Just for the Summer (Chasing Carolina #0.5) (5 page)

I am completely fucked up right now. I don’t know if I’m fucking coming or going at the moment. Shaking my thoughts from my head, I start jogging down the beach, warming my body up before I shift into a full-on sprint. By the time I turn around and start heading back towards my beach house, I’m drenched in sweat, my lungs are aching along with my legs, and I feel a hundred times better.

That is until my eyes land on Ashlynn and her friend Nikki, who’re in nothing but sports bras and mesh shorts jogging towards me. Believe me—Ashlynn looks as gorgeous as ever, and seeing her causes my heart to race even faster, but what has me seeing red is the dude jogging beside Ashlynn in nothing but basketball shorts.

She’s smiling up at him the same way she was with me yesterday. I hate that I’m fucking jealous right now. I have a naked chick in my bed, but here I am pissed the hell off, because Ashlynn is jogging with some guy who looks like he just climbed out of a Tiger Beat magazine my little sister reads. All those boy band looking guys make me want to punch something, especially when they are near a girl I want.

I pull my ear buds out just as Ashlynn says hi to me.

“Chase, hey.” She gives me half a smile. Nothing like the one she was just giving this jack off. Nikki is glaring up at me from beside Ashlynn.

Just great
.

I love how things can change so quickly in the matter of twenty-four hours.

“Hey. It looks like we all had the same idea today.” I’m jogging in place as I try to keep myself busy. If I don’t, I may just knock this dude out. He is standing closer to Ashlynn now that they’ve all stopped running and are standing in front of me.

“Yup, it’s a perfect day for a run, since it’s not so muggy this morning. After all the junk I ate yesterday…” her voice tappers off as she stops herself from mentioning our afternoon on the boat. It kills me that she doesn’t want to talk about our day together. I don’t know if it’s because of me, or the guy standing next to her. “I really needed to burn off some calories,” she says, shifting nervously on her feet.

Nikki just continues to stare at me, not saying a single word.

“So, did you have fun last night?” I ask, looking from her to Nikki, and then settling my eyes back on Ashlynn again.

She gives me a confused look before recognition shines in her eyes. “Ooh, last night. Right, the clubbing…yeah, we had a blast. How was your evening?” Her question has a hint of sarcasm to it. I know for a fact now she is pissed off because of Sophie.

I rub at the back of my neck nervously. I hate that she makes me nervous. I never get nervous around chicks. I’m always relaxed, and can easily flirt my way out of anything. But with Ashlynn, I can barely think straight.

“It was okay. Not as memorable as I imagine your night was,” I clip out. I won’t even bother trying to hide the anger boiling inside me right now. Just the thought of her and this asshole together has me wanting to pummel him to the ground and make him eat a mouthful of fucking sand.

The sun is scorching hot, beating down on me, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore is torture. I want to rip my shoes off and dive into the ocean, partly because I’m sweating my ass off from running, but the other part of me wants to drown myself. I mean—look at her. I am the world’s biggest idiot.

Her tits look even nicer today in her sports bra. I have the urge to grab her, toss her over my shoulder, and drag her to her room so I can lick every inch of those beautiful boobs.

What can I say? I’m a breast man. Sure, I love a nice ass, but it’s the tits that get me every time.

Ashlynn notices me staring at her rack and folds her arms, trying to shield them, which only pushes them up higher.
Fuck.
I’m getting hard. I need to get the hell out of here.

Justin Timberlake’s lookalike beside her clears his throat, snapping my eyes back up to theirs. “Ashlynn, I’m going to keep running. Are ya joining me, or are ya going to catch up after?” I can hear the distaste in his voice as he slides his eyes from her to me. Of course he’s fuckin’ British…because girls always gotta fall for a guy with a foreign accent.

Ashlynn reaches out and grabs my forearm. The moment her hands touches my skin, my dick jumps and my heart races. This girl has my body on overdrive every time she’s around me.

“It was nice seeing you, Chase. I better get going.” Her voice is so soft and sweet, but it isn’t sweet enough to mask the hint of sadness in her words.

It only makes me feel like an ever bigger asshole.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Sophie and her friends hung around and we ended up drinking beers, listening to music, and hanging out at my house all day. I had full intentions of getting her to leave as soon as I got back from my run, but when I got back to the house, she was awake and in the kitchen with Parker, Vance, and her two friends eating breakfast. Parker let me know he asked them all to stay and party, and then join us down at the boardwalk for the fireworks show before heading to Broadway Louie’s.

I feel bad, because Sophie is gorgeous and really sweet, but she’s not Ashlynn. Every passing second, I feel like an even bigger dickhead, so my only option is to get shit-faced and try not to think about anything at all.

It’s now a little after eleven at night and we’re all down at the boardwalk. I have a good buzz going on from all the drinking I did at dinner. Sophie was all over me, groping my dick through my cargo shorts under the booth’s table. She kept whispering in my ear that she wanted me to take her into the family bathroom and fuck her. Normally I would, but tonight, I’m just not feeling up to it.

She got pissed off, of course, and is now giving me the silent treatment. I already have Ashlynn and her friends pissed off at me, so what’s one more girl?

