Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Author’s POV

When Chase’s eyes fell on the guy who was holding his Cara in his arms, his blood started boiling.

He strode in their direction and pulled her away from the guy, pushing her a little behind himself while making sure that he is not hurting her and standing in front of her.

He pushed the guy by his chest as he growled in anger, “Who the f**k are you? And how dare you touch her like this?”

The other guy scoffed and took a step closer as he asked in same kind of tone, “And who the f**k are you to ask these questions?”

Chase’s jaw clenched. He was already angry upon witnessing the scene in front of his eyes and now this guy was making him lose his mind.

Chase was about to do the same thing he does, whenever he feels angry.

He raised his hand up and was about to land a solid punch on the guy’s face, when Cara came in front of him, holding his hand in hers.

“Calm down Chase, he is not stranger. He is my friend, in fact my best friend” Cara said quickly.

Chase’s eyes softened immediately when his eyes met with Cara and he confirmed, “Best friend?”

“Hmm” Cara nodded.

He glanced in the other guy’s direction for a moment before taking her hand in his. He started walking and stopped at a little distance.

His hands went up to cup her face as he asked in concerned voice, “Are you okay? Is he really your friend? You don’t have to hide anything from me. I won’t do anything stupid”

He thought she was lying to him so that he won’t lose his temper and start fighting with that guy.

She covered his hands with hers and nodded her head, “I am okay Chase. I am not hiding anything from you. He is really my friend Mark from the orphanage where I used to live before coming here. You don’t have to be worried.” she said.

Chase released a breath of relief as he said, “Oh god Cara, you scared me”. He pulled her closer, hugging her, in attempt to calm his erratically beating heart.

He was already worried about her being alone in her dorm and seeing some other guy around her made him even more worried. He needs to keep her in front of his eyes otherwise he is definitely going to lose his mind.

“Are you okay Chase?” she asked him.

He pulled away from the hug and said, “I think, I am not. And I don’t think I will be if you are not in front of my eyes all the time. We need a serious talking afterwards. First you have to take care of your friend”.

Both of their eyes fell on the Mark who was staring at them with curiosity in his eyes.

“Oh yes” Cara said and they both walked back to where they were standing earlier.

“Who is this Cara?” Mark asked as he looked Chase from up to down with his skeptical gaze.

Chase scoffed internally but didn’t say anything.

“Let me introduce you guys” she turned around to look at her friend who looked curious. But Chase was angry. He didn’t like someone else touching her, whether it’s her friend or anyone else.

“Chase, this is my best friend Mark. And Mark, this is Chase my boyfriend” she introduced, saying the last part shyly.

Chase found it adorable as a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. He pulled her closer and placed a gentle kiss over her forehead. It was so natural and he couldn’t help it.

Mark forwarded his hand for a handshake, “Hello Chase, good to meet you”.

Chase was not interested in all this introduction sh*t. He is always like this, maybe because he doesn’t like meeting with new people.

But still he shook hands with him for Cara’s sake.

“Oh my god girl, I never thought you would find yourself a boyfriend. He is kind of possessive too. But I guess he cares for you” Mark said.

Cara tugged some strands of her hairs behind her ears, feeling all flushed.

“You are blushing too. But I am feeling kind of jealous. You never agreed to date me in the past, I tried so hard” Cara laughed at his words.

But it caught Chase’s attention and his eyes turned dark due to anger. This bastard was trying to hit on his Cara. Even now he is trying to flirt with her.

It burned him from inside. He was feeling jealous. He has the right to be, right? But he was trying hard to keep his anger inside and act cool for Cara.

But as always, Cara was quick in reading him. She witnessed the jealousy in his eyes and could see how hard he was trying to be in control.

It made her feel warm inside and appreciate his efforts. But at the same time, it was starting to scare her too.

She knows he is possessive of her. And she was fearing that he might lash out on Mark at any moment.

“But you were not serious Mark. You used to joke around right?” Cara tried to play it off.

“No, I was serious” Mark said seriously and Cara face palmed herself in her mind.

It was when Chase decided to speak up, “I don’t think it’s a right time and place to discuss this matter. Especially in front of her boyfriend. Because as you said earlier, I am indeed very possessive of her”.

“I don’t appreciate someone hitting on her in front of my eyes or behind my back, not at all” Chase said pulling Cara away from the guy.

