Lifting me in his arms, he gently laid me down on my sleeping bag and positioned himself on his—next to me. I turned on my side to face him, snuggling into him while he stared into my eyes. I tried to keep my eyes on his, but my lids became too heavy and my world seemed to tilt into oblivion.
The last thing I remembered hearing was Jase’s low whisper against my ear, “Stay in the rabbit hole with me this time.”
I hoped it wasn’t a dream.
The first thing I heard the next morning was someone moaning. It wasn’t a pleasurable moan in any sense; it was a moan of pure, intense agony. And it seemed to be coming from deep within my aching throat. Slowly blinking my eyes open, my head seemed to torpedo into a million tiny pieces and hammer against my skull.
I tried to lift my head off the sleeping bag, but it was too heavy and thick. And dizzy–why was I so dizzy? And who in the world was snoring like that?
Peeking around the room, I was taking inventory in my brain of who came back up here with me last night, and what I might have done. My stomach rolled, and the tree house tilted and whirled around me.
Dark wisps of brown hair fell out of the sleeping bag next to me. Reaching out my hand, I pulled it down to sneak a look at who it was, and Jase’s calm, sleeping face was hidden beneath. Feeling safe, I snuggled my body against his and fell back to sleep.
It was late afternoon when I blinked open my eyes again. The throb in my head was gone and the world stopped its crazy, jerky movements around me. Below me, under the heavy branches of the tree house, I could hear someone calling my name, pleading with me to come out.
Who the…? Was that…Anthony?
Lifting the sleeping bag off my body, I hauled myself into a sitting position. With just a hint of a churning deep in my belly, I smiled. I might have slept the entire day away, but I could drink like the boys!
Anthony’s pleading voice was still calling my name.Jerk.
Looking around the small room, I noticed Joey sprawled out on one of the beanbags, watching me. Ava was gone; hopefully she hadn’t gotten in any trouble for staying at my house all night.
Then, my eyes landed on Jase, who was rolling up his sleeping bag with a tight, angry scowl slashed across his face. He must have noticed me staring at him, because he stopped moving, just crouched over his bag for a moment, frozen. Finally, he turned his face toward me. His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were squeezing and twisting the material of the sleeping bag so tightly his knuckles were turning white. His teeth were clenched together firmly, and the pulse in his neck throbbed.
Damn, he looked like one of those crazy wrestlers on TV.
Anthony screamed out my name again, and something hard thumped against the side of the tree house, like he’d just thrown a rock.
That stupid son of a….
Jase’s eyes darkened and his chest started heaving heavily as his eyes focused on mine. “Yourboyfriendis outside with a handful of flowers for you.”
I got to my feet steadily and walked to the window. Jase’s eyes were on me the whole way. I opened it with a hard shove and stuck my head out, peering down.
Anthony was staring up at me with a handful of red roses, “Charlotte…Charlotte? Please, let me talk to you? I’m so sorry. I know I messed up. Please let me talk to you. Please let me explain,” his voice cracked, like he was about to cry, “Charlotte Stone, I...I love you!”
From inside the tree house, somewhere behind me, Jase grunted and threw something hard against the wooden slats of the floor. Turning my head at the noise, my eyes met his icy blue ones, and I couldn’t look away. I had no clue what was going on in Jase’s head. However, with the intense way he looked at me, like he was some sort of wild animal, ready to devour me, I almost lost the ability to stand. I wanted him to look at me like that forever.
I searched those eyes long and hard in that brief moment, and in my head, I told him everything I ever felt for him. I lifted my voice and called out to Anthony, “Hey Anthony? I hate flowers. Giving me those stupid, nasty, smelling things isn’t going to take your disgusting lies back!” I screamed, shaking my head. “So, I don’t accept your apology. I will never think it wasokaythat you spread lies about me. Go home.”
Slowly, Jase’s expression changed. His scowl softened. His eyebrows lifted and his lips parted, revealing his surprise.
Suddenly, Jase was standing an inch away from me, tilting his head to the side; the heat rolling off of his body sent tingling waves against mine. His hands grasped my shoulders as he bent down and brushed his lips against my forehead, “That a girl. Don’t let anyone walk all over you.” His longs fingers softly squeezed my skin, spreading a surge of warmth across my chest. “And, don’t forget, Charlie. We have a conversation to finish.” The huskiness in his low whisper caused small sparks of heat to dance deep inside my belly.
I blinked my eyes rapidly, like an idiot.
Jase stepped back, letting his hands fall to his sides, and Joey was instantly next to us, placing a hand on each of our shoulders. Joey’s lips twisted into one of his beautiful, goofy smiles. “I feel the need to celebrate, if I may be so bold to say that I am hoping to finally have my two best friends no longer at each other’s throats.”
Jase and I both nodded our heads.
“Good. We’re getting drinks tonight…and I know just the place to go,” Joey insisted. “Tooties. They don’t card anyone. We’ve been inside there a few times, so they know us.”
“Wait a second. You mean a bar? Like areal bar?” I asked.
Joey smiled a cocky smile at me. “Yep. The bartender who works there used to race in the weeds with us, so he lets us come in. Charlie, we’ve been going there for a few months.”
“Seriously? To a realbar? Where the hell have I been?” I asked.
