Chapter 13

Chance

DAMN SHE WAS cute, even when she was being annoyingly evasive. There was still a touch of makeup on her face, and with the sun shining on her newly colored hair, I noticed that the dark brown appeared to mix with her natural strawberry blonde and created an attractive auburn color that was only a few shades darker than her amber eyes. She took my breath away. And not just because of her new appearance, but because of the fact she was stepping out of that shell, out of that life she’d created for herself in her head. Her strength was what was most breathtaking.

Being hungover and flustered did nothing to detract from her beauty. But that didn’t mean I was going to let her bizarre behavior slide just because I thought she was stunning.

“Melany,” I warned.

“How did you even know where I lived anyway?” she asked, taking another huge bite of her food.

“I asked Collin this morning. Now stop changing the subject.”

“That’s a little invasive, don’t you think? But you brought me breakfast, so I guess I’ll let it slide. Thank you for this, by the way. I really needed something to soak up all the booze.” My mouth hardened into a thin line at her diversion, causing her to roll her eyes. “Okay, okay! I didn’t want you coming inside because… well, I kind of… live with my mom,” she finished in a quiet voice, her mouth hidden behind her half-eaten breakfast.

“What?” I started with a teasing grin. “You embarrassed of me or something?”

Her delicate features flushed with guilt and her eyes got wide as she misinterpreted my joke. “No! God, no! Not at all. I’m so sorry if I made you feel that way. If anything, it’s the other way around!”

“Wait.” I held up my hand to stop her. “I was just messing with you. But what do you mean it’s the other way around?”

“Shit,” she whispered, dropping her food so she could cradle her head in her hands. “Me and my mouth. I swear to God, life would be so much easier if I was mute.”

“Hey,” I spoke softly, reaching across the weathered picnic table and taking one of her hands. I held on, rubbing my thumb along her pulse in her wrist. “What’s going on, sweetheart? You know you can tell me anything, right?”

She picked up the orange juice bottle, then proceeded to gulp down the entire contents. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she pointed at mine in question, so I pushed it in her direction. Once the second bottle was a quarter of the way empty, she finally started talking.

“My mom is… not a nice person.”

My stomach plummeted, more because of the look on her face when she said it than because of the words themselves. “What do you mean?”

She cringed, unable to meet my eyes as she continued. “I mean… she’s kind of… well, not even kind of. She’s terrible. And I didn’t want you to meet her because I didn’t want you to think I was anything like her. Because I’m not! I’m nothing like her. She’s awful. Awful. But I didn’t want to take that chance because I like how you look at me and I didn’t want that to change, and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I gave her arm a gentle squeeze, trying to get her attention and stop her nervous rambling. “Hey, calm down. Just relax. Breathe, honey.”

She instantly stopped, her pulse beneath my thumb steadily beginning to settle. Something unfamiliar flittered across her eyes as she murmured, “I really like it when you call me that.”

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, I knew she hadn’t meant to say them out loud. But my body physically reacted to her soft melodic voice, my cock straining again the zipper of my jeans as my chest tightened, there was no way in hell was I letting her hide from her comment.

When she tried to pull her hand from mine, I held tight, hunching low to keep eye contact. “And I love that you like that, sweetheart,” I said just as softly, clearly surprising her. “You deserve to feel special.”

“Oh crap,” she grumbled. “I didn’t dream that, did I? I really said that to you last night?”

“You did,” I told her with a pleased grin. “And I mean what I said. You deserve to feel that from someone.”

“It’s a nice feeling. I haven’t had a lot of that in my life,” she said quietly. I realized she was beginning to open up to me about her past, and it warmed me from the inside out, even as the realization that she’d struggled even a day in her life killed me.

“Tell me about it.” I tried to speak soothingly, but I knew the insistency in my voice came through.

She inhaled through her nose and slowly blew it out through her plumped, puckered lips before starting. “My dad took off when I was five years old.” Sadness crept into her expression and tone as she told her story. “It’s not like I blame him, really. When I said my mom was terrible, I wasn’t kidding. He just couldn’t take it anymore. But the thing that hurt the most was the fact that, when he left her behind, he left me too. He never tried to reach out to me.” A slightly bitter laugh erupted from her throat. “I mean, I was only five. You’d think he’d want to see his daughter grow up, right? But obviously not.”

Christ, I’d never had a woman’s emotions affect me so strongly in my life. She was visibly hurting, and my entire being physically ached to comfort her. The feelings that I’d started to feel for her were so much stronger than I’d initially thought, because if I could go back in time and beat her father to a bloody pulp, I gladly would.

