A Second Chance at Forever (Chance #2)

by K. B. Andrews

  I eyed her and let out a laugh.

  “Are they back together?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I think they are just fucking around. She hasn’t said anything about staying here with him, she’s still looking forward to going back to California.”

  “That is going to kill Dane. The poor guy has already lost her once.”

  Just then, my eyes locked with Mason’s. He was standing by the stairs talking to a group of people looking amazingly hot. When he knew he had my attention, he winked and shot me that sexy grin of his. Automatically, I walked over to him. I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to the middle of the living room where everyone was dancing.

  He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in close. I placed my hands on either side of his face and pulled him down to me for a long kiss. Our lips touched and our tongues moved together as he ran his hands across my back and down to my ass to grasp it firmly.

  “This party was a good idea,” he said against my lips.

  “I agree.” I began moving against him to let him know how good of an idea it was.

  He let out a small groan before he pulled me against his hard chest. “Keep teasing me like that and we won’t make it through the party,” he whispered in my ear. His breath blowing across my skin caused a chill to run up my spine. I moved my eyes to his to see the desire and want burning bright in his hooded eyes.

  We danced awhile until we were both hot, thirsty, and tightly wound. We pulled apart to grab a drink and cool off. He led me to the kitchen, where he handed me a beer and took a soda out of the fridge.

  I eyed him, wondering why he was drinking a soda.

  He noticed and shrugged. “Not really in the mood to drink tonight.”

  “You’ve already been drinking,” I pointed out.

  “Other than that first shot, I’ve only had a couple of beers. I’m nowhere near drunk. I want to be sober for what I’m going to do to you later.” He offered me a wicked grin that made me squeeze my thighs together.

  I was walking through the living room when I heard a commotion that caught my attention. I followed the sound of the noise out the sliding glass door and out to the backyard where I found a pissed off Mason hauling Ashley to the front door.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah asked coming up to stand beside me.

  “Ashely crashed the party again.” I watched Mason walk past me pulling Ashley along with him. He walked her through the house and opened the front door. She looked up to him and said something I couldn’t hear before walking out willingly.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Sarah.

  I walked around the house and to the front yard where I found Ashley getting into her car.

  “Why do you keep doing this?” I asked her.

  “I didn’t want to start trouble, I just wanted to hang out.”

  “You really thought that Mason would be cool with that after what you did?”

  “What I did?” she asked, sounding surprised.

  “Ashley I know. I know you were the one who followed us around and took the pictures. Pictures that you released to the press and to Nicole. Do you even know how many problems you started with those pictures?”

  She laughed. Fucking laughed.

  “Because you released those pictures, Nicole faked a pregnancy and my psycho ex has found me. With him in town, someone will get hurt and that’s going to be on you.” I turned to walk away from her.

  “You are so stupid. Chris isn’t in town, you know.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to look at her. She was leaning against the side of her car with her arms crossed. She smiled knowingly.

  “How would you know?”

  “I just know things.” She shrugged.

  I didn’t want to feed into her bullshit, but I had to know. “If Chris isn’t in town, then who has been doing all the shit that has been happening?” I took a step toward her.

  Suddenly her face paled and I knew, it was her.

  “Are you the one that has been doing all this?”

  She pulled her eyes away from mine to look at her feet.

  I was filled with anger. Not only did she cause everyone unnecessary pain, but she almost killed Mason. She pointed Chris to my direct location and she could have killed Nicole. I wanted to throw her on the ground and beat her ass like I had years before, but I pushed the thoughts away.

  After all the trouble she had caused she deserved more. She needed to pay for the things she had done. She needed to be arrested, she needed help. She obviously needed to be medicated.

  Behind my back, I slipped my phone from my pocket and dialed Mason before sliding it back to my pocket.

  I waited a few seconds to make sure he was on the line. “Ashley, are you the one that was behind the fire? Behind the hit and run and the break-in’s?”

  Her blue eyes became dark as her chest rose and fell quickly. She knew she had messed up. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching before coming to stand directly in front of me.

  “I’m the one that’s been behind everything, but good luck proving it.” She smiled sweetly.

  I shook my head, “Why?”

  She let out a bitter laugh. “Why do you think?” she rose her arms to her side and let them fall. “I wanted you away from him. He should be mine, but every time you come to town, he’s chasing after you. I thought that if you knew that Chris was in town, you would run.”

  I rubbed my temples trying to understand. “Okay, but why do all of this? I get the break-in’s but why burn Mason’s shop? Why did you drive into Nicole?”

  I understood why she wanted to hurt me, but why everyone else?

  She let out a puff of air and turned to walk back to her car. With one foot in and her hand on the door, she stopped and looked at me. “You really are dense, aren’t you? Don’t you get it? I gave Nicole the pictures so she would leave Mason. When she didn’t and came up with that bullshit story, I had to make sure the truth came out somehow. I hit her knowing she would be taken to the hospital where everyone would find out the truth. Not to mention I knew you would think it was Chris. I thought that would make you leave, but being the dumbass you are, you stuck around,” something flashed in her eyes, anger.

