Chapter 9
Chase knocked enthusiastically on Claire’s front door a week later and she opened it with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she reminded him.
“Yeah well, I’ve got big news.” He didn’t even wait for her to ask what it was before he went on. “Professor Porter didn’t exactly come out and say it, but I think she’s impressed,” he said, his words nearly running together in his eagerness. “I took a makeup test on some of the earlier course material and she graded it and she didn’t look at me like she felt sorry for me!”
Claire laughed. Then she caught her breath as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off of her feet, twirling her around in jubilation. He set her back on her feet and cupped her face in his hands.
“Thank you, Claire.”
“I...you’re welcome.”
The heat of his skin against hers made her heart thump in her ears and she pulled away. Not because she wanted to. At least, not exactly. But because she wasn’t sure that what she wanted was the right thing.
“If you want to keep up the momentum and get more friendly looks from your math teacher, we should probably get started on today’s assignments.”
To his credit, he let her go as soon as she stepped back. But she didn’t miss the look in his eyes. A look that told her that he wasn’t at all unsure about what he wanted.
“Let’s just stay here today,” he said.
Claire bit her lower lip, thinking hard. “Okay,” she said finally. “My roommates shouldn’t be home for a while. And the kitchen is clean.”
“My hard work influenced you?” Chase asked with a grin.
“I will neither confirm nor deny being under your influence. And we need to get to work.”
“So tell me something,” he said once they’d put in the solid thirty minutes that Claire insisted on before she’d let him have a break. “How’d you end up in Louisiana?”
Claire cocked her head at him. “I go to college here. I’m starting to think that trig is frying your brain.”
“Very funny. I know that you’re not from here.”
“How?”
“No accent and an appreciation for snow.”
She grinned. They’d talked about how much they missed cold weather a few days ago and she was happy that he’d remembered. “Okay, fair enough. I’m actually from Moosehead Lake, Maine. And I ended up here because out of all the schools I got accepted to, it was the one that was least like home.”
“You don’t like Maine?”
“No, I love Maine. I thought it would be fun to be somewhere different for a while. What about you? Did you come here just for the football?”
Chase nodded. “Pretty much. This team has a better chance of putting me in the spotlight than the one I left. And I know how shallow that probably makes me sound--”
“No,” Claire said. “You need a place to shine. We’ve got scouts all over us and our ratio of players who’ve gone on to the NFL is one of the best in college football.”
Chase blinked. “Yeah, it is.”
She smiled. “Football is kind of my game, remember? I think you definitely made the right choice. And you kicked ass last night.”
“You watched?” He’d taken his share of shit for being benched, but everyone seemed to have forgiven him. And they’d played well last night. It had been one of those magic games where he hadn’t even felt tired until they were on the bus back home.
A good game was almost like good sex, both the high and the exhaustion. And, apparently, the rarity. Because it had been way too long. It hadn’t bothered him until he’d started spending so much time with Claire.
“Yeah. It was the first game I watched this season. You’re a cut above any wide receiver we’ve had before.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. Coach Davis had said the same thing, and it felt just as good to hear it from Claire. “Thanks.”
“How long have you been playing?”
“My whole life. I started when I was about 5 at the Y. The coaches there liked me, and I ended up getting a lot of extra training. Our high school coach was pretty good too, but it didn’t do a whole lot to prepare me to play at this level, so I did a lot of extra training by myself. It helped a lot, but there was probably some luck involved too.”
“I doubt that. Hard work always pays off. And it doesn’t hurt that you’re built perfectly.” Claire’s face went beet red. “For the position, I mean.”
Chase grinned, but he didn’t pursue it. With her face that red and her eyes locked firmly on the paper in front of her, he knew that she’d said more than she meant to. “When the position opened up here, I transferred as fast as I could.”
“What did your parents think? It’s kind of far from Montana.”
“They were fine with it. I mean, they weren’t thrilled, but they know this is my best chance. And they know I’m not going to be a lawyer, so they figured I might as well be rich and famous.” He grinned to show that he was mostly kidding about the last part. “The only who really cared was--” Shit. It was too late to stop himself now. Claire was looking at him curiously. “Um, my girlfriend.”
Her face blanched white. “You have a girlfriend?”
“No. I did then but I don’t now. She’s my ex.” Chase took a second and untangled his sentences. “She dumped me when I told her that I’d gotten accepted here. She said she’d never want to live anywhere but Montana.”
“But she knew that you were going to try to go professional,” Claire said, her heartbeat slowing down to a more normal level as she processed the information. Chase didn’t have a girlfriend. Whatever was building between them wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. “You would have had to move anyway. At least for part of the year.”
“Yeah...the thing is, she didn't think that I was actually going anywhere with it,” he said. “She said there was no point in me running all the way down here just to end up roofing houses for a living when I came back.” At Claire’s confused look, he said, “I worked for my uncle’s construction company in the summers. She said she knew that she was going to be the one supporting us financially and she was fine with that, but that I needed to settle down and not keep running after pipe dreams.”
