Pieces of Summer(23)

My breaths grow heavier as I turn to face him, and I contemplate my options. No fours. Never four. Don’t let four get in the way. Four is a trigger. Four days and four nights can’t happen.

“I’ll go bowling with you tomorrow,” I tell him, watching the way his boyish grin appears and makes it worth the possible trigger I’m pulling.

“Good.”

He remembers me as the fun, quirky, tough girl. The light at the end of his dark tunnel. It makes me miss the girl I once was, and desperate to feel like she did once again.

Strong. Fearless. In control. I want to be her so bad that it hurts.

Maybe I can write her into my story again. Maybe I can control it.

Instead of saying anything else, I get up and head inside, letting him kiss my hand on the way by. The feel of his lips lingers on my hand, and I close my eyes and take deep breaths.

Maybe I can be the girl I used to be if there’s a reason for me to try.

He stands abruptly, and his arms come around my waist, pulling my back to his front. “I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow.”

Shit. Why did he have to give me a time? Damn it.

“Exactly six,” I say quietly.

“Exactly,” he promises.





Chapter 25



CHASE



“Big brother called me today,” Blake says as he walks into my shop, looking over at me as I finish dabbing away the excess ink on the spine of the girl who is lying face-down in my chair.

“Who?” I ask absently, moving around to examine my work.

“Aidan. He called. Asked if I’d seen his sister out any. What’s his deal? And why is he calling me? I don’t know him.”

“Hell if I know,” I tell him as the chick in my chair stands up and gives me a naked shot of her chest.

I don’t even acknowledge it as I turn around and grab the aftercare bag. Glad I make them prepay. It means I can just walk away while she takes her time putting her shirt on.

She doesn’t bat an eye as she faces Blake, and he gives her a lopsided grin while staring at her rack.

“What’d you tell him?” I ask Blake as I go over to the sink to wash my hands.

“Told him she was getting out some, but didn’t go into details. Obviously. He asked if you were staying away. I didn’t want to lie, so I told him you were doing your own thing.”

“I’m guessing she told him what she stumbled onto that time she came back,” I grumble.

As the flasher walks by, she sticks something in Blake’s hand, and he watches her ass all the way out.

“I love summer girls.”

As if I needed my summer girl to be in my head any more than she already is.

“So, you and Mika? How’s that going? I can only assume that’s where you’ve been hanging out since you never answer your phone anymore, and Bertie mentioned you two sat in Little Bit Of Italian Heaven for hours the other day.”

Small towns equals big mouths.

“Yeah. I’m… I have no fucking clue what I’m doing to be honest. I suddenly feel like a teenager again, because I’m not acting like myself at all around her.”

I’d have already fucked her and had her begging me to stay with her by now if I was acting like me instead of an insecure fucking kid. It’s annoying. But that’s what she does to me. She drives me crazy and makes me forget who I am.

He starts to say more, but I glance at the clock, realizing that ink took longer than planned. I only have five minutes to get to Mika’s. I could use a shower and stuff, but I promised her six, and she’s a stickler for punctuality.

Blake is still talking as I grab my keys and jog to the truck.

“The hell, man?” he yells.

“Can’t fuck up on night one,” I tell him, laughing when he gives me an incredulous look.

I roll into her driveway at exactly six, and she opens the door with relief in her eyes when she sees me. When I smile at her, she shakily leans against the door. It almost looks like she’s been worried I wasn’t going to show.

She looks incredible. Her hair is down and curled in waves, showing how long it’s gotten. She’s wearing a low cut shirt that has me wanting to trace her skin with my tongue.

Immediately my jeans feel too tight.

Her cut off shorts have strings dangling and playing with the tan flesh of her legs. Legs that I remember too well when they were wrapped around me.

“Care if I take a shower in your house? I was running late but didn’t want to keep you waiting.” Cold shower it is, thanks to the unrelenting hard-on.

She turns a little pale, but she nods. What the hell?

When I reach her, she lets me cup her chin, tilting her head up so that our eyes meet.