  She slammed the door shut and walked back over to me. “I set the shop on fire, because I needed you gone. I thought that you actually loved Mason and would leave to keep him safe, but you don’t love him. You don’t care if anyone else gets hurt. All you care about is yourself and as soon as everything end’s, you will hurt him again to go back to your perfect life.” Her nostrils flared with anger as her eyes burned into me.

  I let out a laugh, “You really are crazy, you know that?”

  Just then Mason walked out of the house. “Ashley, the police are on their way. I heard everything you said.” He came to a stop at my side and wrapped his arm around my lower back.

  Ashley’s eyes bounced from me to Mason and back. “I can’t believe you would do this. I did all of this for us.” She returned her eyes back to Mason.

  “You need help, Ashley. You have to see that all the things you’ve done are wrong. You broke into my house and Lennox’s apartment, you drove into Nicole, that could have killed her. Not to mention you burned down my shop and almost killed me.”

  She let out a long breath, “I did all of those things for you!” She yelled, before back-stepping to her car.

  “There is nowhere to go, the police are on their way.” Mason moved closer.

  Ashley jumped into her car and twisted the key. Mason lunged for the car and tried opening the door, but it was locked. He pounded on her window pleading with her to stop. She looked out the window and I saw her red face with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  She threw the car in drive and kicked up dust and rocks as she drove quickly from the driveway.

  Mason ran toward the car, pulling the keys from his pockets.

  “Where are you going?” I chased after him.

  “I have
to get her. She’s going to hurt someone or herself driving like that.”

  I jumped into the passenger side. “I’m going with you.”

  “Lennox, no. Please, just stay here. I don’t want you mixed up in all of this.”

  I looked into his ice-blue eyes that shined even in the darkness of the car. “If you go, I go.”

  Mason shook his head, he knew he couldn’t leave me behind. “Fine. We have to hurry and catch up to her.”

  Mason turned right out of the driveway and hit the gas, causing the car to lurch forward.

  “How are you going to get her to stop?” I held onto the dash so hard my fingertips were turning white from the pressure.

  “I don’t know, but I think I see her.”

  I turned my eyes back to the road to see the glow of her taillights ahead of us in the distance.

  “Was she drinking at the party?” She was swerving all over the road.

  “Yeah, I don’t know how long she had been there, but I could tell she wasn’t sober.”

  Mason stepped on the gas a little harder. We were finally close enough to clearly read her license plate, she swerved again. She jerked the wheel hard and overcorrected. This time the car didn’t come back to the other side, it kept going off the road until it hit an embankment and flew through the air.

  Mason stomped the brakes, causing the tires to slide on the gravel road. I turned to watch her car flip in the air before landing hard. The night was filled with the sounds of twisting metal and shattering glass.

  After the car rolled three times, it came to a stop upside down.

  Mason pulled off his seatbelt and ran toward the wreckage. I couldn’t move. I just sat in the car with my eyes locked on the twisted mess that used to be a car.

  I heard my heart pounding in my ears and it felt like all blood had drained from my face. My stomach rolled wanting to void its contents. My mouth started watering and I knew it was going to come up.

  I swung open my door just in time to see Mason drag her lifeless body out of the busted window of the destroyed metal.

  Not being able to stomach what I saw, I leaned over and emptied my stomach.

  I somehow managed to pull myself from the car in time to see Mason on the phone. He had taken off his shirt and balled it up to try and stop the bleeding that was coming from her head. She must have hit the steering wheel in the crash.

  I forced my feet to work and ran over to them. I fell at Mason’s side and watched him give her CPR.

  It felt like hours had passed before the ambulance finally arrived.

  Mason scooted away from her and hung his head.

  Flashing lights lit up the dark night while the EMT’s went to work placing Ashley on the stretcher. They moved quickly, but I couldn’t watch them anymore. My eyes were trained on Mason.

  His chest was heaving while he stared ahead at the dirt. I knew he was blaming himself and I couldn’t sit back and watch it anymore.

  I wrapped him up in my arms. “You did everything you could,” I whispered, hoping he would hear me.

  He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have chased after her. I should have just let her leave and let the police do their job.”

  I placed my hand on his chin and forced his eyes to mine. “It would have happened anyway with the way she was driving. She knew she would be in trouble, she ran. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I could tell from looking in Mason’s eyes that he didn’t believe me. Just as I opened my mouth to try and further assure him, a policeman walked up.

  “Excuse me, but we need your statements.”

  Mason stood and pulled me along with him. “She was at my house,” his voice was shaky. “The police were on their way because she openly admitted to burning down my shop and when she found out, she took off.” He ran his hands through his hair, leaving behind a smudge of blood that was on his hand.

  “I followed her. She was driving crazy, swerving all over the road. She finally lost control and hit that embankment. Her car flipped several times before coming to a stop. I pulled her out, I tried my hardest to help her.”

  The officer took our information in case he had any more questions and we were free to go.

