He took a step toward me, but I took a step back and away from him.
“You can’t hit everyone I talk to,” I shouted.
I used to think his protectiveness was adorable, but now, it was becoming a problem.
“You can’t do that again,” I began. “Chase, I grew up in violence. I won’t be thrown back into that world again.”
With eyes growing wide, Chase reached for me. “I promise, Lizzie, you have my word. I will control my anger.”
“You better,” I said, as I began to march toward the parking lot. As I jumped into his SUV, I didn’t say another word to him. He deserved my silence.
He stole glances at me the whole time and I knew my silent treatment was killing him, but I meant what I had said. I couldn’t go back to a life full of anger and violence. I just couldn’t.
“Don’t follow me,” I angrily yelled, as I jumped out of his SUV when he pulled up to the hotel.
Without even speaking a word, Chase just drove away and did as I was told. Somehow, my heart broke as he left.
CHAPTER 19
Chase
A fire had exploded deep inside of me as I watched some jackass in a blue polo shirt touching my girl. My world.
Watching him next to her, you would have thought they were a couple. Lizzie belonged with someone who dressed nice and was going to college. Instead, she had fallen for me. A damaged fighter with a broken past.
I didn’t think as I jumped out of my SUV and raced across campus. I didn’t think as I clenched my fists around his perfectly ironed collar and lifted him off of the ground. I didn’t think as I threw him onto the ground and away from my girl.
It wasn’t until Lizzie’s frantic and pained voice broke through my head that I realized what I was doing. I knew it was too late, the damage had been done. I had screwed up. Again.
“Chase, what are you doing?” she screamed at me with fear in her voice.
I never wanted to see her look that way again. I apologized to the prick, Jake. Sure he might have a girlfriend, but he wasn’t stupid. No other girls in this world could compare to Lizzie.
Lizzie didn’t talk to me the whole ride back to the hotel. I knew I deserved her anger, but I couldn’t help but look at her sitting next to me, arms crossed and an angry scowl across those perfect lips. I tried not to smile, she looked so damn adorable when she was mad.
When I pulled up outside of the hotel, she had jumped out and told me not to follow her. I listened and parked my SUV and made my way to a bar down the street. Texting Jax, I asked him to meet me there too. I needed a drink to cool down before I tried to salvage things with Lizzie.
Finding a seat, I spotted one of the bartenders, Mark, who worked at the Hard Rock with us. It was his day off too. Waving me over, I joined him at a table just as Jax walked into the loud bar.
“What are you doing?” Mark asked, as he motioned for the bartender to bring me a beer.
“Just picked up Lizzie from school. I dropped her off and just needed a drink,” I said, before I realized I was spilling too much information.
With big eyes, Mark only smirked at me. “Man, I never thought I would see the day,” he joked. “Who would have thought that Spencer Chase would be pussy whipped by a girl? She must be an amazing fuck to get you to settle down,” Mark said.
Red flashed across my eyes as I clenched my fists at my sides. No one spoke of Lizzie in that way.
Jumping off the barstool, I heard it bang against the floor as I shoved Mark off his seat. People around us began to scatter as voices echoed through my mind.
“Don’t you ever talk about Lizzie like that again, if you do, I will kill you,” I bellowed at the top of my lungs as I stood towering over Mark.
Scooting back, Mark tried to plead with me, but there was no calming me now. I looked around at the people watching us.
Instead of seeing a bunch of guys ready for a fight, I saw Lizzie’s face staring back at me. I couldn’t go against my word. I had to prove to her I was better than just a fighter.
Throwing my hands in the air, I told them all to fuck off before I ran out of the door. With Jax on my heels, he didn’t say anything to me, but he followed me back to my room.
As my friend, Jax knew better than anyone to just let me when I became upset. I had promised Lizzie earlier that I wouldn’t do anything violent again. In my mind, I had let Mark off easy. I should have knocked his head off and beat him until he couldn’t talk again. But instead, I walked away and went back to my room so I could sleep off my anger and wait for Lizzie until she was ready to talk to me again.