Up for the Chase Read online

  Up for the Chase

  Nicole Tetterton

  This work is entirely fiction. Any similarities with persons living or dead is simply a coincidence and not intended by the author.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked statue and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Samantha Bagood/Cover Pub. http://coverpub.samanthabagood.com/

  Chapter One

  “Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess,” Well maybe I don’t believe that she was beautiful, but it makes the story sound better, “And she met a handsome prince.” I watch as my daughter’s eyes light up, even though she has heard this story a thousand times. “He treated her as a princess should be, he whisked her away on his horse and they explored all of the land together.” She grins, laughing and looks back up to me.

  “Mommy, what did the prince look like?”

  “Well, my love, he was tall, taller than any man that she had ever met in her entire like. In fact, she only came up to his chest, when he would kiss her he would have to pick her up.” She giggles at the word kiss. “He was very tan most of the time and had deep brown eyes, where if you looked hard enough you could see hints of gold in them. They were unlike any that she had ever seen before, and his hair was unusual, it was short all around except for in the middle, where his brown hair bunched together in a thick line and stood up about six inches that went all the way down his head. Eventually after weeks of them being together she slowly watched it grow out.” She wouldn’t understand the term, Mohawk.

  “What did the princess look like?” she asked, giddy.

  “Now, sweetheart, we have been through that.”

  “But mommy it’s part of the story.” She whines

  “Alright, she didn’t look like a normal princess, she was on the shorter side of the height, and she had clear blue eyes, which he always said that he adored, he said that they reminded him of the ocean in the Caribbean; she had never been before so she wasn’t exactly sure what it meant. She had pale, porcelain skin, and her hair changed frequently, but when they met it was pink.”

  “PINK!!” she shouts and then giggles.

  “Pink,” I emphasize, “But the prince and the princess were perfect together; he was so gentle with her that when she woke up and he wasn’t there one morning she wasn’t sure how to handle it. she cried for days, not leaving the city in which they had shared their last night in, in hopes that he would come back for her. After she stayed two weeks, she decided to find her way home, where she continued to live her life, but the prince had left a precious gift with the princess, something to remember him for the rest of her life, and although she was terrified at first, she grew to love the sweet gift he left.”

  “Did she ever stop loving the prince?” She asks, wide-eyed, full of concern.

  “It’s time for bed.” I tell her smiling and tucking her in.

  “But mom,” She whines.

  “Sleep, now,” I stare at her and she scoffs slinging down into the bed and lets me pull the sheets up over her and tighten them around her body.

  “I love you mom,” she tells me and rolls over shutting her eyelids.

  Avery is my world. If you haven’t guessed by now the story is my way of explaining to her where her father is and how she came around. I know that she doesn’t understand it now, with her only being five, but I know that one day she will and it will be easier than me having to explain it to her then. I am a twenty-four year old single mom, and sometimes it’s hard, but I make it work. It’s just me and Av in this world.

  When I booked the flight from California back home to South Carolina after being gone the entire summer, without anyone’s knowledge of where I had gone only a basic letter, my father was furious with me, but when he found out that I was pregnant and I wouldn’t be going to college after all he sent me packing with enough money to rent a place for a short amount of time, he tended to over react sometimes. We haven’t really spoken since. I grew up in what the locals call ‘Beautiful Beaufort’, but it’s really just because they don’t have anything else nice to say about it. My father was a high ranking officer in the Marine Corps which is why we were even there, and when he came home one day and found the note reading, “I just need some space and I will be back soon.” He lost it, but he was smothering me and I needed to get out. I needed to get away. I took a cab to Yemassee, which is a hole in the wall town that I imagine was one day a pretty big deal with the train station, but since no one took them anymore it was deteriorating, I booked the first train to anywhere and boarded. I feel asleep in the car and when I awoke just a few hours later I saw the palm trees dancing around me. I got off the train in Orlando deciding that something I always wanted to do was to go to Disney World. It always seemed so magical and my father, with being in the military, never had the time to take me, even before my mother died and left me all of her inheritance, I’m sure my father wasn’t too pleased about that either.

  The only part I hate about telling Av this story is that I end up reliving the details of what happened. I end up half aware of what is going on in my day to day life and just end up replaying the details of that summer in my head for days and it breaks my heart all over again. Constantly struggling between focusing on reality and daydreaming of the summer when I met the man that I’m sure I will only ever love.

  I bought the ticket to enter the park the moment I left the station and walked through the entrance, instantly feeling happy, there’s just something about Disney World that you have to be happy. I made my way through the park feeling almost overwhelmed but taking in all the sights. I had to hug Mickey and take my time waiting in every line even the rides that were mainly just for kids. I have to admit that I got some pretty strange glances my way, being all by myself, but I didn’t really care. I loved it and I had a blast and the most fun than I had in the past three years, since my mother died. I stay at the park that afternoon until the sun starts to set, and I stick around for the parade and the fireworks. It was incredible and everything that I had ever wanted from Disney, they exceeded my expectations. I was what the little girl in me always had wanted. I managed to book a room at a resort that was down the street from the park and stay. The room was incredible and looked more like an apartment than a room, when I checked in by myself the girl looked at me like I was crazy, it was probably to do with my pink hair though. I booked four nights at the hotel and when I woke in the morning I changed into my bathing suit and went down, grabbed my book, and spent the entire day soaking in the sun.

