Brat

by Alicia Michaels

  One thing at a time, buddy. We still need to discuss the consequences of our first little fling.

  “Uh, yeah, we could talk about that.” And what to do about the baby we made. “Where are you?”

  “It’s moving day for me, actually. I’m trying to find my apartment on campus.”

  Dread filled me as I shot to my feet, my eyes darting as I searched the quad. “New apartment? That apartment wouldn’t happen to come with three roommates, would it?”

  “Yeah, actually. I found a great deal to do a five way split on a townhouse.”

  I choked down more vomit and forced myself to breathe steadily. This could not be happening. My heart lodged in my throat when I spotted him, the top of his cinnamon-hued head drawing me to him like a beacon.

  “Chase, turn around.”

  Phone to his hear, he swiveled, brow creased in confusion as he searched the crowded quad. He spotted me, standing just a few feet away and grinned, ending the call and loping toward me with a spring in his step. It was a good thing he put his arms around me, because I felt as if I were going to faint right then and there. My mind raced with the implications of what it all meant—for me, for Chase, for this poor, innocent baby that neither of us were prepared to raise.

  Chase drove those thoughts away for the thirty seconds his mouth was on mine and I clung to him, holding on tight.

  It had been like a fist to the gut, seeing him for the first time since saying good-bye to him in the lobby of the Elysium Resort. I’d thought I wouldn’t have to do this in person; telling him I was pregnant could be a quick and painless thing to be endured over the phone. That way I wouldn’t have to see his shocked, fearful expression as he stuttered and stammered and asked me what I planned to do about it, all while crossing his fingers and praying I planned to get rid of it.

  After that kiss on the quad, I’d taken Chase to the apartment, then proceeded to hide myself away in my room. Chase had knocked on my door that night, asking if we could have that talk. I’d mumbled some excuse and closed the door in his face, trembling as he stood there on the other side, calling my name and asking what was wrong. After a few minutes, he retreated back across the hall. The following week had been torture, and the clock was still steadily ticking. I could only keep my secret for so long before everyone would know, including Chase.

  “I never said I wasn’t interested,” I said, shaking myself back to the present.

  Chase scoffed. “You didn’t have to say it. You’ve made yourself perfectly clear.”

  “Look, things aren’t always what they seem, okay? It’s complicated.”

  He paused, swiveling his pale green eyes toward me. “Then un-complicate it and tell me what’s going on with you. Did I come on too strong? I know you said you weren’t ready for a relationship and I didn’t think I was either, but …” He shrugged and went back to the box. “I thought we’d shared something special this summer. Maybe it was dumb of me to assume, but I thought you felt it, too.”

  Had I felt it? Hell yes. Did I necessarily want or need it in my life? That, I wasn’t so sure about. My past hadn’t exactly left me feeling optimistic about the success of serious, long-term relationships. Not to mention, Chase and I weren’t exactly two sides of the same coin. Two more different people didn’t exist in the world.

  “We need to talk,” I whispered as Jenn re-entered the small living area with Chase’s beer and my juice. We accepted the drinks, and I stood as Chase stacked the last of the DVDs before standing and taking a swig of his beer.

  Jenn’s phone started ringing, just as she was about to hand Chase another poster. “Oh, that’s my mom,” she mumbled. “I’ll just go take this in the kitchen. Be right back!”

  She disappeared, leaving us alone again. Chase set his bottle on one of the crates and used the box-cutter to break down the empty DVD box, throwing it onto a pile of more broken-down boxes.

  “Now you want to talk,” he said with a shake of his head. “Isn’t that just so typical of spoiled, selfish little Chloe.”

  The smell of citrus turned my stomach and I set my orange juice aside, untouched. “I’ve always wanted to talk, I just didn’t know how to tell you … I’m ready now, so maybe you can get over yourself and have dinner with me tonight.”

  Chase crossed his arms over his muscular chest and raised his eyebrows. “Was that you asking me on a date?”

  “That was me agreeing to talk over food,” I corrected him.

