Of course. I’d heard about Cassie’s son. But I’d never met him. He was supposed to be there that first weekend I’d come to stay, but in the end he’d never shown up.
And I was hoping he was going to do the same disappearing act at the beach house, too. I’d heard he was bad news. I don’t know what Dad had told Mom, but from what I’d gathered, he’d been kicked out of more than one school, and was getting into all kinds of trouble with the police.
I thought about using this to my advantage. Surely there was no way that Mom was gonna pack me off to spend the summer with an out of control teenage boy. Maybe I could tell her what I knew about him, and maybe embellish the facts a little too, for good measure?
But even though I hadn’t been consulted, I knew that they were right. I wanted to spend more time with Dad. I missed him. And if it meant that I had to put up with Cassie and her tear away son, too, then so be it.
§
“Charity, my little angel! It’s so good to see you!” said my dad as he swept me up in his arms in a great big hug, giving me a spin for good measure.
“And you too, Daddy,” I replied, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Where’s Cassie?”
“She’s back at the beach house,” he replied. “It is happy hour after all,” he added with a laugh. “Now, give me your suitcase and we’ll get out of here. You’ve had a long flight.”
As we walked out to the car, he began to fill me in on the changes he’d made to the beach house since my last visit.
It was early evening, and the air was finally beginning to cool, although it was obvious that it had been a scorching hot day.
“I hope you didn’t pack too many sweaters, sweetie,” he said. “Because you’re sure not gonna need them. It’s been hotter than hell all weekend, and apparently it’s only gonna get worse.”
“I guess I won’t be needing that ski suit I packed after all,” I laughed.
Back at the house, he really wasn’t joking about it being happy hour. It was only 9 pm, but Cassie was already pretty wasted.
“Look who it isn’t!” she cooed, stumbling towards me on her heels as we stepped through the door. “My beautiful stepdaughter!”
She gave me a theatrical hug, half-choking me in her clouds of perfume. And dressed as she was in just her bikini top and a tiny pair of denim cut-offs, it felt weird hugging her, like she was practically naked.
As soon as my dad left the room to take my bags upstairs, she offered me a sip of her frozen margarita. “I won’t tell your dad,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.
I faked a smile and shook my head.
I guessed I was just gonna have to quietly put up with her trying to be my best friend for the next eight weeks.
“Actually, Cassie, I’m beat,” I said. “I’ve had a long journey. I think I’m just gonna head up to my room and lie down.”
§
By ten o’ clock the next morning, the heat was already unbearable. Cassie was still in bed, sleeping off her hangover, and Dad was at work in the tiny makeshift office he’d set up in the attic.
He worked as an architect, which meant that even though he was spending the whole summer here, he was still at work.
That first morning, I brought him coffee, but he made it clear that the most useful thing I could do was get out of his hair.
So much for spending ‘quality time’ with my dad.
I spent the next few hours exploring the little town, which didn’t take long. The small stretch of sandy beach was crowded, and it was just too hot for me, anyway. I’d never really been a fan of sunbathing. I walked to the store, and bought a popsicle, then headed slowly home, the sun beating down on me.
Back at the beach house, I pulled a sun lounger into the shade of the porch. And I got the feeling that this would be where I was going to spend most of the summer. So I grabbed a pitcher of lemonade, a good book, and settled down until dinner time.
I’ll say one thing for Cassie — the woman could certainly cook.
That evening, we sat down to a fantastic Mediterranean-style feast, which she washed down with plenty of white wine. So here we were. Just the three of us. I suddenly found myself longing for the fun evenings with my cousins, and I remembered what Mom had said.
“Hey, Cassie?” I asked. “Wasn’t your son supposed to be joining us?”
“You mean Chase?” she laughed. “There’s a lotta stuff Chase is supposed to do. But that doesn’t mean he’s gonna do it. That boy’s just as useless as his father.”
At this, my dad coughed.
“What Cassie means,” he interrupted, “is that Chase is spending the week with friends, and we expect him here in a few days.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Cassie sneered, raising her glass to her lips. “That boy will be the death of me …”
I couldn’t help it.
I was intrigued.
I wanted to find out more gossip about Chase (I mean, who was actually called Chase, anyway?), but my dad quickly changed the subject.
“How was your day, anyway, sweetie?” he asked.
“Pretty quiet,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, I’m sorry honey!” Cassie interjected. “Maybe tomorrow we could go hang out on the beach together? Have some fun, you and me?”
“Thanks, Cassie,” I said, “but I get sunburnt so easily. I’m better off in the shade, I think …”
“If I had your beautiful alabaster complexion, I’d stay out of the sun too,” Cassie said, and I could see that inside she was a little hurt by my rejection.
So I resolved that night to be kinder to her. She might not have been my cup of tea, but at least she was trying.
“How about the mall sometime?” I offered. “I’ve hardly brought any suitable clothes with me.”
At this, she brightened up.
“You know me,” she laughed. “Born to shop!”
