Chapter Sixteen

Chevelle


I finger my swollen lips as Katy Perry’s ‘*Hot n Cold*’ runs through my head as we near the address that Caprice had texted me earlier. I can’t seem to figure out what the heck is going through River’s mind, and the way my body reacts to him whenever we’re near one another doesn’t help to figure anything out.

My mind says that we shouldn’t act on whatever this is between us, but the ache between my thighs indicates otherwise and then there’s my heart…the damn things races so fast that I swear it’s going to break my ribs whenever he’s near and it physically aches whenever he’s away, that has to mean something, right?

I still don’t know where we stand and I’m still just as confused, if not more so now than I was this morning before the trip started but I do know that we can’t keep ignoring whatever this is between us.

The truck stops in front of a simple one-story brick house with white shutters and flower beds in the front beneath the windows. River walks next to me as we make our way up the front walk, our hands intertwined, his thumb rubbing lazy circles against my skin as I admire the work and try to imagine the amount of time and effort that Corrine had to have invested into the gorgeous beds in order to make the place feel like a home. Unfortunately, I don’t get any sort of a sense of familiarity as we stop on the front stoop, a red door before us.

“Hey…” River murmurs, turning me to look at him, “no matter what happens, I’m here, okay?” he says, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

I nod my head in acknowledgement as nerves settle low in my belly, my heartrate picking up once again but this time from nerves rather than the effect that he seems to have on me. River continues to look at me, as if he’s trying to make a decision when he lowers his face towards mine, claiming me in a deep kiss that turns the nerves into butterflies.

The front door squeaking catches my attention seconds before I hear the squeal of Caprice as she jumps at us, bowling both River and I over, all three of us landing in a heap on the soft green grass.

“You’re here!” she squeals as she pulls me into a tight hug. I look at River as he disentangles himself and stands, shrugging his shoulders and grinning from ear to ear as he watches Caprice and I attempt to stand, Caprice reluctant to remove her arms from around my torso.

“Uhh…Caprice…” I hear a male voice say from in front of me. Looking up, I find an older looking version of Cruze.

“Oh, sorry...” Caprice says, not looking sorry at all. “Chevy, this is our older brother, Cam.”

“Hey…” is all he says, as his attention shifts from me to River, Cam very obviously sizes up the man at my side. I guess that big brother instinct doesn’t go away just because your sister lost her memory and doesn’t remember who you are.

“Oh, and this is River. River, this is our older brother, Cam. Which is short for…”

“Cam, it’s just Cam.” Cam rushes out, cutting off Caprice before she says his full name.
*Odd, but okay*, I think but just shrug my shoulders and go with it.

“Mom didn’t mention that she was bringing a friend.” Cam says, looking toward Caprice with an irritated glare.

“Whatever. He was invited. It’s not like you have to be notified of every single thing that goes on, Cam.” Caprice says, then shifting her attention to me, she slides her hand into mine, pulling me towards the front door. “C’mon, everyone’s inside and so excited to see you again after so long.”

A feeling of dread washes over me at the mention of *everyone*.

*Exactly how many people were invited to this dinner?*

Turning around to plead with River to not leave my side, I see Cam crowding him, not letting him pass.

Stopping, I try to pull away from Caprice, but she just tugs on my hand harder. “Leave him be. He feels like he needs to play the big brother role and make sure that River’s intentions are pure.” She finishes with a grin. “After seeing the way that he looks at you, that boys’ intentions are anything but pure.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I just watch him. “I can’t speak for his intentions because he confuses the daylights out of me, but I know he makes me feel things that I can’t explain.” I say, tearing my focus from him to land on Caprices. “It scares me.”

“That’s when you know that it’s real.” She says with a squeeze of my hand and a smile.

I hear the sound of voices and raucous laughter as soon as we enter the front door and dread courses through my veins. I thought I was ready for this but now, I’m not so sure.

Caprice must sense my unease because she gives the hand that she’s still holding another squeeze and throws a wink at me from over her shoulder.

Suddenly a warm hand curls around my hip, the nerves immediately dying down from a swarm of bees in my stomach to a few fluttering butterflies, as I lean into Rivers' side. I’m amazed that just having him here with me has something familiar amongst all the new and unknown, although it’s not something I have time to dwell on as we step through the doorway, faced with over half a dozen unfamiliar faces.

“Chevelle!” I hear my name called mere moments before a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders, holding me in a tight embrace. It feels awkward as I just stand there, arms at my sides as, who I now see is Corrine, draws back a huge smile on her face. “Oh sweetheart! I’m so glad that you and River could make it!” she exclaims.

