Almost Lost, Never Forgotten

by T. L. Sieving

  Ahh, I’ve missed Ana so much.

  It looks as if the entire Mustangs team is here and no surprise that there are also a ton of girls. There’s always a mix between wives and girlfriends and the typical group of girls you see with the single players.

  Two guys I don’t know walk up to us and introduce themselves as Jeff and Ryan. They show us Renault security badges and let us know they will be the only ones opening and delivering any drinks to us. All the drama is still so fresh in our minds that there’s no jabs on how insanely overprotective the Renaults are being; we completely appreciate it now.

  Jeff and Ryan are not messing around; they have all of our favorite drinks in a locked cart. They quickly make us our cocktails and disappear.

  I finally spot him across the lawn and I’m staring at absolute perfection. He’s laughing and talking to a few guys and he looks genuinely happy. I know I’m staring, but I’m caught in a moment of disbelief that the man that I think of as visual perfection is also the man I know to be perfect on the inside and he’s all mine… again.

  He must sense my intense stare because he looks over and makes eye contact. He says something to his friends and they all look over and wave, and I wave back. Chase turns and walks toward me and I don’t see anything else going on around me, except him.

  I’m finally in his arms and he twirls me around and kisses me.

  “I missed you too,” I laugh as he puts me down.

  “Two days is too long,” he tells me and kisses me again.

  To think it was just a few months ago that Chase was just a memory to me. Thankfully my heart never forgot him.

  “Come on babe, the guys want to say hi and meet your friends,” Chase tells me and I laugh to myself because for a minute I completely forgot that Sam and Ana were here.

  Chase gives Ana and Sam a quick hug hello and leads us over to his friends.

  We all walk back over to the group of guys that Chase was talking to; Brian, Jason, and Chad are Chase’s best friends on the team and have become friends of mine as well. They look pretty pleased with how Chase continues to hold me wrapped up in his arms and keeps bending down to kiss my forehead. I’m barely 5’2 so Chase has a foot on me at 6’2.

  I introduce Ana and Sam to the guys and I know they can hang on their own, so I don’t worry about them having fun tonight.

  Chase tells them to stay with Brian, Jason, and Chad because they are the life of the party and that he needs to be a good host and mingle and he’s going to take me with him.

  It’s an absolutely gorgeous night. Bonfires and candles are keeping the backyard lit up. It’s not completely dark yet, but when it is it will look so beautiful with the full moon reflecting off the water. Even if there are a ton of people here I plan to enjoy the night with Chase.

  Chase takes me around and says hi to everyone. I know a lot of them from the past few weeks, but there’s still a lot of people here I don’t know. Even the ones I do know Chase still introduces me to them as his ‘girlfriend’ and I get the feeling that he’s been pretty open with the team about me.

  We’re walking hand-in-hand through the party when I finally ask him, “Girlfriend, huh?”

  He takes his hand out of mine and puts his arm around me gathering me close to him and says, “Yes, Luciana, that is what MINE means.”

  I smile up at him and tell him, “Sounds good,” before he leans down and kisses me tenderly on my lips.

  After I think he has introduced me to just about everyone at the party as his ‘girlfriend,’ we walk to the fire pit that is closest to the lake. Sam and Ana are around it in deep conversation with some of the guys, but stop when they see me and ask me to come with them to find Jeff and Ryan.

  We walk back up toward the house and see the men who are protecting our drinks. They make us a few fresh ones and the three of us sit down on the patio.

  “You both look so happy Lucy; I’m so happy that you have been able to work through everything,” Ana tells me.

  “Thanks, I am happy,” I say with a giant grin on my face.

  “What about you Ana, any men to speak of?”

  “Lots of men, none worth talking about though,” she says and we burst out laughing.

  We sit on the deck talking and laughing long enough to finish our drinks before visiting Jeff and Ryan for another cocktail before heading back to the fire pit.