§
So that was the first full day of my summer break, and the rest of the week passed in pretty much the same way — in a daze, as I tried to escape the heat.
Dressed in a baggy old t-shirt and denim cut-offs, I spent my time as predicted, lounging in the shade of the porch with a good book. It was the summer I first read Jane Austen, and I just couldn’t seem to get enough.
I’d been there almost a full week when one morning I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep.
It was only five a.m., but I’d been awake for what felt like hours when I finally decided to get out of bed and take my usual spot on the porch.
I was reading Emma for the second time. The porch was cooler than my bedroom, and after reading for a while, I even felt like I might be able to drift off to sleep out there.
And just as I was closing my eyes, my mind floating away, the early morning silence was broken by a low, rumbling noise.
I sat up, startled, looking out in the direction of the noise, which seemed to be growing louder now. Whatever it was, it was obviously coming this way.
And though I was definitely awake, it felt like a dream as I watched the boy on the motorbike ride up the path to the house, stopping right in front of me, just a few feet from the porch.
Chase, I thought. This must be him. He’s decided to finally show up after all.
“Hi, Chase,” I called out from the porch. “So you finally made it, then?”
He climbed off his bike, and took a few steps closer to me.
He was tall and toned, with the kind of tan that suggested he spent a lot of time outside, but at the same time, he didn’t look like the sunbathing type.
I could see the smallest hint of a tattoo, peeking out from the sleeve of his beat up leather jacket, and his blue jeans were stained here and there with motorcycle oil.
Then he removed his sunglasses. And boy was I glad that I’d managed to say something before seeing his face properly. Because: Oh. My. God. Of all the things I’d heard about Chase, no one had told me that he was absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
I’d never s
een eyes like those before.
They weren’t just blue, they were sapphire blue.
And when he looked straight at me it was like all the oxygen had been sucked from my body.
“Excuse me?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I said, is my mom in?”
And that’s when I realized he must have been talking to me while all the time I’d just been flat-out staring at him.
“Yes!” I finally managed to make the words come out. “I mean, yes, she’s in. But she’s not awake. Nobody’s awake. Except me. I got up early. And you. So I guess you must have got up early, too?”
I could feel my pale skin turning a bright pink as I realized with embarrassment just how much I’d been babbling.
And as if to make it even worse, he answered with such a cool, calm reply.
“I haven’t exactly been to bed yet,” he murmured with a wry smile.
He stood there, staring at me, and it was a few moments before I could collect myself and speak again.
“So yeah,” I blurted out. “Maybe like try and be quiet when you go in? Cause you don’t want to wake them up. Cassie usually sleeps in pretty late. But then you probably know that already?”
“Whatever,” he sighed, then turned and began to head back over to his bike.
I watched, dumbfounded, as he threw his leg back over the bike, revved the engine into life, then rode off, leaving me standing there in the unreal, early morning half-light of the porch, wondering if that exchange had even happened.
§
He came back again that night, just in time for dinner. So I guess he must have been real after all.
For all her complaining about him, Cassie was clearly over the moon to see him. Maybe she was just relieved that he wasn’t off out somewhere, getting into more trouble.
“You’re awfully quiet tonight, Charity,” my dad said with a hint of gentle concern in his voice.
And once again I felt my face flushing with heat. Because he was right. It seemed like, whenever Chase was nearby, I just couldn’t speak. Well, I could, but I just babbled — the words falling out of my mouth before my brain had even realized what was being said. So it was better just to keep my mouth shut.
Besides, I was busy. Busy staring at Chase.
Seriously, I couldn’t get over those eyes.
I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone with eyes quite that color, let alone a boy already so handsome he made my heart practically stop.
I was fifteen years old, and I’d been starting to worry that there was something wrong with me. While other girls had been swooning over boys at school, I just hadn’t seen the appeal. I knew I wasn’t a lesbian or anything like that, but I knew that I was supposed to have all these feelings and they just weren’t there.
But then Chase walked in and — bam.
Even just sitting there across from him at the dinner table, I felt a longing deep within me. It was physical, and I’d never felt anything quite like it before.
“It’s just the heat, Dad,” I said eventually, explaining my silence. “It’s been unbearable today. I’ve hardly even been able to concentrate on my book. It woke me up really early, too, and I’m just exhausted. So actually, I think I might head up and get an early night.”
“I don’t blame you,” he laughed. “But you’d better get used to it. It’s supposed to get even hotter next week.”
I felt a wave of relief as I climbed the stairs, then shut my bedroom door behind me.
It may have been cooler in the evenings, but it felt like any room with Chase in it was still stiflingly, unbearably hot.
I threw myself down on the bed, my mind still so full of him, as I wondered just how I was supposed to make it through the next seven weeks, here with him in this house.
I guess there was one good thing to come out of this. If these intense waves of feeling that were flooding my body were normal, then guess I wasn’t such a freak after all.
I just wished there was some way of controlling these feelings — of them waiting until I was alone in my room. But instead, they were there at the dinner table too, forcing me to get out of there.
