Free Wild Chase by L.A. Bressett

as he finally let go.
    We stayed locked together like that until our breathing slowed down.
    Suddenly, Avery leaned back and kissed me, only this kiss was unlike any of the others we had ever shared before. I grabbed ahold of his hand that was still locked around the nape of my neck, and kissed him back with all the strength I had left in my body.

 
     
     

    As I stared blankly around the living room of my house, I heard their voices as accusing and condemning words spilled from their mouths, and if I had been paying any attention at all, I would have been openly sobbing.
    Instead, it was as if I were on the outside looking in. I didn’t feel the need to argue with them, to cry at their harsh words, or do anything really. The thin line that my world had been hanging by was severed. My thoughts were running wild, and not a single one made sense, except how incredibly freeing it felt to be disconnected.
    My silence only made them more livid; the anger etched upon their faces still didn’t push me to fight back.
    At least, not yet.
    I was lost somewhere inside my head, replaying my last moments with Avery.
    Wondering…
     

     
    After lying together, wrapped in my blanket on the rooftop under the stars for what wasn’t nearly long enough, I felt a light kiss on my shoulder before Avery handed me the rest of my clothes.
    Blushing, I dressed quickly, peeking at him while he put his clothes back on, wishing I had a real live remote control to press rewind.
    Once we were both clothed, we gathered up my stuff, threw it back in to the shed, and made our way back down to the mustang.
    My feet felt like cement, dragging the ground with each step. My eyes burned, and my chest felt heavy. It was as if my body already knew what my heart wasn’t willing to accept.
    I knew what was coming, yet neither of us would bring it up, even with the silence between us bearing down like a thousand pound weight. Instead, we rode the whole way back to my street in silence, never letting go of the other’s hand.
    I forced myself to look up at him as he parked down the street from my house, and turned the car off. The lump in my throat stopped any words out. Closing my mouth, I looked back down, trying to compose myself.
    “Chase, I— I just want you to know that this week has been something that I will never forget. You are… you know you don’t have to be what they want you to be. I just need to know you realize that,” Avery finally spoke in a torn voice.
    My eyes found his in the dark, and I gave him a weak smile.
    I had been telling myself all along that this wasn’t love. It had happened too fast, and I was too young to understand something so complex. That didn’t stop the myriad of mixed emotions that exploded all at once.
    “I’ll be fine,” I lied. “Besides, you’re the one with the big dreams. You don’t need to worry about me.”
    Although my voice was calm, it was shaky, and a small, foreign voice in my heart cried out for him to just drive away, and take me with him.
    I watched his jaw flex slightly. It was obvious that he could tell I was lying and wasn’t happy about it, but what else could I say? What right did he have? He was the one leaving, and not only that, neither one of us had brought up the future!
    He opened his mouth to say something, but instead closed it, giving me his best, forced, lopsided grin.
    “Well, it’s true what they say. Every thing’s better in Texas. Pretty sure the south has ruined me for all other places,” he said softly, his normal, flirtatious tone of voice practically nonexistent.
    Part of me wanted to believe that he was hinting at what I had been thinking since the moment we met—that maybe we had both ruined each other for anyone else—but my brain wouldn’t let me say it back.
    I plastered on a fake grin, “Of course it’s true. Just be glad I didn’t have a chance to cook for ya! Then you’d never want to leave.”
    The words came out before I could take them back. He