Instead she picked the jerk. The rebel. The bad boy. The man who was so outrageously handsome and sexy he could kiss the brains right out of her head.
Then tell her it was a mistake and make fun of her.
She was such a cliché it was pitiful.
“Don’t tell me you two had a fight so early in the game. Hopefully you got a couple of kisses out of the deal before you argued?” Alison continued.
“No, there was definitely no kissing tonight, I’m not sorry to say.” Not that she’d wanted to.
Okay, she’d wanted to, but still. Once he opened that mouth and started spewing insult after insult, she was done.
“You have to fill me in on all the details tomorrow. Let’s get together for coffee.” Ali suddenly squealed, and the sound of a masculine voice filled the background. “I gotta go. Mac is attacking me. See you tomorrow.”
Chloe frowned at her now-silent phone. Mac was attacking Ali? What did that mean?
Sighing, she shook her head. What she’d hoped would be a fun, relaxing evening with friends had turned into a disastrous confrontation ending with her feelings hurt.
Oh, and her utter humiliation. Let’s not forget that part.
Without thought she pulled into the next driveway she came upon, backed out, then headed the way she came. The roads were quiet, the night sky bright from the moon. Its silvery light shone upon the lake, casting it in shimmery waves she couldn’t help but glimpse every time she rounded the curvy road that followed along the banks.
Her tears had dried up, had been replaced with a simmering anger that twisted her stomach. Maybe it was good she found out what Cam was really like now. That he was a world-class jerk who wouldn’t know a good thing if it hit him in the face. It could be the solution to her unresolved feelings for him after all these years.
Instead of focusing on him, she should focus on herself. Take an adventure like she’d talked about. She wasn’t trapped here indefinitely. And she wasn’t boring or bored. She could go anywhere she wanted.
Chloe instantly thought of her mom and frowned. Well, more like she could go somewhere temporarily. Maybe she should take a vacation all by herself. To…Hawaii. Though she’d gone there for her senior trip, she’d rarely left the Waikiki beaches. Or maybe she could go to New York City. Yes, she’d always wanted to see Times Square, take in a Broadway show.
A little smile curled her lips. That would be perfect. She had money saved. It was still early in the summer vacation. She could probably find a deal, go sometime at the end of July. Take a week and see the city sights alone. Or maybe Ali would want to go with her.
It would be great fun, though, going alone—a true adventure. What used to terrify her actually sounded promising. No one to listen to, she could make whatever decision she wanted and not worry about hurting someone’s feelings.
Because unlike a certain someone she knew, she did care about other people’s feelings.
She rounded another tight corner, gasped when she saw the majestic buck standing in the middle of the road. He didn’t move, the cliché deer in headlights flashed through her mind, and she realized he was what her father would’ve called a five pointer.
As she hit the brakes, they squealed so loud the sound scared her. Jerking on the steering wheel, she made a sharp right, fully expecting to slide directly into the buck that would surely wreck her front end beyond repair.
Instead, the backend of her car
swerved wildly, causing it to fishtail. Sending her right over the edge of the road and straight into darkness.
Straight toward the lake.
…
The unmistakable sound of squealing tires made Cam lift his head and stop walking. Seconds later a loud thud filled the air and he knew without witnessing it what had happened.
A car had sailed over the edge of the road and probably hit the embankment. Not too far away from where he stood, either.
Taking off in a run, he headed toward where he thought the wreck might’ve occurred, rounded the sharp corner where many a car had flown over in the past. Usually it was a tourist who wasn’t familiar with the roads. Sometimes the cars were going at such speeds they were sent flying into the lake itself.
A few times, people even died.
Picking up speed, he ignored the pain in his knee and kept going. He hadn’t run like this since before the accident, before his knee got all screwed up. The pressure he put on it was tremendous, the pain shooting up his leg and reminding him that hell, no, he definitely wasn’t invincible.
But he pressed on. The scent of burned rubber filled the air and he saw the skid marks crossing the road, noted how they disappeared off the edge of the curve. Going to the top of the embankment, he saw the car flipped over on its top down below. Smelled the spilled oil and gasoline.
Shit. He scrambled down the dirt embankment, reaching for his cell phone in the front pocket of his cargo shorts. Dialing 911, he rattled off his location, reported the accident, and asked for an ambulance and a fire engine.