But finally alone in my room, I was free to give in to those intense waves of desire.
I threw myself down on the bed, my skin flashing with goose pimples as I closed my eyes and imagined him; my mind suddenly flooding with a whole kaleidoscope of images of him, some real, some imagined: the broadness of his back, the sheen of his skin – tanned brown and shining with sweat, the sculpted definition of his chest as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, his face moving in close to mine as he kissed me.
And as I thought all this, I finally gave in to the urge to touch myself, imagining that it was his hands exploring my shivering body, his hands cupping my budding breasts, feeling my stiffening nipples, his fingers slowly unbuttoning my cutoffs then slipping beneath the waistband of my panties, his fingers tracing up and down the hot wetness that lay between my legs, sending electric shivers of pleasure through me.
I pushed my face deep into the pillow, moaning softly as I began to toy with myself, my mind flooded with him, my eyes closed, my fingers plunging between my legs.
Chase, I thought as I came. Chase, Chase, Chase ...
§
Like Dad warned, all the next week was unbearably hot, and it took all my strength to drag myself to the sun lounger on the porch. I tried to read, but mostly, I just lay there, staring into space.
I needed to avoid Chase.
Every time I saw him, I felt dumbstruck. My mouth glued itself shut, and now I suddenly knew the meaning of the phrase, ‘I went weak at the knees’.
But it wasn’t too hard to avoid him. If he was here at the house, he was in his room, sleeping or strumming on his guitar. But most of the time, he was out.
He’d only been here five minutes, but still he’d managed to quickly accumulate a gang of friends. I’d seen him hanging out with them down at the boardwalk, and soon they began to call at the house for him, too.
There were about six of them in total. They looked like a mix of older local boys, and girls around my own age, here on vacation with their families. But even so, the girls seemed older too. The way they hung onto the back of the motorbikes, smoking, laughing, drinking. They looked like they were having so much fun, but still. I knew that I would never be part of a group like that. That wasn’t my idea of a good time, anyway. I was much happier with a good book.
But even so, I couldn’t help but imagine myself on the back of Chase’s motorbike, my arms wrapped tightly around his muscular torso.
Unfortunately, there was already one girl who seemed to have claimed her place on the back of Chase’s bike.
She had waves of sun-kissed blonde hair, and flaunted her well developed chest in a bright pink bikini, while I hid my lack of curves beneath an oversized t-shirt. She seemed like a woman already, and made me feel doubly embarrassed about my painful, teenage crush.
So, the last thing I wanted was what happened the Saturday night my dad insisted on Chase taking me along with him to a beach party.
“Come on, Chase,” he said with a sigh. “You’re supposed to be here to get to know your new family. And how are you going to do that if you’re never here? I don’t expect you to stay in on a Saturday night, but you can certainly take Charity with you. I’m sure she’d like to get to know the other kids too, wouldn’t you honey?”
“Really Dad, I’m fine,” I mumbled, mortified.
But then Cassie joined in too, backing Dad up.
“Yes, Chase. I want you to get to know your new stepsister. And besides,” at this her eyes turned to me, “Charity could be a good influence on you, and I’d feel much better knowing that she had her eye on you this evening.”
“Sure, whatever,” Chase said quietly.
I could tell he wasn’t too excited about the prospect of an evening babysitting me, but at the same time, he was too cool to argue with them.
So, half an hour later, I found myself trailing behind him o
ut of the door.
“So are we taking the bike?” I asked, the moment the door had shut behind us, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice as much as I was able.
“Don’t be stupid,” he shot back coldly. “I’m gonna get loaded tonight, and if your dad found out I’d driven you home drunk, he’d kill me. It’s not that far. We’re walking. Come on.”
And with that, he began to head off down the path, and I followed him in silence.
§
“This is Charity, her dad’s married my mom,” was all that Chase said by way of introduction, before handing me a beer and walking off, leaving me with a group of strangers who mumbled hello, before carrying on with their conversation and ignoring me.
I took a place at the edge of the bonfire, and sat there slowly sipping my beer, trying to make it last for as long as possible.
To be honest? I didn’t mind being ignored.
The beach was beautiful at this time of night, and I was enjoying finally being able to spend some time gazing out on the cool stillness of the water without the blazing sun bearing down on me.
“Having a good night?”
It was Chase’s voice, and I realized with a start that he’d taken a seat, right beside me.
“You startled me,” I said.
“I didn’t mean to,” he replied.
I remember, there was a moment of silence between us then, but for once it didn’t feel awkward, just comfortable.
“I can never work out what you’re thinking,” he said.
“What?” I asked, slightly stunned that he’d ever thought about me.
“You’re always so quiet. You’re either reading, or just thinking. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
I laughed, a little embarrassed but also flattered. I really thought he hadn’t noticed me at all.
“I think all sorts of things. I think about the books I’m reading. I think about the friends and family I’m missing out here. But mostly, I just think about the heat.”
Claiming Chase: (A Second Chance Stepbrother Romance) Page 7