Page 23 of Our Moon
Chapter Eleven
Trevor and Alex are both home tonight, so I text Chase to let him know I want to meet him at his apartment. I know it’s risky, doing this while my brothers are home, but I can’t wait another minute. I want answers.
“Hey, baby girl,” Chase croons as I slip in the side door to the garage. I’m surprised to see him downstairs in the band’s practice space, rather than waiting for me upstairs in his apartment. We can easily be caught down here if my brothers were to come by for their instruments or a visit.
I give him a shy smile, “Hey, Chase.”
He sets his acoustic guitar on the couch beside him and stands. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this clandestine meeting?” he asks as he struts towards me.
God, he’s gorgeous. I could look into his eyes all day long and not get tired of it. Then there’s the way he walks and the way he talks. I could get lost in him. I want to get lostwithhim.
“Ally,” he says, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
I startle and shake my thoughts of his bottomless blue eyes from my head. “I wanted to ask you something,” I tell him. “Can we go upstairs?”
“You wanna go upstairs?” he smirks and wriggles his eyebrows.
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Yes, but not for the reasons I’m sure you’re thinking.” He visibly deflates. “At least not right away.” I add, boldly running my fingertips down his toned bicep. I throw in a wink, and he perks back up. “I just don’t want my brothers to walk in.”
“You know it’ll be a lot worse if they walk in and we’re upstairs, right?”
“Well, I’m not planning on them walking in, and if they do, I’ll hide in your closet or something.”
“My closet is in my bedroom,” he says, scratching his chin as though he’s deep in thought. “I kind of like the idea of you in my bedroom.” He grins mischievously again and tingles erupt throughout my entire body.
“Head out of the gutter, Baker,” I finally say.
He smiles to let me know he’s teasing me. “Come on,” he says as he grabs my hand and leads me up the stairs to his apartment.
I haven’t been up here before. It’s really nice. It’s set up like a studio, with everything out in the open except for the bathroom and what I guess is a closet. There’s a small kitchenette when you first walk in, complete with a breakfast bar and two stools. To the left there is a seating area with a leather couch, entertainment center, and small coffee table. These boys and their leather furniture. I try to ignore his large bed in the farthest corner of the space, but recall him just mentioning his bedroom. I thought for sure that meant a separate space. I take a seat on the couch and Chase sits beside me, never releasing my hand.
“What’s going on, baby girl? You seem so serious.” Nervous is more like it, but Chase was probably just being polite.
“I thought you said you had a bedroom?” I ask, trying to shake the nerves out.
He smirks again, “This whole place is my bedroom.”
I roll my eyes, “On that note…” I take a deep breath. “I wanted to talk to you about some things.”
“So you said,” he says, referring to my earlier texts I’m sure. I had never texted him before, never really needed to. He always kind of showed up before I could think even think about it.
I look into his eyes again, which are now filled with concern. “I don’t think it’s anything bad,” I say, trying to assure him.
“That’s good,” he says, but he still doesn’t relax his expression.
“I spoke with Lucy today,” I start. I haven’t spoken to Chase much about wanting to find the missing pieces of my life. I tend to want to live in the now when I’m with him and he encourages that. He’s so understanding about everything, and his opinions are so fresh. He doesn’t worry about coddling me, he just tells it like it is, and he does it in a way that’s not offensive or hurtful. I can tell he genuinely cares. And I worry that he may not like the idea of me digging into my past and not just letting things happen naturally.
“That’s good. What did you talk about?”
“Just stuff,” I say, looking down at my lap. What was I thinking? How can I mention a possible hidden fling from my past to my current hidden fling? Ugh. How messed up am I? Two hidden flings?
Chase puts his finger under my chin and lifts my head to face him. “What is it, baby girl? You know you can tell me anything.”
I nod because, yes, I do know that. I take a deep breath and let it all out in a quick exhale. “Lucy seems to think I might have been seeing someone before the accident.”
I watch the emotions flash across his face. Shock, fear, was that relief?
“What makes you think that?” he asks calmly.
