Taking Chances (17 page)

My stupid blush
came back with force when he said that and I focused at his drawing. It was
amazing, somewhat embarrassing, but remarkable none the less. With the shading
and the detail he’d captured of my upper body and face, it almost looked like a
black and white photo. It was perfect. From my chest, throat and slightly open
mouth to the way my hair fell around my face and my eyelashes rested against my
cheeks, it was one hundred percent me. He even had my hand clutching the pillow
under my head that was resting on his leg, as well as the blanket that had been
pulled up to the swell of my breasts. Goose bumps covered my body as I realized
he’d spent however long staring at, and replicating, every part of me while I’d
been completely unaware. He was wrong, it wasn’t creepy, it was beautiful and
strangely intimate.

“Chase, it–” I
cleared my throat and tried again, “It’s incredible.” Incredible didn’t cover
it.

“Yeah?”

I looked up
into his eyes and smiled, “Yeah.”

We stayed there
staring at each other, my mind and heart completely torn in two. One half
desperately wanted to act on the feelings his drawing had stirred up in me, and
the other was screaming at me to sit up and scoot away from him. Before I could
try to make a decision, another series of explosions came from the TV and we
both jolted away from each other.

~~~

My face heated
again as the memory of last Sunday played through my mind, and Chase’s annoyed
look turned bemused. I pushed aside my awe and longing for that rare side of
Chase and let my anger take forefront again. I don’t know why he was so
different on Sundays, but at least during the week he would usually say hi to
me. Not that I expected him to spend more time with me since I was always with
Bree or Brandon during the week, but after that moment on Sunday I was
dumbfounded as to why he’d avoided me like a leper since.

“Whatever. I’m
done trying to figure you out. If you want to be an asshole, go right ahead.
But don’t keep acting like there’s nothing wrong between us on Sundays.”

“We’re back to
this now?” He jeered.

“It’s a
freaking miracle. He speaks.”

“You think I’m
confusing? God Harper, that’s rich.” He laughed once and narrowed his eyes at
me, “This coming from the girl who repeatedly told me to stay away but fell
into my arms at the first sign of trouble with her boyfriend? Do you want me to
back off, or don’t you?” Chase took a step forward, I took one back and he
matched it, whispering in my ear, “Why keep fighting the inevitable baby? You
want me. Even now your body is shaking because you’re trying to keep yourself
from touching me.” Brushing the tips of his fingers across my hand he smiled,
“One touch from me and you’re covered in goose bumps. Tell me now that you want
me to go away.”

“You’re such an
ass.” I growled and took another step back, “I just don’t understand why we
can’t be friends all the time. I don’t want to be your friend on Sunday and the
girl you don’t acknowledge every other day of the week. I want the same thing
every day. So you decide what that is and let me know.” I moved to walk around
him, but he put his arm up against the wall of the hallway, blocking me in.

“I’ll tell you,
if you tell me.”

“Tell you
what?”

“I feel like
I’m just one in a group of Harper’s many guys, but I’m not getting the benefits.
So tell me, if I act like your friend, will I get to fuck you too?”

My fist was
aiming straight for that perfectly shaped nose but Chase was slammed into the
wall before I could connect. Brandon’s forearm was pressed against Chase’s
throat and his tan face was turning red with anger.

“What the hell
did you just say to her?” He growled and pressed Chase harder into the wall.

Chase’s only
response was to spit in Brandon’s face.

Brandon’s other
hand grabbed Chase’s shirt to bring him forward while the arm that had been
against his throat delivered a hard blow to Chase’s stomach. Chase swung and
hit the wall when Brandon moved, but he’d moved right into Chase’s left hook. I
started yelling at them to stop and somehow they ended up on the floor with
Chase on top. Just as the other housemates came out of their rooms, Brandon
knocked Chase’s head to the side and Chase spit again on Brandon’s face, this
time it was full of blood.

“Shit, again?”
Brad huffed as he ran past me and grabbed Chase’s arms to pin them back. Derek
kept Brandon on the floor while Zach helped Brad haul Chase towards a hall on
the opposite side of the living room.

“Holy Crap
