by Amber Heart
“Can I?” Chase asked. “You jump in whenever you feel good about it.”
She nodded, looking relieved.
“Claire and Logan dated last year,” Chase said, telling Coach Davis everything Claire had told him. “When she broke it off after he started pushing her around, he started harassing her,” he finished. “And he really hasn’t stopped.”
Coach Davis looked at Claire.
“I have all of the text messages he’s sent,” she said. “And the voicemails he’s left.”
“I’m going to need to see those,” Coach Davis said. Then he looked at Ellie. “And this young lady?”
“She started dating Logan a few weeks ago,” Claire said when Ellie only shook her head. “Tonight he got physical with her. Will you show him?”
Ellie pulled off her cardigan, showing the rapidly darkening bruises on her upper arms. Coach Davis’s face turned even more grim.
“We’re going to have to make an official report,” he said, standing up. “Stay here while I get everything together.”
“But...but what about the team?” Ellie asked.
Coach Davis stopped and looked at both girls. “I don’t say this a lot,” he said. “But there are things more important than football. And on second thought, young lady, you come with me. I’d like to get you looked at, just in case.”
When he and Ellie were gone, Claire stood and went into Chase’s arms. He rocked her back and forth, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
“What do you think they’ll do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I’m proud of you, Claire.”
“Me?” she gave a shaky laugh. “I couldn’t even tell him what happened to me.”
“No,” Chase agreed. “But you told him about Ellie. You got her to come here.” He tilted her chin up. “You can be strong for other people, because I’m always gonna be strong for you.”
Claire thought that kissing him in the coach’s office while they waited to file official paperwork against her ex might not be the best thing to do, but when her lips met his, she knew it was exactly the right thing to do. No matter what happened with Logan, it wasn’t her fault and Chase had shown her that.
She did everything she could to express her gratitude in the kiss they shared and he cupped the back of her neck, keeping her close against him. Letting her know that she was safe with him and she always would be, no matter what came next.
Thank you for reading!
Treat yourself to a bonus epilogue of Claire and Chance (Free!)
Bonus Epilogue!
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Check out another one of my football romance stories here:
The Project: A Football Romance Story
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You’re not finished yet!
Turn over and enjoy The Mechanic: A Biker Romance Story
The Mechanic
A Biker Romance Story
By Amber Heart
Chapter 1
“Hey there, boss man,” Eli said from under the hood of a massive Suburban he’d just finished changing the brake fluid in.
He’d been afraid that he wouldn’t get to it that day, but he’d managed to work it in by skipping lunch. The owner was taking all three of her kids out to the lake that weekend and the only other car she had was a Corolla. He’d basically saved their vacation. And, with the way she’d talked to him as she dropped the car off, he wasn’t ruling out the possibility of a more personal thank you which might have been a motivational factor in the whole thing.
“How’s it going?”
Shane had been gone all day, picking up a car for a client. Eli was actually surprised that he’d gotten back before closing time, since he’d been asked to close up the shop.
“How’s it going?” Shane repeated, sounding almost dazed. “Eli, this may be the best day of my life.”
Eli dropped the hood with a clang and looked across the garage floor. Shane, the owner of Harris Garage, was grinning at him. It wasn’t just any grin either, the man wore an ear to ear grin of pure excitement.
“What’s up?” Eli asked, wiping his hands on the rag he kept tucked into his belt.
He’d never seen Shane so excited. Of the two of them, his friend was the one that always kept his emotions in check and under control. Eli was halfway tempted to ask if he’d met someone on the run out to meet the new client. That was definitely the smile of a man in love.
“Come on over and see.”
Okay, so it probably wasn’t a woman. Eli followed Shane over to the next bay and then his jaw dropped. Shane hadn’t told him what he was going to pick up and Eli hadn’t bothered to ask. It was usually a decent mix of classic and run of the mill vehicles. Harris was a pretty well-known garage in Kansas. But they’d never gotten their hands on anything like this.
“Oh my God,” he said, aware of the reverence in his own voice.
“I know,” Shane replied in the same hushed tone.
“That’s...that’s a 1970 Plymouth Superbird.”
It was almost a question, even though Eli knew damn good and well what he was looking at. It was just that he’d never expected to see one up close like this. He took back his previous assessment. Maybe Shane was in love. If so, Eli hoped like hell that his friend would share.
“I know,” Shane repeated.
They stared at the car in silence for a few moments longer. It gleamed back at them, black and sleek and perfect looking under the fluorescent lights of the bay.
“They made less than 2,000 of ‘em.” Eli said after they’d passed nearly a minute simply staring.
