by Weil, J. L.
Flipping the covers aside, I stared at the chipped ceiling and refused to give Chase another second of my thoughts.
When I padded downstairs, my mom was there talking to some guy in a uniform. Like everything in Spring Valley he moved at the pace of a snail. Groaning, I cringed to think about how horribly slow my Internet speed was going to be.
Grabbing a bowl of fruit loops, I waited for the cable guy to bust his butt. It was quite a wide load. The overall jumpsuit he was wearing did nothing for flattery, and my mind wandered to an image of Chase. He could make that getup look hot.
I shook the thought of him from my head.
It felt like a lifetime before I was able to power up my Xbox. The speed did suck but at least it worked. My games were totally going to lag.
I found it utterly stereotypical that girls don’t play video games, and I can’t tell you the amount of smack I took from players once they found out I’m a girl. Such crap. But there was nothing more satisfying than my rank and KD ratio being superior to such egotistical douches, which happened. A lot.
I’m a kickass dork.
An hour later, I hoped on my laptop to check out my emails. Deleting more than three quarters of my messages, there wasn’t a single one from any of my friends in Tuscon.
I guess I was easily forgotten.
Whatever. I was better off without them.
Slamming my laptop closed with a satisfying snap, I looked out my window.
Stop the presses. The sun was actually shinning.
Mom and I attacked most of the boxes downstairs earlier, and she was currently outside doing some kind gardening to the flowerbeds. Not having a man around meant all the chores were stuck on you. That was bullshit of the worst kind.
Sighing, I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my iPod, and went out to mow the lawn. We had a deal, my mom and me – you do your own dishes, your own laundry, and we take turns mowing the lawn. I might as well get mine out of the way.
No more than five minutes into the back-breaking labor, I noticed the Greek God walking my way. He was leaner than Chase, but that wasn’t to say he didn’t have a sexy body. The Adonis-like guy pushed the blonde hair from out of his eyes, turquoise eyes like Lexi’s, and they grinned at me with inquisitiveness. The mower bar slipped from my hands, cutting off the engine. My mouth dropped about ten feet, filling with gnats and grass particles. I swallowed the mess in stupefied haze.
This must be Lexi’s brother, Travis.
“Hey,” he greeted with a lazy grin and dimples just like Lexi’s. It was a killer combo, those eyes and dimples. He had a carefree swagger. “I’m Travis. Lex told me all about you.” His voice was sexy and hot.
Nice. Thank you Lexi.
“I’m Angel.”
His eyes sparkled with humor. I seriously didn’t get what they found so humorous about my name. It made me want to pull my hair out.
“Is that short for something?” he asked. His tone was like velvet, smooth and gliding over his words.
I nodded my head. He had that friendly quality that set me at ease, like Lexi did. Nothing like the obscure irritation Chase ignited. I relaxed my shoulders. “Yeah, it’s short for Angelina.”
“Pretty.” His voice was dreamy. “Do you play?” he asked nodding at my damn campers t-shirt.
“I do,” I replied, waiting for some snarky comment.
“We should play together sometime,” he offered.
There was a long pause before I realized he was being sincere. “I would like that,” I replied smiling.
Chase chose that moment to join us, and my eyes ate him up as his long strides conquered the space between us. He was truly drool-worthy. My insides flipped. This guy was going to give me an ulcer or something. Looking up, his silver eyes glittered in the sunlight.
“Travis,” he barked at his cousin. “Weren’t you just leaving?”
“Are you always this bossy?” I retorted smartly.
The glitter turned to fire. “What are you? A new toy everyone wants to play with?”
I ground my teeth. Was it always going to be like this, this raging war of words between us?
Travis laughed. “I like you. But I really do have to go. It was nice meeting you Angelina.”
I cooled the heat in my eyes because I liked Travis. “You too,” I replied.
Suddenly I found myself alone with Chase. Shit.
