Taking Chances (Blackrock Book 2) (25 page)

“Hey
did you guys pack swim gear?” They all say no so I bring them
over to the department store. “We can have an evening dip,”
I sing, looking around at the selection. Knox and Max both grab the
same black pair of trunks and announce they are ready while Paige and
I hold up bikini after bikini, asking their opinions to which we get.
In response, we get “Yeah lovely” or “beautiful,
now buy something already.” Finally I get a black bikini and
Paige grabs a bright green one, just for fun.

Walking
back to the house I notice a truck in the drive and groan loudly as
we make our way up the drive. Brad exits the truck.

“Hey
Bails.” he smiles.

“Brad,”
I answer feeling Knox stiffen beside me.

“So
your mom told me you were back for a few days; just wanted to say
hi.” He smiles introducing himself.

“Yeah
well you know my mom.” He nods, rolling his eyes, which irks me
because she is my mom and only I can do that. He is not part of my
life anymore. He stands there looking between all of us, rocking on
his heels.

“Hey
guys, I’ll be a sec.” Handing Knox my keys, I whisper the
alarm code to him.

“Don’t
be long,” he whispers back before kissing me.

I
wait until they are inside before speaking. “So what do you
want?”

Brad
laughs nervously. “Just to say hi. Jeez Bailey.” I shrug
my shoulders while he continues. “I know we parted on bad
terms, but I just wanted to say sorry and so I came by.” He
smiles.

“Yeah
no need to apologize, Brad. It’s in the past and we both have
moved on.”

“Yeah
I see that.” He nods towards the house after Knox. “I
never took you for the tattooed biker kind.”

Now
I know my mother has been talking shit, because you can’t see
any of Knox’s tattoos when he is wearing a t-shirt. “Yeah
well he is more than that, Brad. Don’t be so judgmental.”
He snorts, looking down at his feet. “Well it was nice seeing
you, so bye.” I wave, walking away not wanting any more of this
ridiculous conversation.

“Okay,
see you around.” I wave again as I close the door of the house.
Turning around, I see all three of them standing with their arms
folded watching me.

I
Laugh and ask, “What’s all this?”

Paige
steps forward. “We were just waiting to see if you needed
help.”

My
heart swells looking at them. “Thanks guys but I could take
him.”

Knox
shakes his head smiling. “Yeah darlin’, we know. It was
him we were worried about.” For that he gets a punch on the arm
as I walk by him. “Ouch did you see that? Boyfriend abuse,”
he claims while Max and Paige rub his arm both laughing at him.

“I’m sure you can
take it,” Max answers as we sit out on the patio.

“So
I told mom we were having a barbeque only to get out of going out for
dinner. Hope you guys don’t mind.” I receive a chorus of
no’s from them and I sit myself on Knox’s lap.

My
mom walks out looking at me. “Bailey.” She nods at my
position.

Rolling
my eyes, I get up and walk into the house where she follows. “Mom
seriously, I am nearly twenty years old. It’s a bit late for
you to be telling me not to sit on my boyfriend’s lap.”

Unpacking
the groceries she looks at me. “Its just manners Bailey, and I
know you have them.” She points at me with her index finger
while holding my bottle of Jack.

“Mom
stop. Yes I have manners but I will sit on his lap if I want to, and
trust me that is way more PG than what I usually do on his lap.”

She
looks shocked then grabs the dishtowel and swats at me as I run
around the kitchen island, laughing at her face. “Bailey, that
is just too much information,” she tut’s shaking her head
me.

“I know, mom, but it’s
so good.” Now she pushes me back out onto the patio but I can
see she is trying not to laugh but failing. “So good, mom!”
I shout as she closes the door behind me laughing.

“What’s
so good, darlin’?”

Smiling
I sit right back onto his lap. “You babe.”

His
eyes enlarge as his cheeks tint pink, making us all laugh. “You
told your mom about our sex life?”

“No way, babe. I just said
you were so good.”

Burying
his face in my neck, he groans as the other two laugh at him. A while
later my mom brings the steaks out and some chicken breast. Knox
thanks her and puts them on the grill, avoiding eye contact the whole
time, which to my mom is a sign of rudeness.

“Hey
mom.” I wave her over to me as I look into the control box for
the pool.