  He nodded, rubbing his stubble-covered chin. “Fine, but you’re paying.”

  I shrugged. “Good, that means we can go someplace with some class. You can drive. I’ll be ready at seven.”

  “Did I ever tell you I love it when you boss me around?” he teased, lifting another box and depositing in front of me. “It’s kind of cute.”

  Let’s see how cute you think I am when I weight two hundred pounds, am grouchy, and have lunch lady ankles, I thought as I knelt to tackle the box.

  “What are you doing here, Chase?”

  The moment our entrees were in front of us, I spat out the first question that came to mind. It was the main question that had been plaguing me since the day Chase moved in. As far as I knew, he’d been enrolled in Texas A&M’s graduate program studying Biology. Within the six weeks that passed between summer vacation and Chase moving in, something had brought him to Austin and UT.

  Stabbing at his salad with his fork, Chase frowned. “You’d think a place like this would have more vegetarian options,” he grumbled. “Salad is such an insult.”

  I rolled my eyes and cut into my steak, swirling it around in the sauce pooling on my plate with relish. I’d barely been able to keep anything down all day, and I was starving. My steak and baked potato smelled heavenly. While Chase didn’t eat anything with a face, I’ve never met a steak I didn’t like. I took a bite and almost moaned in satisfaction. It was the first thing I’d eaten all day that didn’t come right back up.

  “I asked you a question,” I reminded him after I’d chewed and swallowed.

  “You look great, by the way,” he continued, ignoring me as he studied his salad. A colorful burst of greens, cranberries, and feta cheese hung out on the end, glistening with some sort of vinaigrette. “That dress …”

  I couldn’t help a smile at his compliment. My new H&M dress was fire-engine red and clung lovingly to my curves. I wasn’t wearing it to impress Chase; I was wearing it because I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to get my ass into it. Still, I was glad he’d noticed.

  “Thanks,” I said with a little flip of my hair. “It’s new.”

  Chase grinned. “I’d imagine you have a closet full of clothes with price tags still on them.”

  I shrugged, slathering my potato with butter, my mouth practically watering. “Jenn always says I could open a boutique.” I didn’t even try to deny it. What kind of aspiring fashion journalist doesn’t have a closet full of trendy clothes?

  Chase finally took a bite of his salad. After eating in silence for a few minutes, he finally spoke again. “So, I hear Luke got that gig at Hole in the Wall.”

  Slamming my fork down onto the table, I speared Chase with a glare. “Chase, what are you doing?”

  He sighed, took another forkful of salad, and chewed for a moment before speaking again. “It’s called small talk, princess. It’s the thing we do before we have the heavy conversation. It’s typically how dates begin.”

  “This isn’t a date.”

  “You’re wearing a dress and have shaved legs. I took a shower and put on a shirt with buttons. We’re not going dutch, and we’re at a nice restaurant. This is a date.”

  “Whatever,” I said with a laugh I couldn’t stifle. I’d forgotten how easily he could make me laugh.

  We ate in silence for a few minutes more before Chase spoke up again. “I moved here to help my mom,” he said, his voice low. “My dad died about five years ago, but I’m sure you remember me telling you that this summer. I offered to come home then and ge
t a job to help her pay the bills after it happened, but she refused to let me. She wanted me to go to the school of my choice, and I’d wanted to be an Aggie since I was a five-year-old college football fan.”

  That wasn’t surprising to hear. Women gave birth to football fans in Texas, and little boys here grew up either sporting the Longhorn orange or the Aggie burgundy.

  “I won’t hold being an Aggie against you,” I teased. The rivalry between the two teams is legendary, and I was definitely a Longhorn.

  He gave me a little smile, took a sip of his iced tea, and continued. “I was fine with staying in Bryan until my little brother ... well, it’s complicated.”

  “You have a little brother?” I pictured a younger version of Chase with a mop of brown hair and the same pretty green eyes.

  Chase nodded. “He’s thirteen, and he has Autism. He needs constant care, but my mom needs to work to pay the bills, so she put him in a special daycare. It’s expensive, and she needs help paying, whether she wants to admit it or not. Plus, I wanted her to have someone close by to help with Shannon more. He really responds to me and likes having me around. Besides, the older he gets, the bigger he gets, and sometimes he gets violent. If I’d stayed in Bryan, I wouldn’t have been close enough to get there if she needed me to come and intervene. I wanted to move back into the house, but she wouldn’t let me do that either. She insists on not interrupting my college experience …” he trailed off and laughed. “As if crappy cafeteria food and living in a cramped apartment can be called that. Anyway, we compromised. Being on campus, I’m only ten minutes away if she needs me and I got a job to help pay the bills. I’ll be taking Shannon at least one day a week to give her a break.”

  Wow.

  Really, what do you say to that? I was hoping to hear something else … anything but the one story that could only serve to make Chase even hotter. He lifted his eyebrows at my slack-jawed expression.

  “What, did you think I came all the way out here just for you?”

  I scowled. “I’m not that self-centered.”

  He chuckled. “Anyway, there’s my answer to your question. That’s why I’m here. The fact that you are here is just a bonus. At least, I was hoping it would be a bonus.”

  He lowered his head to his salad and kept eating. I lost my appetite, setting my fork aside and staring down at the half-empty skin of my baked potato. Chase was getting way more than he bargained for, and the sooner I told him, the better.

  “So,” he said lightly, “senior year for you, huh? Exciting stuff. What are your plans for after graduation?”

  On graduation night, I’d probably be nursing a newborn baby, but of course I couldn’t just blurt that little gem out. So, I told Chase my original plan.

  “I want to move back to Dallas,” I confessed. “My mom knows someone who can get me an entry level position at La Mode.” At Chase’s confused expression, I added, “It’s a fashion and lifestyle magazine based in Dallas.”

  Chase nodded. “I see. I’d have pegged you for a New York girl. Isn’t that like the fashion capital or whatever?”

  I laughed. “I don’t even want to know how you knew that. Anyway, Dallas actually has a prominent place in the fashion industry. New York is definitely the dream, though, you know? I’d love to work for Elle or Vogue someday, but I know I have to start small and gain some experience.”

  By then we’d finished eating, and when the waitress asked about dessert we both declined. We traded glances across the table, and I could tell Chase was as anxious to get on with the reason for our little date in the first place. The waitress brought the check, and after arguing for five minutes over who would pay, Chase physically wrestled it from my hand.

  “I think I can afford a steak and a salad,” he grumbled once he’d overpowered me. “Relax, princess, this one’s on me.”

  After he paid, we left the restaurant and took our time walking toward Chase’s car. The sun had set and the night was clear and balmy, knocking off the chill of the restaurant comfortably. Once inside the car, Chase turned the engine on and then faced me, his stare pointed.

  “What is this, Chloe?” he asked, finally cutting right to the chase. “I know we said what happened this summer would be a one-time thing, and I can see how my showing up here might have shocked you. Maybe I was a little too forward, and my talking about having something more between us than a one night stand might have freaked you out a bit. I don’t blame you. It freaks me out, too. Neither of us has the rosiest past, and we couldn’t be more different as people.” He leaned toward me over the middle dash, one hand coming up to the nape of my neck. His fingers slid through my hair, trailing down to my bare shoulder, sending little shivers down my spine, which curled in my middle and shot down straight between my legs. I swallowed noisily as he came closer, his lips brushing my ear. “But damn it, Chloe, I can’t get the smell of you out of my head, or the taste of you off my tongue.”

  A gasp caught in my throat, and I couldn’t pull away from him. His lips found my neck, his breath racing over my skin. He kissed me there, tracing a path down toward my shoulder and one of the thin straps holding my dress up.

  “Chase,” I whimpered as he kissed my shoulder, his fingertips causing goose bumps to break out over my arm.

  “I know it’s crazy,” he murmured, “but don’t you remember how good we were together?”

  I shivered, remembering a tangle of arms and legs and the humid mists of the rainforest. My thighs clenched at the memory of how he’d felt between them.

