Deciding Love (Bloomfield #3)

by Janelle Stalder

5

  Chloe

  “How was your first day yesterday?” Colt asked as we drove to school.

  “You need us to beat anyone up for you?” Rannon asked excitedly from the back seat.

  I looked at him with a laugh, shaking my head. Rannon was the type of guy that always seemed to be joking around and happy. I’d never had someone like him around before, and I found it refreshing. He was tattooed and pierced like my brother, his hair similar to Kyle’s, shaved at the sides and longer on top, but his was bleached out, almost white. Somehow it worked for him. Between the two of them and Cat’s brother, I could only imagine how popular their group of friends had been with the girls in high school.

  “No, I think I’m good.” I turned forward again. “It actually went pretty good. I met a new friend.”

  “That’s good,” Colt said, sounding genuinely relieved.

  “If it’s Hilary, I recommend running. I think she’s even worse than Reagan was when we were at that school,” Rannon said, shuddering. “Some girls scare me.”

  “I’m with you there,” I murmured. Avoiding that Hilary girl was one of the top things on my To Do list. Cat might be fine with giving them attitude, but that wasn’t really my thing.

  Colt looked in the mirror at his friend, and my thoughts instantly went back to yesterday, even though I had told myself repeatedly last night and this morning not to think about it. My cheeks heated as I remembered the feel of Kyle’s attention when we’d been stopped at a red light.

  I had kept my face turned away from him, but every inch of my body had been aware of his eyes on me. Those eyes that had been waiting the second I had slipped into a restless sleep.

  “What do you know about some girl named Hilary?” Colt asked.

  “Briggs and I went to a bonfire last night at the lake, and that girl was all over him like a leech.” He shuddered again. “I was just waiting for her to rip his head off and eat it.”

  Hilary and Kyle? My stomach rolled, suddenly not feeling well.

  “I thought he was with Jenn,” Colt was saying.

  “You know Briggs,” Rannon said with a laugh. “They come, they go.”

  My hands itched to grab the door handle and get out of there so I didn’t have to listen anymore. Why it should even matter to me, I didn’t know. Kyle was Cat’s older brother. He might be gorgeous, but I was his little sister’s friend.

  Nothing was ever going to happen, I knew that. Still, I didn’t want to listen to them talk about him and other girls. It was stupid and childish, but that didn’t stop the sigh of relief that escaped me when we pulled into the school parking lot.

  “You two are too old to be hanging out at senior bonfires,” Colt was saying, shaking his head.

  “That’s what Briggs said too,” Rannon said, as if he couldn’t understand why either of them would think that way. “I wore him down though.”

  Colt snorted. “I’m sure you did.”

  He pulled the car to a stop in the same spot as yesterday. Keeping my head down, I made sure not to make eye contact with anyone in case Hilary and her friends were watching. As soon as I opened the door guys were shouting greetings to Colt and Rannon, who had climbed over into the passenger seat.

  “What’s up!” Rannon called back. “You fuckers bug my girl Chloe here, and I’ll beat yo’asses!”

  My face flamed.

  “Jesus, Ran. You’re embarrassing her,” Colt scolded. “Look at her face.”

  Rannon didn’t seem concerned when he met my horrified gaze. He simply winked and shrugged saying, “they need to know.”

  “Right,” I said softly, hiking my bag up higher. Leaning down, I gave Colt a quick smile. “Thanks again for the ride.”

  He smiled back. “No prob. See you tomorrow.”

  I nodded. “Say hi to Olivia for me.”

  “Will do.”

  “Bye, little sis,” Rannon said with a big grin.

  I couldn’t help but return his smile. “Bye, Rannon.”

  I turned and headed up the stairs, cringing when I heard Rannon yell out behind me.

  “Look the other way, Simpson! She’s not interested!”

  Good lord, he was worse than Cat’s brother. Speaking of, she stood waiting for me, her gaze focused behind me. She laughed when I reached her.

  “I see you have your own bodyguard to worry about,” she said.