“Oohh, Sorry bro, wasn’t planning on making you jealous. Was just trying to tease her a bit” Mark explained.

Chase didn’t say anything but his glare was enough to explain his mood.

Cara decided to change the topic and said, “Let’s go have dinner. You have plane later in the night right”.

“Oh yeah, it’s good idea. You should join us too, Chase” Mark said.

‘Of course I am going to. I can’t let my girlfriend have dinner with some other guy alone. Even if he is her best friend’ Chase thought in his mind.

But still looked at Cara, as if asking for her permission and she nodded her head.

Chase drove to a nice restaurant and they ate. Most of the time, Chase was silent and was letting two friends talk to one another.

Yes he was feeling jealous, he still is. But he can’t force Cara and make her stop talking with every single male out there. No he won’t like to force her in doing anything, ever.

He might not like her interacting with other guy’s but it’s her life and only she has the right to decide what she wants to do, who she wants to talk with, everything is her choice.

What he can do is, take care of her. To protect her from those who have bad intention in their minds for her, who want to hurt her. To keep her away from all the evil in this world.

He didn’t like how talkative she was while talking with Mark. She talks a lot with him too, but still he was feeling jealous.

After their dinner Mark bade his farewell with Cara and Chase. He told Chase to take care of Cara.

And in his mind Chase was like, ‘You don’t need to tell me that’.

After that he drove Cara back to dorm. The whole drive was silent. Cara kept taking glances at him, whose jaw was clenching, unclenching every other second.

‘He is definitely going to lash out on you Cara. He didn’t like you hugging other guy so freely, it’s obvious’ Cara told herself.

Now she was starting to feel a little guilty. She was scolding herself to be a little more careful with her actions. Now she has boyfriend, so she should not be so friendly with other guys.

That is what she was thinking about when Chase stopped the car in front of the dorm building.

He killed the engine but none of them made any move to get out of his car. There was still silence in the car and it was starting to get a little awkward.

So Cara decided to break the silence and asked, “Are you angry?”

“What do you think?” Chase asked her instead of replying.

“You are. I saw you clenching your jaw earlier” she said.

He looked at her face and said, “I am angry but not on you. So don’t worry”.

“You didn’t like me hugging him right?” Cara asked slowly, making sure that she is not making him angrier.

“I didn’t. I was feeling jealous” he said honestly.

“Why? Don’t you trust me?” she asked sadly. He turned around to look at her.

“It’s not about trust Cara. I trust you, probably more than myself. But I don’t trust those bastards out there wherever you are concerned” Chase said.

“I am sorry, I made you feel jealous” she apologized feeling guilty.

“Hey, why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault” Chase said while taking her hands in his.

The actual reason why he was angry was that she is in danger because of him. And he was angry that he had to act civil even when he just wanted to smack Mark’s head for hugging Cara.

But for Cara he was keeping his anger inside.

“It’s my fault. I made you feel that way” she said.

“No Cara. There is nothing you can do about my jealousy. I feel jealous even when some stranger, glances in your direction even for a second and I can’t help it”

“And I think I have a right to be jealous. After all I am your boyfriend. So can’t I be? I am a possessive guy” he confessed gently caressing her cheek with his thumb.

“You can be. But I should have been careful too. I should have kept in mind that I have a boyfriend now. But I promise I will change myself. I will pay more attention next time. I will try….” He cut her off.

“You don’t have to Cara. You don’t have to change yourself ever, for anyone. Just how I can’t change myself and not feel jealous”

“And just because you have a boyfriend doesn’t mean you have to change yourself according to his liking. No, you don’t have to. It’s your life and only you can decide what you want to do in your life, okay” he said.

“But you will feel jealous again. I don’t want to make you feel that way”

Cara was trying to be considerate towards his feelings. It’s not that she is scared of him that is why she wants to change herself and be a little more careful with her actions.

But actually she was trying to put herself in his shoes and imagine, how would she react if she ever saw him wrapped in some other girl’s arms and she didn’t like even imagining about it.

She felt so jealous just with the thought of it so she knew that he must have hated seeing her in other guy’s arms.

“You can’t do anything about it. You know, I was even feeling jealous when a ten year old buddy was looking at you in the restaurant where we just ate. Tell me, can you do anything about it?” he asked her.

