Hope's Chance (17 page)

Hope
’
s breathing became slower and when I was sure she was asleep
,
I
finally
let my eyes close. I wished that we could have stayed awake all night, but we both were exhausted. I found myself wondering if my lovemaking was good enough for her. I had never been asked to
do
that, and everything I had done
just now was
out of raw emotion.

Before I finally let myself fall into sleep, I kissed her one more time. “I love
you,
” I confessed, knowing she didn’t hear me.

It was the first time I had ever said those words and really meant them. I thought I had meant them in the past, but after feeling what Hope did to me, I knew it had been something else all together.

I didn’t know how we were going to make it work. Hell, I didn’t even know if it was possible. I just knew that I couldn’t be away from her. Even if we had to meet away from the house once a week, I would do it. 

I wanted her to know how I felt, and I finally decided that I would tell her tomorrow and confess how I had fallen in love with her. If she still accepted me and wanted me after she knew my past, then I would tell her my true feelings.

I was so nervous, even afraid that she
would
be sicken
ed
by me or leave me like everyone else had. I didn’t want that to happen. God, I didn’t know what I would do if she looked at me the way all of my ex-friends had.  She had to be told though. She had to understand why her father didn’t want us together. She needed to hear the truth from me, not my sister or even her father.

I felt a tear falling down my cheek
. I prayed this
wasn’t
going to be the last time I got to hold her in my arms. Losing her would be the final nail in my casket. I just knew it.

I squeezed her tighter against me and finally let myself sleep, knowing for right now she was right where she wanted to be.

Chapter 20

Hope

Chance woke me up with gentle kisses all over my face. I opened my eyes to his smiling face, but immediately started to panic about my father coming home and catching us.

“It is still early baby. Don’t get all worried. I figured we could get you up and over to the main house and hang out there until they arrive home. We will hear the car
and I
can run into the kitchen or something.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. “So this isn’t just a dream?”

“What do you mean?”

“You still want to be with me even though we have to sneak around?”

He moved a piece of hair away from my face. “Hope, I would do anything to be with you. It would kill me inside if I didn’t at least try to make this work.”

I could
n’t
help but let out a f
aint
laugh. I was more than excited to hear him say those words to me. It was all that I had wanted for so long now.

“Why don’t u grab some clothes and get dressed.  When you are done we can walk over.” He suggested.

I jumped up and started
running
around the room for my clothes. Chance pulled a clean shirt out of a basket and tossed it my way. It was just a plain white t-shirt so nobody would even know the difference where I had gotten it. Now if I would have walked in the
house
wearing a Penn State shirt, well that would have been harder to explain.

My dad
wasn’t
back yet anyway. With the time it took them to drive back from the secluded cabin
,
it would at least be around eleven before they walked in the door.

Chance was waiting o
ut by the pool when I walked
outside. He glanced over and gave me one of his famous smiles before
I reached
his side. We
entered
into the back of the house and just as we had thought, there
wasn’t
anyone home. While Chance made his way toward the living room, I ran my bag of stuff upstairs and changed my clothes. When I came back downstairs Chance had a serious look on his face.

I froze in place and started to panic. The color had left his cheeks and his smile had disappeared. “Sit
d
own Hope. Before we can move any further with whatever this is, you need to know the truth about my past. After I explain everything
,
I will let you decide if we have a future.” He paused for a
second before grabbing my hand and pulling me down to sit beside him. “I just need you to promise me that you will listen to everything before judging me.”

I shook
my
h
ead up and down and let out a bi
g fat “yes”.

Chance looked down to his hands. He was rubbing them on his knees like he was having trouble talking to me. I leaned in to him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me Chance.”

He looked over in my direction and began.

“I don’t know if you were aware of it, but I actually went to Penn State on a Scholarship. I got in with both academics and baseball. I had always attended public school and couldn’t believe when the recruiters contacted me.”

I grabbed his hand and played with it as he continued.

“I had never been away from home before and the first semester was really an adjustment for me. For the first few
weeks
I threw myself into my classes and stayed in my room, but as the weeks went on I started making
friends
. My first friend I made was a girl named Christian. She was quiet like me and our professor thought we would make good study partners.”

He looked up at me.

“We started spending a lot of extra time together, even when we weren’t studying. I promise you that it was completely
plutonic
. We were just friends that enjoyed hanging out. That is all it was, especially for me.”

He grabbed a bottle of water off the table and took a drink. “When I met my now ex
, Veronica
, our friendship started to taper off. My ex was jealous of me being friend
s
with another girl and I was tired of having to make excuses to Christian
,
instead of telling her it wasn’t my idea to stop hanging out.”

“
Sophomore
year started and my relationship became more serious, but the whole time Christian reached out and tried to
remain
friends. Every time I would say no, she would come back with another invite.”

