The Chase, Volume 3 (3 page)

I bowed my head and looked at the floor. “No. No, I haven’t.”

“Are you going to?” His tone softened slightly as he studied me.

I thought about his question before answering him. “I don’t know,” I admitted.

He frowned. “Then what the fuck do you want from me? What’s your end game?”

“At this point, I just want you to know that I know everything. I want to warn you not to try anything that would
jeopardize this company or my position in it.”

He looked away from me and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window that faced out into the Financial District of downtown San Francisco. “I admit, I did want you out of this company, especially after I found out that I wasn’t Bill Parker’s son. But trust me when I tell you that I have no intentions of harming this company. I’ve worked too damn hard for this company to want to ruin it.”

“Thank you.” I kept my voice flat and stern as I turned and headed out of his office. “That’s all I needed to know.”

He didn’t try to stop me, and he said nothing else as I walked out of his office and down the hall toward my own office. As I neared my own office, I finally allowed the small smirk that had been itching to appear on my face.

I let out a long sigh of relief as my hand reached for the small tape recorder in my suit jacket pocket. I stopped the recording and rewound it to check that it had recorded our entire conversation.

“When I found out I was switched at birth, I went to go look for my biological parents. Well guess what? Just my fucking luck, they’re already dead! And they left nothing! …I admit, I did want you out of this company, especially after I found out that I wasn’t Bill Parker’s son.”

I knew this was what I had to do to protect Parker, Inc., to protect it for my father. This, with the documents I had photocopied, would be enough to protect us if Trent ever overstepped his boundaries.

***

An hour later, I was still coming down from the rush I had gotten from my successful confrontation with Trent. Ever since I had found out about his secret three weeks prior, tight knots of anxiety had been twisting and turning inside me. But the second I had left Trent’s office with the recording, I felt lighter and happier as the knots began to unravel inside me. I wasn’t sure why, but I had the urge to see Dean at that very moment.

“Hey, you. How’s your day?” came his voice on the other end of the line.

“Hi, I’m good. Really good actually.”

“Oh?”

“Are you in your office today?” I asked as I walked down the hallway of William & Sutter LLP toward Dean’s office.

“Yeah, but I’d much rather be somewhere else. Where are you?”

I stifled a giggle and felt relieved that he couldn’t see the wide grin on my face. “Just walking around. So…where would you rather be?” My voice trailed off into a whisper and I heard the meaningful chuckle from his end of the line.

“Well…there’s a tight, dark place that I’d like to be inside of. It’s always warm, inviting, and wet when I visit… ”

He paused and I slowly drew in an uneven inhale of breath.

“And even though I was just there last night, it wasn’t enough. I think I need to take permanent residence inside there ASAP.”

I felt my stomach flip in excitement as my legs picked up the pace as I closed in on the door of his office. “So what do you plan to do inside there when you go next?”

“
Mmm.” I could picture him licking his lips as he thought about my question. “Well, first, my fingers will want to do some exploring and get the place even more wet and inviting... And then, there’s my mouth and my tongue. They will want to taste every inch of the honey walls…”

I let out a low moan and grinned, knowing the effect it had on him.

“God, you’re such a tease! I want to fuck you now!” He grunted in frustration, causing me to smile triumphantly.

I got to his door and saw him in his chair facing the window.

“What if you
can
fuck me now?” I asked into the receiver.

He inhaled sharply as he whipped around, his eyes filled with lust.

“Baby, you just made my day.” He stood up and I gasped as my eyes grew wide at the sight of his erection through his pants.

I walked inside his office and immediately closed the door behind me. “It doesn’t take much to get you excited, does it?”

He chuckled. “What can I say?” He pulled down his pants, and his rock, hard erection sprung out to greet me in high salute. “I’m business on top, party on the bottom.” With three strides, he was standing inches in front of me. “Now let me show you exactly where I want to be right now.”

“I’ve missed him,” I whispered as my eyes were transfixed on his erection.

“And he’s missed you.” The hot breath of his deep, raspy voice tickled the sensitive skin on my neck and I arched my chest toward him in desire. I felt his strong, callused hands push back my blazer, revealing my sheer, ivory blouse. He slowly unbuttoned my blouse, purposely lingering at each button as he watched me become increasingly impatient under his touch. Finally when he unhooked my bra, I heard him inhale sharply and saw his eyes ablazed with lust as they landed on my nakedness.

“You’re so fucking hot.” He grabbed my breasts with both hands and guided them into his mouth, one at a time. I gasped as his mouth inhaled me, his tongue expertly flicking and nibbling on my rock-hard nipples.