“You okay?”

She nods against my hand and slowly melts against me. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I watch it, fighting the urge to take it and suck it into my mouth. There are a lot of places I want to put my mouth, but I’ve got to take things slow.

She’s staying, though. Just knowing that… Fuck. I can’t help myself.

I may not can give her what she wants in life, but I can’t ignore the fact she’s never really moved on. Especially if she’s finding a thousand ways to kill me.

My lips twitch, but she doesn’t notice. She’s still leaning into my hand, letting me keep her close.

“Don’t ever give me an exact time again, please,” she says quietly.

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Just don’t, okay?” she asks, looking up at me. “Please.”

“Sure. I’ll…um… I’ll go get that shower right quick, toss my clothes back on, and we’ll go.”

She nods again, and I walk by her, careful not to make her uncomfortable since she already looks nervous. Life would be fucking epic if she’d take a shower with me. That’s probably pushing things a little too fast though.

“Oh,” I say turning back around just as she does. “You look like you’re trying to drive me crazy.”

She fights not to smile, but I wink at her and resume my trip up the stairs. It feels like summer for the first time since I was a kid.





Chapter 26



MIKA



“Guess you won’t mind if I park in your front row reserved space, huh?” he jokes.

I’m nervous as we pull up into my parking space, but then I suddenly feel like an ass which takes precedent over my own nerves.

“We can’t go in there,” I groan.

“Why?” Chase asks, looking over at me. “Don’t you own it?”

His half-cocked, teasing grin is definitely better than his scowl.

“Whit is in there, and I didn’t call her to ask if this was okay.”

His smile only grows. “Thought we were just friends.”

Ignoring the fact that makes me feel like an idiot, I put my seatbelt back on. “We are just friends. But you two just broke up. It’s insensitive for her to see you out with a girl, even if we’re just friends. Especially given our history.”

He reaches over and unclips my seatbelt. “First of all, she slept with your brother as a means of breaking up with me. I shouldn’t be overly concerned with how she feels about me being friends with you. Secondly, I called her and told her we’d be stopping by and asked if she’d have an issue.”

“You did?” I ask, shifting in the seat. “And?”

“And she has an issue with me being around you, but it’s not because she’s jealous or anything. She seems to think you’re fragile or something, so she wants me to stay away. Aidan got in her head. She doesn’t know you like I do.”

Knots tighten in my stomach, but I force a smile. There was once a time when I could handle anything dealt at me.

He hops out, and I reluctantly push open the door. I don’t feel right about this. Whit deserves more respect. Hell, I could have given her the night off with pay if I hadn’t been staring at the clock all day. Why did he have to give me a time?

Before I can get down, Chase is suddenly in front of me, and his hands go to my waist as he wears that cocky smirk. He’s dressed too sexy, even though he’s still wearing the same thing he had on when he arrived—a black tee and a pair of dark jeans.

“You going to get down or just stare at me in an unfriendly way all night?” he asks, reminding me I’m gawking while his hands remain on my waist.

Rolling my eyes as he smirks, I start sliding down, and he pulls me against him, making the gesture less than friendly when I end up sliding down him.

As soon as my feet touch the ground, I stop leaning against him, and he shuts the truck door before putting his hand at the small of my back. As he guides me through the front entrance, my eyes move to the eagle statue.

“It looks lonely,” Chase says against my ear, making it easy to hear his deep voice over the roar of the music and the crashing of the pins.

A shiver travels down my spine, and he smiles at me while pulling back and taking my hand to lead me toward the counter. I wince when I see Whit, trying to retract my hand from Chase’s. He reluctantly lets it go, but he looks disappointed when he turns back to face me.

Before he can say anything, Whit is bouncing up to the counter. She glares at Chase for a second before turning a smile on me. I hope she isn’t just nice to me because I’m her boss.

“I have your lane waiting for you. Be glad the jerk called. It would have been embarrassing to ask the owner to wait when you haven’t even played a game since you bought the place.”