Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge) (14 page)

***

Chase

“Beth.” I closed the curtain. Bri had mouthed that she’d try to ensure that no one came into the arcade section. People were more focused on having good drinks and securing a bedmate for the night than playing some old games. I had the same urges as everyone else coursing through my veins, but I reeled them in. Meaningless sex had been a habit for me, after all. However, only Beth would do now. The stern way she was studying me conveyed that there’d be no funny business between us for now. Or, God forbid, for a longer period of time.

“Hey
, Chase,” she said, trying to be casual. “What brings you by? I thought you weren’t gonna come here.”

I missed that husky quality her voice had when we no one else was around us. I bet she didn’t notice, or she’d try to change it
.

“So
, you wouldn’t have come if you knew I’d be here?”

“I would
’ve come regardless. I’ve heard a girl can freely let her hair down here.”

I ge
sticulated toward her beautiful hair. “By all means, don’t stop on account of me.”

“You answered my question with a question,” she told me dryly.

“I came to you like you said I could when I needed to talk.”

The vacant look in her eyes was replaced with warmth she was fighting to hide, much in sync with the sound of her voice. My cock twinged as I perused the swell of her tits from the scoop neck of her black sleeveless top. Her hair was in a loose ponytail with strands of loose curls lying on her shoulders, but it didn’t cover the birthmark on her right shoulder that I’d zeroed in on when I’d first
seen her in a tank top.

I walked over to her, remaining five feet away. Midnight blue eyes seduced me with every intake of her breath. She leaned back against the machine as if there was nowhere else she could go. Her nipples strained against her shirt. Goose bumps formed on her arms and I felt the
air conditioner kick in.

I took off my
hoodie and opened it up. “It’s chilly in here and I am warm.” I could’ve just given it to her, but I wasn’t an honorable guy. I wanted her to have something that would remind her of me, and I wanted her in my personal space when she put it on. I wanted guys to see her wearing my hoodie. I was working toward being the only friend of hers who had the benefit of having her in my arms like I had the night before. It was unfair to think I could have any claim over her, but I was greedy.

Swallowing, she walked towards me. Some pain and contentment warred within her as she put her arms in the sleeves of my hoodie. She wanted to believe me, but it was hard to fight what masqueraded as fact. I was about to zip it up for her when she brushed my hands off and did it herself. It was an impulse on my part that had
only been brought to my awareness when she stopped me.

“Thank you
,” she said.

“I.
Never. Ever. Wanted. Cassidy.” I punctuated each word. “She’s been hassling me and I should’ve done more than I did to stop her.”

Shivering, Beth
crossed her arms. “Cassidy doesn’t have to hassle guys.”

“
It’s easy to assume that I am one of those guys who have a stupid fascination with her—”

Beth cocked a brow and interrupted
. “You’ve never done anything with her? Hmm?”

“Never.”

“Then how come you didn’t do something proactive? Go to Pierce? Go to Mr. Pruitt? Heck, go to Aunt Deborah, since she’s been the only person who I’ve seen put Cassidy in line.”

For some reason, I flinched and took a step back. Beth began toying with the zipper of my hoodie, but her gaze bore into me, daring me to hedge.

“I ignored Cassidy because I thought she’d back off. She came on strong a lot, and there were days when she didn’t bother me. I knew Mr. Pruitt wouldn’t believe me. And I don’t know about Pierce. Still don’t, actually. I shouldn’t have been afraid that Mr. Pruitt would think of me as nothing, because today he made that clear. I wasn’t only a charity case to him, I was just a means for him to mold Pierce into whoever he wants his son to be. I wanted to hang on to what I had with your uncle and Pierce. I wanna see what can come of us. Don’t tell me some part of you hasn’t felt like you could have something with me.”

Beth fluttered
her eyes closed, and when I thought she was going to let silence build between us, she said, “I won’t, because it’s true. And I’ve never wanted a guy to know everything about me. I mean, who really wants that? Apparently, me.” Slowly, she opened her eyes. She was asking me not to mess with her head, and her lip curled in a tired smile, and she continued. “I refuse to fall for the dream, to fall for who I dreamt you to be. I may have been dreaming last night. Or you may be keeping it real with me—”

“Hey, guys.” Millie shyly smiled.
Her head popped up between the curtains. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“It’s okay,” I said, looking at the clock. “I should go check on Brianna. She should’ve been back with our drinks, but I guess she got sidetracked.”

Millie let out a nervous laugh. “Gavin is waiting for you up front, and he can’t leave his post because the other bouncers are inside,” she told Chase. “And I’ll take you to Bri.”

***

Bethany

The smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol, perfume, and sweat assailed my senses when I followed Millie to where Brianna was. Older men with beer-stained shirts tucked in and their distended stomachs hanging over their jeans had women on their laps. Emilio gave me a grateful look from behind the counter.

“Try to speak real low,” Millie said
, and she took me to a table that had a “reserved” sign on it. Brianna’s eyeliner was speared and from the puffiness underneath her eyes, she’d been crying.

“I will,
” I whispered to Millie.

Millie started for
the counter.

“Hey, Brianna,” I said softly. “Let’s get outta here.” I reached
for her arms and she linked hers with mine.

“But
we just got here,” she muffled loudly through one hand covering her mouth.

“We’ll come back another night. It’s getting late.”

I felt her unsteady movements as I held her up. Chase came between us and hoisted her up. She looked like a baby with his wide frame and large arms supporting her. “Did you win her back?” she slurred, her green eyes losing focus.

