Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
He came back after a few minutes, his smile reinforced, and as the guys left for campus, Shay took me to the hotel. He sat back in his seat, the engine idling. “Do you want me to come up with you?”
I laughed. “Are you kidding? My mom won’t let you leave.”
“I can stop by tonight.”
“Or, you can pick me up, and we’ll repeat last night.” Unless he had plans? Unless he didn’t want to? Unless . . . my mind wouldn’t stop. “If you want, I mean.”
“Of course, I do.” His eyebrows dipped close before smoothing back out. Those ice-blue eyes were questioning, but genuine. The concern rested on the bottom, lining it with a smidge shadow of darkness. “Is that okay with you? I mean, you’re the one who was adamant we weren’t dating.” The side of his mouth lifted in a half-grin, but I saw how serious those eyes were. He wasn’t joking.
“I said all that so I wouldn’t get hurt.”
“You’re saying it now?”
I tried to smile. “I’m beyond hurt now. A little heartache on top of this is nothing.” I failed.
His eyes darkened, and he leaned over the seat for me. His lips were on mine before he cursed and pulled back. “Did that hurt?”
I shook my head. “Only when you stopped. They hit my head, not my vagina.”
He grimaced, scratching behind his ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know, but I just wanted to remind you.” I pointed to my face. “They hurt this.” My hand went between my legs. “Not this. They didn’t hurt this. They didn’t touch this.”
His eyes darkened again, anger flaring. He growled, “If they had, I’d probably be in jail.”
I reached for his hand, hooking my finger around his and letting it rest on the console between us. “I know I’m going to be messed up by this attack, but I don’t want them to take all the normal stuff from my life. I know we can’t, not yet, but I want to have sex with you. I want to feel like a normal girl again, like a,” I hesitated, “normal girl being with her boyfriend.”
Some of that anger faded, and he smiled. “I was wondering if you were going to bring that up.”
“Yeah.”
I wanted to go back to picking at my nail.
“Do you want to be? Or do you want me to tell everyone we’re not dating?”
I let out a laugh. “How’d that make me look?”
“Fuck how you look. Fuck everyone else. What do you want?” He nodded to me with his chin. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m in. I beat up two guys for you. I think that says enough. I’m all in, Kenz.”
My heart swelled. It was the first time he used my nickname.
I was blinking back more tears as I was smiling widely. “I’m all in, too.”
“Thank God,” he said under his breath, leaning over for another kiss. He was still gentle.
I could’ve stayed there forever, but the doorman began pacing back and forth. I saw him from the corner of my eye once, and I pulled back. “You have class.”
“I do.”
“Later tonight?”
“Later tonight,” he agreed.
That became the routine for a while.
I’d spend the days with my family, and nights with Shay.
After a week, Blake flew home. He couldn’t take any more time off from work, but my mom stayed. The hotel became too expensive, so she moved into the spare room that Gage and his roommates created for her. Two of the guys agreed to share a room, and she was elated. Gage offered to have one of the guys move in with him. They lived in a four-bedroom apartment, but the two who shared said it made sense. One had night classes, and the other had day classes, along with a day job. It was like they still had their own room, and my mother unofficially adopted Gage and his three roommates.
It was another two weeks before I met Kristina for coffee.
Missy packed some of my stuff up and helped my mom grab anything I needed. She was being sweet and helpful. So was everyone. Casey. Laura. Sarah. Everyone.
As for college, the administration said I could take time off.
I was seeing a counselor, and she said the same thing, but I hadn’t wanted to do that. We reached an agreement. I would keep with my studies, but off-campus. The professors had someone tape their courses, and those were put online for me. It was a project already in the works. They sped their timetable up for me. I went to campus one time, but it was into one of the higher administration buildings so not many saw me, and I was put into a small office where I took all my midterms.
I was able to do my papers at home, emailing them in. The only thing I couldn’t partake in was the group presentations, but I still participated. I sent in the work that the groups needed for my two other classes. I didn’t have to do a presentation for my third class, and I fully participated with the political science one.