17
Where is he?Larke paced her apartment for almost an hour. She crossed to the window, looking out for any sign of Chase’s red pickup. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to follow his command and go home. But his eyes had pleaded, begged her to trust him. She had to.
Inside the store, she’d faltered, believing for a while that he might forsake her in order to save face with a fellow white supremacist. He hadn’t. He’d stood up for her even though it meant trouble for him. How much? That’s what had her so shaky.
As she made the decision that if after five minutes he didn’t show up, she would ring his phone, Larke jumped at the distinct knock on the door. She hurried across the room and peeked out of the peephole. Chase. The heavy of weight of worry dissipated from her shoulders. She drew the door open, throwing herself into his arms before he had a chance to step inside.
“You had me so worried!”
“I’m sorry I took so long. McNair and I needed to get a few things straight.” He looked her up and down, and then checked her wrist, smoothing the spot where his “buddy” had grabbed her. “He didn’t really hurt you, did he?”
Larke shook her head. “No. I never expected something like that to happen. Much less inside a store in the middle of the day.” She inched away from him and took a deep breath. “I don’t like knowing this is some sort of friend of yours.”
“McNair and I ain’t buddies or friends. We got this thing settled, but that doesn’t mean we’re cool or that I trust him. You’re my only friend. The only person I trust.” Chase raked a hand through his hair. “Anyways, I’m real sorry that happened. I knew the fucker was a hunter but there’s no way I could’ve known he’d be in there today.”
“It wasn’t your fault. What happened after I left?”
“We talked.”
She frowned. “Talked? He didn’t strike me as the type of person anyone could talk things out with.”
Chase strode across the room, taking a seat on the couch. “Maybe not. He was willing to listen this time. So, it’s all good. Everything is fine.” He tapped the cushion next to him. “Come sit beside me.”
Larked folded her arms. How could he be so casual about what just happened? She refused to move from her spot. Eyeing him carefully, she asked, “So, you’re not concerned at all about everyone knowing you’re in a relationship with me?”
“Didn’t I just tell you everything was settled? McNair won’t open his mouth. He has too much to lose.”
“Like you? Do you also have too much to lose because of me?”
Chase stared at her for what felt like an eternity without saying a word. Larke watched as he glanced down at his hand then slowly brought his attention to her. “I do have a lot to lose,” he began. “Nothing I’m scared of losing, though. You just gotta understand it ain’t that easy shedding years of well...everything I am. Was. I don’t really care what people say. You know me, Larke. But I won’t lie and tell you it’ll be a walk in the park when every single member of Antebellum Resistance finds out I’m a race traitor. I never heard of anyone doing anything like that before, especially not while living in our community.”
Larke sat beside him, humbled at his honesty and hating the path his family had laid out for him. The situation could’ve easily been reversed if her parents had been the fanatics. She laced her arm around his shoulder. “Do you worry they’ll try to…” God, she couldn’t even bring herself to finish the terrifying sentence.
He shook his head. “No. There’s a bunch of hotheads, like McNair for instance and some actual nutjobs, who’ve already gotten themselves locked up a time or two. The majority are just pissed at life. I never saw it before. But I get it now. They think the government and life in general abandoned them. Take that sinkhole we fell into. You know what caused it?”
She shook her head. “Tell me.”
“The whole area used to be a mining town. They used to drill mining tunnels across the woodlands. After a while the ground just caved it and that’s what caused it. When the mine closed, lots of people got real frustrated. My grandfather was able to buy up most of that land dirt cheap back then, cause the town was dead. The first few members he recruited were starving miners. He got them to help him build up the town with a promise of a better future. For whites. Since they were the ones suffering. That’s how all this mess got started. And it just grew and grew and sucked us all in.”
Jesus. And now she was sucked in too, Larke thought. “Did your grandfather tell you all of this before he died?”
Chase curled his lips and chuckled harshly. “Bits and pieces. He sounded like a big hero when he told it. The rest I figured out on my own.”
“It’s sad isn’t it? The fact that race traitor is even a term although there’s nothing traitorous about two people wanting to be together. Yesterday, I thought about it also. I thought maybe race traitor applied to me but in a different way. The only difference is, not once did I draw any conclusion that us being together was wrong. Do you still think it is, not you and me, but in general for other people?”
“I don’t.” He looked down at her hand on his. “You see that I’m trying real hard, don’t you? Like I promised. I don’t even wanna think some of those words I used to use before. They don’t feel right and makes me think about you being all sad and hurt. Sometimes, Idohave to try extra hard to watch what I say because it might be wrong.” He ran his thumb along her nape.
Larke bit her lip, becoming aroused as he kept talking. “Like I’ve been wanting to tell you how pretty your skin is. When I saw you naked for the first time all I could think about was touching and tasting you all over. It really did remind me of chocolate, but I figured I shouldn’t say stuff like that. Right?”
The pulse in the base of her neck began to beat hard and rapidly. “It’s not the best thing to say, but it’s not bad.” Larke leaned into him as his lips caressed her neck. “The way you put it though, I almost wished I did taste like that.”
Chase raised his head and murmured close to her ear, “You taste much better. I told you so remember––said you tasted better than candy. I meant chocolate but didn’t want to outright say it.”
She laughed softly, suddenly recalling those very words and the warm feel of his tongue against her clit two nights ago. She drew her legs together, feeling moisture gathering at her core. “I love all the things we’ve done together. Sometimes I even lie awake in bed with my eyes closed picturing it all.”
He drew his gaze to her thighs, held pressed together. Lifting his head, he captured her stare.
“Don’t do that.”