  “It would appear so,” I replied.

  “Boys, huh? It’s like they think we can’t possibly handle ourselves without them.”

  For once, I knew exactly what she meant.

  A tray slammed down on the other side of the table, making me jump - again. I looked up just as Cat plopped down onto the bench, her brows furrowed, and her mouth turned down into a frown.

  “Tell me, what did the trays do to you? Or do you just enjoy giving me a heart attack every day?”

  Cat huffed, her shoulders slumping. “Sorry,” she said.

  Geez, she looked miserable. “What’s up?” I asked. We hadn’t been friends long enough for me to understand her moods yet.

  “Ugh, I just hate people sometimes, you know?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I nodded.

  She sighed. “No you don’t,” she said. “You’re too sweet to really hate people.”

  “No I’m not,” I argued. I hated people. I couldn’t think of anyone, but there had to be some. The kids I grew up with definitely weren’t my favorites.

  “Look at you,” she said, waving a hand at me. “You are struggling to think of one person, aren’t you?”

  “You’ve only known me for one day,” I said, ignoring her question. “How can you say if I’m too sweet or not?” Was I that open book type person? I hoped not, otherwise her brother would have seen how much he affected me yesterday. My cheeks burned even thinking about it. How mortifying. No, no, I’d played it cool...hadn’t I?

  “I can just tell,” Cat was saying. “Everything about you screams sweetheart.”

  It does? I looked down at the leggings I wore and the zip up Lululemon hoodie over my tank top. My hair was pulled into a quick ponytail, and I wore black Toms flats. Looking around, I didn’t think I looked much different than most of the girls. Sure, Hilary’s squad wore shirts that showed off their cleavage, and what not. But I still didn’t think that made me seem too sweet compared to them just because I didn’t.

  “Oh my God, you should see the little lost pout you have on your face as you compare yourself to everyone else,” Cat said, grabbing my attention again. “You’re adorable and you don’t even know it. Guys are going to eat you up.”

  I scrunched my nose. “Aren’t you supposed to be adorable in kindergarten, not your senior year of high school?”

  “Normally, but it works for you, don’t worry.”

  This was confusing. Not wanting to discuss me anymore, I leaned forward to get back to the main topic. “You were fine in first period, so what happened since that makes you hate people?”

  “Gossip,” she said, as though the word itself had a disgusting taste to it in her mouth.

  “What kind of gossip?”

  “The kind that makes me want to hit my brother upside the head.”

  Oh. I got it now. “Is this about him and Hilary last night?”

  Her eyes went wide. “You heard too?” She shot a look toward the girl in question. “Doesn’t she have any class? Here I thought she was just going on about it in third period because she knew I could hear her and was trying to get under my skin. But she’s probably been prancing around the whole school bragging. Eck,” she shook. “Ky needs a serious lesson in how to pick his girls. And here I thought he had actually gotten it right for once.” She looked over at me with a strange expression.

  Clearing my throat, I said, “Well, I can’t really say much about Kyle’s choice in female companions.”

  Cat snorted.

  “But I can tell you that I didn’t hear about it from someone here.”

  “Then how did you know?”

 
; “Rannon was telling Colt something about it this morning,” I explained, shrugging. “I didn’t hear much, just something about her being a leech.”

  Cat laughed loudly, finally looking more like herself.

  “That makes me feel a bit better. Hopefully his friends make fun of him and he realizes how nasty she is.”

  I really didn’t want to talk about this anymore. The same feeling from this morning was seeping in as my mind started to conjure pictures of the two of them. I didn’t know what they did exactly, but my brain was making up for that by coming up with all sorts of things they could have done. I grimaced. I needed to stop reading romance novels.

  Another body dropped down on the bench, making me jump. Jax sat there smiling at us as I tried to regather myself.

  “Hey, Chloe,” he said with a smile.

  “Uh, hey,” I replied.

  He turned to nod at Cat in greeting.

