The Accidental Boyfriend: A YA Contemporary Romance Novel (The Boyfriend Series Book 7)

by Christina Benjamin

  Brooke raised her nearly transparent eyebrows. She looked particularly Luna Lovegood-ish today in her striped pink top, navy schoolgirl skirt and sparkly gold sunglasses resting in her wild white-blonde hair. “Maybe I was talking to Lucy,” Brooke teased. Then she cut her eyes at Lucy. “Don’t forget it’s unicorn season.”

  Lucy flushed scarlet and looked down at her cast that Jaxon noticed was now decorated in colorful swirls and clouds. “Nice art,” Jaxon commented.

  “She saved you a spot to sign,” Brooke said, handing him a marker on her way out the door. She gave Lucy a wink. “Coffee’s on the counter. Have a good day, you two. Oh, and tell Sergeant Sexy I said hello.” Then she sashayed out the door.

  Jaxon smirked. The girl had moxy, that’s for sure. He could actually see her holding her own with Conner, which was something he could say for very few others.

  “You don’t have to sign my cast,” Lucy said drawing his attention back.

  “I want to.” Then a dark thought passed over him. Did she not want him to? Was she worried what Alex would think? “Unless you don’t want me to.”

  “No. I mean, yes, I want you to sign it . . . If you want to.” She looked anywhere but his face.

  Jaxon hated that the easiness of yesterday seemed to no longer exist. He huffed a laugh. “Maybe we should have some coffee first. I’m not feeling very smooth this morning.”

  Lucy laughed and the tension he felt radiating off of her seemed to ease. “Yeah. I could use some coffee.”

  “You park that foot, I’ll grab the coffee and your book bag. Need anything else?”

  “Nope.”

  Jaxon found two coffees on the kitchen counter. They were from Starbucks and had each of their names scribbled on them. He noticed there were two half eaten chocolate chip muffins on the counter along with a wrapped one. A sense of warmth washed over him. Brooke was taking care of Lucy. It wasn’t exactly the breakfast of champions, but at least she’d remembered Lucy needed to have food in her stomach before she took her painkillers.

  “Don’t you girls ever cook?” Jaxon asked walking over to the couch with the coffees.

  “We reheat stuff. Does that count?”

  Jaxon rolled his eyes and handed Lucy her sugary coffee.

  “There’s a muffin on the counter for you.”

  “Oh, thanks. But I already ate breakfast. And it was actual food, with protein and nutrients. You should try it some time.”

  “Very funny,” Lucy said taking a sip of her coffee.

  Jaxon uncapped the black marker Brooke had given him and sat on the coffee table across from Lucy, pulling her leg into his lap.

  She let out a tiny gasp.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head and Jaxon noticed her cheeks turning pink. So maybe he wasn’t alone in his hopeless, foolish feelings? The thought made him bold. “Where do you want me to sign?”

  “Anywhere you want.”

  Jaxon ran his finger up the length of the rough plaster searching the colorful design for the perfect spot. He decided he wanted his name where Lucy could read it so he wrote it across the top of her foot, right above where her pink painted toenails stuck out of the cast. The black block letters were stark against the colorful background and Jaxon liked how they stood out, front and center. He added two numbers after his name and capped the marker with a satisfying click. “There you go.”

  Lucy stared down at what he’d written. JAXON #44

  “Forty-four?” she asked.

  “My basketball number.” Yeah, that’s right, Alex. Two can play at this game. Your girl’s wearing my number now.

  Jaxon knew he was being possessive and petty, but at the moment, he didn’t care. At the moment, seeing his name and number branding Lucy outweighed everything else—except maybe the bewitching way her cheeks pinked up as she gazed at him.

  “Oh. Thanks,” she said, shyly pulling her foot out of his lap.

  Damn, he loved to see her cheeks go pink like that. Especially when he knew he was the reason for it. They sat together for a moment longer, their knees almost touching. The room felt charged with enough electricity to spark a fire. Jaxon looked deep into Lucy’s stunning green-gold eyes. Her lips parted and his pulse morphed into the soundtrack from Stomp! Goddamn he wanted to taste those lips of hers.

