I could hear the inhale of air enter Chase’s body as he heaved in breath after breath. “The guy that could possibly press charges against me is Simon. He has money and family ties in the school, so he is always walking around like he owns it and thinks he can do whatever and get away with it. I know he had a thing for Gia, hell a lot of guys did since our freshman year. I always thought she was too good for me, that I was never good enough for her, so I stayed away until I couldn’t anymore. But that’s not the point. The point is, one day after class I saw him and her together. He had his hand on her waist and her hand was trying to move his, but he wouldn’t let go. I went up to him and told him to let go of her which led to him running his mouth as usual. Gia tried to diffuse the situation so no one would get hurt or in trouble. She got caught in the middle of us, right when he decided he was going to hit me, and instead his fist came down and landed across her cheek.” His words were venomous, and I watched as my father’s hand went straight to his gun holster.

“He hit her?”

“Yes, sir. He hit her. So I took him down. Gia got me to let him go and the situation was dead to me, though I admit I was waiting for another opportunity to get him. Tonight he presented that chance when he showed up to our Halloween party. He pushed me into Gia, making her fall down onto the ground. That was all I needed.” Chase’s eyes locked onto mine, there was a sadness deep inside of them that made me want to jump into his lap and wrap my arms around him.

The room grew quiet, my father’s deep breaths meeting my ears as I stood from my seat and found my back up against a wall.

“I could kill that little bastard. How dare he touch my daughter?” His gun came down on the table, the sound of metal against wood filling the room.

“Exactly. Now you see why I knocked the fucker’s tooth out. He can take his charges and shove them up his uptight ass,” Chase stated.

I ran my fingers through my hair trying to find a way to calm my father down as he begun pacing back and forth in front of me and Chase. I didn’t know what he was going to do next, all I knew was that the anger he was feeling was radiating around him in a ball of fury.

Dad paced the floor for a few more seconds, before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a key. He walked over to Chase and undid his handcuffs in complete silence. The moment the cuffs came off of Chase’s wrists, he rubbed circulation back into them and my father walked around the table, over to where I was standing against the wall.

“You’re my daughter at the end of the day and nothing outside of that matters more to me. If this Simon guy hurt you, laid a finger upon you as Chase has said then his life is now in my hands.” His face showed the hurt he was going through. I knew he would beat himself up over this, feel as if he should have protected me more, which is why I had never said anything to my mother or him.

“What’s going to happen now?” Chase asked my father just as he turned on his heels to face him.

“Now, I take care of business. The charges will be dropped, I’ll be sure of it because now we have leverage over him. If he refuses, then we press charges against him, but don’t worry about anything. He won’t refuse.” Chase’s eyes grew wide with understanding as a smirk formed on his face, his smile was just as sinister as the one spread wide across my father’s face.

“Chase!” I exclaimed.

“What? At least you know your dad cares enough to put some asshole in his place and handle him for hurting you.” He shoved from the chair he had been sitting in since I entered the room and headed straight towards me, but as soon as his hand touched mine my father stepped between us.

“Remember those words you just spoke, Chase. If you hurt my daughter, I’ll take that personally and I’ll dig your grave myself right in my backyard.” I stood there with my dad in between us and guilt weighing heavily on my chest.

My dad was a protective man, who believed in family above anything else. It may not have seemed like that big of a deal when I had first lied to him about Chase being my boyfriend, but at this moment as I saw the love he had for me flood his eyes I knew that it truly was.

“I have to tell you something, Dad.” I paused, waiting to hear or see what his next move would be. His eyes met mine, the look on his face holding me still.

“Go ahead,” he calmly said, almost a little too calm for my liking.

“When you first saw me and Chase together…” I cleared my throat. “We weren’t really together. I lied to you, hoping that you wouldn’t get mad at me for having some random hook up. I mean I’ve heard the lectures so many times. I knew you not only wanted me, but AJ, Michael, and Brendon as well to wait for the right one. I’m sorry if I disappointed you by not waiting, but most of all I’m sorry for not being honest with you.” My cheeks flamed like someone had struck a match against them. A smirk pulled at his lips, and I let out the breath I had been holding since the moment that I had lied to him.

“I know, sweetie. Your mother told me. I had made a promise to her not to say anything. I knew all along, I was just waiting for you to come clean. Like that time you and Taylor destroyed your mom’s flower garden riding bikes and told us that the neighbor’s dog did it.” Dad chuckled before getting serious once again, “I was just hoping that you could work things out with this guy and that maybe I would be seeing him at Thanksgiving. Something about him makes it hard not to almost like him.” Relief filled every orifice of my body as my dad winked at Chase.

He had known all this time. A strangled laugh left my throat.

“Thank God. I thought he was going to kill me,” Chase mumbled under his breath as sweat clung to his eyebrows.

“I still will if you hurt her.” My dad added right before placing a kiss upon my cheek and walking out of the room. I had never been so happy, relieved, and excited in my life. Now nothing could hold us back from chasing our dreams together.

A passion deeper than hate had brought us together, fate had played its tricks on us, but a need deeply rooted in love had refused to let either one of us walk away.

Walking into the foyer of my family home, I came to a halt as everything came to life around me. My uncles sat in the great room of the house watching the annual Thanksgiving football game, their beer bottles clanking together as a touchdown was made by the home team. My mom and aunts occupied the kitchen, prepping and cooking the food for dinner that would take place that night. Instead of popping my head in to speak, I bypassed the kitchen knowing if I stepped foot in there my mom would put me straight to work. Their chatter could still be heard as I snuck down the hall and into the media room where my brothers were currently watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade with Chase, my grandfather as well as Taylor’s.

I spotted him as soon as I entered the room, my body going into overdrive the second I saw him. He looked up at me through heavy lashes as he discussed something with my brother AJ. I wasn’t sure what the conversation consisted of, but it must not have been much of anything considering Chase got up dismissing himself rather fast the second he saw me.

“You look so beautiful. Every time I see you it takes everything inside of me not to take a bite of your sweetness.” His lips trailed against my throat as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Oh stop it, would you.” I smiled, shoving at him softly while giving him a small warning look. We had to stop, especially with every set of eyes in this room on us. Plus I had yet to lay eyes on my father, which meant he could be anywhere, and everyone knew Alzerro King was good for sneaking up on people.