  “Yes,” I whispered, “I do.”

  Chase’s lips found my jawline, tracing a slow path toward my mouth. “I remember, too,” he sighed. “Kissing you, touching you, untying the strings of that sexy little bikini of yours.” He gave my spaghetti strap a little tug for emphasis, just as I turned my head toward his. “That pretty little sound you made in the back of your throat when I touched you. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it … about you. What about you? Do you ever think about it? About me?”

  “All the time,” I whispered against his lips just before he kissed me. It had all started with the worst first date ever, and ended on something of a dare …

  Chapter 2

  “Guys, I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Kinsley paced nervously, glancing at her cell phone every three seconds to check the time. It was twelve forty-five, almost time for her to meet Derek.

  “It’s just lunch,” Jenn answered from her place on the couch. “Relax.”

  Kinsley paused in her pacing, turning on Jenn. “Relax? You set me up on a date with a stranger and I’m supposed to just relax?”

  Jenn stood and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Guys generally are strangers until you actually go on a date and get to know one. Don’t make a big deal out of it. It’s not technically a date, since we’ll all be there, and I’m sure Derek will bring his friends, too.”

  “Yeah, count me out,” I muttered, removing my ruined boots and peeling my wet socks away. With my nose wrinkled in distaste, I tossed them aside. “I’m going to wash to rainforest off me, then I’m getting my ass down to the beach.”

  “Chloe.” Jenn’s voice held reproach.

  Putting my hands on my hips, I glared at them both. “No way,” I protested. “You said it yourself, Jenn, Derek will probably bring his friends, and that means he will be there.”

  Jenn grinned knowingly. “And that’s a bad thing because …”

  “Because he’s the king of asshats,” I answered. “He’ll probably bring his snake buddy.”

  “You didn’t think he was an asshat when you were drooling over that hot body of his,” Kinsley said with a smirk.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, he was so much hotter with his mouth closed.”

  “I doubt he’ll even be there,” Jenn insisted. “He seemed to be really passionate about the wildlife and all that. He’s probably one of those tourists that the guide said likes to rough it out there. I’m sure he doesn’t want to come
within three feet of this place.”

  She had a good point. Besides, I was starving. So, after changing into a maxi dress and sandals, I grudgingly followed them downstairs to Kómma, the resort’s outdoor restaurant facing the ocean. I grabbed Kinsley’s hand and squeezed it tight when I noticed her biting her nails.

  “First step to moving on,” I whispered to her. “It’s just lunch, okay? No one’s saying you have to marry the guy.”

  Kinsley nodded, but she still looked like a deer in the headlights. “You’re right,” she murmured. “Sorry for being such a drama queen. It’s just hard. Aaron was supposed to be … well, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going to do my best to enjoy this.”

  “So will I,” I replied, scanning the crowd for Derek. I groaned out loud when I found him, and saw who he was with. Easier said than done, I thought as he approached us with a grumpy-looking Chase on his heels.

  “I doubt he’ll even be there,” I mocked, imitating Jenn’s voice. “Thanks a lot, spaz.”

  Jenn shrugged. “So, I was wrong. You can put up with this guy for Kinsley, can’t you?”

  Damn that girl, she was right. Kinsley and Derek really hit it off, and I didn’t want to mess that up.

  “Hey,” Derek said, smiling down at Kinsley from his impressive height. “We got a table right over here.”

  I found myself next to Chase, who stiffened when my shoulder brushed his. I made a huge production of leaning away from him. “You didn’t bring any of your little animal buddies, did you?”

  To my surprise, he actually smiled … which made me forget for a second that I hated him. “Nah,” he answered, “we’re in your habitat now, princess. I don’t want to risk you turning one of them into a new outfit.”

  Smiling back, I lifted my menu. “I do happen to look stunning in green snakeskin.”

  A perky, blonde waitress wearing blue jean shorts and a T-shirt with Kómma across the front baring her midriff came bouncing up, pad and pencil in hand. “Hi, guys, welcome to Kómma! Can I get you started with drinks and appetizers?”