Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge)

by Shaw, Robin

  I gulped past a dry lump in my throat. “Uh…”

  Chase hauled me with him effortlessly. My stomach felt light. Too light. As if I hadn’t eaten in hours and I was on the verge of fainting. I shook my head and squared my shoulders.

  “Let’s have another morir soñado night, okay?”

  “Yes,” was all I could manage.

  “After the Tainted Virtue concert,” he said softly. His hands landed on each side of my neck. His outsized shoulders and arms made a view I was uncertain that I’d ever get tired of. “If you’re up to it, of course.”

  Bringing his leg between mine, his gaze fixed on my lips. He bent his head and his dexterous fingers traveled down my back, sending a zing of pleasure coursing through me. It was like he studied my body and knew where I like to be caressed. He slanted his mouth against my lips and pulled me against him. I tugged him as he savored my mouth. And with a reluctant look on his face, he dragged his lips from my mouth. I didn’t have the strength to. My mind was in a fog of lust. Nothing about tonight, however, felt sleazy or cheap or convenient.

  He walked away from me and my body cooled again. “And Beth?”

  I touched my well-kissed lips. “Yes, Chase?”

  He raked his gaze over me. “Wear that skirt for me on Saturday.”

  Chapter 7

  Chase

  Once the infomercials came on, I knew that I’d watched at least four hours of late-night shows. After a hundred push-ups and a cold shower, I was still restless. I was used to functioning on at least four hours of sleep. I’d gotten my swim trunks on, but I knew that I’d remember how Beth’s wet curves looked with the sun shining on it and how I’d had her on the brink of an orgasm by grazing my fingers on those taut nipples to make the sensation sharp for her, and her pupils had dilated. My body was revved up. Having Beth sit on my lap was the ultimate test in restraint, however. Not only could I see her trying to control her reactions to me, but I felt that wonderful, warm heat getting turned on more and more as she writhed when I’d strummed my fingers on her sternum.

  A year ago, if anyone had told me that I would want to date any of the girls that I’d screwed, I would’ve laughed in complete disbelief. Despite the fact that I’d been around my share of couples in high school, the concept of a monogamous relationship was foreign to me. I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be open to scrutiny and getting burned if the relationship didn’t work out in the end. It was a risk. A big one. I’d seen many of these couples break up. Friendships had been divided and it made things get really fucked up because my old friends had become acrimonious. Sure, other factors had come into play, but the fact was that not very much in life lasted for long or transitioned into a healthy and centered conclusion, where people could at least greet each other in passing without wishing they had never been with each other. I was taking a big risk with Beth. It hadn’t fazed me when a girl I bagged saw me at a party, at a bar, or on the street with her family and friends and hadn’t even acknowledged me. If Beth, on the other hand, were the one to dismiss me, it’d take every ounce of self-respect I had left in me not to plead my case.

  As I tossed and turned in bed, no position seemed comfortable until I got up from the bed, went into the closet, and put covers on the extra pillowcases that Nancy had placed in there for me. Carrying five pillows, I lay on my side and surrounded myself with cushion for my back and my knees.

  My gaze darted over to the clock; I had an hour and a half for some shut-eye. The scent of vanilla and honey washed over me. And I envisioned that I had Beth’s lush body curved into me, so I could feel her ass. The image in my head made my cock stir.

  Hands wrapped around my waist. My eyes flew open and I looked at arms with pale blond hairs. Rolling off of the bed and quickly getting to my feet, Cassidy pushed her bottom lip out. I was squeamish and pissed off.

  “What the fuck, Cassidy?” I stormed toward the door and it flung wide open when I turned the knob. “Get out now.”

  It was like I hadn’t just kicked her out of the room. Her expression didn’t change. “So, you’re a chubby chaser, is that it?”

  No one was in the hallway yet, so I moved just outside of the door. I didn’t want her to lay one finger on me again. Her words practically had me seeing red, because it was a clear jab at Beth. She wanted to see how I would react to her dumb remark about that drop-dead gorgeous woman who happened to be her cousin, and she had me—from the victorious gleam in her light blue eyes, she learned that Beth was important to me. I thought Cassidy might’ve started to bother other guys and would finally quit hounding me. But I was foolish to think that she’d stop.

