AllFreeNovel
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I’ve been played. Tricked. Bamboozled.
By everyone.
And while there’s a certain amount of terror in my gut, there’s also… gratitude that I don’t quite understand. Caroline and Gram were in cahoots to get Chase and me alone together. That must mean they believe something needs to be said or done.
That they have some amount of hope.
Maybe I should too.
I take a few steps into the yard. Chase is digging furiously, oblivious to what’s going on around him. I don’t want to interrupt or scare him by sneaking up on him. “Hi,” I tentatively call out.
Chase stops mid-dig, his foot just beginning to press the shovel into the earth. His body tenses.
“Caroline brought me here and Gram locked me out. So, I don’t know if this is some kind of plan you concocted or…”
He finally looks at me over his shoulder. I am bowled over by the intensity of his blue eyes. A mix of sweat and the last of the rain dampens his hair, causing a lock to fall onto his forehead with utter deliciousness. “I had nothing to do with it,” he finally says.
“Oh,” I say. “Cool.”
Chase runs his hand back through his hair and leans on the shovel.
Neither of us know what to say. I haven’t seen him since he rejected me in front of the whole world and managed to foil our entire plan in a matter of a minute. There’s so much to be said and yet nothing at all.
“Gram sent me out here to dig up the bourbon,” he says suddenly.
“Oh. Why?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Same reason she locked you out of the house, I assume.”
To get us right where they wanted us. Together. Having to face what’s been coming to us.
I take a few steps closer. “Do you need some help?”
“No, I’ve got it.” Chase turns back around and continues his digging. His muscles ripple through the fabric of his shirt. I remember all those times tangled in bed together as if I haven’t been thinking about them every night for the past month.
Spoiler alert, I absolutely have.
I stand out of the way and watch, rapt. The moment he strikes the bottle, he smiles and uses the shovel to spread the dirt aside. The bottle of bourbon appears. Same as it ever was. Just a little dirtier than before.
“What happens when you dig it up?” I ask.
“You’re supposed to –“ Chase grunts as he leans over the hole, fishing the bottle out of the earth. “Dig it up after the ceremony. And drink.”
He brushes some dirt away from the label.
“Well, it’s after the ceremony,” I say with a sheepish shrug.
“Suppose you’re right.” He cracks open the seal and tosses the cap to the ground. “Ladies first.”
I take the bottle from him, nodding in thanks, and take a sip. The bourbon slices my tongue first before sliding down smoothly the rest of the way. “Mm. Good stuff.”
“Should be for what I paid.”
I have half a mind to bring up the endowment right then and there but decide against it. “I should have let you drink first.”
Chase frowns as he swipes the bottle from me, wrapping his lips around the opening, and knocking back a shot. His exposed throat makes me shiver.
“Birthday boy, after all.”
