Deciding Love (14 page)

She shrugged, acting as though her questions were perfectly normal and of no consequence.

“If you must know,” I said with a sigh. “He ended up getting drunk and he was supposed to drive your friend home.” I don’t know why I couldn’t just say Chloe instead. I was distancing myself from any familiarity with her, and it felt shitty.

Cat stood up straight, her mouth dropping open. “What an ass. Did you make sure Chloe got home?” She asked.

“Of course I did,” I said, running a hand through my hair.

She smiled, giving me an approving nod. “Of course you did.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, not liking the way she said that. “I dropped his passed out ass home too,” I added, as if that somehow made a difference.

She screwed up her face. “Why? I would have let him walk his butt home.”

I gripped my chest in feigned surprise. “How very unfriendly of you, kitty. I’m shocked. Catherine Briggs being mean? Someone alert the media.”

She chuckled waving me off as she went back to work. I went inside, a grin plastered on my face.

15

Chloe

Monday morning came and I was not looking forward to going to school. Jax had called and texted me a number of times yesterday, probably when he’d finally sobered up, but I’d ignored them all.

It wasn’t that I wouldn’t forgive him. I just didn’t want to have to deal with it while my head was all screwed up from Kyle. It seemed like whenever we were around each other, I walked away feeling more confused than ever.

My body buzzed every time I thought about the incident in the kitchen. Everything inside of me heated remembering the way he’d held on to me, his body all around mine. I’d never had that reaction to Jax when he touched me.

No matter how much I had tried not to think about it, my mind had other plans. And when I’d finally gone to sleep that night, those dark eyes and sinful smile had been waiting for me. I’d woken up panting, my cheeks hot as the last images of my dream still floated through my consciousness.

It had taken me a half an hour to fall back asleep after that. Even when I wasn’t obsessing over what happened in the kitchen, I’d just start thinking about him driving me home. About the way he called Jax my boyfriend, and how I caught a glimpse of displeasure on his face when he’d said it. And how we’d shared a laugh together when we dropped Jax off. At the time, my breath had caught in my throat from his easy smile.

Sometimes that’s exactly what it was between us. Easy. And then other times it was tense, uncomfortable, and complicated beyond my understanding. I didn’t understand why it couldn’t just always be easy? Did I want it to be?

Hadn’t I already decided to forget any thoughts of being with Kyle? So then why was I still obsessing over it?

With a huff, I gave my reflection a stern look that said, be stronger, Chloe, and headed downstairs. I was just pulling on a cardigan over my tank top when mom walked into the kitchen.

“Oh good, you’re still here,” she said, leaning against the counter. She looked at me with an expression that told me something was bothering her.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not really, but your dad and I do need to talk to you.”

That didn’t sound good. “Can you talk now? I’m supposed to be going shopping with Cat later for homecoming dresses.”

Dad walked in just then, his gaze going between us. “Did you tell her already?”

“No,” Mom answered.

“Tell me what? You guys are scaring me.”

Dad chuckled, throwing his arm around me and pulling me in tight. “There’s nothing to be scared about, sweetheart. There’s just been some developments at work that we wanted to discuss with you.”

“What kind of developments?”

“Dad is getting transferred again, temporarily.”

I stood up straighter, causing Dad’s arm to fall from me. “We’re moving again?”

“No, no,” Dad answered. “This is just temporary, but it would still be for about six months, maybe longer.”

Six months? That was still a long time.

“Where?” I asked, my panic rising. I’d just gotten comfortable here, and I didn’t want to leave Colt or Cat. I had friends here, a life. And the people at my school were nicer than the last school I’d been at.

“California,” he said. “The Orange County office.”

“Listen, honey,” Mom said, approaching me and grabbing my hands reassuringly. “Just because he’s being transferred, doesn’t mean you and I have to go too.”

I blinked, taken back. “What?”

“We can stay here if you don’t want to move schools. It’s why we wanted to talk to you about it. If you want, we can stay here and just Dad can go. He’ll be back on weekends.”

As soon as relief washed over me, so did guilt. “What about you? Won’t you miss Dad?”

She smiled, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s only for a little while. And we want you to be happy too. I know how hard it is to move schools again, especially for your senior year.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course,” they said together.

Was that fair of me? And how would it be to not have Dad around all the time?

“When are you supposed to go?” I asked, conflicted.

“Not until after Thanksgiving.”

I nodded, looking up at them. “Can I think about it?”

“Of course. There’s no rush,” Dad said.

I thanked them and then grabbed a muffin before going outside to wait for Colt. Now I had even more on my mind as I sat on the top step of the porch. It was official, I hated Monday’s.

Cat plopped down beside me in first period, her eyes bright. At least someone was having a good morning.

“Aaaaand go,” she said, staring at me expectantly.

I looked around, brows furrowed. “Go, what?”

“Tell me about the barbecue,” she said as though it were obvious.

My cheeks heated against my wishes. “It was a barbecue?” I said with a shrug.

She grunted in frustration, shaking her head. “I mean about Jax getting drunk and being a total idiot. Kyle told me he had to drive you both home.”

