Read Online Never Say Never, Part Three (Second Chance Romance, Book 3) by Melissa Shaw - Free Book Online Page A

you even saying?”  
    “I am saying you are no daughter of mine. Don’t call me again, it’s pointless.” Mama yawned so wide Emily heard her jaw creak.  
    “Please, you can’t mean that. You’re the only person I have left.”  
    “You have no one.” Mama threw down the phone and the deadened tone met her ear.  
    She removed the cell from her cheek and wiped the tears from it. The living room was a blur of booze and anguish, and Emily didn’t have a soul to turn to. It was a no contact order and that meant she couldn’t get near the house or the kids without facing the full force of the law.  
    There was no one who loved her and no one who believed she deserved love. That look, Chase’s look of caring and need sprang into her mind’s eye again, and she was overwhelmed by the sheer need to see him, to feel him again.  
    In anyway, she didn’t care how.  
    She just needed his presence.  
    Emily left the wine and the paper on the table and ran out the door.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Emily banged on number 16 with a closed fist. There wasn’t time for being polite anymore. She wanted to see him one last time.
    Things were hopeless. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she’d have Joseph’s help anymore. What if it’d been a grand ploy to get into her pants and he’d realized she didn’t want it, so he’d left it? Not all men could be bad, that’d been her experience thus far.  
    Nothing came for free.  
    There wasn’t an answer or movement on the other side of the door.  
    She checked her watch. It was 2 AM in the morning and she was drunk as hell.  
    Who cared?  
    Emily wanted answers. Truth or something like that. Why look at her as if he wanted her, but reject her so completely. She was scorched to the core.  
    She slammed her fist into the door again.  
    “What the fuck? Who is that?” Chase’s voice travelled through to her ears and he stomach jumped around. No trampoline this time, spinning gymnasts instead.  
    Happy anxiety day everybody!
    “Who’s there?” He demanded, the lock scraping back.  
    “Me. It’s me. The murderer, the loser, the woman you hate.” She couldn’t keep bitterness from it.  
    He stormed out into the hall, disallowing her entrance to his inner sanctum.  
    “Inner sanctum, inner sanctum,” she said it twice in rapid succession. “That’s a funny phrase isn’t it?”  
    “What are you doing here?” He folded those uber-muscled arms and stared her down.  
    “I should think that,” she said, taking a small silver flask out of her tote and waving it around, “was obvious.”  
    She screwed the silver cap off, slid it aside and tossed back the good stuff. She’d bought it off a street peddler earlier in the day, while wandering the streets and hovering between coming to Chase’s apartment and running home with her tail between her legs.  
    “What?!” Chase jawline hardened, his displeasure was plain, but she didn’t care. She’d put up with so much shit. She’d wanted him for too long and she’d bloody well get her answers. Get them!  
    “I am here because I want the truth,” she slurred it.  
    “You are here because you don’t care about anyone other than yourself. You have no respect for my personal space. God damn, it’s two in the morning. I have work in the morning.”  
    Emily nodded. “Oh right, yeah, with your big ol’ buddy, Bri-Bri.” She shot off two imaginary guns in the air and flipped off the ceiling. It seemed a smart move to her, but Chase stared as if she’d lost her mind.  
    “I get it, you’re drunk,” he said, softly, but that jaw hadn’t changed one bit. “But you are not permitted to be near me anymore. I made that clear, Emily.”  
    “Not permitted,” she said it and made inverted commas with her fingers. “That’s a harsh thing isn’t it? Not permitted. Why don’t you listen to me?”  
    Chase glanced from side-to-side and frowned. “How did you get in here, anyway?”  
    “My buddy, Si!” She