“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression,” she stated. “There are a lot of kids out there who had it worse off than I did. I mean, it wasn’t like my mom hit me or anything. She was just really unpleasant to be around. And… like I said, not very nice. So I learned that just staying quiet was the better alternative. If I didn’t talk much, then it was less likely I’d be noticed. But that didn’t necessarily make it easy for me to make friends.”

“But you had Constance,” I indicated hopefully, wanting to confirm that she at least had someone.

“Oh, I did!” She finally graced me with a sunny smile, and I felt some of the tension coiled tight in my gut loosen. “And I was so thankful for her! She was my only friend.” Then she did something that surprised the hell out of me. As if she needed to strengthen our connection, her hand turned beneath mine and she intertwined our fingers, the soft skin on her palm brushing against the roughness of mine.

“I know it kind of makes me look a little antisocial, but it wasn’t like that. It was just that the longer I stayed quiet, the easier it became. I kind of created this world in my head that was a lot nicer than the one I lived in, and staying there was more fun.”

“I get it,” I told her, wanting to soothe any worries she might have had in regards to how I thought of her.

Almost unconsciously, her thumb began rubbing back and forth across my knuckles. The look on her face was thoughtful, distant, as she stared out at nothing. “Constance has always accepted me just as I was. She never tried to push me to be more outgoing if I was uncomfortable with it. There was only one time she tried to get me to open up when we were in high school.”

Something told me I wasn’t going to like where she was going with that, but I still found myself asking, “What happened?”

I hadn’t thought it possible, but her gaze grew even more distant as she talked. “I had a crush on this guy a few years older than me, and Constance convinced me to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins dance at school. I did, and he went and told all of his friends.” I had to stiffen every muscle in my body in order not to visibly wince. “They all thought it was hilarious. The girl I hadn’t realized he was dating at the time confronted me in the cafeteria in front of everybody. They all laughed, and I ran out, completely humiliated. At the end of school that day, I discovered they’d tagged my locker. The whole group spray painted loser and freak, and a bunch of other horrible names on it. It was…”

She trailed off, the memory causing her visible pain. “The janitor tried to scrub it off, even paint over it, but it still showed through.”

“Jesus,” I hissed, moving my free hand to wrap around our entwined ones. “Fuck, honey. I’m so sorry. Kids are assholes. You give me his name and I’ll hunt the little fucker down. You have my word.”

She gave a little laugh, her fingers tensing around mine. “You going to threaten to beat up every guy who embarrassed me?”

“There were more?” I asked in bewilderment, unable to understand how anyone could meet this amazing woman and not instantly fall for her. Were people blind? How could they not see what I saw every time I looked at her?

Her face crinkled into an adorable frown as she snorted derisively. “I like to say my hesitation when it comes to men is a result of the three-strikes rule. First strike was my dad. The second that jerk in high school.”

“And the third?”

“The frat asshole who took my virginity on a bet. I had to sneak out of his window in the middle of the night to avoid the walk of shame. And when I say that, I mean literally. They were all waiting for me in the hallway.”

Jesus fucking Christ! A film of red coated my vision as I pictured her climbing through a window to avoid humiliation. I wanted to murder the pricks who’d hurt her so badly. No wonder she’d chosen to become an introvert.

My voice came out as an angered growl when I stated, “I need names.”

To my surprise, she laughed. Not a small chuckle, but a full-blown belly laugh. After the story she’d just told me, I couldn’t imagine she’d be able to find anything to laugh about. It just proved how resilient she truly was. I was in awe of her. I sat silent as she finally got a hold of herself.

I suddenly had the need to touch her more than just holding her hand. I wanted her close to me. I wanted to be able to hold her. Using the grip on her fingers, I pulled, forcing her to stand and walk around the table that separated us. She watched me curiously as I turned to straddle the bench, never breaking my hold on her hand as I pulled her to sit down next to me.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I asked, my tone full of wonder at her incredible strength.

Her entire face softened. Her eyes shone brightly as she smiled up at me. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“I wish you never had to deal with any of that shit. And as long as I’m around, I swear to God, you’ll never have to deal with it again.”

Those light brown eyes closed as she pulled in a steadying breath and leaned into me, letting me absorb all her weight. I wrapped my arms firmly around her waist, holding her tight, never wanting to let go. She fit against me so perfectly, like she was made to be in my arms. “That means a lot to me, Chance. I’m glad I met you,” she whispered against my chest.

“I’m glad too, honey.” I pulled her even closer, then stated in all seriousness, “But I’m still going to need names.”

Once again, she burst into laughter. And it was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard.