Wild Chase (7 page)

I saw my chest rising and falling rapidly beneath his hand, but it didn’t feel like I was breathing at all.

I wanted to tell him that it was his voice that affected me, but my mouth was so dry that I just sat silently. After a moment of trying to regain my composure, I cleared my throat and wet my lips. When my tongue swept across my top lip, Avery made a strained face, sinking his teeth into his bottom one.

“You are driving me crazy,” he growled as he leaned in and kissed me urgently. I didn’t have time to catch my balance. Luckily, we fell back onto a pile of flowers. His lips and hands wasted no time showing me just how crazy I made him feel. I started to feel a little insane myself. My hands clenched his shirt roughly as my teeth nipped gently at his frantic kisses. Arching my body against his, he groaned and began to kiss his way down my neck again. I opened my mouth and let out a soft whimper, weaving my fingers through his hair. Avery’s tongue timidly dipped down into the curve of my collarbone, leaving me begging for more. As if to pay me back for all of my playful love bites, he lightly skimmed his teeth across the length of my neck in one, long, teasing stroke.

As my eyes rolled to the back of my head, I gasped. I felt his smile against my skin and I let out a small laugh as he kissed his way back up to my lips.

I had been wrong before when I thought I knew what heaven must feel like.

Being with Avery like this— uninhibited and completely consumed by one another— this moment was heaven.

This was home.

“Where the heck did you disappear to yesterday?” Vic asked me while we sat at the cafeteria table picking over our lunches on Thursday.

“Oh, you know, I happened to be walking across the courtyard to Calculus yesterday morning, and I saw a certain black mustang out in the parking lot. I have had perfect attendance for the entire time I’ve gone to this school, so I figured one day of hooky was all right. He surprised me with this sweet little picnic at the park. Vic, it was amazing.”

And it really had been amazing. We spent the rest of the day walking around the park, lying in the grass, kissing and talking, talking and kissing.

Victoria’s jaw hung slightly open while her eyes nearly fell out of her skull. I smiled and laughed at her, I just couldn’t help myself. I leaned across the table and pushed her jaw shut.

She started to grin like a fool, too.

“You have it BAD, Chase. Like, L-O-V-E bad. You have never skipped school, or smiled so much. Gotta tell ya, I am loving this!”

I swallowed back my water and stared down at my tray.

Love? People don’t really fall in love this fast do they? The idea of true love or epic romance never seemed real to me; plus, I would never admit to being in love with Avery when I knew he was leaving in three days.

“He’s coming to get me from school again tomorrow. I told my mom I’ll be at your house until about nine working on a Spanish assignment since she won’t let me stay the night again for a while. I hope you don’t mind covering for me again,” I said sweetly, batting my eyelashes at her.

A French fry hit me in the forehead before I even saw it coming.

“Seriously? I could not be more thrilled! This is the girl I have wanted to see for years! I’ll even butter your biscuits and bring you some clothes and makeup,” she said with a laugh.

I couldn’t help but laugh and nod. Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

“Damn it, Chase, sit still! I was going for subtle, not Cleopatra!” Vic smacked the back of my shoulder; I momentarily stopped bouncing my knees as she leaned back in to finish applying my eyeliner. We arrived a little early at school that morning so Vic could beautify me for my date with Avery.

After all of the time I had spent with Avery, the skittish feeling overwhelming my every thought didn’t make any sense at all. Especially after our make out session in my bedroom and our incredible picnic. The thought of being alone with him again had me quivering in my boots. Praying that Vic didn’t catch on, I played it off as best I could and let her finish her work. She already had her Barbie fashion show with me beforehand, finally deciding that I should wear the black leggings with a pretty off the shoulder teal mini dress and her favorite gray suede boots. We definitely weren’t the same size; she was a few inches taller than me and thinner in every aspect. Luckily for me, she had an expansive wardrobe thanks to her mom’s most recent husband, and she was always able to find something flattering that would fit my curvier figure.

“All finished babe! You look incredible! He is going to eat you up!” She said in a thrilled voice as she stood back and admired her work.

I blushed thinking about the latter part of her statement, but quickly stood and turned away from her, making my way to the mirror. I found myself standing there with my mouth open in awe of my transformation. Vic had gone all out! She had braided a piece of my hair and crossed it over the top of my head like a headband. My curls were shiny and my skin glowed. I wasn’t wearing the heavy make-up I had been wearing the night we had gone to the bar; this was more natural and I barely recognized the girl staring back at me.

I didn’t just look like a pretty little high school girl; I looked like a beautiful young woman.

