by M. N. Forgy
“Can I come in?” I ask, knowing it’s a long shot. I just can’t go back home, and it’s dark out.
Her eyes look around the room wildly, her body tense.
“Please.” I can’t believe I just said that.
Her eyes slowly slide to mine, and she nods. “Yeah. But you have to be quiet, my dad will get mad if he knows you’re in here.”
“Got it.”
I climb into her bedroom window, and look around. It’s not what I thought a girl’s room would look like. There’s posters of boxers and fighters all over the walls.
Dirty clothes on the floor, and a pair of sneakers thrown in the corner.
Sitting on the floor, I gaze among the stack of magazines she’s collected.
“You’re kind of—”
“Different? I know.” She tucks her nose back into her magazine.
“Yeah, but it’s a good different.” Her eyes pop above what she’s reading.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You don’t fall into that crowd of girls that pretend to be something they’re not. I like that. Plus, we have a lot in common.”
Silence fills the air as I look over an article.
“Can you read any of this?” I ask, my mind trying to silently pronounce the words.
She slips off the bed and sits next to me, crossing her legs Indian style.
“I can read some of it. Like here,” she points to the page showing some limited edition cup, I don’t know I don’t look at it long. I watch Tate, as her eyes light up at the magazine. “It’s a cup they use for their protein powder, which helps them get strong for fights,” she explains. Her eyes meet mine, and she taps the page.
“See?” She knows I haven’t even looked at the page.
“You want to be friends?” My heart beats a little faster when I realize that my own voice asked the question. My face is on fire as I watch for her reaction. I’ve never asked to be a girl’s friend before.
She shrugs, biting her cheek. “I guess.”
Lifting the magazine up, I smile behind it.
Chapter Five
Tatum
Slamming the car door behind me I march into Chloe’s house. I feel nauseous, my only remedy is getting back in the car and race back to the gym and slam my fist in Camden’s face. I can’t believe he talked to me like that. Has he always been such an asshole and I was just too blind to see it? Or does he really hate me?
Fucking Chloe and Fiona knew whose gym I was going to. They knew I would run into Camden. They set me up. WHY?
Inside it smells like fingernail polish, and baked bread.
“Ma! I told you I want the acrylic!” Chloe states from Fiona’s manicure table.
“Oh hush, you don’t know what you want.” Fiona tosses her hand at Chloe, with an emery board in her fingers.
“Did you know?” I drop my gym bag to the floor, my nostrils flaring. Both of them focus on me, their faces scrunched in confusion. “Did you know Camden would be there?” I clarify sharply. Chloe’s mouth purses into the shape of an O, and Fiona begins to work on Chloe’s hands as if I didn’t ask anything important.
“Fiona!”
She huffs, dropping her emery board.
“That is the only training place I knew of sugar. Did I know that Camden would be there? I mean, I wasn’t sure, but—”
“So you did know,” I interrupt.
“Look babe. You wanted a trainer, and I knew where one was. How bad do you want your dreams to come true?” Her brows raise as her eyes slowly trail from Chloe’s fingers to my eyes.
“What does that mean?” I sigh.
“It’s simple. How bad do you want to become a professional fighter?”
“Well—”
“Then I suggest you get over that boy and focus on you.” She turns, grabbing a purple nail polish.
Groaning I fall into the couch, knowing she’s right.
“Did you run into him?” Chloe questions.
My eyes closed, I nod. The look of hatred on Camden’s face plaguing my mind.
“What did he say? How did he look? Was he mad?” Chloe interrogates.
Dragging my palm along my face I try to focus my eyes on Chloe.
“He told me not to come back,” I answer flatly. Hearing it a second time hurts just as much as the first. I’m not surprised he said it though. I deserve it after the way I left him.
“Ouch,” she mutters.
“Yeah. Good times,” the sarcasm in my voice thick.
“Go back. Sock it to him,” Fiona adds, applying polish to Chloe’s nail.
“It’s not that easy,” I tell her.
“It is. Grow a spine, sugar,” Fiona declares.