  “What’s up, Jax?” Cat said, grinning. There was a gleam in her eyes that made my palms sweat.

  “I just thought I’d come over and say hi,” he said, glancing back at me. I could only imagine what my face looked like. Hopefully it wasn’t a complete tomato.

  “Is that so?” Cat said slowly.

  This was the most awkward conversation ever. The silence was painful as I tried to look anywhere but at the boy sitting beside me.

  “So Jax,” Cat said, “I saw you got a new Jeep. It looks pretty sweet.”

  “Thanks. My Dad bought it for me this summer. Sort of an incentive to make sure I get the grades I need to get into University. He’s set on me going to BU like he did.”

  “Aren’t you, like, second in the class?”

  That surprised me. I looked over to see his sheepish expression as he nodded, as though he was embarrassed for having good grades.

  “That’s awesome,” I said before I could think of how lame it sounded. The genuine smile he gave me made my mouth split into one too. He really was a good looking guy. Maybe not as dark and mysterious as Cat’s brother - wait. Why was I even comparing them?

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “I’m sure you have nothing to worry about,” Cat said.

  “I hope not. So I know of this party happening on Saturday, and I was wondering if you girls wanted to come? If you’re not busy, that is.”

  Cat tapped her lips with one finger as if she had to mentally go over her schedule. “I don’t think I’m busy.”

  I wanted to laugh at her expression. We both knew neither of us would be doing anything.

  “What about you Chloe?” he asked, turning to me.

  Cat smirked at me.

  “I don’t have any plans,” I replied softly.

  “Wait,” Cat said, sitting up, her eyes going to the table Jax had been at before coming over. Hilary and the other girls sat there too, but I didn’t look to see if any of them were watching. “Whose party is it?”

  “No one from here,” he said.

  She relaxed. “Okay, good.”

  “My brother goes to BU and is part of the frat there that our dad was part of.”

  “Shocking,” Cat said dryly. I widened my eyes at her but thankfully he just laughed it off.

  “Yeah, well I’m expected to join next year too, so I was invited to one of their parties. He said I could bring some friends if I wanted.”

  “A college party, huh? Sounds cool.”

  It sounded like something my parents would freak about, but I stayed quiet.

  “I can pick you girls up around eight.”

  “That works,” Cat said, answering for both of us. I, on the other hand, was starting to wonder how I’d get my parents to agree to this. They weren’t the strictest, but that didn’t mean they were going to be okay with me going to a frat party.

  “You can pick us up from my place. We can get ready there,” Cat said to me. I just nodded. “Speaking of rides,” she continued, that mischievous gleam lighting her eyes again. “Do you think you could give Chloe a ride home today? She doesn’t have one, and I feel bad making her walk all by herself.”

  What? I glared at her, wondering what the hell she was doing.

  “Of course,” Jax said immediately. Shoot. Now what was I supposed to do? Smiling, I thanked him, my face burning.

  “Cool. I’ll see you in geography.”

  When he left I leaned toward Cat. “What the hell was that? I don’t want him to drive me home!”

  “Why not? He’s super-hot, and he obviously likes you.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why else would he come over here to invite you out Saturday? It wasn’t me he really wanted there, trust me. We’ve been going to school together since grade six, and he’s never been interested in me. That leaves only one other possibility.”

  I fidgeted in my seat, struggling not to glance over to where he’d gone. “I don’t even know him,” I argued weakly.

  She shrugged. “So get to know him. What do you have to lose? We’re young, live a little.”

  What did I have to lose? Cat started to giggle.

  “I can see you giving in,” she said. “Trust me, Chloe, this will be good. I think it will make things a lot more interesting for you.”

  That sounded kind of ominous, but I just went with it. Interesting was a good thing, right? It was better than boring.

  6

  Kyle

  “You going to come?”

  I blinked, tearing my eyes away from Chloe who had just exited the school and stood talking to Cat. She was wearing tights that hugged her long, lean legs, making my mouth water at the thought of them wrapped around me. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, showing off her slender neck.

