Read Online Chasing Allie (Breaking Away Series #2) by Meli Raine - Free Book Online

you,” Chase says as he hands off the steaming mug to me.
    Marissa’s is black.
    “This was supposed to be fun!” she wails.
    “Coffee is fun...” Morty says slowly, with great deliberation.
    “Not the coffee!” she shouts, whacking him across the chest. A thick line of oil covers the back of her hand and she grimaces.
    “Sorry,” he says. “Occupational hazard.” He gently wipes her hand off with his kilt, lifting it in the process. I can’t help myself. I look.
    G-string.
    Chase sees me looking and scowls. I hide my face in my coffee cup and bury a smile. He’s so jealous. He’s so protective.
    He’s so...Chase.
    Morty takes a sip of his coffee. He’s standing there, casual and relaxed. It’s as if he isn’t this guy who looks like a redwood tree wearing a plaid skirt and covered in baby oil. He’s just a dude drinking coffee in his apartment, chatting with friends.
    I feel like my entire life has turned upside down.
    Chase takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he puts his face down, drinking his coffee. His eyes meet mine and he smiles, taking me in.
    “You can still have fun,” Morty reminds Marissa. “Just without me. I have to go work.” He looks at the clock over the stove and gulps his coffee. After putting the mug in the sink he gives Marissa a quick kiss on the cheek and waves to us all as he dashes out the front door. 
    “You live with two guys? Morty and Arlen?” Chase asks Marissa. There’s no judgment in his voice. Just curiosity.
    “When Arlen’s here his girlfriend’s around sometimes. But yes—I’m stuck with two guys.”
    Chase just says, “Cool.”
    “And when Allie moves in,” she continues, “we can—”
    “You’re not living with two guys,” Chase says to me, then takes a sip of coffee. His voice is even. Matter of fact.
    Firm.
    “You can’t tell her what to do,” Marissa argues.
    “I’m not telling her what to do,” Chase says with great patience. “I’m telling her what we’re doing.”
    “We’re—what?” I ask, confused. All of the conversations we’ve had since we arrived at Marissa’s feel like we’re speaking English but the words are out of order.
    “You aren’t living with two guys,” he says simply.
    “But where am I going to live? Marissa offered to help me move in and I’ll share a room with her and pay rent, and—”
    “You’ll live with one guy.”
    “Huh?”
    “Me,” Chase says, finishing his coffee. He walks away from me, sets his mug in the sink, and walks back, hips swaying, his jeans tight around the calves. My eyes land on that belt buckle. It’s the same one he wore the day I met him.
    “You—what—me—one guy— what ?”
    “You forget how to speak?” Chase asks softly, a smile tickling his lips.
    “Yes,” I say, throwing my hands up in the air in defeat. “Is this your way of saying you want us to live together?”  
    He just nods, one eyebrow arched in a question. The ball is my court, I see. 
    “We barely know each other! I planned to move out here and share a room with Marissa. It’s cheaper that way, and I still need to go home, get my stuff, then come back and find a job.” I take a deep breath to continue talking.
    “Allie,” he says, shaking his head slowly. “It’s decided. I’ll pay the rent. I make enough. You don’t have to worry.” 
    “You make enough ?” Marissa says. “Enough to support Allie here in Los Angeles? What do you do? Deal drugs?” she jokes. 
    Bad joke. Bad, bad joke.
    Chase’s eye go cold and dead. He takes a deep breath and his chest expands, arms tight and tense. He looks like a cobra readying to strike. It’s menacing and scary. For the first time since I’ve known him a cord of fear shoots through me.
    Aimed at him.
    “Don’t deal drugs. Don’t make drug money. Haven’t accepted money from Atlas for nearly a year now. So you can take your stereotypes and shove them where the sun don’t shine. Which, in L.A., doesn’t give you many options,” he