Page 33 of Love Collided

“You still want to do that?”

He didn’t move, waiting while I pulled off my seatbelt and pushed the door open.

“Yeah,” he said, the deep, husky tone spending a shiver down my spine. “I still want to do that.”

It reminded me that I was still wrapped in his hoodie.

“Here,” I said, starting to pull it off. “I guess I shouldn’t steal all of your things tonight.”

“It’s fine. You can bring it to me tomorrow. No point in getting wet now.”

I wasn’t sure what it was, but everything out of his mouth now sounded dirty. Touching him the entire ride home was making my entire body hum with wanting more.

How was wrist touching now basically foreplay for me? Was I that desperate for human contact?

“Alright,” I finally squeaked the words out. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

He didn’t respond, waiting while I headed inside before I heard the tires spin, the wet pavement making the tires screech in the silent night.

Hopefully, no one looked out the window and saw the car. They all still thought I was out with Jesse, and it wouldn’t take them long to connect this car to Chase.

I headed up to my apartment, kicking off the heels I had worn to make it quietly past everyone’s apartments.

My door shut behind me and I pulled off my dress, pulling the straps off under the hoodie and letting it fall to the floor before crawling into bed and passing out.

“Honey, I’m here,”Chase’s voice rang out around me, making me jump underneath the car.

I had come to the garage early this morning, deciding to get my mind off of everything with a few hours of work before Chase showed up.

A hand wrapped around my ankle, pulling me on my crawler out from underneath the car until I was looking up at Chase.

“Did you just call me honey?” I asked.

“Relax, it was a joke,” he said, pushing me back under the car. “You’re not nearly as sweet as honey.”

“Hey! I’m plenty sweet, just not to you.”

His hand clamped around my ankle again, pulling me back out. He crouched down, his eyes raking over me. I had to be a mess at this point, but I resisted the urge to fix my hair, hoping the two long braids stayed reasonably in place.

“Yeah? And why is that?” he asked.

I shrugged, still laying there looking at him. “Maybe the ankle biter nickname, maybe the burning of the money —”

“Maybe the giving up of my watch?” he asked. The smile on his face got to me, making me smile back.

“Okay,” I hissed, pulling myself up and looking around. I pushed him further into the garage, trying to move between the cars so no one would overhear us. “MaybeI could be nicer because of that, but don’t talk about that here. I know I owe you, butplease, I still don’t want anyone here to know yet.”

He looked down, my hands still on his chest, his dark lashes getting heavy. “Alright. Then you better hurry up and get me a new watch so I forget it ever happened.”

The words rumbled under my fingers, and I think my fingertips pressed harder against him, wanting to feel it again.

“Why does that sound so threatening?”

“Because you’re currently touching me and I think Ilikeit,” he said through gritted teeth. Each word sounded like he was in pain.

“Chase,” I hissed, ripping my hand away and looked around to see if any of the crew had noticed.

“Scout.”

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