Chapter 3

Chase woke up around 2am with a migraine. He often got them when the weather changed from hot to cold or he was really stressed. He assumed it was from the aggravation this whole situation was causing. He got up and went to the bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face. He looked in the medicine cabinet for some aspirin, but found none. Of course, he thought, Satan over there wouldn't keep any aspirin in the castle. He sat down on the toilet in the dark. The light bothered his eyes and amplified the pain. He thought about taking a hot shower because sometimes it made the pain lessen.

The door from Elizabeth's room opened and the light turned on. He closed his eyes, trying to block it out.

"Bloody Christ, why the hell are you sitting in here in the dark in the middle of the night?" Elizabeth almost yelled, startled.

"Shhh, stop your shrieking. I have a migraine. Don't you have any aspirin in this place?"

She thought for a moment, "I have something in my room that might help, I'll get it."

Chase remained on the toilet, clad only in the boxers he put on when he got up. Elizabeth came back in, "Here you are."

Chase stood from the toilet and Elizabeth got her first good glimpse of his body, and she had to admit it was magnificent. He was tanned and toned, and if he wasn't a rock star, could definitely double as an underwear model or athlete. And there he was, standing there in front of her, clad only in his boxers. Her eyes trailed down his body and she eyed him hungrily, following the small happy trail down to the bulge in his shorts. Elizabeth felt a strange pang in her lower stomach as he took the pills from her and it alarmed her. She caught herself and blushed. Chase was too consumed with his pain that he luckily didn't notice any of this. He threw his head back and swallowed the pills without water.

"Thanks, what were those?"

"Midol, feel better," she said as she turned and proudly as she went back into her room.

Chase smirked and thought Bitch! He killed the light and went back to bed.

Elizabeth awoke early and went for a ride before breakfast. When she returned to the house, Chase was not downstairs yet. She ate and read the morning paper. Around 10am, Gerard entered the dining room with a package for her. She looked at him perplexed, as she was not expecting anything. She cut the box open, and pulled out the other box inside.

She couldn't believe her eyes. A Mac book Pro sat on the table in front of her. Chase must have purchased the very expensive laptop for her and had it overnighted to the castle. She sat back down in the chair shocked.

Chase stood upstairs in his bedroom, packing his luggage. He had Gerard call for a car for him earlier and expected it there within the half hour. He went into the bathroom to collect his toiletries and found Elizabeth standing in his room when he returned. He saw her and paused for a moment out of surprise, before returning to his luggage on the bed.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"The laptop."

"Oh, no biggie. I was the reason you dropped it after all."

"Yeah, but still, you didn't have to do it, so thank you.

Chase had been packing and hadn't made eye contact with her since she walked in until he looked up and replied, "I know I didn't have to, I wanted to." Elizabeth saw sincerity in his eyes, and began wondering if she had been misjudging him. Chase went back to packing and she walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"So, you're leaving?"

"Yup, I'll be out of your hair shortly, taking a flight back to New York."

"Bet you'll be happy to be home and rid of me."

"Yeah, I suppose," he replied shrugging his shoulders, as he folded a shirt, "I kinda liked the idea of owning a castle, though my lawyer and accountant weren't happy about the idea of me paying taxes on it. And I am obligated to record two more albums, which means touring, so I guess it's just as well."

"Yeah, I guess," Elizabeth said as she looked down towards the floor again, fiddling with her hands in her lap. "Well, since you're leaving, I guess I should apologize for the way I treated you. It's just... I want a love like my parents had, not some arrangement. Unlike you, I don't have a lot of experience with the opposite sex, and I just believe that when you get married, it's forever, not something fleeting. My uncle knew that, so I still don't know why he made this arrangement. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy."

Chase sat down on the bed next to her, "No, you're not crazy. I get it, hell, I guess maybe that's why I haven't settled down so far. I've been with countless women, but I've never told any of them that I love them. But lately, it just hasn't been enough. I want to be with someone, I want all that crap that I sing about. In a way, I kinda feel like a fraud writing and singing songs about something I've never had."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, Gerard entered, and said the car was here. Chase zipped up his luggage, told him he'd be down in a minute and allowed Gerard to take his luggage down to the car.

"Well, I guess this is it. Too bad we didn't talk like that just now the past couple of days. It was nice to have someone to talk to." Chase took a deep breath and looked around the room one last time. Elizabeth rose from the bed, silent. "Take care of yourself," Chase said as he extended his hand to her.

