Taking Chances (14 page)

He smiled and
lightly pressed his lips to mine, cradling me against his chest. After a few
minutes he finally spoke again, “Do you need more time alone, or can I take you
back to the house?”

“You can take
me back, if you promise me something first.”

“Anything.” He
said without missing a beat.

I raised an
eyebrow and smirked at him.

He nudged me
playfully, “Anything
reasonable.
”

I huffed but
winked so he knew I was kidding, “If something like this happens again, you
need to tell me right away. My heart broke when I saw that, I don't want to go
through that again.”

“Done. I didn't
mean to break your heart.” He kissed me thoroughly before murmuring against my
lips, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, I want
it to just be you and me tonight.”

“It will be.”

“Like lock the
door, stay wrapped up in each other’s arms and forget about everyone else kind
of night. Do you think you can handle that?”

A sexy grin
spread across his face, “I'm sure I can manage.”

“
B
ree, are you
ready?”

“Freaking
Konrad hid my bag.”

“Okay?” I drew
out the word.

“He didn’t want
me to be able to get dressed.”

I laughed,
“Nice. Check in the washer or dryer.” I wasn’t surprised that she’d replaced Ryan
with Konrad at some point last night.

Bree ran
through the kitchen in only a thong. Good thing all the guys had gone surfing
this morning. She came back holding her bag, her eyes narrowed, “You knew he
put this there?”

“Was it really
there?” I laughed louder and shook my head, “No I had no idea, but a few times
the guys on base would do that if someone was in the shower. Take not only the
clothes they had to put on, but all the other ones in their locker and hide
them in the laundry room. I saw way too many butts that way.” I thought of
Carter and pulled out my phone.

Me - ‘Miss you :(’

J. Carter - ‘;-)’

I waited to see
if he’d say anything else, but he didn’t. I went back to putting the blankets
and food in the car while Bree changed for the beach. Brandon had made good on
his promise last night. When we got back from the dorm he’d taken me into his
room, not saying anything to anyone. He turned both our phones off, locked the
door and curled around me on the bed. I wanted to spend time talking to and
kissing him, but I’d been so exhausted from crying, I’d fallen asleep soon
after. We were woken up early this morning by Brad banging on the door so they
could go surfing, and although Brandon started to tell him we were having time
to ourselves, I’d kicked him out of the bed and told him to have fun. Bree and
I decided to go down to the beach later to surprise them, figuring we could eat
lunch and relax for a few hours. I’d made dozens of sandwiches, grabbed
numerous large bags of chips and drinks and loaded them all into the coolers
while Bree had been looking for her clothes.

We got to the
beach and were glad to see the guys still out in the water. After setting up
the blankets and towels, we sat down to watch them.

“So…Ryan?”

“Pfft, that guy
was way too into himself. I need my guy to be more into me.”

“And did Konrad
know he was your replacement last night?”

She shrugged,
“Obviously he didn’t mind.”

“Obviously. Have
you decided if you’re going to date him?”

“I think I am.”
Bree smiled, Konrad had asked her to be his girlfriend, and she told him she’d
think about it…while they were in the middle of having sex. I swear I didn’t
get her. “I really think I like him Harper. I’m used to guys getting bored
after we hook up, but he’s not like that. It’s like we just can’t stop going
back to each other.”

“Then why are
you making him wait?”

She rolled onto
her stomach, facing away from the water, and I followed, “I don’t know. I mean
I’ve had boyfriends before, but I just started college. I don’t know if I want
to be tied down right away. I’d like to explore my options.”

I only sort of
understood that, I hadn’t come to San Diego even looking for a guy, let alone a
boyfriend. But there was no denying whatever was going on between Brandon and me.
With him around, I couldn’t see myself not being with him. My phone chimed and
I had to dig through the huge bags we’d brought things in to find it.

J. Carter - ‘Where are you?’

Me - ‘At the beach’

J. Carter - ‘Ditching classes then?’

Me - ‘I don’t have classes on Fridays. What are you up
to?’

