Page 6

five

Chase

All night, I’ve been nervous. And I rarely let nerves get the best of me.

Hell, half of my life is on center stage.

Every move I make is criticized, whether it be by opponents, teammates, the press, or just your average joe.

I’m used to being on my best behavior. Except tonight, I feel like a floundering idiot.

I’ve kept my hands to myself, but it’s been rough. Especially when she practically few into my lap at the sound of a bunch of teenagers acting like idiots out on the street below. I wanted to pull her across my lap, turn her to face me, and kiss her until we were out of breath.

If we had a few more minutes alone in the dark garage without activating the motion sensors for the overhead lights, I wonder what would have occurred.

Would we have crossed the line?

Would I have kissed my best friend’s sister?

Would she have let me?

“So, about last night?” I begin. I notice she sucks in a breath and holds it, so I continue. “Ethan was pretty pissed off. Why?”

I watch her. She licks her lips before a sound comes out, then runs her tongue across the top of her teeth. Her hands fidget with the hem of her shirt. She looks down, then up, meeting my eyes.

“I think you know why,” she finally says.

“Because Ethan is the type of guy who is half neanderthal and half barbarian.”

“Isn’t that technically the same thing?” I ask.

“Well, yes. Okay, so, you see, there was a Thanksgiving break during my second year of college, where my boyfriends was supposed to come home with me. Meet the family and all that. We were together since that previous winter, just about to celebrate our one-year anniversary, and he broke up with me. Out of the blue. There were no signs that our relationship was in any trouble. It just happened. And I spent my whole break heartbroken. I was a shell of a person, and Ethan saw it firsthand. He’d never seen this side of me before, given my limited high school dating history.

Ever since then, he’s become an overprotective brother.

Thinking that I’m still that Twenty-year-old girl with a broken heart. ”

“Did you ever get closure from the idiot who broke up with you?” I ask, pissed off that someone would do that to her.

She shakes her head. “I saw him back on campus once the break was over, and he ignored me. We had two classes together, and he never looked my way. Just before Christmas, he was dating someone new.”

“So he was an idiot?”

She shrugs, “pretty much.”

“If we had kissed last night, what do you think would have happened? And it wouldn’t have been Luke that opened that garage door, but Ethan?” I ask.

“Are you saying that last night you wanted to kiss me?” she counters.

“I won’t lie to you. But answer my question, please. What would Ethan have done?”

“He would very much likely have come after you with his fists. What about tonight?” she asks.

“Do you want me to kiss you, Skylar?” Fuck. She’s toying with me, and it’s making my dick harder than a lead pipe.

Her eyes don’t leave mine as she slowly nods.

I growl, then shake my head.

I can’t. I want to, but I know Ethan would kill me.

She’s not wrong. Somewhere around the last year of college, he called me pissed off and ranting about some idiot college asshole.

I listened to him complain about some kid that he didn’t know for a while, all the time, not knowing he was talking about his sister.

Most of the conversation was in one ear and out the other.

I recall little, primarily his ranting. After that day, he called his sister all the time.

He made trips to visit her and meet whatever guy she started dating.

He was a tyrant. He was overprotective, and apparently, nothing has changed.

“Well?” she says with a curious look.

She’s wondering if I will kiss her. I’ve never thought twice about kissing a woman. Hell, I’m all for it. But do I want to feel the wrath of Ethan Hale? Do I want to put a rift between my friendship with him, or make things weird between sister and brother?

I have a strong desire to kiss her. I want to feel her lips on mine, her hands in my hair, and her body against mine. But is all that worth it?

“I want to. You have no idea how bad I want to. But I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Are you scared of Ethan?” she asks, teasing in her tone.

“Not afraid of him. I could easily kick his ass. But I don’t want to have something come between my friendship with him. We’ve known one another too long, and I’m pretty sure that he would not be pleased to know that I would be defiling his sister.”

“It’s not defiling, Chase, in my opinion.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You’re okay with letting Ethan decide who you’re with?” she challenges.

“Is that what you want? To be with me?” I cast my eyes on her.

“I don’t know what I want, but I know I want you to kiss me.”

Cupping her face, my thumb caressing her cheek, with the conflict raging within me: my desires versus doing what was right, what Ethan would want. That entails: Don’t touch his sister.

As I leaned in, the lights suddenly flickered back on.

She smiles after taking a breath. “These lights keep coming back on at the wrong time.”

Subsequently, someone knocked on her front door, marking a second intrusion.

I immediately dropped my hand and stood. I hold my hand out, signalling for her to stay seated.

I notice she has no peephole in her front door. “Who’s there?” I ask.

“It’s me, let me in,” Ethan says from the other side of the door, turning the doorknob. Shaking my head, I looked at Skylar. Just another reason to be careful.

“All signs are pointing to you and me not crossing the line,” I tell her quietly, as I unlock her three locks, open the door, step aside, and let her brother inside.

Despite my annoyance at his presence, I am also grateful. I would have kissed her tonight. I would have carried her to her bedroom, laid her down, and I would have made her moan underneath me as I brought both her and my pleasure. But I held back.

I’m relieved, even though it’s disappointing.