He takes his hand off my knee, but then it moves for my face, sliding back into my hair with his lips on track for mine.
I rip away, panic searing my chest. “Grayson, no!”
Crack.
I don’t register what’s happened, not until I blink several times, taking in the people gasping and screaming around us.
And then I see Grayson on the floor.
And Adam on top of him, fist in the air, ready to plow it back into Grayson’s already bleeding nose.
“Adam, don’t!” I scream, flying out of my chair and down to him. I wrap my arms around his waist and pull, knowing I wouldn’t be able to budge him unless he actually wanted to be budged.
Luckily, he lets me pull him up to stand, but his chest is heaving, glare murderous, his eyes nearly popping out of his head as he stares down at Grayson. “YOU MOTHERFUCKER,” he screams, grabbing him by the shirt. “HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY GIRL.”
Grayson spits a mouthful of blood to the side before grinning up at Adam. “My girl, first.”
A growl rips through Adam, and he lays another crack to Grayson’s jaw before I can stop him. I’m screaming and crying and tearing at him to let Grayson go. When he finally does, it’s to the tune of the manager yelling for us to take it outside or she’d call campus police. And so, Adam drops his grip, letting Grayson fall back onto the floor.
Then, he storms out without even looking back at me.
I scramble to get my purse where it’s hanging off the back of my chair, plucking a twenty out and leaving it on the table before I fly out after Adam. He’s already halfway across the quad, and I scream his name over and over, jogging to catch up.
It’s not until we’re by the reflection pond that Adam stops and turns, and when the weight of his gaze hits me, I stumble back, eyes blurring as I cover my mouth.
“Adam, it’s not what you think.”
“Oh, it’s not?” he challenges, stepping into my chest as I shrink away. He points a finger back at the shop. “So that wasn’t your so-called friend hitting on you, touching you, trying to kiss you?”
I cringe. “I swear, I didn’t do anything.”
“No, you didn’t. But that motherfucker sure as hell did.”
“I told him not to touch me. I told him to stop.”
Adam roars out a growl that makes the students walking by us glance our direction with wide eyes before they scurry off. He throws his hands up in the air, lacing them over his head as he paces.
“What did I tell you? Huh?” Adam throws his arms out toward me, and I wince at his already swollen and bruised knuckles from where he hit Grayson. “I told you he didn’t want to just be your friend. I told you he wanted more, that he had something up his sleeve. But you didn’t believe me. You picked him over me.”
“That’s not fair,” I defend. “I didn’t pick anyone.”
“Yes,” he argues, stepping into my space again. “Yes, you fucking did. You may not have said the words I choose Grayson over you, but that’s exactly what you made clear when you told me you wouldn’t choose me. When you dug your heels in and proved that being friends with that asshole who cheated on you was more important than making me feel safe and comfortable.”
“You’re friends with Skyler!” I scream out, desperation flowing through me. I know the argument is weak before I even finish making it. “How is this not the same?”
“SKYLER DOESN’T TRY TO MAKE OUT WITH ME!”
My nose flares, and I look around at the attention we’re calling, reaching out for Adam to calm him.
But he backs away before I can connect.
His chest heaves with the next breath, and he beats on it like an ape. “I don’t hang out with Skyler after every single fucking class. Hell, I don’t even hang out with her period — not anymore, not unless we’re in a group setting in the same place. And if you asked me right now, right here, to not be friends with her because it made you uncomfortable?” He shakes his head, as if it’s obvious. “I would never see her again. No questions asked.”
“Adam,” I beg, eyes blurring. “I’m sorry. Okay? I was wrong. I thought…” My voice is strangled, and I shake my head. “I… I really thought…”
“That he wanted to be your fucking friend? That you two would braid each other’s hair and drink coffee and study together and he wouldn’t be using every minute to plan how to get your panties on his bedroom floor?”
My chin quivers. “Okay. You’ve made your point.”
