Taking Chances (13 page)

Bringing his
mouth to mine, I tried to take advantage of our current situation by pulling at
his bottom lip with my teeth, he groaned and slid in between my legs, pressing
his body firmly against mine. I pulled his shirt over his head and trailed my
fingers down his back, a shiver of his own made me giggle and repeat the trail.
His lips followed the bikini top's string down my chest, when he reached the
swell of my breast a hand found the ties on my hip for the bottoms and started
to pull the string but suddenly froze and pulled away.

“Maybe you
should go change, we need to get out of the bedroom.” He looked down my body
again and stepped away, “Like now.”

After I changed
into actual clothes, we joined everyone outside as the burgers were coming off
the grill and I tried not to look for Chase, who was now gone. First thing
Brandon did was thank Bree for her hand in my earlier outfit, she winked at
both of us before running back to the side of some new guy named Ryan. We
grabbed our dinner and Brandon pulled me onto his lap, always keeping one of
his hands on me. The guys started in on a small game of football once we were done,
while Bree and I cleaned up all the leftover food. Brandon came bounding into
the kitchen and pulled me in for a sweaty kiss.

“We're getting
in the pool, you want to join?” 

I looked to
Bree for her answer and turned to press my lips to his again, “Sure, let me
change back into my suit. I'll be out there in a second.”

He shrugged out
of his shirt as he walked out the back door, Bree hit me with a dish towel to
get me to stop watching him.

“What? I'm
allowed to look, he's mine.”

She laughed and
put the rest of the food in the fridge, “Well why don't you get back in that
suit so he can look too?”

I smiled and
rushed back to Brandon's room. I had just grabbed my suit when Brandon's phone
chimed, I glanced at his desk where it sat and continued to take my shirt off.
After the top was securely in place it went off again twice. Looking at the
door to see if he was coming through, I stepped towards the desk and sucked in
a shocked gasp. I barely managed to fall into his chair as I stared at the
offensive little screen before it went black. Going through his phone was
probably too much an invasion of privacy, but he's
my
boyfriend, and
what I had caught a glimpse of was definitely
my
business. Bringing the
screen back to life I saw he had five texts from someone named Amanda. Sliding
to unlock his phone, it instantly brought up the texts and my jaw dropped. It
was the girl that had been in the group with Brandon on Monday outside of
class. The one Breanna had said kept flirting with him the week before. I immediately
saw the picture of her face and bare breasts, as well as the one I'd originally
seen of her...um...nether regions. My heart clenched as I read the three other
texts,

Amanda - 'I miss you already, can barely wait ‘til
tomorrow'

Amanda - 'I can't wait to feel your lips all over me
again'

Amanda - 'I'm ready for you'

I dropped the
phone and choked on a sob. This couldn't be happening. I felt like someone
punched me in the stomach and ripped out my heart. I took deep breaths to calm
my stomach so I wouldn't throw up and shakily walked over to where I'd
discarded my shirt. Throwing everything else back into my bag, I ran through
the house and out the front door, tears streaming down my face for the first
time in years. This is exactly why I wouldn't ever give Chase and me a chance.
This is how his life is, but at least he doesn't hide it like Brandon seems to
be doing. A sob racked through my chest as I thought about him and I had to
lean up against someone's car before I continued my way down the driveway. I
hadn't expected something like this from him. I was a few blocks from the house
when I heard a car slow down.

“Harper?”

Groaning, I
kept my head down and continued my trek.

A door shut and
footsteps quickly approached me, “Harper what are you – are you crying? What's
wrong?”

            I
angrily wiped the tears away and stepped around him, “Please leave me alone.”

“What
happened?” He wrapped his hands gently around my arms and bent down to try to
look in my eyes.

“Nothing
happened Chase, just let me go.”

“Like hell,
you’re crying and walking through a dark neighborhood. Talk to me.”

“Why are you
even out here?”

“I'm going in
to work, now tell me what he did.”

