First Chances (15 page)

“Like what?”

He pursed his lips, looking unsure. I could tell he was debating on whether or not to tell me. “I saw her getting it on with Coach West in his SUV one afternoon. I’ve kinda been holding onto that knowledge for a while.”

My mouth dropped open. “No way!” I knew Kance was a manipulative, nasty piece of work, but I’d never thought for a second she would have an affair with the coach. It was ironic how she judged everyone, yet she was doing something so low.

“Yeah,” he said, “she’s something else.”

“So you used that information as leverage to save me?” I asked. “Why?”

It was hard to believe that even though I’d been a complete biznatch to Eddie, he’d still saved me from getting into trouble. He was a much better person than I was and I owed him a lot. I owed him for sticking by me and not giving up on me.

“If it wasn’t obvious from the song I wrote you, or the way I showed you last night,” Eddie began, making my entire body flame up. “I kind of really like with you, Hadie Swinton; a lot, and I have for a while.”

My body warmed at his words, and I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, feeling self-conscious once again. It was obvious, and I was stupid to even ask him a question like that. What wasn’t obvious to him was how I felt about him, and he deserved to know.

“I kind of really like you, too,” I said softly, glancing up to meet his gentle, hazel-green eyes. “And I realized it’s about time I owned up to that fact.”

As I said these words to Eddie, my chest grew a hundred times lighter, as though a heavy weight had been lifted from me. Fighting and denying my feelings for so long had put unneeded stress on me.

It was time for me to become the girl I was always meant to be. It was time for me to believe in love again. It was time for me to give Eddie a chance—the first chance he had been waiting so long for.

“You don’t know how happy that makes me,” Eddie said, his eyes full of light as he reached across to take my hand in his.

As we sat there, basking in each other’s presence, and my heart grew full and weightless at the same, something exploded in my chest, like caged doves breaking free and soaring into the sky where they belonged.

With Eddie’s fingers entangled in mine, I was where I belonged.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eddie

“What if she says no?” It was hard to keep the anxiety from my tone as I spoke into the phone.

I had gone to so much trouble to put this surprise together for Hadie, and now the possibility that she would think it was stupid was eating me up inside.

“Then I will ground her until she is 104,” Mr. Swinton said, his tone deadly serious.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his words, but the uneasiness stirring in the pit of my stomach refused to fade.

“What if she says yes, but doesn’t like the surprise?” I asked, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

Yep, every worst case scenario was filling my head as we spoke. I really wanted to impress Hadie and make her smile, and there was no room for error. I’d never planned on having sex with her before our first date, so this was my grand romantic gesture.

“Then I’ll know my wife cheated on me,” Mr. Swinton responded smoothly, “because no child of mine could possibly hate what you’ve planned.”

“Peter!” I heard Mrs. Swinton’s cry of outrage in the background.

“It’s a figure of speech, Honey,” he said, consoling her. “But seriously, Eddie, if I was a seventeen-year-old girl and walked into that room, I would swoon and beg you to take me on the floor.”

“YOLO!” Mrs. Swinton cheered into the phone.

My chuckle turned into laughter at their attitudes. God, I loved the Swintons. If only my own family was as functional and hilarious as they were. If only Hailie could experience a life like this.

“You know, you guys are pretty cool,” I said, adjusting the purple tie around my neck.

Yes, a purple tie. You know, to match Hadie’s hair.

“Oh, I know, Eddie,” Mr. Swinton said in a serious tone. “Hashtag coolest parents ever.”

I almost choked on my laughter. “Wow, I have no words.”

After exchanging ‘byes’, I hung up the phone and slid it into the back pocket of my jeans. I was really lucky the Swintons were willing to help me out with this, because even though Hadie had admitted she liked me, I knew I still had to tread lightly around her.

It was obvious guilt ate her up whenever she tried to be happy and move on. That was why she hung out with Three—because logically there was no way a guy like him could give her what she wanted.

I wanted to be that guy. I had always wanted to be that guy. Not because Lincoln Bracks wanted me to be—it was because it was who I knew I wanted to be. You didn’t choose who you fell in love with; it just happened that way, and I happened to be in love with Hadie. There was nothing in this world that was going to change that.

Frowning at myself in the mirror, I decided that the tie made me look pretentious. I was already wearing a light blue, long-sleeved button up shirt, which was about as formal as I went. The tie was unnecessary.

As I pulled off the tie, the message tone on my phone went off. I reached for it, seeing it was Riley.

Be there in 5 with everyone

My friends, as well as Estella and Maria, were all helping me put this surprise date for Hadie. Luca’s mom had even offered to watch Hailey tonight while my mom was at work. Everyone wanted to help me surprise Hadie, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull it off without everyone’s help.

It was Mrs. Swinton’s job to take Hadie to the location, under the guise of getting groceries. Hadie would never see this coming. That was what I wanted—to completely take her by surprise.

Deciding I looked about as decent as I could get, I sent Mrs. Swinton a quick text.

Leaving home in 5 mins

She immediately responded.

The worm is unaware. Leaving in 20

Grinning at her codename for Hadie, I headed out of the house and down the front steps to wait for my friends to pick me up. I was too antsy to stay inside; I wanted to get the plan in motion.

“Hey,” someone called out from the street.

Completely lost in my thoughts, I glanced around and found Three standing on the sidewalk by his bike. There were two other guys with him. One was a really big guy with a beard, and the other guy was lean and muscular with tattooed hands.

Fuck. What was Three doing here?

A bad feeling sunk into me. This didn’t look good.

“Yeah?” I asked, staring him down as he approached me with slow, deliberate steps.

The other two guys hung back on the sidewalk by their bikes, their demeanor casual as though they were simply out enjoying the chilly evening. I knew that it was just an act and that they would jump to Three’s defense if he needed it.

“So a little birdie told me,” Three began, glancing around my front yard nonchalantly, “that you have some date planned for Hadie tonight.”

My stomach dropped, but I tried not to let it show on my face. I didn’t want him to know he had unnerved me, even though I couldn’t believe someone had betrayed me like that and passed on that information to the enemy. Only my closest friends, and Estella and Mariah knew about the surprise for Hadie, but I didn’t have time to consider how he’d found out.

Instead, I was attempting to act like him knowing about the date was no big deal.

“So did you cry into your pillow at night?” I knew it was a complete dick thing for me to say, but this guy had shown up outside my house with his thugs; it wasn’t like he was here to chit-chat. Obviously, things were going to go well for me, and there was no way I was going to be a nice guy in this situation.

“Very funny, you little shit,” Three said, taking two steps closer to me as his eyes narrowed into slits. “I’m not an idiot. I don’t know what bullshit you’ve been filling her head with, but there’s a reason why she hasn’t hung out with me in a while.”

I shrugged, as though I couldn’t care less about what he was saying. “What do Hadie and I have to do with you?”

Three cracked his knuckles, and I wondered if it was some sort of scare tactic thugs used when they were trying to mess with someone’s head. His intimidation wasn’t going to work on me, but I wasn’t in denial about how this was going to play out.

“It has to do with me because Hadie was my girl,” he said, and I could feel the anger emanating from his body, “and you wormed your way in and stole her. Now, I hear about you planning some lame date for her; do you really think I’m gonna stand by and let that happen?”

An uneasy feeling passed over me. I wasn’t sure how Three knew I’d been planning a date for Hadie, but now it made sense why he was here at this time. He was trying to stop me from getting to Hadie.

I stood my ground. “I can’t steal something you never had. She never had feelings for you the way she did for Lincoln, or the way she does for me.”

“Wrong answer,” he said, swinging his fist at me.

I managed to duck just in time, and he missed me by a few inches. Three let out a low growl and motioned to his buddies. They both ambled over and circled me like bloodthirsty sharks, leering at me.

There was nothing I could do as both guys grabbed my arms, holding me in place as Three swung his fist at me again. His fists landed multiple blows to my stomach, making me drop to my knees.

“Really? You’re already done?” Three asked with a cruel laugh.

If I was going down, there was no way I was going down like a little bitch. I staggered to my feet, facing him once again.

“You’re gonna have to try harder than that,” I spat, breathing heavily as pain shot through my gut.

As Three got ready to swing at me again, a shrill cry tore through the air.

“THREE!”

Three immediately spun around, and the two guys released me as they stared towards the street. Pain shot through my stomach as I doubled over, trying to catch my breath.

Lifting my head a little, I saw Estella—her honey brown hair was flying out behind her as she ran across my lawn, right at us. When she reached Three, she shoved him hard, but I could see tears were falling down her face.

“Three, what the hell are you doing? Are you out of your mind? How could you do something like this to Eddie?” she cried, sobbing as she pushed him in the chest.

My other friends had run up behind Estella—Ashton and Elly helped me to my feet, while Luca and Riley stood in front of me, staring down Three’s friends. Mariah was by Estella’s side, trying to calm her down.

Stacey guided me to my front steps so I could sit down, asking me if I needed anything, but my attention was on Estella, who was screaming at Three and the other two guys.

“Jase! Conor! Have you lost your minds?” she demanded, absolutely livid. “How could you? Eddie is my friend!”

“Stelle,” Three began, but she pushed him again.

“I don’t want to hear it! I can’t believe you would do this to such a good person!” she yelled, tears still streaming down her face. “We’re going to see Vincent. Right now.”

It was incredible how quickly their faces turned ashen white.

“Estella, Vincent doesn’t have to know about this,” the guy with the beard said, his eyes darting left to right. “It won’t happen again.”

“Oh, yes, he does, Jase.” Estella spun on him, looking like a beautiful nightmare. She was the sweetest girl I had ever met, and I had never seen this terrifying side of her before. “Get on your damn bikes and follow me there.”

The three guys nodded in unison and headed down to where they had parked their bikes. Estella took a deep breath and walked over to me, wiping away her tears.

Rising to my feet to meet her, I was glad to notice that it wasn’t as painful to move anymore. Not that I could say the same for tomorrow, but for now I was alright.

“I’m really sorry about all this, Eddie,” she was saying, her face pale. “This is all my fault. I told Vincent we were going to help you with Hadie’s surprise tonight and he must’ve mentioned it to Three in passing.”

She looked so torn up about this when it wasn’t her fault. She had no idea Three would react like this. “Don’t blame yourself. You don’t control him.”

I wasn’t sure if my words were enough comfort, but she nodded anyway. “I hope everything else goes to plan tonight. We’re going to see Vincent. Come on, Ray.”

“I really hope you’re okay, Eddie,” Mariah said, studying me in concern. “We’ll be there in spirit.”

“I’ll live,” I said with a tight-lipped smile.

With that, the two girls turned around and headed out to the street where the guys were waiting for them. Mariah and Estella got into Mariah’s car, and with thunderous roars, the bikes kicked to life and pulled out after Mariah’s car.

“Wow, that Estella is something else,” Riley commented as the sounds of the bikes faded down the street. “I never thought she could make a bunch of Maddens cower like that.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Eddie?” Ashton asked quietly, patting me on the back.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said, pulling out my phone and glancing at the time.

5:23.

Crap. We were running way behind schedule.

“We gotta go,” I said, hurrying down the front yard. At the same time, I was sending Hadie’s mom a text message, letting her know that we needed some extra time. “Hadie can’t get there before us.”

My friends rushed after me, and we all got into Riley’s van. The mood was definitely a serious one in the aftermath of me getting my ass kicked, and no one said anything the entire way to the library.

Yep, the library. That was where my big surprise for Hadie was. It didn’t sound like much, but a lot of planning had gone into it.

I had to hand it to Riley, he got us there in record time. He ran a couple of red lights, and was probably going faster than he should’ve been, but we made it there in one piece.

Riley zipped the van into the parking lot of the library and slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt. I wasn’t sure if he had been watching the
Fast and Furious
movies too much, or if he was just nuts. Either way, we were alive and he had somehow managed to pull into a spot perfectly.

Dude had a career in stunt driving.

As the six of us walked inside, my Aunt Mary was lingering behind the front desk and gave us a broad grin. She had muted, green eyes, and long, red hair that fell around her shoulders in tight curls. Her flowing, multi-colored dress made her look like a nature-loving, gypsy woman.

In reality, Aunt Mary was the head librarian here and was married to my uncle, the principal of the high school. She had always been my favorite aunt, not only because she was so kind, but also because she was a lot of fun. She’d been the one to introduce me to punk rock music when I’d been a kid.

A bookworm who liked to rock out. It was kind of hard to beat.

“Eddie!” she exclaimed as we approached her. “Everything’s set up in the conference room for you. Oh, and the food is in the employee’s lounge, so don’t forget to take it up with you.”

Aside from being a librarian, Aunty Mary was also a great cook, and had offered to create a three-course meal for my date. She had immediately jumped at the chance to help me surprise Hadie by ensuring that the upstairs conference room of the library was available for us to use.