Takeover

"Emotional pain cannot kill you, but running from it can. Allow. Embrace. Let yourself feel. Let yourself heal." – Vironika Tugaleva

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, we need to talk." Chase said, plopping down on the couch next to me and propping his feet on the coffee table.

Of course Chase wasn't just going to all of a sudden develop a concussion and forget everything I told him about Ben.

I lifted an eyebrow, glaring at his feet. "About?"

"Your hair scrunchies and coffee mugs and – and blankets are taking over my apartment." He widely gestured around. "Now, I don't have a problem with you living here, but I swear to God if I find another fucking hair scrunchie on the bathroom sink or on the kitchen counter – I'm throwing all that shit out."

"What do you have against my hair scrunchies?" I narrowed my eyes, pulling my leg out from under me and twisting to fully face him.

"And this morning," He continued, his jaw clenched. "I found red hair in my fucking cereal!"

Oops.

"I'm sorry." I bit my bottom lip, trying to mask my laugh with a cough.

"I'm glad you find this amusing." 

Giggling at his murderous glare, "I do actually." 

Chase continued to study my face for another brief moment before shaking his head and standing up. "Women." I heard him mutter under his breath as I tried to stifle another laugh.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't taken the term make yourself at home a little too literal lately.

I'd been meaning to finally go out and start looking for a new place now that I had more money than what I started out with when I first got to Philadelphia, but I couldn't deny the safety and comfort I got from this place. From being around... well, Chase.

But perhaps it was time. I couldn't keep living with him forever.

.........

"Lexie, you don't talk much about your childhood." Scarlett said, taking a large bite out of the eggroll she was devouring. I felt the air chill as I stretched my leg out from under me. From the corner of my eye I saw Chase was pointedly staring at me and he had visibly tensed.

"Scarlett," Darius nudged her, and I didn't miss the slight head shake he gave her.

"What?" She asked.

"It's none of your business." He muttered, but I could still hear him.

"Darius, it's fine." I forced a smile.

The four of us were sitting on the floor in Chase's living room eating Chinese food.

Chase had me sparring with Darius for a change while he was off doing whatever it is he does in his spare time, and after we locked up, Scarlett ordered food. She took it upon herself to declare at least one night after work Team Building Activity Day – a fancy term for the four of us just hanging out together.

Not that I was complaining. I was actually looking forward to our after-work hang-outs.

Until now, that is. 

"Not much to it." I shrugged, my eyes focused on the piece of chicken I was pushing around on my plate. "I grew up in San Diego. Bounced around a few foster homes. After high school, I took a few classes at San Diego State. The usual."

The air felt thick around us and it wasn't until Chase spoke up that I felt myself visibly relax. "What'd you study at San Diego State?" When people hear foster homes, their first instinct is to ask about my parents. I'd never been more grateful to hear Chase's voice than I was in that moment.

I didn't like talking about my past in general, but I specifically hated talking about my parents. Well, parent I guess.

I don't know who my dad is and I never cared enough to try and find out. He wasn't listed on my birth certificate, and nobody came to claim me after my mom died. As far as I was concerned, he didn't exist.

As for my mother, well she's dead. Over dosed when I was five. I would say I miss her and a day doesn't go by when I don't wish she was here, but that would be a load of crap. She chose to abandon me. Nobody forced the needle into her arm.

Pushing those memories back down into the vault I kept them under lock and key, I finally glanced up. "Social work." I cleared my throat uncomfortably. 

"That's so cool!" Scarlett flashed me a bright smile. "I took a few intro classes as part of my major. Pretty heavy stuff."

"Yeah," I picked at a piece of lint on my leggings. "It's fucked up."

The four of us continued to sit in what had become an uncomfortable silence until Darius's phone sliced through the tension. As soon as he picked it up and read whatever was written on the screen, he excused himself, stood up and walked out of the room. I took that as an opportunity to get up as well and throw away my half-eaten plate of food.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, I had lost my appetite.