She laughed at his words. He is such a nice person deep inside, she has realised it multiple times now. He is such a gentle soul and she loves it when he talks like this.

“I thought, you would get into a fist fight with Mark” Cara said.

“To be honest, I really wanted to but I stopped myself, just because he is your friend.” he said.

“I didn’t know you were this kind of person” she said.

“What kind?” Chase asked with raised brows.

“I knew you were possessive but I never thought you would be a jealous kind. And would be so openly jealous too” she told him.

“I know right. Even I didn’t know I had this side to me. You bring out so many emotions out of me, I must say” he said nudging her nose with his fingers.

She scrunched her nose and a small pout appeared on her lips. At this moment, he didn’t want anything else but to kiss that pout away and that’s what he did.

He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her face closer, taking her lips in his mouth. He kissed her slowly but passionately.

Her hands went to grab his bicep and other got wrapped around his neck as he devoured her mouth until she started feeling breathless and he left her lips.

But instead of pulling away, he hugged her burying his face in the crook of her neck.

“By the way, what were you doing here at this time? You had something to say?” she asked him.

“I was missing you” he whispered and her heart skipped a beat before starting to beat loudly.

“But we met just few hours ago” she asked.

“Yeah I know but…” he paused to inhale her scent in, which makes him feel calm.

Then he continued, “Not seeing you in front of my eyes was making me feel restless. I was having so many weird thoughts like someone will try to hurt you when you are alone. That is why I just wanted to see you and make sure that you are alright”

Feeling of warmth spread across her heart upon hearing his words.

“Let’s just go to my apartment with me Cara. I need to keep you in front of my eyes so that I know you are okay. Otherwise I feel like I am going to go crazy” he said tightening his hold around her a little more.

Cara had noticed the concern in his eyes and she didn’t like him being so worried for her.

“Okay” she said.

He pulled away from the hug and stared into her eyes with his wide ones.

“Are you agreeing to come with me?” he asked to be sure.

“Yes, after all I can’t have you being all worried because of me and keep calling me every ten minutes to ask the same questions” She teased.

He chuckled at her words and nodded his head, “Absolutely, you can’t. Let’s go”.

“Now? I haven’t packed my stuff yet” she said.

“You can do it now. Let’s go, I will help you” he said pulling completely away from her. He came out of his car and both of them made their way into her room.

***

Chase stopped the car in front of his apartment. He came out of the car, opened the door for her, then took her luggage in one hand and her small hand in his other.

It took around an hour for them to pack all of her stuff. She didn’t have much to pack that is why they were able to complete the work in short amount of time.

Chase was feeling beyond happy right now. He was nervous too. He has promised her that he will always be in limit and won’t cross his line.

But again his fear of wanting to pounce on her whenever they are alone in a small space of room, was returning.

On the other hand Cara was nerves wrecked too. She was moving in with her boyfriend, in his apartment. It was something completely new for her.

She was sure that he will not break his promise and give her space and time to adjust with him. She knew that he will keep his words and will never take things further without her permission.

But still she was not able to stop the fluttering of her heart.

Cara lifted her eyes up to see the sky touching building in front of her eyes. Her eyes were wide as saucers while she was taking in her surrounding.

“You live here?” she asked him and he could hear the hesitation in her tone. Cara was starting to feel self conscious.

She knew that she was dating a guy who came from one of the richest and influential family in town.

But luckily Chase was never the type of guy who flaunted his big family name or money in front of her. So it was easy for her to forget about his status many times.

And right now this glamorous, expensive tower building in front of her eyes was reminding her about the difference in their status. And it wasn’t helping with her self consciousness.

“Yes I do” Chase said flatly. Cara’s feet were starting to become heavier as she was feeling that she doesn’t belong to a place like this. She was feeling so out of the place.

Chase noticed her hesitation and stopped walking, turning around to stand in front of her.

“What’s wrong Cara? Is there any problem?” he asked her.

“Nothing, just a little nervous” she said. He observed her face for a while and then shook his head, “ you are lying and not telling me the actual reason. What is it? Tell me”.

Cara sighed but decided to be honest, “Actually, it looks so expensive and like a place which is suitable only for rich people. I am feeling a bit out of place”.

