Bastard.
She clenched her fists at her sides and sucked in air. He’d lied to her. He’d said he wouldn’t leave her alone, but he had. He’d gone to Tyler’s apartment, gone to see the lay of the land and figure out if any of Grigori’s people had been there. He’d left her here alone with no phone and no way of communicating with him.
Fury rolled through her—
Something rattled the door and her heart hammered harder. What if it was Grigori’s men? What if they were breaking in, coming for her?
She spun, heading for her room and the balcony that overlooked the courtyard and the rooftops. She could go out there, climb over to the next roof maybe—
The lock turned and the door swung inward, freezing her in place. Chase came inside and closed the door behind him, locking it.
She stalked toward him, and he looked up as he saw her move in the light coming from outside the windows. She didn’t stop, and he dropped something before catching her arms and locking them at her sides. That’s when she realized she’d raised them as if she were going to strike him.
Or maybe she’d just been planning to wrap her arms around his neck and not let go.
“What the fuck, Sophie?”
She twisted, trying to break free, but he was too strong. “You left,” she panted. “You promised.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. Angry tears. Helpless tears.
“I’m sorry,” he said and she turned her head, lowering her chin. She didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to see the casual disregard in his eyes.
“Let. Me. Go.”
He did and she stumbled back, swiping at her eyes and cursing herself for letting him see how upset she was.
He retrieved whatever he’d dropped—and she smelled food. He flipped on a light switch and the room flooded with soft light. She blinked as she looked at the bag he held up.
“I went to get dinner. I was gone for twenty minutes.”
And just like that, he made her feel like a crazy bitch. Food. They needed that, didn’t they?
“You could have left a note. Or you could have woke me.”
She knew she sounded ungrateful, but he’d scared her. God, she hated that they had to wait to get the package. It was making her lose her shit. She just wanted to get it and go—but it had to arrive first.
“I was gone twenty minutes. I didn’t think of it.”
She went over to the kitchen and searched the cabinets for plates like a normal person would—a normal person with trembling hands. “You should have. I bet you don’t disappear on your teammates, do you?”
He set the bag on the table and shrugged out of his leather jacket. “No, I don’t.”
She turned with plates in hand and set them down. “Then don’t do it to me either, okay?”
“Okay.”
She looked up at him, surprised he’d agreed. His voice had been soft as he said it, almost regretful.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yeah, Sophie, I mean it. I should have lit a firecracker under your ass and woke you up just so I could tell you I’d be back in twenty minutes.”
“You should have.”
He shook his head as he removed the food containers from the bag. Sophie gaped at what he pulled out and then couldn’t help but laugh in spite of her determination to hold on to her anger a bit longer.
“You’re in the greatest city in the world for food and you got Chinese takeout?”
He frowned at her. “It was fast and I know what I’m getting.”
She grabbed the chopsticks that had been shoved in the bag and started opening containers. They sat down and she broke the wooden chopsticks and rubbed them together to get rid of splinters. Then she carefully took a little bit from a couple of cartons before setting them down again.
When she looked up, Chase was watching her.
“You hardly took anything,” he said, and she felt herself color.
“I have enough.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, I do.”
He dumped out a bunch of orange chicken and some noodles onto his plate. Then he picked up an egg roll and tore into it with his teeth. “You know what I think?” he said after he swallowed the bite.
“I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.”
He pointed at her plate with his chopsticks. “I think you need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. You said that starving yourself wouldn’t make you look like your mother. Well, you know what? You look better than she does. Ten times better. Healthy and gorgeous—so eat the fucking food and stop thinking about your weight.”
She grabbed a piece of chicken with her chopsticks and ate it. The flavors melted on her tongue, and her stomach rumbled anew.