  As we walk up I see Arianna talking to Chase. It doesn’t stop me from walking right up to them, but before I get there she sees me and makes sure she puts her hands on him. She’s moving in closer to him but he moves her off him right away.

  He looks over and sees me, and seems to have picked up on what she was trying to do. I walk up to him and he puts his arm around me and leans down to kiss me. “There you are,” he says, “Arianna was just asking me if you were here. Arianna you remember my girlfriend, Lucy?”

  I see her flinch at the mention of ‘girlfriend’ but she quickly covers it, “Of course. Hi, Lucy, nice to see you again.”

  I reply with a simple, “Hi.” I’m not trying to be rude, but it’s really not nice to see her again.

  “I’ll see you guys later, I’m going to get another drink,” she says and walks away. I look over at Sam and Ana and they missed the whole exchange, thankfully. I really don’t want to have to discuss or explain Arianna with them.

  “Are you ok?” Chase asks me and I nod my head up to him. She doesn’t bother me at all and I won’t let her ever get under my skin.

  I stick by Chase’s side the rest of the night and have a great time. At about midnight the crowd has dwindled down to just a small group and he has a crew come in to start cleaning up.

  “Wow, I’m impressed! You’ve thought of everything,” I tell him.

  Seriously, he’s a single guy who knows how to plan a party; an excellent party at that!

  He laughs as he finds a seat and pulls me onto his lap. Finally I have a minute to make out with my man.

  Before that minute can start Sam jumps right in front of us. “Hold up, wait a minute; let’s go get some comfy clothes on. We’re going to make s’mores and some of the guys are going to get their guitars.”

  “Sam you want to go put comfy clothes on? Did I hear that right?”

  “Shut it biatch, let’s go! Plus, I want Chase here to tell us where we can sleep since I doubt he’s going to let you leave him tonight.”

  I look at him and he does have that hungry look in his eye and I smile at him. He stands up picking me up with him, “Come on ladies, let me show you to the rooms.”

  We walk back into his house and he shows the girls to the room next to his and tells me to change in his room.

  “I want to show you something,” he tells me and pulls me into his room. He opens a drawer and I’m surprised to see some girls clothing in them. “I went shopping yesterday and got you some things I thought you would like to keep here…”

  I can’t help but blush. I walk toward the bedroom door, shut it, lock it, and run back and jump into his arms. “We need to make this one quick, but we will have plenty of time for slow later.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” he whispers.

  We kiss as passionately as we did that first night together and he leads me to the bed and softly puts me down. He takes my shirt and bra off and kisses both of my nipples before pulling down my skirt and panties and licking my core.

  I love his quick and efficient waking up of all my senses and I watch with hungry eyes as he takes off his shirt and pulls down his pants.

  “You are truly magnificent to look at.”

  He smiles as he hovers over me, “Oh, I’m nothing compared to you…”

  The natural way he glides into me makes me gasp. I’m ready for him but his entrance demands my attention.

  True to what I asked for he gives it to me hard and fast and an orgasm rips through me pretty quickly. He cums soon after and I try to muffle his loud moans.

  “Fuck, Lucy, I don’t know if I can walk,” he
tells me breathlessly.

  “Same here; you might have to carry me back outside,” I say jokingly.

  Chase gets re-dressed and I put on some of the new clothes that he got me. I smile as I see he picked out my exact taste in clothing and I pull on some yoga pants and a mustang’s t-shirt.

  “Ready!” I say as I start walking toward the door.

  “Um, I think you forgot something.”

  I look at him confused, “What did I forget?”

  “A bra, Lucy!”

  I laugh, “Sam said comfy, and I’m comfy!”

  “Did you get me any sweatshirts by any chance?” I ask knowing the night is only going to get cooler.

  “Yeah I did, check the other dresser.”

  I walk over to the other dresser and see a framed picture of him and Arianna on top of it.

  I grab a Mustangs sweatshirt and the picture and bring it to him. “This is cute; do you have more than just this one in your house?”

