Page 15 of Chance
His blue eyes met mine, and I couldn’t look away.All I saw was him.All I could hear was him.How his entire body seemed to shudder with each labored breath he took.How his eyes were dilated in a wild sort of way that beckoned, pleaded with me.
“I swear, I thought she was you.But then I couldn’t smell you, and I instantly realized something was off.Tell me you believe me.Please, peaches.”
Around me, everyone else was muffled, their laughter, their voices.Everything that wasn’t him no longer mattered.
“Quit your shit, Riv,” Chance growled, swatting away the straw she was using to poke him.
I jolted, not just from his annoyed, frustrated tone, but from how the rest of the world came back into focus once again.When he saw my flinch, his eyes became wilder.With a groan, he crouched down in front of me, his huge, warm hands grasping mine.“Don’t do that.Don’t be scared.I’m sorry, peaches.”
“Holy shit.Did he just say sorry?”No longer amused, the man from earlier now sounded bewildered.“Rory is never going to believe any of this.She’s gonna think I made it all up.”
There was that name again.Rory.Was she important to Chance?
“Who is Rory?”I asked, greedy for every last detail of this man who had become someone important to me.
He shrugged.“My mom.”
“Oh.”Biting my lip, I tried hard not to smile.
He had a mom.Of course he did.Not everyone’s family was as messed up as mine.But maybe…
Maybe I could be a part of his family now.
I wanted that so badly.
Evie
I feltlike I was living a time-stood-still moment.Everyone around us became a blur.Once again, all other noise became muted except for the sound of our breathing.His eyes hooded as he looked at me, unable to hide his emotions from me.I traced my gaze over his face, taking in the double piercings on either side of his nose, the shape of his lips, and the dark scruff along his jaw that I wanted to touch.
His hair was still slightly dripping from the drink Evy had thrown in his face.Wondering why my sister had drenched him, I pushed a few locks of wet hair back from his forehead.Inhaling sharply, he leaned into my touch.Lashes lowering, he grasped my wrist and pressed a kiss to my palm.Heat zinged through my body, settling in my center, and I had to fight the urge to squirm in my seat.
I tugged my hand free.Reluctantly, he released me, his hand falling to my thigh, his thumb brushing over my skin before stopping just beneath the hem of my dress.Lowering my eyes to his hand, I couldn’t resist the urge to trace a finger over the scars on his knuckles.They were older, slightly ridged up, the outline of stitches fascinating me.
Dropping to his knees, Chance looked up at me with his heart in his eyes, silently pleading with me to believe him.
And then he grumbled something I couldn’t hear and pulled my chair closer, shooting an annoyed look at the people beside me.Glancing at Abi, I realized that her chair was closer to Sammy’s now.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Flinching at the loud, angry question, I shifted my gaze in the direction of the new deep voice.Another man in a leather vest stood nearby, his angry blue eyes bouncing from Chance to me, back to Chance, and then straight to Evy.Confusion pulled his brows together.
It only took me a moment to figure out this guy was related to Chance.Their eyes, not just the color but the shape, were similar, as were the angles of their jaws and their noses.
Chance stiffened, his fingers flexing on my legs before he got slowly to his feet, putting himself between the newcomer and me like a wall.I could feel the tension rolling off him, radiating through the entire bar.Around us, men moved closer, all of them in those vests.I had no idea if that was good or bad.MCs were about brotherhood…or something like that.At least, I thought that was what they were about.Fiction didn’t exactly prepare a girl for the real world.
For long moments, Chance just stood there, having a stare-down with the other man.I didn’t know what was going on, but a shudder climbed my spine, making me uneasy.
Were they going to fight?
The other guy looked away first, his gaze moving to me, probing, assessing.I’d never met this man before, so whatever he was looking for, he wouldn’t find it in me.But when he shifted his eyes to Evy, I couldn’t miss the way the air seemed to be sucked from his lungs.
He looked at her like she was the answer to his prayers.His entire face changed, those blue eyes softening.Evy kept her face blank, which was more telling than if she’d been openly glaring or smiling at him.She’d perfected masking her emotions like I’d done my whole life, pretending to be indifferent.
Ooh.
She liked him.I wondered if this was Reid, the guy who’d stopped by our apartment and left my twin glowing long after he’d left.
Only a handful of seconds passed before he was back to looking at me, his frown deeper this time.As if he was unable to resist, he switched his gaze back to Evy again.
