“Who?” Courtney pushes, wanting more information. She either wants to spread the gossip or try to go after the girl. That’s how these two work. Too bad for her the woman in question is about to be a Score and not because her mother married one.
“Yeah, who?” both sisters ask. Samantha tries to inch closer to me. I back up so far I hit the damn bar, not wanting even her clothing to touch me.
“You don’t know her,” Asher says dismissively.
“An outsider.” Courtney’s face falls. “Seriously, Ash? I thought—”
“I have no idea what you thought, but if it has anything to do with me and you being involved, you thought wrong. If you’ll excuse me.” Asher steps around her, leaving me to fend for myself which I’m sure he finds funny. I suppose I had it coming.
“Who is he seeing?” Courtney tries to push me for details.
“Not you.” Now it’s me that’s starting to lose my patience with them.
“Chase, when did you become so rude?” Samantha tries to scold me now.
“When you got in the way of someone I need.” They both give me a confused stare.
“Emily Score. She’s mine,” I tell them before they even get the chance to ask who that someone is. With that, I excuse myself.
Let the rumor mill begin. I smile. Once most men around here hear, they’ll steer clear of Emily for sure. I mean, most already do because of her father, but some still try to slip in there. Now they’ll know without a doubt that they don’t stand a chance.
No one ever did. She was always meant to be mine.
8
Emily
The way women throw themselves at Chase is sickening. I could no longer stand to watch it, so I made my way as far away from that situation as possible. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that I’ll never beg someone for their attention. I’ve been there and done that when it came to my mother, Heidi. Hell, at one point I’d done it to Chase too.
When I think back to that day when I admitted my feelings to him, I want to crawl into a hole and hide. The shock on his face is still burned into my brain all these years later. He’d shut me down so quickly. He tried to be nice about it, saying I was too young and had no clue what I wanted in life. I’m an adult now, and I still don’t.
Why hadn’t he shut down the Hancock sisters if he wasn’t interested in them? Or maybe he is. That’s pretty messed up considering he was dry humping me this morning. He’d also left a mark on my neck that might be hidden but I swear I can still feel it there.
Even though I’m standing on the other side of the room, the jealousy I have hasn’t subsided. I will never in a million years give Chase the satisfaction of knowing that I’m annoyed at seeing those women fawning on him. But I can’t help it. Pretty sure I gave myself away to a degree when I was rude to them.
I’m never rude to people, even when they deserve it. Though I can’t find any guilt over it at the moment. The Hancock sisters pretend I don’t exist, and when they do it’s to get closer to my brother. Good luck with that one, ladies. My brother is in deep with Molly. I could see it all over his face the second we’d stepped in the outside ballroom my stepmother Grace had created in the backyard.
We might be inside of a giant white tent, but you can’t tell with the grand chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the amount of flowers coating everything. Grace and my dad had a bit of a whirlwind romance. I wonder if this is her way of planning out a bit of the celebration of not only my father turning fifty but of the two of them as well.
I watch them on the dance floor as my father twirls her around. The man really is night and day compared to the way things had been with my mother. I’d heard small whispers from some of the staff that my mother had gotten worse after she had me. I’ll never understand what she had against me being a girl.
One day when I get the chance to have children of my own, I hope one will be a little girl. I see the way Grace and Molly are together. They have this unspoken bond. I swear the two of them can have whole conversations in looks alone.
I made it a point to not see Chase’s expression when we stepped into the room. My dress is a bit showier than I’d normally pick, but I’m a sucker for pink, and the thing fit perfectly. Then Grace went and gushed over how gorgeous I was in it. I was done for. I soak up any attention she gives me. Molly doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, I’ve noticed a few times she’s stepped back to let us have our moments. It only goes to show you how sweet Molly is.