J. Carter - ‘What beach?’

I don’t know
why that mattered to him, there were tons of beaches in the area. He wouldn’t
know the difference.

Me - ‘It’s just a beach that’s literally all the way
down the street from the school.’

“Why are you
frowning?”

I looked up at
Bree and put my phone away, “Carter’s been weird the last few days.”

“Weird how?”

“Well we
usually talk every day. But we didn’t talk at all yesterday, and the three days
before that he wouldn’t answer my calls, he would just text me back right
after. And now he’s asking weird things. I don’t know, it’s just not like him.”

“And nothing’s
going on there?”

“No…I told you
that. I just don’t understand what’s going on with him.”

“Well maybe he
has a girlfriend now.” Bree reasoned, “I’m sure it would bug her if he was
always talking to you. Does Brandon know about him?”

“He knows of
him, but I don’t think he knows how close we are. Or were.” I trailed off, I
didn’t know moving here would mean losing his friendship.

“Does he know
about Brandon?”

“Yeah, well he
knew we went on a date. I haven’t talked to him much since then.”

“Well there you
go!”

I looked at
Bree confused, “There I go, what?”

She propped
herself up on her elbows, “I bet he likes you, and now that you’re obviously
interested in other guys, he’s pulling away from you.”

“Nice try.” I
laughed and sat up to take my shirt off, leaving me in only my tiny shorts and
bikini top. “I’ve told you, it wasn’t like that between me and Carter. He dated
a lot of girls while I knew him. It just hurts that he’s being distant. I mean
we went from seeing and talking to each other every day, to this. I feel like I
lost my best friend.”

Bree looked at
me like I wasn’t getting it.

“Would you ever
date Brad?”

“God no!” She
said a little disgusted, “He’s like a brother to me.”

“Exactly.
Carter and I were exactly how you are with Brad.”

She flipped
onto her back, “Oh…well then I don’t know what to tell you. Just ask him next
time you talk.”

“Hey babe!”

I turned to
look at Brandon and smiled, “Hi! We thought we’d hang out for the day.”

He grabbed one
of the towels and bent down to kiss me, “Should I thank Bree for this one too?”
He trailed a finger along the fabric of the top. I nodded and he kissed me
again, pressing his wet body to mine. If it hadn’t been for the rest of the
guys coming back and talking loud, I would have forgotten we weren’t alone in
his bed.

“Brandon,”
Konrad walked over to us, “come help me get the coolers out of Bree’s car.”

“Coolers?”
Brandon looked at me, his head tilted to the side.

“I brought lots
of food for you guys, figured you’d be hungry after surfing.”

He kissed me
soundly before jumping to his feet, “You’re pretty perfect Harper.”

My heart beat
wildly as I watched him walk toward the car. My phone rang when they were
headed back.

“Carter!”

“How’s my
girl?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Well speak of
the damn devil.” Bree muttered next to me.

“I’m good. I
feel like we haven’t talked in a long time. Is everything okay?”

“It’s better
than okay now.” He said mischievously.

“Really?” I
smiled at Brandon as he sat down next to me. “And why is that?”

“I’m at the
beach with some of the guys.”

I really had to
focus on what he was saying, I was currently getting lost in Brandon’s brown
eyes, “The beach huh? Glad you guys got out early for the weekend. Tell them I
said hi.”

“I don’t think
you know these guys, but I’ll be sure to pass along the message. So how’s
your
beach?”

I bit my lip as
I looked at Brandon, “Amazing. Yours?”

“It’s got the
best view. You know, I bet if I yelled loud enough, you could hear me from
here.”

I laughed,
“You’re so dumb.”

“No really…put
down the phone and I’ll yell. You can tell me if you hear me or not.” He waited
a few seconds, “Come on Harper, I said put the phone down.”

Rolling my eyes
I conceded, “Fine, fine. Phone’s going down.” I put it down on the blanket and
started to lean over to kiss Brandon when I heard someone yell.

“BLAZE!”

 I sat back
quickly. That definitely hadn’t come from the speaker of the phone. Grabbing
it, I brought it to my ear, “What the hell?”