“Ma!” Chloe faces her mother.
“What? Tate is tough everywhere except when it comes to that boy.” I begin picking at my nail polish, knowing she’s right but I don’t want to acknowledge it.
“Yeah, but I broke his heart,” I remind her. The tension between us is all my fault.
“He is a grown ass man, he’s going to walk all over you if you let him. Put your big girl panties on and stomp his ass.” Sitting up I tangle my fingers in my hair.
“I need a drink.” I can’t deal with all of this. It pisses me off how much of an asshole he was, but I still have deep feelings for him. I hate that I hurt him, but when he talks to me like that I want to dig my claws into his face.
“You want to go to Big Pete’s?”
“What’s that?”
“They serve the biggest pizza, and have all the beer you can think of.”
“Is it deep dish?” I can’t help but ask. I’ve missed the deep dish pizza from here.
“No, but it’s still really good.” Chloe nods, blowing on her nails.
I better indulge in pizza and beer while I can. If Thomas is serious about coaching me, my diet is going to get strict.
“Yeah. Let’s do it I suppose.”
“Sweet. You go change, and as soon as Ma is done, we’ll go.”
I look down at my work out clothes. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? I thought we were just going for beer and pizza?”
She rolls her eyes.
“If you plan on getting laid, you need to get out of the sports bra, girlfriend.”
Fiona laughs.
“I’ll take pizza over a guy any day,” I jab, walking past them.
“That’s my girl!” Fiona praises.
Pulling up to Big Pete’s the parking lot is littered with cars. Seems to be the new hot spot around here. It’s crazy how much this town has changed over the last few years.
The building is made up of red brick, with a small wooden patio to the right. It looks like it used to be a garage with the two overhead doors leading into the building.
Stepping out of the car I toss my hair over my shoulder. I caved and put on tight blue jeans with a glam pocket brown shirt. It’s longer in the back, and the pocket in the front has some gold shiny stuff on it. It’s not mine, it’s Chloe’s.
I’m still wearing my sports bra though.
Stepping inside there’s a mechanical bull in the center of the chaos. There’s orange and pink lights running along the top of the ceiling. A long bar along the right with tons of people crowded along it.
“Come on, let’s grab a booth.” Chloe grabs my hand and drags me along.
Shimmying in the booth I grab a menu.
“Welcome to Big Pete’s. We like ‘em big and hot.” I eye her, before looking at Chloe to see if she found that just as dirty as I did.
“We’ll take two big pepperoni with two light beers,” Chloe orders for us, and apparently I’m the only pervert between us.
“You got it!” She smiles before turning on her heel she sashays away.
Chloe’s eyes widen. “Six o’clock.”
Trying not to be too noticeable, I casually look over my shoulder to find a tough looking blond guy. His short hair is gelled to perfection, and he’s working a gauge earring in one ear.
�
��He’s hot!” Chloe whisper yells.
“I mean, he’s okay,” I shrug. Of course he’s hot, I just don’t have the girl balls to holler it across a room like her.
The guy laughs at one of his buddies and his eyes catch mine.
Oh shit.
Quickly I turn away.
“What are you doing? Go say hi.” Chloe kicks my leg.
“Ouch!” I rub at my shin, my face cooling from all the blood draining my face.
The guy and his friend walk by our table slowly. He’s clearly looking for an opening to see if I’m interested, but I keep my head down. Grabbing a menu I scour it, focusing on the appetizer section so hard you’d think I was going to be quizzed on their choices. Is he gone? Tell me he’s gone.
I give a sideways glance to see if he’s lost interest.
He shrugs and continues to the back of the building, and I can’t help but sag with relief and drop the menu on the table. People have been screaming and hollering back there since Chloe and I arrived. Must be some kind of party. They have red curtains closing it off, so you can’t see what all the excitement is about though.
“That was pathetic,” Chloe laughs at me.
“Sounds like someone is having a good time,” I state ignoring her, jutting my head toward the back.
“Yeah, not us because you have a stick up your ass.” Chloe shakes her head, lips pursed. I open my mouth to object and the little red head waitress shows up and places beers and pizza down.
