Chapter 6 Maverick
maverick
“I’ve got to go.”
Chloe takes a step, and I reach my arm instinctively, stopping just short of touching her.
Base thumps from inside the house while voices ring out around us, but I still catch the quiet sniff she tries to hide.
Part of me is silently begging at her to look at me, while the other part isn’t sure I can handle seeing her cry over someone who doesn’t deserve a lick of her attention again.
It doesn’t matter, though, because she never looks up.
She keeps her eyes trained on the grass in front of her feet, mouth twisted to the side, like she’s barely holding it together.
I lean in just enough to murmur against her ear, keeping my voice gentle despite the fire I now feel inside me. “Don’t let him run you out of here.” I linger, close enough to hear the way her breath falters, and I’m completely unprepared for how sharply I feel it in my chest.
Chloe rolls her shoulders, lifting her chin and finally brings her eyes to mine. She smiles, and even though it’s beautiful, I can tell it’s forced. “I’m not.”
She steps past me before I can say anything else and cuts across the lawn, leaving me standing here until she’s swallowed by the night, and I have no other choice but to turn back toward the house.
A drink is shoved into my hand before I’ve even stepped over the threshold and I pull the tab without thinking, taking a long pull.
Bass rattles the flimsy walls of the house, red lights cover all the bodies in the room, and the night air from out front is officially gone, replaced with stale heat and cheap alcohol.
I scan the party, looking over raised cups and sloppy—but for the most part happy—faces, telling myself I’m looking for the boys, but if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind running into Nathan.
The broken expression on Chloe’s face last week unsettled me.
Tonight, with her shoulders hunched forward and her bottom lip wobbling, it set me off.
“If you’re going to throw hands, can you do it outside?”
“What?” I look up to find my friend Beckett watching me.
“Your face is all pinched and your beer is dented.” He nods toward the Modelo I have in a death grip. “You look like you’re about to murder someone. So, when you start throwing punches, can you take it outside? We just cleaned the floors. Used the last of the Swiffer wet pads and everything.”
I look down at my white shoes, shining bright against the hardwood floor, then back up to him. “Duly noted.”
Beckett lifts his drink, but I ignore the cheers and move through the crowded space, searching for a bathroom. Not for any other reason than to clear my head for a minute. Past the kitchen and around the stairs tucked into a narrow hallway, I find the door I’m looking for but it’s locked.
I blow out a breath, dropping my head to the wall behind me.
“Hey, Hall.”
I tilt my head just enough to catch my favorite brunette round the corner.
“What’s up, Laney.” I smile.
“I thought I saw you sneak back here.”
I nod toward the closed door but her gaze never leaves mine.
Laney Evans has been the most untouchable woman at LCU since day one.
Her brother was the captain of the hockey team our freshman year, not that it ever stopped me from flirting with her.
She’s only gotten hotter since the older Evans graduated, and she’s been less afraid to hang around us since then as well.
Aside from that, nothing has changed, she’s still the most wanted woman, and the most unobtainable.
The bathroom door cracks open just enough to catch a glimpse of a girl before she quickly slams it shut again.
I raise an eyebrow and look over at Laney who looks just as confused as I am.
A faint russel sounds from the other side of the door before it opens again and the girl ducks her head, hurrying past us and out of the dark hallway.
Only when the door opens for the third time and a guy I recognize from the football team comes out, grinning at me, does it all click.
Laney pulls her smile between her teeth, averting her eyes, and I drop my head forward with a laugh.
“They might have the right idea.” Her words land somewhere between tempting and challenging.
“You flirtin’ with me, Laney?” I nod my chin, flashing her the cocky smirk I know drives people crazy.
“I mean, it’s been a whole five minutes and you haven’t made your move yet.” She presses off the wall she was leaning on; her chocolate brown hair hanging down to the middle of her back and her eyes of the same color look at me with a dare in them.
“I don’t throw myself at you all the time, do I?”
“No.” She places one hand on my bicep, but it's where her lower body is pressing against my waist that my attention falls. “Only when you see me,” she whispers.
“You never flirt back,” I remind her, keeping one hand firmly on my beer and the other behind my back.
“I never wanted to be just a notch on your belt.” She leans in further, gripping the back of my neck, guiding my face down toward hers.
“And now?” I whisper against her lips.
She wets her bottom lip, licking mine in the process. “Now, I just want you bad enough that I’m either going to change your mind about relationships, or I’m willing to get hurt in the process.”
I don’t have time to sort out everything I hate about what she just said before her mouth is on mine.
Her lips are soft, but there's a firmness there that leaves no doubt she wants this.
Her hips press into mine while one hand rests on my chest for balance as she pushes onto her toes to close the gap.
If I was the kind of guy who made bucket lists, kissing Laney Evans would have been somewhere near the top of it.
Her hands wander across my chest and neck while her tongue presses against my lips, silently asking for permission.
She’s doing all the right things, and I know if I wanted to, I could take this all the way.
But for reasons I can’t make sense of, I don’t.
She pulls back, tucking her lips between her teeth, but it does nothing to hide her smile.
I should explain to her that something’s off with me tonight. That I must be coming down with something to even be entertaining the idea of saying no to her. But I don’t get the chance.
Nathan rounds the corner, coming to an abrupt stop and pockets his hands with a shit-eating grin. “Oops. Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Laney glances at him before flicking her eyes back to me, and my jaw feathers.
“Find me later, if you want,” she half-whispers the words and then she’s gone.
Nathan isn’t shy about watching her walk, then he turns back to me, nodding his head approvingly. “Laney frickin’ Evans, Hall? God damn, you are the luckiest guy on campus.” He raises his hand but I leave him hanging.
“It’s not like that.”
Images of Chloe’s face flicker through my head and something sinks in my gut when I think about her at home crying over this loser right now, when less than twenty minutes ago he had a different chick on his lap.
The rage I was carrying when I first saw him had simmered momentarily, but face to face with him now, it’s back in full force.
“Sure.” He nods his head, making a face like he doesn’t believe me.
“I’m serious.” I tilt my head back, taking a pull of my beer, letting the cool liquid slide down, giving me one last moment to try and talk myself out of saying the dumbest thing I can think to say. But it doesn’t work. “I’m seeing someone else.”