Chapter 11
Chance
Dropping the fresh round of beers off to my dad, I shot Sammy a glare when I realized Evie wasn’t with her. “Where is she?”
“She and Abi are around here somewhere,” she said as she took a drink of her beer. “Don’t worry. My brother is with them.”
Muttering a curse under my breath, I stomped off in search of my girl. Being away from her for too long caused a restlessness in me that couldn’t easily be settled just because I had eyes on her. I needed my hands on her.
With the bar so crowded, it took me a minute to find her.
I spotted Vaughn first, and my eyes were drawn directly to the back of Evie’s blond head like a magnet.
They were at a corner table with Abi. As I got closer and fewer people were in my way, I noticed that Abi was crying, but she was smiling.
Her hand was holding on to Evie’s on top of the table.
Evie’s voice reached me. “Thank you for telling me. Evy and I need to talk about this. I want our fresh start to be here, but not if it’s going to hurt my sister. She still hasn’t confided in me, and I know it’s because she wants to protect me.”
“I understand. I’m protective of my sister too,” Abi said with a nod, dashing away her tears with her free hand.
Vaughn’s head lifted in my direction, his face stoic as always.
It was bizarre to see him with Abi. He looked so much like Ryan that it was a mind trip to watch him with his wife.
I kept expecting Nova to pop up at any moment, and I was disappointed every time she didn’t.
She was in New York, though, exactly where she belonged. With the real Ryan.
I gave Vaughn a chin lift. He was an enigma, much like his younger brother.
What little I did know about the man was more than enough.
He was a masterminded hacker, had the kind of skills many government agencies would be blessed to have, and he walked a very fine line with mental stability.
Basically, he was Sammy in male form, with computer skills thrown in as an added danger.
Having two of Anya Vitucci’s offspring living in the same small town could be the perfect recipe for disaster—or world peace. I doubted there was a happy medium. They were the all-or-nothing type.
Attuned to her husband’s shifting attention, Abi lifted her head.
Her smile slipped slightly. She was normally sweet, but she had the capacity for the kind of temper that would burn the town to the ground.
With Sammy as her sister-in-law and guard dog, she now had the means to easily turn Creswell Springs to literal ashes.
Evie followed her friend’s gaze and looked up when I was a few feet away. Her eyes were glassy, but I wasn’t sure if that was because she was a little tipsy or if she’d been crying like Abi was. Either way, it was time to get my peaches home.
“Hey,” Evie said, her smile on the wobbly side.
As soon as I reached her, I crouched down. “You keep disappearing on me.”
“It’s a big bar, and everyone seems to have spread out,” she excused. “Abi invited me tonight. It would be rude if I just ditched her.”
Taking her hands in both of mine, I entwined our fingers. She was so much smaller than me. I was going to have to be careful with her. In more ways than one. Capturing her gaze, I saw the innocence swimming in those hypnotic depths, along with uncertainty.
“Let’s go home.” I wasn’t sure how much longer I could share her attention without losing my freaking mind. Too many people were looking at her, wondering why she was with a dickhead like me, thinking of ways to steal her from me.
It’d taken a control I’d never thought I possessed to keep from touching her the way I wanted to all night.
She was so damn enticing in her pretty dress that clung to all the right places on her body.
I’d had to stop myself from kissing her a hundred times, knowing I’d never make it out of the bar if I got a real taste of her like I’d been craving all damn day.
Every inch of her was mine to have and hold and taste, but I’d resisted the overwhelming urge to maul her in front of everyone. If I didn’t get her out of there soon, though, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to restrain myself.
“Okay,” she whispered, sinking her teeth into her plump bottom lip.
Straightening, I pulled her up with me. Abi stood with Vaughn, in sync with each other. Keeping hold of one of Evie’s hands, I waited while the girls hugged with promises to text later.
As I guided Evie toward the door, a few other people tried to stop us.
River. Delaney and Nishia. Some chick whose name I didn’t remember who didn’t belong to our group but called Evie by name like they were long-lost friends.
I’d had sex with the girl. I just couldn’t remember when.
She gave me a wink as she smiled at Evie like the bitch she was.
Fuck’s sake.
Losing my patience, I hooked one arm around Evie’s waist and carried her out of the bar. Hearing her giggle, I tightened my hold as I turned in the direction of my truck, letting the door slam shut behind us.
“That’s the prettiest sound I’ve ever heard, peaches.”
Opening the passenger door, I carefully placed her in the seat. The cab wasn’t overly messy. A few utility belts had been tossed in the back, as well as a hard hat. My work gloves were on the floorboard, along with a small toolbox that I’d needed earlier in the day.