  “Out. Now,” I repeated.

  Cassidy rolled over in her see-through tank top and boy-short underwear. Bringing a section of her hair to her nose and inhaling it, she said, “I love this shampoo that I borrowed from Beth. I have to get myself a bottle.”

  When I started toward Pierce’s room, I heard her stomping behind me. Just as I opened my mouth, Cassidy was next to me. Beth opened the door. Her half-lidded eyes widened as she flicked her gaze between Cassidy and I in that instant. Shoving Cassidy off of me, the look of betrayal was clear on Beth’s face. From my bare chest and boxers to Cassidy’s lack of clothing and the way she had been on me, it was hard to come to any other conclusion than Cassidy and I had hooked up, or were about to.

  “Morning, Cassidy.”

  “Hey, Beth.”

  Lowering her gaze to her feet, Beth swallowed and closed the door, acting as if she’d forgotten something.

  I trotted to Beth’s room and knocked on her door until it was clear that she wasn’t going to open it. I even turned the knob, but she’d locked the door. Pressing my forehead on her door, I hoped that she’d unlock the door and at least curse me out.

  “I don’t think she wants to speak to you right now.”

  “Shut up!”

  Mr. Pruitt came out of his room, dressed in one of his sharp suits. He looked at me with his jaw flexing.

  Without uttering a word, I followed him into the guestroom I utilized.

  “Good luck,” Cassidy whispered.

  ***

  “Boy, have you lost your mind?”

  If there was one thing that I couldn’t take from older folks or anyone, for that matter, it was being called boy. He’d called me boy in a patronizing manner, and because he was Pierce’s dad, I let it pass. I’d respected him as a man. “Mr. Pruitt—”

  “I thought you respected me and my household.”

  I pulled down my suitcase from the top of the closet.

  “I do, and I know that it looked really bad out in the hallway. But I didn’t do anything with Cassidy. She came in here—”

  He held his hand up and I shut my mouth before I called her the sniveling snake that she was and made life hell for Pierce and possibly Beth. “Pierce’s performance in school had improved when you and he became friends, and he wasn’t so dang preoccupied with girls. I’d thought that you were a good influence on him, and I’d seen what a hard worker you are. When Pierce had told me that he was going to invite you to stay in my house, I’d told him ‘let’s ask him together’ because that was one of the wisest ideas I’d thought he had had in a while. You’ve taken advantage of my precious daughter’s friendliness—”

  “You don’t have to tell me to leave. Consider me gone.”

  I gathered my clothes from the closet and threw them into the suitcase. This was what I deserved for a multitude of reasons, the most important being that I got a little too comfortable. I looked forward to waking up and catching up with him for coffee, or having breakfast with whomever else was in the kitchen at the same time I was. While I never confused the Pruitt home with my own, there were moments where I’d forgotten that almost everything is conditional in life. It just takes one action, one misunderstanding, to cause a change of heart. But Mr. Pruitt looked at my pityingly, and another thing I couldn’t take was pity.

  “And what’s troubling is that you’re d
enying your behavior. You could’ve fulfilled your needs elsewhere.”

  “With all due to respect, it may be hard for you to believe, but I didn’t make a move your daughter. I didn’t even think about it.”

  “Why would Cassidy go after a guy like you?” he asked incredulously. “After I am done speaking with her, I’ll let you know if you still have a job at The Paloma.”

  “Thank you for the job. My resignation will be emailed to Mrs. Adler and Mrs. Clark before the afternoon.”

  ***

  Bethany

  “Hey, Noodles.” Pierce kissed me on my forehead and pulled my ponytail. I didn’t reach to smack him or try to tickle him because I wasn’t in the mood.

  “Morning, Pierce,” I said. “Did you sleep here last night?”

  “I just needed to do nothing but sleep once I got here,” he answered.