  We were sitting in the car as the ambulance pulled away.

  “Mason, please believe me when I say there is nothing you could have done.”

  He let his hand fall from the steering wheel and into his lap, eyes straight ahead. “It’s just that, she didn’t deserve this. She was ill, she needed help. I just wanted her to get help.” He shook his head and even through the darkness, I could see the sadness roll off him.

  “Let’s go to the hospital and see how she’s doing.”

  Mason nodded and started the car to follow the ambulance.

  We were sitting in the waiting room when someone else walked in. My eyes landed on a rather drunk woman stumbling into the room.

  The woman was thin and pale. Her long blonde hair was stringy and her clothes were dirty. Her blue eyes locked on mine and I knew by looking at those eyes, it was Ashley’s mom.

  She sat back and lit a cigarette.

  “Ma’am, there is no smoking in here,” the nurse behind the desk said.

  The woman dropped the cigarette to the floor and stomped it out. She didn’t look sad or worried. If anything, she looked pissed off to be taken out of the bar.

  I watched the woman, who was obviously high on something, as her head fell. She would jump awake only to repeat the process.

  Finally, a doctor came into the room. He approached the woman slowly. He softly shook her arm, “Ma’am?”

  She jumped awake and trained her eyes on him.

  “You are Ashley Williams mother, correct?”

  The woman nodded.

  He bent down so he was eye level with her. “I’m very sorry to tell you this, but your daughter has passed.”

  She continued to stare at him, maybe in shock.

  “Did you hear me, Ma’am?”

  She nodded her head before standing on shaky legs and left the waiting room without a word.

  The doctor who was speechless stood and turned.

  Mason spoke for the first time since we arrived at the hospital. “Can I ask what happened? I saw the accident, I was the one who put in the call.”

  The doctor walked closer to us. “She broke a rib in the accident that punctured her lung, causing it to collapse. We were working on her lung when she went into cardiac arrest. That’s what lead us to find an internal hemorrhage. We just couldn’t get her all the help she needed soon enough. I’m sorry for your loss.” He bowed his head before turning and walking away, leaving us alone.

  I rubbed Mason’s back, “This isn’t your fault.”

  He nodded his head before standing. He took my hand in his and we walked silently back to the car.

  19

  Mason

  I wanted Ashley punished for the trouble she had caused, I did, but I didn’t want her to die.

  I knew she was troubled. She needed help. I just wanted to help her. Never did I think I would help deliver her to her death.

  I shouldn’t have chased after her so fast. I should have just let the police do their jobs and stayed home. Why I decided to get behind the wheel and chase after her, I will never know.

  I tried everything I could to save her. But in the end, it didn’t matter.

  Lennox and I drove home to find the party in full swing. I went straight to my room, I couldn’t drink and act like nothing was wrong.

  A girl had lost her life.

  As I sat on my balcony alone, I looked over the raging party that was going on beneath me. There was a fire roaring with people standing all around it. Beer pong tables were still being used and there was even a couple skinny dipping in my pond.

  A laugh escaped me and I shook my head.

  If there was one thing to take out of the whole experience, it was to live everyday like it was the last.

  Ashley had no idea when she decided to crash my p
arty that it would be her last night.

  That got me thinking, I needed to make sure that I let everyone in my life know how much they meant to me. I needed to make sure Lennox knew it most of all.

  “I brought you a beer.”

  I turned to look over my shoulder to see her leaning against the doorframe. “I could use something a little harder right now.”

  She walked to my side and pulled out the bottle of Jack from behind her back. “I brought that too.” She offered up a little smile and her eyes almost glowed from the light of the fire burning bright.

  “That’s my girl,” I patted my lap for her to have a seat.

  She took the invitation and sat down, resting her head against my shoulder. Her heat sunk into me, instantly calming me. I breathed in her scent and closed my eyes, just to enjoy the feeling of her pressed against me.

  “Is there anything I can do to make your night better?” She lifted her head so her green eyes were locked on mine.

  “Just be here with me,” I whispered before moving my lips to hers.

  Every time we touched it was like the world stopped spinning. Everything froze in time, except the two of us as our hearts beat together as one.

  She slowly slid out of my lap and fell to her knees before me.

  I watched her hooded eyes as she slowly freed me from my jeans.

  So much love and emotion burned in her eyes. I felt it in the deepest parts of my heart and soul.

  The moment her perfect, pink lips touched my dick, my head fell back as a throaty moan escaped my lips.

  I tried to watch her as she moved me slowly in and out of her mouth, but she felt too good. I grabbed the armrests of the chair, causing the old wood to creak beneath my touch.

  “You have to stop. I’m going to finish, baby,” I panted out between labored breaths.

  Instead of stopping, she doubled her efforts until I was falling apart beneath her in an earth- shattering orgasm.

  The second I was freed from her amazing lips, I had her back against the side of the house, lips locked with mine.

  I couldn’t control myself, my hands roamed her soft body as my lips found their way to the soft spot below her ear.