  When I walked up to the room hours later, after waking up under the sun, I noticed that my skin was slightly pink I sighed, rubbing on some lotion and then went to sleep. I’ll never forget those nightmares: I wake suddenly to the sounds of the crying, I jolt in my bed as I hear my mother pleading, I can hear the sounds coming from her room and I know what he is doing to her. He tells her that I am next, and that she will watch before he kills her. He makes that promise to her, but she tells him that I am not home, that I am staying with a friend, and I know that this is my only chance. I climb out of my bed and walk, silently, over to my window sliding it open, I push the screen out of the window as I silently as I can, and then jump out of it, I don’t want to leave her in there, but I can’t stay, I know that she would want one of us to live. I know that is why she was screaming and telling him that I wasn’t there, she was trying to tell me to get out of the house. When I’m out the window my feet sink into the mud that sits on the outside of the house and I push my window back down, and then I run.

>   I run faster than I ever have to Hannah’s house, my best friend and neighbor’s house. Only my mother knew that I wasn’t still at their house. I had come home only an hour before going to bed. I bang on the door until I see their light come on. By the time that they open the door I am sobbing, but I don’t remember crying. Instantly, I see Mr. Rainer with the phone in his hand and I hear him talking to the police. I see the flashing lights only seconds later, and Mrs. Rainer tells me that everything is going to be alright.

  I am crying when I wake up, and I know that I won’t be going back to sleep. I slip out of the room and walk the grounds; walking out to the pond and sitting down, looking over the water. I hate myself, I could have stopped him, and I knew where my father kept the guns. When my mother died, my father was overseas and it took him two weeks to be able to get him home to stay with me.

  “Excuse me miss, but you can’t be out here right now.” I hear a male voice say behind me and I nod slowly turning around and walking back up to the hotel without looking up at him.

  Chapter Two

  When I get back up to the room I sit, staring at my duffle bag, I know that I packed it, I slide it in there in a moment of weakness, and I walk over carefully searching for it and then pulling it out.

  I spin the razor blade in my fingers as I felt the internal struggle with rather to or not. I plan to go to the water park tomorrow, even by myself so I know that I need to be careful with where I use it.

  When I wake in the morning I feel the stinging on my stomach and I try not to think about the pain as I pull on my bathing suit and then a T-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts over top, getting ready I put all of my belongings into my suitcase and then begin to walk out of the building, I call a cab as I grab a quick bite to eat and then I make my way out to meet the cab, it drops me off in front of the park and I slowly make my way inside. I see a group of guys standing off to the side as I enter and I cannot help my stare at him, he stands at least six inches over the rest of the group and his brown eyes sear into me. My breathing stops for a moment and then the corner of his mouth pulls up and he winks at me. I quickly turn my head and begin to walk towards the park. I make my way up to the closest slide and when I let go of the sides I am plummeting down and I feel an instant excitement. I feel a rush that I have never had before. I run to the next slide and when I’m waiting in line for it I hear a group of people behind me yelling and screaming. I tum around to find his eyes are on me and he smiles. His smile still manages to makes my pulse quicken. When I finally get up to the front I take a deep breath as I step into the tube. Seconds later the platform underneath me drops open and I am free falling for seconds, I know that I am screaming. When I get to the bottom my entire body is shaking as I get out and sit down on the side.

  It takes me completely by surprise when the first person down after me is him. He smiles at me when he gets up from the slide and I stand up turning and walking briskly towards another slide.

  I’m standing, staring up at the black tubes that run towards the ground as I feel someone approach me.

  “Are you here alone?” I hear the male voice ask as I jump and turn around seeing him standing behind me.

  “That’s none of your business.” I snap at him.

  “Alright, well if you need someone to ride with, there happens to be an odd number in my group I will ride with you.” I could tell already that he was cocky.

  “No, thanks. I don’t know you.” I say to him.

  “Chase,” he whispers looking me in the eyes and I feel something stirring in me that I haven’t felt in so long.

  “R,” I say to him.

  “What?” he laughs.

  “Call me R,”

  “I’m not calling you R.” he tells me staring at me like I am a crazy person.

  “Why not, that’s my name.”

  “No, ‘R’ is a letter, what is it short for?” He demands to know.

  “Ariana,”

  “Now, why would you go by R when you have such a beautiful name? Come on let’s go, I have been dying to ride this one.” He says grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs toward the slide. I am too stunned to do anything about it and by the time I realize it I am at the top staring down over the edge of the stairs.

