Page 57 of Love Collided

Three more seconds, three more strokes, and then he leaned back, his body shuddering as he came.

I could barely breathe, my body tightening with need for my own orgasm again. The sight of him coming undone right in front of me sending a trail of heat down my spine.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, his chest still heaving. “You are very good at that.”

“I didn’t actually do anything.”

“That’s not true.” He adjusted himself, getting up with a smile. “Not even a little. You’re amazing.”

I don’t know if it was the clarity from breaking up with Jesse, or the power that Chase seemed to hand over to me, but for the first time in a long time, I believed him.

I wasquiet as we started the drive back home. It was too hard to find anything to say to the man I just watched get off a few hours ago.

The worst part was how much I was still thinking about it. The way his chest heaved, the muscles in his arm flexing, the way his eyes didn’t leave mine.

Our eyes locked, the smirk on his face making my cheeks hot.

“Rethinking the idea that we won’t be doing anything like that again?”

“No, I have no doubt that we won’t be doing anything like that ever again,” I said, mustering up any confidence I had to sound sure of myself.

“I would be willing to bet you a watch that it will be happening again.”

“I don’t have a watch to bet.”

“No, but if you’re so confident that it won’t be happening, then you won’t be losing a watch, anyway. And if you won mine, we could be considered even.”

“Then you absolutely have a deal.”

My phone buzzed with incoming texts, but the one that wasn’t from the crew caught my eye.

Unknown

Scout. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours. I need help. The money wasn’t enough. I think they are coming for me again, and if they do, you and your friends are in trouble again, too. I need more money to keep them away.

It had been sent in the middle of the night. I knew it was from my dad, but my phone had been dead and it had just occurred to me to power it back up. The man I couldn’t even save as a contact was putting me in danger again. There would be no remorse, either. The only empathy the man had was for himself. In his mind, he would be the victim and I would be the problem unless I continued to help.

We were on the edge of town now, the side of our old row of houses that the crew and I grew up in.

“Could we make a quick stop?”

“Sure. I’m in no hurry. Where to?”

I gave him directions until we were pulled up in front of my old house.

“Just stay here. Please,stay here.” I got out and before I made it halfway up the overgrown sidewalk, Chase was by my side.

“Didn’t I ask you to stay in the car?”

“You did, and I am specifically not answering because we are once again in a sketchy as fuck place. Why do you keep bringing me to these places?”

“Because this is my life?”

“You really need to start hanging out in new places.”

I stopped, spinning to face him, the surge of anger in my chest overwhelming.

“Ineed to start hanging out in new places? This is where I grew up, Chase. This,” I said, waving my arms around, “is not only my life but also where the guys grew up. Don’t tell me I need to hang out in new places or remind me how little you think of people like me when I asked you to stay in the damn car. No actually,” I said, raising my voice. “I’ve always asked you to stay in the car. You are the one subjecting yourself to my life, not me.”

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