Glancing up, I braced myself. He wasn’t smiling at me, but he didn’t look like he wanted to kill me either. His expression was indifferent acceptance. We were kind of stuck in this situation for at least the next year. Why not try to make the best of it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I thought this was a no brainer. I don’t know, maybe girls in his family don’t do man work, but we didn’t really have a choice. “Ahh cutting the lawn genius.”
“Here,” he sort of eased me out of the way. “Let me do it. It will go a lot quicker.”
“I don’t need your help,” I protested trying to push my way back.
“Look I’m sorry. This is me trying to be nice. Just accept it.” That did not sound like much of an apology.
This guy was impossible. Before I could protest anymore, he tore off his shirt and threw it to the ground.
Well, that was one way to shut me up.
His golden chest was finely chiseled, confirming the six-pack I had expected. My fingers itched to touch him, to run my hands over the plane of his stomach. He had me running hot and cold, and that drove me freaking nuts.
He lifted his silver-studded brow.
“Knock your socks off,” I mumbled, dumbfounded.
Pulling on the cord, the lawnmower jumped to life with a roar. The muscles in his arms bunched as he effortlessly pushed the mower up and down my yard. It wasn’t large, and I hated to admit it, but he would probably have it done in half the time. As it was, it took even less than that.
I swear, I turned my back for like five minutes to collect myself and he was finished. The silence of the engine had me snapping my head in his direction. What caught me off balance was the fact that he stood directly in front of me now. His warm palms reached out to steady me, sending shivers down my arms.
The inside of my mouth watered, and I had the craziest images of licking the beads of sweat from his chest, the two of us together – hot and sweaty. I bit the inside of my cheek, bringing myself back to earth.
He took a step forward. I took a step back and so forth. Eventually there was nowhere left to go as my back hit a tree trunk. His eyes singed into mine with a wild intensity, and the air spiked like a hundred degrees.
“You look a little hot there Angel Eyes,” he said with a twinkle in those silver eyes.
“What?” I stumbled, words failing me. My back dug into the bark. He made my mind go blank. I could feel the outline of his body, his breath fanning my out-of-whack senses.
“I said you look warm. Are you feeling okay?”
I blinked. The mist took a minute to clear from my brain. “Yeah I’m fine. How did you do that so fast?”
He shrugged, taking a step back and putting some much needed space between us. “It was nothing.”
“What it was, is impossible,” I argued, trying to wrap my mind around it.
On their own accord, my eyes traveled the length of him now that he wasn’t on top of me. They stopped only when they came across a circle mark with swirls in the center peeking from just above his waistband. His jeans sat low on his hips and the symbol was easy to see on the left side.
Before I even thought about it, my hand reached out to trace the mark. “What’s that? You have a tattoo?” I asked not entirely surprised.
His breath hissed as my fingers just skimmed over his skin, tracing the bold lines. I jumped, jerking my hand back like I had just been burned. In utter embarrassment my cheeks bloomed an awful shade of red. What had possessed me to touch him? There of all places?
I was going to hurl.
“It’s nothing,” he grumbled,
picking up his discarded shirt from the grass. He pulled it on, hiding the mark from my inspection.
Glaring at him contemptuously I responded, “That didn’t look like nothing.”
“Drop it, okay.” His voice and eyes had turned to steel.
My stomach dropped at his snapping tone. Anger replaced my embarrassment, and steam could have smoked from my ears. “Fine,” I replied curtly, crossing my arms over my chest.
He rolled his eyes at me. He was insufferable.
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted as my mom walked around to the front of the house, catching us closer than I would have liked. Her eyes rotated between me and Chase completely misreading the situation. The mischievous delight in her eyes had me on full alert. She was up to something.
“Mom, this is Lexi’s cousin,” I reluctantly introduced.
“You live next door. That’s wonderful.” The sweetness in her voice made me want to gag.
“I’m Chase Winters,” he said grinning. His face completely transformed. He looked almost…nice.
