The Lies We Tell Read online

  He quickly got behind me, pushing the chair.

  “Ma’am, he told me you must be in the chair.”

  “I am not letting you push me around in that chair.” I kept walking and hit the down button on the elevator.

  “Ma’am, Mr. Turner was clear. You must be in the chair.” Or else what, he wouldn't tip the poor guy for the hell he was putting him through?

  “He isn’t that big of an asshole.” Is he? I didn’t know Chase well, but I did know he was very capable of being an asshole. And this poor guy wanted that tip bad enough he was practically begging me to get in the chair.

  “I am not sure of that ma’am.” He backed off, riding a fine line between working for his tip and pissing off a guest. I am sure there was some rule about not pissing off one guest for a tip from another.

  Luckily for him, I was not an asshole. I actually felt sorry for him. He was middle-aged and was probably just trying to work hard and pay his bills. Then Chase comes along and reels him into his shenanigans.

  So, I sat down right as the elevator doors opened.

  I could hear him breathe a sigh of relief as he started saying, “Thank you, thank you.” He rolled me backward into the elevator and hit the button that would take us below ground level to the parking garage.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Calvin, ma’am.”

  “Ok Calvin, next time I am making you give me half of Chase’s money. And we are taking him for triple whatever he offered you this time.”

  My words were lighthearted and got a small laugh out of him. “Yes ma’am.”

  When the elevator doors reopened, he pushed me into the garage and around a corner where I saw Chase sitting on the hood of a car. His legs were crossed at the ankles, and he was leaning back on his arms a little. He was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt.

  I was so annoyed, not only from the wheelchair ride, but also that he had gotten his way. The smile on his face at seeing me in the wheelchair made it worth the ride. His super sexy arrogant smile and his perfect teeth and gorgeous lips and….

  “Hey, Princess! You made it.” I snapped my eyes from his lips to his eyes.

  “Here I am, signed sealed and delivered.” I waved my hands in the air as if to say “Ta-Da.”

  He leaned over and handed Calvin an ungodly amount of cash and thanked him. I was happy I obliged the ride, if for nothing else, I had helped Calvin make his next four rent payments.

  I stood from the chair and it disappeared along with Calvin.

  “What was that all about?” I asked Chase.

  “I told you I would pick you up. I didn’t think us marching out of the building together was a good idea.”

  “You couldn’t have just had me meet you here?”

  “This was more fun. Plus, for just five minutes, you got to be the patient, not me.”

  I rolled my eyes, another ridiculous Chase moment in the books.

  Chase motioned to the passenger side of his car and opened the door. I slid in and watched him as he gave me another huge smile and shut the door.

  As he walked around the front of the car, his smile faded just a little as he eyed the dents in the driver's side fender. I had barely noticed them, but to him, they probably looked huge.

  Once he was in the car, the smile was back on his face. “Ready?”

  I smiled back, “I guess so. Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  I bit my bottom lip and turned my head away. I was enjoying the idea of this ‘date’ entirely too much. I was happy to see Chase being Chase again, too. Guess all I had to do was yell at him on a baseball field.

  Hmm, interesting.

  “Glad you’re back,” I muttered.

  “Back?” He asked.

  “Last few days you have been kinda distant. Not talking much.”

  “Yeah…I tried...I swear I fucking tried....” he trailed off without elaborating. I figured if I stared at him long enough, he would keep talking and tell me why. But he didn’t. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road as he navigated out of the garage and on to the streets.

  I was tempted to talk again, to ask him if this was a date or to demand he tell me why he wasn’t himself the last few days. But I got distracted.

  Majorly distracted.

  By his forearms.

  That’s right, I was officially in sexy forearm territory. I had heard about it, I had read about it. But I thought it was a myth. I had seen Chase’s forearms a million times. So why was I just now being distracted by them?

  The way his left leg lifted a little as he pushed in the clutch and his forearms flexed as he shifted from fifth to sixth gear. had me biting my lip again and suppressing a groan.

  I would love to blame this on a dry spell or something logical, but it was only Chase that seemed to ignite these wild feelings inside of me.

  This was the first time we were together and not working. This was the first time I got to relax and just be Becca around him.

  And Becca loved looking at Chase’s forearms.

  After a thirty-minute ride spent in small talk and staring at forearms, the car slowed down and pulled me from my thoughts. I looked around to see where we were.

  “Disney World?” I looked over to Chase with a look of disbelief.

  “I know what you’re thinking. I shouldn’t be walking around Disney World on this knee. But, let me just say, I have arranged everything to keep me off this knee as much as possible.”

  "That is not what I was thinking. I was thinking, 'Holy shit, Chase, we're at Disney World.' Don’t they close soon? It’s like 8 pm."

  “They close at 11, but we have the park until midnight.”

  “Oh my God,” I muttered as we pulled up right in front of the gate. A valet wearing Mickey ears opened my door, and I met Chase on the sidewalk as the car pulled away.

  Another man, this one in a suit and no ears, stuck his hand out for Chase to shake as he explained our arrangements.

  “Mr. Turner, we have a cart and driver waiting for you. Here are your passes. Please let us know any way we can make your evening more enjoyable, sir.”

