A/N: It's been a while, so this one's extra long.
Hospital Scenes:
She could feel it before she even opened her eyes. The smell was that sickening. In fact, everything sickened Chase. In the two weeks that she'd been here, she'd already learned how to hate hospitals with a passion. It reeked of that soapy smell and latex gloves. It had been even worse before. She'd been sharing a room with a patient who'd had to get her blood drawn every eight hours.
Chase's stomach lurched painfully as she almost threw up at the mere memory of it. She hated blood. From the way it looked to the rusty smell it had, thinking about it for too long just made her queasy.
In fact, she had fainted when the doctors told her that she'd lost so much blood she'd needed a transplant. Given her way, Chase would've rather died than to have watched the tubes with the red fluid injected into her. As it was, she was knocked out at the time, and hadn't found out about anything until her personal medical team had come in and told her that she'd suffered three broken ribs, two broken legs, a broken arm, a head injury, and various cuts and bruises.
So now, after a mind-blowing amount of monotony, Chase was still stuck in the L.A. Hospital after two whole weeks of surgery and white-wash walls. She laid on the bed, and slowly inched her eyes open, hoping that she would wake up one day and find herself back in her room at the Lewallen Estate.
No such dumb luck.
Chase cast her eyes around the room she'd come to consider as a prison, and let them land on the only bearable looking thing in the room, a boy whose beautiful features were passive and unmoving on his face.
Ryder Ferreira looked like he was sleeping soundly, his head pillowed on the hospital bed, next to Chase's left leg. Even though his body was probably sore from being in such a contorted position all night, there was a sort of peaceful tranquility on his features.
Chase reached her unbroken hand out and tentatively touched Ryder's fine, blond hair. It had amazed her to no end when she'd waken up to find him crowded around her along with the rest of the family, especially when she'd thought he would've still been mad about her pushing him away that night two weeks ago.
But that had been one thing and she'd quickly pushed it out of her, thinking passively that it had been nice of him to drop by. She figured it was just a one-time sort of thing.
And then, he started visiting her every single day in the hospital, and it was all Chase could do to keep her jaw from dropping.
After all, Ryder Ferreira was the captain of Beverly Champion High's varsity soccer team. From what Chase had last heard, the school's uber-competitive team was supposed to be top three in the state. She didn't even know how he managed to schedule enough practices for them to kick Riverdale's ass and visit her for these last two weeks.
Regardless, he shown up every single day without fail. Even Blake, with all his brotherly concern, didn't spend as much time with her as Ryder had. And even though her brother had always been very vocal about Ryder's "hidden" intentions, she was grateful when he wisely ignored Blake and continued their daily hospital rendezvous.
At first, Chase had been nervous and hesitant about having him around. It wasn't that she didn't want his company, because she did. She was just scared that he'd eventually come to see her as a burden and would start to resent her in time. After all, Chase knew a handful of things that were more interesting than spending a day in the hospital.
But, as the days wore on, and his routine continued habitually, she learned to let it go and fully appreciate him for all his help.
Because, if she had to admit it, nobody got things done like Ryder Ferreira. Oh, she'd seen many different forms of persuasion before. With her brother, it was always intimidation, whether it was with his switchblade or his fists. With Arielle, she used her feigned innocence against you, making it so you couldn't say no without feeling like you were committing a horrible crime by hurting her feelings. And from what she'd heard from her brother, Jade liked to play things underneath the radar. What she wanted, she got through deception and lies.
And from her silent observations of Ryder, he had a certain way with the females. He'd cross his arms in a way that made his arm muscles protrude, and smile with a look in his eyes that made the person he was talking to feel like the most important being in the world. And when he really brought out his British accent, the nurses just went wild.
It seemed terribly shallow to Chase, but it also seemed to be terribly effective too. He had, after all, managed to secure her a private room, lunch delivery specials, and a comfier, Tempurpedic mattress this way. And since Chase was no longer in the vicinity of a blood patient, she really couldn't complain about his methods, even if they did earn her a lot of jealous stares from the internship nurses.