As I busied myself with starting to clean up the empty food containers, Scarlett and Chase began arguing about some bad basketball call or something sports related.

"Chase." Darius called out from the doorway, poking his head in and motioning for him to follow.

Scarlett and I exchanged a look. "Are they planning a murder or something?" I laughed, picking up the last empty cartons of food and dumping them into the trash.

"With those two," Scarlett scoffed, following behind. "Anything is possible."

.........

"Lexie." Olivia tugged on my arm as I rinsed the soapy dish.

"Yeah?"

"Will you call Catherine and ask her if she'll take me and Emma to see Santa?" She bounced on her heels, blinking up at me.

"Where's Chase?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder to see if there was any sign of him this morning. After Darius called him into the hallway last night, he didn't come back until way after I went to bed.

He has got to stop just disappearing and leaving me alone with Olivia, without so much as a word! Could Catherine take her to see Santa? I don't fucking know because Chase isn't here for me to ask. 

"My phone's over there." I nodded towards the kitchen island. If Chase had a fucking problem with my decision, he could just take it up with himself. "The passcode's 2482."

She flashed me a grin, skipping over to the kitchen island and hopping onto one of the stools. Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she focused on tapping the passcode in and eventually placed the phone to her ear. "Catherine, it's me!" She exclaimed. "Lexie gave me her phone to call you cause she's washing the dishes Chase didn't want to wash."

I laughed as she proceeded to go into a very detailed explanation of why Catherine should take her and Emma to see Santa.

...........

"Where..." I panted, eagerly accepting the water bottle from Darius. "Is... is he?"

"Busy." I glared at his cryptic response.

"I'm offended." Darius flashed his signature smirk while I continued to try and catch my breath. Sparring with Darius was even more intense than with Chase. "Not only did I think we were finally friends, but who do you think taught Chase everything he knows?"

I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "We are friends, Darius."

"That, and I'm also better looking and better company than him." There was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes as he leaned back against the thick ropes and studied me.

Now I don't know about the better looking part... but he was definitely better company. Chase was so fucking moody all the time. You never knew what to expect with him. One minute he was holding me on top of him and flirting, and the next he was ignoring me.

Wait a minute, since when is Chase anything looking and since when does he flirt with me? I have got to start going to bed earlier instead of staying up and watching Gossip Girl. Clearly the lack of sleep was starting to impair my judgement.

"Hold on –" As my mind took me back to what Darius just said. "You taught Chase how to fight? But you're like... the same age."

"Chase and I grew up together in Austin back when his parents were stationed down there. After –" He stopped abruptly. Clearing his throat and shaking his head, Darius continued. "I fought professionally for about two years but my MMA career didn't last long after I busted my shoulder. I was ready to accept a job as a fucking PE teacher at the local elementary school when Chase asked me to come help him run this place." He gestured around.

"So you guys are business partners?" I echoed my thoughts.

"Sort of." Darius laughed. "I let Chase handle the administrative side of things. I've never been good at the business shit, that's more his forte. I'm all about being hands on with the clients."

I snorted a laugh. Oh, he was definitely hands on – especially with the female clientele.

"That's enough chit-chatting." Darius playfully pinned me with a glare, placing his hands on my shoulders and guiding me back towards the heavy weight bag. "Or Chase is going to use everything I taught him to kick my ass for not giving you a proper training session."

"What he doesn't know won't kill him." I stole a quick hopeful glance at him over my shoulder.

Ever since he found out about Ben, I swear Chase had been pushing me twice as hard. While I'm not certain that's his exact reasoning, whatever it was, I felt myself getting more confident and stronger with each day. But at the same time, the extra time spent down in the gym was starting to take a toll on my body.

"Oh, he'll know." Darius snorted a laugh.

.........

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen. A very shirtless Chase was sitting at the kitchen island with his laptop and an open tray of cheesecake next to him. "And are you eating cheesecake with a... a fork?"

"Problem?" He coked an eyebrow, looking up.

