the only one

The old broad in the dress the colour of month old salmon probably had more money than God, but it didn’t mean that her neon pink lipstick that clashed with the dress wasn’t gonna bleed into those lines of disapproval that sprung up around her mouth as he gave her a polite half smile. It was the face, he knew it, those boxers lines of it that marked out the guy in the dark suit hovering on the edge of the dance floor as a thug. He coulda pulled his badge – he hadn’t left that at home, under the sheriff’s orders, even if his weapon was still locked in the gunsafe at home – watched surprise blow her eyes wide, but Chase knew it wasn’t worth it. Honestly, what did the opinion of folks like that matter? They were always gonna see the kid who had to fight his way out of Central City laying beneath the scarred surface. Least it happened a little less here than back home in New Orleans, where people in the neighbourhood knew the name Buckley and had formed opinions of him right off the back of what his brother had done.

Chase smoothed a hand over his tie, realigning the two halves of it, smoothing the wrinkles in his shirt beneath it as he scanned the crowd. People hadn’t looked at Mikey like that when they walked in, although he knew this had to be as tough on his big brother as it was on him. Crowds had never been Mikey’s thing and he didn’t have the warm press of a woman he loved against him to have them all spinning away.

His brow furrowed as he found no sign of Mikey in the crowd. Had he already slipped out, heading home the minute it’d seemed like he’d put in enough time here? No sign of Roxxi either. Chase felt those little knots start tightening in his guts, the ones that were there far too often these days, like the invisible hands that tied his life up from time to time were growing hyperactive again, gleefully preparing to tug and ruin a night that’d been pretty magical so far – barring the old prude who probably had just as many scars, although hers were likely the work of some crappy surgeon.

He dipped his fingers into his pocket to retrieve his phone, a lifeline in the crowd at least, almost had it out when Roxxi emerged. Those metaphorical hands relaxed and he was returning her smile, his hand sliding around to find the bottom of her back as she eased in, handing off his drink. ”That’s everyone tryin’ to make this tolerable with a couple of drinks,” he rumbled, chuckling as her arm wrapped around his shoulders. A sway of their bodies and Roxxi had him back into the current on the dance floor – tolerable with the drink going down in slow sips (a counterpoint to the gulps Roxxi was taking from hers) and her in his arms.

Thoughts of Mikey melted away as they swayed there, locked together with the rest of the world shut out again. Roxxi’s face was pressed into his throat, his head low enough that his lips grazed her temple. He held the glass, still cold with the ice that was melting into it, away from her skin, although the fingers of the other hand ghosted lightly over her back until she mumbled into his skin. Concern had him frowning as she lifted her head. Chase lifted his hand, grazing the backs of his fingers over her brow, like he’d find a fever radiating from her skin. ”Sure. It’s crowded in here. You feeling dizzy? We’ll get some air, then go curl up on the couch, alright?” Was she pale? His thumb swept her cheek as he cupped it. Maybe. It wasn’t like he was gonna complain about getting out of the stuffy confines of the place as it was.

Outside, Chase flagged over one of the taxis, settling Roxxi in first before he slid after her. It wasn’t until they were halfway back and Roxxi was quietly tucked against his shoulder that he’d remembered Mikey. Fuck. He’d been the one to drag him there in the first place, stuffing him into one of his old suit jackets – the too tight fit just one of the cons against going to this thing – and now he’d abandoned him there with people he’d only made small talk with because he’d introduced them. Chase bit at his upper lip, pulling his phone out to tell him that Roxxi had come down with something and they’d left. The apology ended up in capitals at the end – I’M SORRY, MAN. Like that’d make it all better. He was gonna owe his brother big for this.

He slipped it back into his pocket, hiding what chewing out might get shot back his way. Looking down at Roxxi’s face, what he could see of it, Chase brought their joined hands up to his lips, trying to get a little comfort with the light brush of his mouth against her skin. Still not feverishly hot like he’d feared. Still too quiet though, and considering Roxxi’s mouth, that was probably the scariest part here. Five minutes later – thankfully nothing was further than fifteen minutes in a town the size of a postage stamp – Chase drew her out of the taxi, leaning back to press a couple of notes into the guy’s hand. ”Thanks, man.” It would’ve been double that if Roxxi had been sick in the back of his car. If that was coming, it was holding off for now at least, probably until they were back in the apartment and then maybe it’d be a night of both of them huddling on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, words of comfort spilling from his lips as he held her hair back.

Roxxi led the way up through the building, looking ahead like maybe her focus was on getting in before everything came up. He had his key ready when they reached the apartment, getting it straight in the lock, crowding in behind her. She didn’t head straight for the bathroom though. Roxxi paused right there in the living room, letting go of his hand to turn on a lamp. The light glimmered in her dark eyes, drawing a faint smile out of him. ”You feelin’ a little better?” he asked softly. He would’ve cupped her chin, rested his thumb just below the curve of her full lower lip to study her face, but she didn’t come close. She didn’t look it, but he wasn’t exactly a doctor.

Was that a smile? Oh yeah, that was a smile, even if her eyes were brimming with tears. What had happened back there at the ball? He doubted it was bad canapes now. Knew it wasn’t when she blurted the question out of left field. Chase laughed, a little startled by it, but no less ready with an answer … when she gave him the space to. His brows hitched, his smile growing as she approached. ”I wouldn’t have answered in general,” he told her honestly. He’d never been this close to any other woman, hadn’t really imagined a future with any of them where his life was at a point where he’d want to bring a kid into it. ”Yeah,” he said, letting out a rough breath. ”I definitely want one with you.” A whole brood of kids to give their parents white hair, kids who were gonna be spoiled by their Uncle Mikey, who was actually here to see them grow up.

Talk of Roxxi’s family had only ever been ephemeral, little details he’d never been able to build into a big picture. That’d felt like a problem for the future, like when he got down on one knee and they were talking about who’d be on what side of the church. There’d been time for it. Now it was growing a little more pressing. Chase reached for her, catching her fingers enough to pull her in and press his lips to her brow. ”I know we’ve had some hitches … but they’ve never stopped me wanting whatever I can have with you. We get lucky, those kids are gonna look just like their mama and don't come out looking like they’ve gone ten rounds with Tyson.” His laughter was warm, his lips continuing to graze her brow, like he could still feel out whatever had left her pale and teary.

Tagged: ROXANNE BRASCHI * Word Count: 1455

He mighta looked like a guy who fell into punches on an hourly basis, but he’d never been that way. Chase Buckley had shields to throw up. Dirty with the grime of Central City and the shit that the Agnellis had tried to smear on his life, dinged and dented from the blows he’d taken. He knew when to bring them up though, how to protect himself, or at least deflect enough that they didn’t put him down – again. Roxxi had slipped past them that first night, calling him out in a dozen ways that he shouldn’t have felt. The little stings were there though, soothed by that same razor sharp tongue, the lips that were as quick to smile as they were to pout.

They’d done jack shit when Roxxi had revealed just how far she’d dug past them. Holding the hurt in instead, the betrayal he’d felt trapped there around him where it had seemed to tint everything for a time. Had he fucked up letting her back in? It was a question he’d asked himself dozens of times before he’d realised he hadn’t wanted to let her out from under those shields. Love had already anchored Roxxi right there. Little points in his heart aching every time she tugged on them. The night she’d pulled him out of the warehouse he’d felt every single one of them stinging as hard as the wound in his side, the one that had still left him cursing as he’d buttoned his pants earlier tonight. At least until he’d pulled Roxxi down on the couch with him and then all he had felt was her.

Seeing the expression on her face as she’d flipped the lamp on, he’d been ready to throw them up around both of them. Shutting out everybody else, pushing away everything that shoulda been pulling them apart. Those points were solid, cemented with love – unspoken as yet. You kinda needed love for kids right? He did anyway. He wasn’t ever gonna be one of those dead beat dads whose kids helped run the neighbourhood into the ground while their old men rotted behind bars. Roxxi wasn’t gonna be one of those moms drinking their welfare checks away in the corner bars. She was gonna be amazing.

He told her as much with an answer that felt clumsy on his lips with the honesty that tried to choke him. Chase sucked in a breath as the words had a definite smile lighting up her face. He let it out against her temple, reassurance filling his chest with the warmth shared between them when she was pressed against him like that. His lips curled, his smile growing self-deprecating under the weight of those big brown eyes and that grin as Roxxi inched back. ”With you as their momma, nobody’s gonna mess with them anyway.” Fierce, brave, funny as hell, and way too pretty for the beast that he was. Roxxi’s touch was gentle though, tracing the line of a nose broken what felt like a dozen times, her other hand running over him til it closed around his arm. ”Your everything. Let’s avoid hittin’ them with the ugly stick huh?” Although that was never what he felt when she was like this, looking through every scar and lump to see something he’d never been able to.

That was love.

Chase felt his shine in his grin as Roxxi eased back. He could still feel every place her lips had touched, blessed by them, somehow transformed by them. That look on her face had his heart twisting though, the pull back there, leaving his hands coming up to settle at her back, rubbing gently over the slick fabric of that heart stopping dress. ”Hey,” he rasped softly, like he could sooth her with the word. Forget twisting, Roxxi had his heart about stopping in his chest. The whistle that slipped out of him was low, cresting a wave of nerves. It wasn’t like he’d planned every minute of his life, but after all that had happened in town any sort of concrete plans felt slippery as mercury, shooting out of his hands when he was trying so hard to hold on.

Roxxi’s mouth was hot on his throat, stealing any other questions away. Like he was gonna confirm that she wanted it to happen right that minute. ”Maybe they shouldn’t have their momma’s impatience,” he joked roughly. Or their dad’s penchant for getting into trouble so deep it could drown him. Just a few weeks ago he’d almost died, good men had died, it felt crazy to be thinking about bringing a kid in that, but he couldn’t push the request aside and see that look back on Roxxi’s face. Chances were it wouldn’t happen this one time – even if sex ed classes in high school had put the fear of God into half of them about how that one time went.

The whimper slipped out of him, the need almost choking him as he felt the heat slide up his throat. Chase shrugged out of his jacket as Roxxi began to push it down. He tossed it aside, his hands finding her hips, fingers crumpling the fabric of her dress in his fists. ”You sure? You want this now?” Maybe she would cackle it away, but he doubted it and probably couldn’t hear it over the thud of his pulse in his ears. Chase pulled her down onto the couch, tumbling down with her. The dress caught under her thighs as he tried to work it up one handed. He paused there, the backs of his knuckles as he offered her one of those smiles that felt like it radiated through every inch of him. ”I love you,” he rasped before he pressed his lips to Roxxi’s, stamping the kiss like a seal to hold that in. His fingers grew clumsy with it, working the fabric out of the way, removing any barriers between them and that future he hadn’t imagined with anybody but her.

Tagged: ROXANNE BRASCHI * Word Count: 1006