Her Eighth Step

Chapter Fourteen: Chase's Party/Nailed/A Night With Ryder

I stand in front of the building, tilting my head at the art piece graffitied onto the side. It’s just words, mostly, but they’re written on a sketch of a guy. The guy stands with his arms out, and the words just pour out of his body. “Wow,” I say.

            “Cool, right?” Tate says. She’s still smiling. She looks around at all the people walking by. A couple of minutes ago, a police car drove past this site at least three times.

            “Gavin’s gonna get in trouble,” I mutter.

            “Oh, would you stop?” Tate says. “Who cares? Look at all the attraction it’s getting! People love this kind of stuff. Everyone already knows about Macey and Gavin. It’s like a reality show almost!”

            “Minus the show,” I say. There’s a crowd now hovering around the artwork. Macey’s going to completely ballistic when she finds out the publicity it’s getting.

            “Let’s go,” Tate says, motioning me past the horde of people. As we walk away, we hear roars of guys voices and look over to find Gunner and Caleb making their way towards us. Caleb is smiling and Gunner just walks with that coolness.

            “Look who it is,” Caleb says, nodding at Tate and I. Then he just looks at me. “The Heartbreaker.”

            Tate, again, gives me that confused look. I haven’t told her anything about what happened between me and Ryder that night of the bar, and I’ve been pushing it off. I’ll tell you later, I tell her. But later really never comes.

            “Stop, dude,” Gunner tells him. “If Ryder was a man, he’d come after you.” This comment he directs at me, but I don’t buy it. If Ryder was a man, I think, he’d do exactly what he’s doing. Picking up his dignity and moving on. “So, you guys going to Chase’s?”

            Tate and I exchange glances. “You know Chase?” I ask.

            Caleb laughs. “The dude is insane. He and Gavin have a history of nasty fights. They’ll probably end up killing each other.”

            “No doubt,” Gunner agrees.

            Oh, my God. Macey, what have you done? “So,” I say, trying to get the gist of this game. “Macey is dating Chase and that will probably tick Gavin off.” That makes sense. Of course Macey would do something stupid like that.

            Gunner nods. “It’ll probably kill him.”

            “Wait a minute,” Tate says. “How did you guys find out Macey’s dating Chase?”

            Caleb gives her a pointed look. “In this town, news travels around fast.”

            “So what’s happening at Chase’s?”

            Gunner shrugs. “Who knows. All I know is that he’s rich and has this awesome beach behind his house. He’s gonna have a crazy part there.”

            “But that doesn’t even matter,” Caleb adds. “What matters is that Gavin and Ryder will probably show up there, and that’s when the entertainment starts.”

            Why do I have the feeling that there are some things in this town I’m just starting to find out?

            “We’re in,” Tate says.

            I look at her. “Uh, Tate…if you didn’t hear them correctly, they’re inferring that there will be a fight there.”