He left her hand that he was holding in his, and lifted that same hand up to tug few strands of her hairs behind her ear. His fingers got wrapped around the back of her neck as he leaned forward to peck her lips gently.

He pulled away and let his thumb caress her face softly as he whispered, “It’s okay to feel this way. Even I feel out of the place sometime in here”.

“Why? Isn’t this is your home?” she asked feeling taken aback by his words.

“It is. But it’s so lonely in here” he said and the flicker of sadness in those gray orbs of his, didn’t go unnoticed by Cara.

“I hope now that you are here, both of us will start getting the feeling of belongingness in here” he said with a small smile. Cara smiled at his words and nodded her head.

He pecked her lips one more time. He again held her hand in his and made their way towards his house.

Cara was so surprised to see the beautiful interior and structure of his apartment. She was starting to feel fascinated. Chase loved the look of excitement he saw on her face.

But she couldn’t admire the beauty of his apartment for a long time when she heard an unfamiliar voice asking, “Where were you Chase?”

Chase’s jaw clenched and eyes turned cold when his eyes met with his father who was sitting on the couch in living room.

His hold on Cara’s hand became tighter and she didn’t need anyone to tell her that Chase was not liking the presence of this person in his apartment.

“What the f**k are you doing here?” Chase asked in his low cold voice.

Frank didn’t reply. His eyes averted to Cara and a smile appeared on his lips as he asked, “So she is the Cara, I was so curious about”.

Chase pushed Cara behind his back as he again grated out, “I asked you, what are you doing here?”

Frank shifted his gaze away from nervous looking Cara to look at his son.

“Why do you think? Of course to tell you that I have taken care of the mess that you created in college today in afternoon. So you don’t have to be worried” he said.

Chase scoffed at his words as he said, “You are saying that as if you did it for my sake. You had to take care of it because if you didn’t then your reputation as a mayor would be in danger. Because of your own son”

Cara had already guessed their relation but what was shocking for her was the conversation they were having.

“Yeah I know. But this time I took care of the situation because they were in wrong. I got some evidences against Mr. Smith’s son, and I have threatened them with it for now. So they will not bother you anymore” Frank explained.

“So, are you here to hear me say thank you for doing such a big favour for me” Chase asked sarcastically.

“No, I just wanted to check on you” Frank said.

Chase chuckled at his father’s words but there was no humour in it. He said, “You have seen me. You can go now”.

Frank’s eyes fell on Cara who was trying to peep from behind Chase.

“Won’t you introduce your girlfriend to me?” Frank asked hopefully.

“No. Now go” Chase said.

Frank sighed at the behaviour of his son but didn’t say anything to him and decided to go. He was near door when Chase said.

“Next time don’t come barging into my house as per your will. She is moving in with me. I don’t want you to disturb her and make her feel uncomfortable” Chase said.

“There is no need for that” Cara muttered under her breath but both of them heard her.

Frank chuckled at her words but still agreed with his son, “Okay. I will keep that in mind. So if you don’t want me to barge in without your permission, make sure to answer my call whenever I call you”.

Saying this he made his way out of his house.

As soon as he was out, Chase sighed and his hold loosened on Cara’s hand. He walked her to the kitchen, handing her a bottle of water.

He knew that Cara is going to ask questions and he was starting to dread that moment. He is in no mood to talk about his messed up family right now.

But he was forgetting that it was his Cara, he was thinking about. She never likes being nosy.

So instead she asked, “Are you okay?”

Chase sighed again saying, “Can I not answer? I don’t want to lie to you”.

Cara immediately nodded her head as she assured, “You don’t have to answer”.

He was beyond surprised that he has such a beautiful soul as his girlfriend.

He leaned against the counter behind him and pulled her closer, making her stand between his legs, he rested his head on her shoulder, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

His arms were wrapped around her waist. Cara also snaked her arms around his neck.

“To be honest I am never okay after seeing that man” Chase confessed.

“Want to talk about it?” Cara asked softly.

He shook his head, “No, it brings back painful memories” he whispered against her skin.

“Then let’s not talk about it. Don’t think about those memories either” she whispered back while caressing his back.

And he could not believe that for the first time after his father’s visit to his apartment, he was not losing his mind.

Instead he was feeling calmer and safer in her presence.

So he decided to push all the bad memories away and savor this moment with her.