I breathed a
miserable sounding laugh, “Don't act like you don't know. You tried to warn me,
you knew he would do this.” My phone rang and after a quick glance to confirm
it was Brandon, I ignored the call and shoved it back in my pocket.

“Princess, I
promise you I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll kill him for
hurting you. Please tell me what happened.” He wrapped one arm around me, and
tilted my chin up with his other hand, anger and worry etched in his face.

Another cry
escaped my mouth and I crumpled into his arms. He held me and whispered
soothing words into my ears until my phone rang again, I ignored it. “Can you
take me to the dorms, please?”

“You sure you
want to go there?”

I nodded into
his chest and wiped at my cheeks again.

“Kay, get in
the truck Princess.” He helped me in before running to the driver's side. “Is
that him calling again?”

“Yep.”

“Are you going
to answer it this time?”

“Nope.” I hit
ignore for the third time.

He let go of
the seat belt and scooted toward me. Cupping my face, he wiped away the
remaining tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Tell me what happened.”

I opened my
mouth to speak but my phone rang again, “What Brandon?!”

“What the hell
Harper, what's wrong?”

“Seriously?
You're really going to play that game with me?” I puffed and dropped my head
into my other hand.

“Sweetheart,
what are you talking about? Where did you go? And where's all your stuff?”

“I left.”

“I got that,
but where are you going?”

Tears started
streaming down my face again, “Please stop calling me Brandon.”

“Wha– Harper,
why?”

“Why don't you
ask Amanda?” I sneered, “I'm sure she'd be more than happy to
show
you
why I left.”

He cursed away
from the phone, “Harper, I swear –'

I hung up and
turned my phone off.

After a few
silent minutes, Chase grabbed my hand in his and spoke softly, “Who's Amanda?”

“Apparently
she's some girl he's sleeping with. Bree and I saw her on Monday with him and a
group of guys.” I wanted to smack myself. I thought he was incredible for
trying to keep my innocence intact, but instead he'd just been holding off
because he was sleeping with other women.

He glanced at
my face, eyebrows furrowed, “Why do you think he's cheating on you?”

I told Chase
about the texts and pictures I found on his phone, which brought on another
round of tears. “I feel so stupid.”

“You
shouldn't.” He paused for a second and gripped the steering wheel tighter, “I
can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think you're wrong Harper.”

“Excuse me? I
know what I saw Chase!”

“I'm not saying
that, but he wouldn't do that to you. That's not the kind of guy he is, but
even if he were, he would have told one of us. We tend to brag about girls
we're with.” He reasoned, “And as much as I hate him for it, all he does is
talk about you.”

I shook my head
and leaned against the door, “Do you realize how all over the place you are? A
week ago you were telling me not to go on a date with him, and now you're
defending him?”

“I'm not doing
it for his benefit, trust me. I don't want you with him, that hasn't changed; I
just hate seeing you hurt like this.”

We sat there
for another minute before I reluctantly took my hand from his and opened the
door, “Thanks for the ride Chase.”

“Are you going
to be okay? Do you want me to stay with you?”

“I'll be fine,
I'm tougher than you think.” I flashed an unconvincing smile, “Go to work, I'll
see you around.”

He frowned, but
didn't say anything else. After I got upstairs, I took a shower and put on
clean pajamas before falling into bed. My eyes burned from crying so much and I
desperately wished I had some eye drops. A knock sounded on my door but I
didn't move. I had a feeling it would be Brandon and though I was surprised it
took him so long to come here, I wasn't ready to face him. My heart hurt too
much. After another soft knock, a key turned the lock and the door slowly
pushed open.

“Sweetheart?”

I didn't
answer, I just stared at his darkened figure through blurred eyes. He flipped
on a lamp and I watched his shoulders slump when he finally saw me.

“Harper.” His
deep voice was thick with emotion.

“Did Bree give
you her key?”

His brow
furrowed as he slowly nodded.

“Traitor.”
Wasn't she supposed to be on my side?

“You have got
to let me explain, I swear it's not how it looked.”

