Second Chance Summer (Chance Series, #1) (25 page)

“Uh oh.” Adam’s voice carries outside as I get out of my car. I see him in the corner of the workshop and stare at him, my hands on my hips. He rubs his hand down his face. “Reese, Kia’s here.”

“Believe it or not, I ain’t here to see him.”

“I can believe that,” Adam mutters, dropping his wrench and sitting on a table. “Let rip. I know you want to.”

“Why?” I ask him. “Why did you sleep with her?”

“I’m a guy, Kia. Shit, if a girl comes onto me, I’m not gonna throw her off me, am I? Especially not when that girl looks like Luce.”

“Bullshit excuse. She was half drunk when we left, let alone whenever it was you two left. Why the fuck didn’t you just tell her no and drop her off at home?”

“Maybe I didn’t want to tell her no. Maybe I wanted to fuck her. Did you think of that?”

“Well, obviously, considering you did sleep together. Shit, Ad. I’ve known you my whole damn life, and not even I thought you could be this freakin’ stupid!”

“Kia?” Reese comes out from the back and wipes his hands on a rag. “What’s up, baby?”

“This… This jerk!” I wave toward Adam. “Luce has gone back to Vegas. She’s left early, and it’s all because this asshat couldn’t keep his damn dick in his pants after he stuck it in her!”

I wince at my own crudeness.

“Okay.” Reese walks over to me and puts his hands on my arms, rubbing softly. “Calm down.”

“I can’t.” I lean into him. “Now she has to do it all by herself, and she should have been here with me so I could be there for her, but now she’s going to Las fucking Vegas to deal with it all herself.”

“Deal with what?” Adam asks sharply. “What do you mean, “do it all by herself?””

Holy fucking big mouth, Kia.

“Nothin’. Nothin’,” I lie into Reese’s chest. Crap crap crap crap.

“No, what?”

“Um.” I clear my throat, and Reese strokes my hair. “Did you… Um… I mean. Shit.”

“Spit it out, Kia!”

“Protection,” I blurt. “Did you use it?”

I look over at him and get the view of horrifying realization falling over his face.

“Fuck,” Adam and Reese both say simultaneously, and Adam drops back onto his chair.

That’s the answer I need. That’s all I needed to know.

“Mhmm,” I squeak out. “We, um, I took her back into Dayton on Sunday. She got the morning after pill, because she couldn’t remember, but you know.”

“It doesn’t always work,” Adam mutters. “Fuck!” He stands again and kicks the chair. “Why didn’t she fuckin’ tell me?”

I push Reese off of me and turn to him. “What were you doing the first time she saw you after that night, huh? You had another girl draped over you! What was she supposed to do? Walk up to you and say, “Oh, hey, Adam, I hope your bitch doesn’t mind, but I need to know if you wrapped it up on Saturday night. If not, there’s a chance I could be carrying your kid?””

“Man, she has a point.” Reese shrugs.

“And now she’s left?” Adam clarifies, his face completely drained of color.

“Yep. About fifteen minutes ago. She’ll be well clear of here, now. She wasn’t messin’ around, Ad. She wanted the hell out of here.”

“When will she… er…
know
?” Reese asks me awkwardly.

“A week or so, maybe. I’m not exactly sure. I wasn’t gonna leave till she knew for sure, but now she’s gone, I’ll be goin’ next Friday.” I see Reese’s body tense out of the corner of my eye. “I guess she’ll know around then, maybe the week after.”

Adam drops his head into his hands. “Shit. Fuck. What if she is? That’s like…”

“A baby,” I supply helpfully. “A real life, crying, screaming, pooing, sicking, milk-guzzling baby.”

“Thanks, Kia. Your compassion knows no bounds,” he replies sarcastically.

“You’re welcome. But the question is, what are you gonna do if she is?”

His head snaps up. “What the hell do you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna be there for her. If she is – and we both know it’s a big if – I’m gonna do everythin’ I damn well can for her.”

“She’s in Vegas, and you’re here,” Reese reminds him, putting a hand on my waist. “And you’re with Stacy.”

Adam shakes his head, walking to the toolbox and leaning forward on it. “I don’t give a fuck about Stacy, man, you know that. I look at you guys, see how much you two care about each other, and I look at Luce and want her to have it. I want to be the one to give it to her, but I never tried because I’ve always known she was worth more than that. She deserves more than that. Yet that’s why I didn’t turn her down on Saturday. I’m like a lovesick fucking puppy where she’s concerned. So, if she is pregnant, you can bet your whole damn life I’m getting into my car and driving to Vegas to be at her side whether she wants me there or not.”

