Unsettled (Chosen #1) (12 page)

Eighteen

Dance

When we pulled up to the parking area of the expansive house
that overlooked acres of land, I was automatically sent back ten years. Familiar faces sat on the back of cars, drinking beers and laughing with each other. My old friends were crazy. They saw any event as a drinking event, always prepared with coolers and hatchbacks to chill out on. They probably had been here for hours...A few of the guys I ran with saw me in the passenger side and started shouting. Suddenly, my car was swarmed and my friend, Jack, pulled me out of the car. He lifted me out of the seat and spun me around while placing a kiss on my cheek. People started to move towards me but my head jerked up to find Teagan. I held up my hands to my friends and walked around to Teagan’s side, opening his door. He looked up to see me beaming at him. As he grabbed his dress coat, I shook my head.
“You won’t need that here. My friends don’t really do dress code. I’m sure there are many in baggy shorts and flip flops. Better yet, take off the tie, too. Get comfortable.”

I pulled him out of the car and we headed around to the trunk, where Amanda, Kelly and a dozen other people waited to say hello. Amanda took over the introductions with Teagan while I had a chance to chat with people I hadn’t seen in years. The new hair styles, the new tattoos
, and the new people on their arms were a lot to take in. I knew that one night wouldn’t be enough to catch up with everyone. One of my best pals, Sean, sauntered up to me and cried out, “Lizzie Lou!”

“Oh my
God!” I screamed and ran into Sean’s tattoo covered arms and kissed him on the mouth.

“Now that’s what I
’m talking about,” Sean said. “It’s been forever, Liz. You look so beautiful and I’ve missed you like crazy.”

I smiled at him and we both just stared at each other, trying to take in each other’s features. Two old friends that had been to hell and back together and yet there was never any chemistry. We knew it from the beginning when we started rating horror movies and laughed about our burps over beer. We were instantly friends. No more.

Teagan came up beside me and cleared his throat.

“Oh
, fuck, Teagan. This is Sean, one of the most incredible friends I’ve ever had. Sean, this is my friend, Teagan. He’s visiting for the summer from Ireland,” I said, shaking my head at the amazing feeling I had about seeing him. It was the most perfect day. Sean was there and Teagan was meeting him.

They shook hands and Sean turned to me, giving me a wink.

“Sit next to me. Wedding ceremonies put me to sleep and I know that sitting with you will make it so much more fun.” He laughed, turning his beer up to take a swill.

“You bet!” I said just as Teagan put his arm around me. Feeling a bit uncomfortable around the guy I
’d known for over ten years, I looked to him and said, “But only if you give me one of those!” I pointed to his beer. He handed his to me. Then he leaned into my ear on the opposite side of Teagan and whispered, “I backwashed just for you, Lizzie Lou.” I laughed and finished the beer in four swallows.

Something else caught Sean’s attention and he winked at me again
as he walked away. I turned and studied Teagan’s face.

I held up my hands and said, “Truly! Only friends. He
’s like a brother to me.”

He smiled, knowing I could read his face
. He took my hand and we headed towards the church that adjoined the land to the house. It was a pretty white church, set right on the beach. There was nothing fancy about it except the land it sat on. There were no stained glass windows. There was a small door and very uncomfortable looking bench seats. It reminded me of a church from the Civil War. Surely, the building was a fire disaster waiting to happen, but the people on the island kept up with the paint and the cleaning. The immaculate grounds were amazing.

“It’s lovely here,” Teagan murmured, tearing me away from my thoughts about the church.

“It is. Are you nervous? There are a lot of people I know here and you don’t know anyone. I hope it doesn’t take away from my time with you tonight. It’s just so great to be around my people after so many years.” I smiled.

“Lizzie. I
’m not nervous. I’m here for you and we’ll have our time together later tonight and all day tomorrow,” he said as he swept his hand across the necklace he gave me.

I
sighed and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for understanding.”

Amanda and Sean swept by us
, and Sean immediately took my hand to head into the church. He took us up all the way to the front and we took seats in a loud clatter. Teagan sat next to the aisle and Sean was on my right. Immediately, he jumped in to make a funny joke about the old woman playing the organ.

“Why are all organists so old and…
” I cut him off by slapping his leg.

“Dude, you can’t
criticize a woman who obviously has a talent for something and enjoys it,” I said.

“Oh yeah? What’s your talent?” Sean asked.

I snickered at him and Teagan leaned over me and quietly said, “That isn’t something we should speak of in a church.”

Sean and I busted out laughing
, and as the wedding party started down the aisle, I could only look back once because I was laughing so hard. Then the organist started to sing and, sadly, she didn’t have a talent for singing. Sean and I were trembling, tears running down our faces while we tried to remain composed throughout the short ceremony. Teagan just shook his head and smiled at us. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t laughing as hard as we were. Maybe it was just that Sean and I were back to our normal selves, laughing about everything and anything in life.

As we dried our tears, we stood to clap for Holly and Ben. She gave me a stern “You suck” look and I laughed at her while blowing
her kisses. As we headed out to follow them, Teagan put out his elbow and I took it, thinking how much of a gentleman he was. He whispered something to me but my face was immediately locked onto Chase’s. He was staring right back. He flicked his gaze to Teagan, and I turned back to him, asking him to repeat what he just said. He looked at me with a confused look and tried to see what I was looking at. I obviously had reacted to Chase’s face, and Teagan’s concerned look made it so uncomfortable, I couldn’t breathe. I felt a panic attack coming on, so I pulled him back to my car, where I pulled a beer from the trunk and downed the whole thing.

“Lizzie, what’s wrong?” Teagan asked.

“Oh, weddings, you know,” I said, waving him off.

“Well, no
, I don’t. You look pissed or something,” Teagan pressed.

“Pissed? Far from it. I just laughed my ass of
f for fifteen minutes straight while a good friend got married. I hardly even heard the ceremony,” I said, laughing.

“Ah. Yes, well, it was just the traditional vows
,” he said, grabbing a beer.

“Okay, let’s hit the food,” I said.

I didn’t see Chase again while we ate. White linen tables were arranged with votive candles as centerpieces and the slight breeze of the ocean made the white tents look like a huge flash light. It was gorgeous. Holly had taken simple and made it priceless. We watched the couple dance and cut the cake. The toasts were ridiculous and there were quite a few F bombs laced throughout them. Obviously, people were as toasted as we were. Sean leaned in and asked if I wanted to smoke a joint. I shook my head. I wasn’t going to get totally blitzed. I wanted to savor every moment.

Teagan
twisted to me and sweetly presented his hand. “Dance with me?” he asked as he kissed my hand. The beginning of Counting Crows’ “Round here” was coming out of multiple speakers throughout the tent and rose to follow him to the makeshift tiled dance floor. I smiled at Holly as Teagan drew me close, putting his forehead on mine.

“I like this band
,” I said.

“I know. You were wearing their shirt on our first
certified date.” He smiled.

“Date?” I asked with a mocking smile.

“Yes, Lizzie. We’ve been dating,” he said softly.

I sighed. “I don’t date, Teagan. We are more than just dates. Shit, I basically live with you and the guys
.”

“Good point
.” He chuckled and drew me closer with his hand on the small of my back.

We danced through half the song when I heard Chase’s voice come from behind me.

“May I cut in?” Chase asked.

Teagan popped his head up with
surprise. He looked at me with a “Do you want to?” face.

“Chase,” I said
leisurely. “Please don’t.”

Teagan’s features
altered into a look that I’d never seen before. He was obviously shocked but more defeated. He let go of me, like I had burned him, and Chase immediately jumped in to take over the dance.

“That was a shit move
,” I said, keeping my distance from him. He and I were not together, and everyone, including Teagan, needed to comprehend my body language.

“Who is he?” Chase asked
firmly.

“What does it matter to you, Chase?” I said
, finally looking up at his face.

“Just fucking answer the question,” Chase said with impatience in his words.

“He’s a friend. My boyfriend,” I said, thinking about how Teagan had claimed me for the three days on the island.

“Well, that was fast!” Chase scoff
ed.

“It isn’t like that. He
’s from Ireland and he’s going home at the end of the summer, and now I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you,” I said, squirming from him. I just wanted to find Teagan and explain that I didn’t know Chase was coming. I felt…guilty. But was I supposed to feel guilty about being with Teagan while Chase was there and not the other way around? All those years I spent with Chase suddenly meant nothing and as each minute ticked by, I was losing Teagan. I had to find him.

Chase pulled me closer with force.

“Lizzie. I need to talk to you. Please just give me five minutes and you can go back to your date. I’m not going to ruin your night,” he said softly.

“You already have. He knows about you, Chase. I
’m sure he’s not happy right now.” I scowled at him.

“Just listen,” he said softly, pulling me close as the song changed to another that I couldn’t even comprehend because my head was swimming with a million thoughts.

“I need a drink,” I said and walked off. Chase was on my heels, and when we made it to the keg, he grabbed two red plastic cups and tapped us both a beer.

As I started to drink, he cocked his head to the side and motioned me to follow him. I turned to survey the tent for Teagan. He was nowhere. He didn’t leave, did he? Good
God, did Chase fuck everything up?

I st
epped five paces into the dark, grassy space and Chase turned around.

I tapped my foot and said, “I
’m listening. Why are you here?”

“Lizzie, I miss you. I know that I
wasn’t ready for marriage, but since I left you in Colorado, I’ve been so…so unhappy. Even when we were broken up, you were still there in Portland and I knew I’d still see you. But you’re gone now and I’ve had so much time to think. You’ve been everything to me for years. I need you. I want to make you happy and, I will do anything, and I mean anything, if you would just come home with me. I’m begging you. You can go to school there and we can get a nicer apartment. I know things won’t be the same, but I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to undo what I did when I said I couldn’t commit to you.” He pleaded with ferocity. He was like an animal, walking around his prey, ready to pounce.

I stood there, astounded. Holy fucking hell. I must have stood there for at least five minutes while I watched him squirm under my scrutiny. My knees started shaking. Was it Chase or the sea breeze becoming colder? My palms were sweaty
, so I handed Chase my plastic cup then wiped my hands down my black dress.

“You look so beautiful
,” Chase said.

“Chase
,” I said with resignation.

“Just tell me you
’ll think about it. Just tell me you’ll look back and remember all our good times and the better times we can have in the future,” he said.

I could feel Teagan behind me before I saw Chase’s face turn into surprise. I grabbed my cup from Chase’s hand and stood there.

“Are you okay?” Teagan asked.

“
No,” I said.

“What can I do?” Teagan asked in concern.

“You can get me the hell out of this conversation,” I said fiercely.

“Lizzie
,” Chase said, trying to grab for my hand.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Teagan warned.

“What is she to you? She’s just your cheap fuck, right? Like you really know my Lizzie.” Chase scowled.

Teagan laughed. I turned to look at him, wondering what he thought was so funny.

“It seems to me that you lost the right to know her intentions when you promised not to marry her after treating her like a cheap fuck for years,” Teagan said.