  Chad still leaned against the car, his face expectant. Shit, what had he been saying?

  He must have seen my confusion because he said, “to the party Saturday? You’re going right?”

  Oh yeah. “I’ll think about it,” I said. My commitment issues didn’t just apply to relationships and women. Being locked down was never my thing, and that included plans with friends.

  “Cool, talk to you later man.”

  I nodded in goodbye as Cat opened the passenger side door.

  “Hey, Ky,” she said with a big smile. I was expecting her to be pissed since I had reminded her this morning that I wouldn’t be driving Chloe home. She seemed her usual happy self though, which had my eyes narrowing on her from behind my shades.

  “Hey,” I replied. “Good day?”

  That had her mouth flattening. “Could have been worse, I suppose.”

  I leaned back in my seat to look at her over the rim of my glasses. “Someone giving you problems?”

  “Nope,” she said tightly. “Although I got to hear all about what someone’s been giving you.”

  Shit. Fucking Hilary. She had started making out with my neck last night while we’d been around the fire. I was too drunk to care, or stop her when she’d grabbed my hand and pulled me away from everyone. However, as soon as we had, my wits had returned and I’d stopped her before anything serious happened. Figures she would have exaggerated to all her little fucking friends.

  “Nothing happened,” I said. Defending my actions wasn’t something I was used to, but Cat was different than everyone else. I didn’t want her thinking badly of me.

  “Uh huh, sure.” She twisted in her seat, facing away from me.

  I turned to start the car just as a Jeep came roaring past us, parking right in front of me. Jax jumped out, a shit-eating grin plastered on his pretty boy face as he looked at someone. I followed his gaze to see a nervous looking Chloe approaching him. He opened the passenger side door for her, saying something I couldn’t hear.

  “What the hell is this shit?”

  “What?” Cat asked, blinking at me with innocent eyes.

  I glared at her.

  “Oh, Chloe? Yeah, Jax is going to give her a ride home since she doesn’t have one. He was super eager to offer.”

&nbs
p; The fuck he was. I unbuckled my belt, reaching for the door handle before I could stop to think.

  “What are you doing?” I heard Cat calling out as I stood between the open door and my car.

  “Chloe!” I shouted.

  She jumped, looking over at me with wide eyes. Damn it, she was adorable. Jax looked over too, his face confused while he continued to hold open the door for her.

  I nodded my head toward my ride. “Let’s go,” I said.

  Chloe looked between me and Jax, unsure of what to do. She needed to realize that, between the two of us, it was me she would be choosing. Always.

  She gestured to Jax with her thumb, hesitating still, which just pissed me off. “That’s okay, Jax is going to give me a ride.”

  “No he’s not. Get in.”

  “Dude, it’s cool. I don’t mind,” Jax said.

  I moved my glare to him, swallowing a snort when he took a step back. “I mind,” I said. Dismissing him, I looked to Chloe again. “Come on, sweetheart.” I reached down to pull my seat forward.

  Thankfully, when I looked back up she was on her way over, her grip white around the strap of her bag, her face an adorable shade of pink. Without looking at me, she ducked into the car and moved to the back. I couldn’t help but let my eyes roam over her ass as she did. The girl was built like a dream.

  Slamming the seat back in place, I got behind the wheel, ignoring the look Jax was giving me, and Cat’s. Taking a deep breath, I winced at the smell that hit my nose. Chloe’s scent enveloped me, making my nerves twitch even more.

  Without a word, I started the car and took off, the silence around the three of us thick with tension. I knew most of it was coming from me, my body strung tighter than ever before. I was my own worst enemy.

  “Sooo...”

  I sighed, my body tense as Chloe’s scent still wrapped around me even after we’d dropped her off. I knew this was coming, and wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “So what?” I asked evenly.

  “Do you want to tell me what that was all about?”

  “What, what was all about?”

  “Uh, I don’t know, the caveman show you just put on? ‘Chloe, come. Get in car. Arrrrggggg.”