Princess,” Drew slung his arm around my shoulders and I shook it off, “you
really drive guys crazy don’t you? This has been the most entertaining two
months we’ve ever had in this house, and it all seems to come back to you.”

“Drew.”

“Yeah
Princess?”

“If you want to
have kids at some point in life, I suggest you leave.”

He tsked at me,
but wisely moved away, “So touchy. Hey B, you uh, got a little something on
your face.”

“I’m about to
let him up.” Derek warned and Drew took off for the back yard.

As soon as
Derek let go, Brandon was up and stalking toward his bathroom, not saying a
word to me. Derek handed me Brandon’s back pack and nodded toward his bedroom.

“Wait for him
in there, I’m gonna go talk to him though I’m positive I already know what he’s
gonna say. Just give him a few minutes, and Harper?”

“Hmm?”

“Stay away from
Chase. It’ll make all of this a lot easier.”

I blushed
fiercely and nodded before shutting myself in Brandon’s room. Ten minutes of
sitting there alone felt like three hours. I listened to numerous doors open
and slam shut, raised voices on different sides of the house and what must have
been Chase taunting Brandon. Next thing I know all the guys were yelling at
each other and Brandon started threating Chase. The door opened, and I watched
Derek and Drew struggle to push Brandon in.

“Chill man!”
Derek puffed as he kept shouldering Brandon’s chest so he couldn’t leave, “He’s
doing it to piss you off more, just calm down.”

“She’s mine!”
Brandon growled and pushed forward again.

“Yeah, she’s
yours and right now you’re scaring the hell out of her. Calm down!”

Brandon turned
and stopped trying to force his way out when he saw me. As soon as the other
two were out of the way, he slammed the door shut and locked it, but didn’t
turn back to me. He rested his head against the door, one of his hands pressed
against the wall.

I started to
move off the bed, but his voice stopped me.

“Don’t. Give me
a minute.”

Four tense
minutes later and I stood up anyway, “I’m going to go –”

“I’ll take you
to your dorm,” He finally looked at me and shook his head, “never mind I’ll get
Derek to take you.”

My stomach
dropped. I had been planning on going outside to give him more time; I wasn’t
expecting him to want me to actually leave. Usually he was trying to stretch
our “weekends only” rule, this was the first night since Saturday that we were
supposed to be together, and he wanted me to go back to the dorm. He didn’t
even want to be the one to take me. Was he that mad at me for the fight with
Chase? My throat closed up, so I simply nodded and grabbed my duffel bag.

“Uh, will you
please take me to a hotel?” I asked Derek after we were in his car.

“Hotel? Don’t
you want to go to your dorm?”

“No, Bree’s
having Konrad stay there tonight. Just take me to a hotel.”

He pursed his
lips but didn’t say anything until we were at the entrance of the closest
place. “Don’t be too hard on Brandon, kay? Try to forgive him, he feels really
bad for doing this to you.”

What? Doing
what to me? Oh my God, is he going to break up with me? I didn’t ask him to get
in a fight with Chase, I had been about to take care of it myself. My eyes
watered and I couldn’t even thank Derek for the ride, afraid that if I opened
my mouth I’d start sobbing.

Derek got out
of his car and walked with me up to the front desk. I still couldn’t speak so
he told the woman in the business suit behind the counter that I needed a room
for the night. When she asked for a card to go on file he pulled out his
wallet. Grabbing his arm, I shook my head quickly and the tears started
falling.

“I already
can’t believe I’m about to leave you here, Princess. Give me some peace of mind
knowing that I didn’t make you pay for a room because of what just happened.”
He handed his card to the woman who was shooting daggers at Derek. Once I had
the keycard in my hand, he hugged me awkwardly and stepped back, “Let someone
know if you need anything.”

I heard the
woman mutter “Asshole.” under her breath when he walked out the doors. It
wasn’t until I was in the elevator I realized how that must have looked to her.
With my tears and what he said, that definitely made him look awful. Poor
Derek.

As soon as I
was in the room, I curled up onto the large bed and let my heart break once
again for the man I had a feeling I would always love. He called an hour later,
but I was already devastated with what I knew he was going to say, so I ignored
the call and turned my phone off. Maybe he would take that as my acknowledgment
of what he no longer wanted. Me.

Loud pounding
woke me some time later and I had a momentary freak-out when I didn’t realize
where I was at first. The pounding started again and I looked at the door, I
had no idea what time it was, but Brandon had called right before ten, so I
knew it was really late now. Was there some drunk trying to get into what they
thought was their room?

“Harper, baby
open the door.”

My eyes widened
and I scrambled off the bed. God, I should have just answered the phone. Break
up over the phone would have been much easier than face to face. Taking a few
deep breaths, I unlocked the door and cracked it open.

Brandon stepped
in and pulled me into his arms, roughly bringing his mouth to mine. “What the
hell are you doing here sweetheart?”

Me? What was he
doing, and why was he kissing me?

“I’ve been
going out of my mind, why’d you turn your phone off?

“I–I didn’t
want to talk to you.”

His face and
arms fell.

“I couldn’t, I
couldn’t handle you breaking up with me.”

“Whoa,
wait…what? Break up with you? Why the hell would I break up with you?”

I floundered
for a minute trying to remember everything that he and Derek had said, “Because
you…isn’t that…wasn’t that why you wanted me to leave?”

“No!” He
hunched down and cupped my face, “I thought I scared you with that fight, I
thought you wanted to get away from me.”

A sob escaped
my chest and hot tears streamed down my cheeks again as I shook my head.

“Baby,” he crooned
and wrapped his arms around me again, “are you insane? How could you think I
wouldn’t want to be with you? Seeing your face in the bedroom, you looked
terrified and I hated that you saw that. I shouldn’t have lost it like that in
front of you.”

“So we’re not
breaking up?”

“God no.”

A huge wave of
relief washed through me, “I
was
scared in your room, but it was because
I thought you were mad at me. I thought you were mad that you got into another
fight because of me. And I hated that everyone had to get in on it.”

“Harper, I
would fight anyone, anytime for you.” He kissed me softly and moved back to the
door, “I’ll be right back, alright?”

Before I could
say anything, he was out the door and jogging down the hall. When he came back
a handful of minutes later, he picked me up and without breaking our kiss laid
me down on the bed.

“Where’d you
go?” I asked breathlessly when his lips moved across my jaw.

“I rented the
room until Sunday morning.” He grinned impishly and I hurried to pull his shirt
off his body.

***

“Princess, stop
walking and just talk to me.”

“Why? So you
can let me know again how much of a slut you think I am?”

“I don’t,” he
let out a half-growl, half-sigh, “I don’t think you’re a slut. You just caught
me on a bad day.”

“Let me guess
Chase, you hurt me because you were just so damn mad…am I right?” I threw his
line from a month ago back in his face and he paled.

His hand came
up and brushed my hair back, holding it away from my face as he stared into my
eyes, “This is why I told you I would never be good enough for you, all I do is
hurt you Princess.”

“This isn’t
about you being, or not being good enough for me. I just want to be your
friend, and you’re making that impossible.”

Friend
,
he mouthed and scratched his head before grabbing a fistful of hair, “Okay,
fine, we’re friends. But I need you to stop approaching me around my house and
at school.”

“What? Then
that puts us exactly where we’ve been the last three weeks, that doesn’t change
anything.”

“It needs to be
that way.” He released both his hair and mine at the same time and turned away
for a second before facing me again, “Sundays are the only day I get you. Those
are the only days when you’re here with me.” I opened my mouth but he stopped
me, “No, I know you’re not here
for
me…but you’re here. And he’s not.”
He bent his knees so we were eye to eye, “I need these days with you Harper.
But every other day, you’re his and it’s not a good idea for us to be around each
other then. So stay away. Please.”

“Chase…”

“If you think
acting like you don’t exist isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done, you’re
wrong. I hate not talking to you, I hate not bickering like we’re an old
married couple and I hate not spending every day right next to you. But this is
how it has to be, Brandon hates me, and Princess trust me when I say he has
every reason to. So if after everything I’ve done to you, you’ll still even
consider being my friend, then it has to be Sundays only.”