“Baby, I’m hungry too,” I moaned impatiently as I pushed him against the edge of the desk and got down on my knees. I grabbed his erection with my hand and felt its power under my grasp. “God, you’re always rock hard and ready for me.” I could see the frenzy in his eyes as I gently traced the outline of his cock with my fingertips. I watched his reaction to my every move, relishing in the growing desire spread across his face. Without warning, I wrapped my hand around his shaft and moved it up and down his length.

“Fuck!” he roared as his head jerked back in pleasure.

I looked up at him and a wide grin spread across my face as my lips slowly and eagerly inhaled the entire length of his cock.

He let out a loud, primal roar as my tongue worked their way up and down the
back side of his cock in synchronization with my lips. His eyes glowed with smoldering pleasure as I moved more rapidly around his erection.

“Fuck, baby! I love your wild side. Your mouth feels so fucking incredible.” His voice was strained as he convulsed each time my tongue reached the tip of his cock. “I can’t hold on much longer,” he groaned hoarsely.

Instead of stopping, I moved up and down the length of his cock faster and deeper as I began to deep throat him.

“Fuck, you’re pushing me over the edge soon!” he roared in ragged breaths.

That was when I stopped. “No. I want you to come inside me,” I demanded.

Taking my cue, he pulled me up and lifted me up against the side of the desk. In one swift movement, he pushed several stacks of documents off the desk and laid my back onto the desk. “You’ve gotten me so turned on.”

I gave him a devious smile. “I know.” I snickered. “That was the point. I like to see you turned on, because that gets me so wet.”

“Now it’s my turn, baby,” he said in a low, hoarse voice.

I writhed under his touch as I felt his hands slowly run up the length of my legs—from my ankles to my knees to my inner thighs, where I felt his thumbs linger at the edge of my opening. Our eyes met, and as he held my gaze, he moved my feet up to the edge of the desk and spread my knees wide before him.

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he groaned when he saw my pussy. “And you smell incredible.” He lowered his face down between my legs and I felt his inhale deeply. Then he spread my knees farther apart, and I gasped as his mouth began to devour me, causing my whole body to quiver in pleasure. He licked and twirled and tasted me, and it didn’t take long before I arched my convulsing body against his tongue and found my release.

“Wow! That was amazing.” I pulled him up to kiss me, my lips tasting my juices from his mouth. “I taste incredible from your mouth.”

“You taste incredible. Period.” He grabbed my hand and pressed it up against his throbbing cock. “Fuck you’ve gotten me so turned on. Can you feel how hard I am for you?”

“Yes, I feel that all right.” I pulled out a condom and pulled it down onto his cock. I smiled up at him. “But I want to feel all of that inside me.”

“God, you’re amazing,” he groaned.

I guided him to my entrance and welcomed the entire length of his cock deep inside me in one slow and hungry thrust. I tightened my grip around him and watched in delight as he threw his head back in pleasure.

“Fuck! Blair, you are so tight! You feel so fucking amazing.” He grabbed my hips and started pounding into me. Slow at first, but with each additional trust, deeper and harder, pushing out uncontrollable gasps and moans from my lips. I gripped his broad, muscular shoulders, digging my nails into his skin as I moved my hips in time with his thrusts.

After several minutes of sheer bliss, my muscles began to clench around him uncontrollably.

“God, I’m about to come,” I gasped as I looked up at him.

“Fuck, me too!” he growled as he drove harder into me as his entire body began to convulse. Seconds later, we both reached the brink of ecstasy.

CHAPTER
THREE

Trent

Twenty Years Ago

“Trent, I can’t find Sophia!” Blair’s cries made me jump.

I pulled my gaze from an episode of
Power Rangers
playing on the television and looked at Blair. Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks as she rushed into the living room.

“Don’t worry, Blair.” I gently patted her back to clam her down. I hated to see her sad. “I will help you find her.”

“You will?” She looked up at me through her bright, hopeful eyes as her shoulders moved up and down with her raged breathing.

“Yup!”

She sniffled and looked at the television screen. “But--but this is your favorite show. You said you’ll hate me if I bothered you when it’s Power Ranger time.”

“I was just trying to scare you. I can never hate you. You’re my sister.”

She beamed up at me. “Promise?”

I nodded. “Promise.”

She flung her tiny arms around me and hugged me tightly.

“So what was the last thing you did with Sophia? Do you remember?”

“Ummm.” She made a face, showing me that was she thinking hard. “I was telling her a bedtime story because she couldn’t sleep.”

“Ok let’s check your room.”

“Okay.” She followed me into her room.

After a few minutes of searching, I found the Cabbage Patch Kid doll lodged behind her bed between the mattress and wall.
Freeing it from its hiding place, I gave it to Blair. “I found Sophia, Blair.” I smiled.

She blinked her eyes causing a few teardrops to fall down her rosy cheeks. She gave Sophia a big huge and patted its back. “Where did you find her?”