Now, staring down at her official best friend, Chase felt a surge of appreciation for everything that he'd done for her. She attempted to shift her body slightly so that she wasn't looking at him at such an awkward angle, but only succeeded in rousing him from his sleep.
He yawned, stretched his arms out in front of him, and blinked sleepily.
"Morning," Chase said cheerfully to him. She couldn't help but feel happy at the moment. Her brother was supposed to stop by today, and he'd said that he had a surprise for her. And lately, stuck in a pointless existence, any sort of distraction was highly welcome. It was sort of sad to see how much her life priorities had changed over the last few weeks.
"Morning," Ryder replied, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He reached to his side and pulled up a big, brown bag. Chase's eyes lit up when she saw that it was Einstein Bros Bagels. "Here you go. I stopped to pick this up on my way here."
"Thanks," Chase said happily, reaching in and pulling out her routine Cinnamon Sugar Bagel and latte. Ryder had paid for almost every dinner and breakfast that she had stopped counting how much she owed him long ago. Chase figured that once she regained use of her writing arm, she'd total it up and pay him back.
"So, are you ready for some more?" Ryder said, nibbling his Chocolate Chip bagel and pulling the book off of the nightstand.
Chase nodded eagerly at him. She'd once let it slip how bored she was, and he'd immediately ran down the nearest Barnes and Noble to get her something that could combine her interests.
Since literature and theatre were her passions, he'd brought back a whole Shakespeare collection, and had taken it upon himself to read it to her dramatically with alternating male and female voices. And sometimes, if Chase was in a lot of pain and really begged, he would even stand up and act out entire scenes. It amused her to no end, seeing Beverly Champion High's resident playboy wave his arms flailing in the air while attempting Juliet's voice in a falsetto.
"Romeo! Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" Ryder read, his tan arms extending towards the distance while his big hands ruined the Juliet effect he'd been trying to go for with his high-pitched voice. Chase laughed lightly when she saw him go all out.
"This is embarrassing," Ryder heard her laugh and resumed his normal voice, grumbling good-naturedly. "The things I do for you, honestly."
"Please keep going," Chase smiled, despite the fact that it made her face hurt from all the bruises and cuts.
"Fine," Ryder huffed and resumed his place. "But I'm only letting you take advantage of me because you're injured."
Chase nodded vigorously, wondering at Ryder's talent at performing one man shows so successfully.
He flipped a page in his book and continued, "Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but my sworn love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet!" Somewhere in Juliet's passionate soliloquy, Ryder had grabbed onto Chase's good hand and had began gripping and moving it with the amount of fervor he'd believed Juliet to be invested with.
His eyes left the page and he looked into Chase's eyes, but didn't let go of her hand. Chase felt his eyes boring into hers, and somehow the distance between the two of them seemed to fall away so slowly that she had no idea how his face had ended up mere millimeters away from her own. She felt momentarily dizzy, and her eyes fluttered shut softly, as if she were waiting for him to make the first move.
He was so close now, that she could smell his boyish scent radiating off of him…
And then Ryder was hauled up from his chair by the collar of his shirt. Chase's eyes flew open, just in time to see that Blake and Ryder were as close to each other as she and Ryder had been a mere minute ago.
"Well, I must say that although this has been rather entertaining and touching to watch, I would appreciate it if you kept your hands off my sister," Blake's coldly distinctive voice sneered.
"Blake, stop," Chase said angrily. The two of them had been getting along so well before her brother had shown up and ruined everything. There had been no awkwardness so far, as far as the kissing incident went. But now, she just felt embarrassed that after all the time Ryder had spent on her, he was getting treated like this. And as pathetic as it was, she wasn't sure how she could entertain herself without him. "Put him down right now," Chase said firmly in a nicer voice, noticing that the tips of Ryder's toes were almost skimming the ground.
Blake spared his sister a glance into her pleading eyes, and loosened his grip. "Maybe you should learn to stay away. It's just like you to start groping her before she can even fight back to defend herself," Blake growled, not willing to let it go without the last word. He didn't like the way that Ryder and Chase had gotten so close over the last few weeks. He still remembered that one night when Ryder had abandoned Chase, leaving his sister all alone in some deserted neighborhood. He would've thought that Chase would've been slower to forgive something like that. "Chase, I want you to stop this." He told his sister firmly in a his usual brotherly fashion.