Chance sat back against the couch and stared at the television as he kept explaining.

“My ex was a selfish bitch. Looking back I realize that we were never in a real relationship. She just wanted someone to dress, order around and be at her beck and call. So winter break was fast approaching and I buckled down to study for my exams, while the
girlfriend went to her families place in the Hamptons to drink and party it up with her richy friends.”

He put his hands through his hair and then rubbed his knees again. “We got into this huge fight because I wouldn’t go with her, and she actually told me that if I didn’t go with her we were over, but I
knew I couldn’t go. I had to obtain a certain grade point average to keep my scholarship. I had to stay there and study. So, in a group of text messages she brutally dumped me.”

“I took the news hard and ended
up
leaving the library and going to party. Christian spotted me immediately and we began heavily drinking. This creep kept following her around, so she begged me to pretend we were a couple. I was comfortable around her and the alcohol made us seem like we were more than friends. Soon, the room started to spin and we headed outside for some air.”

“Christian proceeded to throw herself at me on the porch of the frat house. I
wasn’t
expecting it and she caught my arm with her nose, causing it to start bleeding everywhere. I felt so horrible about the whole thing that I insisted she come up to my room and get cleaned up. I swear to you Hope, I meant nothing
else
by it, but I had had a lot to drink and my body and my mind weren’t in the same place. We walked up to my room holding hands and laughing. She was pinching her nose as the blood continued to pour out.”

Chance stood up and began pacing around the room. “I got her into the bathroom and helped her with the bleeding. She went through a
w
hole towel and it still dripped into the sink for at least ten minutes more before subsidin
g. Anyway, once she was cleaned
up she sat on my bed next to me and confessed how she had feelings for me for over a yea
r. She already knew that Veronica
had broke up with me and I guess she figured this was her chance. She leaned in and kissed me, and I let her. I was emotional and drunk, and you have no idea how I wished it never happened, but we ended up having sex.
”

“After it was over, I told her how
I still had feelings for Veronica
and that nobody could find out what we had done in case we got back together.”

Chance kneeled down in front of me. He grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes. “That wa
s the last time I saw Christian;
that anyone saw Christian. Her parents reported her missing and after the police asked around I became the prime suspect in her disappearance. Two days later they found her body in a nearby culvert. She had been brutally beaten and left to
freeze
to death.”

Chance buried his face into my legs. He began to sob and I ran my fingers through his hair telling him it would all be alright, but he continued to talk.

“People from the party had told police we were together so they got a search warrant and came into my room, where they found a ton of her blood and a used condom with both of our DNA on it. They arrested me a few days later when they got the reports back. With the evidence and the
eye
witness accounts it
wasn’t hard
for them to lay the book on me.”

“Veronica
and her father returned and he agreed to be my lawyer if I swore I would never go near his daughter again. At first she believed I was innocent, but as more evidence piled up, I was left with only Buffy and my mother at my side.”

He started to cry again and I held him tight in my arms. While he continued to cry he started talking again. “My mother had a massive heart attack a week later. She died right in front of me. There
wasn’t
anything I could do to save her. She was healthy Hope. I killed
her;
I broke her heart and killed my own mother.”

“Oh my God Chance you can’t blame yourself for that.” I said trying to get him to calm
down
.

Finally he managed to calm down enough to talk again. “Wh
en it was time for court, Veronic
a
’s
dad was getting ready to make a plea bargain
, but one of his partners found a loophole in my case and got me
acquitted
. The evidence had been tainted somehow. Anyway, after burying my mother and paying for the
attorney’s
, and then finally being kicked out of school, I had to move in with Buffy. Your father moved us here and the rest is history.”

He pulled me up into his arms and looked me in the eyes. “Hope I swear to you, I never would hurt another female like that. She was my friend and I never would have let her leave if I had any idea that would have happened. I swear to God!”

I pulled him into my arms. “I believe you Chance, I believe you.”

He pulled away and held my shoulders. “There is something else Hope. Remember that night that we were at the bar? Our first night
together
?”

I nodded my head yes.

“Someone disappeared from the bar that night. The police got a hit on the video
surveillance
from the nationwide mug shots. They came asking me questions about it. The video shows me leaving with a female and people gave my description. When they saw my criminal history they h
u
nted me down and told me not to leave town.”

“You left with me Chance.” I confirmed.

“You don’t understand Hope. You are underage and your father didn’t even know we had met. I couldn’t say that I was with you even if I wanted to.”

“I don’t care about what happens to me, you have to tell them we were together. I am your alibi Chance.”

He shook his head. “No way! I
won’t
get you involved.”

We both held our heads up toward the window when we heard a car pulling up out front.

“They are home.” I said in a panic.

Chance kissed me. “I’m going in the kitchen
.
R
un upstairs and don’t come down until you hear us talking.” He urged.