“I know,” Shane said for the third time.
Eli laughed. “Is that’s all you got to say?”
Shane crossed his arms defensively. “Maybe I’m in shock, you hick. And if you keep talking like that, you’re not going to get to help me work on her.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” Eli said confidently. Then, unable to resist anymore, he stepped forward and ran his hand over the hood. The paint was good and he couldn’t see any rust on the body. It didn’t surprise him. Anyone lucky enough to have one would take damn good care of it. “So, what needs to be done?”
“A few things,” Shane said. “The guy that I picked it up from today just bought it from an estate sale. There’s nothing too wrong with it, but it’s been sitting since about the late eighties. We’ve just got to get it tuned up and running well.”
Eli nodded, trying hard not to look too eager. “Then it sounds like we’ll have it for a while?”
Shane grinned at him over the hood. “Yep. He said to take all the time we need.”
“Perfect. When do we get started?” Eli was already cataloging everything that would need to be done. Check the engine, the transmission. All the fluids and seals. The water and fuel pumps would probably need to be replaced. Maybe the rear end... “I can stay late tonight if you need me to, do an inventory on everything we should check. I can tell that we’re not going to have to worry about paint or the interior, but--”
Shane shook his head and held up one hand to stem the flow of Eli’s planning. “Sorry, man. We can’t start tonight.”
“What? Why not?” Eli demanded. He was itching to get his hands on the engine and play around. “That Suburban is done and all the Tacoma needs is a--”
“I know. But we have to close up early. That’s why I hurried back.”
“What for?” Eli felt like a kid who’d just dropped his ice cream cone.
“My sister’s coming into town.”
Eli only pried his eyes off of the car because his friend’s tone changed so much. All of the excitement had faded out, leaving him sounding tired and tense. Shane’s expression had changed as well. He was looking down at the car, but he was frowning slightly now. He didn’t look angry though; he looked worried.
He’d known that Shane had a sister, but they’d never really talked about her other than in passing. Maybe they didn’t get along and that was why his friend
was so stressed out. Or maybe there was more to it. Eli decided to pry just a little, knowing that Shane would duck out of any questions he really didn’t want to answer.
“How long will she be in town?”
“I don’t really know,” Shane said, rubbing his chin and then fiddling with the cuff of his button up shirt.
He always dressed nicely for a guy who spent a hell of a lot of time under a hood. He said it made him look more professional. And furthermore, if he didn’t dress nicely, people assumed that he was still in high school. Eli thought that he had a point there.
He’d assumed that Shane was a college freshman when they’d met three years ago. It had damn near shocked him to find out that the guy had been running his own garage for 10 years and that he had a bachelor's degree and had just celebrated his 30th birthday.
Eli had never had that problem. If he kept a straight face while doing it, he’d been able to buy beer at the age of 17. He thought that it was partly his height and his build. Most seventeen year old kids weren’t 6’5 and 200 pounds of solid muscle. Of course, looking older wasn’t as much fun now that he was staring down the barrel of 33, but there wasn’t much he could do about that.
“Indefinitely, I guess.”
That could sure as hell explain the tension. If anyone in Eli’s family had tried to descend on him without a clear exit strategy he’d probably laugh himself sick and then buy an extra lock for his front door. Then again, he had a feeling that Shane’s family might be a bit more normal than his.
“Where’s she coming in from?”
“California,” Shane answered. “Santa Monica.”
“What’s bringing her all the way back to Kansas?” Eli asked.
“She broke up with her boyfriend. They’ve been together since they were in high school. They both went out there for college and liked it so much that they stayed. At least until now.” Shane gave a small shrug. “I don’t know how it all shakes out, but she’s leaving and he’s staying.”
Eli leaned against the car, waiting. He knew that Shane had more to say, but he also knew that he’d have to take his time to say it.
“She doesn’t have a job out here yet,” Shane said finally, still frowning slightly. “So that’s why she’s gonna stay with me till she gets back up on her feet. She can’t afford rent anywhere after she had to ship all her stuff back.”
“And you’re not a big fan of the idea of her hanging around?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, she’s my sister and I love her. It’s just...” Shane flung his hands out. “We haven’t lived together for a long damn time. And she hasn’t been back to North Carolina since she was eighteen. I guess I don’t know what to expect here.”
“How old is she now?”
“Twenty six.”
That was a long damn time. Eli raised an eyebrow determined to lighten his friend’s mood. “Are you sure that you’ll recognize her after all that time? How are you gonna pick her out of the crowd at the airport?”