"Blake!" Chase cried, not believing her ears. He was basically ordering her only consistent visitor to stop seeing her. "I can't believe you. Ryder's the only one who's been here every day. And if I remember correctly, you haven't visited ever since Thursday."
She knew it was a low blow to play the guilt card, but she was furious and worried that Blake's overprotective, brotherly feelings would scare Ryder away for good. And given the way that things had been progressing so nicely, she would hate for the two of them to go back to being strangers again. She figured Blake could take a little admonishing anyway.
"Sorry," Blake ran a palm over his face in embarrassment at his own human failing.
"It's fine. Anyways, you said you had a surprise for me?" Chase said in a cheerful tone, trying to steer away from the dangerous direction the previous topic had been veering towards.
"Yeah," Blake said, finally turning his glare away from Ryder, who—to his credit—managed to glare back unblinkingly in the face of a hostile Blake van Buren. "I thought since you'll be cooped up in here indefinitely, I might as well get you something entertaining."
At this point, Chase only just noticed Arielle as the blond stepped forward from the shadows at Blake's words, and produced an adorable ginger kitten from her purse. "Blake and I thought you'd like a kitty to play with during the day, when we're all in school."
Chase smiled lightly and offered up her good arm, so that she could hold the tiny hairball creature. She didn't want to admit it aloud, but the idea of cats had scared her ever since she'd found a dead one in her bag. Still, it was a nice thought on the part of Blake. At least the kitty was vastly different from the strangled black cat she'd encountered not too long. "Thanks," she murmured, immersing herself in scratching the kitten's soft, ginger fur with her fingers.
Blake nodded in acknowledgement. "There's someone else here to see you too," Blake said stiffly, and Chase wondered who it was. Mostly everybody she knew had already visited within the first week. Even some people like Duke and Winter and West had stopped by briefly to give her their sincerest regards. Chase had never thought she'd see the day when the most popular people in school would actually concern herself about her welfare.
And at that moment, the leader of the school's most infamous group herself strode through the doorway, throwing the door open in a way that announced Jade Lewallen's arrival to the entire hospital wing.
" Hey Chase," Jade said blithely, moving forward with a certain fluidity in her motion. Watching her, Chase was suddenly reminded of the first time she'd seen her soon-to-be step-sister. There had been an air of intimidation and power around her persona, and time seemed to have only increased it.
When Jade was in the room, she positively dominated. The atmosphere seemed to crinkle and vibrate with energy, and Chase was soon convinced that there was nothing more fear-inspiring the vision of Jade gliding forward determinedly with a blankly cold stare on her face, looking like she was about to take over the world.
"Sorry I couldn't make it earlier. School business coming up, you know, the usual," Jade yanked Ryder's empty chair towards herself, and managed to sink down into it with a dismissively disdainful look at the peeling paint.
"It's fine," Chase said, hugging her new kitten close tightly to her chest, using it as a sort of shield.
"Anyways," Jade continued breezily, "I figured that now would be a good time for the two of us to spend some bonding time together, since we're going to be sisters after all."
"Thanks Jade. It's nice of you to visit me in the hospital," Chase told her, wondering when she'd been transformed into such a stiffly polite person.
Jade nodded succinctly. "Speaking of that, do you know when you get out of this place?"
Chase shook her head. She'd started a habit of pestering the nurses to let her know when she could leave the hospital, but all the answers had been fairly vague. "Soon, I hope," she answered, not wanting Jade to think that Chase was purposely trying to withdraw from the conversation or with-hold information.
"I better secure your release date today, then," Jade sighed and whipped out her Blackberry, and Chase didn't tell her that she'd been asking the same question for two weeks to no avail. Besides, a part of her had a nagging feeling that if Jade said she was going to secure Chase's release date, then it'd be done with little question.
"So, besides this whole hospital issue, I was actually going to line us up for spa treatments. I'm starting to think that you're going to have some difficulty with that, though," Jade took this time to take a good look at Chase, who was currently swathed in bandages and casts and cuts. Jade's finely waxed eyebrow raised when she saw the neck brace that connected with Chase's spine.