  “Where are the rest of your friends? I saw you with them earlier.” I ask him

  “Their around,” he shrugs not seeming like he really cares.

  “Why aren’t you with them?”

  “Now I could answer this one of two ways,” he tells me, and I stand looking at him interested. “I could say that they will be up shortly, or just tell the truth and say that I came looking for you because you intrigue me and I wanted to come over and talk to you. You pick which one should I say?” My mouth drops at his statement and it takes me a while to decide which one to say, by the time I have cleared my head we are getting ready to get on the raft.

  “That they are coming up shortly.” I say and he smiles, nodding his head at me.

  “Alright then, they will be up here in a few moments.” Then he leans into me and whispers,

  “I really wish that you would have picked the second one.” My heart races and I have to take a deep breath to calm myself as the lifeguard calls us over and he steps in to the back and I’m in the front. I feel his legs at the sides of my body, as my stomach knots up, and I think it might be possible that I could throw up in the water. I can’t help but stare at his feet. Right as the raft begins to move. I let a squeal exit my body as we race through the tube on the water and by the time we reach the bottom I am giggling harder than I thought was possible. I jump out of the raft as he does as well, and I feel my shirt slide up a bit and instantly pull it down. He smiles to me as he wrestles with the raft to pull it out of the water.

  “Now, Ariana is there any other multi-person slides you would like to go on?” I bashfully look down as I point to the other side of the park. He rides three more with me before his group of friends finds him sitting at a table with me eating a pretzel, I’m still weary of him so I don’t really talk, but he sure is.

  “I can tell that you’re not talking because you don’t know me.” I nod my head. “Well, I’m originally from Tennessee; I am going to FSU.” I nod my head, and he holds back a laugh. “This is the time when you share something about yourself.” I sit for a minute and when I start to open my mouth to speak I hear his name shouted and when I look up my mouth drops over.

  “R,” I hear him say to me and I begin to grin and hop up from my seat and go to hug him. Chase is looking at us as if we are crazy.

  “Turner, what are you doing here?” I ask him, shocked.

  “I told you I am going to Florida State. I see that you have met my friend here.” He points over to Chase.

  “I have,”

  “Is he being nice to you?” I look over to Chase and think to myself that if Turner trusts him than I can too. I nod my head to him, “Good.”

  “How do the two of your know one another?” Chase asks looking from him to me.

  “Her dad was one of my Officers in the Marines. She ended up in the shop quite often and we all became friends.”

  “I’m sure that it helped that I kind of forced you guys to be friends with me.”

  “Well it was either get in trouble because we were in the same place you were when you got caught or make sure that you didn’t get caught.” I laugh out loud and he grins to me. Then looks over at Chase and says, “Man, we are getting ready to leave. R, is your dad around here?”

  “NO,” I shyly say.

  “Where is he?” Turner looks at me shocked.

  “At home,” I admit and his eyes almost bulge out of his head. He knows that Hannah was moving as soon as graduation.

  “Then who are you here with?” He looks around, concerned.

  “No one.” I tell him and he frowns at me.

  “Do you need a ride back to your hotel?” and I shrug my shoulders telling him that I can call a cab and he shakes his head. When he asks where
I am staying it turns out that they are all staying in the same hotel and after he introduces me to all the guys we head back all together.

  When we arrive at the hotel and all pile out of the car we begin to walk towards the elevator and as the car dings on my floor Chase looks from Turner to me and Turner says, “R, we are going out tonight. Want to go with us?”

  "Sure"

  “Meet us downstairs at 9.” I nod my head as the door closes and the last thing that I see is Chase’s big brown eyes, it looks that his eyes are actually smiling.

  Chapter Three

  I sit at the bar in the hotel as I wait for the guys to descend from the rooms. Finally I see them walk past I get up leaving enough for the drink and the tip and walk towards them.

  "Hey guys." I wave, instantly hating that I had done so.

  “There you are,” I hear Chase say as he walks up to me and wraps his long arms around my body pulling me into him and I get a whiff of his cologne. Just the smell makes my knees a little weak. I don’t want to admit to myself that he made my pulse quicken.

  We make our way to the club and I manage to flash my fake I.D. and get in without a problem.

  “Still up to old tricks?” I hear Turner ask me as we make our way into the club. I shrug, smiling and then walk over to the bar. I order a Vodka sprite and begin to walk back over to where the group of guys that I just left is standing around talking; I notice first that Chase is staring at me, he smiles to me, and then nods to the dance floor. I let my teeth graze my bottom lip as I sit my drink down on the table and walk towards the dance floor after him. He stops, turning around to me, and smiles reaching for my hand, he pulls me further into the mass of people, and then pulls me close into him as he dances with me I can only guess that he is over a foot taller than I am. The song is slow enough that we match the pace and he leans his head down to my ear.