My eyes meet Reese’s, both of us stunned by his open admission. Adam never opens up. He never tells anyone how he feels – and that makes it even more shocking. I know I’ve always thought he had a thing for Luce, but I never knew he cared that much. But it’s the fact he held it all back because he believed she deserved better than him, more than him, that gets me. Any annoyance I had at him melts away, and I cross the garage to him, standing just behind him.

“And what if she isn’t? What then? Does everything carry on as normal?” I ask him softly.

He shrugs, sighing heavily. “No idea. Maybe I’ll end up jumpin’ in my car and driving to Vegas anyway.”

I rest my hand on his back and lean in close. “And maybe, if you do, you’ll see the two of you have very different ideas about what she deserves.”

“Yeah, but it won’t change a thing, Kia.”

“Or maybe it will,” I argue. “How do you know unless you try?”

“She’s right, Adam,” Reese agrees. “And you know it. For fuck sake, don’t make the mistake me and Kia did. Don’t sit here mopin’ and bein’ an asshole just because your balls are too small to chase after what you want.”

“So you’re saying I should go anyway?” Adam turns his head and looks at me.

I nod once, sharply. “If you want her, don’t stand here feeling sorry for yourself. Sort your shit out here, then go and fucking well get her.”

CHAPTER 18

A high-pitched shriek breaks through the moment, and I turn to see a blonde girl launch herself at Reese. My eyebrows shoot up, and Adam’s curse tells me everything I need to know.

The girl trying to attach herself to my boyfriend is the infamous Hana.

“I’m on break,” Adam mutters, darting around me.

“Hell no.” I grab his shirt and pull him back. “You’re stayin’ with me.”

“Shit,” he mutters again. “I hate this chick.”

“So does the rest of town, apparently,” I whisper.

“This is why.” He nods in the direction of Reese and Hana. Thankfully, he’s managed to extricate himself from her.

“Wait, isn’t she back early?”

“Two weeks early.”

“Damn.”

“Paranoid.”

“Obsessed,” I correct him. He snorts into his hand.

“Uh, hi?” Reese rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing over at us.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Hana smoothes her hair back with perfectly manicured fingernails. “I thought you would be.”

“Um,” Reese pauses. “Am I meant to be?”

I ball my hand into my fist and bite down on it to stop a barking laugh leaving me. Adam is doing the exact same thing.

“Reese,” she whines, drawing his name out. Goddamn. Now I get it. She really does sound like a toddler.

“Hana, I told you god only knows how many times, there’s nothing between us. I’m actually kinda sick of hearin’ it myself.”

“I know you didn’t mean it. It was just because of
her.
I know you had that thing last summer, but Pheobe told me all about her. She’s stupid for leavin’ you and you know she’ll just do it all again. Her family is fucked up, Reese. You know all about her mom and dad and all that shit. And that all means
she’s
fucked up, too. She’s probably a little unstable, you know. How can’t she be?”

“Well, shit,” I say without thinking. “And this is comin’ from the girl that rushed back from Europe because she has a girlish fantasy over my boyfriend. But, yes, please continue with your oh-so-insightful analyzing of my life, which, I might add, you know sweet fuck all about. It’s just so damn interestin’.”

She turns surprised brown eyes on me. That surprise quickly changes to bitterness. “I should have guessed you’d be here. Pheobe said you’d been chasing him all summer.”

This time I do laugh out loud. “God, yes. Excuse me for being in the place my boyfriend works. I must have gotten lost on my way to the loony bin.”

Adam snorts.

“It’s sad, you know, how you left him then came running back expectin’ him to fall at your feet. Now I’m back, and thanks for keeping him busy, but since he was mine anyway, I’ll take him back.”

A fierce wave of protectiveness like nothing I’ve ever felt sweep my body and my feet start moving. Adam grabs my arms as my jaw tightens.

