Page 19 of Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge 1)

She surveyed me coolly.

Without looking back at her, I left the hotel room. Pierce had meant well when he took me away from Beth and the others in order to give me a surprise. I hadn’t known that getting laid had been his intention. I’d thought Pierce and I were gonna have some shots of scotch by ourselves, like we’d had in another room when he had thrown a party during the fall. We’d bonded then and I’d realized that he was a friend, for real. Not just one of my many acquaintances at UM.

Pierce, Rylan, and Joel thought that I was too picky and had gone long without a girl. Today made it five months since I hadn’t had sex. When I’d woken up this morning, I’d marked it off on my calendar. Rylan and Joel wouldn’t believe it if I told them how good it made me feel. For some reason, I thought Pierce would understand. Since I was twelve, I hadn’t gone a week with being in a nameless, faceless, and detached female. I was more than due for a change. And I was in testy waters, because Beth was an obstacle to every bit of restraint I’d thought I’d harnessed in these past five months.

It took forever for someone to open the door when I’d knocked on Pierce’s penthouse door.

“Hey!” Gavin, Bri’s older brother, and a friend of Pierce, Rylan, and Joel said.

We bumped fists and the music had gotten much louder. I walked around the oval-shaped curve of the apartment. The couch that Beth had been sitting on twenty minutes ago was filled with other people. This was just the scene I wasn’t down for. When I moved to the side, I bumped into three people. Going around them, I had to shout, “Excuse me” to get through. I checked the bathroom and surprisingly, no one was in there. I marched up beside Gavin, who was one of the only people who didn’t look plastered or smell like alcohol.

“Who you looking for?” Gavin asked, grimacing. He liked a good party as much as the rest of us, but he never got out of hand.

“Beth, Pierce’s cousin.”

“The girl with the bangin’ body and sweet face?” he said with a smirk. I couldn’t rag on him for having good taste, but I didn’t want any dude looking at Beth like they were itching to have her, either.

I scanned the entire room. “She was here with Cassidy.”

“Really?” he furrowed his brow. “Cassidy left with some dude. Last person I saw Beth with was Rylan. Don’t you have her number?”

I shook my head at my stupidity. Pierce had given me all of the information I needed today except for her number. It was a basic piece of information that I should’ve asked him for, but I was too annoyed about having to pick her up and delaying my swim on my day off. Pierce was with Mona right now. If I couldn’t find Beth, he wasn’t gonna stay with Mona tonight. Nancy had told me earlier to give Beth my number and her number. I was so engrossed in our conversation that it’d slipped my mind.

Gavin handed me his phone. It was already ringing. I was just about to call Rylan myself.

“What’s up, Chase?”

“You with Beth right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you taking her home?”

“We’re ten minutes away from the Pruitts’.”

“Drive safely, Rylan. And thanks.”

I ended the call and handed Gavin’s phone back to him. “Did something happen that I don’t know about?” I saw the protective side that made guys stay away from his sister Bri come out. He wouldn’t tolerate any guy treating a girl badly without avenging it any way he knew how, short of violence, and I knew that about him from day one.

“I am about to find out. Was Rylan with Beth most of the time tonight from what you saw?”

He squared his shoulders. “Rylan danced for half a song with Maude and some other girl before he was with Bethany.”

I nodded. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Anytime.”

Chapter 5

Bethany

I thought that I heard someone knocking on my door last night. When I had finally put on my nightgown, no one had been there. I must have been disoriented from not getting a good night’s sleep for the past few days.

I jolted at the soft knock and movement of the doorknob. I couldn’t have been going crazy this time. When I opened the door, Chase was standing in front of me in a white t-shirt, pressed black pants, and shoes. It didn’t occur to me that we should talk on more neutral ground. I already trusted him and I couldn’t explain why and it scared me a little. Anticipation coiled low in my belly.

Chase’s hands landed on my shoulders. The force of his touch made my back lean onto the door, shutting it closed. A faint line marred his brows as he studied me. Greeting him with an open smile, his features smoothed out.

“I knocked on your door last night.”

---