Fuck.

She’d been drinking. She knew more about wine than me. She’d been wild in bed, asking for exactly what she wanted. She had similar tastes and hopes and dreams as me. I just…could not compute.

“Chase?” Ashleigh asked with narrowed eyes. “Are you okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Totally fine.”

Lie.

I was frozen.

This was not happening.

I’d known she was young, but not that young.

What the fuck was I going to do? Because I could not date a fucking teenager. Not even one that was perfect for me.

8

Harley

Erika was still asleep in her bunk when I got back into my dorm in the dress I’d worn to the wedding. She rolled over when I flicked on a side light and cracked an eye open.

“Well, well, well,” my roommate said, “look who is doing the walk of shame after all the shit you give me?”

“I have no shame about my late night…”

“Early morning,” Erika countered.

“I have no shame about what happened,” I told her with a grin.

Then, I snatched a spare towel and grabbed a fresh change of clothes.

“Well, what’s his name?” Erika tilted her head. “Or her?”

“I think you have a lock on all the girls in our dorm, Erika.”

Erika grinned, pulling her bright pink comforter tighter around her. “Yeah, yeah. Well, what can I say? I’m prolific.”

“And I think you should do whomever you want.”

“You still haven’t told me his name.”

I laughed. “Chase.”

She brought her thumbnail to her mouth and chewed on it. “I don’t know a Chase. Is he in our year?”

“Not exactly,” I said.

He wasn’t in any year. He was definitely not hanging out on Tech’s campus at all. None of that had mattered or come up last night. Not when every single other thing in our lives seemed to fit together so well.

“Older?”

“I’m taking a shower!”

“A senior?” Erika begged.

I laughed and then hustled out of the room. After a good long shower, I blew out my long blonde hair and then slicked it up into a ponytail. I didn’t need to be showy on a kayak.