“It was underneath your bed. She must have fell under there when you were sleeping.” I reached over and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You don’t need to be sad anymore.”

She flashed me a wide grin and wrapped her tiny arms around my waist. “You’re the best brother ever.”

I hugged her back tightly. “I’m your big brother. It’s my job to protect you.”

She loosened her grip around me and looked up at me with a frown. “Will you always protect me?”

I curled my hands into fists and put my arms on my hips for my Superman stance. “Of course! You’re only four. But I’m ten.” I raised my chin as high as I could. “I’m a man now. It’s my job to protect my baby sister.”

“Promise?” She looked up at me with wide-eyes and admiration.

My chest swelled with happiness at the way she looked at me.
“Yes. I p—”

“Trent, honey?” My mother’s voice interrupted me as she came into the room.

“Hi, mom.” I broke my Superman stance and smiled at her.

“Hi, Trent’s mommy. Trent found Sophia for me. He’s the best.” Blair lifted Sophia up to show my mother.

My mother made a face at her and turned to look at me. “Trent. Come on. Let’s go home.”

I frowned, the carefree joy I had just felt instantly popped by her words. “Can I stay for a bit longer? Cindy said I could stay for dinner.” I didn’t love Blair’s mother’s cooking, but I loved being able to eat dinner with Blair and our father. It was nice to sometimes pretend that I lived with them under the same house like a family.

“Yup. I heard mommy tell Trent he can stay for dinner,” Blair added, trying to help my cause. She looked hopefully at my mother, her eyes filled with the same hope I had of staying for dinner.

“Please? Can we stay?” I pouted. “We can have dinner with dad, Blair, and Cindy.”

“Pretty please!” Blair begged.

“No. We have plans,” my mother snapped sharply. “I dropped you off here for the weekend based on the arrangement your father and I have. I’m
supposed
to pick you up now, so let’s go.”

“But mom, it’s just dinner.” I walked over to her and pulled on her sleeve, hoping I could convince her.

“No is no. Don’t test my patience, Trent. You know that’s not good for anyone.”

Downcast, I looked down at my feet and mumbled, “Fine.” I walked over to Blair to hug her goodbye.

“See you next week?” She hugged me back tightly.

“Yup. See you next week.” I walked toward the doorway where my mother was waiting.

Then Blair came running toward me and gave me another hug. “You haven’t promised!”

“Promised what?” I frowned at her, confused by what she said.

“To always protect me.” She looked at me with eager eyes.

I smiled. “I promise.”

She giggled in delight. “I’ll miss you.”

“Me too. Take care of Sophia while I’m gone.” I tried my best to be the big brother and be strong and not show any tears.

“Okay, I will. I promise.” She beamed at me.

“Okay, that’s enough,” my mother’s impatient voice cut in. She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Blair. “Come on, we
gotta go.”

I watched Blair’s sad expression as I followed my mother down the hallway toward the front door.

“Trent, be careful with her. What did I tell you about being nice to her?” She squeezed my hand harder, pinching my fingers together.

I frowned and tried to yank my hand out of her grip. “But mom, she’s my sister. I love her.”

“Don’t you dare love
her,” she hissed at me.
“
She’s the daughter of the bitch who stole your father away from us.”

“But Blair and Cindy are so nice to me. They couldn’t have done anything wrong.” My hand was starting to hurt in my mother’s tight grip. I didn’t know why, but I knew she hated Blair and her mother. She never liked dropping me off at their house they lived at with my father.

“Trent, just get in the car.”

I could tell from her tone that she wasn’t happy. I hated to see her angry, so I got into the car without saying another word.
I stared out the car window as my mother drove us away from the house my father, Blair, and Cindy lived. I felt a sense of longing as I watched the house disappeared out of view. Even though I was a big boy now, there were many things I still didn’t understand. I didn’t understand why we couldn’t live with them. I didn’t understand why my mother didn’t like my sister and her bother.

“Mom, why couldn’t we stay for dinner?” I finally asked my mother when the car pulled up to the parking lot of our apartment complex.

She sighed and looked at me with a sadness I had became use to seeing in her eyes. “You don’t understand now, Trent. But honey, trust me. I’m the only one that cares about you and your future. I’m the only one that has your interest at heart.”

“But Blair and Dad love me. And Cindy does too!”

“Don’t talk about that bitch in front of me.”

Her sharp words made me flinch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. Just trust me. They don’t really care about you.”

I crossed my arms and felt upset by what my mother was telling me. I refused to believe Blair could ever stop caring about me.

“One of these days, you will hate her as much as I hate her mother.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I pushed the car door open and stomped all the way our apartment. Besides my mother, Blair was the most important person in my life.

You’re wrong, mom. I’ll always love Blair. I can never hate her.

