A Bit of Me (10 page)

nest syndrome or midlife crisis or just plain good old-fashioned lust, Xavier wasn’t going to www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

59

even try to resist it. He was going to have Chase. It wouldn’t be easy, but Xavier couldn’t shake the feeling Chase would be worth it.

www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

60

Oh fuck! Dirty pool!
Chase’s scowl dropped away the instant he stepped out of the physical therapy room and saw who his ride was. He might be nuts, but he wasn’t stupid.

No way would he risk having Charlene think he was scowling at her. That woman was

deceptively powerful, able to level a man with a look. Chase was too damned sore to drop to his knees in supplication should he piss her off.

Although she probably was already pissed at him, after the way he’d acted this

morning. But, he was paying for it now. Bouncing off Xavier’s mountainous body had set Chase’s shoulder to throbbing.

Chase shuffled his feet, resting his weight on first his right hip then his left. The movement was enough to draw Charlene’s attention from the gossip magazine she’d been glancing at.

Chase braced himself, prepared to be the recipient of one of those ball-shrivelling looks, but Charlene gave him a sweet smile instead. He nearly sagged against the door in relief before his suspicious nature kicked in. Maybe she was just waiting to get him back to the house, away from witnesses…

“How’d your session go?” Charlene’s eyes narrowed as Chase swallowed nervously.

“Let me guess, you hurt it again when you ran into Xavier Talbot.”

Uh oh, so she’s heard all about it. Now she’ll probably tear me a new one for trying to leave in
the first place.
Chase hadn’t been around Charlene much, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her, although he figured she must have been a great mom because Adam had turned out to be a decent guy.

Charlene didn’t look angry, though. She gave Chase a smile that sunk into him and

unknotted the worry balled in his chest as she walked right up to him, repeating her question. “So how did it go today?”

As far as Chase was concerned, it wasn’t going fast enough. Terry insisted Chase work at a pace that had him chomping at the bit. Logically he understood the need to go slow and www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

61

rebuild his strength up in his injured shoulder, but emotionally he just wanted to be whole again. Not that he was going to say any of that to anyone else.

“Good. I’m a little sore, but that’s normal.”

Charlene held her elbow out and after a moment’s confusion Chase realised what she

expected of him. He hooked his arm through hers. Charlene beamed at him and patted his hand gently. “You’re a good young man,” she all but cooed at him.

Chase looked at her in surprise. How’d he get a woman attached to him like that?

Usually he skittered away from any touch that wasn’t going to lead to sex, unless it was a handshake to firm up a job or Terry the sadistic physical therapist poking at him to rehabilitate his shoulder.

But he’d wanted Xavier’s touch, had replayed the moment when he’d collided against

the man’s solid strength repeatedly in his mind each time he felt like giving up on his PT.

Chase would never be as big as Xavier, but he inspired Chase to get back to where he’d been before Rollins Sr had rained down hell on him.

“I heard about your friend being found. You must be relieved. Were you planning on

finishing out your physical therapy before you head back to Montana, or where James is?”

Chase wanted to find James and make sure he was going to be okay, but he was trying

to be realistic. He didn’t have any money or way to travel, and while he intended to start researching clinics, it would probably take time to weed through the ones that would be good enough for Mr and Mrs Stratton. “I think it’s best that I get a little stronger first.” And if he happened to run into Xavier again, that would be a bonus. He wasn’t hanging around just for another opportunity to see the man. He wasn’t.

Charlene waited until they’d stepped outside, the warm Texas sun sucking the chill

right out of Chase. “Do you want to go back to the bunkhouse? Or would you rather come back to our place? I did fix lunch, but no pressure, okay?”

Chase barely bit back a snort.
No pressure. Right. Like I could tell this woman no.
“Lunch would be great.”

It dawned on Chase she was treating him like a frightened colt, or some other scared animal. Charlene kept her voice low and soothing. She rubbed his hand softly as if to infuse www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

62

him with some of her peace, because Charlene did seem like one of those rare people who were at peace with themselves.

