by Gary, Codi
“Berkeley, on scholarship,” he said, trying to keep the testiness out of his tone.
“That’s amazing! What did you major in?” she asked.
“Amazing? Like you’re amazed that I was smart enough to get a scholarship?” he said.
“No! I just meant it’s really hard to get a scholarship. You are really special, Chase.”
His irritation dimmed a bit and he said, “I majored in art and minored in English. I had already written and sold my first comic before I graduated, and I’ve been doing tattoos since I was eighteen, so I just stuck with what I knew. Saved my money, bought run-down parlors, turned them around, and sold them for a profit.”
She ran her hand down his arm and asked, “What else?”
“What do you mean?’
She stared at him so intensely it made him squirm, then asked, “What other little secrets don’t you want everyone to know?”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“You let all of these people believe you’re just a tattoo artist, but you’re so much more than that,” she said.
He couldn’t look away from her. “What am I?’
“You’re smart, and creative, and—”
He cut her off. “All of those things should be obvious. I run my own successful business and I can draw. I own one of the nicest houses in the area and I keep my nose clean. The only people who don’t know me are the people who don’t want to.”
Realizing how much he’d revealed in that one sentence, he started to draw away from her, but Katie tightened her arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. The look in her eyes was kind and understanding, a look that told him without words that she wasn’t in the latter category.
“I didn’t see through you, Chase. I saw you. I saw you at Buck’s the night you were handing out your business cards, and again at the Valentine’s Day auction, when you bid on Ryan Ashton, and I remember thinking how lucky she was. There have been a hundred different instances since you moved here when I have seen you and wondered about you.”
“Right,” he said, even though her words made him want to smile.
“It’s true. I’ve been a total mess for half a year, Chase, but I wasn’t dead. I noticed you. But a guy like you? Guys like you aren’t interested in girls like me,” she said.
He looked at her in disbelief, then scowled. “What does that mean, guys like me?”
She gave him a teasing grin. “You know, cool guys. Tough guys. Rebels. You all think I’m a goody-goody.”
His tension eased as he laughed. “You are a goody-goody.”
Giving him a dark look, she said, “And guys like you don’t like that. You like girls who can drink whiskey straight and who wear fishnets and . . .”
“Well, I’m not going to find many girls like that here, except maybe Becca, and I’m not really her type.” Wrapping his arms back around her, he said, “Guess you’ll have to do me now that you’re so bad.”
He caught her giggle in his mouth and leaned her back on the counter. Her legs and arms were still around him and he rubbed against her as he delved into her mouth.
The jingle of the front door pulled him back as two guys walked in with wide grins. “Hey, Chase, we were hoping to get a couple of tattoos, but if it’s a bad time . . .”
Chase didn’t like the Coulter brothers, and he especially didn’t like the leers they were giving Katie. Helping her pull her long skirt back down, he stepped out from between her legs and stood a bit in front of her. “If you boys will just wait over there, I’ll be with you in a bit.”
Katie let him go and slid off the counter. Seeing the red stain of her cheeks, he said, “Why don’t you head on home and I’ll text you when I leave?”
She nodded and didn’t even look at the other men as she left.
Wayne, the uglier and meaner of the two, sneered. “Well, I never thought I’d see sweet little Katie in such a position. What’s your secret, Trepasso?”
Chase still possessed some self-control because he didn’t punch the vile son of a bitch right there. “Did you guys come in for tattoos or not?”
KATIE PULLED UP to her house and laughed. Standing on her front porch were Becca and Steph, talking animatedly.
“Well gee, if I knew you girls were coming over, I’d have grabbed margarita mix,” Katie said as she climbed out of the 4Runner.
Steph held up a bag. “Got it. And since when are you fooling around with Chase Trepasso?”
Becca threw up her hands when Katie glared at her. “Don’t look at me; you’re the one who was making out with him on the dance floor last night.”
“Nobody told me, I read about it in the new gossip column! They even have a picture of you!” Steph said, holding up the paper.
