Chase's POV
Lily somehow beat me to it.
I didn't need a soothsayer to know that Emma was done with me.
She blocked me on all her socials and even calls.
I couldn't reach her in any way I tried, and her mom wasn't exactly someone she fancied. Plus, Mrs Linda and I have had our fair share of deals, deals I wanted to be over soon enough.
I retired to my home after it.
The days that went by were like a blur.
The first day, I woke up to expecting a good morning text from Emma.
I refreshed my phone as much as I could, but it still wasn't forthcoming. Worse still, she blocked me already so I didn't even know if she was online.
I didn't want to live without Emma, I didn't want to learn how to. But I couldn't escape it. It's how love works. Someone does, or someone gets hurt.
I took to finding comfort from whiskey.
We hadn't been together for so long, but it felt like a very huge part of me was ripped out.
Emma was exactly what I wanted. Despite all the bottles I drank, I only got one thing on my mind.
I was stuck on the thought of Emma.
I checked the wall clock countless times, and even made a sport of guessing what Ema would be up to at that time.
Our previous messages were the closest I could get to her, so I reread them with absolute hunger to hear from Emma in any way.
I would pay whatever it is to have her talk to me that way. She was every shade of perfect, and after this, she was never gonna love me like she did, that if she ever looks my way again.
I sat wondering how all the best things fall apart. My head was heavy. My heart was somewhere far away, and falling into pieces.
I woke up at odd hours in the night, thinking of Emma and shivering at the thought of having nothing left with her.
She had gone cold turkey on me.
I didn't have the balls to show up at the house, I just couldn't.
There are more people who'd rather I did not, than those who'd want me to.
Four's days after shit hit the roof, and my heart wasn't taking it any easier on me.
The guilt, pain, shame, sting I felt in my soul was constant.
I threw on something that made me look a bit brighter. For the first time since Jessica went haywire, I was leaving home. The man who stood before the mirror that day wasn't the Chase I used to know.
This one, was humbled by the paralyzing feeling that he had lost the only girl who was ever worth anything. I didn't think someone could ever make me this desperate. It looked like I was going through hell.
"I know it's unusual, but please do not make a fuss about it." I said on the phone after my dad picked it up.
He was the most neutral person in the house yet.
For reasons best known to me, I refused to get the numbers of any housekeeper.
"How are you, Son? Finally remembered your old man?" He asked.
I hadn't spoken to him in four days, those four days I spent at mine.
"That's for Emma to decide." I said, a little too truthfully. "I never forgot you. How would I?" I replied sarcastically.
"Good. Cause I wanted to talk to you too" He said. "I'll see you by eight." He said
"Where?" I asked.
"Here, at the house. Where else?" He asked, sounding flabbergasted.
He must not know what's going on.
"I'll be there in the next thirty minutes." I replied and cut the call.
A beautiful excuse to be closer to Emma, I jumped at it.
I grabbed my phones and keys and dashed out of the house.
I was at my dad's in less than thirty minutes.
I took a moment to breathe in the overly familiar garage and headed into the house.
"Is he home?" I asked Patty, right after she greeted me. "Good morning to you too, Patty." I added for courtesy's sake.
"He's in the shower right now. And I sure would like to speak with you." She said,
I hadn't heard Patty say other words besides pleasantries in a very long time.
"And what might that be?" I asked her. Patty was loquacious. She really must have something to say.
"It's about," She pointed in the direction Of Emma's room and looked up.
"What about her?" I challenged Patty, defensively.
"It's not my place to…" She started.
"It is. Emma's mine. Please talk." I begged.
"Emma's pregnant." She whispered close to my ear. "Please take good care of her." I held back the tears.
It reminded me of Lily. Things like that just amplified all my inadequacies. I wasn't fit to be a father, not now, not ever. I didn't even have a good example.
I had done a lot of things wrong, while things with Emma grew progressively more complicated,
"Thank you, Patty." I squeezed her hand.
I ran up the stairs, the weight of what Patty had just told me, crushing me within.
I opened my dad door without any preambles cause I sure didn't want to call attention to myself. Emma was most likely around. It was two days to prom, but I didn't think she'd give a fuck about that anymore.
I caught him sexing Emma mom .
"You two! Get a room." I screamed. "Aren't you too old to even be doing this?!" I poured the last of their drink into my mouth, straight from the bottle.
Mrs Linda shuffled out of the room, too embarrassed to even look at me.
"What was that for?" My old man asked, sitting up.
"Said you wanted to see me, remember?" I asked, leaning on the wall.
"Yes. I did. Still do. How's your place?" He asked.
"Bad. Please just go on." I said. I hated discussing my affairs with him. He was never there for me, I didn't see the sudden rush of interest he had in me now.
"We got a visit from the police just last night." He started. "Linda was away with Emma. Patty says they went to the hospital. Do you know what that's about by the way?" He asked, not too interested.
"No. Not yet." I replied. I got a sneaky feeling that Patty could be right.
"They're investigating a case involving Linda, and Emma, and consequently, myself." He said.
"Where do I come in?" I asked him. Surely, Linda couldn't have told him about our deal.
"Linda ;she's mom to you, you know, she says your friend Gray is the nephew of the deceased, 'victim' as they put it, though I do not know what." He said.
"Linda said that?" I asked him, confirming what I heard.
"Not exactly. She just let it slip when we were talking on our way back from SCPD." He said. They'd been to the Starry City Police Department, which could only mean that the case was getting bigger.
I felt a tinge of fear, fear that I might not be able to protect Emma and her mom as I once thought, but it was soon replaced with resolution.
"She's right. Gray and I aren't on good terms right now, but I'll see what I can do about it." I ended the conversation and took the most fancy bottle off his bar shelf. "A bottle of good spirit for good spirits, innit?"
I closed the door behind me as quietly as I could, ready to sneak back out the way I came.
It still didn't feel like the right time to see Emma. I wanted answers. I wanted a solution, and if I didn't have those, I was as useless as any other person.
"Not so fast, Chase." Emma announced her presence as soon as I got into the garage. Apparently she'd been waiting for me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…. I just wanted to.. I mean, I wanted to come but…" I stuttered. I found my tongue stuck and utterly senseless.
Emma's glow was gone. She didn't look like the girl I promised my life to just a couple of days ago.
"You don't have something you want to say to me?" He asked, securing her nightgown around her tummy. It only reminded me of what Patty said. All the horrible memories were hunting me.
I fought the voices in my head viciously.
"Emma, I know how you feel. Both our pictures were put up on that screen. You cannot possibly think that I'm the one who'd do that to you. Emma, just days ago, I was ready to give you my forever, I still am. I want to fix this, to fix us, and I hope you see I'm trying. I'm shitty for avoiding you…"
"You should be sorry for a lot more things." She cut in sharply.
"I am, Emma. But that wouldn't do anything to fix what's at hand." I said.
"I know what would." She said through her strained voice.
"What's that?" I braced myself for the worst, swallowing hard.
"Here." Emma handed me my ring and necklace. The ring I was too proud to believe she still wore. "I have no use for them any longer." She forced them into my hand and turned her back, leaving me for good.