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Chapter 17

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Bree woke up that next morning to a bright light shining in her eyes.

That's weird, I always have my blinds closed.

She looked around to see papers everywhere. Bree attempted to get up, but was instantly pulled back down to the couch she was on. Bree's eyes went wide as she wondered who it could be. She relaxed as she remembered she and Chase had fallen asleep on the couch last night while planning the conference. They had successfully gotten the date changed to Monday and weren't going to release it to the press until tomorrow night. They had sent out re-invites to all the important guest though. They couldn't have Marcus finding out about this. Bree sighed as she turned to face Chase. She was quiet as he pulled her closer to him. Bree leaned up with her head resting on Chase's chest while he wrapped his arms tighter around him. She smiled and leaned in closer. She knew the second that Chase woke up, he would act as if nothing had happened. This was the closest she was going to get to him... Ever. She was pretty sure Chase would never consider dating her again, but this friendship thing was going to have to work. She shivered as the cooler started again. Chase stiffened as he felt her movement. She closed her eyes right as she waited for him to pull away. She opened her eyes slightly to see Chase waking up. He glanced down at her before pulling her close again and watching as she slept. Bree wanted to smile. She wanted to lean up and kiss him. Basically, she wanted to make everything better. But that couldn't happen. She had to cover what she wanted. She had to remember how she got herself here. She put this on herself. She caused this, all of this. Marcus gave her an offer, and she took it. She didn't have to. She was the reason for all of this.

"Bree I know you're up." Chase whispered. Bree stopped breathing momentarily. Chase laughed.

"Now I know for a fact that you're awake." Chase whispered as he leaned in a kissed her forehead. Bree smiled as his lips warmed her forehead. She hugged Chase tighter before she remembered that they weren't an item anymore. Bree opened her eyes and slowly untangled herself from him. Chase quickly caught her arm before she rose from the couch and pulled her back.

"What's up?" He asked worriedly. Bree let her eyes fall to his hand which was now resting over hers.

"it's just, we're not..." Bree left off. Chase shook his head.

"I didn't mean that last night." Chase said simply. Bree's heart dropped to her stomach. He didn't even want to be friends?

"So if you don't want to be friends... Then what are we? Acquaintances? People who used to know each other but don't talk anymore?" Bree ranted as she walked away from him. Chase sighed and caught her hand. He spun her around to face him only to make her run into his chest in the process.

"Bree... I don't want any of that." Chase said sternly. He was sick of all this indecisiveness. They had to work this out. The only problem, he still didn't trust her. He would just have to get over it.

"We'll them what do you want?" Bree whispered. Chase pulled her closer by the hips.

"What I want, is for everything to just go-" Chase was interrupted by his phone. Bree looked expectantly for Chase to continue. He threw his head back in annoyance as he pulled away from Bree and answered his phone.

"Hello?" Chase hissed into the phone.

"We'll good morning to you too, son." Donald said sarcastically into the phone. Chase rolled his eyes.

"What's up, dad?" Chase asked, he was running out of patience.

"There's an emergency tech conference in San Francisco. We need to be there in two hours. Pack and meet me on the roof." Donald explained quickly. Chase rolled his eyes and hung up. Bree felt horrible now. He had to leave and probably wouldn't be back until right before their own conference.

"I have to leave. But we will continue this later. Good bye, Bree." Chase whispered as he kissed Bree on the cheek. Bree smiled and she leaned up and kissed him back on the cheek as well. He smiled and pulled her into a hug before leading her over to the elevator and hitting the down button.

"Are you coming downstairs with me?" Bree asked. Chase shook his head.

"No, I have to clean up here first. But then I need to race home, pack, and come back here to catch the jet. I'll probably be back late tomorrow night." Chase explained as the elevator slid open. Bree sighed and walked in before turning to Chase.

"I'll miss you." Bree said as she but the ground floor button.

"I'll miss you too." Chase whispered as the doors closed. He stood back and stared at the elevator as if was it going to bring Bree back to him. He knew it wouldn't, but he missed her already. He hated himself for all of this. He wanted to trust her so badly, but he couldn't. He wanted everything to go back to the way it was before he found out. It almost felt better back then. He hated his this has changed his perspective on her. Maybe she was right by asking him if he was meant to be alone. In a way, he was. He couldn't handle relationships, much less this one.

He sighed and began to pick up the plans for the convention so he could show his father while they were on the plane. Chase raced through the top floor and made sure there was no trace of he and Bree left behind. His father would kill him if he found out they had been up here for even a minute, much less had spent the night. He quickly made his way to the elevator and waited until it opened to reveal the ground floor. It was Saturday, so no one was working today. Chase walked out of the alley door and made his way to the parking lot before he got into his car and began the short drive home. Chase was there within 5 minutes. He raced up the driveway and inside to pack. He got out a small backpack and threw in a few t-shirts and shorts. Then, he got out a real suitcase and placed in two suits. He hated how formal these events were, but he knew they would have time to sight see eventually. His father always liked to have father-son bonding times when they went away. Chase quickly gathered the bags in his hands and walked down the stairs. He glanced around making sure everything was in place before he walked down the driveway and threw his luggage in the backseat. He jumped in and drove back to Davenport Industries. He saw his father's car was also in the parking lot, so he knew they would be leaving momentarily. He quickly took hold of everything and made his way into the building. Donald had sent the elevator down for Chase so he was able to head straight to the top floor. His father was waiting for him right when the doors slid open.

"Chase. Are you ready?" He asked as he began to head towards the door to the roof. Chase nodded and continued behind his father.

"Yep. How long is the conference?" Chase asked as they walked up the stairs. Donald shrugged.

"Probably till tomorrow afternoon." Donald replied as they got into the plane. Chase threw his bags in the corner and made his way over to his seat. Donald had set up Internet in the plane so Chase decided he would continue the plans for the presentation.

"What are you up to?" Donald whispered to Chase as he say down next to him. Chase laughed.

"The presentation. Oh, I forgot to tell you. We had to move it to Monday." Chase said nonchalantly. Donald's eyes grew wide.

"What!" Donald yelled. Chase sat back and watched as he father began to pace the room.

"Marcus and Douglas moved theirs to Tuesday, and they now possess our bionic chip plans. We have to present before they do." Chase argued. Donald sighed and stopped about six feet away from Chase.

"Fine. Do you need any help?" Donald asked as he took his seat again. Chase shook his head.

"Bree and I got it done last night. I'm just looking over the plans to make sure everything is going to go alright." Chase explained as he organized the papers on the table. Donald smiled slyly as Chase mentioned Bree.

"So are you two okay now?" Donald asked with a hint of happiness to his voice. He knew how happy Bree made Chase, and he hated to hear it didn't work out just recently. Chase sighed and ran his diners through his hair.

"We kind of are. We tried being friends for less than 24 hours and that didn't turn out too well. I think we're just meant to be more than friends. I was about to ask her to he my girlfriend again when you called. So I'm going to ask her when we get back." Chase explained, trying to hint at the fact that his father interrupted a very important moment. Donald nodded along, not getting the point.

"We'll that's good. Are you ready for this conference? Supposedly there is supposed to be a tech speaker from India." Donald said slowly getting more and more excited. Chase rolled his eyes before he went back to his original plan to actually get work done. He tuned out his fathers continuous attempts to start conversation. The only person he wanted to talk to right now was Bree, and the talk he wanted to have, could only be done in person.

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