  He takes the picture from my hand and looks pissed. “What the fuck? Lucy, I swear I didn’t put this here.”

  “Ok,” I say.

  He lets out a deep breath, “For real Lucy, I don’t have any pictures of her in my house or anywhere else for that matter, she means nothing to me.”

  I messed up a few years ago by not giving Chase a chance to explain himself and I won’t make that mistake again. He has my trust. If he loses it I will deal with that, but I’m going to listen to my gut and my gut says trust him.

  “Chase I believe you. Maybe she put it in here hoping I’d see it,” I tell him and he looks really mad so I walk up to him and put my hands on his chest. “I know she’s nothing to you. I don’t like her though and I don’t like her hands on you.”

  I move my hands up to his face and pull him down into a kiss. I deepen the kiss really wanting him to know I trust what he’s saying to me.

  I grab his hand and we walk back to the party.

  Everyone that is still here is around the fire pit. True to what was said, there are guys around the fire playing their guitars. It’s been such a good night and this is the perfect way to end it.

  I love seeing how relaxed Ana and Sam are in this environment. I feel like it’s a good representation of the upbringing that I had before I met them, and it’s great to see they would fit into that world the same way I’ve tried to fit into their world.

  I lay in Chase’s arms around the fire and feel at home and at peace. I love just looking at him and knowing that he’s mine again. It’s not just that he’s hot as hell, but his heart is so big and he does everything I would want him to do without having to ask him.

  I love that he knows me, understands me, and wants me.

  I turn toward him and wrap my arms securely around him and fall asleep.

  Chapter 41

  We just landed from an away game in Phoenix and it’s almost 3am. I slept a little on the flight but with all the turbulence I kept thinking we were going to crash. Chase held my hand the entire way which made me feel much safer.

  The Mustangs won both away games and they have clinched their number one spot. Chase’s game is on point and he’s certainly making a solid name for himself. He only signed a one year contract so I know he was always a little concerned at his future, but it’s in the bag if he wants it; teams are going to be fighting for him big time.

  Chase and I discussed staying in his room while we were in Phoenix and if it’s up to me we will always stay together. It was so nice having him with me for just everyday normal down time. It’s one thing that we have a very intense attraction to each other, but we’re also learning that hanging out doing normal stuff is awesome too.

  We just landed and before I can grab my bags my fabulous boyfriend has them in his hands and grabs me with his other arm. He walks me off the team charter plane and has a car waiting for us.

  “Do you know if Dan’s coming?” I ask. Geez, I’m so sleepy I can’t even remember if I saw the email with this week’s itinerary.

  “You are coming with me love, I took care of it,” Chase tells me and I shut my brain off totally. My man is taking care of it and it feels amazing.

  I jolt awake when the car stops and I dread having to think of what I look like walking into the hotel.

  “Hey babe, do you know where my purse is?”

  He passes it to me, I go through it and as I find my key Chase asks, “Um, do you mind staying at my house tonight?”

  I look at him with wide eyes, “Absolutely not, take me to bed,” I tell him and I see the look in his eye.

  Well, ok I can wake up for that.

  When I wake up I feel extremely refreshed. That may be because it’s almost 10am and I almost never sleep in like this.

  It’s been a week straight of sleeping in his arms overnight like this and I can’t imagine not waking up to this beautiful man wrapped around me.

  Chase is still sleeping so I get out of bed as slow as I can to not wake him. He has had back-to-back games this week and has to be exhausted.

  Plus, we’ve had some pretty vigorous late nights lately!

  After I finish my run I see Chase is still sleeping so I close his door and go make some coffee. I open the front door to get the newspaper and there are four magazines with a note on top of them:

  Chase-

  Guess the cat’s out of the bag, when are you going to tell her?

  Xoxo

  The magazines that are taped to the note are all entertainment news and they have pictures of Arianna, Chase, and me, and they say Chase is having a fling with me while his girlfriend sits and waits for him.

