Chapter 9: I Know

I took the last bus to Orchard Street at midnight, still in the white dress.

The bakery was dark, and a single light burned in the window upstairs.

I did not knock.

The door was unlocked.

Chase sat at his desk with the gold-sealed paper flat in front of him and a lighter in his hand.

He looked up when I came in, and I saw that he had not slept, or eaten, or stopped shaking since the club.

"Preston told me what he said to you," he said hoarsely.

"I have been sitting here with this paper for two hours."

"Chase."

"No. Let me say it."

He stood.

He held the paper out to me with both hands.

"I signed this the morning after you beat Peyton on the board."

"She told me you would crack by Halloween."

"I needed the fellowship. I told myself it was a job."

I took the paper and did not look at it.

"Nobody has paid me," he said. "The thirty thousand only clears if you quit."

"But I signed, Lou, and I walked into that lab anyway."

"I have lied to you every day for two weeks."

His voice broke.

"Then I kissed you against that board and every plan I had burned down."

"I'm not asking you to forgive me."

"I wanted you to hear it from me before you hear it from her."

He stopped.

He stood with his hands open and waited for me to hit him, or leave.

I put the paper down on the desk.

"I know," I said.

He did not move.

"What?"

"I know. I've known since the first night."

I watched the words go through him.

"I read Peyton's text on your phone in the lab, the one about the thirty thousand."

"You had your mouth on my neck."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Never Underestimate Girl Math from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.