Page 44 of Love Collided

He shook his head, a harsh laugh escaping. “Who would have thought one rich boy comes around and you immediately turn into one slutty fucking bitch for him?”

“Scout, go inside. Now,” Chase said, already stepping towards Jesse again. I wrapped my fingers into his shirt, pulling him back as hard as I could as Jesse turned and ran to his car.

“Fuck you both,” he said, the door slamming shut, but I didn’t let go of Chase.

It wasn’t until Jesse’s car peeled out that Chase turned to me, his hands moving up my arms to my face.

“Scout,” Chase said. The soft whisper of my name made tears well.

“Chase.”

“I’m not apologizing for hitting him.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” I said, catching my breath. I finally unwound my hand from his shirt, realizing my own was wet, cold and stuck to my body.

Not to mention, it smelled so bad I was nearly gagging. I hated the smell of fresh beer, but the smell turned stale to me so quickly that I was going to throw up if I didn’t change.

He reached out, a large warm hand running along my jaw. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I think I’m fine.”

“After what he said?”

I nodded, not moving away, his hand still holding my jaw. It was warm, steady, and calming, letting my mind finally quiet.

“There was no ending to that which was going to be pretty. I wasn’t expecting the beer, though, and I don’t have my car here for something to put on, so I think my night is done.”

He scoffed, but smiled and reached into the car. He pulled out a hoodie and held it out to me. “You never even returned the first hoodie I lent you and now you want another one?” He asked. “Come on. Get in my car, take that off, and put this on.You should still have a good night after all of your hard work today.”

“Back to being a gentleman, then?”

“With you? When did I stop?”

I got in, sliding into the dark backseat and pulling my shirt off, before wrapping myself in another one of his soft hoodies.

I would steal every single one of them if they all felt like this.

Minutes went by before Chase pulled the door open and leaned down.

“I’m not trying to be a creep, but it is taking you a very long time to change a shirt.”

“I’m done. But I don’t think I want to get back out.”

“Why not?”

“What am I supposed to do? Go back in and hear everyone celebrate me breaking up with Jesse? Tell them what happened? Explain how I lost my shirt and am in yours? None of that sounds fun.”

“Because you’re upset about the breakup?”

“Because I’m embarrassed. They’ve all made it clear I should have done that months ago, and I didn’t. I put it off because I knew breaking up was going to suck and it did.”

“Suck because you’re going to miss him or because he said all those things?”

I thought it over. “There’s nothing to miss, but yeah, it kind of sucked hearing all of that.”

“Come on,” he said, sliding into the driver’s seat and pointing at the passenger seat before starting the car.

“What? You think me leaving with you is going to help? Sure, let me go tell Fox that I just broke up with my boyfriend after his good friend Chase punched him, and now I’m going home with said friend. Sure, that will go oversowell.”

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