The Debt 11 (Club Alpha) Read Online Free PDF Page A

outfit.
    Chase elected to wait in the car, and so
she had some time to think while she packed.
    Part of her wanted so badly to believe
that what they were sharing together right now was real.   Wanted to believe that Chase Winters
truly valued and cared for her the way he’d claimed to at the bar, and the way
he seemed to be continuing to prove to her since then.
    But how could she trust someone with such
a checkered past—someone who’d kept important information from her recently?
    The more Faith thought about it, the less
reason she had to trust Chase.
    You
only think you can trust him because you want to so badly , she told herself, as she zipped her
small suitcase shut and then grabbed the handle and got ready to leave her
apartment.
    It was true.   She wanted to believe in him.   Her heart told her that Chase was worth
it, but her intellect told her that only a fool would trust herself to a man
with Chase’s history and his recent behavior.
    He’s
a liar, a criminal, and he’s self-protective above all else.
    Be
careful.
    The words came unbidden, throwing cold
water on all of her fantasies.
    She brought the suitcase down to the car
and threw it in the trunk, which Chase had popped open for her.
    After slamming the trunk shut, Faith went
and got into the passenger seat once more.
    Chase glanced at her with his dark eyes,
seeming to instantly register the change in her demeanor.   “Everything okay?” he asked, as he put
the car in gear and started driving once again.
    “Yeah,” she lied, smiling, but unable to
look at him.
    He glanced over again.   “I’m glad you’re coming with me,” he
told her, before looking back at the road.
    “Me too.”   She kept the smile on her face.
    He
hasn’t done anything wrong ,
she argued in her mind.   Why are you judging him so harshly?
    Faith wanted to tell him her concerns,
ask him to reassure her that her fears were unfounded .   But she wasn’t sure that Chase could do
it, or that he even wanted to reassure her about anything.
    And besides, he had a big game to think
about.   The last thing Faith wanted to
do was distract him from focusing on the game tomorrow.
    Whatever was happening between them would
have to wait, as would the conversation with Chase about her fears.
    Reasonable or not, she was going to push
those negative thoughts and worries out of her mind and just do her best to
enjoy spending time with this man.
    She smiled for real as he reached out and
took her hand, squeezing gently.
    As if he knew, as if he knew and
understood everything.
    They drove to the hotel by the stadium,
and Faith watched the traffic and scenery pass by outside the car and it was
dreamlike and surreal, while Chase played a low, thumping hip hop with mellow
lyrics that was somehow soothing in its simplicity.
    It was like they were in a movie
together, and the music filtering out of the car speakers was the soundtrack,
and when Faith turned her head to look at Chase, he would glance over and smile
at her.
    Once again, she felt the shock of
complete connection and understanding that passed between them.
    They didn’t talk much, but the silence
was comfortable, maybe even preferable to chitchat or small talk.
    They both had things to think about.   Chase had his game to consider, and
Faith knew that with a short season like this, every single game had enormous
ramifications.
    On top of that, the robbery and threat of
exposure by Chase’s old friend had to be on his mind, even if he tried to put
it out of his thoughts.
    Faith, for her part, wondered what the
people in her life were going to say to her about this crazy turn her life had
taken.   How would they react to her?   Would everything change?
    Was her life truly going to be forever
unrecognizable because she’d met Chase Winters?   And was that a good thing, or bad?
    Her brain buzzed with questions nearly
the entire ride to the hotel.
    Finally, they pulled into the parking lot
and Chase got out, unloading their