Hope's Chance (6 page)

She never saw him again.

And I stopped worrying.

She had always been able to handle herself. Guys had been coming on to her since
kindergarten
. For as long as I could remember she always had a boyfriend. Once she got into high school she started dating older guys and now she
preferred
them much older. I couldn’t complain, she was in a happy place and Mark adored her.

When we had finished eating
,
my sister yanked us both out to the dance floor. She and Mark immediately began grinding all over each other, while I was left to shake around alone. After a few minutes Mark held up his hand and we were brought another round of beers.

I took my first sip and stopped dancing. In the center of the dance floor was something familiar. Two girls were dancing and grinding all
over
this one dude and they were wearing my sister’s dresses
,
that Mark and I had secretly thrown away when my sister wasn’t home. They were dresses she wore when she had been working
as a dancer
and Mark wanted them gone. I had gathered them up and taken them to a second hand store in town, figuring my sister would never know the difference.

Thankfully, Mark and Buffy were so caught up in each other, neither of them noticed. As I finished my beer
,
I found myself watching the two girls occasionally. They both filled them out, one of them even better than my sister had. They were really good dancers and it reminded me of a couple wild parties I had attended back at school.

When the song ended and a slow one came on
, the couples started grouping together. I stood there alone and Mark and Buffy, as well as everyone else on the dance
floor
,
grabbed their partners and began to slow dance.

That is when I realized the girl with the awesome body making her way off the dance floor. I followed the back of her with my eyes and realized I was unconsciously heading in her direction.

I leaned in behind her. “Hey beautiful, can I get you something to drink?” I asked.

She never turned around. “Sure. I guess I will have a Bud Light.”

I reached a ten over to the bartender. “Two Bud Lights please.”

When the bartender handed us the beers she finally turned around to hand me mine. Both of our faces froze.

“What are you doing here?” We said at the same time.

I took a big swig of beer. I couldn’t believe Hope was standing here in front of me.

“I came here with a friend. Please don’t tell my father?”

I gave her a quick smile and got closer to her. “I don’t have to tell him anything, if he sees you for himself.”

The color from her face left. “Oh God! He’s here?” She pointed to the floor.

“Yeah, he and Buff are out there dancing. I’m sure he didn’t
see
you. What is the big deal anyway?”

I looked up to see her downing the entire beer. She took the bottle and sat it back on the bar. It was empty.  “I need to get out of here.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” I asked.

She ignored me. “Do you see my friend anywhere? She is wearing a platinum dress.”

“I know the dress well.” I whispered in her ear.

“I bet you do.” She said. I had to laugh. She thought I had been checking out her friend.

“I recognize the dress because it used to be my sisters, not because of who is wearing it.”

Her beautiful light blue eyes stared into mine. “Chance, you have to help me find my friend. I can’t be here. He can’t see me.”

I grabbed her by the arm gently. “Stay right here. I will be right back. Don’t leave.”

I headed toward the dance floor and found her friend. I had no idea what the girls name was. “Hey, um your friend said she needs to go home.”

S
he never stopped dancing or lean
ing on the guy she was dancing with. “I am not ready to leave. Tell her she has to wait.”

“She needs to leave now.”

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but I am in the middle of having a great time. Tell her to go out to the car if she wants to pout and act like a baby.”

Hearing her talk like that when her friend needed her really pissed me off. As I walked away from her I yelled “Bitch!”.

I found Mark and Buffy in a slow embrace. I kissed my sister on the cheek. “Thank
s
for dinner, but I think I am going to call it an early night.”

She pulled away from Mark. “No! Why? Did something happen? We weren’t ignoring you. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, really I am fine. I will see you in the morning. Thanks again.”
I said as I walked off the dance floor and headed toward where Hope was hiding
. I looked back to make sure they weren’t watching me, as I grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the bar.

Once we made it outside
,
I stood her in front of my bike and handed her my only helmet. “Put this on.”

“I can’t get on that thing. I hate motorcycles.” She admitted.

I climbed on my bike and put the key into the ignition. “You can get on, or go ask your father for a ride. You choose.”

I watched as she pulled her skirt up in order to climb behind me on my bike. I grabbed her hands and wrapped them around my waist. “Hold on tight.”

Chapter 7

Hope

I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I was going to kill
Rylee
tomorrow.
Well that was if I made it off of this bike alive.

Chance managed to drive us a few miles away before pulling over at a gas station. He lifted the tinted shield away from my helmet. “Do you want anything inside?”

I shook my head no, realizing how stupid I must look in the helmet. He gave me a quick smile before heading into the store. I sat on the bike. My body was shaking even though I knew I was tipsy. The
alcohol
was
supposed
to calm my nerves, but they must have been on overdrive because I couldn’t calm myself down.

When Chance came back he had a brown bag in his hand. “Scoot off for a second so I can put this under my seat. I was shocked that the whole bag fit under the seat of his motorcycle, but he obviously knew what would fit, since this was his bike. 

“So where do you live?” He asked.

“Um, I can’t go home.”

“What do you mean? Why can’t you?”

“I told my mother I was staying at
Rylee
’s house. She is super strict and if she found out I wasn’t where I was supposed to be than I will be punished all summer.”