“Have I?” He steps into me, staring down his nose. “What’s my point, Cassie?”
“I didn’t kiss him!” I say loudly, pressing my hands into his chest. “Okay? I didn’t come onto him or ask for any of that back there. I didn’t do anything wrong. I can’t control what he did, but why are you so fucking mad at me?”
Adam watches me for a long time, breathing slowly, eyes dancing between mine. After a while, he shakes his head, looking at me like I disgust him, like I’m an idiot he feels sorry for, like he can’t believe he ever trusted me.
“I’m not mad, Cassie,” he says, his voice soft, resigned. “I’m tired.”
“Of what?” I ask, throwing my hands out, exasperated.
“Of choosing you when you refuse to choose me back.”
I frown, my next breath stuttering out of my chest like the exhaust of a busted old car. His words slice me into ribbons, each piece of me cut so thin and weak that I’m afraid I might blow away in the next breeze.
I hurt him.
I hurt the boy I love.
And all for what?
“Adam, I’m so—” I try, reaching for him, but he just shakes his head, giving me one last hurt look before he turns and walks away.
I cover my mouth, squeezing my eyes shut and freeing the tears before I open them again and watch him walk away from me, his hands in his pockets, head hanging between his shoulders.
And I just let him go.
Because I know in that moment that I don’t deserve to ask him to stay.
“I’VE MISSED THIS,” I say on a wistful sigh, drawing circles on Kip’s chest while he plays with my hair. I’m balanced on one elbow, looking down at the masterpiece that is his body. It’s early in the morning, and the sun is casting the hills and valleys of his abdomen in shadows and bursts of light.
Perfect.
“What, staying up all night having sex?”
“Well, yes, that,” I admit. “But I mean this — lying next to you, cuddling, talking.” I tap his nose. “Getting to see you in these specs.”
Kip smirks, adjusting his black-framed glasses higher on his nose. “I can’t see your beautiful face without them.”
“You wore contacts a lot this weekend.”
I pout with the realization, and Kip laughs, leaning up to kiss my lips briefly. “I didn’t realize you loved my glasses so much.”
“My four-eyed blond thief.”
“Thief?”
“Yeah. You stole my heart.”
Kip smiles, shaking his head before he pins me in the sheets and slides between my legs, kissing all over my neck. “That was so fucking cheesy.”
“But you loved it.”
“I did,” he agrees. And then he props himself up on his elbows, his sea blue eyes watching mine. “And I love you.”
I answer with another long, telling kiss, inhaling him in and wishing we could stay just like that forever. But my plane leaves in four hours, and by the end of the day, I’ll be across the country again.
My chest splits with the anxiety of being away from Kip, especially after having the most perfect week together. He showed me around the UCLA campus, let me get a sneak peek of his current film project, introduced me to all his brothers — who he complained liked me more than they did him. We played beer pong and flip cup and had a very college Thanksgiving, complete with pizzas and whiskey instead of turkey and wine. We spent time at the beach, taking a surf lesson that made me realize I much prefer the warm water of the Atlantic to the freezing water of the
Pacific. Not that we don’t get glimpses of cool water during the winter months, but for the most part? It’s perfect.
Here, you need a wet suit. And that’s not nearly as much fun as a bikini.
As much as we saw over the past week and as much as we did, my favorite moments were the ones just like this — me and Kip in his bed, holding each other close, saying more with silence than we ever could with words.
I met Rick the second day I was here, and once we became quick friends, I told him I’d book him a room downtown and give him five-hundred dollars if he’d get lost for the week and not tell Kip what I did.
Let’s just say I’m a little selfish when it comes to this boy, and I wanted all the alone time we could get.
Kip groans when we break our kiss, holding me tighter. “I don’t want you to go.”
Another zing of my heart.
“I don’t want to go, either.”
We both sigh, then fall silent, knowing there’s no other choice.
“What if you came to semi-formal in a couple weeks?”