He glanced at her, wondering if she’d always been that way. Charlene grinned at him

and a slightly wicked look made her eyes sparkle. “I also heard you met Xavier Talbot, Adam’s former boss. He owns The Xxchange, you know. Isn’t he just gorgeous?” Charlene fluttered her lashes and fanned herself with her free hand. “My, there’s a lot of good-looking men here in Texas, don’t you think?”

Chase thought there might be a trap in the question but he couldn’t see it. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d be lying if he agreed. “That there are, Charlene.”

Charlene hummed and gently pulled him closer to her side. “And you know, you fit

right in.”

And Chase, who couldn’t remember the last time he’d blushed, felt his skin heat from the top of his head clear down to his toes.

Chase looked down at the sloppily-braided leather strips in his hands. The black and turquoise beads he’d slid onto the thin lengths didn’t look right. They bulged out, not blending into the smooth row he’d imagined when he’d first sat down to put the bracelet together.

“No wonder,” he muttered. His mind had been a jumble of confused thoughts all

morning, which obviously wasn’t conducive to the new hobby Max had encouraged him to take up. Originally, he’d fully intended to be gone by now, screwed up shoulder or not, but between Charlene and the rest of the crew that had been thrust into his life, somehow he’d found himself staying, at least for a little longer. He’d have thought, weeks ago, that as soon as James was found he’d be knocking the dust from this town off his heels, yet here he was.

At least he knew James was getting the best care possible. His parents wouldn’t settle for anything less, so it wasn’t as hard to hang around a while longer.

It was weird, in a way. He had friends now, as in plural. He and James had been friends for years, but other than him Chase hadn’t bothered letting anyone else close. He’d have www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

63

thought it would have been oppressive; having to worry about other people, but with Adam, Les, Max, Bo, Rory and Chance and—well the list of new friends was extensive, at least in his opinion. And, Chase didn’t feel quite as stifled, or—and this was the one thing that unsettled him if he gave it too much thought—he didn’t feel as much like an outsider in their happy little world. When had something shifted inside himself, something that let people past his walls? Chase wasn’t sure. All he knew was the urge to run had receded, at least for now.

And it most definitely
didn’t
have anything to do with a certain velvet-voiced man.

Chase snorted at that. He wasn’t the sort to get hung up on a man, but the truth was, he hadn’t been able to push Xavier from his thoughts for more than a few minutes at a time.

Maybe, he mused, he should just fuck the man and get over it.

Although, there might be a problem with that. Xavier, with that soothing voice and

calming touch, didn’t seem like a man who bottomed. With his presence, the way he carried himself and didn’t seem to let anything rattle him—or at least not a bitchy blond—Chase couldn’t help but think Xavier was likely a top. Maybe Chase had it wrong and the man would bend over for him in a heartbeat, but he didn’t think so.

No matter how much his stomach fluttered at the thought, or the way his cock started firming up, Chase didn’t bottom.
So, problem
. He narrowed his eyes, the awful bracelet blurring as he tried to work that little problem through. Mutual hand jobs, maybe? No, he could beat off himself, and yeah, it was definitely a different experience when another man was doing it for you, different when your hand was closed around another man’s dick, but that wouldn’t be enough.

Blowjobs, then. That might work, or…or…Chase closed his eyes and pulled up an

image of Xavier. For some reason he’d had trouble bringing the man into focus. It always seemed his eyes, mouth or hands became the whole of the picture of the man.
But if we picked
up a third…

An unreasonable burst of anger speared through him as he tried to imagine sharing

some cute little twink with Xavier. Every time one of those big, rough hands stroked over the imaginary twink’s pale soft skin, Chase wanted to hit something. Preferably the twink.

