Second Chance Summer (Chance Series, #1) (3 page)

“What do you think?” I say in a bitter tone. “Of course she is.”

“Come over for dinner tonight,” Luce offers.

“Oh no. It’s your first night back. I couldn’t impose on y’all like that.”

“Well fine.” I can imagine her rolling her dark eyes. “We’ll go out for dinner.”

I sigh. “You won’t give up, will you?”

“Not a chance. I missed my best friend. I’ll come over and we’ll order pizza.”

“And decide how we’re not goin’ to Rock’s Saturday night.”

“Maybe.” She hangs up, and I shut my eyes.

I love Luce, but god help me. Her crush on Adam isn’t healthy, and it hasn’t been since we were thirteen and she moved here from Mississippi.

I cast my eyes around the room. No bottles, no rubbish... A normal front room.

Because of me. Because I do the parenting thing.

I hear thumps on the stairs.

“Oh, you’re here.” Four p.m., and she’s already slurring her words slightly. I swallow my sigh.

“Yep,” I turn to her. She’s a shadow of her former self.

“Thought you’d still be outside.”

“There ain’t that much sun in New York, not like there is here. It’s gonna take some getting used to again.”

Mom nods like she gets it. But she doesn’t. She doesn’t get it, and she doesn’t care enough to try.

“Well, I’m heading down the bar. Meetin’ Aria. Have fun, Kia.” She blows a half-hearted kiss and disappears out the door.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. I’m trying not to let the sting of her blatant dismissal affect me yet again. I shouldn’t be surprised. I shouldn’t expect anything to be different.

But I do. Every time.

Every. Damn. Time.

~

“I have pizza, candy, and Coke!” Luce announces, nudging the front door closed with her hip. How did she even get it open?

She enters the room in a burst of color – literally. You couldn’t miss her scarlet hair if you wanted to. Her arms are laden down with the worst – yet best – kinds of food. I jump up and take the Coke from her, setting it on the table while I grab some cups. When I come back in, the DVD is in the player and the pizza box is open and steaming.

“Ahh, I’ve missed this comfy sofa.” Luce picks up a piece of pizza and sits back, blowing on it. Her feet prop up on the table in front of her.

“Make yourself at home.” I drop on the cushion next to her and take a slice for myself.

“Oh, I have,” she says through a mouthful of food.

“Animal,” I retort, tearing a big bite off. She raises her eyebrows, and we both grin.

There’s comfort in our friendship. It’s the kind of friendship born from craziness – and a friendship born of craziness is absolutely the best kind. There are no restrictions, no having to hide who you really are.

“So...” Luce licks her fingers, grabs another piece of pizza, and sits back again.

“So...” I repeat, looking at her quizzically.

“Reese is lookin’ good.”

“And your point is?” I tuck my legs under me and pick up my coke.

“No point.” She shrugs one shoulder.

“Don’t go bullshittin’ me, Lucia Jane Hampton. What’s your point?” I meet her dark brown eyes.

“What’s going on with you and Reese?”

That’s Luce - straight to the point. Well, after a small detour, at least.

“Nothing. There was last summer, and that’s it. We’re different people now.”

“I don’t believe it.” She shakes her head.

“He has a girlfriend.”

“He does?” Her lips curl up.

“Uh, yeah? The blonde bimbo across the street from me?”

Luce laughs out loud. “Oh, you mean Miss-Reese-I-Want-You-Now?” She raises an eyebrow. “She wishes she was his girlfriend. You should have seen his sorry ass when I mentioned your name earlier at the garage. He looked as lost as a puppy without his freshly neutered balls.”

“Freshly neutered balls?” I snort.

“Not the point.” She sighs. “He wants you.”

“He can keep wantin’.” I look out of the window. “Last summer, Luce, remember? If it were ever more...” I shake my head. “It doesn’t bear thinkin’ about.”

“Hey, I bet you ain’t got a boyfriend up in New York. You’re home for the summer, have a bit of fun.”

“I’m not havin’ fun with Reese, especially since he has … Well, whatever she is across the street.” I look back at her. “Who is she, anyway?”

Luce mock gags on her food. “Her Royal Highness, Bitch Princess Hana of Harlan Grove?”

One side of my mouth curls up in amusement. “That bad, huh?”