“Whoa, that is a—” I stumble on my words.
“Big ass pizza, right?” Chloe giggles.
I try to pick it up, but it just flops over my hand. “It’s bigger than my head.” I laugh.
Half a slice of pizza, and four beers later I’m feeling relaxed and happy. The pizza was good, but it was no deep dish.
“Remember that time you told Felicia to stick a hair curler up her ass?!” Chloe laughs so hard I can barely understand her.
Falling back I clutch my chest with a fit of giggles. “I remember that. Her face—” I try to portray her face. “I’ll never forget it. Whatever happened to her, did she run off and marry her prince charming like she always wanted?” I ask.
“Nah, she got knocked up by some truck driver. When she told her parents she was keeping the baby they disowned her. Last I heard she was in some trailer park in the south side,” Chloe tells me as she bites into a pepperoni that fell off her pizza.
I can’t help the furrow in my brows and the frown on my face. I feel sorry for Felicia. Her parents were always the uptight ones on the block, and I can only imagine the way they reacted.
The blond haired guy comes from the back of the room. His eyes catch mine before I can pretend to look away. I freeze. Why do I get so weird around guys?
Chloe notices my unease and wipes tears from the corners of her eyes and looks over her shoulder.
“Please tell me you’re going to jump on that, cause if not give me the green light, girl.”
My chest squeezes with the thought. I need to get laid. It’s been forever, and I don’t mean that in ‘oh it was a few months ago’, it’s been years.
Just as I open my mouth to say something he smiles at me and I choke on my words.
“Hey.” His voice is rugged, but smooth. He smiles and I notice a scar across his bottom lip. His jaw is square, and feathered in scruff. His eyes grab mine, sending a sudden chill down my spine. As cute as he is, there’s something very dark about him, I just can’t quite place it.
“Hey yourself.” Chloe plays it off coolly, obviously not getting the same ominous vibe I am.
He looks at me, and the little vixen in me runs and hides. Chloe kicks me in the shin again. My brain is mush and put on the spot I’m not sure what to do. I freak.
“It’s big and hot.” I word vomit under pressure. Chloe’s head turns like the exorcist, her eyes wide.
Clenching my eyes shut I cringe at what I just said. I don’t think there’s enough beer in this world to overcome my awkwardness around guys. I’m just not programmed with that sassy charm women have to persuade men. I have a repellant that has them running for the hills.
“I didn’t just say that.” My head falls forward, hair falling in my face.
He laughs hard. “You did.”
“Don’t mind her, she’s…”
“I’m nothing,” I snap, grabbing my beer for a distraction. It’s warm but I don’t care.
“Name is Chase.” He winks at me, and I look away nervously.
“I’m Chloe, this is Tate.” Chloe saves the day.
“Tate…” he whispers my name, as if he wants to taste it. “You look familiar.” Briefly I glance at his face. I frown, not recognizing him. His brown eyes squint as he focuses on my face.
“I’m not from around here…” I stir, not sure where he’s seen me.
He nods and looks away. “You want to dance, Tate?”
My face falls in panic. I’m a terrible dancer.
“Of course she does!” Chloe answers eagerly for me.
“No I’m—” Chase doesn’t give me a chance to answer before pulling me out of the booth and onto the dance floor.
The song ‘Addicted’ by Saving Abel plays as we enter a wave of couples dancing. My forehead sweats as I think about how I’m going to trip and face plant in front of everyone. The beat of the song runs through my veins and I begin to relax some. I tap my thigh with my fingers as I look around the dance floor.
Chase grips my hips hard, presses his groin into the back of me, and starts swaying. I blink slowly, a little surprised by the close proximity. But by the way his fingers are digging into my skin I can tell I’m not going anywhere.
My mouth dry, and heart beating wildly I sway with him. Trying to take Chloe’s advice and let go. Glancing across the bar Chloe has two thumbs up and a big cheesy grin on her face. I’m going to kill her.
