Page 48 of Chase Lovett Wants Me

“Wanna get out of here?”

She bites the corner of her lip. “Yeah. That’d be good.”

CHAPTER 18

CAMMIE

Ishrug off Chase’s arm when he tries to put it around my shoulder and stuff my hands in my pockets. I’m positive that girl who practically glued herself to him a minute ago is a former hookup. She was so thrilled to see him, and then she shot daggers at me with her pretty, green eyeballs when he basically shrugged her off, exactly like I’ve done to Chase.

I’m so out of my depth. What started as a great night has done a swan dive into a pile of crap. I’m grateful when Chase doesn’t suggest walking through the house again and guides me around the outside. I feel horribly out of place, and stupidly jealous.

All these girls who go to these parties are effortlessly cool and pretty and have no problem talking to him. Or any of the other guys. They’re fun and fun to be around. They want to be here. And it doesn’t matter that I’m standing right beside him. They all seem to look right through me. Like I’m a pane of glass. Like I’m not even there.

“Chase man! You just got here!” A guy calls out.

“Chase! I didn’t even get to say hi!” Another freaking girl rushes over and throws her arms around him.

“My girl has an early class. I’ll see you later.” He extracts himself from her hug and rushes to catch up to me.

I know this neighborhood. We’re not that far from campus. It’s maybe a fifteen-minute walk. I just need to hold it together that long.

As I head for the sidewalk, the front door is thrown open and two girls rush out. Two familiar girls. Barbie and Annabelle.

“You were supposed to be keeping guard!” Barbie barks at Annabelle.

“I didn’t know you were going to take his jersey!” Annabelle tries to get her to stop. “You have to give it back!”

“Not now!” Barbie snaps her fingers at Annabelle. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Annabelle looks like the last thing she wants to do is follow Barbie, but she does anyway, and they disappear down the street at a sprint.

“That looked intense,” Chase mutters.

I head down the sidewalk going in the same direction as Annabelle and Barbie, but they’ve already disappeared around the corner. Chase falls into step beside me.

“Cammie.”

I make a noise, but don’t say anything.

Chase tugs on the sleeve of my jacket. “Hey. Are you okay? Did Dougie say something to you?”

“I’m fine.” Dougie was annoyingly stereotypical. He asked who I came with. When I said Chase, he laughed like he didn’t believe me. Sure, he was drunk, but that’s when people’s filters disappear. He was just speaking his drunken truth.

“You’re not fine. Can you stop for a second? Please.”

We’re far enough away from Mac’s house and between streetlamps, so no one can witness this. I better not cry. I bite my lips together.

“Tell me what’s wrong? What happened?”

“Did you hook up with that girl who hugged you?” The question is out before I can call it back.

“Which one?” He cringes and his expression shifts to discomfort. “Do you really want to know?”

I sigh and tip my head back. “Not really, and that basically answers the question anyway.” It’s a pretty night. There are stars in the sky and the moon is bright. How different would this have been if we’d made it to the movie? “I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Or if my heart can handle being broken by Chase.

His brows pull together in a delicious furrow. It’s so unfair that he can be pretty even when he’s displeased.

“What’s not a good idea?”

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