The fireworks show is finished and we’re getting ready to head to Broadway Louie’s for a huge Fourth of July party going on there tonight.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve been trying to spot Ashlynn all night. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. I think that’s the reason I’ve been distant with Sophie tonight. I have this tiny hope there’s still a chance I can fix this. I suck when it comes to women’s feelings. Sure, I can flirt my way into their panties, but that’s as far as I can go.

I can’t ignore the pull I have to this girl. I will find a way to make it up to her and get us back to where we were yesterday before I fucked it all up.

I called for a cab as soon as the fireworks ended, so we’re heading out to the street. We’re all too drunk to try and drive, so I’m leaving my truck in the parking garage down the street until tomorrow.

Pulling up to Louie’s, we immediately hear music blasting out through the open windows upstairs. It reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans, with the black iron balcony wrapping around the building. There are people on the balcony, singing and shouting down to everyone below on the streets.

Thankfully, since it’s almost eleven-thirty, the place is kid-free. Sophie wraps her arm around mine as we make our way inside. “Can we go into Club Boca? I want to go dancing,” Sophie asks me, tugging on my arm.

There’s a private night club here, but it has a strict dress code, and I will not be able to get in with cargo shorts, my Americana muscle tank, and flip-flops.

“You and your friends can go to the club, but I’m just going to stay up here and play a few games of pool. Plus, I can’t get in dressed like this anyways,” I tell her, pinching my shirt.

Rolling her eyes, Sophie tugs on my arm again. “Come on, Chase. They all know who you are down here. They’d be stupid to not let you in. Please? Come dance with me.” She pouts up at me, batting her long, fake eyelashes.

I don’t get why girls glue on big, fake eyelashes. I just about had a heart attack one morning, waking up to one of them stuck to my arm. I thought it was a damn spider. I never screamed so loud in my damn life. It wasn’t my proudest moment screeching like a fucking girl, but let’s be honest—anyone who wakes up and thinks there’s a spider on their arm is going to scream their head off.

“I just want to lay low tonight. I don’t feel like sitting in the club with music so loud I can’t carry a fuckin’ conversation. I’m going to hang out up here. You, Emily, and Sierra can go clubbing, but my boys have a pool table with our names on it.”

Jesus
. How fucking hard is it for a chick to understand the word no? I know I probably sound like dick right now, but I am in no mood to go dancing with her. If I planned on fucking afterwards, then yeah, I would throw my name around to get in, but I plan on going home alone tonight. Dancing with Sophie will just give her the wrong idea.

“Well, I need a beer. Anyone else coming to the bar?” Vance asks, standing with his arms folded across his chest with a look of annoyance on his face.

Sophie and her two friends move together, standing in a united front and glaring at us.
Just fan-fuckin’-tastic.
Let’s cause a scene so I can end up on the front of some cheap tabloid. My dad will kill me. He already threatened to cut my race funding if I got into any more trouble. Four years of partying in college did not sit well with him. I am lucky I even passed.

I’ve been branded the bad boy of racing, and my career is only just beginning. I tried to tell my dad good or bad publicity is still publicity, but he didn’t agree. He said Pop and he have worked hard to build the respectable racing company they have, and me getting arrested for drinking and driving, speeding, or public intoxication, and then having it plastered all over the television, magazines, and web isn’t how I build my career and fan base.

It’s been six months since I was last in trouble, and that seemed to get Dad off my case. I just hope I can keep the streak up. Girls like Sophie are making it hard, when they seem to want to start drama over every little thing I do.

“You guys are really going to ditch us on the Fourth of July?” Emily asks, seething with anger.

We need to defuse this situation quickly. “No…not at all. Listen, we’re just exhausted from last night with y’all then going to the boardwalk tonight. We just want to lay low. Y’all go dance and have fun. Just send us a text tomorrow or something and we can get together,” I say, snaking my arm around Sophie’s waist and pulling her against me. I need to use the Kenzington charm right now.

Her eyes soften as she stares up at me. “Okay. You go have fun playin’ pool then.” She leans up on her toes and presses her lips to mine for a quick kiss. I tighten my lips, just giving her a quick peck.

Pulling away, I release her and give my boys a sly grin. Crisis averted. I told them about running into Ashlynn this morning, and they agreed they’d make sure we’d be going home alone tonight so I can try and smooth things over with her tomorrow.

Finally, the girls leave, so we head over to the bar and each grab a beer before heading upstairs to the pool area. We spend the next hour playing pool with a couple of guys we’ve partied with a few times while here vacationing.

The entire time, I have Ashlynn on my mind. I don’t know where she is tonight, but all I can think about is her and the guy from the beach this morning. I take out my frustrations on the pool balls. Every time it’s my turn to break, I imagine I’m smashing the tip of my pool stick into his face.

First thing tomorrow, I’m heading next door, and I don’t care what I have to do; I’m finding a way to fix this. It should be me out with her, not that dipwad.

I’VE TRIED ALL DAY TO
enjoy myself, but I can’t get out of this funk I’m in. We just left the fireworks show down at the boardwalk, and the entire time, I kept thinking about how I’d rather be lying with Chase watching them, rather than Liam. Liam is sweet and extremely good looking, so one would think he’d be able to easily distract my thoughts, but no such luck.