"Lord, is there a place where you're not broken?" Jade laughed shortly, even though Chase could tell her heart wasn't in it at all. Somehow, Jade's laugh made Chase strangely even more self-conscious about her appearance than she'd thought possible.
"My left arm," Chase waggled her fingers weakly in response while the ginger tabby occupied the rest of her arm. "And other, random places."
Jade tapped the edge of her Blackberry against her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe we should just stick with getting you a facial makeover, then." Nodding to herself affirmatively, she keyed something into her phone's keypad. Chase wondered why Jade was being so nice to her all of a sudden. The only time the two of them had really interacted was when Jade had taken her out to Queens that one night. And now, Jade was acting as if the two of them were best friends. The drastic change was slightly unnerving.
Jade noticed Chase staring at her, and turned her blood red lips in what she must've thought was a reassuring manner. "Don't worry, we'll get that face fixed in no time," she told Chase, patting her on the arm, and Chase didn't have the heart to pull away .
"And just what exactly do you mean by that?" Blake hissed, as Jade stood up against and passed right by him.
"I mean," Jade turned around to look at Chase unabashedly, "That I'm sure Chase's face has seen better days and could use a little surgical help. Those nasty scars look permanent."
Then she turned to Blake and hissed in a voice that only he could hear, "Plus, she's related to you. Do you really need or want me to elaborate on that?" She shot him a venom-filled look and, without waiting for his answer, she swept out of the hospital room, without so much as sparing him a backward glance to see how her retort had gone down.
Blake watched her go, jaws snapped tight. He didn't give a flying fuck what Jade Lewallen thought of him, but making a move on his unsuspecting sister was just too much.
"Chase, don't do anything she says," Blake said vehemently, moving in onto the chair that Jade had just vacated.
"For once, I think I'm going to have to agree with your brother," Ryder said seriously, dropping his formerly cheerful tone.
"She doesn't seem that bad," Chase said. It wasn't because she trusted Jade implicitly, or anything. But the facial makeover Jade had offered to help remove the ugly scars and bruises on her face was incredibly tempting. These past weeks, all Chase could do was ruefully look away every time she caught a reflection of herself. And even though Ryder assured her that he barely noticed them at all—a blatant lie, since the raw, angry cuts were all over her face--, she couldn't help but wonder why Ryder had coiled away in disgust, especially when he was used to so many other impeccably gorgeous girls, like Arielle and Jade and Winter.
"They're right," one of the girls aforementioned came and sat on Chase's crisply white hospital bed. "I've lived with Jade for almost seventeen years, and she is almost never up to anything good. She delights in bringing people down to their weakest point, and then crushing them and using them."
Ryder nodded vigorously at Arielle's statement, and Chase had to resist the urge of ask him what Jade had done to him before.
"So, you see why we would want you to stay away from her. We're looking out for you," Blake told her, and Chase gazed at the three of them. They made an odd sort of team image together. She would've never thought to put these three together.
"I'll be fine," Chase forced herself to say, even though she couldn't see the harm in letting Jade take care of her current facial feature issues.
The three of them relaxed when they heard that. "Don't worry. You can trust us on this," Arielle smiled beatifically, "Jade Lewallen can be kind of a bitch." And to her credit, she was probably tired of taking Jade's shit for the greater majority of her life.
"Wow," came a voice from behind them. The four of them immediately turned and raised their eyes, even though all of them knew who it'd be. "It's so nice to know that's what everyone thinks of me."
"Hi," Chase said weakly, because she was the only one of the four that was on speaking terms with Jade at the moment. "Sorry. We didn't mean any of the things."
Jade favored Chase with her classic smile, "Don't be sorry, Chase. You haven't done anything. And luckily, I don't really care what those other three think of me, anyway."
At this point, she proceeded to slit her eyes sideways, giving all of them a look that was meant to make them feel like dirt underneath her shoe. Ryder and Arielle shifted uncomfortably, while Blake continued to eye her with unabashed despise.
Chase blinked in surprise. She would've thought that Jade and Arielle would be getting along fabulously, considering that they were twins after all.