  Boy he’s going to be pissed that she’s spreading news about him like this. I leave the magazines on the counter next to the coffee for him and walk outside to enjoy the beautiful morning on the lake with my coffee.

  I sit as close as I can to the water thinking of how much I love my job. Traveling with the team is so much fun and I’m learning so much more than I thought was possible. I can’t even believe how boring my desk job was before this; but I know I had to pay my dues.

  My phone rings and I see Chase’s name on the screen; “Hey there lazy ass,” I say to him. Why is he calling me when I’m right outside his house?

  “Lucy! Oh thank God, where are you?” he asks me frantically.

  “I’m out back sitting by the lake, why what’s up?”

  I hear the phone go dead and see Chase running toward me. I wonder what’s going on; he looks anxious and suddenly I’m afraid of the possibility of bad news he may have just heard.

  Shit! I was enjoying a peaceful morning out here and now my mind is racing hoping Sam and Ana are ok or Jax or… I don’t even know what it could be.

  Chase reaches me and stops right in front of me not touching me. “Listen Lucy, I don’t know what’s going on - or why - or even how, but I’ll figure it out, ok? I’ll fix this!” he tells me in a pure panic.

  I feel my anxiety coming on and I am frantic about what he needs to tell me, “Ok” I say, “What happened?!”

  “I have no fucking clue,” he says as he moves his hands through his hair.

  “Um ok, well you need to tell me cause I can’t read your mind.” I try to have patience in my voice but my mind is racing at what could’ve happened. I’m looking at him but can’t hold it in any longer, “Chase, just spit it out!” I say a little more demanding than I meant to.

  “Oh Lucy you have to believe me, I’m not with her I swear on my life that I’ll never do anything to mess us up.”

  Oh my God, it hits me! He saw the magazines and the note, I was gone and he panicked.

  I throw myself at him, “Jesus Christ Chase, don’t ever, EVER fucking scare me like that over nothing again. I thought I was going to have another panic attack there for a minute.”

  He’s holding me tightly, “I’ll get to the bottom of this and do a press release… anything to clear it up.” I hear a trace of anger in his voice.

  “Chase, I don’t care about those papers and
I don’t believe a word in them or in that silly letter. I thought something real happened when you looked so frantic.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, I’m serious. That chick is crazy and you probably do need to take care of it but that’s up to you how you do it. I trust you completely and there’s nothing she can say or do that will ever matter to me.”

  It hits me hard that I ran off on him for four years after a misunderstanding like this and I saw that pure fear and panic in Chase’s eyes. I know I need to do some serious work to get him to trust me again.

  “I’ll never run off like that again, ok? I’m so sorry that you don’t trust me yet, but I trust in us completely.” I look at him and he’s about to argue with me but I put my finger to his lips.

  We sit on the patio in silence enjoying the sounds of the lake and the gorgeous view.

  “I trust you Lucy and I’ll trust in us more,” he tells me and kisses my head. I turn around and look at him.

  “There’s nothing anyone could do to make me doubt you again. I may be crazy for trusting you that much, but you are it for me and I trust you with my life.”

  I see a flicker in his eye as I think he’s truly hearing what I’m trying to say to him. He pulls a sexy smirk on his face, “You are it for me too, Lucy.”

  I lean back on him and enjoy the rest of the morning sun before we need to start getting ready for the game tonight.

  Chase is driving me back to the hotel so I can change into a suit. He still seems a little on edge and I have to really take into consideration how much I hurt him. I know we can get through this but there’s a little doubt in me that thinks maybe Chase isn’t so sure.

  I’m staring out the window watching the miles pass by wondering what I did to deserve a second chance with him.

  I’m running a little late today, not late, just not as early as I like to be. There’s a star player on the other team tonight that I need to get an interview with. Chase pulls up to the hotel and parks telling me he will come up with me to get dressed.

  I have my hair and makeup done in record time and I just need to pick out a new suit to wear.