Ignoring her,
Chase gave her a smile when we passed the door. “Take care of my sister,” Gavin said.

I briefly touched his arm. “We’ve got her. It’s getting more…active in there. I doubt Brianna would want to keep you from work. I promise that
we’ll take care of her.”

He titled his head at me but he had a hard time not watching us as we headed towards the parking lot.

***

“My phone’s
on now,” Chase said as he transferred Brianna to me and I opened the bathroom door of Brianna and Gavin’s home. “I’ll make some broth for her. You need anything?”

“Uhhh,” Brianna groaned
, and brought her hand to her ear. “Keep it down!”

“I’ll text you,” I murmured and he took a steady breath
, closing the door behind us.

Taking my scrunchie off, I gathered Brianna’s hair in my hand and hiked it up at the crown and put it into a bun.

“I…think I am gonna…”

I put the toilet seat up and she fell to the floor, hurling into the toilet violently. Then I went to the cabinet, took a disposable mouthwash cup
, and filled it with cold water. On my knees at the sound of her empty stomach, I ran my hand up and down her back.

“Drink it,” I ordered when she pulled up. Veins bulged in her forehead. Her eyes brimmed with tears and her nose ran a little. She complied and I got some toilet paper for her and patted it on her face.

“Fuck! I’ve got my dang snot on you. How nasty,” she said with self-recrimination.

“Oh, hush. Think you’re done throwing up?”

Brianna pulled away from me and hurled again. I went to fill the cup with more water because I knew she was really dehydrated.

When she was
done and on her feet again, she hung her head low and gasped for air. I handed her another cup of water and she eagerly drank it. Scrunching up her nose, she said, “I reek.”

“But you’ve got most of the alcohol out of your system.”

“Gavin’s gonna be so disappointed in me,” she said in a low tone. “And I can’t sleep without washing this stink off me, but…I…”

I nodded and
set up the bath for her while she undressed and then she wrapped a towel around herself.

Once I helped her into the tub and she was settled, I hung up her towel for her and gave her a washcloth.

“What matters is that you sober up more, get something in your stomach, and sleep this night off. Shit happens.”

I heard her scrubbing herself vigorously. “I hope my lady bits didn’t scare you.”

I smirked at her.

“I s
ee my own lady bits every day. Catching a glimpse of yours is nothing new.”

***

Chase

“How’s she doing?” I asked Beth as I poured the soup into a small bowl. The pieces of baked chicken I cooked in from the dinner Gavin had made yesterday had come in handy. I wanted his sister to have the freshest ingredients possible. Gavin didn’t like not being in control of a situation and I couldn’t blame him for being anxious, but it was too crazy at La Floridita for him to cut out early.

“She’s in bed now. I think her stomach can handle this portion,” Beth replied. “
How many times did Gavin call you?”

“Enough that I had to tell him I’ll call or text him, not the other way around.” I shook my head. “And you know he cursed me out. I almost overcooked the soup!”

Faint laugh lines fanned the edges of her eyes. It was as if we were back to where we’d started when her gaze fell on me. “I’ll come down when she falls out.”

Beth scurried away and I watched the way her hips swayed until she was out of my view. She’d taken over the situation with complete composure and hadn’t turned up her nose
at Bri. It made me like Beth a lot more, and a part of me wished that I’d put off talking to her later so that Beth could’ve kept an eye on Bri for the entire night, but this was unlike Bri. I’d seen her have two alcoholic beverages at a maximum when we’d been out together.

There were t
hree knocks on the door. “It’s Pierce.”

I let him in and he walked straight into the kitchen and opened the fridge to pour some ice tea into his empty water bottle. “You don’t know me anymore?”

We both stood directly across from each other. “My cell was off. I was gonna talk to you tomorrow, but I’d heard that you already knew what happened and moved out.”

He bobbed his head.
“The only place Dad and I should interact is at the Paloma.” He raised his shoulders. “Nancy and Joel filled me in on the details.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Beth is feeling a little insecure over what she thinks took place.”

“I think Beth
may be seeing your sister for who she really is.”

Pierce sipped some of his ice
d tea and gritted his jaw. “If enough people tell Beth the same thing enough times, how is she not gonna listen? When Dad told me that you’d left after our meeting, I left. He didn’t wanna have a discussion.”

“I didn’t know how’d you take it. I really thought Cassidy had stopped.”

“I know what she’s like. Trust. And my dad had said if you want your job back, you’ve got it. It’s criminal to mess with a man’s livelihood like he did with you because he thought you and Cassidy hooked up.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Pierce.”

Pierce knitted his eyes. “You sure?”

“I am.”

“So we’ve squashed this?”

I nodded and
Pierce walked over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t be a stranger now.” As he had one foot out of the door, Beth came in with a bowl in her hand, set it on the table, ran over to Pierce, and hugged him.

“Hey
, Noodles.” Pierce pulled her away and held her by her arms. “What are you doing here?”

“Bri
drank a little too much and got sick,” she responded.

Pierce’s face became serious. “Is she oka
y?”

“She’s fine,”
Beth said and gave him a half-smirk. “But she’s still hungry and her stomach hasn’t rejected the soup, so that’s a good thing.”

I put the flame on low,
took the cover off of the pot, and stirred the soup.

“Damn, that smells good, Chase.”

I nodded. “Nancy gave me her recipe.”

“I’d have a bowl myself but Mona’s
been expecting me.”