  Bringing him a stack of pancakes, I caught Nancy shooting Pierce a glance.

  “Beth, is there anything else you’d like for breakfast?” She knitted her eyebrows and tried to fix her face.

  “The egg-white wrap is delicious,” I told her truthfully. Despite feeling like a fool, I had to go to work, and act as normal possible in order to get the image of them together out of my mind. “I am gonna eat the other half for lunch.” I slid off the stool, went to the cabinet, and got a plastic container to put my wrap in.

  “Dad and I have a meeting to go to around lunchtime,” Pierce informed us as he poured a ton of syrup on top of the rest of his pancakes. “This should hold me over.”

  Nancy went around the island and touched him on the shoulder. “There’s more pancakes in the microwave if you’re still hungry.”

  Pierce beamed like a child, displaying his dimples.

  She cocked her head in my direction. “Have a good day at work, you two.”

  “See you tonight,” I said.

  ***

  We’d been listening to the radio for ten minutes when Pierce slowed down and parked on the side of the road.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like I am going? We’re not moving from this spot until you tell me what’s wrong.”

  The last thing I wanted to admit to him was that I had gotten so carried away last night with Chase. Like an idiot, I’d really thought that he wasn’t attracted to Cassidy. “Pierce, no offense, but I don’t wanna talk to you about it.”

  His eyes blazed. “Does it have to do with Chase?”

  I couldn’t lie to him, but for some reason that I couldn’t fathom, I didn’t want to get Chase into trouble either. Even though I had been at the house for a week, I knew that Cassidy was off limits to Chase. It wasn’t spoken in my presence, yet it was just…understood. Cassidy had touched Chase in a way that a lover would, similar to how I’d been with Gregory after we’d started having sex. I knew what it was like. Cassidy felt connected to him.

  “It does, but don’t be mad with him. I misunderstood—”

  “What could you have possibly misunderstood?”

  “I-I thought that he was, you know”—I dropped my shoulders—“only talking to me. From how we… He didn’t act like he was messing up with other girls.” I let out with a heavy sigh.

  Pierce gave a sharp shake of his head. “Chase isn’t messing with any chick.” I was going to tell them him that he couldn’t know that for a fact when it seemed like he spent most of his nights with Mona, or other girls. Maybe Chase didn’t act like Joel or Rylan, but he had his fun discreetly—and with Cassidy. What if she didn’t know that he had been flirting with me since he picked me up from Franklin Parks?

  I looked at him disbelievingly. “It doesn’t matter anyway—”

  “What makes you think Chase is playing you?”

  “I was going to step out of my room to get some water when I…I looked up to see Chase and Cassidy having a moment,” I said carefully.

  Pierce threw his head back and broke out into laughter, his face scalding red.

  “Can we go now? I’d like to be a little early. It’s my second day. And I don’t wanna get on Mrs. Clark bad side. Or Uncle Anton’s.”

  He stopped laughing. “Chase can’t stand Cassidy. He’s just hasn’t flat-out told me that—”

  I raised a brow at him and cut him off. “Then he may not really dislike her.”

  “They could’ve came out of the room at the same time. It’s the only plausible explanation I can conceive of, because he’s all about you. I understand what that’s like. And before he brought you here, the only things I’ve seen him go all in for was football and maintaining his grades.”

  “You’re just saying that,” I said warmly. “I don’t wanna get in the middle of your friendship with him.”

  His forehead creased with a deep frown. “Don’t worry about my friendship with Chase. I want you to be happy, but I am not gonna bullshit you to make that happen. I’d told Chase that since he’s aiming to…be your boyfriend, that he can’t play with your heart, or else.”

  “God, Pierce, I didn’t want the both of you to have that conversation.”

  “Noodles, it wasn’t hostile between us. Anyone you date is gonna have to talk to me. I am lookin’ out for you now.”

  ***

  Chase

  I stripped sheets off of the bed and the covers off of the pillows after I had finished packing all of my possessions. I put on new sheets and pillowcases when I felt a touch on my upper back. I spun on my heel, ready to bark at Cassidy. Wasn’t it enough that she made me look like scum in front of Beth and Mr. Pruitt?