“Shall we try
that again?” A few seconds later I heard a distant voice yell
Blaze
again.

Glancing at my
phone I realized he’d ended the call and I turned to look behind Bree.

“You okay
Harper?” Brandon asked.

“Did you hear
someone yell ‘Blaze’?”

“Yeah,” he nodded
to something behind me, “the guy back there did.”

I turned around
and gasped. “Oh my God, Carter!” I sprang to my feet, already in a run. I
crashed into Carter, hugging him tightly, “What are you doing here?!”

“Damn Blaze.
Where’s my Harper and what have you done with her?”

I blushed and
crossed my arms over my chest, “Uh, yeah. I guess I look a little different.”

He ran a finger
near the piercing on my lip, “A little.” He smiled and hugged me to him again.
“I missed you Blaze.”

“I missed you
too.” I said into his chest, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were
coming. I would have been at the airport to get you.”

“Well that
wouldn’t have been half as fun as your reaction just now.”

I leaned back
to smile at him. He was tall too, not like Chase or Brandon, but close to six
feet. His black hair was in the traditional fade the Marine’s had and his brown
eyes were bright. “How long do you get to be here for?”

He smiled wide
and opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off.

“Harper?”

Turning, I saw
Brandon staring at Carter, he didn’t look happy. And I could only imagine how
after what happened last night with Amanda, me taking off and almost tackling a
random guy while in a bikini would be a little alarming. Especially since
Carter still had his arms wrapped around my waist. Stepping back toward
Brandon, I grabbed his hand and squeezed, “Brandon this is my best friend from
Camp Lejeune, Jason Carter, Carter, this is my boyfriend Brandon Taylor.”

They firmly
shook hands but didn’t say anything. Awkward.

“Um, why don’t
we head back over there? I can introduce you to everyone else.” I pulled
Brandon back towards our friends while I was introduced to the three guys Carter
had been with. He was right, I didn’t know them, but Carter had never been to
California so I didn’t know how he knew them either.

I introduced
Carter and the three guys to everyone, and while all the housemates and Konrad
were polite, Chase wouldn’t speak to, or shake Carter’s hand. Just crossed his
arms over his bare chest and openly glared at him. What threw me off even more,
was Brandon standing right next to him, in the exact same stance. It didn’t
surprise me that Carter took a step back, those guys could look scary if they
wanted to. Rugged looks, tall tattooed and muscled bodies. Yep. Definitely
scary to someone who didn’t know them. Bree looked back and forth between
Carter and me with an amused expression. I knew she would grill me about this later.

When we were
all seated on the blankets, I asked Carter again, “So how long is your leave
for?”

“I didn’t get
leave.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Carter!” I
gasped, “I swear to God if you went UA…” I knew what the punishment was for
leaving base without authorization, and if Carter did…well let’s just say it
wouldn’t be good.

He laughed,
“No, no. I didn’t. Everyone knows I’m here. I requested for a transfer to Camp
Pendleton when you decided to move to San Diego, it got accepted right after
you left. I got here on Monday.”

“Wait, you
moved here because I was moving here?”

“Of course.”

“Did Sir make
you do that?”

“Not at all. I
just couldn’t let you go.”

“Oh shit.” Bree
muttered.

Brandon sat up
straighter, I didn’t have to look up to know he was glaring and sizing up
Carter. This could get bad, I was about to say something when Carter spoke up
again.

“I mean I can’t
let my little sister go across the country alone, right?”

I smiled at
Carter and felt Brandon relax from behind me. Sean, one of the guys that came
with Carter, looked at the other two guys then back to Carter with a confused
look and started to speak, but when he looked back to me and Brandon, he shut
his mouth.

“So…I’m sorry
what was your name again? Brady?”

I glared at
Carter but remained quiet. I knew he could tell me everyone’s name that he’d
just met. I’d always envied that he could remember anything as long as he read
or heard it once.

Brandon’s arm
tensed around my waist, “Brandon.”

“Right, my bad.
So how did you meet my girl?”

“Through
school. I live with Chase, Bree’s his sister and Harper’s roommate.”