Read Online Crazy Love - Krista & Chase by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online
Authors: Melanie Shawn
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“Tully.”
Tully looked up, his expression still shocked. Then shaking his head slightly, he asked, “Are you sure it’s safe? You? Here? No security?”
“I’ll be fine.” Since he still wasn’t moving, Chase lifted his guitar case and moved around him.
“We can wait and see what measures management has taken at the hospital, but we may need to call in security, Chase.” Tully was using his I-know-you’re-not-going-to-like-this-but-tough-shit voice.
“Fine.” Chase was in no mood to argue. He’d had a long twenty-four hours and he just wanted to crash. Why in the name of God he’d instructed Chip to drive him here, to the place he’d spent the last ten years trying to forget, he had no idea. But here he was.
“You sure ’bout this?” Chip’s eyebrows rose in question beneath his pinstriped fedora.
Chase nodded once.
“You don’t want some company?” Chip’s brows somehow lifted even higher.
“No.” Chase might not have been sure why he was even here, but he was damn sure that he didn’t want any company to witness his questionable decision to come back to this house.
“You holla if you change your mind, ya here?” Chip’s Louisiana drawl always grew more pronounced when he was being ‘paternal.’
“Will do,” Chase agreed as he maneuvered down the steps with his bag and guitar.
Making his way up the cracked driveway, he glanced around the neighborhood and saw that all of the other houses on the street were well maintained. Anger rose up inside of him, but he pushed it down. He wasn’t sure if he was angry with himself for not checking on the situation with his mom earlier, his mom for letting things get this bad, or his deceased dad for being such an asshole that it had caused Chase to not take one step back in this town since the cold December day he’d left when he was seventeen years old.
He could hear the large tour bus idling behind him and he turned his head, motioning for Chip to leave. The one thing Chase didn’t need right now was any more attention being drawn to the fact that he was back in town. Watching as the bus pulled away from the curb and headed down the street, Chase took a moment before going inside.
Logically he knew that his father would not be on the other side of the front door. He was dead. In the ground. Not sitting in his recliner, waiting for any excuse to lose his temper and start swinging.
Shaking off the inner dread that had filled Chase’s senses, he set his guitar case down and reached up above the door to grab the extra key. As he did, he realized he had no idea if it would still be there. His finger ran across the wood frame and…there it was, exactly where it had been the day he’d left all those years ago. Somehow that fact did not make him feel any better about being here.
His heart beat loudly in his ears as he slipped the key into the deadbolt, turned it, and heard the small click. Removing the key from the lock, he returned it to where his mom had always insisted they keep it.
As a teen, he’d tried to talk her into moving the spare key somewhere less obvious, but she’d insisted that that was where his father knew it would be, and no matter what his ‘state’ was, he’d be able to find it there. Chase remembered that, at the time, he’d told his mom that was even more of a reason to change the key’s location. If his dad was so drunk he didn’t even remember where his own keys were or had lost them somewhere, the last place he needed to be was inside the house with Chase and his mom.
But Chase’s mom had always been terrified of his dad. And for good reason. Roger Malone had liked to use both his son and wife as punching bags.
He could hear his heavy breaths in and out of his nose as he stood on the threshold of his childhood home. Knowing that no matter how long he stood outside he was not going to suddenly get the warm-fuzzies at his homecoming, he bit the bullet and turned the knob, pushing the door open. Reaching
Tully looked up, his expression still shocked. Then shaking his head slightly, he asked, “Are you sure it’s safe? You? Here? No security?”
“I’ll be fine.” Since he still wasn’t moving, Chase lifted his guitar case and moved around him.
“We can wait and see what measures management has taken at the hospital, but we may need to call in security, Chase.” Tully was using his I-know-you’re-not-going-to-like-this-but-tough-shit voice.
“Fine.” Chase was in no mood to argue. He’d had a long twenty-four hours and he just wanted to crash. Why in the name of God he’d instructed Chip to drive him here, to the place he’d spent the last ten years trying to forget, he had no idea. But here he was.
“You sure ’bout this?” Chip’s eyebrows rose in question beneath his pinstriped fedora.
Chase nodded once.
“You don’t want some company?” Chip’s brows somehow lifted even higher.
“No.” Chase might not have been sure why he was even here, but he was damn sure that he didn’t want any company to witness his questionable decision to come back to this house.
“You holla if you change your mind, ya here?” Chip’s Louisiana drawl always grew more pronounced when he was being ‘paternal.’
“Will do,” Chase agreed as he maneuvered down the steps with his bag and guitar.
Making his way up the cracked driveway, he glanced around the neighborhood and saw that all of the other houses on the street were well maintained. Anger rose up inside of him, but he pushed it down. He wasn’t sure if he was angry with himself for not checking on the situation with his mom earlier, his mom for letting things get this bad, or his deceased dad for being such an asshole that it had caused Chase to not take one step back in this town since the cold December day he’d left when he was seventeen years old.
He could hear the large tour bus idling behind him and he turned his head, motioning for Chip to leave. The one thing Chase didn’t need right now was any more attention being drawn to the fact that he was back in town. Watching as the bus pulled away from the curb and headed down the street, Chase took a moment before going inside.
Logically he knew that his father would not be on the other side of the front door. He was dead. In the ground. Not sitting in his recliner, waiting for any excuse to lose his temper and start swinging.
Shaking off the inner dread that had filled Chase’s senses, he set his guitar case down and reached up above the door to grab the extra key. As he did, he realized he had no idea if it would still be there. His finger ran across the wood frame and…there it was, exactly where it had been the day he’d left all those years ago. Somehow that fact did not make him feel any better about being here.
His heart beat loudly in his ears as he slipped the key into the deadbolt, turned it, and heard the small click. Removing the key from the lock, he returned it to where his mom had always insisted they keep it.
As a teen, he’d tried to talk her into moving the spare key somewhere less obvious, but she’d insisted that that was where his father knew it would be, and no matter what his ‘state’ was, he’d be able to find it there. Chase remembered that, at the time, he’d told his mom that was even more of a reason to change the key’s location. If his dad was so drunk he didn’t even remember where his own keys were or had lost them somewhere, the last place he needed to be was inside the house with Chase and his mom.
But Chase’s mom had always been terrified of his dad. And for good reason. Roger Malone had liked to use both his son and wife as punching bags.
He could hear his heavy breaths in and out of his nose as he stood on the threshold of his childhood home. Knowing that no matter how long he stood outside he was not going to suddenly get the warm-fuzzies at his homecoming, he bit the bullet and turned the knob, pushing the door open. Reaching
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