Page 96 of Chase

“Yep,” Chad answers.

“Holy fuck. How did I not know that?” Ally asks. The shock is evident.

“It’s not a secret,” I tell them as I make my way over to Yasmin and pull her towards me. I miss her when she’s not in my arms. I’m not afraid to admit it and I know she loves me holding her as well.

“I had no idea. Does that mean we’ll still be seeing you next year?” Ally turns her attention to Chad and turns on the charm, flirting with him.

Rhys growls and Ashley storms off.

“Most likely,” Chad says to Ally, ignoring her flirty advances.

All of a sudden the lights dim and Arden’s voice booms over the speaker system.

“Time for the count down.” Suddenly everyone starts counting back from ten. Arden appears at the top of the stairs with a pretty brunette I don’t know tucked under his arm.

I turn Yasmin in my arms and kiss her when everyone reaches one. She melts into the kiss and starts to rub against me. I pull her closer and deepen the kiss, momentarily forgetting where we are.

The sound of fireworks brings me back to the present. I groan while pulling a way from her slightly. We need some space, or I’ll be dragging her off to our room.

I spin her around so she can see the fireworks. Leaning down to whisper in her ear. The smell of strawberries and cream lingers on her skin. “We’ll finish this later.”

She nods her head, her eyes focused on the spectacular light show in front of us.

After the fireworks, Yasmin and Ally go downstairs to dance. We tried to convince them to stay up here with us but they demanded we stop acting like cavemen and to let them go. Ralph has been watching them for us.

Rhys and I join him at the rail.

“It’s hard to believe this is the last party we’ll have here,” Rhys says.

“I’m not going to miss it,” Ralph says. “I’m glad Julia is nothing like her brother,” he adds.

“We haven’t been that bad,” I say to Ralph as I watch the girls dance. Everyone has sort of created a circle around them. No one game enough to get to close.

“You’ve kept me on my toes,” Ralph responds, casting a sideways glance at us.

“You love us,” I tell him.

“I do. I’m going to miss you little shits. Especially him,” he says as he nods towards Arden, who has the same brunette from earlier pushed up against the pool fence. I guess he’s getting his fill of Canary Bay girls before we leave.

“We’ll miss you too. But we’ll still see you when we visit and when you bring the girls to visit,” Rhys says as he looks over the crowd of people below us.

“I know. I’ve been interviewing drivers for you guys in New Hope,” Ralph tells us. Arden really wanted to bring Ralph with us but Ralph and Martha both need to stay here with Julia. It was a hard decision for Arden to make, but it was really a no-brainer. We’re old enough to adjust to new help.

“I thought we agreed we didn’t need a driver,” I say while sipping my beer.

“You did, and I decided I’d feel better if you had the option of one,” Ralph explains.

“You know we’re capable of Ubering right?” Rhys replies sarcastically, which causes Ralph to reach over me and smack him in the back of his head.

“Yes smartass, but having a driver available puts my mind at ease and could you imagine Arden in an Uber. The princess would have a coronary.” Ralph says laughing.

He’s not wrong, Arden is a little bit of princess when it comes to these things.

The girls giggling on their way up the stairs ends the conversation.

We help them to sit on the loveseats and Chad brings over some water for them. I sit beside Yasmin and pull her into me. She snuggles closer and inhales.

Rhys sits beside Ally, keeping some distance between them. Ashley is, after all, still floating around the party.

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