Katie took it from her and read the headline: GOOD GIRL GONE BAD? Underneath was a picture of Chase and her with their faces close together. The first sentence read, “Could Katie Connors be shedding her golden-girl image to hook resident bad boy, Chase Trepasso?”
“What a load of crap,” she said, scowling.
Handing the paper back to Steph, she pulled out her house keys and walked past them to unlock the door. Becca and Steph followed her inside and closed the door behind them.
Tossing her keys on the kitchen counter, Katie walked over to the cupboard to pull out the blender, stretching onto her tiptoes to reach it.
“Are you going to answer me or not?” Steph insisted.
Katie shot Becca a grin over her shoulder. “Not without some tequila in me.”
Steph sighed loudly but handed her the mix and tequila. Katie put the blender on the counter and plugged it in. She poured in four shots, the mix, and ice before replacing the lid and pushing the power button. When there was a smooth mix of ice and alcohol, she got down her good margarita glasses and led them to the table.
Steph pointed at her hair. “Holy shit, your hair has purple in it.”
“Yep,” Katie said.
“What is up with you?” Steph looked at Becca accusingly.
Becca laughed and said, “Sorry, it wasn’t me. She walked into my shop with her hair already like that.”
“Don’t you like it?” Katie asked, a little upset Steph was acting like her mother and not her best friend. Steph had always been protective of her, but she had never been unsupportive.
Steph’s mouth dropped open. “Of course I love it! It is freaking awesome sauce! I just want to know what’s happened in the last two days to make you go all punk-rock princess on me.”
“I’m guessing that it had something to do with Chase,” Becca said mischievously.
Katie took a big gulp of her margarita and yelled, “Ahhh! Brain freeze.”
“Don’t change the subject! Tell me!” Steph got all shrieky when she was excited.
Katie knew there was no help for it except to tell the truth. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she said, “I was feeling a little low on Monday and I wrote a list. A list of things I’ve never done.”
“Okay, with you so far.”
Katie took a smaller drink and continued, “Well, Chase got a hold of it, and we’ve just been kind of . . . hanging out.”
“What was on the list?” Becca asked.
Must drink more. Katie took another swallow of the slushy margarita. “You know, stuff. Like shoplifting. One-night stands.”
“What are you, thirteen? That is when you shoplift, not when you’re a grown-ass woman! They arrest you and throw the book at you when you do juvenile shit!” Steph said.
“I just made a list of things I had always wanted to do. I didn’t say I was going to do them all,” Katie said.
“What about one-night stand? Have you done that? Did you sleep with him?” Steph asked. Her voice was now several octaves above soprano, and Katie resisted the urge to rub her ears.
“No.”
“But she wants to bad,” Becca jumped in.
“You are not helping,” Katie growled.
Becca shrugged. “I’m not a very helpful
person.”
Katie stood up to get the pitcher and nearly jumped out of her skin when Steph shrieked, “Oh my God, I love your belt! Where did you get that?”
Katie smiled. You had to love Steph. She had always been easily distracted by cute clothes.
“Becca’s place. Sweet Tart’s Boutique.” Katie refilled her glass and asked, “Wanna see what else I got?”
“Uh, yeah!” Steph turned to Becca with a smile that said you are welcome here and I accept you. “I’m going to have to check out your shop!”
Walking ahead of them toward the bedroom, Katie heard Becca ask, “You’re a size five?”
Stephanie gasped. “How did you know?”
“It’s what I do.”
CHASE FINALLY GOT done with the Coulter brothers at a little after ten and called Katie. She picked up on the second ring, laughing.
“Shut up!” Katie said.
He heard his name being screamed in the background, along with kissing noises, and asked, “This a bad time?”
“Yeah, Steph and Becca stopped by with margaritas.”
Damn. He had been thinking if he dropped by her house, she might invite him in, and maybe they’d get back to where they were before the Coulter brothers had interrupted.
