Song Chaser (Chasers) (5 page)

“What?” I ask, my voice just above a whisper itself. What is it with me losing my voice around this guy?

“Gray,” he says a little louder, brushing my hair back from my face and tucking it behind my ear. “I’ve been trying to figure out the color of your eyes since the first night I met you. They’re gray.”

I inhale deeply and I know Tanner can feel my nerves. His eyes flicker back and forth between mine and he leans in, his lips just fucking centimeters from touching mine and releasing all this tension tied up in my muscles.

But I can’t do this. I can’t kiss him when his brain was just so focused on some other girl that he couldn’t think straight.

I jump up, grabbing my empty water bottle and walking to the kitchen. “I told you not to use those corny lines on me. And don’t tuck my hair behind my ear like you did with that girl you were with earlier. Maybe I like it hanging in front of my face sometimes.”

Tanner smiles and stretches his arms across the couch, his muscles flexing and moving under his shirt.

Good God.

“I can’t figure you out, Freckles,” he says, still studying me from across the room. “I can’t decide if I like that or hate that about you.”

I smile and grab a pillow and blanket from our linen closet, tossing them both in his direction. “You should probably hate me, it’d be easier that way.” I think about my mom and how everyone says I’m so much like her. I can’t let myself get into anything with this guy. His heart is already broken enough without me fucking it up.

“Are you going to bed?” he asks, surveying my apartment as I shut off lights.

“Yes, and you’re not invited. Sleep out here and in the morning I’ll make us breakfast and you can tell me about Paisley.”

Tanner’s face falls a little again, but he nods. “Are you sure you want to know?”

I sigh, “No, I just brought you here to squat on my couch for shits and giggles.” I cock a brow in his direction and then realize I actually have a guy in my apartment.

“Why do you look like you just forgot to feed your pet rock?” he asks. I laugh and turn on the small lamp on the table beside the couch before shutting off the last light. A soft glow illuminates the living area now, and Tanner looks like a
model. No, like a classic painting.

Now if only he was naked with a little leaf on.

I shake my head, “Nothing. I just realized, you’re the first guy I’ve had on my couch.”

Tanner
stands, a hint of amusement in his eyes. He tugs on the top back of his shirt and pulls it over his head. I swallow hard and try to act cool, but seriously how the hell am I supposed to maintain composure with a fucking masterpiece standing a few feet in front of me? “Good,” he says decidedly, laying down on the couch.

“Good?” I question, tilting my head.

“Yeah,” he pulls the covers half way up, leaving the edge just under his glorious abs. “I told you, the first of many firsts.”

*     *     *

The next morning, I make a feast for breakfast. Bacon, eggs, cheesy hashbrown casserole, toast, and pancakes. I also mix up my dad’s famous hangover cure, which I think gets me more points than the breakfast with both Tanner and Trista. Trista snuck in early in the morning and jumped in my bed, squealing about a half-naked man being on our couch. You would think since we’re seniors now she would be used to it, but since I never bring guys home, she probably thought someone had abducted her roommate and replaced her with a normal college girl. Needless to say, she skipped out on breakfast after an awkward introduction to shirtless Tanner and just took her hangover cure mixture to her room.

“That was delicious,” Tanner says, pushing back from the table. “And now I need to go run eight miles.”

“Yeah right. I’m pretty sure you could eat your whole breakfast
and
mine and still have muscles on top of your muscles.” I want to clamp my hand over my mouth.

Shit.
Did I really just say that?

Tanner smiles, clearly amused. “Are you noticing my muscles, Frecks?”

“No,” I say defensively, grabbing his plate and retreating to the kitchen. “Stop procrastinating and start talking. We’ve got a lot to cover and not much time to do it.”

“What do you mean? Are you setting a timer for me to tell you about how my heart got broken?” He cocks a brow and takes another sip of his hangover cure juice.

“Kind of,” I say guiltily. “I work in a few hours.”

“The Box doesn’t open until like five.”

“Yeah, but I work at Sal’s pizza place down the street at eleven.”

“You have two jobs?” he asks, sounding more worried than impressed. I refill his cup and sit back down, anxious to talk more about him and less about me.

“Yes. Now, again, stop procrastinating. You’re down to two hours and fifty-eight minutes now.”

Tanner smiles, “You know, I really want to brush that strand of hair out of your face, but I’m not one to go back on my promises.”

I blush and tuck the strand back myself, “Talk.”

He sighs and finally starts telling the story.
He tells me about how he met Paisley their freshman year of college and how he wasn’t even interested in her at first. But one night, he was pissed off over a fight he had with his roommate and she followed him out to his car. They got in and he just drove until he found a small lake. It became their spot, and that was the first night he felt something for her.

From there, they became best friends and were pretty much inseparable, but neither of them crossed into foreign territory. Paisley’s dad screwed her over their senior year and after that she started only dating military men because it was easy for her. She could date them for a few weeks and then move on without any possibility of getting hurt.

She might be a genius, actually.

Turns out, the guy she’s in love with was in the Army but recently got out and is opening his own gym while Paisley works on her bakery. What’s worse is that Tanner tried to sabotage them and told this military guy that he and Paisley were in love and that he had kissed her, and also told him that Paisley was a tag chaser, which apparently is not an attractive term to the military world. He said he felt like he lost Paisley the night that he told her what he’d done, but that after her and Corbin fixed everything, things slowly went back to normal for them.

Or as close to normal as they could get.

By the time he finishes telling me about how miserable he’s been the past
year since all of this went down, my head feels like it’s going to roll off my shoulders.

