This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Emily McIntire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected]
Cover Design: Clarise Tan - CT Cover Creations
Editing: Ellie McLove - My Brother’s Editor
Proofreading: Rosa Sharon - My Brother’s Editor
ISBN E-book 978-1-7349994-1-9
ISBN Print 978-1-7349994-0-2
Created with Vellum
Contents
A Note From the Author
Preface
Prologue
1. Alina
2. Chase
3. Alina
4. Chase
5. Alina
6. Alina
7. Chase
8. Alina
9. Chase
10. Alina
11. Chase
12. Chase
13. Alina
14. Alina
15. Chase
16. Alina
17. Chase
18. Alina
19. Chase
20. Alina
21. Chase
22. Chase
23. Alina
24. Alina
25. Chase
26. Alina
27. Chase
28. Alina
29. Chase
30. Alina
31. Chase
32. Chase
33. Alina
34. Alina
35. Chase
36. Alina
37. Chase
38. Alina
39. Alina
40. Chase
41. Chase
42. Alina
43. Chase
44. Alina
45. Chase
46. Alina
47. Chase
48. Alina
49. Chase
50. Alina
51. Alina
Epilogue
Thanks for reading Beneath the Stars!
Also by Emily McIntire
Acknowledgments
About the Author
A Note From the Author
Beneath the Stars is a full-length, interconnected standalone that features strong language, sexual scenes and mature situations which may be considered triggers for some.
Reader Discretion is advised.
I started this book in February 2020 and Chase and Alina’s story literally poured out of me. They are real, raw and flawed characters. There will be times you may want to scream at both them and me, and that’s okay. I promise I’ll bring you through it.
Trust the process.
Preface
I was eleven when I met Chase Adams. I loved him before I knew what lovin’ was.
I pulled, he pushed.
I gave, he took.
I loved… I lost.
Now he’s back. All grown up and sexy as sin.
But things changed while he was gone. So, he can show those dimples and flex those muscles all he wants. It won’t change a thing.
Chase Adams is nothin’ but a lost memory. I’ll do everything I can to keep him that way.
Growing up, there were only two women I ever loved.
Neither one of them ever really loved me back.
Until her. Alina. My Goldi.
She was everything that’s good. I was the bad.
She was the brightest goddamn star. I was the black hole shredding her to pieces.
I loved her wrong, losing her to my demons.
But now I’m back. A better man.
I’ll do everything I can to make her remember us, even if all she wants is to forget.
For everyone who has loved, will love, and wants to be loved.
Prologue
It’s when I’m walking to the back office that I feel it. The shift in the air. It’s subtle—a ghost of a chill that flickers down my spine. What the heck? I brush it off, straightening my shoulders and walking through the open door.
I don’t see him at first, but when I do—that chill drops like an iceberg, free-falling through my body and freezing me in place.
This isn’t happening.
This cannot be happening.
“Alina! I was starting to wonder if you would even show up,” my boss, Regina, says as she smiles thinly. She’s annoyed, and rightly so. I should respond, but I don’t. I’m not sure I physically can since my heart has stalled in my chest.
Chase Adams.
I’d love him if I didn’t hate him so much.
There’s a pencil behind his ear, a blueprint rolled up in his hand, and another laid out on the desk. But he isn’t looking at that. He’s locked on me, mouth partially open, hand frozen halfway through his silky, dark hair.
He swallows, and my traitorous eyes track the way his throat bobs. “Goldi.”
The nickname travels across the room and pierces me in the chest, snapping me out of my shock. “Don’t call me that.”
He sucks in a breath, but clamps his mouth shut and nods.
“You two know each other?” Regina points between the two of us.
Chase starts to answer. “Yeah, actually we used—”
“Our folks are neighbors,” I interrupt. “We grew up together, but no. I never really knew him.”
I stand stoic, my gaze never straying from Regina. But I can feel him. My body hums, reminding me of the first time I saw him at eleven years old, and just like then, I have to clench my fists to keep from reaching out.
1
Alina
Eleven Years Old
I love dancing. Always have and always will. Been in classes for every type of dancing under the sun since I was four years old. Daddy tells me I’ll dance my way into the worst kind of trouble, but I think that’s a load of bull. Why would I want to get in trouble? I’m eleven now, way too big to be sitting in a time-out chair. It’s just that dancing is one of the only times I really feel free. My older brother Eli will tell you I’ve got two left feet, but don’t believe him. He just gets annoyed Mama tells him to let me pick the music when she sends us outside to play.