Shane laughed. “She says she’ll get a cab from there to my place. I’m just gonna assume that the chick outside the door tonight is her.”
“It’d have to be,” Eli said. “No other woman in her right mind would be knocking on your door.”
“That’s it,” Shane said, pointing at Eli. “You’re off the project.”
“Yeah right. Listen, if you’ve got a while till the plane comes in and you’re really not going to let me get at this baby tonight, why don’t you come and have a beer with me?” Eli asked. “Might help you take your mind off of things.”
“Nah, not tonight. I’ve still got a bunch of housework to do if I want to keep my sister from running straight back to California. You have fun though.” Shane rapped his knuckles on the hood of the car and grinned as he turned to walk out. “Remember to keep it to two drinks, buddy.”
Chapter 2
Eli took a long drink of his second beer and held back a smile. If someone had tried to tell him to cut off before he even had a buzz three years ago, he’d have either laughed himself sick at their expense or they would have had to pick up their teeth. Now though, he was already planning to head home once this one was done.
He liked this bar. It got a good crowd most of the time, but it was also pretty quiet most nights and the owners didn’t take any shit. The first sign that a person was going to be trouble, that person found themselves outside. No ifs, ands, or buts allowed. Eli had seen his share of bar brawls, both as a spectator and as part of the fight and he was pretty sure that he could go the rest of his life without seeing another.
There were a few groups and couples hanging around, but for the most part they kept to themselves. He idly watched two women set up a game of pool and begin to play. He made a mental note never to take a bet against the blonde. She wiped the table with her opponent who sighed heavily and bought the next round. Eli grinned at her and she grinned back, but she didn’t walk over. A minute or two later, a tall guy put his arm around her and pulled her back against him, leaning down to speak into her ear, making her laugh.
Eli gave a good natured internal shrug and turned back to his beer since it didn’t look like he was gonna get lucky tonight. Once it was gone, he’d hit the road with no hard feelings.
Now that he thought about it, it really had been a while since he’d taken someone home with him. He sipped and thought it over, figuring out how he felt about it. In the end, he decided that it didn’t really bother him. He was pretty far from desperate and the quiet could be nice.
He glanced around when the door swung open, sort of hoping that Shane had changed his mind and decided to come out for a beer after all. He was in the mood for a game of pool himself after watching the blonde play so well.
It wasn’t Shane. Eli found that he didn’t give a damn. The woman who’d just walked in glanced around for a second and then headed straight for the barstool next to him. Under the low lights, he couldn’t tell much about her other than that her hair was long and it hung down her back in loose curls, nearly brushing her ass. And speaking of her ass...he had to drag his eyes off of it because her tan suede skirt made it look almost too good.
When she dropped onto the stool next to him, he glanced down at her. She was wearing a plain long sleeved black shirt that bared her shoulders and cupped her small, high breasts. When she met his eyes and he saw that she had green eyes to go with that red hair and pale skin. All in all, she was the best looking woman he’d seen in a long damn time. She smiled and held out her hand. He took it, returning her smile.
“Hi. I’m Riley,” she said.
“Eli,” he answered.
“It’s nice to meet you, Eli.” She glanced around and then leaned forward, tucking her hair behind her ear when it swept forward. “Do you come here a lot?”
“I’ll put it like this,” Eli said. “They know my first name, but not my last. That’s how I like to keep it.”
Riley laughed. “That sounds like a great rule of thumb. So tell me, what’s the best drink here?”
She’d asked as if it was top secret information, so Eli beckoned her even closer, speaking into her ear. He couldn’t help but notice how good she smelled. It was a clean, cool smell, like water.
“Whiskey sour.”
She flagged the bartender down and ordered it. Then she pointed at his beer and raised her eyebrows.
“So if the whiskey sour is the best thing here, why are you wasting your time drinking that?”
Eli shrugged. “Variety is the spice of life.”
“I suppose that’s true. What else do you like variety in?”
He glanced down at her to find that she was leaning toward him again, running her index finger over her full lower lip. It was a more blunt approach than he was used to since he’d left his home town, but he appreciated it.
“Most things,” he said honestly.
“Then why are you sitting here in this little town in the ass end of nowhere?” Riley asked. “The only variety here is the fa
st food selection.”
Eli laughed. She had a point about the town, but he loved the same Kansas town. “I came here for a job. I wasn’t looking for much more than a paycheck back then.”
She took a sip of the whiskey and nodded in surprise. “This is good.”
“I know my liquor.”
“It certainly seems like you do.”
“You know what else I know?”
She shook her head, her eyes sparkling. “What?”