***

One Year
Ago

I stared at the papers in my hand with a slumped shoulder. These were the only documents my mother had left me under her will. I had no idea it’d change my life the way it had. I had no idea what I was going to be smacked with when I opened the yellow manila envelope that my mother’s lawyer had sent me. I had no idea that it’d signal the moment Trent Parker died.

I gathered all the documents and placed them back inside the envelope—all of them except for one. One of the two letters my mother had left me under the will. Tears burned my eyes as I read the letter again, allowing its words to hurt me against like cold dagger to my chest.

My dearest Trent,

This is the second letter that I’ve instructed my lawyer to include in the envelope of documents I’m
leaving you when I leave this world. Please make sure you read the other letter before you continue with this one.

I hope after the other letter, you do not hate me for everything I have done. I just could not bear to let you go. You are my son and I am your mother.
Nothing
can change that.

There was something else I had kept from you. I had planned to take this secret to my grave, but I received some news today and it made me realize that I needed to tell you.
Maybe all the guilt that’d been eating me alive for the last twenty-five years. Also, I knew that if you were to go looking for your biological parents, you would find out anyway. So I wanted you to hear it from me.

I wasn’t completely honest with you in my first letter about why your birth parents and I decided to things a secret and keep it from you and Katherine. You see
, I knew I couldn’t let you go. I loved you too much, and you’re all I had. Your birth parents, however, wanted to meet you, they wanted to see if we could all be parents to both you and Katherine. I convinced them that this was a bad idea. But in the beginning, they had demanded to see you, and threatened to take you away. The only way I was able to convince them to keep things a secret was to pay them. I had hired a private investigator and found out that your birth parents were buried in debt and were barely making end meet. I knew they were desperate for money. So I had promised them that I’d send them monthly payments so they could live a comfortable life and be able to provide for Katherine.

But last week, the monthly check was returned to me. I found out that your birth parents were recently in a car accident. I’m sorry you have to find out this way, but they didn’t make it.

Honey, I do not know how you will react to this news, but I wanted you to hear it from me than to go searching for them and find out that way. Please do not hate me. Please try to understand that I did all this because I love you very much, and couldn’t imagine a life without you. You are all I have left in this world.

Love always,

Your mother

Beth Preston
 

Emptiness consumed me as I sat on my couch trying to come to terms with what this all meant. I had been living a lie for the last twenty-nine years of my life. My name wasn’t Trent Parker. It was Trent Fox—no, that was wrong too. Had I not been switched at birth, my name probably wouldn’t have been Trent—it would’ve been whatever my biological parents decided to name me. But they never got that opportunity. So I didn’t have a name. And I would never know what my parents would have named me…because they’re dead.

My name was
blank
Fox. I was an orphan. I had no parents, no family, and no property under my name.

My phone beeped just then. It was a text from Blair:

“Hey, big brother! I know you’re going through a lot right now. I haven’t heard from you in awhile. Do you want us to pick you for the funeral? Your family loves you and is here for you. Call me! <3”

I stared at her message and felt the life I thought was mine slip away from me. Blair wasn’t my sister. She was the girl who didn’t have a care in the world. She was the girl who lived the life I wanted. She was the girl who was always loved by the man I’d spent my entire life to please and impress—the man that wasn’t even my real father. She was everything I wasn’t. A mixture of sorrow, envy, and resentment consume my numbed body.

I finally got off the couch half an hour later to get ready for my mother’s funeral. Her letter was still clutched tightly in my hand. I went to the kitchen and turned on the burner. Before I could change my mind, I burned the letter. I wasn’t sure why, but I wished I never read this letter. I wish I didn’t know that my mother had bribed my birth parents to stay away from me. I wish I didn’t know that my parents were dead.

When nothing remained of the letter but a thin layer of black ash, I got dressed quickly and walked out of my condo into the gloomy day. Dark, threatening clouds rolled through the sky, signaling a storm that was sure to come.

As I got into my car and
drove to the funeral, I could only think of one thing.

Trent Parker was dead. Today I would not only mourn over my mother’s death. I mourned over my own.

***

Present Day

It’d been two weeks since Blair stormed into my office to confront me about my secret. I saw the sadness and betrayal in her eyes as she tried to reason with me and I didn’t know why I brushed her off the way I did. I didn’t know why I had so much range inside me, and why I had been directing them to her. Deep down I knew she had nothing to do with what had happened to me. She was an innocent bystander.

But for some reason, I couldn’t seem to look pass the fact that she was the reminder of everything I wanted, everything I once had, everything I wasn’t. Every time I looked at her and saw how happy and carefree she was, I was consumed with the pain of losing my sense of self all over again. The despair I had for losing the life I thought I had, the jealousy I had for Blair, and the hatred I had for who I really was—all that seemed to have spiraled me down a path I couldn’t come back from.