Kip brushes my hair from my face, frowning. “I wish I could, babe. It’s finals time, and I’ve got to submit this project. It’s going to take up every hour of my day once you leave.”
“Did I distract you this week?”
“Yes,” he says quickly, kissing my nose. “But it was worth it.”
I sigh, tracing the muscles of his shoulders and traps with my finger. “I’ll ask Bear. He’s always down for a good time. Although, he’s been sort of distant this semester.”
“Family stuff?”
“I think that’s part of it. But I also think there’s more.” I pause. “I know it sounds crazy, but… I think something might have happened between him and Erin.”
“Erin?” Kip asks, arching a brow. “As in Ex?”
“The very one.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I don’t know. They just… look at each other weird. I know that sounds stupid, but they formed this random friendship, which was odd enough, and now they barely talk and when they’re in the same room, it’s awkward. I can’t explain it.”
“Well, let me know what you find out on that.”
I sigh. “I will. Erin and I have been talking more, hanging out more… we have a lot of stuff still to work through, but it’s getting better.”
“Have you made up your mind about the presidency?”
I smile then, my stomach flipping for a completely different reason. “Yeah. I’m going for it.”
“Yeah?”
I nod. “I really want to be president, to continue our family tradition. Not even for that reason, honestly. But because I think I could make a difference. And I love KKB. I want to leave a mark before I go.”
Kip kisses my neck, tickling my ribs as I giggle and kick him away. “You’ll leave one hell of a mark.”
From all my writhing, my legs are tangled around his waist, and even though we’ve been insatiable all week long, I feel him growing hard between my thighs.
I hum my approval, sucking the skin of his neck as I climb my way up to his mouth. But just as we lock into a needy kiss, my phone rings.
“It can wait,” I murmur against his lips.
But before we can even get some heavy petting going, my phone rings again.
“Okay, maybe it can’t,” I groan, rolling over until I can swipe my phone off the nightstand. I frown. “It’s Ashlei.”
“Answer it.”
I nod, hitting the green phone button and putting Ashlei on speaker. “Hey, babe. Kind of indisposed at the moment. Everything okay?”
“No.”
As soon as I hear her choked voice, her sobs, I shoot upright. “What happened?”
She cries for so long that I debate texting Jess and telling her to get her ass to wherever Ashlei is — and fast. I’m texting it out when she finally speaks.
“I fucked up. Bad, Sky. I don’t know what to do.”
“Whatever it is, we can figure it out. Take a deep breath.”
She does, but then she’s crying again. “Sophie… the intern…”
I freeze, Kip and I exchanging glances. I’d filled him in on that whole situation when I first got here. “What did she do?”
“She… she kissed me.”
“She what?”
“I shoved her off me as soon as I realized what was happening, but I can’t even believe it happened at all. And when I pushed her back, she had this shit-eating grin, like she’d won something. I have been trying to make sense of it all week, trying to figure out how to tell Brandon. And this morning…” She pauses, a sob breaking through. “This morning, I realized…”
“What, Lei?”
She sniffs. “She was interviewing me for her project. And I just forgot…”
“Forgot what?”
Another pause. “She was recording it. She had her phone set up on a tripod to record so she could pay attention to what I was saying.”
My heart tripled its pace in my chest, Kip and I sharing another look. I know what she’s going to say before she can even get the words out, and the way Kip is looking at me, he knows as well as I do that this is bad fucking news.
“She has our kiss on video, Sky.”
Ashlei lets out a long, painful sigh as I scrub a hand back through my hair, trying to think.
“What do I do?”
“It’ll be okay. I have a plan,” I lie, kicking the covers off and hopping out of Kip’s bed. “Just… call Jess. You don’t need to be alone right now. And don’t talk to Brandon yet. I’ll be home by seven tonight, and we’ll figure this out.”
“I can’t lose him,” she whispers, her voice breaking again. And I look at Kip, knowing that if I were in her shoes, I’d be ripping at the seams, too.
