One Last Chance (Complete Series Box Set)

by Lauren Wood

  When I got out and had the towel wrapped tightly around me, I stopped when I saw where he had been sleeping. He’d been in the living room and I went around through the kitchen to the stairs, hoping that I would miss him. I almost ran right into him instead.

  “Gemma. It’s good to see you. I was hoping that you would have came out with us last night. I missed you darling.”

  He pulled me close to him and his lips were on mine before I could say anything to stop him. Sadly, I didn’t know if I did or not.

  His lips were soft and insistent and so damn familiar. It had been so long since we’d kiss, but it felt just like the first time. There was something about him, the feel, the smell, the way he held me that would never be the same with anyone else. I knew that I was supposed to push him away but kissing him again was like coming home.

  It was only when we heard a noise on the side of us that I saw Justin standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was looking at us with shock and I can’t say that I blamed him all that much. I don’t know what the hell I was doing, and I moved away from him rather quickly.

  Frank did not get the situation and I didn’t get that my robe was open, and I was flashing them both.

  “Come on man. I think that me and Gemma need some time alone to get caught up.”

  He didn’t seem to get what was going on at all and I sighed to myself. This was going to be messy. Frank didn’t know that me and Justin were dating. Why didn’t Justin tell him last night?

  “Justin, this isn’t what it looks like. He was just there and kissing me. I don’t know what’s going on. Didn’t you tell him?”

  I was shocked at the way Frank had kissed me. I liked it of course, but it was out of the blue. I didn’t get why Frank was making a play when he knew that I was with Justin.

  “I didn’t realize I had to tell him or you were going to jump on him.”

  His words hurt, but I knew where he was coming from. There was a lot going on that he’d walked in on. I was embarrassed, confused and ready to get out from away from the two of them. I needed to get upstairs and get changed, take a breather. They were going to have to work this shit out on their own. I wasn’t getting involved. I knew that Justin was going to be pissed and he was going to make me hear about it later.

  What else could I have done though? Frank was kissing me, not the other way around. When I had responded a little bit, it was just because I had kissed him so many times before that it was like second nature. Once the shock wore off, I had stopped it. Or it was the sound of Justin. Not really sure, but it was just a kiss and it hadn’t gone any further.

  As I was leaving, I looked back once in the kitchen to see the two men arguing. This was not how I figured this would all go down. I was just trying to help an old friend. That’s it. Now I was going to be into it with my boyfriend and I didn’t know how I was going to get out of it. I would. I just didn’t know how. I hated when he was mad at me and it was all because of Frank.

  Why the hell had he come back to Hartford? At the moment, it just seemed like he was here to make my life that much more complicated. I really didn’t need any help at this point.

  Frank

  I really hoped that I was reading this wrong, but there was no mistaking the look in my friend’s eye. He was pissed at me and I was still trying to figure out why that was.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  “I told you that I had to tell you something. Something that was important.”

  I didn’t like where this was going at all. I had told myself when I first saw her name that I wasn’t all that interested, but then I saw her, and she looked even better than she did before. We’d always had this magnetism to us and it hadn’t changed obviously. It was good to have her next to me and the more I tried to deny how I felt, the less able to I was.

  “So, what is it that you have to tell me? That you are shacking up with my ex?”

  “Come on man, she hasn’t been your ex in a really long time. You bounced, remember. You bounced on all of us, including Gemma. So why you so worried about it now?”

  He had a point. I had taken off when Gemma was holding on too tightly. I was too young for the commitment that she required. I tried to put her mind on other things, but she was steadfast that she wanted to get married. I wasn’t going down that route, so I thought it best to leave. I regretted it for a while, but life happens, I got into a club in Texas and I was given enough distractions to keep me going for a while. But seeing her again had set things right in my head. I couldn’t believe that her and Justin were together. It just didn’t seem right. It would never seem right for Gemma to be with anyone else but me.

  Justin was a good-looking guy, then and now, but we were very different. Justin was smaller and had struggled to find his place. He never was really confident with the ladies and I had to know what changed. How did he even pull Gemma to begin with? She was still out of his league, even hotter than she was back in the day.

  “Look, I didn’t know that the two of you were together. You didn’t say anything. I saw her, and I started kissing her. It was the first thing I thought to do. You know that we got a hell of a lot of history together.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Justin wasn’t going to let it go like that, but at the moment he was. Maybe it was the bike and jacket. I wasn’t sure. Justin seemed different now. Last night has seemed like old times. But now it felt different, awkward and forced almost. I had overstayed my welcome and I was sure that it had something to do with making out with his old lady. I could have kicked myself. I didn’t know if it was because I wished I had done more or that I’d came here at all. I really should have known better.

  It wasn’t long before I had my stuff together and I was riding on. I didn’t want to worry about it any longer. I looked back at the house that I’d just left and the girl that was no longer mine. It hurt more than I thought it would. I knew then that I wanted Gemma back. I came for many reasons and now one of them was her. The problem was Justin. He’d always been into her and now he’d somehow gotten a shot. It didn’t make sense to me, but that’s what happened when I left. It’s kind of hard for me to say much though. I was the one that left after all. What did I think? That she would still be single?

  Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I went home and met up with some of the people that stayed. I had family in from a hundred miles away that had stayed the night. It was a nice homecoming. It wasn’t what was planned in the beginning, but life never did work out that way.

  When I’d taken a shower and righted myself, we had a cookout and I called Justin to see if he wanted to come. Besides the messiness with his girlfriend, he was a good friend and I wanted him to come by. I wanted to talk to him about some plans for the club. I needed him to be part of it because I trusted him. There were more coming today to start it up with me, but I wanted Justin. He was going to be my second. After all these years, I trusted his loyalty more than any others. I just had to make sure to not ruin it by fucking with Gemma. We were history and I was just going to have to get it out of my head. I knew that was going to be easier said than done.

  Justin came by a little while later and I could feel the absence of Gemma. I didn’t ask about her. I wasn’t that stupid, but I did want to know where she was. Had it been her decision not to come, or his?

  “What’s up man. Good to see you. I was hoping you would come by.”

  “Of course. I see you have some of your crew with you. What’s that about?”

  “It’s about the start of a new chapter here in Hartford. We have a few clubs in Texas and I thought that this would be a good place to set up shop. I have some interest north now and connecting the two will be very profitable.”

  He agreed, but I could see he still wasn’t sure. I wanted to know what he was doing now, so I would know how to spin it to him. Money was what I had to spin now, that and brotherhood, but the house was nice that I was in this morning. I needed to find out where he was at with that, so that I wou
ld know how to hook him. Justin had always been down, but he needed a reason and the jacket wasn’t going to do it. I had to offer him more than a cut. He had the girl, the nice house, there had to be something that he wanted, and I could offer him.

  I pulled him into my old bedroom and wondered where this conversation was going to go. It was clear that he was still mad at me, no matter how much I didn’t want him to be. We had to get through the Gemma thing before anything else could happen.

  “So, what’s up man? You got a lot of new faces here. I don’t think that I know half of them.”

  “I’m setting up shop here. The Reaper are here to stay in Hartford. I noticed that you got a little SUV now. Does that mean that you don’t ride?”

  Justin agreed that it wasn’t the case. “No, I still got a bike, but I don’t use it that much.”

  I didn’t like to hear that, and I had to know where his mind was at. We hadn’t talked about much last night while we were getting blazed.

  “Your old lady loves to ride. Used to get her all hot…”

  I stopped because I realized what the hell I was saying. It was hard for me to do this, pretend like I hadn’t licked every damn inch of Gemma’s skin. She used to get hot to trot every time she was on the bike. She said it was me, but I was still sure that it was the idling engine.

  “Never mind. Let’s get a drink and I want to show you something. I’m hoping that I can get you to change your mind about getting back on the bike. I need you as my second here because I trust you.”

  Justin wasn’t sure what to say and since he wasn’t as excited as I was, I was going to have to make him excited.

  “So what kind of work do you do now?”

  “I’m an accountant for the city.”

  “Wow, that could really come in handy.”

  I was already thinking about how we could use someone in the courthouse to our advantage. There was always paperwork that had to be filed and sometimes it wasn’t as up to code as it should have been.

  “So, what is the pay with that?”

  “I don’t know if I want to get into specifics.”

  “Under fifty, yeah?”

  He agreed, and I knew that money was going to be part of the hook. There had to be another part of the hook and I was going to use what I knew about Gemma to make it happen. I hated to think about how that was going to play out, but he wanted Gemma. Impressing her was on the back of a bike.

  “Why don’t we go to your place and see how the bike is doing? We are riding to check out a couple of places and I want you to come.”

  He looked around at all the people and asked me what I was going to do with all the people there.

  “They’re going to be fine without me. There’s booze and girls. That makes the majority of them stay. They weren’t here for me for a long-time man.”

  Justin chuckled and looked around at the half-naked ladies.

  “How is your mom cool with this?”

  “She’s at work. I told her that I would have them cleared out before she gets home That’s later, so we’ve got plenty of time. Come on, Justin. Let’s go for a ride.”

  He agreed, and we ran to his house to get his bike. I had to pick mine up at the impound, so he followed me over. He looked good on it, whether he was riding that much or not. I knew that Justin was going to be a good second and he was giving me hope that I was right.

  When we got back to his house to drop off his truck, I didn’t go in because seeing Gemma was not going to end well. I was going to say something I wasn’t supposed to or something of that nature and then I was going to be at ground zero with Gemma. It was simple math.

  I saw her at the upstairs window and she didn’t wave at me. I wanted her to. She didn’t do anything to acknowledge that she saw me, but I know she did. I saw her, and she saw me. It was just like it had been before, but this time she would have snuck out her window and came down to meet me. She would get on the back of the bike and put her arms around me, holding on tight. I missed that.

