Redemption (Forgiven Series)

by Brooke, Rebecca

  “I’m pretty sure she does,” I chuckled. “I’ve never seen her back off from and argument as quickly as she did last night. You may have actually found a way to tame Emily.”

  He punched me in the arm when I started to laugh. “Stop picking on my girlfriend, or next time I won’t bother to save your ass.”

  “All right, you win.”

  “Now, tell me what happened with Lauren after you left.”

  “Last night, nothing happened. Angie made me wait to talk to her until today,” I grumbled.

  A look of shock crossed his face. “You mean, you did what Angie told you to do?” He shook his head in disbelief. “You must really like her to not go busting down her door last night.”

  “I wanted her to listen to me, not throw me out on my ass,” I said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, given how upset she looked when she left, that might’ve been exactly what happened,” he joked. “So, have you talked to her today?”

  “Angie set her up to meet me for lunch, without telling her. It took some convincing, but she’s coming over tonight after practice.” I smiled, excited at the thought of seeing her again tonight.

  “Dude, I see that dreamy-ass look in your eyes—you’ve got it just as bad as Caleb and I do,” he teased. “Have you ever seen her play?”

  “No, is she good?” I asked, curious to know more about her.

  “Good? She’s phenomenal. I’ve never seen anything like it. I saw her play last year when Em asked me to go to a game. Did you know the national junior team tried to recruit her as a junior in high school?”

  Still reeling from the fact that she was good enough to possibly make the national junior team as a junior in high school, I almost didn’t hear when he dropped another bomb on me. “Em says there’s rumor of the national team looking at her.”

  “Holy shit, she’s that good?” I exclaimed.

  He nodded. “But I’m sure you’ll find out for yourself. I can’t imagine you missing her games now, especially with that look in your eye.”

  “What look?”

  “That sappy-ass look that means you can’t give Caleb and I a hard time about our feelings anymore,” he smirked.

  Before I got a chance to respond the professor walked in and started class. Nervous about tonight, I struggled to pay attention and hoped I could get anything I missed from Andrew. I needed to keep my grades up because if I slipped again like last year, not only would Coach have my ass, but so would Emily and Angie. Between them and Caleb, I managed to just about stay on track and I’m sure with Andrew officially dating Emily, he’d be all over my ass too.

  Usually after breaks and visits home, my grades suffered. Listening to my mom complain about all the awful things that my father had done always pissed me off and it usually took me a few weeks to shake those feelings off. Now that they all knew what my home life was like growing up, they made every effort to help me get over it when I got back to campus, and they never let me miss class because of it.

  When Angie and I got back to the apartment, I went straight to the fridge to grab a beer while Angie went to put her bag away. Caleb had one more class on Friday’s, leaving Angie and I to hang out. She came out of their room and flopped down on the couch next to me. “Beer already? I’m guessing the conversation with Lauren didn’t go as well as you hoped?”

  “No, it went fine. She’s coming over tonight after practice.”

  “Okay.” She drew out the word. “Then, what’s with the beer this early.” She stopped and started to laugh. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

  “No, I just wanted a beer, I’m celebrating.”

  I was pretty sure she would see through my lie and call me on it, but instead, she changed the subject. “So tell me what happened?”

  I relayed the main points of the conversation with Lauren back to Angie, trying not to leave anything out. When I finished, I leaned forward to rest my arms on my legs, rolling the beer bottle between my palms. “You know, I heard what she said to you about last Saturday night,” I said, not looking up.

  Angie placed her hand on mine to keep them from moving. “I know, but I don’t think she meant it that way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think the part she regretted was just being another notch on your bedpost, but now that she knows that’s not what she was to you, I have a feeling she’ll see that it was special,” she encouraged.

  I sighed and moved my eyes back to the floor. “I hope so, because it was one of the best nights of my life.”

  She patted me on the back, stood up, and walked into the kitchen. A few minutes later she came back out with a drink and a bag of popcorn. I sat back and flicked on the TV. We watched a few reality shows before Caleb got back from class. When he walked in the door, I looked up at the clock and realized that it was almost five thirty. Lauren would be here soon. I jumped up and took my bottle into the kitchen, wanting everything to be neat and tidy for when she arrived.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Caleb called from the other room.

  “I think he’s just a little nervous about tonight. Lauren’s coming over after practice,” Angie answered.

  Walking back into the room I crossed my arms over my chest to try and hide my nerves. “I’m not nervous. I just don’t want the apartment to be a mess when she gets here.”

  That made Caleb laugh even harder. “Bullshit. You may be able to get that sorry-ass excuse past Angie, but it’s not going to work on me.”

  Caleb always could read me like a book. I guess that was what came from being roommates for two and a half years.

  “Fine, I’m nervous, but can you blame me? I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “No, but it’s still funny.” Caleb was still laughing and I could see Angie trying not to join in.

  “Thanks for the support, guys. I remember being there for you when you guys first got together.”

  From the look on his face it must have taken a huge effort, but Caleb finally got his laughter under control. “All right, tell me what you have planned for the night.”

