“Just curious. Maybe I like to plan ahead. But if you can’t, I mean…you can admit it.” A smirk played on his lips. He shifted the truck into drive, signaling to pull out of the loading zone. We waited while throngs of people milled about, blocking the way.
“Who do you think you’re dealing with here?” I asked. “I’ve been skating since I was three.”
“Figure skating?” Finally, a clearing opened, and he eased the truck onto the road, heading for the freeway exit.
“Psh, no. Hockey.”
He stole a sidelong glance at me, lips tugging up. “You played hockey? That’s awesome.”
“Until middle school. I mean, not very well. My skating was fine. Good, even. It was the other things that were the issue, like stickhandling.”
“I could teach you how to stickhandle.”
I suppressed a laugh. “Carter.”
“What?” He widened his eyes in mock innocence. “You know, I think you’re the one with the dirty mind, James.”
Maybe I was.
Twenty minutes later, we made our way up the sidewalk to Chase’s house. The street was packed with cars, and low bass throbbed out onto the street.
He glanced over to the front window, which looked into a living room crammed full of people. “Wow. It’s filled in since I left.”
“Ah,” I said, because nerves had hijacked my brain and I couldn’t formulate a more articulate response. What was I doing at this Boyd blowout anyway? I wouldn’t know anyone besides Chase and—sort of—Shiv and Dallas. And I couldn’t expect Chase to babysit me all night.
He opened the glass front door and held it for me. “You ready to fraternize with the enemy?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shooting him a tentative glance. “Is the enemy nice?”
Maybe they were nicer than my supposed allies. It wouldn’t take much these days.
“Nah, we’re all terrible people,” he said, nudging me toward the kitchen. “Let’s go grab a drink.”
We walked through the hallway and past the living room full of people I didn’t recognize. My panic continued to escalate.
“Is Shiv here?” I asked, scanning the house. “I feel like I need another girl if I’m going to survive this.”
“Sure is,” he said. “Not sure where, but we can look for her.”
As we walked into the kitchen, Dallas strolled in the back door. “Carter,” he said, giving him an air pistol. “Just the person I wanted to see. We’re out of beer.”
“How the hell?” Chase gestured. “It hasn’t even been two hours, Ward.”
“Didn’t go as far as I thought it would.” Dallas shrugged, leaning against the kitchen counter. He was definitely tipsy. Which explained the bad trade he’d offered Chase.
Chase sighed. “You blew up my phone for the past hour and didn’t think to mention this?”
“Thought we had more in the beer fridge out in the garage. But we don’t, and you’re the only one sober enough to drive.” Dallas gave him another air pistol. Yep, drunk. “Thanks, man.”
“You fuckers can’t plan for shit.” Chase glanced down at me, expression apologetic. “Sorry. Want to run back out with me?”
Shiv came inside from the patio door and shut it behind her. “Or you can stay here with me. Dal can go with Chase. We were about to play a drinking game. I think there’s still one beer in the fridge.”
“I can stay,” I said, “but I have to go easy on the drinking. I don’t think Chase wants a repeat of the night we met.” I peeked up at him and grinned.
He laughed and gave my shoulders a squeeze. “Well, at least it got us here.”
Half an hour later, we wrapped up one round of a drinking game during which I drank water instead of beer because I was still genuinely afraid of repeating the incident at XS. People began to filter out of the basement, leaving me with Shiv and Aaron, a second-year player from the Falcons.
Shiv said, “I was undeclared to start. But I changed to psychology when I transferred to Boyd this year.”
Suddenly, there was a crash of breaking glass from upstairs.
“Oh my god,” she muttered. “I swear, sometimes…”
“Want help?” I asked, pushing to stand.
“It’s okay. I’ll be right back.”
Aaron turned to me. “You’re a journalism major too? I hear the Callingwood news lab is amazing.”
“It is,” I said. “But the Boyd alumni connections are supposed to be great for securing a job after graduation.”
“Yeah,” he said. “My friend got hired—”
A long shadow appeared, blocking the overhead light in the stairwell like a solar eclipse. We both turned to find a gigantic hockey player lurking in the doorway. Chase raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He didn’t need to.
Aaron paled. “Uh, I think I forgot something in the living room.” He darted around Chase, taking the stairs two at a time.
Chase sauntered over, swinging the beers he was holding. “Sup.”
“You’re so mean.”
“So they tell me.” He cracked one of the beers and handed it to me. “But I saw Shiv upstairs and I couldn’t find you. I was worried.”
“Oh, Shiv had to go clean up a broken glass. Aaron and I were talking about school.”
“Sure you were.” Chase smirked.
“He’s a journalism major too,” I said, holding his gaze evenly. “But if I didn’t know better, I might say you were jealous.”
He shrugged but didn’t deny it. “Just pointing out how single-minded and filthy most guys are.”
“Including you?”
He stood closer, giving me a look that did something decidedly unfriend-like to me inside. “Baby, I’m the filthiest.”
I laughed. “I know.”
“Anyway.” Chase took a sip of his drink, his throat bobbing.
My eyes lingered for a beat on his lips as a flicker of desire ignited within me.
He cleared his throat and continued. “I came to see if you were staying here or if you wanted to go home later.”
My heart went ka-thunk like a rusted old car. “Staying here?” I may have thrown some extra personal items into my bag in case this scenario arose, but I genuinely didn’t think it would.
“As a friend, James. But if you want to go home, I’ll stop drinking after this so I can drive you. This is my first beer.”
I chewed my lip, considering. I was fairly certain that if I stayed, it wouldn’t be as a friend, despite his assurance.
Did I want that? I sure did. But I was also a little scared. Okay, a lot scared.
“I don’t need a chaperone to get home.”
He leaned against the wall, biceps bulging as he folded his arms. “There’s a blue stain on my favorite pair of white sneakers that says otherwise.”
I groaned, embarrassment flooding my gut. “I don’t know.”
His eyes caught mine, questioning. Tempting. I wanted to say yes.
“Come on.” He nudged my foot with his. “I’ll let you wear my Falcons shirt again.”
“Never,” I said. “I’d rather sleep naked.”
It was meant to be sassy but was way off the mark. I blamed being in such close proximity to him; my brain was going all sorts of haywire.
His voice dropped, turning husky. “That can definitely be arranged.”
“Carter.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“James.” He copied me, but he couldn’t keep a straight face. A smile broke through that was hopelessly endearing and intentionally designed to be that way. “Plus, if you stay, I can kick your ass at video games later.”
“Okay,” I said. “But you know I’ll be the one kicking your ass. Again.”
“Oh yeah?” He raised his brows, coffee-brown eyes dancing. “Let’s make it interesting. If I beat you, then you have to wear my Falcons shirt again tonight.”
“What do I get if I beat you?”
Our gazes locked and a smile played on his lips.
“Anything you want.”
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CHAPTER 20
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NOT IN A RUSH
Bailey