She rolls her eyes. “You have no idea, girl. I’m tellin’ you; she moved here just after school started again. She started at HG High, moved straight in with the ‘it’ crowd thanks to Daddy’s dollar, then tried to bag herself the hottest guy in fifty miles within six months.”

“She sounds like a real darlin’.” I bite my thumbnail. “Where’d she move from?”

“South Carolina.”

“Why’d they move here?”

“Somethin’ about her Daddy doin’ business in Houston but her Momma refused to live in the City. He lives there during the week, then is home at weekends. Hana’s a spoiled brat if I ever met one. The girl ain’t got a nice bone in her skinny little body.”

“Nice.” I muse. “Makes you wonder what Reese sees in her?”

“Oh, honey, I don’t think he ever saw anything in her except a distraction.” Luce snaps her fingers. “It was like that. She batted her eyelashes, and he went running... But now it makes sense. The guy is hung up on you, and instead of chasin’ you to New York like he shoulda when you didn’t come back for Christmas, he went to her.”

“She’s eighteen, then?” I frown, the idea of Reese being with someone else grating on me.

“Nope. Seventeen. She’ll spend her eighteenth in Europe this summer.”

“So, they…”

“As much as she’d want everyone to believe it, Reese won’t touch her. Not even he is that stupid.” Luce raises her eyebrows. “He told her no sex till she was eighteen. I bet he’s dyin’.”

“His problem though, right?” I shrug. “It’s what you get when you go after a girl still in High School.”

“I told him he shoulda gone to New York after Christmas, but he didn’t listen.”

“Why would he?” I twirl my hair between my fingers, lying through my teeth. “So we had sex once, Luce, and it was just one summer… We were never in love; we were never even really together.”

She turns her face toward me with that “oh, really?” look on her face. Her eyebrow arched; her lips curled in a half smirk and disbelief shining in her eyes.

“Kia, darlin’, he was waitin’ for you to come back at Christmas to talk to you. The guy would have tried a long distance relationship, ‘cause it’s you. He never wanted you to leave in the first place. He pined like a bitch for you!”

“I’m callin’ bullshit.”

“Call whatever the fuck you want, girl, but that boy has got one girl on his mind, and it ain’t his would-be-girlfriend. If you think you’re gonna get through this summer without him tryin’ to get you to talk to him, then you’re gonna have to think again.”

“He can ask, Luce. I left Alabama for a reason. You know that.”

“But does he?”

“Of course he does.” I sigh. “Everyone knows I wanna be more than my Mom is. It’s the only reason I left. I wanna be everything she isn’t.”

“Okay.” She grabs some candy and sinks into the sofa. “If that’s what you’re goin’ with, then I’ll believe you. For now. But Reese Pembleton is more under your skin than even you know, Kia James, and sooner or later, the both of you are gonna explode. My bet is on sooner.”

I shake my head, and turn my attention to the movie. Is she right? Did I leave because of him?

Ugh. Just another reason to add to why I hate this town.

~

Rock’s parties are legendary in Harlan Grove. The open field owned by Adam’s grandpa is given to him for his use every weekend. His grandpa has been known as ‘Rock’ since his college days when he used to fight bare knuckle, and even though he’s in a retirement home now, they’re still “his” parties. Just because he’s the coolest grandpa, ever.

I glance at Luce as I make the short drive to the makeshift parking lot we use. From there, it’s a short walk through the woods to the field. As long as we clean up after ourselves the cops stay out of our way. They’re not dumb, they know we drink and whatever, but we don’t disturb anyone so they’re happy to leave us to it.

That and Luce’s dad is the Sheriff. Such is life in a small town.

“Stop glancing at me,” the girl in question huffs.

“I don’t wanna be here, Luce.” I admit. “I’d rather be home.”

“She ain’t gonna be in, Kia. You’d rather be in an empty house that see everyone?”

“Everyone involves Reese, so yeah,” I mutter.

“I heard that.” She smirks.

I sigh and park. Clearly, though, I’m more concerned about actually seeing Reese, because I’ve parked right next to his damn truck. Shit. Luce gets out the car before I can put it in reverse and park somewhere else. I sigh again and follow her.

Stones crunch under my boots as we cross the lot and disappear undercover of the trees. I can already hear the music pumping. Adam has an insane love of British music, and for once it’s a song I’m familiar with – Rita Ora, R.I.P.

I’m not the Kia that left here a year ago. If I can remember that, I can cope with this dang party.