  Not yours, his mind screamed, reeling his hormones back in.

  By the grace of God, Jaxon managed to wrench himself away from Lucy’s appeal before he did something foolish. “We’d better get going or we’re gonna be late.”

  Lucy

  It was a crisp spring morning, but Lucy felt like it was the middle of summer as she thought about what it had been like having her leg in Jaxon’s lap. His fingers had brushed her toes and he’d looked at her with those startling blue eyes. He made her feel completely exposed. Like he could see right into her heart and view the torrid of emotions he stirred within her. And when he’d written his basketball number on her cast she’d nearly stopped breathing. #44. What were the chances? Alex was #4. Lucy had dozens of things with the number four stitched or etched into them.

  It was like the world was trying to direct her toward Jaxon all along! Normally, Lucy didn’t put stock in such things, but from the moment she’d seen Jaxon write his strange flag-like fours on her hospital wall, she had a feeling it meant something. And now, staring down at the fours next to Jaxon’s name, boldly emblazoned on her cast, Lucy knew it did.

  Jaxon had made his move. The next one would have to be hers.

  Lucy somehow managed to make it through a full day of Jaxon chauffeuring her around campus without melting into a pile of drool. She was especially proud of herself for not letting him carry her, although he’d offered multiple times. She couldn’t decide if he was being chivalrous or if he was just trying to speed up her snail’s pace of crutching alongside him. But either way, she didn’t think she could survive being in his arms today. It was too comfortable a place.

  Lucy had spent the previous night thinking about what Brooke said about Jaxon being her unicorn. Damn Brooke and her quirky metaphors. She’d painted over the image she’d drawn on Lucy’s cast just like she promised, but Lucy couldn’t erase it from her mind.

  She’d laid awake all night letting her interactions with Jaxon run through her mind. Brooke was right; finding a guy as perfect as Jaxon truly was like finding a mythical creature. That was, if he was actually who he appeared to be. The verdict was still out on that. Lucy hadn’t really thought guys like Jaxon existed outside of fairytales, but here he was, showing up to save the day time and time again.

  Lucy wasn’t naturally pessimistic, but she’d never really believed she deserved anything special in life. Perhaps that’s why she’d stayed with Alex for so long. Not that Alex wasn’t special. He was certainly a talented and popular athlete. But he’d never really made Lucy feel special. At least he hadn’t in a very long time.

  The last time Alex had truly made Lucy feel even an inkling of the spark Jaxon ignited with just a smile was the day her father was arrested and Alex told her he’d be her family. But that was a lifetime ago. Was she really expected to limp along trying to cling to a long expired flame?

  Plus, Alex treated Lucy with entitlement and disrespect, while Jaxon regarded her with compassion and understanding. The two boys couldn’t be more different. And then there was the way Jaxon made her feel. The flame between them was far from expiring. With Jaxon, the flame felt like it threatened to engulf her.

  Just a few days of stolen glances and lingering touches and Lucy was starting to realize how much more there was to feel, to experience. She never realized the kind of connection she was missing, and now that she did, she was starting to realize maybe she wanted to explore it.

  The feeling was terrifying. Wanting something and believing you deserved something were two completely different things. Lucy was certain the more time she spent with Jaxon the more strength she’d find to believe in her worth. But she wondered if she’d ever
be strong enough to let herself be utterly alone in the world. Because that’s what it would mean if she was ever brave enough to break her ties with Alex. Would he truly cut her off from her father, her fortune? And was the chance for love worth the risk?

  Lucy had never considered herself to be a risk taking kind of girl. But Brooke and Jaxon’s words were starting to weigh on her and a new sense of bravery began to take root somewhere deep within her bones. Lucy wondered if perhaps the accident had shaken something loose—a strength and will she never knew she had. But now that she’d tapped into it, the feeling seemed to spread, forging with her flesh and bones as her body fused back together, promising to make her more whole than she’d ever been if only she were brave enough to take a chance.

  Lucy looked over at Jaxon from beneath her eyelashes as he drove her back toward her dorm in their golf cart. His posture was relaxed, one hand on the wheel, while the other rested across the back of the seat. Lucy could feel his warmth radiating toward her. The crisp spring air made her want to sink into it and let it seep into her bones. Everything about Jaxon seemed warm and safe. Every part of him was inviting. And when he caught her staring at him, he gave her an easy grin that she found herself returning.

