More Than Friends Read Online Free PDF

evenly on both feet, almost like a sailor. More than anything, Chase had disliked being caught off guard.
    “I guess your father accused me out of habit.” He took a step closer, then stared up at the stars.
    He sounded so bitter. Not that she blamed him. Still, she had held on to the thread of hope that he would guess what had really happened and come back for her. A foolish idea, her support group would have told her. Just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean he can read your mind.
    “At first, I refused to say who I’d, ah, been with,” she said, surprised it was still difficult to tell the story. She should have been over it by now. “I was humiliated by the whole thing. I was afraid of your finding out. Of word getting around town and my being labeled a tramp. Dad assumed I was protecting you. Before I gathered the courage to tell the truth, you’d left town.”
    Chase cursed softly. The succinct word made her flinch. Not that she hadn’t heard it before. One couldn’t work at a steel mill for nine years without hearing colorful language, but the pain in his voice came from the heart.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”
    “You should have thought about that before you slept with the guy. My God, you were seventeen years old. We were kids.”
    “You sound angry.”
    “Of course I’m angry. I thought we were waiting for each other. Dammit, Jenny, you betrayed me.”
    She would have sold her soul to be able to see the expression on his face. But the darkness that hid her blush from his probing eyes also concealed his pain. Only his words hinted at the echoes of a young man’s anguish.
    “I never meant to.” Guilt flashed briefly, but she pushed it away. It wasn’t her fault. It had never been her fault. In a way, they’d both been betrayed.
    He exhaled slowly. “Who was this guy? Kevin Denny? Was it Kevin?”
    “It wasn’t Kevin.” She sighed. “It was…nobody.”
    “A virile nobody.” He took the last step to the car and leaned against the front fender. “Not that it matters, but I wish you’d told me. We were best friends, until that last day.”
    His voice. She could handle the other changes. He’d grown tall, filled out in the chest and shoulders. Hard muscles rippled with each movement of his tall, lean body. In the dim light, he looked like a statue brought to life. She’d expected the boy to turn into a man, but in her mind, she’d assumed he would sound the same.
    She’d been wrong. The deep tones had mellowed. It was like comparing iron ore to finely tempered steel. Both were strong, but the former rusted and crumbled away. The latter, forged by fire, lingered, supported, glowed in the light. It could be molded and bent, but never broken. His words surrounded her, gave her hope, raised her spirits, opened doors to a past she’d long thought lost. He would survive this encounter, she thought, reaching a hand out toward his arm. He was the steel, she the iron ore. When he was gone, she would crumble away. She dropped her hand to her lap.
    “The guy skipped out on you?”
    “In a manner of speaking.”
    “I can’t say you didn’t get what was coming.”
    The verbal blow landed squarely on her stomach. Air rushed from her lungs and left her gasping.
    “I don’t deserve that.”
    “Really? I’d say you deserve a hell of a lot more.” Chase paced in front of the car. “When I left that day—” He spun to face her. “I believed in you. Trusted everything you said. You
lied
. My father expected me to give up college and support you. And I hadn’t even had the pleasure of screwing the lovely Jenny Davidson.”
    Anger flashed. She started to slide down from the hood. “I’m leaving.”
    “No!” His hand clamped on her arm and held her in place. “Not until you tell me why.”
    Even after all this time, the memory of what had really happened was difficult to deal with. Telling the tale would bring it all back. The smell of