"You're weird." I said, still eyeing the gooey dessert that was now missing a large chunk from where Chase had been scooping away.

"You're weird." His rolled his eyes, a faint smile playing on his lips and I childishly stuck my tongue out at him.

"You want a bite?" Chase cocked his head, eyes mischievous.

"Maybe." I replied, hands on my hips.

"All you have to do is ask." He replied, piercing me with his green eyes. Even in the dimly lit room I could feel him staring straight into my soul.

"Or," I leaned forward, my elbows on the granite counter. "I could just take a bite."

I don't know what came over me, or why I was feeling so bold but before I could stop myself, I reached out and grabbed the fork out of his hand. Breaking off a piece of cheesecake, I lifted the fork to my mouth and wrapped my lips around the cold metal – taking a large bite.

"Delicious." I licked the whip cream from the corner of my mouth as Chase's eyes remained locked on mine. 

"If you ask nicely," He leaned in close enough to be able to whisper in my ear. "I'll let you have another."

His voice sent shivers down my spine and I blinked. My eyes darted towards his lips and I couldn't help but think about how –

What the hell was I doing?

"I'm good." I cleared my throat, quickly snapping out of it and straightening myself. Walking to the fridge, I picked up a clean glass from the dish rack and filled it up. I came in here to get a glass of water, not have inappropriate thoughts about Chase, I mentally scolded myself.

I heard him take a deep breath and clear his throat before he asked, "So, uh... tell me about him."

"Who?" I gazed over my shoulder, placing the water pitcher back in the fridge. Chase was still standing in the same spot, except now his glare burned a hole through me. I cringed beneath the weight of it as I temporarily forget what I was going to say.

I blinked a few times and turned my eyes to the light shining through from the living room. "What do you want to know?" I had already told him the worst part and he didn't run for the hills.

"Why did you stay so long?"

While I'm not sure even I knew the answer to that question myself, I'd had a lot of time to reflect on it lately.

Chase P.O.V

I had a raging hard-on from the moment she walked into the kitchen wearing those tight ass leggings that accentuated every delicious curve of her body. Add in the sight of her full pouty lips wrapped around that fork –my fork – eating cheesecake, my dick had a mind of its own tonight.

"I thought he would change," Her voice was so quiet, I barely heard her. Nothing like talking about her shit of an ex- to take my mind off doing very dirty things to her on this counter. "You have to understand, I never wanted it. Not the first time, not the last time, and not the times in between."

I'd been trying to wrap my head around why the fuck she didn't just leave sooner. Why she put up with that shit for three fucking years. Grinding my teeth together, I clenched my hands into fists. "So what changed the last time?"

"He went too far. I actually thought he was going to kill me the last time." She had set the glass of water down on the counter next to her, and her eyes were glued to the floor as she leaned back – arms wrapped around herself. "I knew that if I didn't leave then, I might not get another opportunity to."

When I get my hands on that fucker –

I had made it a priority to find out who this pussy was, but turns out that's nearly impossible when all you have is a first name. But, I was going to find him. And when I did, he was going to wish he'd never been born.

Lexie continued. "I'd been secretly saving up from babysitting, and getting a fake ID isn't hard nowadays. I actually had the ID for a while, but I just didn't have enough courage to leave him. I was scared he'd... he'd find me before I even made it past state lines."

"Why'd you need a fake ID?" I gritted, my knuckles white from how hard my fits were clenched.

"It's hard to leave someone when they have all the resources to find you." Her eyes finally drifted to mine. How anyone could ever hurt her, is beyond me. "His dad was – is – the police commissioner. Plus, I had nowhere to go. By the time I realized the type of person he was, he'd managed to completely alienate me from my friends and I was totally reliant on him. I had no money, and nowhere to go."

"That's fucked up." My jaw was clenched so tight, I'm surprised it hadn't snapped off yet. I needed to keep my cool.

"You'd be amazed at the things you're capable of when you have no other choice." Lexie shrugged, tilting her head to the side. "Both good and bad."

