Last Chance: A Second Chances Novel (25 page)

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “When we get home tonight, I want to make love to you while you wear that dress.”

She burst out laughing. “And the heels?”

I adjusted my dick and walked over. “And the heels.” Pulling her into my arms, I kissed her neck and nipped the tender flesh behind her ear. “Sure you don’t want to stay home? It’ll be a lot more fun.”

She smacked me with her purse. “I didn’t get this dressed up to stay home. These are your friends, Luke. I don’t want you to think I’m keeping you away from your life. We can’t just stay at each other’s houses having sex all the time.”

“Why not?” I wouldn’t mind in the least.

Rolling her eyes, she hit me again. “Let’s go, crazy man. It’ll be fun. Maybe something will spark my memory.”

Holding her hand, we walked to her car, so I could let her in. She’d planned on driving since she knew I’d be drinking. She handed me the keys and I drove us to the party.

There were cars everywhere and people scattered about the yard, drinking and having a good time. Like always, there was a spot for me in the driveway. “VIP treatment, huh?” she laughed.

I looked at her and smiled. “That’s pretty much the same thing you said the last time we were here.”

“And that was the night of our one night stand?”

The memories of that night and how stupid I was came flooding back. “Unfortunately,” I grumbled, getting out of the car. “But that’s not happening tonight.”

When she got out of the car, a few of the guys in the yard whistled, but when they noticed she was with me, they backed off—which was smart of them. Lara was a beautiful woman, but I wouldn’t stand for any of those punks salivating over her.

We walked around the back of the house where Chance and the rest of our friends were gathered. Competition was high in our sport, so I didn’t necessarily have close friends inside the group, but we all respected each other. That was why most of my friends consisted of Evan and the rest of the football players.

Chance noticed us and waved us over. “Collins, you made it!” he shouted.

There were other people sitting around him, including Troy Baker, my main competitor. He played dirty on the track and always tried to wipe me out, but I’d bested him every time. With Lara’s hand still clasped with mine, we walked over.

Chance tossed back the rest of his beer and pointed at me. “We all know that fucker, but the beautiful girl is Lara Jacobs.”

Troy narrowed his gaze. “Isn’t she the one who kicked Jonathan’s ass a few years ago?”

The group burst out laughing and Chance’s eyes went wide. “Oh yeah, that’s right. That was so long ago, I’d forgotten about it.”

I hated Jonathan Rimmel. He was a fucking douche, who liked to push girls around. I’d tried to warn Lara about him, but being the stubborn ass that she was, she didn’t listen. And when he tried to force her into one of the back bedrooms, she went crazy on him. She did some damage to his body, but I finished the job. We hadn’t seen him around since.

Lara lifted her arms. “It’s a shame I don’t remember.”

Chance walked over and winked at her. “I do, sweetheart. It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Come sit with us and I’ll tell you all about it.” Then he looked at me. “If you want to go in and grab a beer, Bubba’s in there. He’s been dying to talk to you about his new bike. I figured I’d save your girl and keep her company.”

I glanced at them both, and Lara shrugged as if she didn’t care. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine out here.”

“All right, I’ll be right back.” Then I pushed a finger into Chance’s chest. “If you so much as try to come onto her, I’ll kick your ass. Got it?”

Eyes wide, he tried to look innocent and failed. “Dude, I never put the moves on her. I was just being friendly. You know how I am.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Exactly.”

Lara rolled her eyes and pushed me toward the door. “Go talk to your friend. If Chance puts the moves on me, I’ll cut off his balls.”

Chance grabbed his crotch and shied away, making me laugh. I had no doubt she could take care of herself. Pulling her to me, I kissed her and headed inside. I didn’t like leaving her alone, but I knew she’d get bored as fuck listening about bike parts and suspensions.

There were dozens of people taking shots and making drinks in the kitchen. Bubba was in the corner, wearing his signature green and black jersey and straight-billed cap, talking to two other guys who rode in the class below me. He was only twenty-three years old, and one of the smoothest riders I’d ever seen. One of these days, he was going to be the best.

Bubba noticed me approaching and excused himself from his friends. “Holy shit, you’re finally here.”

I shook his hand and laughed. “It’s been a while.”

“That it has, my friend. I thought you’d ditched us there for a while. Harris told me you were killing it on the track. What brought on the change? Some folks said you were struggling there for a while.”

I glanced out the door to Lara who laughed along with whatever Chance was saying. “A lot of things have changed. I’m just glad I have my fire back.”

“But at least you’re still on a winning streak. I know Troy’s just salivating, waiting for you to slip up.”

I scoffed. “He’ll be waiting a long time. So tell me about your new bike.”

Bubba’s eyes lit up and he went on and on about the new suspension and top of the line handle bars. Once we got started talking, others joined in and it turned into a huge debate on what brands were better than others. I’d missed talking to the guys about that kind of stuff, but I wasn’t there to shoot the shit with them for hours.