“Obviously you disagreed,” Claire said. “And, just for the record, I disagree too.”
He grinned at her. “Thanks. It kind of screwed me up for a while...I even called Coach Davis and told him that I might not be able to play for him after all. He told me to do some serious thinking. Then Syd found out.”
“What did she do?”
“Smacked me across the back of the head so hard that I swear I saw stars and little cartoon birdies,” Chase answered. “Then she took me out to dinner and asked me what I’d been trying to do my whole life, play NFL football or marry Maria.”
“The more I hear about your sister the more I like her,” Claire informed him.
“I’ll be sure to let her know that the next time we talk.” Chase leaned back. “In the end, it didn’t matter what I wanted to do, because Maria broke up with me the next day.”
“I think it matters a lot,” Claire protested. “What did you decide?”
Chase shrugged. “I decided to go for the thing I’d been going for my whole life. Maria was...she was important to me. We’d been going out since the eighth grade dance. She was my first...” he stopped and cleared his throat, pushing his hand through his unruly brown hair. “Um, everything. Anyway. I loved her, but once we got out of high school things sort of started falling apart.”
Claire looked down at the table wondering...if this girl had been his first and he’d dated her until he showed up here...did that mean that he’d only been with one girl? The thought was surprisingly tantalizing. With looks like that, she’d have expected him to have racked up a lot more experience. She nibbled her lower lip.
“What are you thinking about?”
His voice broke into her reverie and she jerked her head up. “Nothing!”
“Come on, Claire. I know you. You’re never thinking nothing.”
She swallowed hard as he leaned toward her across the table. “I...well...” What did she have to lose? Before all of this with Logan, timidity had never been her style. “I guess I wondered...if she was your first...is she your only?”
Chase looked down for a second and she was afraid that she’d ticked him off. Then his eyes met hers once more. “Yeah,” he said. “She was. But lately I’m thinking how good it would be to change that.”
“Hey there!”
McKenna’s voice was like a bucket of ice water. Chase leaned back in his chair and Claire let out a long, slow breath. This wasn’t going to be good.
“What are you doing here?” McKenna asked brightly, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“Claire’s the one responsible for my presence at the game last night,” Chase said. “She’s helping me in trig.”
“Oh my God, you were amazing last night!” McKenna said, sitting down and squeezing Chase’s arm playfully. “But I’m not surprised, you always are. I was so worried when you had to miss that other game because of your tutoring issues.”
She switched her gaze to Claire meaningfully and then looked back at Chase with a big smile. “It’s good that you got her all straightened out.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Claire was never the problem,” he said simply. “I just had to get my head out of my ass. But thanks for the compliment.” He turned back to Claire. “What should we work on next?”
“Um, you were having issues with a few of the things here,” she said, pushing a worksheet over. “We should probably go over them so we can move forward.”
“Sounds good.” He glanced back at McKenna. “Talk to you later, okay?”
Her mouth dropped open in shock, but Chase had turned back to Claire. Claire, who was currently doing everything in her power not to burst out laughing at the dumbfounded look on McKenna’s face. Her roommate got up and walked into the living room, pulling her phone out and texting quickly as she went. The smile slid away from Claire’s face. Now it was going to hit the fan.
“You might want to be careful,” she said quietly.
“What?”
“Logan’s not going to like it that you stood up for me.”
Chase looked up to find that Claire had gone pale. “I don’t really give a damn what he likes,” he answered bluntly.
“Yes, you do, you’re his friend.”
“If being his friend means that I have to stand there and listen to other people talk shit about you, then maybe it’s not all that important.”
Sudden tears stung Claire’s eyes and Chase reached out, cupping her chin in his hand and tracing her cheek with his thumb. “What the hell really happened between the two of you?” he asked. He’d promised not to ask before, but he couldn’t hold the question back now.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to...”
“Well, aren’t you all nice and cozy?”
Claire looked around to see Ellie standing in the doorway.
“Is Claire giving you one of her famous sob stories?” the blonde asked, tilting her head and looking at them innocently.
“How about you walk me out?” Chase asked. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get much more done tonight.”
“Oh, don’t let me stand in your way,” Ellie said as he began to pack away his things. “If you want to be alone with Logan’s ex, I’m happy to leave for a while. Maybe I’ll go see what he’s doing.”
Claire stood and walked Chase out once Ellie had left the room. When he glanced down at her, he saw that her dark eyes were bright with tears. He stopped in his tracks when they spilled down her cheeks. He’d never seen her actually cry before.
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s right? She’s going to be on the phone with Logan in a heartbeat, telling him everything she just saw.”
Chase shrugged. “So what?”
“So you two are friends!” Claire said, her voice ragged. “And you have to play together. And I’m ruining it--”
“No, you’re not!” Chase said firmly, sounding so angry that Claire looked up at him in surprise. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but you haven’t done a damn thing to me.”
She barely choked back a sob and he gave in, pulling her in against him. She threw her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. Chase cupped one hand around the back of her head, holding her close. Her body was shaking as her tears soaked into his shirt.
“Don’t cry,” he said, rocking her gently back and forth and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Come on, it’s not worth it. It’s just one guy’s opinion.”
She shook her head. “No! It’s not. He can ruin things for you, Chase, and you don’t deserve it. Not just because of me.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “It’s not just you. But even if it was, it would be worth it to me.”
Her lips parted in surprise. Without thinking, Chase ducked his head and took her mouth with his. She caught her breath, but her arms twined around his shoulders as she went up on tiptoes to return his kiss. He didn’t linger because he knew that she didn’t need the push. But he did enjoy the feel of her lithe body against his. When he pulled back, he did it regretfully.
“It’ll work itself out, Claire.”
She nodded shakily and he traced his thumb over her full lower lip, wanting so much more and knowing better than to push for it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said. “Go to bed, just ignore it all. None of it matters.”
****
There was a knock on the door of his dorm about thirty minutes after he got home. “Yeah?”
“Hey.”
“What’s up, Logan?” Chase tried not to let his wariness show.
“I guess I just want to know why you lied to me.”
Chase turned fully, staring at him. “What?”
“About Claire.”
“How the hell did I lie to you about Claire?”
“You said she wasn’t your tutor anymore,” Logan said. “And now I hear that you were at her house. So what am I--”
“Look man, Coach Davis assigned her to me. It’s this or I’m off the team.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Chase looked at him. “Because it’s not really any of your business.”
Logan stared at him for a second, shocked into silence. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that she’s your ex. And she’s my math tutor. And there’s nothing either of us can do about that.” Not that he would have changed it anyway.
“I’m just...she’s gonna end up doing something to fuck things up for you. You’ve already missed a game because of her.”
“I missed the game because of my own shit,” Chase said. “It didn’t have anything to do with her.”
“Okay...well...she’s a liar through and through, man. I don’t know what she’s told you about me--”
“Nothing,” Chase cut in.
“What?”
“She’s never said a damn thing about you. Because she knows we’re friends.”
“Are we? Because it seems like you wouldn’t have lied to me if we were.”
“I never lied to you. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming that you don't know it, but I’ve never even heard her say your name. But you’re all over me about her every time you find out that we’ve been together. It needs to stop.”
Logan’s jaw clenched.
Chase hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and shrugged, keeping his posture as non-confrontational as possible. He really didn't want to get into a fight with Logan. “I’m not trying to start anything with you,” he said honestly. “But I’m getting kind of tired of you hassling me about her.”
“Okay,” Logan said slowly. “Fine. I won’t say a damn thing. Good luck with your trig.”
He walked out. Chase sat down on the edge of his bed and sighed. Now seemed like a good enough time to call his sister. He’d never returned the call she’d given him the day he’d been hungover, for one thing. For another, there was no one else he’d rather go to for advice.
“Chase! It’s about time,” Sydney said in lieu of hello.
“Really? That’s how you start?”
“What do you want? Sweet nothings?”
“No, what I actually want is advice.”
“You can’t see it, but I’m rubbing my hands together in eagerness. What can I help you with?”
He laid the situation out. What Logan had said about Claire, what Claire had said in response, and every detail of their day together.
“So, let me get this straight,” Sydney said. “He talks about how awful she is all the time, but she hasn’t said a single bad thing about him...and he says that he dumped her?”
“Yeah.”
“Bullshit.”
“Do you talk like that in front of my innocent nephews?”
“Eric’s watching them right now. I took ten seconds to go the store for a little peace and quiet. And to advise you on life. This guy sounds like a jealous jackass. I’d be careful.”
“Careful?”
“It seems like he’s got a decent amount of influence. You’re the new kid on the team. And I’m pretty far away. I can’t come and kick his ass for you.”
Chase grinned. “I think I might manage, Syd.”
“Well, if you’re sure. Now. There’s one other thing.”
“What?”
“Is Claire pretty?”
“Oh yeah. She’s got this really long dark hair and she’s pretty tall for a girl. She’s like...” he searched for a comparison. “Like a dancer. That lean kind of thin, you know?”
“So you love her?”
“No!”
“Do I detect the squeak of a lie?”
“I did not squeak!” he said indignantly.
Sydney laughed. “Okay, but did you lie?”
“I don’t...I don’t love her. I barely know her.”
“Why try to lie to your older sister?”
“Okay, I think she’s really pretty and she’s incredibly nice. But...she’s Logan’s ex, you know?”
“I do know, kiddo. But you might think about Claire’s side of the story. Between her side and his, you’ll figure out the truth.”
“Very sage.”
“I have become wise since producing offspring.”
Chase laughed. “Thanks, Syd.”
“Anytime, Chase. And hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Call me more often, okay? And let me know who ends up being right and who ends up being horrible.”
“Sure thing.”