“You won’t.”
And I pray that that’s not a lie, too.
SEASON FINALE
“ALRIGHT, MY FAVORITE LITTLE redhead,” Skyler says, grabbing my toes from where they stick out from under my comforter. “What do you say we go for a walk?”
“That sounds awful.”
She chuckles. “Yeah, well, I’m sure showering does, too, but that’s next. Come on.”
Skyler rips my comforter off of me before I have the chance to grab it, and I groan, thrashing in my sheets and making a big show of my unhappiness at being forced out of bed.
“Please, just let me sulk in peace. I don’t do this often.”
“It’s been long enough, babe. I let you do nothing but go to class and then come back here and mope for over a week now. But it’s time to face the music.”
I roll over, face half buried in my pillow. “What if the music really sucks? Like a third-grade orchestra concert kind of suck?”
Skyler smiles, sitting on the edge of my bed and sweeping my messy hair off my cheek. “You just need to talk to him, Little.”
“I’ve tried.”
“Tried what, exactly?”
“I texted him after he left that night. I tried calling.”
“And then?”
I frown. “I mean, he made it pretty clear he didn’t want to talk.”
“Didn’t,” she echoes. “Past tense. It’s been over a week now. He’s had time to cool off and think. And so have you. What’s stopping you from going down Greek Row and staying in his room until y’all work this out?”
I sigh, forcing myself into an upright position with more effort than should be necessary. Once I’m leaned back against the headboard, I meet Skyler’s gaze. “Honestly?”
She nods.
“I feel like maybe this is a sign from the universe.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Adam and I have been a train wreck since forever. When we weren’t together, when we were with other people and trying to be friends, when we finally became more than friends… we just keep hurting each other, over and over. We always have some kind of drama, some kind of misunderstanding, some kind of fight.” I swallow, eyes flooding with
tears when I remember how he turned his back on me by the pond. “That can’t be healthy, can it? I mean… are we ever just going to be okay?”
Skyler offers a soft smile, scooting over until she’s right next to me before pulling me into her arms. I lie there limp for a long while, quivering lip and blurry eyes, and then I finally wrap my arms around her, too.
“You’re too smart to think love will ever be easy, Little.”
I sigh, resting my head on her shoulder. “But should it always be this hard?”
Skyler frames my arms, pulling back so she can look at me. “You and Adam spent years denying what you had between you. Okay? And you were both so damn good at it that I didn’t even see it — and I dated the guy.” She chuckles. “To go from that, to being together… it’s not an easy transition. You have years of history, of hurt, and now you’re in this fragile time of building trust.”
“And I blew that trust to hell…”
Skyler frowns. “Well, not the words I was going to use, but… kind of.”
I sigh, scrubbing my hands over my face. “I don’t deserve him.”
“Yes, you do,” she argues. “And he deserves you. If any two people in the world were meant for each other, it’s you guys. But, here’s the thing… he’s right. You have to choose him over everyone, and he has to do the same. That’s the only way you’re going to shake your feet free of this muck that’s got you guys stuck in the past.”
“I didn’t choose Grayson over him.”
Skyler crosses her arms, releasing mine. “Don’t get defensive with me. I’m calling you on your shit, so accept it.”
I huff. “I hate you sometimes.”
“Why was it so important for you to keep a friendship with Grayson, anyway? The guy cheated on you, Cassie. He was a pretentious asshole, too.”
I lean my head back against the headboard. “Do you remember when Clay fucked me over my freshman year, and I lost Paris because of that whole ordeal?”
She nods.
“I never got over that. And it wasn’t even Clay I was upset about. Not really. I mean, did he deserve my virginity? No. But what girl loses her innocence in some perfect, magical way? That’s not what I was hurt over. What hurt me the most was losing my best friend.” My eyes fill with tears again. “I don’t like losing people. I just want everyone to love me and stay forever.”
Ritual: A New Adult College Romance (Palm South University Book 5) Page 23