"Anyways, I just wanted to stop by to tell you that I've ordered a release date for you to get out of this crappy room," Jade focused her attention on Chase again, ignoring the others once more. "You're leaving this Tuesday. After much persuasion, I've convinced the doctors to let you go. Of course, you're still in a bit of critical condition, but I've just bought you your own medical team that will live with you at Lewallen Estates until you make a full recovery."
Chase felt a smile slide over her face, no matter how painful it was to smile this wide. She was officially going to be free in two days, and at that moment, Chase found that she really didn't care what an evil person everybody said Jade Lewallen was. Surely, if Jade was such a bad person, she wouldn't have bothered to go all out for Chase.
"Thank you," Chase told Jade sincerely, feeling a surge of emotion go through her. "It means a lot to me."
Jade winked at her conspiratorially. "My pleasure." She checked her diamond encrusted watch and stood up. "I have to go, actually. There are a lot of details to be ironed out for your new medical plan."
Chase watched as Jade flipped her dark brown hair behind her shoulders. "But you should definitely eat lunch with me when you come back on Wednesday. We'll catch up then. I would love to get to know you better. Maybe we'll go shopping sometime."
The way she said it left little room for argument. Plus, now that Chase had gotten over her fear of the lunchroom, she did need a place to sit. Somehow, she had a feeling that a seat at Jade's table would propel her straight to the top of the social ladder. "Yeah, definitely." She answered, to all of Jade's offers.
Jade nodded, satisfied. Then, blowing a last air kiss to Chase, she left the room without a glance at the other three in the room.
"Is your sister that desperate?" Blake turned and scoffed to Arielle. "She must've realized that she has no friends left and now she's attempting to buy them since she can't keep them any other way."
Arielle didn't answer that question for a long time, and Chase realized that even if it had seemed as if Jade and Arielle were currently ignoring each other, Arielle must've still felt defensive about Jade. Chase could remember the number of times she and Blake had gotten into fights, only for one of them to defend the other against a united adversary.
"Jade's always that way," Arielle finally settled. "She takes in new people and molds them into her group. Then, when she gets tired of them, she'll just replace them. As long as Chase knows that, I think she'll be fine."
"That's like sending Chase as a sacrificial lamb into Jade's den," Ryder exclaimed and shook his head forcefully. "She's not going to be fine. I don't know exactly how Jade does it, but it's highly effective. Remember how Winter Beaumont used to be a comic fan loser who nobody wanted to be friends with. And now look at her. She's practically a walking, talking Barbie doll robot. You would never in a million years guess that she used to read "Marvel" during lunch. That's how good Jade is."
Blake's jaw tensed, and Chase knew that his mind was coming to a conclusion. "You're definitely not having anything to do with her. I don't want some sort of Jade clone as a sister," Blake said, agreeing with Ryder for the second time today. It was funny how well the two of them could get along when pushed to do so.
Chase visibly sank lower into her covers. She didn't know how to tell Blake that she couldn't just say no. It wasn't some social climber issue, either. Chase had never been particularly interested in that. It was more of the fact that Chase felt like she was indebted. Jade had just busted her from Los Angeles Hospital in the span of five minutes, and she didn't want to come off as ungrateful. Besides, there was a small feeling inside her that Jade was the kind of person who would not take "no" as an answer.
"I can't," Chase said softly, and her voice sounded pathetic, even to herself. She hated that she felt like she was caving in to peer pressure or whatever, but she figured that maybe one lunch with Jade couldn't hurt. She'd be out of there once she felt that Jade was satisfied.
"Chase, be rational," Blake told her in a warning sort of tone.
Chase sighed audibly at that. It was so easy for Blake to say that. Blake was the type who did whatever he wanted, regardless of how it might look. He always told her that nobody would control him, because his opinion was the only one that mattered in his life. It was easy for him to remain unfazed in the face of pressure.
"Look, Blake," Chase said tiredly. This entire ordeal had worn her out greatly. "Let's talk about this some other time, when I'm not stuck in a hospital room."
When it looked like he was about to argue, Chase quickly interjected, "Oh, and Blake, I've been meaning to ask you to do something for me. It just always slipped my mind when you were here."