I pick a freshly burned CD out of my case and pop it in. When Gretchen Wilson’s “Red Neck Woman” blares out of the speakers, I smile big and tap my foot.
“Ugh, seriously?” my brother huffs. “Lee, could you pick worse songs to listen to? You know I can’t stand country.”
I turn quickly, whipping my long honey-blonde hair around, tangling it behind me. Eli’s shooting hoops in the driveway. I stick my tongue out at him and turn toward the house. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s all I’ve ever known as home. A three-bed, two-bath, one-story right smack in the middle of Sugarlake, Tennessee with blue shutters and the prettiest tulips you’ll ever see. I love picking them when they bloom in the spring, but Mama gets mad when I do because tulips are “a labor of love,” so instead I just come out front and stare at them every chance I get.
Eli dribbles the basketball and groans, bringing my attention back to him. “Seriously, you always get to pick the music and it fuckin’ sucks, Lee. Put on some OutKast or somethin’. I can’t practice my free throws to this shit.”
I roll my eyes at his potty mouth. He thinks he’s so big and bad because he’s fourteen now, and he loves to curse every chance he gets.
“Don’t let Mama hear you talk like that or she’ll wash your mouth out with soap again.” I stick my finger in my mouth, makin
g a loud gagging noise. I’ve never had soap in my mouth, but watching Eli go through it is enough to make me never want to speak a bad word in my life.
He stops dribbling and runs his hand through his hair, shaking his head. “You’re such a goody-two-shoes. Why don’t you leave me alone? Go on and introduce yourself to the new neighbors or somethin’. I saw a girl runnin’ around their front yard, and I bet you’d get along great. She looks almost as annoyin’ as you.” He smirks, pointing down the street.
I put my hands on my hips. The house is three doors down. There’s a big moving truck in the driveway and lots of men in dark blue uniforms unloading furniture and boxes. I strain my eyes trying to find the girl, and finally, see her in the front yard. She’s smaller than me and hula hooping away without a care in the world, her dark brown hair swishing behind her in a high ponytail. She looks friendly enough, and since my best friend Becca is out of town for the summer at church camp, I really have nothing better to do than make a new friend.
“Okay, I will. But not ‘cause you told me to, Eli. I’m doin’ it ‘cause she looks nice.” I’m pointing my finger at him because it’s important he knows this.
I march down the street. I’m almost to her house when a boy walks out of the front door and slams it behind him. I stop in my tracks and watch with wide eyes as he turns and flips off the closed door with both middle fingers, sitting down on the front steps and lighting up a cigarette. He doesn’t look that much older than me, definitely not old enough to buy cigarettes. He leans on his arms and blows out a puff of smoke. I watch, mesmerized as it swirls up into the air.
Is he the new girl’s brother?
He has the same brown-black hair, although his is cut so short I can almost see his scalp. He isn’t as small as her, but he is skinny and kind of gangly looking. He turns his head and looks straight at me. It’s only then I realize I’m standing in the middle of our street staring like a weirdo. I feel my cheeks heat and I’m sure they’re bright red, so I quickly look down and start walking again. No sense in turning back now, that would be even weirder.
The girl sees me as I get to the edge of their front yard, and she lets the hula hoop fall down her body. A huge smile takes over her face as she runs to meet me. I watch her bound over.
Dang, this girl is bouncy.
“Hi! I’m Lily! Do you live on this street? I’m so excited that you came over. I’ve been so worried about not making any friends, but then here you are, and oh! Your eyes are so pretty! They must be the bluest things I’ve ever seen.”
She stands on her tiptoes and gets super close to my face. I stuff my hands in the pockets of my jean shorts and stare back at this girl who I think might be a little crazy. I’m fixin’ to kill Eli for suggestin’ I come over here. I look behind her to where the boy is watching us, stone-faced. Eli calls expressions like that “resting asshole face.” I don’t know if this boy is an asshole, but he sure doesn’t seem happy to see me. I decide to ignore him and shift my focus back to Lily.
“How do you talk like that? You know… just goin’ and goin’ for so long without havin’ to breathe?” I ask, taking a step away.
Immediately, I want to take my words back. Daddy says I have no filter, but I’ve always thought saying what’s on my mind is the most honest thing you can do, and if I’m nothing else I always want to be honest. I hate liars.
I’m worried I hurt her feelings, but she just laughs and I’m so relieved that I join her. She links her arm in mine and pulls me further into the yard. For such a small thing, she’s awful strong.
“You’ll get used to me.” She pats my arm. “My mom used to tell me I had enough energy to light up all of Chicago.”
