Chasing McCree by J.C. Isabella Read Free Book Online Page A

the big
time position he craved.
    “ I’m not marrying you.
We’re too young, for one. And I can’t stand you.”
    “ Sorry, our parents have an
agreement.” He laughed, trying to kiss me again.
    Just to emphasize how serious I was, I
kneed him in the crotch and ran out of the gym.

Chapter 6
     
    “ W-why do boys have to be
such je-jerks?” I sobbed, blowing my nose in a wad of paper towels
I’d snagged from the girls bathroom under the stadium
bleachers.
    “ Oh, Briar baby. Not all
men are jerks.” Grandma said. I’d called her as soon as I was in
the clear and no one would hear me talking. The safest place was
the football stadium. No one came out here to do anything, except
get high. And the druggies were slinking in the shadows, far enough
away that I wouldn’t be noticed. “Some are bastards that should be
castrated and sent to hell, but not all. I married your grandfather
because he was one of the decent ones.”
    I sniffed. “I kneed Alex in the crotch
in front of the wh-whole school!”
    She sighed. “And I once laughed so hard
I peed my pants at a Yankees game. Life goes on. I am proud of you
for giving the little shit what he deserved.”
    “ Thanks. You always know
what to say to make me feel better.” I sucked in a breath, wiping
my eyes. “I can’t believe my parents would do that to
me.”
    “ Ha, I can.” She clicked
her teeth together, “I think you should let me take care of talking
to your father. I’ll give the little shit a piece of my
mind.”
    “ Thanks,” I said. “Can I
stay with you until this blows over?”
    “ Of course! My door is
always open, you know that. Now why don’t you stop your bawling and
go have some fun? It’s not even ten yet.”
    I groaned. “I’ll go home.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Because I don’t have any
friends, not after what I just did.”
    “ Not even that nice
cowboy?”
    I laughed. “Chase?”
    “ Sure, you seemed to get
along fine together. I’ll bet my bottom teeth that he’s nothing
like Alex. He’s one of the good ones. The kind of boy who won’t
grab your ass unless you ask him to.”
    “ I really like him, but I
can’t call him.” I wanted to. Chase was just nice to be around. I
didn’t feel like I had to impress him or that he was judging me.
“He’s going to think I’m a needy crybaby.”
    “ Honey, you just described
half the women in America. Give him a call, what have you got to
lose? Nothing. But you could gain a friend. Maybe even a
boyfriend.” Before she hung up she made kissy sounds and told me to
start the night over and have fun.
    That was easier said than
done.
    It took me ten minutes to actually work
up the nerve to call him.
    Chase answered on the forth ring and
put me on speakerphone. “Hello?”
    Here goes nothing. “Hi, Chase. Uh, it’s
me, Briar.”
    There was a whizzing sound, and then he
came back. “Hey, what’s up?”
    “ Oh, nothing.” It was time
to think strategically, and play dumb. Something I learned from
Grandma. “So…I don’t see you anywhere. I was going to ask you if
you wanted to dance or maybe grab something to eat.”
    “ Uh, where are
you?”
    “ Prom.”
    Another whizzing sound. “I didn’t go.
Are you having fun?”
    “ Not exactly.”
    “ Those friends of yours
being jackasses?”
    “ Yeah,” I
smiled.
    “ Just ignore them. They’ll
get bored and leave you alone.” Another whizzing sound.
    “ What are you
doing?”
    “ Shooting apples off a
fence.”
    “ With what?”
    “ A crossbow.”
    Right, of course he was.
    “ Briar, darlin’, what is it
that you called to ask me? It wasn’t to dance.”
    Darlin’? I smiled. I couldn’t help
liking the way that sounded.
    “ You want me to be honest
with you?” I asked
    “ Sure do.”
    “ Wait, why are you shooting
apples off of a fence?”
    “ I’ve got nothing better to
do and sitting in my room is driving me nuts.”
    I laughed. “So you’re
bored.”
    “ That about sums it up.”
The sound of another