“Thank you for inviting us.” River responds as I try to disentangle myself from the woman’s arms.

“Honey, everyone came to see you.” Corrine says, turning towards the other people within the room.

I manage to extract myself from Corrine’s embrace. Even so, she keeps one arm planted on my shoulders, as though she’s afraid that if she breaks contact with me, I may disappear. I survey the galley of faces before me, trying to gain some form of recognition, as she begins introducing the myriad of people.

“…by the window is your cousin Dakota.” Corrine gestures with her free hand towards a guy who looks like he’d rather be anywhere other than here at the moment. Dakota looks a lot like my brothers except that he has shoulder length dark brown hair instead of the blonde hair that all of us kids inherited from I’m assuming our father. He just gives a head nod in acknowledgement before Corrine moves on to the next person.

“And over here is his younger brother Daxton.” I nearly laugh out loud at the stark difference between Dakota and Daxton. Although they are nearly identical in their physical attributes, Dakota is more refined, more polished than his older brother. Where Dakota has that bad boy look about him with his dark clothes and lip ring, Daxton looks dapper in his mint green polo and ironed khaki pants, his short blond hair gelled to perfection.

“And then their little sister, Desiree.” A little girl appears before us in a little green fairy costume, her blonde hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail at the top of her head.

“I Tinklebew!” Desiree demands as she gives me an ear-to-ear smile. “You pway wif Tinklebew?”

Kneeling down in front of her so that I’m more on her level, I reach my hand out to her. “It’s nice to meet you Tinkerbell. How old are you?”

Instead of taking my hand, Desiree throws her arms around my neck, throwing me off balance with the unexpected embrace.

“I fwee.” She states matter-of-factly as she holds out three of her sticky little fingers.

“You’re three? No way! You are *so big*!” I say excitedly as she begins spinning around in circles.

“Desiree let’s go wash your hands.” Says a blonde woman as she swoops in to grab the little girl. She looks at me as she scoops the girl into her arms, a coy smile playing at her lips, “Hi, I’m Delilah, your mothers’ little sister.”

I could have guessed as much by the color of her eyes alone. It seems the blue steel color runs strong throughout our family.

“I-it’s nice to meet you.” I stutter out, nervousness swamping once more.

“I have two other brothers who were unable to make it. Asher’s youngest son Aaron has some kind of flu-bug that they didn’t want to risk sharing, and both of Bryce’s boys, Brent, and Braxton, have a ball tournament going on this weekend. They both asked me to tell you how sorry they were that they couldn’t make it.” She says and it makes me grin when I realize that her siblings' first initials are A, B, C, and D and that they all named their kids using the first letter of their own names.

“And then we have Tanner and Conner, they grew up down the street. Their parents couldn’t make it, unfortunately.” Tanner and Conner look to be about my age, both looking identical with blonde hair, striking green eyes and matching smirks. My guess would be twins.

I glance at the next person and a giggle bubbles in my throat, a grin spreading across my face as I recognize one person amongst the group. “Drake…?” I question, earning myself a puzzled look from both Corrine and Drake.

“You remember him?” Corrine asks, hurt evident in her voice that I remember him but not her.

“No, we were looking through an old yearbook and I pointed him out as Cam’s best friend.” Caprice butts in, explaining the situation.

I watch as the relief washes over Corrine and I can’t help but be bothered by the fact that since I don’t remember her, she would rather me not remember anyone.

“It’s been a long time.” Drake’s deep voice cuts in, “You look good.” His dark eyes roam over my body, desire evident in their depths, causing me to squirm. Moments later, I feel Rivers' arm snake around my lower back, his hand rounding my hip in an apparent move to stake his claim over me and garnering a smirk and a head nod from Drake, as if saying *game on*.

Corrine names off the rest of the people in the group but I don’t catch any of their names as my head swims with confusion over both River and Drake. The odd way that my older brothers’ best friend is looking at me makes me wonder if there had ever been something more, something other than just him being Cams’ best friend, between Drake and me. The thought leaves me slightly unsettled. *Was I the kind of person who would have gone behind my brother's back to mess around with his best friend?* I really hate that I don’t know the answer to that question.

The back door opening calls everyone’s attention as a man who appears around Corrine’s age comes through the door carrying a tray full of food.

“Foods ready, hope everyone’s hungry!” he calls out behind him as he makes his way towards where the kitchen was.

“That’s mom’s boyfriend, Thom. She will have to introduce you in a bit.” Caprice whispers in my ear as she cuts around River and I, leading the way to the kitchen after the food.