“So I guess I’ll see you in the morning at the Fourth of July thing?” he said.
She giggled. “Oh yeah! I’ll be the one on the float with the poufy dress and the tiara.”
He grinned at her slurred words and the image she created. “All right, I’ll look for you.”
“’Bye, Chase! Muahahaha!” High-pitched squeals and laughter followed, then the line went dead.
Chase shook his head, not sure he ever wanted to experience Katie and her friends up close and personal on a margarita night. His ears were still ringing from the sounds they’d made.
Now, Katie one-on-one after a few margaritas might be fun.
He cleaned up the rest of his tools and was getting ready to lock the door when his phone rang. Recognizing the number, he picked up with a deep breath. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”
“Hey, Chase honey, I was just calling to see how you were.”
Her voice sounded far away and he asked, “Mom, are you okay? You sound weird.”
“Yeah, I’m good. I just wanted to see if there was anything new and to hear your voice.”
The sound of a loud speaker and a voice announcing, “Code blue,” came from the background.
“Are you at the hospital? Did something happen?”
“Oh, Buzz and I just got into a little fender bender. We’re fine, though. Tell me about you. You seeing anyone?” she asked.
He shook his head. His mother and he had a weird relationship, but she was always worried about him meeting someone. Since marrying Buzz eleven years ago, her son’s lack of serious relationships seemed to be on her mind a lot.
But the one thing he wasn’t going to do was talk about Katie with his mother. “There’s one girl, but it’s too early to tell. Do you need anything?”
Her voice sounded almost disappointed as she responded, “No, baby.”
A conundrum, that’s what his mother was. She had ignored him for most of his childhood, giving him food, shelter, and everything he could need except her time and attention. Instead she’d worked double shifts and dated her men, while he’d sat with one babysitter after another. Buzz was the first man in his mother’s life that he’d actually gotten along with, and if she had only met Buzz when he was a kid, maybe his childhood would have been better. But he had been an adult and already out of the house when Buzz had come along, and Chase knew he was just indulging in wishful thinking. His mother hadn’t wanted to get close to him and he had no idea why.
Yet when she called, it was almost like she wished things weren’t so strained between them. Like she wanted there to be more.
She’s had thirty-three years to talk to you. You don’t owe her a thing.
“Hey, Mom, I’ve got to go. Closing up the shop and I can’t talk and ride, so . . .”
“Sure, I get it. I love you, Chase.”
“Yeah, me too.” He hung up and stared at the phone. She had sounded weird. It wasn’t abnormal for her to say she loved him, but it was the way she had said it. He thought about calling Buzz to see what was up, but shook off the idea.
His relationship with his mother was complicated and he doubted it was going to change anytime soon.
Chapter Six
* * *
THE FOURTH OF July kicked off with Katie having a slight hangover and being fifteen minutes late to help set up the craft fair tents. She was now on her third cup of coffee, and the dress she’d picked out for the Canyon Queen float still wasn’t looking better. She’d picked it up off the rack at an after-prom sale, and now that she had it on, she looked like one of those women who tried too hard to look young and wished she’d gone with something less juvenile. It was too late now. But the poufy strapless gown in an iridescent teal did make her eyes seem bluer, and made her purple streaks more noticeable, as they fell down around her shoulders in thick ringlets.
She’d brought a bag with a change of clothes and her makeup for later, and slipped on the cute, simple black heels she’d bought at Payless.
As she slid the tiara on top of her head, it took her back to her first Little Miss Magic Valley Pageant, when she’d been barely five. Her mother had loved to do her hair in stylish up-dos and bought the puffiest princess dresses for her, telling her the pageants would give her grace, poise, and confidence. She hadn’t minded really, although she had wanted to stop once she’d turned twenty-one, feeling too old to prance around singing Patsy Cline or answer ridiculous questions about where she saw herself in five years.