Leaning over, I strapped her in with the seat belt, taking my time, breathing in her intoxicating scent. Her warm exhale brushed over my cheek, our eyes colliding.
With the overhead light illuminating the interior of the truck, I saw how the pink in her cheeks deepened, her pupils going wide. Unable to stop myself, refusing to even try, I wrapped my hand around her neck, tipping her chin up.
One small taste. That was all I wanted, all I would take. For now. Touching my lips to hers, I didn’t deepen the kiss, just lightly brushed my mouth against hers. She didn’t try to kiss me back, and instinct told me that was because she didn’t know how.
Ah fuck. She was completely untouched. Not just a virgin. I would bet everything I owned that she’d never been kissed before. That knowledge made me want to beat on my chest. I was her first. In every way, I was going to be her one and only.
“Chance,” she moaned, licking her bottom lip with just the tip of her tempting little tongue.
Tenderly, I stroked my thumb over her glistening lip and stepped back.
Evie was quiet beside me, her hand slightly trembling in mine as I held on to her while steering one-handed. I needed the contact, the constant connection that reminded me she was really there, that I hadn’t dreamed her. Her shy glances made my cock so hard it was already leaking.
Careful, I reminded myself, trying to cool the heat pulsing through me, causing my balls to draw up in search of relief. I had to be so fucking careful with my precious little peach.
Scaring her would kill me.
So would not tasting her.
What I needed to do was calm my ass down and take care of my girl. She was nervous, and I had to fix that, quick. Small talk wasn’t something I excelled at, but I’d try. For her.
Lifting her hand to my lips, I kissed her palm then pointed to the old oak tree that had five solar lights in front of it.
I slowed down, so she could get a good look at it.
“I broke my collarbone climbing that damn thing. Spent an entire summer in a sling, pissed at the world, all because Max had dared Elias, Kingston, and me that we couldn’t climb higher than him. ”
“What?” Her eyes were a mixture of concern, awe, and amusement as she stared from me to the tree. With all the solar lights around it, it was a dramatic sight. Powering down her window, she folded her arms so she could rest her head on them to get a better look. “How far did you get?”
“Fifty-eight branches up. That’s when I lost my grip. I tried to catch myself about halfway down, but that didn’t work the way I thought it would. Gravity and velocity weren’t factors I gave much consideration to back then.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight.”
“Oh my gosh!” Wide-eyed, she covered her mouth with both hands for a moment. “Chance, you could have died.”
That was what my mom had been screaming when she’d found out about what I’d done. I was being wheeled into the emergency room, and Raven had followed her in. Dad was at work, so Raven had had to drive her to the hospital.
While she attempted to console my mother, Raven looked at me, shook her head, and asked, “So what did you learn?”
Not my lesson, that was for sure. Because I was back climbing that damn oak tree as soon as I was out of the sling. Because Max had dared me again. But I didn’t fall again, and I climbed higher than him or anyone else.
I was still telling Evie about the second time I’d climbed the tree when I pulled into the apartment parking lot. She sat with her body half turned to me, a relaxed smile tilting her lips that I wanted to kiss so fucking badly.
“You were a little daredevil. I bet you were always getting into trouble.” She laughed, her hand automatically going back to mine, as if she needed to constantly touch me as badly as I did her.
“What about you, peaches? Did you give your parents hell?” I turned my hand over, entwining our fingers, in no rush to leave the truck.
“No,” she murmured. “No, I was a good girl.” Her smile dropped, replaced by something so profoundly sad I felt it grab hold of my heart and squeeze.
“Peaches.”
She shook off her melancholy, her smile returning. Christ, she was beautiful, but when she smiled at me like that, I forgot how to breathe. “Growing up here must have been so much fun. Being close to your family, making all those friends.”
“They’re all family. Even the ones who don’t share blood.” Turning on the overhead light, I grasped her chin to ensure she was looking at me, so she knew I saw her. “You don’t want to be a good girl anymore.”
She blinked a few times, holding back the tears that filled her pretty eyes. “I don’t want to be a lot of things, but no matter how much distance I put between then and now, I can’t outrun a ghost.”
“I’m not even going to pretend to understand that, baby. But running isn’t an option now that I’ve found you. I’ll protect you from anything, including whoever is haunting you.”
Her lip wobbled again before she gave me a heartbreaking smile. That damn thing was like kryptonite, draining me of strength. I would have done anything to make sure she never had a reason to smile like that again. “How?”
“I don’t know yet, peaches. What I do know is I’m going to make it better.”
“You can’t fight my memories, Chance.”
“No, but I can give you new ones. Better ones. Happy moments that we create together.” I skimmed my knuckle across her cheek, brushing away the tear that fell before she could blink it back. “With me, you don’t have to be a good girl, Evie.”