Second Chances (34 page)

“CHASE!” I scream with whatever voice I have left. Chase, having heard me, catches Parker's fist in midair before he has a chance to connect, and twists his arm backward. Parker cries out in agony and falls on his knees in front of Chase. 

“I warned you,” Chase shouts at him through clenched teeth, still holding his arm twisted unnaturally to keep him down. I watch in stunned silence as Chase brings his right arm back and swings a punch at the side of Parker's face. There's a wet, crunching sound, and Parker falls to the side, hitting the wood floor hard against the other side of his head. He is motionless. Chase stands over him for a second and then turns to race over to me. I'm still crouched on the floor, holding my throat and sucking in shaky breaths that burn inside of me. 

“Haylee, are you okay?” Chase demands, sounding out of breath from his fight with Parker. He kneels down right in front of me and gently frames my face with his hands. I nod and swallow which causes me to wince. He tilts my chin up just slightly and I see him close his eyes and look away briefly before he turns back to me. My body is shaking so strongly that my teeth are chattering. Chase reaches out and pulls me into an embrace against his chest and I can hear his heart hammering away inside. “I've got you now,” he murmurs into my hair. The front door bursts open then and I jump in Chase's arms, scared of who is coming in now.

“It's just Griff,” Chase assures me. “I texted him as soon as I looked through your front door but he was at work.” Griff comes over to the two of us with fear in his eyes.

“What the hell happened? How'd he get in here?” Griff demands, looking over at Parker lying unmoving on the floor.

“Just call 911,” Chase tells him as I cling to his waist. Griff steps back to talk to the dispatcher quickly, keeping his eyes on Parker the entire time.

“I'm so sorry, Hayles,” Chase whispers against the top of my head.

~

I end up spending another night in the hospital so that they can make sure my breathing isn't hindered at all. The swelling inside my throat has worsened and they give me a light sedative to ensure that I will rest. Chase rode in the ambulance with me and Griff stayed to talk with the police and watched them take Parker away in handcuffs. He has a serious concussion, two broken ribs, and a dislocated jaw, so he's going to be in the hospital first before they take him to jail. The same police officers came to the hospital to talk with me again and I pressed charges against Parker this time. Either he isn't the person I thought he was or all the drug use has seriously affected his brain. 

Chase gets checked out at my insistence as well. He has a bruised abdomen and knuckles, and a split lip, but thankfully nothing major. I asked him why he'd been back at my house after he dropped me off. He said that he'd had this really strange feeling as he drove away and when he got back to his place he found my dress and decided to bring it over and make sure everything was all right. I get chills just thinking about it. He wasn't supposed to be there, but if he hadn't come back when he did, he wouldn't have been able to save me again. I am a mess with guilt over my choice to not press charges the first time. Everyone insists that none of this is my fault, and that I have just been trying to give him a chance. He had chosen to throw that chance away by getting high and coming after me again.

Mom and Brynn are a wreck when Griff called them from the hospital. The day I was released, I slept away the afternoon in my bed and all through that night. Chase snuck in my window, of course, or I probably would have been haunted by nightmares. The police assure me that Parker will do some time for this and that I'm safe again. I find that every time I hear an unusual noise, I jump and my heart rate skyrockets. I try to avoid being alone because I just feel too vulnerable. I try to be strong though because I want everyone to be able to get on with their lives. I want things to just be normal again, whatever that is.

Three Weeks Later

Today is my nineteenth birthday. I find that I am most thankful that the bruises on my body have almost completely healed and things have settled down in my life, at least a little bit. Dr. Michaels hadn't wanted me to work the first week after Parker's latest attack, and I wasn't really up for boarding, so I had been bored and spent a lot of time over at Griff's barn.

Momma and her five kittens are ready for adoption, and we have homes lined up for each of them. That's great news, but I know that I'll miss all of them. I had grown quite attached to them all as I recovered. 

I spend the morning of my birthday boarding with Griff, Brynn, and Chase. It's a perfect summer day just after the Fourth of July holiday weekend. We'd spent the Fourth all together. Griff's family invited all of us for a cookout, including my mom and Brynn's folks. It was a day filled with laughter, food, and, of course, wakeboarding. Chase had gotten that boat he'd had his eye on when he got back into town, and his wakeboarding school is very close to being ready to open. I am thrilled that my mom had the day off and sat on the Michaels' back patio and watched me board for the first time in more than four years. She'd had tears in her eyes when she'd told me that my dad would have been so proud. 

After our morning boarding session, Griff has to work and Chase has to talk with a local advertising company about doing something for his new business, so Brynn and I have a girls' afternoon at the mall. She and I are close again like we had been as kids, and she hardly sees her 'friends' from dance outside the studio. She's still seeing a therapist, and I've gone to talk to mine again a couple of times after everything with Parker. He is still being held in prison, awaiting his sentence. It isn't comforting, but at least for now, he's where he belongs. 

When Brynn and I get home from shopping, my mom is home and the house smells amazing. I can't remember the last time she cooked. Brynn and I wander into the kitchen to see what she's up to. 

“Your friends are coming over for a birthday dinner, so I made your favorite: lasagna,” Mom explains and I notice that the dining room table is set and decorated with streamers and balloons and pink and blue plates. I haven't had a birthday dinner since I was fifteen. I'm speechless.

“Oooo and cake too,” Brynn grins, moving over to the counter where a large cake sits covered in pink icing. Brynn laughs at my expression.

