Wild Chase (5 page)

“I’m sure Luke wouldn’t mind seeing you again.”

For the first time in the seven years I had known her, Victoria Pierce blushed.

“He was something, all right,” she mused. Quickly trying to distract me from her pink cheeks, she changed the subject to something naughty. “I wasn’t wrong about him looking like the dirty type either, Chase. Luke couldn’t keep his hands off—”

I started to laugh and shake my head.

“I get it, Vic! The infamous Dirty McGuire Brothers. Enough said! Now, if we don’t get going we are going to be late for Spanish.”

We gathered up our stuff, made a beeline down the hall, and made it through the crowded locker area just in time to slip into our class before the tardy bell rang.

I sighed as I sank into my seat. Thanks to my bestie, my mind was going to be wandering far, far away from anything Spanish-related for the next hour.

By the time I got home from school, I was sulking even more than I had the day before. A breath of relief slipped from my lips when I realized that it was a Monday, which meant that my parents would be at church until I climbed into bed. That would give me some time to myself to try and get these wild thoughts under control, or at the very least, try and make some sense of them.

As I got closer to the front of our house I noticed a black mustang parked outside. I figured it had to be someone visiting our neighbors, so I kept walking, lost in memories of gray eyes and lip rings.

I rounded my mother’s rose bushes and began the fifteen-foot trek up the sidewalk to my front door.

That’s when I saw him sitting on my front porch steps, causing me to stop suddenly. In fact, I think I stopped breathing because he was even more gorgeous in the daylight.

He was wearing a red band t-shirt over a long sleeve black shirt and blue jeans, his hair in that same sexy, messy look that made me want to run my hands through it and just mess it up more.

His gray eyes locked onto mine as he hit me with that heart-stopping grin of his and my body instantly reacted.

Without any conscious thought, a big smile spread across my face as I threw my book bag to the ground, instantly took off running toward him. My heart was pounding so hard that I knew Avery would feel it this time. Luckily, he had just enough time to get to his feet before I leapt into his arms.

Breathing him in deeply, I tightened my grip around his neck and shoulders. I didn’t care that I had known him a total of five hours or five years. I felt more comfort in his arms than I had ever felt in my own home. I let go slowly as he sat me down on the ground in front of him, and that same smile never left his face.

“Happy to see me?” he asked with a laugh.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling and shaking my head, “No, not at all.”

We both laughed and stood there for a moment in a comfortable silence. I stared down at my hands and watched as a couple of his fingers slowly found mine and hooked them together. I bit the corner of my bottom lip and peeked up at him.

“I would have called, but you don’t have a phone. You gave me your address, but I didn’t want to just show up here like some creepy stalker. I spent all day yesterday bored out of my mind and the only thing I could think about was you,” Avery said, glancing back and forth between my eyes and our interlaced fingers. “So, obviously, I took the creep-o route. I hope you’re not completely freaked out right now.”

He cleared his throat and chuckled nervously
.

Why on earth did he sound nervous? I almost tackled him a few minutes ago.

“As long as you aren’t comparing me to a linebacker right now, then I think we can call it even,” I said softly, laughing to cover up my own nervousness. I don’t remember him being so boyishly cute. The tattoos, messy hair in his face, and lip ring couldn’t hide the fact that he was not only hot, but he was adorable, too. My heartstrings were being tugged so hard I was certain they would snap at any moment.

He let out a loud laugh. “I promise you it never crossed my mind. I was hoping I could spend the afternoon with you,—if you didn’t have any other plans, that is.”

My heart started to race and I suddenly couldn’t remember how to use my tongue. I nodded, and his face fell.

“Oh, ok, well maybe another day this week then?”

Get it together, Chase!
I screamed at myself.

“Oh, no, I meant yeah, yes, I mean. I’d like to spend the afternoon with you. I don’t have any other plans,” I managed to get out. “If you’ll give me a few minutes I’ll just go throw my stuff in my room and then we can go do whatever. I just need to be back here by eight.”

The smile that spread across his face reawakened that familiar fluttering feeling I had become so acquainted with on Saturday.

“Perfect. I’ll wait right here.”

I darted into the house and literally threw my book bag onto my bed. I knew I had homework, but it was the last thing on my mind. I glanced in the mirror and nearly gagged.

Seriously? I’m surprised he didn’t act like he had the wrong house. In the words of my bff, I was lookin’ a hot mess!

My ridiculously long, brown, curly hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and my make-up free face looked young compared to the way it had the other night. I threw off my ratty, old red jacket and stared down at my Bible camp T-shirt. In two seconds flat, I tossed it into the hamper and replaced it with a purple V-neck, long-sleeved shirt. I smoothed the shirt down over my stomach and stared at the curves that seemed to have developed overnight. I wasn’t a scrawny, little thing anymore.

I pulled my hair tie out and shook my hair down, running my fingers through it to try to fluff it back to life. “Well, this will just have to do,” I thought to myself. I swiped on some chap stick, grabbed my jacket, and headed for the door.

Avery ended up taking me to a restaurant about fifteen minutes from my house. We settled into a booth and fell into the most natural conversation. Talking to him was so easy it was almost scary. We talked about our childhoods, our families, and his home.

My twenty one year old hottie was the product of a happy family of four until his entire world changed at the age of ten. His mother took off in the middle of the night, leaving Avery and his younger brother with his father. Not that he complained. His father did the best he could under the circumstances. He was the VP of a massive telecommunications company and sounded very successful. Avery told me that while his father worked long hours, he would always come home and turn on their stereo as loud as it would go and spend what time was left of the evening with the two of them. No matter what, there had always been music playing in their house, and though it was obvious that his dad did it because he didn’t want to talk about the hard stuff, Avery knew his love of music developed from that.