But she’d continued to do them for her mother’s sake until she was too sick to go with her, and when she’d died, Katie had assumed her pageant days were over. But Jimmy had bugged her and bugged her until finally last year she’d done the Canyon Queen Pageant one last time. When she’d won, he’d paraded her around afterward like a prized pig at auction and she’d felt like an idiot. Now here she was, about to get up on a float covered in cotton and streamers, in a huge, puffy taffeta skirt the color of fake seaweed. Every year the Canyon Queen gave her title to the next winner, and even though the pageant was for ages fifteen to thirty, most of the contestants weren’t over twenty-five. She’d be glad to never have to live through this sort of thing ever again, but the thought of standing up there and being compared to all the younger women competing . . . well, it just sucked getting old.
She walked out of the bathroom reluctantly and heard a wolf whistle from behind her.
“Whoo-ee, you clean up pretty.”
Turning, she found Chase leaning against the stone wall of the outbuilding, his smile neither teasing nor mean. She felt less awkward and picked up her skirt like a princess, curtsying. “So, you like?”
He pushed off the wall and walked toward her, inspecting her dress. “Oh yeah, I like. Reminds me of this fantasy I used to have about hooking up with the prom queen.”
She grabbed him and laughed. “Stop it. You’re going around me like a vulture over carrion.”
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pretended to look hurt. “Now that isn’t very nice.”
Katie was suddenly aware of the people around them, talking quietly, and said, “We shouldn’t do this here.”
He dropped his arms and gave her a blank look. “Do what? Tease? Flirt?”
She felt like a jerk and said, “What about the rules? I’m sorry, I just thought we had decided casual. To me, casual means no public displays . . .”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I’ll see you after the parade,” he said.
“Wait . . .” But he was already walking away, without even looking back. Had she really hurt his feelings? It certainly hadn’t felt good on her end to have him just go marching off in the middle of their conversation.
Mrs. Andrews broke her trance by yelling, “Come on, Canyon Que
en, get a move on! You are the highlight of this parade!”
Following her, Katie hurried to get on the fluffy float, and was greeted by a group of giggling teenagers and young women, all hoping to be the next Canyon Queen. They stood along the sides, sacks of candy in their hands, as Katie climbed up to the big throne and sat down. She kept thinking about Chase’s reaction to her PDA protest. They had said they would keep things casual, but somehow they’d been caught kissing in public twice. If she openly kissed him in the middle of a town event, it would be . . .
Well, people would think they were serious about each other.
The parade started, and she waved while the girls on the float tossed candy to the crowd. Her eyes scanned the faces for Chase, but she didn’t see him. By the time the monstrosity was over, all she wanted to do was find him and apologize. But first she needed to make sure the booth for her salon was set up and ready to go.
She went back to the bathroom to change and Mrs. Andrews came in right behind her. “Oh Katie, that was wonderful. The parade went off without a hitch. Now don’t forget to be at the booth at three for your kissing shift!”
As the woman left, Katie found herself muttering, “Yeah, I know when my shift is. I organized the damn thing.”
Too bad Mrs. Andrews hadn’t heard her, rushing from the bathroom like her skirt was on fire. The woman was like a hurricane: fast and emotionally destructive.
Katie changed into her new white halter, jean skirt, and cowboy boots, and hoped Chase would love the top, which tied behind her neck, and once across her back with thin shoe lace straps, leaving most of her back bare. Another sexy and adorable buy from Sweet Tarts. She left the bathroom to make sure everything was set for the fair. After that was done, she would find Chase.
Like every other business in Rock Canyon, K.C.’s Salon had a booth, and all the employees were taking shifts. They had set up a ring toss where people could win little sample bags of products or free haircut coupons, and a table was covered with products and accessories for sale. Katie’s shift was from twelve to two, and then the kissing booth at three.
It was eleven thirty when she headed toward Chase’s booth. Katie saw him sitting down, putting a henna tattoo on Kirsten Winters, and felt a stirring of jealousy. Kirsten was very pretty and one of those girls who would do anything to get a man’s attention.