“It’s nice to meet you Chase. Would you like something to drink? It’s unbelievably hot today.” She gave me a wink.
I wanted to crawl in the nearest hole and die.
“Sure that would be great,” he agreed, much to my annoyance.
She gave him a pearly smile and then mouthed, Oh my God at me as she turned toward the house.
I elbowed him in the chest the second she was safely inside. It was like ramming into an iron door.
“What was that for?” he asked utterly unfazed.
“Please, I barely touched you, you pansy. Suck it up.” I wanted to rub my arm but didn’t dare admit that it had hurt me. Not in front of him.
“I never said it hurt.” His eyes latched onto mine. “You are something else brat.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“Oh I bet you have. Stay away from my cousin. She doesn’t need your drama.”
I gasped. “My drama,” I squeaked very unflattering.
My mom chose that moment to walk through the screen door with two glasses of lemonade. I bit my tongue from screaming out.
She handed us each a cool glass, eyeing the two of us with too much exuberance. It was starting to make me uncomfortable. Shifting on my feet, I cleared my throat.
Aiming a smile a Chase she said, “You know Chase I would really appreciate it if you could show Angel around before school starts. I want her to feel…comfortable here. Are you busy tomorrow?”
My eyes just about blew out of their socket. Was she really trying to set me up? On a date? With a practical stranger?
“Mom, really. He doesn’t have to do that. I am sure he has plans,” I added between clenched teeth. My jaw was starting to throb.
She looked at him expectantly, her puppy brown eyes sucking him right in. No. No. No. I screamed inside my head, willing him to hear me.
He grinned wolfishly. “You’re in luck. I have no plans at all and would love to show Angel around.”
“Perfect,” she cried gleefully.
This was turning into a horrible nightmare. No way would I survive a day in Chase’s pigheaded presence.
The moment she retuned back to the house I whirled on him, thinking we could reason. “Look slick. You don’t have to do this. I can make up an excuse for you.”
He arched his brow. I wanted to rip that silver bar right off.
“Now what kind of guy would I be if I backed out now?”
A decent one, a smart one, an alive one, because I swear I was going to kill him. “I don’t expect you to show me around just because my mom asked.” There was no misleading in my tone. I was pissed, and it was oozing from my pores.
Leaning casually against the tree he angled his head. “Maybe I just want to keep an eye on you.”
“Jerk.” Talking to him was like hitting my head on a brick wall.
“That’s no way to say thanks,” he tssked. “After all, I did mow your lawn.”
My eyes brightened with anger. “You can shove your thanks where the sun don’t shine. I didn’t want or need your help.”
His eyes got eerily serious. “Maybe that’s your problem.”
I was pretty sure he was my only problem at the moment.
“Guess I’ll be seeing you at noon tomorrow Angel Eyes.”
I propped alongside the porch railing watching the devil himself walk across the yard. He looked over his shoulder once at me.
With as much decorum as possible, I flipped him off.
His laugh echoed, carrying in the wind.
Chapter 5
My Saturday nights were no less lame than they were in Tuscon. Sure, I had occasionally gone out with friends, but mostly I’d hibernated in my room and played CoD on my Xbox. I never did things normal girls my age did. They were all into their hair, nails, and clothes. I guess I was somewhat of a tomboy, though I didn’t like putting a label on me. There wasn’t anywhere that I really fit in, I was just me.
Sitting on my bed, I logged into my live account. I selected a Call of Duty match and waited for the game to load. There was another player in the match with the gamer tag, B4DB0YSUX.
How relevant.
Chase popped into my head. He was the epitome of a “bad” boy. Dark. Sinful. Arrogant. An ass.
The match was in full swing by the time I chimed in. Before long I was engrossed in the game, but he was never far from my thoughts.
Biting my lip, I groaned as my player was taken down by a Scar-L, assault rifle. With Chase lurking in my mind, I was distracted and way off point. He was driving me bonkers with distraction without even being in the same room.
