
“Was that thrilling enough?” Lydia’s voice was cold, steadier than she felt.
She didn’t look at anyone else. She grabbed her bag and walked out, heading straight for the restroom.
She scrubbed her face with cold water until the cloying sugar and shame felt washed away. When she stepped back into the lobby, she meant to go home but Chase caught up at the hotel entrance.
“Lydia! I’ll drive you.”
“I don’t need you to,” she said.
“Don’t do this. It’s late–how are you getting home?” He didn’t wait for an answer, guiding her toward his car.
He opened the passenger door–just as Sienna hurried up, eyes rimmed red, the picture of contrition.
“Lydia, I’m sorry. I was only 10
didn’t think you’d be so upset. I won’t do it again–please don’t be mad.”
Lydia stared at her, stone–cold and silent.
Sienna turned to Chase, softer still. “Chase, it’s hard to get a car here. I’m a little scared. Could you… drop me off?”
Chase hesitated, looking between Lydia’s frost and Sienna’s tears. Finally, he sighed.
“Get in.”
Disbelief carved through Lydia. He had watched the whole thing–how Sienna provoked and humiliated her–and still agreed to take
Sienna?
Sienna brightened instantly. She didn’t reach for the back door, though. She looked at Lydia instead.
“Lydia, I get carsick. Would you mind if I take the front?”
Chase hardly paused. “Lydia, take the back seat, okay?”
A sweep of bleakness rolled over her.
She remembered the night he first got his license and smuggled her out for a joyride. He had pulled open the passenger door with a grin.
“This seat is yours. Your spot. No one else gets it.”
Stars had glittered above them, his eyes bright and sincere.
Promises only counted while love lasted, apparently.
She laughed softly, and the laugh turned wet at the edges. Tears slipped free before she could stop them.
The sound pricked at Chase, but Sienna was already sliding into the front, one hand pressed to her mouth like she felt sick. He circled to
Chapters
Dreame–Read Romance Stories
36.36%
the driver’s side and started the car.
They drove in silence, the air tight and airless.
Halfway home, Sienna let out a shaky whimper and shifted in her seat.
“Chase… I think my craving for touch is flaring up again,” she said, voice quavering. “It hurts. Please…”
Her hand reached for him.
Chase jerked away, jaw tight. “I’m driving. Quit it.”
In the rearview mirror, Lydia’s face was turned to the window, unreadable.
“I really can’t handle it,” Sienna sobbed, her breaths turning dramatic and uneven. “Please–just help me. Once.”
Chase’s grip tightened on the wheel. The car filled with her muffled crying, the pressure building by the second.
At last, his shoulders slumped, as if in reluctant surrender. He spoke to the back seat without turning.
“Lydia… close your eyes. Don’t look, okay?”
Lydia flinched and said nothing.
He took her silence for consent. He steadied the wheel with one hand, reached with the other–caught Sienna’s wandering fingers— and, keeping his gaze on the road, guided her hand to rest over the fabric at his midsection, above the hem of his T–shirt.
“Enough,” he said quietly. “That’s all.”
36.36%