             
“Wow,” I say, because I can’t think of anything else.

             
He sighs, “I know. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”

             
I offer a soft smile and reach out for his hand. He doesn’t flinch this time, and I can’t help but feel a charge of electricity when our skin touches. “You’re not pathetic. Well, except for when you use those godawful lines of yours, but that’s beside the point.”

             
Tanner laughs softly, but I can tell my sass isn’t going to make his real smile come back again this morning. “So yeah, that’s the story. Well, the basis of it anyway. Are you sorry you asked?”

“Look at me,” I lean my head down and press my forehead to his, my breath catching in my chest again as I breathe in his scent. His eyes meet mine, and I swear I could go swimming in those honey pools. “I’m not sorry I asked, and I’m not done asking. I don’t know how to get you over her, but I want to help. I want to make that goofy smile of your
s stay put and chase those ghosts in your eyes away.”

“Go on a date with me.”

I sigh, pulling back and standing to start getting ready for work. “No.”

He laughs, following me to my room. “Seriously, let me take you out. One date.”

I go to my closet and take out the apron from Sal’s and pick out a black v-neck t-shirt to wear with my black work pants. “Seriously, no.”

“Why not?”

I sigh, turning to face him. “Tanner, I come from a long line of fucked up. It’s in my genes to hurt people, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

He shakes his head and grabs my arms, pulling me closer. “You’re not going to hurt me. I don’t know everything about you, but I know enough to know you wouldn’t do anyt
hing to hurt a fucking insect, let alone me.”

“I don’t know, I’ve been known to stomp a few cockroaches.”

He laughs, “See? You can’t be that fucking adorable and then not let me take you out. Come on, just one night. Let’s make it another first for you, something you’ve never done in the city.”

I sigh again, leaning against my closet door. “I really hate you right now.”

“Is that a yes?” he flashes his sexy smile and tries pulling me closer, but I roll my eyes and duck under his arm to retrieve socks from my dresser. “It’s a ‘fine I’ll go out with you so you’ll shut up about it.’”

“I’ll take it.” He walks over to me and grabs my face in his hands before pulling my forehead to his lips. “Call me later with a night that works best for you, Ms. I Work Two Jobs And Have No Life.”

I shove him back, “Just get out before I change my mind.”

He smiles his sexy smile again before turning toward the front door. “Later, Frecks.”

Once the door closes behind him, I collapse on my bed, pulling a pillow over my face. I debate smothering myself but opt for a loud half sigh, half scream instead. I throw the pillow off and lean up again, kicking myself for being so dumb. How could I agree to go on a date with him? Nothing good can come of this. Nothing.

Suddenly, it hits me.

That’s the first time a guy has ever kissed me on my forehead.

Secrets

Tanner

“Tell us a scary story, Tanner!” Mariah squeals, clapping her hands.

“Yeah, tell us a scawy stowy!” one of the other kids chimes in. I laugh and throw my hands up in surrender as the chants of “Yeah!” and “Story! Story!” ring in my ear.

“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you a scary story.” I pull up my chair and sit with the back of it to my chest, leaning in to the group of kids that have now gathered close around Mariah’s bed. “Have you ever heard about the Candy Thief?”

They all shake their heads at me, their eyes wide and voices hushed waiting for me to continue.

“Well, the Candy Thief is a big, ugly monster. He lives on top of a mountain in Gum Drop Valley, and he never comes down for anything. Except…” I pause, the kids now leaning in close and eating up every word. “To steal candy from the little girls and boys.”

They all gasp
and Mariah moves to lie down on her stomach, kicking her legs up behind her. “What does he look like?”

“He’s got reptile skin and big, slimy eyeballs. And he stands over eight feet tall!”

“Whoa! That’s taller than my mom!” someone yells. Everyone giggles and Mariah looks annoyed at the distraction.

“So what happened?”

Mariah has been in our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for a while now with severe burns from being trapped in the backseat of a bad car accident. Her mom was driving and they were struck by a truck driver who had fallen asleep. It happened right outside of the city, and she was brought to the Emergency Room and eventually moved up here. I was assigned to her, along with the doctor I shadow, when she first came in. I’ve never had any patient get me attached the way she has.

She’s feisty and full of life – two things I admire.

I scoot my chair a little closer and look around like I’m telling them a big secret, “Well, it’s pretty scary. Are you sure you guys can handle it? I don’t want to get in trouble for giving you nightmares.”

“We can handle it!”

“We’re tough!”

I laugh again, but honestly they’re telling the truth. These kids are stronger than anyone I know, stronger than me
, that’s for damn sure.

“Okay,” I say, getting up and backing up to the corner of the room. “One night, the Candy Thief snuck into the window of a little boy’s room. He knew the little boy had just gone Trick-or-Treating, and he was
on a mission to steal all his candy. But, the little boy woke up. So, the Candy Thief knew he had to get rid of the little boy so he wouldn’t tell his parents.”

“Oh my gosh! What did he do?!” A little girl squeals from behind Mariah.

“Did he kidnap him?!” Someone else yells. Everyone gasps and I keep backing up to the far corner, turning to grab a prop from the drawer for the finale.

“Worse.”

“Worse?!” They all chime together.

I pause for dramatic effect, then turn suddenly and race toward them with the flashlight illuminating the bottom of my face. “He tickled him to death!”

They all squeal and laugh wildly as I chase them around the room, tickling them senseless when I finally catch them. I save Mariah for last and after making her laugh so hard she has tears in her eyes, I rough up the hair on her head and grab my clipboard.