Blake heard Chase and looked torn between wanting to pursue the previous subject, and wanting to help his sister. "What do I need to do?" He finally said, giving a dejected frown, promising himself to revisit the topic at a later date.
Chase smiled at her success, "That night of the engagement party, I accidentally lost my ring. It was really loose, and I think it might've fell off during the accident. Do you mind going to the car and getting it for me?"
Blake pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Where exactly is your car?" Chase realized with a jolt that she really didn't know. She'd assumed it was back in the Lewallen garage.
"It's at the junkyard." Arielle spoke up. "I know where it is."
"Okay. The two of us will go and get your ring." Blake directed, getting up with a sense of purpose in his walk. "And we'll get it to you as soon as possible."
"Thanks," Chase called after the two of them, as they left. She settled down comfortably in her pillows as she watched the tip of her brother's dark hair disappear with Arielle's blond one.
Outside, Blake removed the car keys from his pocket and twirled them around his finger idly. Today had just proved that Jade Lewallen was indeed the biggest bitch if he'd ever seen one. She was possibly the only person to ever grate on his nerves so much. It made Blake miss his old life, back before everyone seemed to have an ulterior motive for doing something.
And then there was the problem with his sister. It made him so pissed just thinking about it that he nearly crashed the car into the Bentley on the left lane while driving, even as Arielle was screaming for him to turn right. He gave the Bentley man the finger as the owner shouted incoherent words and threats from his car.
Blake was in a dangerous mood.
In a work of miracle, he somehow made it to the junkyard unscathed and whole. Blake viciously swung the car around and the tires gave a sickening squeal as Blake threw it into the narrow parking space, not even bothering to notice that the car's position made it nearly impossibly Arielle to get out on her side.
"Blake, calm down," she admonished, as she climbed out from his side of the car.
He ignored her, making a beeline for the nearest employee he saw. The faster he could get the stupid ring, the faster he'd be out of here and back at the hospital. Blake didn't like the idea of Ryder and Chase alone together, where Ryder could take advantage of his sister. If he had been able to get here without Arielle's, he would've asked her to stay behind to watch the two of them.
"We're here to see the Lewallen car that was brought here two weeks ago," Blake said coolly to the bald man who bore a startling resemblance to Humpty Dumpty with glasses.
The man frowned. "Are you sure? That car's a piece of twisted metal at this point."
Blake looked at the man contemptuously, marveling at his stupidity. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have come here. Now I would appreciate it if you told me, because my fucking patience is running fairly low right now."
The man looked sullen and angry at Blake's impatience. "It's over in junkyard down at the very end." And that was all Blake needed before he was completely gone.
"Sorry, he's in a bad mood," he heard Arielle say to Humpty Dumpty as he bulldozed his way down the gravel-ridden path. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be angry, he smiled at what she said. Arielle was way too nice for her own good to the point where it was actually slightly endearing.
He walked slowly as he reached the end of the junkyard, and spotted the poor remains of the formerly glorious forest green Mercedes Benz. The headlights were completely smashed, and there was shatter glass all over the leather seats. The bender was bunched closely, like a slinky, and there were random, deep dents all over the car.
Blake cursed. Chase couldn't possibly expect him to actually find a tiny ring in this wreckage. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Besides, it was just a ring. He could always just buy her another one.
"Come on," Arielle said beside him, finally having caught up. "It's here somewhere. Probably on the floor in the first row. So, you'll take the driver's side, and I'll take the other side."
Blake gave a noncommittal grunt of disapproval as his previously solution dissipated, but joined Arielle nonetheless, wrenching open the smashed car door as hard as he could.
Frowning, he tried to squeeze himself through the doors, failing miserably. He pulled himself upright again, breathing heavily from his exertions. Blake looked at the small space wearily. There was no way he was going to be able to squeeze through that tiny opening.
He positioned himself sideways, to see if it would be easier, placing his left hand grippingly on the exterior of the car while using his right hand to try to pull himself through.
After making no progress, Blake pulled himself back out. When Arielle finished with the passenger side, he'd ask and see if she could manage to fit herself into that sham of an opening.