We moved off the topic of family and quickly switched to lighter topics like movies, music, and books. The more I talked to him, the more I realized just how much Avery and I had in common. We had the same sense of humor, obviously the same taste in music, and he was more than just some guy I had met in a bar. He was smart. He was well spoken, funny, charismatic, and witty. Avery was magnificent.

I pushed a half-empty plate of fries aside, propped up my elbows and laid my head on my hands, smiling across the table at him. I watched as he brushed his hair back and smiled back at me. Pushing the sleeves of his shirt up, he gave me a glimpse of his ink as he casually laid his arms on the table. Like a reflex, my hand flew out to him and touched his arm, tracing the tattoos. The one on his right forearm looked like sheet music. Staff and notes wrapped around his arm. I wasn’t skilled enough to read music, so I had no idea what song it was. The left was covered in writing. He cleared his throat and moved his arms for me to get a better look.

“This one,” he began, pointing to the sheet music one, “is the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar—Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.” And this one is kind of my mantra, my words to live by.” He tapped at the scripted flesh on his arm and I leaned in further to get a better look.

The words
Music is a Moral Law, It Gives Soul to the
Universe
were scribed in beautiful calligraphy on his toned forearm.

My face lit up, “That’s Plato, right?” I asked.

Raising an impressed eyebrow, he took my hand in his.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” he said, never taking his eyes off me. I knew I was blushing but I didn’t care. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and decided to change the subject.

“I really love your tattoos. How many do you have?”

He grinned, “A whole lot. I’ve never really kept count, but I know I have a ton.”

“Really? I’d love to see them,” I chimed with a childish excitement that I instantly regretted.

He wiggled his eyebrows at me in a suggestive way, “Even if I have to remove quite a bit of clothing to show you?”

I can honestly say that I had never thought of him naked up until that exact moment, and then that’s the only thing I could think about. My entire body must have turned bright pink because Avery just chuckled to himself.

He leaned across the table and whispered, “You’re thinking about me naked, aren’t you?”

My jaw dropped and I reached out and playfully smacked him on the bicep. He made a face like I hurt him, but he couldn’t pretend long because he couldn’t stop laughing. I, of course, started to laugh too, forgetting that I was even embarrassed to begin with.

Before I knew it, almost three hours had passed and it was almost seven. Avery was ever the gentleman, paying for our meal and opening the car door for me as we headed back to my house.

I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet. I kept fidgeting in my seat and checking my watch. My parents wouldn’t be home until about nine. I had a good hour more I could spend with him. Before he could say anything, I blurted out something that I could only call insanity.

“Do you want to come in for a little bit?”

He looked a little surprised, but nodded.

“As long as you say it’s ok, of course I’d like to.”

We went inside and I showed him around quickly, not wasting our time on a tour. When we reached my bedroom, I thought his jaw was going to drag the floor.

“This is your room?” he asked with an odd sternness to his voice.

Watching him survey the four walls, I nodded. He turned to me, his face completely disconcerted, and pointed at the entrance.

“Chase, there’s no door!”

I shrugged. I hadn’t thought this far ahead when I invited him in.

“Privacy is for adults, I am not an adult yet,” I replied in a mocking tone, trying to laugh it off. I looked up at him as he gave me a sad, almost torn look.

“There isn’t an ounce of color in here, no door, nothing. Add bars, and it may as well be a jail cell. This can’t seriously be how you live every day,” he spoke almost angrily.

I wanted to feel defensive. How dare he act like my life is like a prison, but, the truth was, I had felt that way for so long that I couldn’t argue.

I felt his strong hands on either side of my face as he tilted my head up. I stared up into those stormy eyes and braced myself. He was about to wreck me again.

“I know we haven’t known each other long, but seriously, Chase, there’s so much more to you than this,” he said waving his hands around my room and gritting his teeth out of anger.

I don’t know if it was the repressed thought of this being the last time I would see him or touch him suddenly surfacing, or the way he was already fighting for me, a girl he barely knew, but something inside of me broke. The innocent nature of my feelings toward him crumbled. My hesitation melted away as I stepped forward and with both hands grabbed onto his shirt. The urge to touch him and kiss him overwhelmed me completely, and it must have been on his mind too because in an instant his hands were cupping my face and his lips were on mine.

We were in the middle of my room, locked in a sweet, gentle kiss and something inside me just felt like it snapped.

I wanted to be closer to him. I wanted to touch more of him. I just wanted more.

I needed more.

My grip on his shirt tightened, and I pulled harder. I pressed my lips to his with such urgency. His hand slid passed my cheek and into my hair, tugging it gently. We stumbled backwards a few steps until my legs hit the back of my bed, and I sat down quickly, never letting go of his shirt. Slowly, his large frame followed my lead as I began to lie back bringing his body over the top of mine. My pulse was racing wildly as he sank down against me, my hands moved timidly up his chest, one into his messy hair while the other rested against his neck. Avery made a very low growling sound and my entire body reacted by arching against his. He broke our kiss, and I made the most unattractive, groaning sound as his lips started working their way down my neck. I let out a gasp, and my eyes fluttered open and I felt goose bumps covering my body. Feeling his tongue against my collarbone, I made that awful noise again and pulled a little at his hair. He paused and brought his face back up to mine; my heart sank. I’d probably hurt him or completely ruined the moment by sounding like a crazed animal every time he kissed me there, but I had never felt anything so wonderful before in my life.