  My annoyance dissipated immediately because I needed their help to make sure I got this right. “Well, I thought we could go grab a pizza and maybe come back here to hang out.”

  At the mention of pizza, I saw Caleb shoot Angie a look. “What?” I demanded.

  Angie smiled and shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “Okay, so far so good. Lauren’s a pretty simple girl. What do you know about her?”

  “Not much,” I admitted. “Only that she’s a sophomore and that she plays softball. Oh, and apparently she’s one of the best pitchers out there.”

  “She is,” she confirmed. “But how did you know that?”

  “Andrew told me today before class,” I admitted. From what I’d experienced so far it would seem that Lauren was very down to earth for an athlete of her ability. Many people in her position would flaunt their talent anywhere they could, but that just went to show how different Lauren was from everyone else. I knew that night at the party she was something special, I just hadn’t been ready to admit it to myself then.

  “Oh shit,” I said quickly looking up. “I forgot to tell you guys what else Andrew told me today. But I’m only telling you if you promise not to tell Emily.” I looked pointedly at Angie.

  I could see the indecision on her face, but I knew she’d be too curious to refuse. It was a good thing that what I had to tell her was positive because I doubted she’d keep her promise if it meant hurting her best friend. “Okay,” she promised. I looked over at Caleb and he nodded.

  “Andrew’s in love with Emily.”

  “I already knew that. He told her the night of my party,” Angie she said, waving her hand dismissively.

  I chuckled. “No, I mean in love. Like the kind that means long-term commitment…”

  Angie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “You… you… you mean?” she stuttered.

  I nodded. “Yes, but not yet. He w
ants to make sure Em feels the same way.”

  Angie jumped up from her seat, too excited to sit still. Caleb stood up and, placing his hands on her shoulders, turned her to face him. “Baby,” he said looking her in the eyes. “I know you’re excited, but remember you can’t say anything. Andrew needs to tell her when they’re both ready.”

  She smiled and I could see her love for him shining in her eyes. “I know, I’m just excited because I know she feels the same way about him. They’ll figure it out eventually. Just like we did.” She leaned up to kiss him.

  “Oh, man, take that shit to your room,” I groaned.

  “Why?” Caleb smirked. “You’re just going to interrupt us anyway.”

  “What the fuck? It was—”

  I was cut off by a knock on the door.

  Shit!

  My head snapped up. Caleb must have seen something on my face because he burst out laughing again as he took Angie’s hand and pulled her toward the hallway. “Come on, baby, I think this is something Josh needs to face alone,” he chuckled.

  Flipping him off, without waiting for a reaction, I turned back to the door.

  When I answered it, she stood there with her slightly curly hair and expressive eyes, looking so sexy that it made my hands tremble and my palms sweat. I had the urge to wipe them on my pants but I didn’t want her to know how nervous I was. I’d never been like this about a girl. I had to get over it, and fast.

  “Hey,” I smiled, opening the door wider.

  “Hi.”

  The air was filled with an awkward silence and she looked around at the door that I’d pushed her up against before heading to my bed the last time she was here. Our eyes locked and I could tell she was as nervous as I was. Wanting to put her at ease, I lifted my hand and cupped the side of her face, turning it towards mine.

  “Relax,” I whispered, gently caressing her cheek with my thumb.

  The simple show of affection made her pupils dilate and I saw the rapid rise and fall of her chest as her breathing quickened. The thought of my touch having such a reaction was thrilling, so I continued to stroke her cheek, pulling her closer to me and placing my lips next to her ear to whisper, “Why are you so nervous?”

  Cool air closed the gap between our bodies as she quickly pulled back and looked up at me. “I’m not nervous,” she said with a slight tremor to her voice.

  “You can deny it all you want, but I can see it in your eyes.” The look in her eyes said she had something to say, but wasn’t sure how. Taking her hand I led her over to the couch. We sat down and she still looked nervous, but tried to hide it. I linked my fingers through hers. “Talk to me, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing,” she lied as she looked away, but not before her eyes took in our joined hands.

  “It’s not nothing, but I can’t help you figure it out unless you talk to me.” I gave her hand a gentle squeeze and hoped it was enough to entice her into talking to me. Listening to people talk about their emotions was something I usually avoided, but for some reason I needed to know that she was okay with this, okay with us.

  “What am I doing here?”

  I was confused by the question. “What do you mean? I’m taking you to a quick dinner, and then we’re coming back here to hang out.”

  “Yeah, but why me?”

  She looked helpless and a little lost. This was not the Lauren I’d met the other night, or the one I talked to this afternoon. Something had to happened because she couldn’t even look me in the eye.

  Putting my finger under her chin, I forced her to look at me and the tears shimmering in her eyes were almost my undoing. There were a lot of things I could take, I’d seen a lot growing up, but Lauren crying was not one of them.

  “Lauren, what happened after class?”

  “I just don’t want to be another notch on your bed post, not that I’m not already one now, but I really don’t want that to be why I’m here. I mean Ryan cheated on me and I don’t think I could handle it if you did. And I really don’t want you to get bored—”

  Before the conversation took a turn for the worse I covered her mouth with my fingers. She was rambling, which would be cute as hell if her words weren’t so infuriating. At least I knew what she did when she was nervous, but right now I needed to deal with the shit coming out of her mouth, and why she would even think that way.