“I think I believe her.” My eyes are wide as I smile. “Well, I’m Alina May Carson but my friends call me Lee. I live three houses down that way.” I point to where Eli is shooting free throws. “That’s my brother, Eli.” I glance at the boy on the steps again. “Does he like basketball? Eli never lets me play, he says basketball’s not meant for girls, but he’d probably let another boy play.”
She waves her hand in the general direction of the steps. “Oh, that’s my brother, Chase. He doesn’t like much of anything really unless it involves making our foster parents mad.”
“Oh.” I’m not sure what a foster parent is, but I don’t want to seem stupid, so I nod my head like I get it.
“Chase!” she yells. “Come here and meet Alina. She lives down the street!”
The bees buzz around in my stomach as he slowly puts his cigarette out on the ground, crushing it beneath his worn black boot. He doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of me, my eyes level with his chin. When he’s this close, I see the scar running through his left eyebrow. I clench my fists, fighting the urge to reach up and trace it. There’s something about this boy. He hasn’t said a word yet, and I’m already dying to know him.
“Smokin’ kills, you know.” Once again, I have no filter.
His hazel eyes look down at me and the left side of his mouth rises slightly higher than his right. “Is that right?”
“Yep.” I pop the P. “I’m a big believer in lettin’ people know how I feel about things. You might as well get used to it since we’re neighbors and all.”
He runs his tongue over his teeth. “Yeah? And how are you feeling right now?”
“A little too hot, if I’m honest.” I fan my face so he knows just how serious I am. It is warm just standing here under the summer sun.
He chuckles, shaking his head. “You’re a strange girl. How old are you anyway, Goldilocks?”
I scrunch up my nose at the nickname. “I’m eleven and my name is Alina, not Goldilocks. Ah-lee-nuh. But if you start being a little nicer, you can call me Lee.”
He tugs on a strand of my hair, then brushes past me.
“You’re the same age as me!” Lily squeals. “This is so cool. I can’t believe that we’ll be in the same grade. Have you lived here your whole life?”
“Born and raised.” I bob my head.
“I think it’s the prettiest place I’ve ever seen,” she sighs. I smile at her, but I look past her, hoping to catch another glimpse of her brother walking down the street.
Lily rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry about Mr. Grumpy Pants. He’s thirteen, so he’ll be in middle school. We won’t have to worry about him raining on our parade! You wanna come inside?”
I nod, following her into the house. I look back one more time in Chase’s direction. He has sad eyes and I feel like maybe he needs someone to make him smile.
I can be that someone.
Happy with my decision, I dance my way through the front door and into Lily and Chase’s life.
Daddy did always tell me I would dance straight into trouble.
Summer turns into fall, bleeding into winter, and before I know it, the springtime flowers are blooming. Becca, Lily, and I hang out nearly every day. The two of them got along instantly, bonding over their love of fashion, and their heartbreak over NSYNC being on a “temporary hiatus” but never getting back together. It doesn’t hurt that Lily gushed over Becca’s curly red hair and emerald green eyes. I saw Becca’s eyes light up in approval when they first met. She soaks up attention like grass soaks up the morning dew.
It’s Wednesday after school, the only day Becca can’t play with us because her mama makes her go to church. Lily and I lay in the grass eating cherry popsicles, letting the spring sun soak into our skin. If I try hard enough, I can almost pretend it’s summer. A shadow comes over me and I shield my eyes to see who it is.
“Hey Goldi, looking a little pink right… here.” Chase pushes his index finger into my cheek.
I smile back at him, even though he’s still calling me Goldi. I’ve tried for months to get him to open up, but he’s built up a brick wall and nothing but a wrecking ball is gonna get through. Still, whenever he’s near, my body starts to hum and I crave his attention in the worst way.
“Want a popsicle?” I hold out mine to sho
wcase how delicious they look, the ice-cold goodness dripping down the stick and onto my hand.
“Nope, I came to get Lily. Sam and Anna want us to come home, say they have something important to talk about.” He rolls his eyes like he’s annoyed.
“What do you mean?” Lily pushes her bright-pink sunglasses off her face. “Something important? You don’t think they’re going to make us leave, do you? We just got here!” She pouts, gnawing on her lower lip.
“No, Lil, I don’t think it’s anything bad. They seem pretty excited, so it must be good news.” Chase smiles, but to me, he looks a little nervous. Lily dashes inside my house, saying she’ll be ready to go in just a second.
I don’t know much about the homes they’ve been in before, but I don’t like to bring it up. There are not many times Lily shuts up, but you ask about her past and she clams up and looks about as lost as last year’s Easter egg.
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