Page 17 of Love Collided

“Thanks. Getting out of lower cars is hard enough in a dress, but having to gracefullyjumpout of a car is almost impossible,” she said.

The entire country club was made up of other lawyers at my dad’s firm or his clients, and they were all here for the company outing today. I swear this company had more get-togethers than a frat house.

By the time I made it inside the packed building, I needed a drink, but I assumed it would be out of the question consideringit was the middle of the afternoon and my mother was already glaring at me.

I looked over the crowd, a crown of red hair catching my eye, the wave of excitement hitting me first, followed by a nervous feeling settling into my gut. I messed with the rings on my fingers, spinning each one as I watched the red head of hair move through the crowd.

The excitement surged and then quickly deflated. She wasn’t Scout, and I had no idea why I would think she would be here. I didn’t know which one was more ridiculous, her being at an event like this, or me being excited about it.

Maybe it was the races or the attitude, but every time I saw her it gave me a rush. It was a feeling I had been looking for day after day, but it was getting harder to find. Things I loved seemed to dull the more I did them, and until two weeks ago, racing had almost become one of those things.

That was until the little ankle biter got out and came at me like an attack dog. I smirked at the nickname she hated so much.

Five minutes had barely gone by before I was surrounded by friends.

“Hey. Drinks?” Justin asked.

“Are there any? I was beginning to think this was a dry party.”

“For us it is, but ours are now hidden in the back. Apparently, our parents are requesting that we don’t drink tonight.”

“Let’s go,” I said, grinning as I slid the chair back and started following after him, making it about ten feet before my dad stepped in front of me.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to grab a drink,” I said, technically not lying.

“For you and Claire?”

“It’s like you read my mind,” I said, smiling and not hiding an ounce of my sarcasm.

“Chase, this isn’t a joke.”

“I wasn’t laughing. I do need to go get those drinks, though.”

“You have five minutes, and if I don’t see you with Claire, I will be calling for that Porsche to be picked up before you can even make it home.”

A car.

A fucking car.

He found theonething I cared about and immediately used it as a bargaining chip. A way to threaten me into doing what he wanted me, too.

I knew I had to listen, though. That was the problem.

I had to do what he wanted me to do, or else he would follow through. Although, with the Porsche broken down, I wasn’t sure why he would care to pick it up.

I wasn’t about to test him now, so I headed over, grabbing two drinks and heading back over to him. Claire, my forced bride, stood next to my parents, all of them waiting for me.

“Hello,” she said, her smile pleasant and kind.

“Hey. How are you?” I asked.

“I’ve been better. Your dad tells me we will be hanging out more tonight.”

“I believe my dad thinks we will be hanging out forever.”

“Yeah, I did hear the plans for us. I guess that’s how these things go, though.” She didn’t look as defeated as I would have guessed, but then again, we both grew up in this life. We knew when to hide our emotions.

---