It’s already crazy busy here, and I know Reese will be here, but I don’t expect him to be the first person I see when I stop next to a tree. It’s like I’m tuned into him and whenever he’s around; I just know. It’s almost like an automatic reaction. My eyes crash into his, and he stands, making his way over to me.

I tense, yet I hold his gaze the entire time, unable to tear my eyes away even as he stops right by me. His arm brushes mine, setting my whole body on fire.

“Reese,” I say offhandedly.

“Kia.” His voice is softer than mine.

“How are you?”

“Not bad. You?”

“Fine.” I clench my jaw a little.

“How’s college?” He leans against the tree in front of me, looking completely comfortable.

“You asked me that the other day.” I tear my eyes from his, finally, and swallow.

“I bet it’s better than being here,” he pushes on.

I snort. “Anything is better than being here.”

“Kia...” he says my name wearily.

“What?”

“Can’t we just be friends? Forget last summer ever happened.”

His words pierce me right through the chest, despite me being the one to end everything we apparently didn’t have. I take in a sharp breath, squaring my shoulders. “Last summer? Forgotten.” I push off from the tree and storm into the woods. I need to get away from him.

Forget.
That’s what he said.

Forgotten.
That’s what I said.

How do I forget it? I can’t. I can’t forget the way he squirmed when I tickled his sides, or the way he laughed and kissed me whenever I pouted. I can’t forget the feel of his touch against my skin, the sensation of his lips on mine. My heart won’t let me forget, not when all I want is to feel him against me again. I can’t deny that. I can’t lie to myself. He still affects me the way he used to.

“Shit! Kia!” Reese calls after me. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

I ignore him and keep walking. Step, step, step. Keep going, Kia, don’t stop for him. His hand grabs my arm, and I turn, yanking my arm back as I near where his truck is parked.

“What, Reese? You’ve made it clear last summer was a mistake. You’re right. It was. It was just a whirlwind mess between two people who had no idea what they wanted from life.”

“I didn’t mean it like it came out. I just meant I didn’t want you to hate this place because of me.”

“I don’t hate it because of you.” I look at him and laugh bitterly. Shadows play across his face in the darkness. “I hate this place because of what it means to me.”

“What does it mean, Kia? Tell me.” He loosens his grip on my arm; his thumb gently stroking my skin.

“It means nothing,” I say quietly, stepping back. “Nothing.”

“You’re lying,” Reese steps closer and holds my other arm. “If it meant nothin’, you wouldn’t be running from me.”

“I’m not running from you! Why would I be? One summer, that’s all we had.”

“Is it?” he asks quietly. “One summer? Is that really all we had? Do you think my feelings disappeared the way you did? Do you think they upped and went in the middle of the night just like you?”

“I never said that-”

“‘Cause they damn well didn’t!”

“Rumor has it you’re seein’ someone, or have you forgotten that?” I throw back at him.

“Maybe I don’t care about her. The person I care about is front of me.”

“After eleven months? Why don’t I believe you?”

“Let me show you. Make you believe me.”

I shake my head. “You’re so fucking funny.” I pull myself from his grip and move toward my car, passing his truck.

“Am I?” he growls, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward him. My back hits the door of his truck, and he stops in front of me. He places his hands either side of my head, his face bent into mine. “Am I funny, Kia? Really?”

My heart is pounding furiously at his nearness, and I push at his arm. My blood is thundering through my body, my breathing coming hard and fast. I can feel the warmth emanating from his body. I want more. I need more. I want to feel his body pressed against mine, even if it’s just for a second. I need to feel it.

His hazel eyes collide with mine, and I can see he feels the same. It’s been a year. He still feels it. I still feel it.

“Jokes usually are funny,” I retort, trying to move away from him in an attempt to regain control of my body.

His mouth crashes into mine, his lips molding to mine. One of his hands cups the side of my head, the other resting on my waist. I grab his shirt when he nips my bottom lip. My mouth opens, and his tongue meets mine, stroking it in a gentle caress. Our bodies push together, and I drink him in, kissing him greedily.

Now, I remember. I remember why I can’t fight it. Why I’m powerless. Why, at nineteen, he is all there is.

I open my eyes as our mouths part. His lips are hovering over mine, close enough they could touch mine again, but they don’t. In the small gap between us all,I feel is the chilling night air where, just seconds ago, there was nothing but heat.