CHAPTER 38
Joanie
I cursed as Piper seemed to fall over out of nowhere. Eve had already tumbled over for exactly no reason at all and both women quickly joined the crowd watching us, leaving me alone with the guys. Glaring into the crowd while trying to spot them, I heard Coco give Smith another instruction and then felt him shift. He ended up with his top half stretched over me as he put his right hand on red. I could feel his warmth seeping through my shirt and it was hard to stay focused.
“Joanie. Left hand red.” Coco sounded all too pleased as she gave the instruction that made me twist around so I was bent like a crab with my front now brushing against Smith’s.
Smith looked at me and his cheeks were pink. “Sorry.”
I didn’t know what he was apologizing for until I realized there was something hard pressing into my hip. I closed my eyes as a wave of arousal hit me hard. It seemed like my body refused to get the hint that we didn’t like the guys anymore. “Um… Yeah.”
“Chase, put your right hand on blue.” Coco laughed but tried covering it with a cough.
Chase shifted and I grunted when his arm landed between my spread legs. His forearm was hot against my center and I regretted wearing thin leggings.
I blushed as our positions grew even more provocative. “Great game choice.”
“Just give up, Joanie. It’s three against one.” He lifted his eyes to look at me and the angle of him looking up at me from between my legs just made me blush harder.
Smith grunted and twisted himself away from me so he didn’t knock me down. He sank into the grass next to the mat and groaned. “Cramp.”
Bear sighed and just stood up. “Yeah. Same. Cramp.”
Chase growled at his teammates clearly giving up by choice. “That’s fine. I can beat you by myself.”
I growled back at him. “Bullshit.”
“Joanie. Left foot all the way on green.”
I looked down my body at the mat and squeezed my eyes shut. Green was so far away. I slowly worked my foot closer and let out a string of curses when the motion forced my core down on Chase’s arm even harder.
Chase groaned. “This has to be some form of cheating.”
“Right hand on red, Chase.”
He shifted and ended up nearly completely on top of me. Looking down at me, his anger faded for a moment and he just stared at me. His attention only waned when the sound of Smith and Bear cheering for me reached both of us. Chase rolled his eyes. “They’re stupid for you. Yet, you still don’t see them as worthy.”
I tipped my head back and saw the two men smiling at me. I didn’t understand it. They were on the opposing team. “What are you two doing?”
Mayor Stevens and Margaret were oddly silent. Coco seemed pleased with herself. The crowd around us were excited as they watched me and Chase. I didn’t get it.
“We’re cheering for the woman we care about. Even if we don’t work all of our shit out, we want to see you win, Joanie.” Smith shrugged. “Call us romantics.”
I looked back at Chase and saw he was struggling with what they were saying. “You think they’re stupid, don’t you. You think I’m terrible.”
He bared his teeth. “I think you’re infuriating. You have us in the palm of your hand but you would still rather abandon everything you love than accept that we’re not the enemy. You dropped us for something we didn’t do. You’re so ready and eager to hate us that you don’t even care about how we feel, Joanie!”
I felt my arms weaken. “I don’t hate you!”
“Bullshit. You’ve done nothing but judge me and hate me since the day I arrived. Because I came from that old world of yours, you wrote me off and never gave me another chance. Even when you pretended to give me a chance, you didn’t. Not really. If you did, you wouldn’t have run away at the first sign of trouble. You wouldn’t have assumed the worst about me.”
“You kept pushing me!”
Chase pushed away from me and stood up. “At work. I pushed you at work because I care about you and worry. You never let me out of the box you put me in, Joanie, and that’s not fair. I just want to love you and be a part of your life. I can only get told to fuck myself so many times before I give up, though.”
I fell flat on my back and tried to scurry to my feet. “Wait, Chase, I…”
“What? Why should I wait? You’re just going to keep seeing me as the bad guy and never give me a chance to prove you wrong. I don’t like those odds. You’re not the only one who can get their feelings hurt.”
“You don’t get it. Seeing those people here… Knowing the things they were saying about me… Part of them being here was your fault, Chase. Because you couldn’t just accept me the way I am.”
He threw his hands up. “You don’t think I get it? They weren’t just throwing jabs at you, Joanie! There were just as many articles printed about me. They didn’t skip Bear or Smith, either. We were all going through the same thing but you refuse to see that. I accepted you just the way you were, Joanie. You are not your business. I’ve been happy with you since the day I got here. I’ve waited for you to accept me since the day I got here. You made me think I could try again.”
I wiped my eyes and realized everyone around us was watching. My heart thudded painfully and I started shutting down. Before I could, though, Chase grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. “What are you doing?” I asked him.
“I don’t know! I’m so angry at you, Joanie, but I can’t stand here and not hold you when you cry. I fucking care about you. Don’t you get that? We all care about you.”
“She cares about you, too! She doesn’t shut up about you guys!” Billie was at the edge of the crowd, bent over with her hands on her knees as she struggled to regain her breath. “I think I won, by the way.”
Smith moved closer. “Is that true? I was starting to think you didn’t care about us at all.”
“She cares! She’s just scared!” Violet stepped closer with her own guys surrounding her. “If you let her push you away, you’re not as smart as I thought you guys were.”
Chase studied my expression. “Are they right? Do you care about us?”
My heart thumped painfully away and the silence stretched. I knew if I said I didn’t care for them that they’d leave. They wouldn’t keep pushing. If I really wanted to be rid of them, that’s all it would take. I couldn’t do it, though. I didn’t want them to go away. “Yes.”
Bear held up his hand even as the crowd of our friends and neighbors started cheering. “Yes, what? If we’re both done making choices out of fear, you can’t cut corners.”
I held his gaze. “Yes, I care about you guys.”
“But?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I am scared but…I care about you guys. I didn’t like this week without you.”
“So. You’ve won the lottery and lost everything. Are you willing to play again?” Bear’s eyes were intense as he waited for my answer. When he saw me smile and nod, he ran his hands down his face and smiled. “Good. Same.”
“Okay, love birds! Get off our battle area and go make up.” Margaret waved us away. “There are more pairings we need to get to. This is a big day for Lilyfield!”
I gasped when Chase picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist. “I can walk!”
He cupped my ass and laughed when a loud cheer went up around us. “You can be carried, too.”
I was about to argue but I lost my train of thought when I looked over and saw Billie surrounded by her bosses. They were all breathing heavily and staring at her like she was the last piece of chocolate cake in the world. I whistled to myself and wrapped my arms around Chase’s neck. “Something’s in the air.”
He grunted. “Yeah, it’s called Margaret’s meddling. Not that I’m mad about it.”
I looked back at Margaret and saw her lean over and whisper something to Mayor Stevens. His cheeks turned bright red and then the two of them separated like it’d never happened. “What the hell is going on there?”
“Let’s just mind our own business today. We have some catching up to do.” Smith patted my ass. “And there’s something we have to tell you about your house.”
“What?” I looked at him wild-eyed. “What about my house?”
He winced and beside him, Bear matched his grimace. “Well. The girls got a little upset.”
I looked at Bear. “What happened?”
“I’m going to fix it.” He swallowed. “And the girls are grounded.”
“What happened to my house, Bear?”
“They wanted to see you and when I told them no, they snuck over anyway. It looks like they left the door open and the rest is Smith’s fault.”
Smith groaned. “It seems like maybe Mack chased some sort of animal inside.”
Chase snorted. “Mack chased a raccoon inside. And not just one. A whole bunch of them.”
“You’re telling me that my house is overrun with raccoons?” I tried to get out of Chase’s arms but he didn’t budge. “Let me go so I can figure out whose ass to kick first.”