Crazy Love(73)

“Are you guys back together?”

“No,” she automatically replied then immediately took it back. “I mean…I don’t know. We’re hanging out.”

Chris looked down at her with a pained look in his eyes. “Like we were hanging out?”

Krista was at a loss. The truth was that, as much as she liked Chris, she knew there would never be a future for them. A small twinge of guilt grabbed in her chest, but she quickly reminded herself that she and Chris were not a couple. They really had just been hanging out. Sure, she had only been seeing him for that time, but they’d never had a talk about things being monogamous. For all she knew, he’d gone home with a different bar bunny every week.

“Look, I really like you, Krista. A lot. And I’ve missed you. I know you have some stuff to work out with Chase, but when he leaves, I’ll be here. We are good together.” Then he leaned down and kissed her.

She wasn’t sure if the kiss was his way of trying to illustrate his point, but if that was the case, it was a poor illustration. Perhaps sensing her resistance, he slowly pulled away. As she looked up into his eyes, she wanted to tell him that he was a great guy, good-looking, funny, smart, and any girl would be lucky to have him. She kept her mouth shut though, because after growing up around her five cousins, she knew enough about the opposite sex to know that it would not make him feel any better.

After several moments, without saying another word, Chris turned and walked away.

Well, that wasn’t so bad. It could have gone worse.

“Krista,” Chase’s voice sounded behind her.

Oops. She might have spoken too soon.

* * *

Chase had been down by the bridge waiting for Krista to arrive. When it was ten minutes past the time she’d said she’d be there, he’d headed back up the path to find her. Just before he turned the corner, he’d heard Krista’s voice greeting someone awkwardly.

In a split-second decision, he’d decided to stay where he was. Was he proud of himself for eavesdropping? No. Was he happy with what he’d overheard? Hell no. Did he have any right to be mad? No.

Chris and Chase had always gotten along. He was a good guy, and from what it sounded like, he and Krista had some unfinished business of the very recent variety.

Jealousy was not an emotion Chase was familiar with. At least not on the experiencing-it side of things. Krista had always gotten jealous. Now they knew it had been with the assistance of others. But it had always seemed like a useless emotion. In fact, he’d never even truly understood why people let themselves get jealous. But now he knew that it wasn’t something you let yourself feel. It was something that crashed into you like a bus going seventy miles an hour, and he’d just been hit by it. Hard.

In some part of his brain, Chase knew that Krista’s life had gone on without him. He didn’t like it, but he knew it. Still, he hadn’t even thought to ask if she was seeing anyone. Now, as Chris had been so eager and quick to point out, Chase was leaving and Chris would be here.

Krista slowly looked over her shoulder, saying brightly, “Hey.”

It wasn’t the same brand of awkwardness that had sounded in her voice when she’d greeted Chris. This one sounded more like she’d just gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Sooo…” Krista rolled her shoulders around to him and her body followed. “How long you been there?”

“Long enough to want to beat Chris’s ass.” The words shot out of his mouth like a cannon, only he didn’t remember lighting the fuse.

Shit.

“It was just a goodbye kiss—”

“You kissed him?”

“What?” Krista’s eyes widened. “No, he kissed me. I thought that’s why you were mad.”

No, that wasn’t why he’d wanted to kick Chris’s ass a second ago, but it was why he was going to do it now. Without a single rational thought firing in his brain, Chase headed in the direction Chris had just gone with purpose in his steps.

“Chase”—Krista’s small hands wrapped around his forearm and tugged hard turning him back towards her—“Chris and I were seeing each other for months before you showed up. Then the second you came back, I just stopped returning his calls, his texts, everything. I handled this whole thing badly. It is not Chris’s fault. It’s mine.”

Hearing another’s man name on Krista’s lips was not doing anything to extinguish the fiery rage he felt inside. But the look of desperation in her eyes did. He never wanted to see that look in any woman’s eye, especially not one he loved more than life itself.

Not knowing how what else to do, he pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. Closing his eyes, he breathed in the citrusy scent of her shampoo. She sank into his embrace and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight.