Protecting His Assets (22 page)

Chase fingered his fork. His appetite was officially gone. “Guess that explains the vintage Caddy. And how easily she could leave her job at Triple Scoop to take a chance on a singing career.”

“Yeah, I suppose it does. She’s a strong woman. Scary strong. She tells me she can take care of herself and I believe it. She’s taken tons of self-defense classes.”

“Yeah. She showed me some of her moves.” At Jax’s snort, Chase shook his head. “Sick bastard.”

“My point is she’s not the kind of chick you have to worry about. She has a good head, a firm backbone.” He grinned. “Ready fists and a willingness to use them.”

“Not arguing that. Any of it. It still doesn’t change that I want to be there for her. Not because she can’t take care of herself. I want her to know someone has her back.” Absently, he rubbed his thigh.
Forever
.

Jax threw his arm over the booth. “Sounds like you do know how you feel.”

“This isn’t some Hallmark moment. Life doesn’t work out like that. She’s about to live the dreams she’s always wanted. I don’t want to get in her way.”

“We both know dreams change.” Jax rubbed his thumb through the circle of wetness on the table from his glass of water. “Sometimes they don’t turn out the way you expect. Or they don’t mean what you thought they would.”

“No. They don’t.” Chase pushed away his plate. “Look, I’m just going to say it straight out. I was a dick to you all those years ago. You got something I wanted and I couldn’t handle it.”

“It wasn’t only that. You didn’t think it was fair. I get that. You’d been practicing all those years for a baseball career and one day I took it up on a lark, like I’d taken up so many other things, and next thing you know I was playing for the best team in the league and you…weren’t.”

Chase chuckled, shaking his head. “Understatement, bro. Serious understatement. The Diamonds weren’t even worth making the trip out for the draft. But I eased up on my training senior year. I got overconfident and lax about a lot of stuff. None of that was your fault. My jealousy was my problem.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I thought about your mom a lot. Even at a distance, I kept tabs on her. If I’d had bigger balls, I would’ve gone to see her. She was like my mom too. Better than.”

“Nothing stopping you from going to see her now. You know she’d love it.”

“Yeah.” Chase stared at Elvis’s picture and wondered how it was possible The King’s eyes now seemed sad. “Yeah. I will.”

“Good.”

Chase sighed and tugged on the end of his ponytail. He’d turned into some kind of surfer hippie when he wasn’t looking. Minus the surfboard. “You know, Summer’s mom really fucked her over.”

“How do you figure?”

“She overprotected her all those years and then she took off and left her on her own.”

“I’m guessing she probably needed some space to live for herself after all those years of living on lockdown to protect her daughter. And it’s been good for Summer. She’s branching out.” Jax reached for his water, then drained it in a couple of long sips.

“You mean running away?”

Jax set down his glass. “It’s not running if you’re still searching for something you haven’t found.” Jax forked up eggs, chewed thoughtfully. “Besides, look at us. We lived out of suitcases for years.”

“Yeah, and now we’re home again.”

“She’s young. Give her time. She may come back. Or maybe this isn’t her home at all. Home’s more than where you lay your head, man.”

Chase knew he was right. Knew it bone-deep. It didn’t make it any easier to imagine his life without Summer in it so soon after he’d gotten her back. Sort of. “Yeah. I get that.” He sighed, tipped back his head to stare at the cracked ceiling tiles. Years of grime layered over them. How many conversations like this had they been privy to? “Hearing what happened with Summer’s dad makes me realize how short life is, you know? Wasting time is a debt I might not ever get to repay. I don’t want to be that guy who looks back at my life and can’t remember when I really laid it all on the line.”

“Doesn’t make sense to lay it all on the line if you’re not certain what you want.” Chase looked at his buddy and Jax nailed him with his way too perceptive gaze. “But I think you are.”

“Think I’m getting closer anyway.” He took a deep breath, let it out. “So, ah, you saw the business cards.”

“I did.”

“Which means you saw how I said we were co-owners.”

“Yep.”

“You cool with that?”

Jax lifted his brows. “I’m sitting here, aren’t I?”

“Guess you are. At some point, we’ll have to look into renting some office space. Make it all official.” Chase cleared his throat again and wondered if he’d have any throat lining left by the end of this conversation. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”

“Me too.”

“And I’m glad we’re friends again.”

The corner of Jax’s mouth kicked up. “Ditto.”

Chase extended his hand, and yet again, Jax stood up to haul him into a bone-crushing hug that was the exact opposite of a manly fist bump. Then they pulled apart and stared at each other, grinning goofily the same way they had when they were ten. They had more lines around their eyes, more scars on their bodies and war wounds in their heads, but somewhere down deep, the carefree boys they’d once been were still there.

Looked like the best friends were too.

She was really leaving.

Summer stared at the suitcase at her feet. It didn’t hold much. The bulk of her clothes consisted of jeans and the outfits she wore for shows. She’d have to fancy things up a bit, but until she learned more about the clubs Frank had started booking for her, what she had would work. So far her bohemian funk style had served her well, and she wasn’t about to change everything all at once.

Bad enough she’d had to garage her car in favor of something more reliable that she could put some serious miles on. She’d bought a used SUV since four-wheel drive would come in handy this time of year. Plus, Kyle was coming too and they needed room for equipment and luggage and all that jazz. They might even end up with a small band at some point.

Though she could’ve afforded to fly, she didn’t want to. Part of the reason she’d wanted to become a singer was the chance to travel and see so much more of the world than she had through the lens of Yardley, New York. She’d finally been given that opportunity, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

But man, she would miss her sweet pink Caddy. Even more so now that it bore the faint imprint of her right butt cheek above the left headlight.

Swallowing hard, she stroked her thumb over the telescopic handle of her suitcase and debated going upstairs to change. She’d already swapped clothes twice, trying to ensure she presented the right image for this final meeting. She couldn’t show any weakness.

Or, yanno, sob like her heart was breaking.

She refused to let Chase Dixon know the impact he’d made on her. Sure, he obviously liked screwing her. La-di-da. Too bad she wanted so much more from him than that.

It was equally too bad he didn’t believe he could give it. If he even wanted to, and that was anyone’s guess.

But not hers. Mentally, she had to move on from Chase. That had been driven home to her on Thanksgiving, when they’d sat across from each other at Cass’s gorgeous antique dining table—one of Triple Scoop’s other family-less employees and Jax and his mom had also been in attendance—and pretended to be friends. And
only
friends.

They’d done their best to make the day festive. Chase’s dad was still in rehab, his mom spent the holiday in the company of her new family in Colorado and Summer’s mom was, at last check, in Sedona having her palm read, so Cass had been extra bubbly to cheer everyone up. At least until Jax tried to talk to her. Then she’d gone into super frost mode. Summer had attempted to eat her weight in turkey while trying not to smile at Chase and Jax’s mom getting to know each other again. Chase had ended the meal by giving her a butterscotch candy and she’d nearly sobbed in her hot cocoa.

It had been the strangest holiday of her life, and Christmas would be even worse, since she wouldn’t have Cass or even Chase’s glower to keep her warm. She’d probably still be on the road, which was all she wanted. Her time to seize the future had arrived, and she was happy as could be to be on the brink of seizing it. Alone.

Woo-freaking-hoo.

The doorbell rang and she rose, rubbing her damp palms on her floral peasant skirt. Lace-up boots and a frilly blouse completed the outfit. Since she’d also left her hair down, she probably looked more like an eighteenth century poet than a present day country-slash-pop-slash-rocker chick.

She crossed the foyer, her feet moving clumsily. This wasn’t a big deal. She and Chase weren’t anything but friends who’d seen each other naked. Partially naked in his case, since she’d never even seen all of him in the buff. He’d made her laugh and he’d made her come and he’d made her cry. End of story.

At least she’d gotten a couple of new songs out of it. She’d probably get more yet, when she was out on the road by herself with her guitar, a pen and a pad of paper. Always a bright side to every storm cloud. She knew that better than most. And this storm was only temporary. Being away from him would help. Eventually she’d forget.

She opened the door, her prepared speech at the forefront of her mind.
I appreciate you stopping by. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know you better, and I’m grateful for your assistance with my security. Please accept this small payment for your services. Excuse me now, while I go fling myself off the balcony I don’t have.

Okay, so the last part was an impromptu addition.

“Hey.” Chase shook off the dusting of snow gathered on his ponytail and held out a tiny plastic bobblehead Christmas tree, a sheepish smile on his face. “Got this for you. For your car,” he added when she continued to stare. Her speech vanished from her brain.

Possibly her brain vanished too. Did they ever spontaneously disintegrate? She was almost positive she’d lost all functioning brain cells in one fell swoop.

Did his eyes have to look so…so
green
? His jaw so carved? His body, clad in tight jeans and a loose-tailed shirt under a bulky coat, so sinful?

Porn was definitely overrated. A hot guy in a white dress shirt and faded denim could do more havoc on her hormones than some dude sporting a massive penis.

Her gaze dropped to the obvious column in Chase’s jeans. He did all right on the massive penis score too, come to think of it. And she was. A lot.

“I know you like Christmas. Or you used to.” His Adam’s apple jerked. “Do you still?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Oh. Good. I figured you probably hadn’t had much time to decorate, considering everything going on. Especially since you’re leaving. Who decorates a soon-to-be-empty house?”

“No one,” she echoed softly.

“So I got the tree.” He unfurled his fingers and it bounced maniacally on his palm. “You can stick it on your dashboard. As a reminder, you know, of home.”

“Home.” She stepped closer and leaned up on her toes, sliding her hands up his chest to frame his jaw. She pulled his face to hers, not expecting the torrent of heat that crashed through her from the brush of their lips. “God, I need you.”

She hadn’t meant to say it, to even think it. But once the words were out, he locked his arms around her waist and lifted her right off her feet. She let out a startled gasp that disappeared into his mouth, since he was currently kissing her like he’d die if he didn’t.

“You aren’t getting away from me now,” he mumbled between kisses, and hell if that statement didn’t send warmth spiraling through her body.
More
warmth, since every part of her was already heating up just fine.

He carried her inside and kicked the door shut so hard that the house shook. A laugh burst out of her, more than a little hysterically, but he didn’t pause in his tongue assault long enough to join in on the hilarity. After a minute or two of their wet, hot duel, she didn’t remember what she’d found funny. Ever, in the whole of her life.

“Bed,” he said, and she could only bob her head frantically like the bobblehead she was pretty sure he’d dropped. “Where?”

“I don’t know. I have to look for it.”

It took a minute, but he finally pulled back and cocked open one eye. “You don’t know where your bed is?”

“Huh?”

A smile crept across his lips, curling them up in that smug grin she loved best. “Your bedroom, Summer. Where is it?”

She blinked dazedly before taking a slow look around. Oh yeah, this was her foyer. Her house. She remembered this place, vaguely. “Upstairs. Second door on the right.”

He grabbed her hand and tugged her along, taking the stairs two at a time. At the top of them, he pushed her against the wall and gripped her wrists, pressing his groin into hers with an insistence that left no doubts about his intentions. She angled upward and nipped his chin hard enough to make him groan. “I can’t be gentle. I want to give you that tenderness, always,” he said into her hair, stirring the heavy curls. “But right now I can’t. I need to pin you down and fuck you like tomorrow isn’t going to come. And I need to know you can handle it.”