“Yes?”

“How
do I heat this thing again?”

She
shows me but tells me not to turn it on until it gets dark and then
the lights will come on too. “Why is Knox avoiding me?”
she inquires, making me laugh again.

“Oh because he is
embarrassed about the whole sex thing.”

She
chuckles. “You’re very mean, sweetheart,” she jokes
with me, hugging me as I sigh.

“Yeah
I am but he loves me and I love him,” I tell her as I watch him
man the grill and sing,

“You
look good, sweetheart. I haven’t seen that smile for a long
time.” She gives me one of her all knowing looks.

“Yeah
it’s all him, mom. I don’t know what I’d do without
him.” Rolling her eyes, she walks back to the house.

We
eat dinner and drink a few drinks, waiting for the sun to go down.
Finally I can heat the pool and turn on the colored lights inside of
it. We get changed into our swim- suits. Knox plays a little grab ass
while I do so.

“Come
on.” I pull him outside as I pile up the towels on the chair
beside the pool. Paige and Max are walking out of the house.

“Yeah let’s do this,”
Max calls.

“Go
for it,” I tell him as I open the shed and pull out a few pool
toys. I throw a football, some floating things and another ball. I
jump in, enjoying the warmth of the water as I sink down before
swimming back to the surface.

“Oh
this is so nice.” I smile, floating along as Knox glides up to
my side.

“Yeah
it is,” he agrees, kissing me quickly then swimming away. We
paly a game of football; Max and I against Paige and Knox, only it
doesn’t really work out too well and we all just keep tackling
each other while the ball floats around.

By
eleven o’clock we are just floating around watching the stars.
Knox has his arms around my waist as I lean against his chest while
he stands by the wall.

“It’s
nice here. Like this so peaceful.”

I
smile up at him. “Yeah it is.”

He
yawns, prompting me to call it a night. Wrapping a towel around
myself, I shut off the pool lights plunging us into darkness until
our eyes adjust. Then we go inside and straight to bed. Knox has his
hands around my waist the minute I close the door. He kisses my neck
as we walk into the bathroom to remove our wet swimwear. He opens the
string around my neck slowly then the one at the back, letting my top
fall to the floor with a wet thud. His hands replace it quickly as
his kisses trail along my shoulder.

Wrapping
one hand over my breasts, he pulls the strings on either side of my
bottoms and I let them too fall to the floor all while running soft
kisses up and down my neck and shoulder. Taking the towel, he wraps
me up again, while he removes his wet trunks, I hang our clothes over
the bath while he dries off. Making my way into the bedroom, I close
the blinds and turn on the small lamp, casting the room in a soft
orange glow. We climb into bed immediately Seeking each other’s
arms.

“How
do feel about being home?” Knox asks between kisses.

“Okay, apart from my
meltdown earlier,” I answer a little breathless as he makes his
way down my belly and along my thigh, kissing in short soft kisses.

Teasing
me with his tongue as he hums in answer to my shallow breaths, his
tongue driving me wild, sliding back up to me he grins.

“It’s
not nice to tease, darlin,” I say with a smirk.

“That
so?” He raises an eyebrow, not giving me a chance to respond
before capturing my mouth. He pushes inside of me while our tongues
dance together. We match our movements, thrust for thrust as our hips
lift and push against each other. I feel myself tighten as he pushes
harder and harder and we both release together, breathing shallow as
we each enjoy the feeling. Knox kisses me along the jaw, cheek and
finding my mouth again, he kisses me tenderly.

Waking
up in my old room freaks me out for a minute, until I remember why I
am here. Checking the time on my phone, I consider going for a run.
After about ten minutes of contemplation, I finally drag myself out
of bed dressing in shorts and a sports bra. Tying my hair up, I grab
my sneakers from the closet; they are old but they will do for today.

“Eh
hem.” I hear coming from the bed Looking over, I see Knox with
very sexy bed hair but his eyebrow is raised at my ensemble. “What
you doing?” he asks roughly.

“Going
for a run babe, Be back soon.” Kissing him quickly, I turn to
leave as he grasps my wrist.

“Darlin’,
you look under dressed.” Pulling me over, his hands roam all
over my body while I kiss him again.

