Read Pieces of Summer (A stand-alone novel) for Free Online

now.
    “Chase! What the hell? Why are you just staring? Get some towels.”
    My eyes come up just as he rips his gaze away from me, and he stalks out the entrance, pushing through the doors so hard the glass on them rattles on impact.
    “What the fuck, Chase?!” Whit calls after him.
    But he doesn’t slow down. He gets in his truck, slams the door, and the beast of an engine roars as he slams it in reverse and cuts it back, speeding off like hell is on his heels.
    “What the hell just happened?” Whit asks me.
    “Guess he doesn’t like blood,” I mumble.
    My eyes land on the lonely eagle by the entrance, and I swear it’s a bittersweet symbolic statement. This isn’t how my new life was supposed to go. It was supposed to read the end.
     

Chapter 6
     
    CHASE
     
    I’m drinking a beer when Whit walks in and slams the door.
    “Where the hell have you been?” she barks.
    I ignore her while staring at the TV, still drinking.
    “Damn it, Chase, what the hell is going on? Two days ago you acted like you saw a ghost, then you ran off. Now you’re just sitting here after not calling me or coming home for two days?”
    I start to point out it’s my home, not hers, but I think I’ve pissed her off enough. It’s not like I foresaw my worst fucking nightmare coming true.
    “Just needed to clear my head,” I say before taking another sip.
    “From what? First you act all kinds of skittish about the bowling alley, then you act like you’re going to tear Mika’s head off for no damn reason, and suddenly you disappear while she’s bleeding? I’m lucky she didn’t just fire me on the spot!”
    I disappeared because I was seconds from dropping down and pinning Mika to the floor. Seconds from asking her a thousand questions about what the fuck she was doing in this town. Seconds from carrying her out of there and taking her to the ER for a simple cut on her finger.
    Seconds from losing my motherfucking mind. That’s what I was.
    “Getting really sick of the silent treatment. Talk or I freaking walk.”
    As shitty and selfish as it is, I can’t let Whit walk. I’ll go straight to Mika’s if I don’t have an anchor holding me back. No way can I face her. No way do I want to get sucked back into a steel fortress of fucking misery after finally escaping.
    What the hell is she doing here? Why did she do it? Why the bowling alley?
    “Do you know Mika or something? She literally wouldn’t speak to anyone after seeing you, and she barely even came out on opening night after you left. She refused to come in the next day, and she’s been incredibly excited about this. Why do I get the feeling there’s something going on between you two? Oh, I know why. Because you both acted shocked to see each other. As though you knew each other in a past life or some shit.”
    It feels like a past life. That’s for damn sure.
    “I think she used to vacation here in the summers or something. Look, Whit, I just hate that bowling alley. I’ve told you this before.”
    “Yeah, but you’ve never told me why. And that doesn’t explain why Mika freaked when she saw you.”
    Forcing a smirk, I motion up and down my body. “Tends to intimidate most people.”
    She rolls her eyes, but a slow smile starts to curve her lips as she calms down.
    “Why do you hate that place?” she asks.
    Not answering that.
    “Have my reasons. So why did Mika buy the place? She living here or something?” I’ve been trying not to think about her, and now I’m asking questions. Questions I shouldn’t be asking the girl I’m dating. Questions I shouldn’t be asking at all.
    “Yeah. She bought her dad’s house or something. She’s a murder/mystery author, but she said she’s been sick of the city for a while. Why are you asking about her if you don’t know her?”
    Shrugging, I point my attention back at my beer and ignore the hot sensation on the back of my neck. Fuck. She’s staying here? Living here? Please let it just be for the