  “Lauren, I’m not sure what made you think that I only invited you over to sleep with me, but that is definitely not the case. Not that I wouldn’t love to do that again, “ I winked, “but we’ll take things at whatever pace you’re comfortable with because I don’t want you to ever think that you are a notch on my headboard. You’re here because there is something different about you and I think there could be something great between us.”

  “So you want to take me out on a date to get to know me better?”

  “Yes.”

  The tension started to leave her shoulders and she sighed, leaning forward into my arms to rest her head against my shoulder. Wrapping my arms around her, I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

  After a few moments I reached down and tipped her chin up so that I could look her in the eye. “I told you all of this earlier. Do you want to tell me what happened between then and now to make you think differently?”

  “I ran into Ryan today and he said some pretty crappy things.”

  Just hearing her say his name made my blood boil. I never liked the bastard in the first place, but if he was making her question my motives I was going to beat the ever-loving shit out of him. Silence enveloped the room again and Lauren shifted, trying to pull out of my arms. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it,” she said.

  “You absolutely should’ve mentioned it. That asshole needs to be taught a lesson, especially if he keeps trying to upset you.” Feeling waves of anger crashing over me, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. It worked, but I knew that had everything to do with Lauren being in my arms. Something told me that might all change the next time I saw him.

  I looked down at her beautiful face and knew we needed to get some air. We could talk at the restaurant. “Do you wanna eat out, or do you want to grab something and bring it back here?”

  She smiled up at me. “Let’s go eat and then come back here.”

  “All right,” I said, picking up my keys. Catching sight of the emblem on my key fob I remembered what kind of car Lauren drove. There was no reason to drive my POS when she drove a BMW.

  “You wanna take your car?” I asked with my best version of puppy dog eyes.

  “You like the car that much?”

  “I do.”

  “Then, sure.”

  The thought of driving around in such a beautiful car had me itching to get her out of there. “We’ll be back later,” I called down the hallway. Angie and Caleb could make up for me interrupting them last night.

  We walked out of the apartment and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her as she walk in front of me. Damn she had a sexy walk, but if I was going to prove to her she was more than a one-night stand then I had to wait for her to make the first move.

  When we got to the car she held out her keys to me. “I’ll let you drive it, if you promise me that you’re not dating me for my car,” she smirked.

  I felt my face spilt into a wide grin. “You’re gonna let me drive?”

  “Only if you promise.”

  I stepped up to her. This was an easy fix. “I’m not dating you for your car,” I promised as I lowered my mouth to hers. “I want you for this sexy ass, body, and mind,” I whispered against her mouth before brushing my lips over hers.

  When I started to pull back she reached her hand behind my neck to hold my mouth exactly where it was. I would never get tired of kissing this girl. She licked her tongue across my bottom lip and I groaned as I opened my mouth and let her deepen the kiss. After a few moments she broke the kiss, and I was grateful because I needed to breathe.

  “Mmmm,” she hummed.

>   Looking up at me, I could see the flush spread across her face as she handed me the keys to her car. Moving around the passenger side, I opened the door for her. This was different than the first time I’d driven her car. This time I had no intentions of letting her walk away from me at the end of the night.

  Sliding into the driver seat, I turned to face her. “How does pizza sound?”

  She looked over at me and smiled. “Let’s grab a pizza from Hot Truck and bring it back here to eat it.” When I looked at her curiously, she explained. “I know I said I’d like to eat out but I was just thinking, I don’t know much about you and I’d like us to get to know each other. If we eat at out we’ll be yelling over the other customers. Plus,” she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, “there’s also the fact that I really want to kiss you again, but for that, I want us to be alone.” Her admission was swiftly followed by a flush that crept slowly up her cheeks.

  Ugh. Being a gentleman sucked. Normally, I’d be right in there with one of my trademark lines, but I had to behave myself and let her take the lead. So, even though my heart was beating out of my chest and my dick was straining against my zipper, I leaned over and gently kissed her temple. “Sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

  I started the car and backed out of the space. “So, what do you want to know about me?” I asked, keeping our hands joined together.

  “Hmmm, let me think?” she pondered. “Okay, let’s start with something easy. Where are you from?”

  “Really?” I laughed. “That’s the best you can come up with.”

  “Hey, I said I was starting out easy.”

  She stuck her bottom lip out and I reached over and moved my thumb across it. “That pout is extremely sexy. But to answer your question, I grew up in Cortland, about two hours from here.” I moved my hand down and intertwined it with hers. “What about you?”

  “Hoboken,” she muttered shyly.

  “That’s in New Jersey, right?” I asked. I’d heard of the city but didn’t know much about it.

  “Yeah, it’s right outside New York City,” she answered.

  “So, I’ve got a Jersey girl on my hands,” I chuckled as I pulled into the lot of the pizza place. Getting out of the car, I met Lauren at the front and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. Her eyes snapped up to mine in question, as I pulled her tighter to me. “That explains the feisty attitude at the bar.”