Slowly my eyes drift to the left and I spot Camden and some curvy brunette strutting from the back room where all the commotion was coming from.
My chest seizes when his eyes catch mine. I look away, trying to keep up with Chase’s rhythm so I don’t lose my balance.
Biting my cheek I glance back up, curious if he’s watching me. I’m not going to lie, I kind of hope he is watching me. I want him to get jealous. But he’s not just watching me…he’s walking toward me. His jaw clenched, and eyes fierce as he marches forward.
I stop dancing, and swallow hard.
Camden grabs my hips, and presses his groin into my front with such force the wind is nearly knocked from me. His arm candy stands back with her arms crossed and watching awkwardly.
Chase grinds on my back side as Camden covers my front.
Holy shit.
I’m being sandwiched.
My heart sinks, and I panic internally. I try to sway my hips with theirs but I’m off beat.
I raise my hands to wrap around Camden’s neck, but think better of it and lower them at my side. Looking up Camden looks at me with angry blue eyes, before lowering his head next to mine.
“Trying to tease me won’t work,” he whispers into my ear. “You’ll just get hurt in the end, and I’ll be the asshole.”
I suck in a sharp angry breath, and press my hands against his chest and shove him back a step.
He looks down at me, his eyes pinning me where I stand. There’s so much hate and tension building between us you could touch it. I ball my hands, and stare back. The song fading into the background.
“Want to go get a drink?” Chase asks from behind me, completely oblivious to the stare down between Camden and I.
“That sounds great,” I reply, never taking my eyes off Camden.
Stepping past Camden, I stop and look up at him.
“Maybe you should reflect on how you’re treating me before bitching about being labeled the asshole.”
Back at the table, Chase sits next to me and I glare at a smiling Chloe.
Commotion catches my attention and I find Camden and t
he model-like woman standing at the end of our booth.
“Camden, this is Chloe and Tate,” Chase introduces.
“I know who they are,” Camden snaps as he sits down uninvited next to Chloe. His smiling bimbo sits on his lap and I grit my teeth wishing they’d leave. He’s purposely flaunting her in front of me and I’m not sure how much more I can take before I snap.
“The gym!” Chase slaps the table. I jump, not sure what he’s going on about. “You’re the girl who was at the gym today. I knew I saw you from somewhere.”
Giving a tight lipped smile, I nod.
Peering up from under my lashes I catch Camden staring at me with hooded eyes. I didn’t get much of a chance to look at his face earlier. But now I can’t help but ogle him. His blond hair falls into his eyes, and his nose has a scar across it giving it a crooked look. He wears it well though. His eyebrow is missing a few hairs dead in the center, giving him that tough guy persona. He has grown so much since I’ve seen him last.
“So how do you guys know each other?” Chase interrupts our staring contest.
“I grew up with them.” Camden shifts the brunette on his lap. Her white top about to bust at the seams from her large breasts. “But that’s history.”
“Give it a rest, Camden,” Chloe snaps.
Taking another swig of my beer, Camden is still staring at me. As if he’s expecting something. Maybe he wants me to say I’m sorry.
“Look, Camden—”
“Save it.” His voice is laced with so much hate it burns through my chest. I’ve seen him angry at a lot of people growing up, but he’s never talked to me like this before.
“Excuse me?”
His eyes shoot to mine.
“The shit about to leave your mouth is about as real as a pair of double D’s.”
Chase coughs, casually looking the other way as Camden insults me in front of everyone.
“Hey, you can’t even, like, tell tits are fake if you get the right doctor.” The bimbo chimes from the sidelines. She pulls the neck of her shirt down and an overly tanned, large, breast pops out. Dark nipple and all just sitting on the table. I look around to see if I’m being punked.
“See, no scars.” She smiles at everyone, as if she just showed us baby pictures and not her bare breast in the middle of a crowded bar. “Feel them.” She grabs Camden’s hand and plows his palm over the top of her nipple. His hand is large and covers a lot of the exposed skin. My fingers dig into the table. My body defies my jealously and my nipples perk at the thought of Camden’s scarred hand fondling my own chest.