Fuck, he was going to drive himself out of what was left of his mind at this rate! Chase opened his eyes as the pinging sound of beads bouncing on the floor reached his ears.

www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

64

“Damn it all!” He tossed the unravelled leather on the couch and bent over, trying to capture the rolling beads.

Footsteps sounded on the porch, followed by the squeak of the screen door—something

Josh said they all refused to fix as it acted as an early warning system in case someone was getting down and dirty in the living room, which happened somewhat regularly here in the bunkhouse. Chase muttered another curse word as his fingers closed around a shiny bead.

He sat up too fast, his head spinning from it as Max came around the front of the couch and knelt down.

“Hate it when this happens,” Max said, scooping up a couple of beads. “Always makes

me want to throw the whole damn thing against the wall.”

Chase snorted at that. Max was about the most laid-back man he’d ever met. “That ever actually happen?”

Max set the beads on the coffee table, steadying them with his hand until he was sure they weren’t going to roll off. “Once or twice. I get irritated sometimes, believe it or not.” He gave Chase a self-deprecating smile that Chase found himself answering with one of his own. “Thing about being so easy-going, every now and then things build up and kinda just spew out, you know?”

Chase didn’t know about the easy-going part—he didn’t think that term had ever

applied to him—but he definitely knew about the other. “Yeah, I guess. Sometimes I just…”

Shocked at himself and his loose lips, he averted his gaze. He didn’t confide in people, except maybe James. What was he doing, letting his mouth run away with him now?

Max didn’t push, though. He gathered up a few more beads that were out of Chase’s

reach then stood, his knees popping loudly. Chase winced in sympathy, something else mostly alien to him, but damn, that had sounded painful!

After setting the other beads down, Max rubbed at his knees. Chase finally looked the man in the eyes again and was grateful when Max seemed like he was going to ignore

Chase’s unfinished confession.

“Getting old,” Max said, but he didn’t sound particularly upset about it. “Ain’t as easy getting down on my knees as it—” He broke off suddenly, his swarthy complexion going darker at the cheeks.

www.total-e-bound.com

A BIT OF ME

Bailey Bradford

65

Chase tried not to laugh, knowing Max’s mind had tumbled into the gutter right

alongside his. A snicker slipped out regardless, and the blush on Max’s cheeks deepened even as the man grinned.

“Oh now, you know what I mean!”

Chase nodded, then startled them both with a noisy laugh. He slapped a hand over his mouth; he couldn’t remember the last time he’d really laughed like that. He might have been too stunned to make another sound, but Max started laughing, and before Chase knew what was what, the two of them were sprawled on the couch, holding their sides until their laughter faded to snickering.

It felt good to let go like that, too good to worry about anything just now. Chase sighed and leaned his head back, rolling his neck so he could look at Max. Amazing how much younger Max looked when he was really relaxed. Chase realised Max had the same look

about him when Bo was around, which was…well, he’d like to think it was sickeningly sweet and not something he’d ever want, but he’d never been willing to lie to himself. So he acknowledged the strange, warm pull inside him as something along the lines of envy, maybe, but still told himself a relationship wasn’t for him.

Even if he ever did commit to one man, he’d never be the warm fuzzy type of guy like these other men he’d met here. And why,
why
was he even thinking about it as if it would ever happen? And even worse, when he closed his eyes, there were those eyes again, the sound of that voice, flashes of those hands—

Oh no. No no no no. Not happening! What the fuck is wrong with me?

The couch shifting had Chase opening his eyes. Max stood and rubbed at his belly as

his lips curled up on one side. “Crap. I came in here ‘cause it’s my turn to make lunch.

Supposed to feed Chance and Rory, too, since Bo invited them over—when it was my turn to cook, of course.” Max rolled his eyes, but he didn’t look bent out of shape about it. He tipped his head towards the kitchen. “You wanna help?”

Chase didn’t have a lick of cooking skills. He wasn’t particularly interested in learning any, either, and yet he nodded and began to push up off the couch. “Yeah, I guess I could do that.”