“I
know I am, but it’s just after seven so most normal people will
be asleep.” Jumping out of his reach this time, I leave the
room. On my way out I pass my mom in the kitchen. “Hey mom,
going for a quick run.” She nods while blowing on her coffee.

I
run towards downtown, making my way to the high school. I run up and
down the steps in the stands of the football field, remembering how
Summer and I used to do this when we were in training. I take the
back way out of the grounds and up the fire road, which circles the
whole school and brings me back to Almond Street, and Café
Rouge. Turning right, I head home but do a quick detour to the
Anderson’s house. Although they are not there anymore. I just
need to see it again. As I pass by, I see a black Honda parked
outside on the street, engine running but I can’t see inside;
the windows are too dark. Rounding the corner, I run back home and
walk up the drive for my cool down, still wondering who would be
sitting outside an empty house at this time of the morning.

Breathing
hard I enter the kitchen, pulling out my headphones. “Hey Max.”
He waves as I open a bottle of water taking a mouthful. “What
you doing up?” I ask finishing the water.

“Woke
up early” He smiles. “Looks like you did too.”

I
nod and smile. “Yeah just needed to run, You know, get in shape
for this party tonight. God knows who is going.” I shake my
head just imagining the people my cousin invited.

“It’s goanna be that
bad, huh?”

“Oh you’ve no idea,
Max. No idea.” He laughs, rubbing his hands over his face when
his extremely sexy brother joins us. They nod in greeting while Knox
grabs my ponytail pulling gently. “Okay, I’m hitting the
shower. Back in a few,” I announce leaving them to some
brotherly bonding and coffee.

After
my shower I return to find bacon, eggs, toast and fruit all on the
table while Knox smiles at me. Paige and Max are stuffing their faces
when my mom walks in enjoying the smell.

“Something
smells good.” She smiles.

“Yep
Knox can cook too, as well as tend a bar,” I say, letting her
know that I know just what she has been saying about him. But she
just smiles at him then picks up her purse. “Where you going?”
I ask, watching her scribble a note. “Oh I said I would get
some things for the party today. You know it’s a garden party,
Bailey. Then you kids are having your own after six.”

My
shoulders slump as I moan at the whole thing. “Do we have to
go?”

She
pats my shoulder. “Of course you do. You are the guest of honor
after all.” This news only makes me moan more and hang my head.
“Oh Bailey, don’t be so dramatic. I hope you have a nice
dress.” She kisses my head then says goodbye to us and leaves.

“Hate
to state the obvious, but what do the residents of Grove consider a
garden party?” Knox asks looking a little bewildered.

“Well
babe,” I sigh for effect, “it’s quite formal
actually and stuffy and a pain in the ass. Oh and now I have to buy a
damn dress.”

Shaking
my head, I pick up more bacon and shove it into my mouth in defeat.
An hour later Paige and I are in the mall while Knox and Max chose to
hang out in the games room playing pool. I received about ten texts
from Cara telling me who is wearing what so I don’t turn up in
the same. I take Paige to my favorite store and we browse for a
while. I pick up a white wrap dress with purple flowers and a yellow
dress with a thin black belt. After a quick trip to the changing
room, I pick the yellow one while Paige finds one in white.

“Oh
my god Bailey,” she squeals at me waving it above her head. “We
should totally match to annoy them,” she laughs as I nod.

“Yeah sounds good.”
We make our purchases and leave. Walking around, I venture into the
craft store, a place I haven’t been for a while.

“Crafts?”
Paige looks at me.

“Yep.”
I smile while she follows me around.

I
find a big yellow flower and I grab a white one for her then hit the
bead section and the weird section that has bits of this and that and
find two hair clips. Paige eye’s my finds and pulls her lips
tight in a frown.

“It’s okay, Paige. I
know what I am doing, trust me.”

She
eyes me suspiciously but trudges after me anyway. As I stand in line
to check out, my phone beeps with a text from Knox telling me he
misses me and he is bored. Paige gets the same for Max so we agree to
leave and rescue them from themselves. Arriving home we find both
Knox and Max relaxing by the pool drinking a beer.

“Huh, missed us alright,”
I say, surprising Knox as I lean down for a kiss running my hand over
his bared chest. I love the feel of his muscles, the way they dip and
curve beneath my fingertips.