Closing my eyes, I press my hand harder against his firm chest, counting the heartbeats that pound against my palm as I try to rein in my emotions. “Stop trying to fix me, Chance. Some things are just broken.”
“Someday, Princess, I will prove to you that you’re not nearly as broken as you seem to think you are.”
That promise, simple as it seems, is enough to break me. Tears well up in my eyes and I push against him, but he doesn’t budge, holding me close as I struggle to get away. “Just stop, Chance. This has clearly gotten out of control. There is nothing but sex between us and I’m sorry if you made it out to be more.”
“Bull. Shit. You know it. I know it. Hell, if anyone would catch us right now, they would fucking know it so why do you keep fighting what you feel?”
A tear slips from my eye and I bury my face in his chest for a moment to hide it as I swipe my cheek. Taking a deep breath, I look up again and meet his eyes.
“I don’t feel anything anymore. I’m sorry.”
Twisting out of his arms, I open the bathroom door and run to the front door, hoping that I don’t attract the attention of Ali or Storm before I get to my car. Glancing back over my shoulder, I almost burst into tears when I see Chance standing in the doorway to the bathroom, watching me. He doesn’t even look a little deterred by our conversation and I wonder what the hell I have to do to make him believe me. Maybe I’m really not as convincing as I think I am.
“This isn’t over, Princess,” he calls to me, soft enough for only me to hear and I turn away from him, desperate to get to the safety of my car.
Once I get to the car, I throw my bag in the passenger seat and pull away from the curb. In the rearview mirror, I can see Chance standing on the front lawn with his arms crossed over his chest and I swear, it’s like he’s looking right through me. That’s always been our biggest problem. He sees the real me, through all the bullshit, and most of the time, he doesn’t let me get away with it. He forces me to be real with him and it stripped away all of my defenses.
Needing a distraction, I look around the car and try calling my sister again. Getting ahold of her has been difficult lately and every time she doesn’t answer the phone, I get more concerned. She and I have always been so close so what could possibly be going on in her life to make her ignore my calls and not get back to me? It’s like she’s a completely different person and I just don’t get it.
The phone rings and rings and with each moment that my call goes unanswered, my heart sinks. When I get her voicemail, fresh tears sting my eyes and I blow out a breath, hating how achingly empty my chest feels walking away from Chance.
Chapter Sixteen
Carly
“I can’t even imagine how terrifying that was, Hon,” I say as Ali finishes explaining her recent ordeal. We’re all sitting around a picnic table at the clubhouse while the guys gather around the fire, discussing who knows what. I was apprehensive about coming here tonight when Ali told me they were having a barbecue but I don’t think Chance has even glanced in my direction since we showed up which is a good thing.
“I’ve honestly never felt fear like that. I was frozen and I couldn’t even scream for Logan. I thought my heart was going to literally burst.”
Izzy blows out a breath and looks up at Ali. “What are we doing to end this son of a bitch?”
“Logan is handling it.”
“Well, what is he doing?”
Ali shrugs, peeking over her shoulder at Logan and I follow her gaze to find Chance’s eyes boring into me. Well, so much for that. Sucking in a subtle breath, I remind myself that I can handle this. I just need to stay away from him and then maybe I won’t give into this ache that’s been present since I decided to put space between us over two weeks ago. Not that he’s made it easy at all, though. I’ve even turned off my phone and sat in a dark apartment to avoid facing him when he dropped by without warning. That combined with my repeated unsuccessful attempts to get ahold of Ivy has made for a very stressful couple of weeks.
“I don’t know, Iz. He promised to tell me everything when it was over,” Ali says.
“And you’re okay with that?” she asks, incredulously.
Ali nods. “I am. If there is one thing I know for certain, it’s that Logan is madly in love with me. He would do whatever it takes to keep me safe, and if me being in the dark for a little bit helps him deal with this, then I’m okay with that. But he will be telling me every little detail when this is all over.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” she grumbles, and Ali laughs as the boys walk over to us.
“Ladies,” Chance says as they gather around the table, his gaze lingering on me. I can feel it like a touch across my skin, but I refuse to look at him. The guys all sit in a circle around the picnic table, some pulling up chairs while others slide down the bench seat. Logan picks Ali up and sits down in her spot, positioning her in his lap as he presses his lips to her neck. Her eyes drift closed and she smiles.
“Wait, I’m gonna need you all to tell me your names again,” Izzy says, batting her eyelashes at the guys and Ali laughs while I shake my head. As Izzy drove me here tonight, all she talked about was how badly she needed to get some tonight so this is like a buffet laid out in front of her. The guys go in a circle, each telling her their names and when it’s Moose’s turn, she holds her hands up.
“Hold on. Moose?”
His brow arches. “Yeah?”
“How in the hell did you get a name like Moose?”
All of the guys start cracking up and Smith slaps him on the back. “Yes, brother. Please tell us how you came to be known as Moose.”
“No,” he snaps, looking away from the group.
“Ah, come on, buddy. If you don’t, I will,” Kodiak says with a teasing grin on his face. Moose turns to glare at him.
“Don’t you dare.”
Kodiak smiles wider and turns to us. “It happened like this, ladies. Good old Moose here was dating this girl, a real psycho but she sucked better than a hoover.”
Izzy flashes them a wide smile as she props her chin up on her hand, already enthralled in this story.
“Anyway, Moose in his infinite wisdom recognized that this was the type of woman that would cut your balls off in your sleep and decided to end it with her. To say she didn’t take it well would be an understatement. She just didn’t want to let our sweet Moose-y go so she devised this plan to kidnap him.”
“What?” Izzy sputters out and all of the guys are snickering at this point as Moose’s cheeks burn beneath his beard.
“Right?” Kodiak asks. “Moose is a big boy. I have no idea how she was planning on getting him out of here, but we had a party one night and she showed up. She spent the night flirting with all of us but always keepin’ an eye on our boy here and when Moose went upstairs to get something, she followed him. We heard the crash and went running up there. Home girl had shot him with a tranquilizer and he was laying on the floor, moaning like a…”
“Moose!” Izzy shouts, cutting Kodiak off and the entire table erupts in laughter, nudging him as he looks away, blushing harder.
“I fucking hate you all,” he growls and Kodiak pats his head.