  Startled, Nancy took a step back, clutching her hands over her chest, and I regretted my move.

  “I’ve called you and texted you. Your breakfast is cold!”

  “Sorry, Nancy. I thought you were Cassidy.”

  She grimaced, eyeing my suitcases and the rest of the tidied-up room. Her expression saddened. “What’s the little bitch gone and done now?”

  “I woke up this morning and smelled Beth’s vanilla and honey scent,” I replied. “I was in bed when Cassidy had her arms around me. I thought maybe it was Beth until I saw blond hairs on her arms. I really thought I was having a nightmare.”

  “I can imagine.” She shuddered with a sneer. “And why are you leaving?”

  “Because I got out of here”—I gestured my arms around the room—“when she wouldn’t get out like I’d told her to and was going to get Pierce. I didn’t wanna give her a chance to touch me again. And I didn’t wanna involve Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt unless Pierce couldn’t get through to her.” I emitted a long and deep breath. “Beth opened her door. Cassidy and I were by her and Pierce’s rooms. Mr. Pruitt saw us seconds later, so the thoughts going through his head weren’t pretty. And when he confronted me, I’d started getting my stuff together.”

  Nancy pinched her forehead. “What about your job?”

  “I am emailing Mrs. Adler and Mrs. Clark a letter of resignation before lunch.”

  Nancy scowled. “Mr. Pruitt fired you?”

  “Nancy, he was gonna fire me.”

  “That’s outrageous, Chase! How will you get by?”

  “I’ve got some money. I don’t do things that are costly. I’ll survive if I don’t land another job this summer.”

  “I’ll talk to him—”

  I moved closer to Nancy and settled my hands on her arms. “Please don’t. I’ll feel shittier than I already do.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  A slight grin started on my face. No wonder Pierce loved Nancy like a grandmother. She genuinely cared about people and wanted to be a source of comfort. I should’ve insisted on living in an available room that Bri and Gavin had offered me in their house, but I’d gotten caught up in what a great time I’d had at the Pruitts’. Plus, Mr. Pruitt and Pierce had said they wanted to stay here. I couldn’t bear the possibility that Mr. Pruitt would cut her off from his family because she wanted me to be okay and verbalized it. Nancy was a great friend, whom I had learned from that real family could be
the people who entered your life and became the lifeline you never knew you needed.

  “Have a cup of coffee with me before I go.”

  “Beth will see sense.” The protectiveness in her tone was plain as day, and damn me, because that kind of loyalty made my chest ache. She was a loving woman, and while I didn’t know a lot about her, I got what mattered; we just clicked. She’d had a whole other life that I probably couldn’t have imagined. “And if she doesn’t, another lady will.”

  I lightly prodded her arm with my elbow. “Can I take you with me, Nancy? You always make me feel great about myself.”

  “Chase, hon, I am just a call away. You hear?”

  ***

  Bethany

  When no one was near my cubicle, I peeked at my phone and found two missed calls from Chase, along with one message that just appeared on my screen:

  Chase: Whenever you’re ready, let me explain. =(

  The emoticon conveyed how I felt. Doing the random background checks kept me busy and I hadn’t thought about Chase for most of the day.

  Me: There’s nothing to say. You had double the fun. But count me out from now on.

  There was no reply from him, which was good.

  Instead of texting me like he said he would, Pierce came to check up on me in person before he went to a meeting with Uncle Anton, who hadn’t been very talkative with anyone. When I went on my bathroom break, I hadn’t seen Chase up front. His navy blue Nissan Altima hadn’t been in the employee parking lot when Pierce parked his Mustang, and there hadn’t been many cars there. Maybe Chase wanted to finish up whatever he was about to do with Cassidy, or go to her for more.

  I’d respond to Mariska and Jake’s messages later on, because one of them would call me or they’d both call me. I’d have to talk Mariska into convincing Jake not to come here and approach Chase. It would draw unwanted attention.