  Lucy had been fighting her whole life. Maybe it was time she stopped fighting. Or maybe the point was to find something worth fighting for?

  21

  Jaxon

  So far, Jaxon’s plan to not get attached to Lucy was failing miserably. He’d survived nearly a full week of escorting her to and from her classes but not without her sending his body into overdrive at every opportunity.

  Tuesday had been unseasonably cold and Lucy hadn’t dressed for the weather. Jaxon had to pull over halfway across campus to lend her his sweatshirt. It was his basketball hoodie from his old high school and she practically swam in it, but seeing her wear something that was his made his heart want to claim her even more. It didn’t help that she continued to shiver beside him so he was forced to tuck her against his side as he wrapped one arm around her for warmth. She’d leaned into him and gave a soft sigh that reeked havoc on his possessive desires.

  The next day, the weather was much of the same and Lucy surprised him by greeting him at her door wearing his sweatshirt again. He’d realized he’d forgotten to ask for it back when he dropped her off the day before. Although, even if he had remembered, he foolishly would’ve told her to keep it. Seeing his name and number stamped across Lucy’s back unleashed something inside Jaxon that made his heart roar ‘mine’ with each beat.

  Thursday, the cold front vanished and Lucy greeted Jaxon wearing a sundress and a thin school cardigan. And goddamn if that wasn’t sexier than seeing her in his hoodie. By the afternoon, she was no longer wearing the cardigan and Jaxon didn’t know where to look—the thin spaghetti straps that repeatedly slid down her thin shoulders, or her perfectly toned thighs when the soft breeze lifted her gauzy skirt.

  It was sensory overload, and the tightness in his chest, and a few other places, was beginning to grow unbearable. Then, when Lucy had been getting out of the golf cart, Jaxon noticed her shoe was untied. He’d jumped out to tie it, bending down to double knot the laces of her single white converse, when he felt her fingers in his hair. He’d gone utterly still, not sure if he was dreaming. But then she spoke. “Make a wish.”

  Jaxon looked up to see her holding a single fluff of dandelion. He swallowed down the wish that bubbled to the forefront of his mind. Instead he said, “You make it.”

  She smiled down at him shaking her head. “I can’t, it was in your hair.”

  “I can’t think of one,” he lied.

  “Oh come on.” Her smile made it heard to breathe. “Did you know that dandelion seeds can be carried five miles from their origin? This little guy traveled pretty far to grant you a wish. I wouldn’t waste it if I were you.”

  Jaxon stood up and Lucy held the seed up to his lips. Her delicate fingers were so close to his mouth that he didn’t trust himself to speak. But there was so much light in her smile that he didn’t want to disappoint her. He closed his eyes and let a wish fill his heart and then he blew the seed from her fingertips.

  They both watched it float away on a fathomless breeze. The moment felt so pungent, full of the rare breed of crackling electricity that always seemed to exist between them. But before Jaxon was ready for it to end, another voice pierced into their bubble of bliss.

  “Don’t you two look cozy?”

  Jaxon turned to see Trista McAllister and her group of clones watching them.

  Lucy’s body tensed next to Jaxon. He could tell she didn’t know what to say. They hadn’t been doing anything wrong, but from the look on Trista’s face it seemed like she thought otherwise.

  “What were you wishing for, handsome?” Trista asked. “A date with me? I’m available, unlike our campus klutz,” she said, sneering at Lucy. “And I have two working legs.”

  Jaxon’s temper flared. Who the hell did this girl think she was? “No thanks. You’re not really my type.”

  Shock wiped Trista’s plastic grin from her makeup-caked face, but she quickly recovered. “Please, I’m everyone’s type.”

  Jaxon swallowed the growl clawing to get out. He knew girls like Trista. They were all the same, covering their insecurity with bitchiness. Their goal was to build themselves up by tearing others down. But Jaxon wasn’t about to sit back and let that happen. “Actually, I prefer hanging out with a girl who isn’t fishing for her next conquest. It’s refreshing. Maybe if you took your head outta your phone for two seconds, you’d know that about me.”