  Gemma left the window and then a few minutes later the front door opened, and she came out with Justin. Gemma was wearing knee high boots with heels over tight jeans. The top was a little low and the dark glasses with rhinestones completed the look. She was still fine as hell and I got a little hard thinking about her. It almost went down when I saw her get on the back of Justin’s bike. Of course, she wasn’t going to get on with me, for obvious reasons, but that didn’t mean that I was all that happy about it. I wanted her behind me where she belonged, but that wasn’t going to happen. I had to get that through my head. If she was with anyone else. Just not Justin.

  “Hey, I’m going to take her to work. Follow me over?”

  I said I would and wondered where the hell she was working at now. Justin was an accountant, for the government no less. I wouldn’t have seen that coming. But I was almost relieved when we turned in front of Bowey’s Bar and Grill. Why did her working at the bar make me smile? Did it feel like she wasn’t so far out of my league after all?

  It also made it clear that we were still more right for each other, than her and Justin. It was odd ends of the spectrum and Gemma, would always be Gemma.

  Gemma

  Something came over me when I heard the sound of the bikes coming up. It was the sound of the engine or something. I don’t know. It always did it to me and it was hard to deny the instant result that it had on my well-being. I was getting wet before Justin even made it through the door.

  When I looked outside, I saw Frank and all those old feelings came back, but then Justin came in and I kissed him.

  “What are you doing by the window?”

  “Just seeing what all the noise was. When did you decide to start riding your bike again?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Frank wanted to. He wants me to get into his club with him.”

  “Just be careful Justin. You know how Frank is. He likes to live outside of the law.”

  “Is that why you were with him?”

  I didn’t know where that was coming from, but it certainly had something to do with it. I’d always liked the bad boy side of him, far more than I was supposed to. I wanted him for many reasons, some I couldn’t tell Justin, but I did tell that it was a long time ago.

  “I’ve changed. that was the young girl that wanted to rebel. That’s all Frank was.”

  Justin didn’t look so sure, but I could tell that he was thinking about that sort of thing now. I was going to have to push it out of his mind. Frank had left me. It was just that simple. Justin would never do something like that. I knew that he wouldn’t, and I needed that sort of knowledge to stay sane. I didn’t want to constantly have to worry if he was going to jet again. It wasn’t a good feeling and even though the skies had opened after seeing him again after all of this time, at the end of the day, bad boys hurt people. It was just the way it was.

  “Well give me a ride to work. I haven’t ridden with you in a long time. It will be nice.”

  That got Justin smiling, and it was enough of an answer for me. I was trying my best not to let it all get to me. I didn’t even look at Frank when I got out, but I could still feel his presence. He was like a burning ember next to me that I could feel, but I couldn’t see. I knew it was there and I was doing my best not to let it get to me. I was doing a very crappy job of it at the moment.

  I got on the back with Justin and though it wasn’t the same, it was close enough. He felt different because he wasn’t as stout, but I loved Justin. I’d been with him for over a year now and just because Frank was back in the picture, didn’t mean that anything had changed. I didn’t want to make it that way.

  “Hold on baby. I will have you there in no time.”

  I held on and closed my eyes, leaning my head on his shoulder. I missed this. I missed riding and whether Frank being back was good news or not was still up in the air, but at least he had Justin back on a bike. I know that Justin liked it and missed it like me. I still wasn’t sure why he’d stopped.r />
  When I got to the bar, I kissed him and didn’t linger because I knew that Frank was watching us. I felt weird with that knowledge and the more I tried to ignore it, the worse it was. The control that came to not check him out when I was walking up was monumental.

  “Hey girl. Glad you’re here.”

  I looked around and it wasn’t that busy, but Genevieve looked like she’d been through the ringer. I didn’t have to ask what was wrong because she launched into a narrative about her boyfriend cheating. It wasn’t something that she had seen or had proof of. No, this was the gut variety and I kind of let out a sigh. She was always thinking that Scott was cheating on her, but I doubted that he actually was. He loved her, like Justin loved me and men like that don’t cheat. And they don’t leave.

  “You got to stop thinking like that Geni. You’re going to chase him away. Why do you think he’s always cheating?”

  “Because he is doing something. He’s gone all the time working.” She put the word in air quotes and I had to laugh.

  “He sells drugs. I don’t think that’s really working, but he brings it home, you know that.”

  She agreed, but I could tell that she wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy either. I was always hearing about how he was cheating. I knew Scott well. He wasn’t. Geni was just a little crazy because the last boyfriend cheated. She really believed it though and she would somehow tie one thing to another. Last week he’d put the seat down and she was convinced that another woman had taught him that. It was laughable if she didn’t really believe it was true.

  We served a few customers and she got her story out. I tried to point out the right way to look at it, the sane way, but she was still all worked up and there was no talking to her. She finally just wore herself out worrying about it and she went to grab a smoke in the back. When she came back, I knew