Dead silence hovered between us as I focused on keeping my anger from spilling over. She didn't need to see this side of me – not now, not ever.

As I stood up, the chair I was sitting on scraped against the tiles and sliced through the silence in the room. I walked the short distance to the fridge and grabbed the carton of orange juice.

"Did he ever..." I couldn't bring myself to say the word as I focused on screwing the cap back onto the carton  instead of on the images of a completely helpless Lexie running wild through my mind.

"Ever what?" Lexie blinked, her chocolate brown eyes innocent.

"Rape you."

"That depends on who you ask." Her shoulders slumped and her eyes flickered from side to side, her thoughts running a mile a minute as she tried to find the right words. "We had um.. we had sex if that's what you're asking. And most of the time it was bearable, but there were a few times when he'd hold me down and cover my face with his hand. It was hard to breath, and I remember thinking is this it? Is this finally going to be the end of it? And as bad as it felt, and as scared as I was, I remember all of it. His chest pressed down against my ribs, or my back while he took me over and over—"

The loud shattering of glass filled the room.

Shit.

I had been clutching the glass so hard in my hand that it shattered — falling loudly and spilling its contents everywhere. But all of that was irrelevant because there was only one thing on my mind: that motherfucking son of a bitch.

"Fuck." I cursed, taking a step back and reaching for the roll of paper towels. I'm pretty sure judging by the trail of blood running down my wrist that a piece of the glass punctured my skin, but I couldn't be sure. I couldn't feel anything besides an unbelievable rage building in my chest.

Lexie's wide eyes darted to mine and she flinched back slightly.

Breath.

Motherfucking, sick fucking psycho.

In... and out... In... Out.

Bending down and scooping the broken glass, I heard the sound of steps as Lexie's pink fuzzy slippers came into view. "You're hurt." She sighed as she bent down and tried to take my injured hand into hers.

"I'm fine." I growled, refusing to look at her. Standing up, I dumped the broken glass and dirty paper towels into the trash, keeping my back turned to her. I didn't trust myself to be around her right now because there were two things I was certain of in that moment –

The first was that I was going to kill this fucking Ben asshole as soon as I found out who the fuck he was.

And the second was, I'm not sure I could resist not pulling her into my arms and vowing to protect her at any and all costs.

Being around Lexie, I felt a sudden pull to make all the bad go away. "Chase," Her soft voice pulled me out of my dark thoughts. When I turned around, she was rubbing her face and shaking her head.

Seeing her like this absolutely fucking broke me.

Crossing the space between us, I stopped in front of her. "What you've been through..." I shook my head, dropping my gaze to her hands where she was fidgeting with her thumbs. "It's fucked up on so many levels. But you got out. You never have to worry about that fucking asshole ever again. You hear me?"

Especially once I'm through with him.

Her cheeks and neck flushed red, and she kept her gaze trained to the ground. "Look at me," I said, lifting my hand and tilting her chin up gently. When she did finally look up at me, I swear I could feel the anger slowly start to die down despite being ready to go on a murderous rampage two seconds ago. "You're safe here. I promise."

"Don't make impossible promises." She smiled sadly, her voice cracking and along with it all my self-control. As she shook her head, loose curls danced around her shoulders and I was tempted to sink my fingers in her silky hair.

"Listen to me," With my right hand still gently cupping her chin, I leaned forward. "As long as I'm alive and breathing, he's not fucking getting anywhere near you." Lexie lifted her gaze, her eyes wildly scanning my face as if searching for any signs of falsehood.

We continued to stand like that for a while, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts. And it was Lexie who first broke the silence. "Can I ask you something?" I nodded as she lifted her hand and her fingertips brushed against my bare skin. "What do they mean?"

I visibly tensed and my eyes followed her hand as it traveled up my forearm to my bicep, curving over my chest and torso. "Which one?" I breathed, my body pulsing with fire.

There were too many to count, each a permanent reminder of something lost.

"All of them." She blinked up at me, cocking her head to the side while her