Disgustedly, Blake noted that his left palm was dirty. He looked at it disapprovingly and was about to wipe it off on the back of his jeans, when something made him pause.
He lifted his palm again, and brought it closer to examine just what exactly was on it.
Flecks. Black flecks of paint, in fact.
Puzzled, Blake ran a thumb over his palm and turned it this way and that. Chase's car was a pure green through and through. There wasn't a spot of black paint anywhere.
"Found it," Arielle called to him triumphantly, holding up the object with her thumb and pointer finger.
"Arielle, come over here," Blake motioned, barely acknowledging the fact that she'd just made it possible for him to never have to squeeze through the opening again.
"What?" Arielle tucked the ring into her purse, and walked over. Her brows were furrowed like she was curious.
"Why would there be black paint on an Everest green car?" Blake held his hand out to her so that she could see for herself.
"I don't know. It shouldn't, so I guess it's not from the green car then." Arielle cautiously took one of the larger black flecks, and squinted closely at it.
"So, if it's not from the green car, then it stands to reason that it came from another car." Blake finished, and finally dusted off the dirty paint bits.
"So, Chase crashed her car into someone else's that night?" Arielle bent down in kneeling position and examined the door herself. Now that she thought about it, the dent in the car looked more like a fender dent than something that came crashing into a tree.
"I can't think of any other reason," Blake angrily smashed a fist into the broken glass. It was too much of a fucking coincidence. First Chase had been kidnapped and deserted on unfamiliar territory, and now this. Someone was trying to deliberately sabotage his sister. And he could only think of one person who was cunning enough to pull something like that. "I can bet that Jade probably orchestrated all this."
Arielle shook her head adamantly. "No, she couldn't have. She was at the party when this happened. Besides, maybe we're over-thinking this. For all we know, a random driver could have accidentally rammed into her car."
Blake started walking back, not willing to believe that Arielle could still blindly defend Jade, even after their falling out. "Her car was at the side of the road. No driver is going to hit a totaled car from the side. This was deliberate."
Arielle fell into his slow gait as she pondered his logic. "I just can't see Jade doing this, though. She can be mean, sometimes, but she wouldn't take it this far. It's not her style."
"Your sister's style is to inflict as much pain and humiliation as possible," Blake growled through bared teeth.
"Jade likes to make it emotionally and psychologically painful. Whoever did this is going for pure physical." Arielle staunchly soldiered on, despite the fact that she was supposed to be supporting Blake instead of her own sister, who happened to be ignoring her at the moment anyway.
"Let's at least check to see if Jade's bought a car in the last month," Blake argued, knowing very well that Jade's car was a fiery red.
"Even on the off chance she did, it wouldn't be in the Lewallen accounts. It'll be in her private one at Bank of America. And no one can access those, not even me." Arielle said, a sour taste growing in her mouth at those last words. Now that she thought about it, it was just another one of the things that made it obvious that Jade had never trusted and treated her as an equal.
Blake looked at Arielle, but didn't say anything else. To him, Jade was the most likely person. It would certainly explain why she'd been trying to befriend Chase so much. He was certain that it was only a matter of time before Jade tried something else. Except this time, he would already know about it.
"Let's go," he muttered, not willing to argue the point with Arielle, who seemed to be in denial anyways. He got into his own car, revving the engine loudly, and leaving the junkyard behind him.
He was going to do whatever it took to find evidence against Jade. Now that he thought about it, Jade had been around at the time of Chase's first kidnapping too. It would all make sense. After all, it was no secret that Jade hated the van Burens and wanted all of them gone. She might just attempt to try something else on Chase. Except this time, Blake would be ready.
Time to find out just what exactly was going on.
A/N: Thanks to everybody who read and reviewed the first chapter! I'm going to get started on replying to everyone as soon as I get this chapter uploaded. I know it's been a while, but I'm making an effort to update at least once every month, so that I'd have half of it finished before summer. Anyways, expect the next super-short update around the 21st. A longer update will follow on October 11, the day after I finish my SATs. Anyways, please enjoy and leave me feedback! I welcome all criticism and randomness. Thanks again to everyone!