“Hana,” Reese says in a tight, strongly accented voice. Hell, she’s pissed him off. “Only one person done the chasin’ this summer, and it weren’t Kia. I fought to get her back, and you know why? Because there’s fuck all between me and you, but there’s everything between me and her. Sooner you realize that, the better, I’m tellin’ you. And you can’t take me back, because you can’t take somethin’ that was never fucking well yours. I’ve always been hers. And you know what? Her family might be fucked up, and she might be a little crazy sometimes, but I happen to love the shit out of her crazy.”

Hana glares at him, not saying a thing. I nudge Adam.

“You can let me go now. I’m unstable, remember? I’m not expected to act rationally.” I grin at him.

He returns my smile, his eyes twinkling playfully. “Well okay, if you insist. Just, for fuck sake, Kia, try and keep the biting to a minimum. I’m running out of excuses to give people, and your strait jacket is still in the laundry basket from your outbreak last time.”

I salute him playfully and walk over to Reese. He’s looking at me with an amused smile on his face, and Hana throws her arms in the air.

“Fine. Fine. You stay together, but you’ll never be anythin’. You could have had it all with me, Reese, but you’re choosin’ her instead. Fine,” she spits.

“I’m sorry… What college are you planning on goin’ to when you graduate from
high school
?” I ask innocently, tilting my head to the side.

“Community, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Oh that’s a shame, because Miss Nobody here is in New York.” I shrug. “But I guess some of us are happy to live off our parents and have a misguided sense of entitlement because of Daddy’s money. In the meantime, the rest of us get off our pretty, spoilt little asses and work hard to achieve the kind of happiness that money can’t buy.” I smile sweetly, and she stares at me in shock for a second before turning on the balls of her feet and storming to a pretty little convertible that looks so out of place in the Grove.

I look up at Reese as she tears away. “What? I’m not going to bite.” I keep my grin in place.

He scratches the side of his nose and wraps an arm around my waist. His face dips into mine. “You can if you want. I’m just sayin’.”

I kiss him quickly, then pull back and raise an eyebrow at him. “And you have some explainin’ to do. That’s what you thought could replace me?
Really?
”

“She got a point,” Adam mutters.

“Aren’t you on break?” I throw at him, smirking.

“Smart ass.” He saunters into the back room, chuckling, and I turn back to Reese. My arms hook around his neck.

“Never replace. I thought she could distract me from you, but she could never replace you. No one could.” His nose brushes mine. “But, hell, she really does have a screw loose, doesn’t she?”

I stand on my tiptoes, pushing my body against his, and smile. “I’m pretty sure she’s got more loose screws than all your toolboxes put together.”

“You could be right,” he murmurs against my lips.

“Just as well you’re used to crazy, right?”

“Hey, I meant that.”

“That I’m a little crazy?”

“Yep – but I really do love the shit out of your crazy.”

~

“Not happenin’, Denny. I told you that.” I grit my teeth together.

“What, you wanna send her in a cab?”

“Send her in a fucking horse and carriage if you want to. I’m not drivin’ out to the bar to pick her up. I told you before I’m not doin’ it anymore. I’m not her keeper.”

“What happened to the Kia I knew? She was real nice.”

My lip curls. “Nice little Kia got so much shit off people like you she grew up and told them all to fuck themselves. Put my mom in a cab and send her home, otherwise keep her there. Goodbye.”

I switch my phone to silent and put it face down. Under my pillow. Just in case.

“That who I think it was?” Reese asks, walking into my room. I nod, letting him fold me into his embrace.

“I told him no.”

“I think you told him more than no, baby.” He chuckles.

“Yeah, well.” I laugh a little. “I’m not doin’ it anymore. Besides, I won’t be here to do it in a couple days.”

He twitches. “You all packed?”

I nod. “Just last minute things to put in, but I can’t do that until Friday morning.”

“So you’re free now?” He runs his nose along my cheek, his lips whispering across my skin after it.

“Mhmm.” I nod.

“Good.” His hands slide from my back to my hips and pull them into him. “Because I want you all to myself tonight. You can sleep all day tomorrow if you really want to, but tonight, you’re mine.”

CHAPTER 19

I haul my suitcase into the trunk of my car and slam the top down. My heart sits heavily in my chest, and I glance at my cell to see the time for what feels like the hundredth time since I woke up this morning. My flight isn’t until tonight, but the drive to the airport will take most of the day.

I know I have to go. It’s inevitable – after all, New York is where my education is. It’s where my future and my dreams lie. It’s the only place that can give me them.

Not even love can fulfil my dreams.