  Trista narrowed her eyes, her hateful gaze swiveling to Lucy. “How is your boyfriend, Lucy?”

  Lucy cringed and Trista grinned triumphantly. She whispered something to her clones, who giggled. Then Trista tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “I’ll be seeing you around, Lucy.”

  Jaxon was left wondering if maybe he should’ve kept his mouth shut. Provoking a girl like Trista was like poking a hornet’s nest—not smart. But he hated letting anyone talk to Lucy that way. He knew he was fooling himself thinking Lucy was his to protect. He knew he could never deserve a girl like her. But it still didn’t stop him from trying . . . or wishing for it.

  Jaxon connected with Lucy in a way he’d never connected with anyone before. He knew it was because of the bond they’d shared both having been through strangely similar accidents. But the accident was precisely the reason Jaxon was no good for Lucy—or anyone, really.

  He was still so wrecked by the loss of his mother and the fragile balance it left his life hanging in. At times, even Jaxon wasn’t sure he had both feet firmly planted in reality. He didn’t trust himself to be in a relationship when he was such a disaster, and it worried him that he could see Lucy starting to rely on him. He was too messed up to be any good to her.

  But despite all his valid arguments, Jaxon couldn’t deny her. He couldn’t be someone else who let her down. Lucy had let him in and she didn’t have anyone else to count on. So until she did, he would be there for her, even though he knew she deserved better.

  Brooke

  “How are things going with your unicorn hunt?” Brooke asked one evening when she walked in to Lucy’s room to check on her.

  Lucy looked up from her desk where she was doing some sort of homework. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

  Brooke smirked. “It has a catchy ring to it.”

  “It’s going fine. How are things going with your unicorn hunt?” Lucy fired back.

  “I actually have a prospect on a special breed,” Brooke replied coyly. “But stop changing the subject. Did Jaxon really tell Trista off?”

  Lucy’s eyes widened. “You heard about that?”

  “So it’s true? Dang, Lucy. The whole campus is talking about it. I can’t believe I have to get gossip about my best friend from the rumor mill.”

  “I didn’t want to make a big deal about it.”

  “Luce, it’s a big dea
l. Trista is pissed. And you know how bad she can be when she’s out for blood.”

  Lucy swallowed hard. “You think she’s out for blood?”

  “All I did was make out with a guy she liked and she ruined my reputation. Jaxon told her off and she thinks you’re the reason. This is not good.”

  “He didn’t tell her off, exactly.”

  “What did he say, exactly?” Brooke mimicked.

  “I don’t know. Jaxon was tying my shoe and Trista and her friends started making comments about how we looked cute or something. You know how she is. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but she was implying otherwise. And she made sure to bring Alex up and told Jaxon to flirt with her since she was available and not a cripple.”

  “That bitch-waffle is cold,” Brooke muttered. “What did Jaxon do?”

  “He may have told her she wasn’t his type.”

  Pride swelled in Brooke’s chest. “I knew it!”

  “What?”

  “I told ya he’s your unicorn!”

  Lucy’s lips pulled into a smirk. “It was kinda awesome. I wish you could’ve seen Trista’s face.”

  “Me too. But be careful, Lucy. You don’t need Trista on your bad side.”

  Lucy sighed, the momentary joy slipping from her face. “I know.”

  Brooke hated seeing Lucy upset. Jaxon probably shouldn’t have provoked the campus mean girl, but Brooke couldn’t help admire the fact that he’d stood up for Lucy. She decided to change the subject, not wanting Lucy to spend too much time worrying about Trista. “So, is Jaxon taking you to Alex’s game on Saturday?”

  “I haven’t asked him yet.”

  “I thought he said if you’re going, he’s driving.”

  “He did, but I still haven’t decided if I’m going to the game or not.”

  “Whoa, you told Alex you were gonna go, and I’m all for you skipping if you’re not up for it, but I’m not looking forward to the fall out if you stand that boy up again.”

  “I didn’t stand him up last time!” Lucy protested. “I was in a freaking car accident.”