“Oh. That.” I got a funny feeling thinking of Kyle talking about me to Cat for some strange reason. Maybe because I’d almost expected him to hide any of our dealings from his sister. Knowing he didn’t made me feel slightly happier than I’d been all morning.

I told her the whole story, quickly before the teacher came in. She was as unimpressed as I’d been. Jax had been sitting with us at lunch all last week. I was pretty sure most of the student body considered us dating, even though I didn’t since he’d yet to formally ask me. I hadn’t been lying to Kyle when I’d said he wasn’t my man. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him sitting with us today, which made my mood plummet again. If there was one thing I hated most, it was confrontation.

“Are you mad at him?” She asked.

“Not really,” I said, not quite convinced that was true. “I guess I’m more annoyed than anything. I’m just not looking forward to him apologizing and begging for my forgiveness,” I added, thinking back to the pleading texts he’d sent the night before.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want his apology, because I thought it was owed to me. But I also hated when people started up with lame excuses. Was it too much to have a guy just be strong and assertive, and own up to their mistakes without seeming sucky?

“Maybe we should eat outside today,” Cat suggested. “It gives you more time before having to face him.”

I gave her a grateful smile. “That sounds like a great idea.”

Except it ended up being unnecessary, since Jax never showed up at lunch, or in Geography. I couldn’t deny my relief even as I became curious as to where he was. It wasn’t until the end of the day that I finally had to come face to face with him.

I walked out of the school, my head down as I’d been preparing myself to either walk or ask Cat if Kyle could drop me off. When I looked up, Jax stood at the bottom of the stairs, his Jeep behind him at the curb.

His eyes were already those big, pleading ones that told me he wanted me to feel bad for him that he’d screwed up, rather than just him owning up to it and accepting if I was angry or not. As I drew closer to him I was suddenly annoyed all over again.

My eyes flickered toward where Kyle normally parked, and froze there. Without realizing it, my feet had also stopped, my entire body vibrating with some unknown feeling of anticipation.

Kyle was outside of his car this time. He leaned against the hood, his feet crossed lazily in front of him, his hands casually shoved in his pockets. He wore dark clothes again that made him look dangerous and carnal. Goose bumps broke out along my arms as I took him in. When I met his eyes, I felt as though all the air had been sucked out of me.

That dark gaze watched me from over the rim of his sunglasses, his mouth tipping up in a slight smirk.

“Chloe,” Jax called, snapping me out of my trance. I blinked at him, moving to close the remaining distance between us, leaving some space.

“Jax,” I greeted him, folding my arms over my chest. My eyes couldn’t help but glance back at Kyle who watched us with an unreadable expression. I forced myself to concentrate on what Jax was saying.

“And they just kept giving me beers,” he said, his voice pleading. “And I hadn’t had much to eat, so I think that’s why it hit me so hard. Otherwise I never would have gotten drunk like that.”

I pursed my lips. So it was everyone else’s fault for giving him beers, and because he had needed more food? Nowhere in there did I hear him simply accept the responsibility for his actions.

“I’m really sorry, Chloe,” he said, reaching out to grab my hands. “Please forgive me. It will never happen again.”

I gave him a half-hearted smile, gently removing my hands from his. “I forgive you, Jax,” I said. There was just no point in me holding a grudge over the whole thing.

“You do?” He seemed surprised.

I nodded. His face broke out into a grin.

“Thank you,” he said. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.” He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me in the direction of his Jeep. I looked over at Kyle who was still watching us. He raised his eyebrows at me, his eyes now hidden behind his shades.

I stopped walking, forcing Jax to too. Unwinding his arm from around me, I took a step away. He turned to look at me, confused.

“I forgive you, Jax, but I think I’m going to get another ride home today instead,” I said.

His lips pressed into a thin line. “Are you going home with him?” He asked.

“If you mean Kyle, then yes.”

He looked away, his jaw twitching. “Are you interested in
him
?” He said, not looking at me.

“He’s just my friend’s older brother, Jax.”

He gave a humorless laugh. “Right. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said, turning to walk away.

I watched him for a moment before taking a deep breath and heading toward Kyle’s car.

His eyes were glued to me as I approached, that mouth no longer smirking. He pushed off the car, opening the passenger door.

“You ready to go?” He asked, his rich voice effecting me as always.

I nodded, ducking under his arm, trying my best to ignore the heat of him as I passed by, or how he breathed in deeply as I did.

16

Kyle

I walked around the front of the car, feeling lighter than it had in years. Nodding a hello at Patrick Kennedy, my friend Reagan’s little brother, I got behind the driver’s seat, surrounded by Chloe’s scent.

She picked me.

My mind was still reeling from that. For a moment there, I had thought she’d go home with Jax, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t bother me. As much as I knew Chloe would forgive him, because that was in her nature, part of me had hoped she’d make him work for it a bit so the asshole learned his lesson.

Cat got into the car, her keen eyes on me for a moment before she looked back at Chloe with obvious excitement. “So Jax came crawling back, huh? And you kicked him to the curb?”

I pulled out, glancing in the mirror to see Chloe shift uncomfortably, her cheeks going slightly pink.