Elizabeth placed hers in his larger, warm hand, and looked in his eyes. He grasped her hand and said, "Goodbye." As he was holding her hand, he ever so gently ran his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand and she looked down as her eyes began to well up. Her father used to do the same thing with his thumb when he would hold her hand when she was a kid. The simple gesture brought her back and reminded her of all the love she had for him and he for her. She croaked out a quiet goodbye as her hand went limp in Chase's and he gently let go and walked past her towards the door. She heard it open and close behind her.

Elizabeth had only ever cried when her parents died and in the past week or so as her Uncle passed. And, now, a simple gesture by a man she barely knew and thought she hated had caused her eyes to spill over. She turned and ran from the room, down the stairs to the main floor. Chase shook Gerard's hand and was exiting the castle as she hit the top step. She ran down the steps and past Gerard out the front door.

"Chase, Chase wait!"

Chase had one leg in the car as she approached him. He stood and turned to face her. "What's the matter, why are you crying?"

She paused a moment to catch her breath, "Look, I--I can't make any promises about this whole situation, but will you stay for the rest of the time, and see what happens."

Chase was taken aback by her proposition. "Ar--Are you sure?"

"Not really, but I don't want you to leave just yet."

"Are you gonna be nice to me?"

She let out a small laugh in between her sniffles, "Do I have to be?"

Chase laughed back, "Well not entirely, I kinda like it when you're feisty, I told you you're cute when you're mad. But, you can't be downright evil to me, deal?" he asked, using his thumb to wipe away a stray tear that had fallen, before gripping the back of her neck and rubbing it.

"Deal."

Chase slowly pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him. Elizabeth slowly relaxed and wrapped her arms around his wide back, feeling the muscles in his back and that strange sensation in her gut. Chase breathed in the florally scent of her shampoo and placed a light kiss to her hair before he slowly released her. He grabbed his bags from the car and they carried them back up to his bedroom, before heading back down for lunch.

Elizabeth was a bit quiet at first, still surprised that she asked him to stay, but she gradually opened up. They began to talk about his family; Chase told her about finding out he was adopted and how he initially resented his parents for not telling him. He told her about growing up in Connecticut, his first band out of his parent's garage and how he got started in the music business. She talked a little about her parents and how they died, not going into the details of the accident though, and of course, Uncle Edmund. Before they knew it, over two hours had passed, and it was well into the afternoon.

Chase suggested that she give him the tour of the castle, and tell him about all the art and family heirlooms. She complied and they began walking from room to room. He was impressed with the intelligence and eloquence in which she spoke when she was not hurling insults at him, and he realized that he could listen to her smooth voice talk for hours. Plus, her enthusiasm made it obvious that she truly loved the castle and its contents.

They hadn't even finished the main floor when Gerard came in and told them that dinner was served. They talked mostly about the art contained in the house over dinner, and Elizabeth had to admit that she was impressed with his knowledge of line and contour. He told her of some of the pieces he had back in New York, mostly smaller named artists he purchased from galleries around the cities, but one or two that she had heard of and was impressed with.

After dinner they retired to the parlor for a drink. Though parlors were generally large rooms housing one's best furniture, Edmund had the room redone as a game room shortly after Elizabeth came to stay with him, figuring they had enough rooms full of furniture. The room had a full bar, snooker table, several video games, a foosball table, and another section that was partitioned off and served as a movie theater, complete with projection screen, reclining seats, and a popcorn machine. Although Chase didn't know the rules of snooker, he was a pretty good pool player, and challenged Elizabeth. She agreed and set up the table as he poured them their drinks.

Chase went easy on her the first couple of games, as she made some bad shots. Gradually she got better and he started to actually play, but she still hung with him. She beat him the third game on what she coyly claimed to be a lucky shot.

"Ok, then how about we make a wager this game?"

"What did you have in mind?" she asked looking over at him from the top of her glass, as she sipped her drink.

"If I win, you strip."

Elizabeth swallowed her drink hard, thinking over his proposition for a moment. "Okay, but since I already saw everything you have to offer last night when you were taking your Midol, if I win, you have to clean the pool tomorrow morning, so we can go swimming."

"Fine," he said as he walked past her to take the first shot, "But you ain't seen all I got to offer yet."

Chase bent over and made the first shot, but he didn't sink anything. Elizabeth took her turn and sunk a ball, then another, and another. Chase sat back on the stool as he watched her run the table on him and sink every ball. When she was done, she delicately placed her cue on the table and smugly looked up at him.

"You sharked me!" he exclaimed.

"I did not, I just got lucky," she countered.

"Uh-uh, nobody gets that lucky, especially when they're banking shots off the side of the table. You cheater!"