“Where the Hell am I supposed to take you?” He asked.

“Well, can we just go back to your place?” She held her hand up. “Wait, before you say no…I promise I just need a place to crash. In the morning I will have someone pick me up and you won’t have to even see me. Please Chance. I know that we don’t know each other, but you know my father, and he would want me to be safe.” I hated throwing the dad card in there, but I was panicking. There was no way I could talk my way out of this to my mother, or my father. Not in these clothes…

“I don’t think your father would approve of you staying the night with me Hope.”

“Would you rather I hitchhiked my way somewhere else?” I asked as I started handing him the helmet.

This had to work. Please work. I just can’t go home.

“Please Chance. You won’t even know I am there. I promise.” I added.

“
Fine, but you need to be gone before you
r
father wakes up. I can’t afford to be kicked out because I was trying to be a good person. He won’t see it that way. I have too much history for him to be okay with me helping you.”

We both climbed on the bike and once I wrapped my
arms back around Chance’s
waist
we took off
. I couldn’t understand what he meant, but I knew shortly I could relax and be safe for the night.

The
fifteen minute ride to my father’s community seemed to fly by. The night air felt good, even though I had a problem admitting to myself that I actually enjoyed the ride. I felt safe with Chance, even though I knew nothing about him.

When we finally pulled up to the house, he helped me climb off the bike and removed my helmet. He reached in and got the brown bag and led me to the pool house. When the door opened he headed in front of me and started cleaning a large pi
l
e of laundry off of the couch. “Sit here.”

He went into the kitchen and started turning on a bunch of lights.
“Want a beer?”

I smiled and folded my hands in my lap. “Sure.”

I heard the caps hitting the countertop, before I saw him coming toward me. He handed me the beer and sat down on the chair across from me.

“Thanks for saving me tonight. Sorry if I ruined your night. I didn’t mean to be a cock block or anything.”

He smiled before taking a long drink of beer. I watched as his lips made contact with the bottle. When he pulled it away he licked his lips. I started licking mine, and I hadn’t realized until he started talking again. “Did you hear me?” He asked.

“No, sorry. What did you say?”

“So, I can only assume that you aren’t twenty one yet. It’s cool. I snuck into a lot of bars when I was at college. I’m not judging you. It just sucks your dad was in the same bar tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m not legal yet. It sucks. Tonight was my
friend’s
idea. She even forced me to wear this dress. Look at me….I look so stupid.” I stood and pointed to the dress.

He took another long sip of beer and held the bottle on his lips. His eyes were burning a hole on my dress. “You don’t look stupid. It’s quite the opposite actually.”

I started to blush and sat down quickly. “Thanks. So, um, why don’t you have a girlfriend, or do you?”

“I did. Things didn’t work out.” He said as he grabbed the remote.

I looked at the large pile of clothes. “Can I borrow something to change in to? This dress is really uncomfortable.”

Chance gave me one more once over, before looking th
r
ough the pile. He handed me a t-shirt and a pair of boxers. They smelled good, and I wondered if he did his own laundry. “Thanks.”

“The bathroom is right down the hall if you want to change in there.” He said.

I headed in that direction. I have no idea why I did it, but I looked behind me and caught him checking me out.
I couldn’t control what came out of my mouth next. “Do you like what you see?”

Chance

I just wanted tonight to be a new start. I didn’t intend on making friends, or
especially
bringing someone home with me. This was my
boss’s
daughter, and although it was wrong in
so many ways, I couldn’t help but
stare at her perfect ass as she walked in the direction of  my bathroom.

I was shocked when she had caught me, but instead of getting mad, she smiled and kept walking. It had been so long since I touched someone. Part of me was afraid what would happen if I did. I had managed to keep myself out of trouble since I moved here, but this was torture.

This girl was stacked like someone in Maxim magazine. To make
matters
worse, she seemed to want to be around me. If she only knew the truth. I had to tell her. She had to know that being around me was a dangerous mistake and all I could do was bring her pain.

When she came out of the bathroom, I gasped. I had already ran and got another beer, but not even the beer could hide my reaction. She looked so sexy in
my  clothes. I wanted to close
my eyes and beg her
to
leave, but I couldn’t do it.

She sat back down on the couch and stretched her tanned legs out on the table, rubbing them with her hands. “Thanks again for the clothes, and the beer.”

“Sure.”

“I feel so good right now. I usually don’t drink this much. In fact, that last time I got drunk I was sick all night and swore I would never drink again.” She confessed.

“I
t happens. I’ve had a bunch of those nights, but for some reason it always calls me back.”

“Can I smell you?” She asked.

Okay that was weird. “Come again?”

“Well, your clothes smell so good. I am just wondering what they smell like on you?” She asked.

I knew my clothes I was wearing came out of a box, but I had on cologne, so they didn’t stink. “It’s kind of a weird request though. I don’t think you should be getting that close
to me tonight. We both have had
a lot to drink.” I knew I hadn’t drank that much. I could feel a slight buzz, but I didn’t want her to know that. I need
ed
to keep her away from me. I couldn’t let her get involved with someone like me. I couldn’t let myself have a relationship. It would never work.