Chased by Piper Lawson Page B

“I don’t need another person trying to shelter me, Chase,” Ariel says.
    Now the bed’s a wall between us.
    “Fuck. I don’t want to shelter you, Ariel. I want to protect you I want to—“ I cut off. “I care about you. More than I deserve to. I’m saying you need to look out for yourself.”
    She walks around the bed deliberately, stopping in front of me. “I love that you want to. But I do look out for myself. I’m not careless. I’m sick of people thinking I’m some weak girl who can’t do anything. If you let people treat you that way long enough, you start to believe it. I don’t want to believe it.” Ariel’s eyes are imploring me to understand. I hear her but I can’t agree.
    “The fact is no one knows where these emails have come from. Who’s sending them. What they plan to do next.”
    I’m trying to prove a point, but it doesn’t help. The little lines on her forehead deepen. “I need to go to class, Chase.”
    She walks out and I hope to hell I didn’t just mess up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

 
     
     
     
     
    The rest of the day is a blur. I remember I’m supposed to work and go to Tor’s at six.
    “How’s Ariel?” Amos asks, coming up behind me where I’m cleaning glasses to prepare for tonight.
    “Fuck off.” I haven’t heard from Ariel and don’t want to be the guy that calls her endlessly when she needs space. Hell, maybe I need some space too. We’ve only known each other a week. But somehow I’ve fixated on her and she’s all I know. All I want to. It’s fucking terrifying.
    Amos leans on the bar next to me. “You’re being a prick. She wouldn’t give me her number Friday, Chase. She’s a damn beautiful girl – smart too – but I had a feeling she was hung up on you, actually.” He shoots me a meaningful look, his red hair falling across his face. “You’re a lucky guy.”
    I give up wiping bar ware and turn to him. “I can’t have her, Amos. You know that.”
    He knows what I mean. “The past doesn’t define us. Don’t choose for her. You could be just what she needs.”
    “Maybe. But I think I fucked up. Amos, what the hell would you do if the girl wouldn’t let you protect her?”
    He thinks about it. “It’s the twenty-first century, man. Girl’s got a right to be independent, doesn’t she?”
    I brace my elbows on the bar, lean my head in my hands. Having the same argument with myself I’ve been having all day. “Even if she’s in trouble?”
    “Yeah. I think she does.” His blue eyes are clear when I turn toward him. “I know it’s shit. But you can’t force a girl like that to stay out of trouble, Chase. Hell, we never figured out how to keep out of trouble. How can you expect her to?”
    I let out a groan I couldn’t get away with when the bar’s open. It echoes in the empty space. Amos doesn’t so much as blink.
    “Alright,” I concede. “I’ll call her later.”
    Amos claps a hand on my back, crossing behind me to check on the stock out back.
    Tor’s opens an hour later and I relax into the flow of bartending. It lets me stay in my head. Amos and I move in a rhythm we know well. Better than expected since I only started bartending here this year.
    My phone rings in my pocket. It’s eleven and the first wave of traffic’s been processed. I don’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
    “Chase? It’s Tess. Ariel’s roommate.” I’m about to brush her off when I notice the tension in her voice. “She didn’t come home from class and I wanted to see if she’s with you.”
    “No. Why?”
    “Her computer’s on the kitchen table. There’s an email from a really weird address.”
    My hand grips the bar and I look at Amos. He finishes pouring a drink, pockets a bill absently before crossing to me.
    “What does it say?” I ask tightly, the phone pressed hard against my ear.
    “It says ‘he can’t protect you if he’s in jail’. Those are the actual words. And there’s a picture of you two. In