“Well? Do you like it?” She asked, nudging me in the ribs with her elbow, meeting my gaze in the mirror. I smiled genuinely at her and leaned my head on her shoulder.

“I love it. I’m just surprised.” She gave me an odd look.

“Surprised by what? You know your beautiful, Hon. You finally look your age, not like some nine-year-old girl running around in boy’s jeans and tent sized t-shirts.”

I laughed and nodded, looking down at the floor and taking a deep breath.

“You’re nervous about tonight,” Victoria stated suddenly, my eyes shooting back up to hers. I stood up straight and gave her an incredulous look.

“What? I’m not nervous.”

The biggest smile spread across her face as she poked me in the arm.

“Chase Melanie Taylor! We need to work on your poker face! I know EXACTLY what you’re thinking about doing tonight. Can’t say I blame you. I would have twisted the top off Oreo Fillin’ back at the bar, but you know me.”

“VICTORIA! Gah!” I shouted, turning fifteen shades of red and burying my face in my hands. I started to laugh and shake my head in denial as she squeezed my shoulder gently. I sighed as I looked into her perplexed eyes. I know she’s right—At least I have her to talk to if I plan on going through with it.

I expected to see her cheesy grin, but instead she looked at me with a gentle smile.

“I’m just worried that I’ll regret it afterward, you know, because he’s leaving. This is probably the last time I’ll see him—like I’m setting myself up to get hurt in the worst way possible,” I breathed out, unsure of how I found the right words.

Vic nodded and met my gaze in the mirror, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

“If the moment is right, you’ll know, Chase. You’ll never regret it if you trust yourself.”

I ended up skipping my last two classes because I couldn’t concentrate. I snuck out one of the side doors, hoping I would find his car sitting in the parking lot. Sure enough, there he was leaning against the driver’s side door, facing away from me while I silently watched him. My teeth dug into the flesh of my cheek as I saw him distractedly run a hand through his hair and I broke into a run. As I rounded the front of the mustang, his head turned toward me out of reflex, and then jerked back to look at me again. His eyes opened wide in astonished surprise, and so did his mouth.

“Hi,” I said softly, nervously, as his eyes raked over me.

“Chase,” his voice came out in a low husky tone that summoned those butterflies almost instantly, “Wow, you, uh. Hmmph, you look incredible.”

Biting my lip to hide my smile at his little word fumble, I walked over to him.

“Thank you, you look handsome,” I said, tugging playfully at the front of his leather jacket, his eyes still watching every move I made. I could feel the blush rising underneath my skin, the way he was looking at me was very similar to that night in my bedroom and our date in the park. I cleared my throat, drawing his eyes up to mine. He licked his lips so slowly that I swear I felt my knees buckle. He bit down on his bottom lip and let out an amused laugh,

“Sorry, I just can’t take my eyes off you. You look unbelievable, Chase. Come on. I have a surprise for you.” He took the book bag from my shoulder and threw it into the back seat. Before my brain could even formulate a response, we were holding hands and speeding away from school.

About thirty minutes outside of my small town was another pint-sized city that I had never been to before. When we pulled into a gravel parking lot, and the sign on the building in front of us read TATTOO, I turned my wide-eyed expression to Avery.

He laughed, “Surprise! At the park the other day you kept saying how much you wanted to get one, but that you didn’t think you were brave enough. I figured I’d at least offer to be your hand to hold if you wanted to take the leap.”

I shook my head and laughed out of sheer disbelief. Of all the things I thought we might do, this never even crossed my mind. Surprisingly, I was thrilled. I had spent a great deal of time fawning all over his ink at the park, spurring on a long conversation about how I really wanted one, but lacked the courage to make the jump. My parents would literally kill me; I was sure of it. However, the thought didn’t even worry me. I wanted this and I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather have by my side right now than Avery. He fueled something so powerful inside of me that I didn’t need a moment to second guess myself. Unbuckling my belt, I turned to his hesitant eyes and gave him a mischievous grin
.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

When we were finally seated in a small cubicle area, a stocky, bald tattoo artist named Bud told me to hop up on his table and pick my poison. I glanced around in amazement; the walls were lined with hundreds of tattoos in all various styles and sizes. It was all a bit overwhelming. I had thought about tattoos before, but what to pick for my first?—I really hadn’t thought that far ahead. Avery came up behind me, leaving his seat in the corner, and gently brushed the hair off the back of my neck to one side. I felt his warm breath on my skin as he whispered something in my ear, but the fluttering I felt completely distracted me from anything else. And then it hit me—I knew exactly what I wanted.