  “Thank you. I think we are going to be ok.”

  “Yes sir. Welcome to the Magic Kingdom. Enjoy your visit." He started to turn, "And, sir? Everything else has been arranged as well,” he added vaguely.

  Chase just nodded and grabbed my hand.

  I used my free hand to grab on to his sexy forearm. “Chase, this is too much. What are we doing at Disney World?”

  Chase shrugged, "I love Disney World. I come every year. And I figured it would be a good place to see your friends.”

  “My friends?” I panicked a little. Did he know? Ali and Cam were supposed to come and see Kace next week. What if they were here? None of that made sense though, because they would have told me if they were here.

  “You know, Snow White, Aurora, Belle, Ariel, all those other princesses.” I practically giggled with relief and giddiness.

  Princess.

  “I hate to be Debbie Downer here, but what if someone recognizes you and sees us together?”

  “Nobody will recognize me."

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I can’t be sure, but we will do our best to be discreet.”

  As we entered a back gate, there was a golf cart covered in Mickey silhouettes and a driver dressed as Goofy waiting for us.

  “This is your idea of discreet?” I asked.

  “It's Disney World, no one questions goofy driving a red and black golf cart, trust me,” he shrugged.

  This was a terrible idea. But I think we already established that Chase and I didn’t shy away from terrible ideas. We were practically pros at this point. What’s one more bad idea?

  We climbed onto the cart and were driven all over the park, Goofy as our guide. We saw everything there was to see and stopped and rode a few rides along the way—skipping straight to the front of the lines, of course.

  We grabbed dole whips and gian
t pretzels to snack on, laughed until our stomachs hurt, and snapped a few selfies together. Other than holding hands, everything was platonic and friendly. I was so thankful for that, because I was able to relax and have fun.

  By the time 11 pm came, I was high on Disney and high on Chase. I didn’t think the night could get any more perfect. The crowd had diminished to just those that held late-night passes and we decided to walk around a bit, leaving Goofy and our cart to follow us a safe distance behind, just in case.

  “This was incredible, Chase.”

  “You haven’t even seen the best part,” he scoffed.

  I looked up to him as we strolled down Main Street USA. “What’s the best part?” I secretly hoped the best part was that he would kiss me. But that would be another terrible idea and we may have maxed out on those for one night.

  Chase had his fingers intertwined with mine and lifted them to point to a building ahead. “We gotta go in there.”

  The building looked like an old general store, but nothing could be seen through the windows. Chase smiled at a guard at the gate and walked past, opening the door and escorting me in.

  I stopped and gasped just inside the doorway causing Chase to bump into me from behind as he tried to enter as well. His hands made their way to my waist and grabbed. This was the most intimately he had ever touched me, and I almost lost focus on what was in front of me.

  Almost.

  “Go in, Princess,” he whispered in my ear from behind me, pushing at my hips to get me to move.

  “Chase….” I warned. I was about to have an epic girl moment and I felt I needed to warn him.

  He laughed a little, fully enjoying my response.

  "Chase...." I warned again.

  "It's like a reunion," Chase said into my ear, humor lacing his voice.

  Every single Disney princess ever created stood in front of me, poised in formation. The main 12 princesses were in front, along with Elsa and Anna. They weren’t statues, but people who portrayed these characters every day. They were the real-life versions of every girl's princess dreams.

  “Welcome,” Belle said, and curtsied in front of me.

  “We wanted to meet you, Princess Becca,” Anna said.

  Their voices were in character and my seven-year-old self practically jumped for joy. Elsa held her arms out, coaxing me to join them. I walked forward and was asked by a woman with a camera to turn around and smile for a picture.

  I was right in the middle and turned around to see Chase with the biggest smile on his face. It was infectious. I thanked the ladies around me and posed for some pictures, but I wanted Chase to get in one as well.

  “Not a good idea, Cupcake,” he said.

  “First of all, I am a princess, not a cupcake,” I smiled. “Second of all, no one has to see it but us. When are you ever going to be surrounded by this many Princesses again?”

  He just smiled and looked down but started walking toward us. He got in a few pictures; mostly us together, but one with him alone, surrounded, and looking like the King of the World.

  I had been to Disney countless times with my family, but not once had I ever seen every princess together in one place.

  Not once.

  Not like this.

  I knew Chase had put this together. I wasn’t sure why he had gone through the trouble, but he did. And I think I loved him for it.

  Chapter 13

  Chase

  Somehow, I made it all night without giving in to the temptation to kiss Becca. She wanted me to, she wouldn’t have turned me away. But I couldn’t do it.

  I knew the second our lips touched that we would forever change the paths we were creating for ourselves. Were we ready for that? Was it worth it?

  We needed more time to figure that out. All I knew was I wanted her to know how special I thought she was, without crossing those lines.

  I tried playing it cool, not talking as much, and keeping my emotional distance. But then I would be sitting in my hotel room and think, “I bet she would love a carrot cake,” so I would have one sent to her. That was probably a mindfuck for her.

  But I tried.