“I doubt that
and it was all pretty self-explanatory, so don't bother.”

Brandon took a
step toward me, but dropped his outstretched arm when I flinched away, “There
is nothing happening with Amanda. She's just trying to get us to break up.”

“Well, it looks
like she's getting what she wanted.”

A horrified
expression passed over his face, “No. Don't – don't say that. Please Harper.”

“Just go
Brandon, I'm not going to do this with you.” I turned to face the wall so he
couldn't see how much this was killing me. First boyfriend, first kiss, I fell
too hard too fast, and now I'm getting hurt. Him being here was just dragging
it out. “Go home Brandon. We’re done. Goodbye.”

“God, please
don’t say that.” He said softly to himself. Leaning over onto the bed, he ran
his fingers down my arm, and continued to my back when I flinched away, “I
can't leave until you hear me out. She's mad that I kept turning her down,
she's seen me with you this week and she told me this morning that she would
make sure I ended up with her. Right after lunch I started getting these
pictures, she's just been sending the same messages over and over all day.”

“And you didn't
see any reason to tell me this?” I asked the wall since I still wouldn't look
at him.

“I thought she
was going to stop, I saw her after my last class and told her to drop it
because I wasn't going to leave you.”

“Is that why
you were in a bad mood?”

“Yes. She knew
you were staying with me this weekend, I was afraid she was going to do
something else.”

“Meaning?”

He blew out a
deep breath and moved his hand back up to my arm, “She said she'd stop the
texts, and told us to have a good weekend together. The way she said it and
stressed the word ‘together’, I just knew something was going to happen.”

I sighed and
rolled back to face him, his face fell when he saw my heartbroken expression.

“Harper I'm so
sorry, I should have just told you earlier.” He cupped my face, and though I
flinched once again, he kept his hands there.

“Are you
cheating on me with anyone? Not just Amanda.”

“No. I only
want you.”

I searched his
face carefully for any sign that he was lying, but didn't find any. He had been
painfully honest with me from the beginning and I knew he was telling the truth
now. Because of that I couldn't stay mad at him, no matter how much I'd wanted
to. It had worried me how hurt I was when I'd first gotten those messages. I'd
already fallen for this guy, and while it surprised me how fast I'd come to
care for him, it was completely blowing my mind how much he seemed to care for
me as well. Before I could tell him I believed him, his phone started
repeatedly chiming and we sat silently watching each other until it stopped. I
held out my hand and was surprised when he handed it over without even checking
it. Opening up his messages I saw the exact same five messages Amanda had sent
earlier. I typed back a response and hit send before handing it back to him.

Brandon - 'This is Brandon's girlfriend, I don't know
what you're trying to accomplish, but I'd really appreciate it if you stopped
sending him pictures of yourself. He doesn't want you, and desperation isn't
cute. So back off bitch.'

Brandon read it
quickly and managed a laugh before dropping his phone to the ground and
sweeping me up in a big hug. “I'm sorry I hurt you.”

“You didn't, I
should have just asked you before running off.”

“I really wish
you would have, but I don't blame you sweetheart.” He kissed both cheeks and my
lips, then leaned away to look in my eyes again, “Can you tell me one thing
though? Why'd you run off to Chase?”

“I didn't, how
did you know I'd been with him?”

“He called to
tell me where you were.”

Chase defending
Brandon was weird enough, but I for sure hadn't expected him to do that. “I
didn't run off to him, I left and he saw me walking back here. He gave me a
ride.”

He still look
worried, and I thought about the already countless times he'd asked if there
was something going on between Chase and I.

Taking a deep
breath in, I put a hand against his cheek and smiled softly at him. “If I can
believe you about a girl that keeps sending naked pictures of herself to your
phone, then you should believe me when it comes to a guy that does nothing but
piss me off.”

He kissed my
palm and placed his hand over mine, “You're right, I just wish I would have
been there for you, not him. I'm sorry it took me so long to get here.”

“Don't be
sorry, you're here now, that's all that matters.”