I patted Bubba on the back and shook hands with the others. “Guys, I hate to cut it short, but I gotta get back outside.” Then to Bubba, I nodded down at his phone. “Give me a call in the next few weeks and we’ll go riding. I want to see how good you are in the woods.”

He chuckled. “You’re on.”

Before heading outside, I walked back into the kitchen to grab a beer from the cooler. A set of arms wrapped around my waist from behind. I assumed it was Lara, until I saw long, red fingernails.

“What the fuck,” I growled. When I turned around, my stomach clenched. I prayed like hell Lara hadn’t seen what just happened. “What do you want, Skylar?”

Skylar Wells was notorious among the dirty girls. None of the guys had ever been able to resist her, including myself. She had long, dark brown hair, bright blue eyes that could see into your soul, and dick sucking lips that could make you forget your own name. Looking at her now, she did nothing for me. There was only one girl I wanted and she definitely wasn’t it.

She rubbed up against me, raking a nail down my chest. “It’s been way too long. I need some time with you, baby.” Her hand squeezed my dick and I batted her arm away.

“I don’t want anything you’re offering.” I grumbled, stepping away from her. “And don’t touch me, ever again.”

“Yo, Collins!” a voice shouted from the living room. I walked away from her to see who shouted my name and she followed. What the fuck was I going to do? She was following me around like a bitch in heat.

The voice belonged to Cedric Carmichael, a retired motocross champion and an old mentor of mine. He was eight years older than me, and had quit riding after a car accident left him with two broken legs. I was just a teenager when he took me under his wing.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” I laughed.

Grinning wide, he grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. “How ya doin’ kid?”

“Can’t complain. I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“I decided to take a year away and spend it with the family.” He let me go and I got a good look at him. His dark hair was graying on the sides, and he had lines on his face from too much stress. “Now that I’m not riding professionally anymore, I decided to offer up riding lessons. You wouldn’t believe the amount of students I had sign up.”

“No surprise there, you’re one of the best.”

He winked. “I did teach you everything you know . . .”

“A lot of it was my own talent, douchebag,” I joked.

He chuckled and his focus landed on Skylar. “Who’s your friend?”

I groaned. “She’s not my friend. I can’t seem to get away from her.”

Skylar scoffed and held out her hand. “I’m Skylar Wells. It’s nice to meet you. You’re a legend around here.”

Cedric beamed. “Thank you, pretty lady.” He picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels and poured us each a shot.

One of our rookie riders bumped into me and fell down to the floor. I grabbed his arm and helped him up. “You okay?” I asked, trying to hide my smile.

Holding up his thumb, he nodded. “Perrrr-fect. Just a lil’ drunk.” He was shit-faced, with makeup all over his eyes. There were two girls across the room, snickering and taking pictures of him. By morning, his photos would be plastered on every social media outlet. That was the kind of shit I liked to avoid. He’d learn from his mistakes soon enough.

“Drink up,” Skylar said, handing me a shot glass full of whiskey.

As soon as I took the shot, I was getting as far away from her as possible. The last thing I wanted was for Lara to see me with her.

Cedric held up his glass and clanked it to mine. “To legends.”

“To legends,” I repeated. I tossed back the liquid and felt the burn all the way down. I slapped a hand to Cedric’s shoulder and smiled. “It was good seeing you again, Ced. But I need to hit the can and get back to my girl.”

He chuckled. “Go for it. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

Turning on my heel, I took a step forward and it felt like the whole world spun out of control. My vision went blurry and everything on my body felt heavy.

“Luke, you okay?” someone asked. The voice sounded like Skylar’s, but I couldn’t tell.

“Bathroom,” I choked out. The hallway was dark, but there were arms wrapped around my waist, keeping me on my feet. There were voices whispering, but it was all just jumbled words. I was so dizzy, all I wanted to do was lay down. Everything seemed so far away, even the voices that talked around me.

I didn’t want to give in to the darkness, but it crept up on me so fast I didn’t have a choice.

C
hance Harris was such a charmer, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the words coming out of his mouth. He had charisma in spades, just like Luke. I could see why so many people followed them. He told me all about the douchebag who’d tried to force me into a bedroom at one of their parties. It was hard to imagine myself dating a guy like that. Apparently, I had kicked his ass pretty good, which made me feel better about the whole thing.

“Want to take a walk?” Chance asked, nudging me in the side.

I glanced inside the house and couldn’t see Luke. He had been gone a while, but I didn’t want to follow him around like a lost puppy. Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “Sure.”

Holding out his arm, I took it and a sense of déjà vu overcame me. It was like I had been there before, doing the same thing. We walked around the pool and into his yard, away from all the screaming people who kept getting pushed into the water.

“I’m so glad you decided to give Luke another shot. He was absolutely miserable without you,” Chance confessed.

“I wish I could remember. It’s not easy when you’ve lost the last five years of your life.”

“I bet,” he murmured. “So much has happened in my life over the past five years. I can’t imagine trying to get it all back.”