  I admit, taking her to Disney World was over the top, but I couldn’t think of anything more special for what would probably be our only night out together. I had hoped I would get a giggle out of her by setting up the ultimate princess meet and greet, but I got so much more than that.

  The whole experience softened her to me. She was looking at me differently. She was smiling more easily. She was giggling, but for the night as a whole, she looked free.

  Becca was beautiful every time I saw her, but she was downright addicting when she was happy and free. I wanted more of that freedom and abandonment she was giving me. I wanted more happiness from her.

  Not that Becca wasn’t always happy, but she was always in work mode. Stoic. Stern. Strong.

  I loved being the reason she lowered those walls. That was the easy part. The hard part was that I didn’t want to be the reason she didn’t succeed in her job or wasn’t taken seriously. I didn’t want to be the stress that led to her failure.

  So I didn’t fucking kiss her.

  I drove her home, I asked her what she loved most about the night—of course, it was the epic princess meet and greet—and I said goodbye to her in the elevator.

  Now I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling reevaluating my life. How could one woman make everything so easy yet so complicated?

  The next morning, she came to my door like she always did, and I had coffee ready for her like I had started doing a few days ago. Only, unlike a few days ago, I didn’t gruff and groan at her. I didn’t have it in me anymore.

  Especially when she walked in with a smile on her face and straight into my arms. She wrapped her arms around my midsection and pressed her cheek into my t-shirt covered chest. Instinctually, I wrapped my arms around her.

  “What is this for?” I asked, curious enough to risk breaking the blissful bubble.

  She pulled back slightly just enough to look up at me, her chin now on my chest. “Last night was the best night I have had it a long time. Who did you have to sweet talk to get all the princesses in one room? ”

  I smiled down at her, so close to kissing her but somehow holding back. “Maybe it was the magic of Disney," I joked.

  "Maybe. But whoever arranged the magic must have gone through a lot of trouble."

  "Maybe it was worth it."

  She smiled and turned a slight shade of pink.

  We stared at each other for a minute, the spell between us more potent than ever. I finally backed away and cleared my throat to break the tension. I could not give in, not yet, not until I knew if the downfall was worth it.

  We got started on our normal routines, getting back into business mode seamlessly. The swelling on my knee had barely gone down but I told her I still didn’t regret Disney, even if that meant I had to sit today’s game out.

  Which, by the way, that thought blew my mind more than she would ever know. Because I meant it. I wouldn’t change taking her to Disney last night for anything—not even baseball.

  Fuck! Was I screwed? This had never happened to me before.

  ◆◆◆

  There was no way I was going to be able to keep backing off when it came to Becca. Eventually, I was going to break and was going to take her down in the process. I either needed to warn her or have a nice long chat with myself about all the bad ideas I kept coming up with.

  First, though, I had to play ball.

  Coach decided I would put three innings in on my bruised knee and Gary decided I would work out after those three innings were done. When he sent Troy to get Becca, I knew we were headed down the field to stretch like we did the other day—the day she got hassled by a few fans.

  Those same fans, I noticed, were in the stands again today. Like I said before, they’re regulars.

  I didn’t give Becca the same shit I did before. I just nodded that I would meet her out there. She nodded back,
solemnly preparing herself for her walk past the fans.

  I could have walked with her and prevented the whole fiasco from reoccurring, but I wanted to be her hero. I wanted to make a point. I wanted to dare them to talk to her again the way they did before.

  I wouldn’t call them out or make a scene. Fans came in here all the time spewing hatred and abhorrence. That was the nature of the business. If I kicked every one of them out that said something ugly, we would have empty stands every day.

  Instead, I let Becca walk ahead a bit and listened this time. Sure enough, they started in on her, calling her a bitch and a baseball bunny—whatever the fuck that was. Becca just kept her head down and ignored it all.

  Meanwhile, I grabbed two other guys, Ethan and our starting centerfielder, Kris, and told them the plan. It wasn’t an elaborate plan, but they were on board, nonetheless. We jogged out quickly and surrounded Becca, causing her to stop and look up at us. I was on her left, Kris on her right, and Ethan was behind her.

  Sure enough, the girls stopped yelling hate toward Becca and started vying for our attention instead. But they wouldn’t get it. Not even a glance.

  I placed a hand discretely on Becca’s back and urged her to keep walking. Kris leaned in and whispered something to her. Ethan grabbed her shoulders and pretended to steer her around, playfully. The result was her laughing and us getting a point across.

  We cared about Becca. Some of us cared way too much, but that wasn’t the point. I knew the guys wouldn’t stand for the ugly shit being said, it had nothing to do with how I was feeling. That much, I was sure of. Just like when Fernandez called her a bitch. That shit doesn’t fly with the majority of us. We look out for our team—and that included her.

  Once we made our way downfield, Ethan hung out for a minute and laughed with us while I started my stretches. Kris grabbed a glove and started tossing a ball back and forth with a kid in the stands.

  If Becca knew why we were all out there, doting on her, she didn’t let on. She just went about her business as usual. Ethan even told her about a blister he didn't think was get getting taken care of properly and she advised him on what to do.