“You knew about this?” I ask her.

“Of course! Your mom wanted me to get you out of the house, hence the shopping trip!” she grins, proud of her sneaky self. Sure enough, Griff and Chase join us for dinner and I feel like I've been transported back in time. We eat lasagna together, they sing happy birthday to me with candles and everything, and then we enjoy the carrot cake, also my favorite. After we clean up from dinner, Mom announces that it is time for presents. 

“I really don't need any presents,” I insist. “I already have everything I need.” As I look around at each of them, I know that's true like never before. 

“Too bad. We can't return them!” Brynn giggles. She bought me two new outfits while we were shopping earlier and told me they were my birthday present. Mom got me a beautiful necklace with a little wakeboard charm hanging from it. I have her put it on for me right away. Griff excuses himself and steps out the back door. When he comes back in, he's holding a huge sloppily wrapped gift and my eyes go wide. I know what it is before I open it. The shape is kind of a giveaway. I tear the paper off and look at my new Liquid Force S4 wakeboard with bindings and everything. 

“Griff, this is too expensive,” I tell him as I look up at him. 

“Don't worry about it. I got a great deal from this semi pro wakeboarding champ I know,” Griff smiles and winks at me. I turn to look at Chase who shrugs his shoulders as though he has no idea what Griff is talking about. I don't believe his act for a second. “It's so you have one over at Chase's place too, and you don't have to worry about taking it back and forth.”

Chase leans over while everyone is checking out my new board and whispers, “You'll have to come over to my place for me to give you my gifts. It's sort of a surprise.” I look at the half smile on his gorgeous face and I raise my eyebrows. I can feel my cheeks flush with his comment. “Well, there's that too,” he smirks when he realizes what I had thought. Once again I am at a complete loss as to what he is up to. 

We all help Mom clean up and I hug her firmly in the kitchen and thank her for everything. “It's been the best birthday I've had in a long time,” I tell her as tears fill both our eyes. I have to gather up my courage to ask her something. “Would you mind if I stayed at Chase's tonight?”

She looks down for just a second, but then she looks back up at me with a soft smile. “Sweetie, you're nineteen years old now. You can stay there. I trust your decisions. Just do me one favor and let me know where you're at if you're ever not coming home.”

I am shocked, so I throw my arms around her for another hug. I thank Griff and Brynn as well as they head out, and then Chase and I head over to his house in his truck. 

“I'm starting to get a little nervous when you tell me that you have a surprise for me,” I tell him as he holds my hand in his lap on the drive over to his house. 

“Why's that?” he asks with a half smile as he glances over at me.

“Well, you've surprised me with a new truck, a house, and a business venture. What's next?”

He shrugs with a smile, not giving anything away. I'm anxious and nervous by the time we arrive at his place. He comes around to open the truck door for me and then unlocks the front door to his house. Colt comes running up to greet us and Chase doesn't stop him from jumping on me now that I'm almost healed. He comes to me first and throws his front paws up on my stomach just like always. I give him some petting behind his ears and then he lets us proceed. Chase has me sit down on his sofa and then he disappears upstairs. I play with Colt while I wait. A few minutes later Chase finally returns with two wrapped gift boxes, one small and one about the size of a shoebox. I wonder what had taken him so long, but being a guy, he probably had to quickly wrap them at the last minute. 

He is absolutely beaming as he hands me the small box. My stomach is clenched as I pull the paper away to find a tiny jewelry box inside. I raise my eyebrows and glance up at him. “Don't worry, it's not what you're thinking,” he chuckles at me. I take a deep breath and pull the hinge top open. Inside nestled in the black velvet is a slender platinum band with a wave like design etched into it. “It's a promise ring,” he explains as he takes it out and reaches for my right hand. He slides the band onto my middle finger and my body tingles as his warm fingers move against my skin. “Someday, Haylee, when we're ready, I want you to be my wife, and this is my promise to be yours and only yours from now on.”

My eyes fill with tears again, and I look from his mesmerizing blue eyes down to the beautiful band on my finger. He is promising me his heart. “It's beautiful,” I whisper and with a shaky hand, I reach up behind his head and pull him to me for a long kiss. After a couple of minutes, he says between kisses, “I have . . .one more. . .gift for you.” I release my hand from his neck and try to calm my breathing again. I had totally forgotten the other box. He picks it up and sets it down on my lap. It's too heavy to be shoes, so I tear the paper away. 

  He has the funniest smirk on his face when I look up at him. I glance back down and lift the top away. I gasp and both of my hands fly over my mouth when I see it. I glance at Chase again with wide eyes and then back down at the sleeping kitten inside the box. 

“I know you've always wanted one, and I saw how sad you were knowing that they were all leaving,” he explains, and I reach down to scoop the tiny ball of silky grey fur from the box. “I know your mom is allergic, so I thought you could keep her here.” The grey kitten is the female runt of the litter, and she had been my favorite because she had had to work so much harder at everything than her brothers and sisters because of her size. She's strong and determined. 

“Oh my God, Chase! Are you sure?” I whisper, the little kitten still sleeping soundly in my lap. 

“Of couse I'm sure. You know I love animals too, and Colt will get used to her,” he replies.

“Thank you,” I'm literally choked up, tears sliding down my cheeks. “For everything, Chase. You're incredible.” 

“Thank you, Haylee, for giving me a second chance. I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you too,” I say and then his hands are in my hair and his lips are on my mouth. It has been an absolutely perfect birthday.