There was a nice breeze blowing through my bedroom window. The sheer curtain was flying, casting odd shadows on the ceiling. I was so lost in the game and my hatred for bad boys, meaning Chase, that I nearly hit the ceiling when a howl rang out in the night.
I twisted my head toward the window. It’s just a dog, I coaxed myself burying deeper into the covers. We only had one neighboring house, and I was pretty sure the Winters’s did not have a dog. A few minutes later it sounded again, only this time it was magnified by ten.
Sweet baby Jesus. There were werewolves running around in the woods behind my house. Nothing like being surrounded by wheat fields and towering trees to make a gal feel secure.
My interest in destroying the other team was gone, and it now lay on how I was going to sleep with whatever creepy animal was out there. Switching off my Xbox, I closed my eyes, and clutched the pillow.
When the first light of morning shone through my window, I instantly wanted to stay in bed all day. Half-asleep I was still curled up in the same fetal position. I listened to the sounds outside. An irritating bird sang repeatedly, and leaves rustled in nearby tree branches, but other than that…silence. No howling.
Except for the moan that escaped when I remembered that today I had to spend the day with Chase.
Like the night before, his eyes chased my dreams – no pun intended. Now they were accompanied with the howling of…wild dogs? It did not make for the most restful sleep. After tossing and turning most of the night, I was sure my eyes were going to be puffy like marshmallows.
My stomach ached from nerves as I rubbed a gentle hand over it.
Maybe I could fake being sick. I mean I already had a belly ache, and my tan was slowly fading. I could almost pass for pale. It might work.
But then Chase would know that I chickened out.
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. If I was stuck with him, then he was stuck with me. Throwing back the covers, I got out of bed and cleared the sleep crud from my eyes.
I hit the shower letting the warmth from the spray soak in my body. Calgon take me away. Wrapping myself in a towel, I headed for my room.
Rifling through my closet, I skimmed over my clothes wishing I had something sexier. Normally, I wouldn’t call myself sexy by any means, but there was a time in a girl’s life when she needed to at least feel sexy
once. This was my time. I wanted to make him suffer.
Sighing, I tossed aside another boring shirt. I thought about searching my mom’s closet, only to quickly reject the idea. I didn’t want my mom to think that I cared what Chase thought of me.
I picked out two very different tops. The black number was a one shoulder top, and the other was a plunging halter that showed more of my girls than I was comfortable with. Did I want to show a little skin and leave something to the imagination, or did I want to go for full out slut?
Ugh, I groaned. Why was I making this so difficult?
Fine. We’ll just do this the simple way. I closed my eyes. “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe…” I opened them.
Shit.
I hope my mom didn’t mind a peepshow. Wiggling into the ever so tight halter top, I then stepped into a pair of kickass jeans.
Examining myself in the full length mirror, I checked out my ass. Hell, I looked pretty rockin’ in these jeans. And I was shallow enough to admit to myself that I wanted him to check me out.
I wanted him to want me.
As an afterthought, I left my hair long and loose. Carefully I applied a light coat of makeup, finishing the look with my favorite wild berry scented lip gloss, and a mist of peachy body spray.
I looked damn good, and my confidence spiked.
Satisfied, I trotted downstairs. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee scented the air. It wasn’t Starbucks, but I’ve been coffee deprived for too long. At this point it was better than sex. Or I assumed it was, as I was still part of the virgin club. Don’t get me wrong, I was totally for doing the deed. I just hadn’t found a guy worthy enough.
The fact that Chase’s name echoed in my head just then irked me. No way was I allowing that jerk to put his hands on me, I thought, completely forgetting the fact that two minutes ago, I had fully admitted to myself that I wanted him to find me irresistible. My mind was warped.
Mom was already in the kitchen, coffee in hand. “Wow you look fantastic.” Nothing about showing too much skin or the lack of appropriateness in my clothing choice. Nope. Not from my mom.