Blurred Lines 1: CHASE
Chapter 61

~Sofia~

"Care to enlighten me? What the hell happened back there?" I asked, handing Derek a Heineken. I stacked my fridge with beer since he kept bugging me for one last time he was here. He smirked, wincing when the cut on his lips was stretched in the process.

I rolled my eyes, shoving the cold bottle on his chest. "Wait here," I said and went to get the first aid kit. Derek sat man-spread on the couch with the bottle pressed on his swollen cheek when I returned.

"So," I started and pulled out the kit's cleaning solution, cotton, and bandages. "Spill." I raised my forefinger and shook my head when he opened his mouth. "And no, don't say it's nothing, or I don't need to worry about it. I know you, Derek. I'm not blind or a kid. What the hell is up with you and Chase?"

He considered his following statements and sighed. "Sofia."

"No, Derek," I pressed, narrowing my eyes at him. "Tell me, or I won't ever speak to you again. This concerns me. You clearly know about Chase and me. How?"

My hands were trembling as I started cleaning Derek's face. His blue eyes flickered to my hand. The tension in my body grew stronger as the adrenaline waned. My heart was still hammering in my chest from the tsunami of emotions hitting me from all directions. The look Chase and Derek gave each other earlier still lingers on the back of my eyelids. Derek's rage. It's like he wanted to burn Chase alive. And the agony on Chase's eyes. I pinched my eyes closed. I want to get it out of my head.

What could have happened for them to end in that situation. They used to be inseparable. They were brothers.

I dropped my hand on my lap, clenching and unclenching.

"Letty," I murmured. Derek stiffened.

Letty was Derek's girlfriend. I was still too young back then, but I looked up to her like my older sister. We were close, but she died in a car accident ten years ago. Letty was a free soul, just like Miles.Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on FindNovel.net. Visit FindNovel.net to read the complete chapters for free. She loved cars. She got it from her father, is what she said. His dad and mine were best buddies, and they used to race back in their younger days. Dad stopped racing when Letty's dad died in a race. The authorities ruled it an accident, but dad said the car had been sabotaged. Letty's dad was burned alive in his car. Sadly, she died the same way.

Derek refused to talk about her since then.

Come to think of it, Chase disappeared almost simultaneously after Letty's accident. Then Derek joined the military. Everything changed since then.

"I haven't heard her name in a long time. You need to tell me."

"Letty died because of Chase," Derek murmured. The sound of his voice was a cross between a growl and a pained hiss.

"What?" I whispered, pinning my brother with disbelief.

He glared at the flat screen like he wanted to punch a hole in it. "Letty was cheating on me with Chase." My mouth hung open. I found it hard to process every word that Derek was uttering. "I didn't know how long they've been making a fool out of me... not until the accident." He shook his head and took a long pull of his beer.

"Chase was the one behind the wheels when the accident happened. He killed Letty."

"Wait... wait a second," I raised my hand. I struggled to digest this information. "Letty and Chase?"

"Yes!" Derek growled. "That's why he suddenly left Boston. He needed his father's money to get him out of jail."

"Are you sure about this?" Needing the distraction, I stood up and started pacing. "The police said it was an accident."

Letty getting involved in racing came as a surprise to us. She loved cars but was also aware of the consequences of joining illegal races. Accidents are unavoidable since they use the streets as race tracks.

"The race was illegal. No one wanted to come forward and say that Letty was a passenger, not the driver, because it would put them on the scene."

I shook my head and faced Derek. "How did you know then? You weren't there when the accident happened." Derek's face hardened. "No, because if I was, none of this would've happened. Since Letty had no other kin, the hospital gave me her belongings. Chase and Letty had been sneaking out for months before the accident. They would meet up in different places in the middle of the night. Bars, restaurants, race tracks... you name it. Months, Sofia!" He finished his beer and slammed it on the coffee table. Shoulders tensed, he stood up and stared at the open window.

"My best friend and my girl," his voice trembled at the memory, as if everything had just happened yesterday. "What did Chase say about this?"

Derek let out a humorless laugh. "That's the funny thing about us, Sofia. You sounded just like me. Even with the evidence ready to bite me in the face, I still talked to Chase. I don't know... I hoped that there was something so fucking important that they had to meet somewhere, and they just didn't want to tell me, but you know what he said? He told me that Letty didn't want to hurt me."

I dropped onto the couch with wobbly legs. My head hurt, and my chest was heavy. Even breathing was becoming harder by the minute.

Derek slumped down beside me. I was lost for words.

"Before he left for Rio, I told him to stay away for good. Leave, or I will end him. I was so mad at the world. I didn't even want to be in the military, but that was the only way I could put my anger to good use. I didn't

put want you and mom to see me that way, lost and confused and angry."

Somehow, I understand Derek's anger towards Chase and why Chase disappeared after the accident. But why do I feel like I am only hearing one side of the story? I know Chase. He would never do that to Derek. They might not be of blood, but he was family. But I said nothing and leaned my head on his shoulder. He was shaking. From anger, from the walk down memory lane, I'm not sure.

"I'm so sorry," I said. I wanted to ask more questions, but this day drained my energy. All of us needed rest. Derek sighed and finished his beer.

"I wish you told me. You didn't have to go through that alone." I know they were only words, but I mean it. I would be there for him... If only he had told me.