The Wrong Way: Hanson University: One

by McKenna Kerrick

  “So what’s this surprise?” I ask again.

  “You’re awful impatient. It might not even be for you,” Killian teases. “It could be for Alex or Ian.”

  “Bullshit, ‘cause I’m your favorite and everyone knows it.”

  The corner of Killian’s mouth twitches into a half-smile. “Okay, you got me there. You’re definitely my favorite person here.”

  “That’s such a relief,” I smile widely. “Now, is the surprise a present?”

  “Nope.”

  I pause to think of what else it could be. “Is it a puppy?”

  “Why do girls always assume they’re getting a puppy?” Killian asks in mock-wonder.

  “Because puppies make everything better. And it’s known to be probably the best surprise ever to happen to someone,” I point out then make a show of looking around the room. “So where is my puppy? Who do I need to tackle to get to it?”

  “There’s no puppy,” Killian laughs. “Glad to know you’d willingly tackle someone for a dog, though.”

  “Any sane person would.” Unless they were allergic, but then they wouldn’t get surprised with a puppy in the first place, which makes that whole thing null and void to them.

  Before Killian or I could talk about something else, or for me to guess whatever else my surprise could be, someone in a makeshift waiter’s uniform comes over and Killian gets up to follow him somewhere.

  “Sorry, baby doll,” Killian leans down to kiss my cheek. “I’m giving the opening speech. Coach decided it was better to let me do it than Alex.”

  We both turn to look down the table where Alex is sword fighting with Ian using forks. A laugh escapes out of me at that. “Okay, probably a good call to not have Alex do it.”

  “Or Ian,” Killian chuckles. “I’ll see you afterwards.”

  “And then do I get to know what my surprise is?” I ask impatiently.

  “Killian,” the waiter guy huffs.

  “Right,” Killian nods to him. “We’ll see.”

  And with that he winks at me before following the impatient guy. I lean forward and wave my hand to get Nina’s attention from two seats down. She leans back to see me and then scooches out of her chair to come take over Killian’s seat while he’s away.

  “Where’s your boyfriend?” Nina asks.

  “He’s supposed to give some speech,” I shrug.

  Jackson leans around Nina to peer over at me. “Who said he was giving a speech tonight?”

  “Your coach,” I roll my eyes. “Apparently they didn’t think Alex could handle it.”

  “There’s no speech given my students tonight,” Jackson frowns. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”

  Well, I was pretty sure until now. The tumbling in my stomach started to take over as my nerves started in. Why would Killian say he was delivering a speech if he wasn't? What kind of logic was that?

  A microphone being tapped had us all turning towards the stage on the far side of the room. Killian’s tall frame stood above everyone, making him even taller due to the platform beneath him.

  “Ha,” I say smugly. So he was giving a speech. In your face Jackson.

  “So,” Killian clears his throat as his voice booms through the strategically placed speakers around the room. “I kind of lied to someone, so I’m sorry in advance for that.” He looks apologetically towards our table.

  Oh no.

  “Anyways, I’m not actually giving a speech about football. Although I’m sure Coach would have been a lot easier on me when I told him I wanted to stand in front of a room full of people and speak,” Killian continues. “As many of you are aware, I used to be a bit of a player. Like, balls-to-the-wall kind of player with no regard to anyone. And then this year I decided that I didn’t want that anymore. Mostly because my best friend wanted to be just like me. Hell no was I letting that happen.”

  “What is he doing?” Nina asks me.

  “How am I supposed to know?” I frown at her. “He didn’t tell me this! He told me it was about football.”

  “Hey,” Alex leans down the table to glare at us, “shut up and listen to your boyfriend.”

  I stick out my tongue at him, but go back to listening to Killian.

  “I don’t really know how to do this whole boyfriend thing,” Killian says sheepishly. “And that’s okay because she’s letting me make mistakes and fix them along the way. Which is one of the many reasons why I love Lila Summers. She’s my best friend, the person who tells me like it is without holding back, and who makes me smile and laugh even when I’m in a bad mood.”

  He looks up towards the ceiling before looking directly at me.

  “You see, I didn’t come up here to talk about football because that’s only a piece of who I am. Something that I wasn’t sure about for a long time, thinking that the football player was all anyone was going to see. And it shouldn’t be a shock that Lila easily saw past it all. She’s known me almost our entire lives and could care less if I played or not.”

  A few people clap and holler out.

  “I didn’t do this the right way before. At least, that’s what everyone keeps telling me. Take it slow, and I didn’t. And it cost me something that I didn’t even realize. It cost me that faith I thought you had in me. That I was the one who made you question it, so this is me making it perfectly clear for once.” Killian spreads his arms open wide to the crowd that’s eating out of the palm of his hand. “I, Killian Blane, am in love in my best friend, Lila Summers, and she’s the most amazing girlfriend to ever grace this planet and my life.”

  “Holy shit,” Nina wraps her hand around my arm and shakes me. “Did you hear him?”

  I’m pretty sure people in California could hear what he just said with how loudly he spoke into the microphone. He loves me. Holy shit is right.

  Killian hops off the stage and makes a beeline for our table. Nina practically flings herself into Jackson’s lap to get out of Killian’s seat quick enough for him to drop into it, his large shoulders effectively blocking out everyone and everything else.

  “So?” Killian gives me a crooked grin.

  I can’t get my heart to talk to my brain to be able to form all the words that I want to. So instead, I just sit here with my mouth hanging open while staring at him.

  “Boy, tonight must really be my night to render you speechless,” he teases and grabs one of my hands to fiddle with my fingers. “Had that whole thing planned for two solid weeks,” he adds proudly.

  I blink a few times at him before wetting my lips. “You love me?”

  Killian outright laughs at that. “Did you not hear a word I said up there?”

  Truth? I quit hearing him after he said I love you the first time. And yes, I know he said it twice because it’s the only thing swirling around in my brain at the moment.

  “I do,” he continues in that proud voice. “I love you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh my God,” Nina leans over Killian’s shoulder to snap her fingers in front of my face. “Are you broken, what the hell, Lila? Did you not hear him for the third time admit his undying love for you? Jesus, woman. Tell him you love him back before you give him a complex.”

  “Thanks,” Killian snorts.

  “Okay,” I bite my lip nervously. Why I’m nervous I don’t know. He just told me he loves me in front of an entire ballroom full of people and I’m having trouble just saying it to him. “I love you, too.”

  “Sounds pretty damn perfect to me,” Killian grins. “You were about to actually give me a complex there, baby doll.”

  “I don’t think oxygen is getting to my brain quick enough to respond,” I flush.

  “It’s okay,” Killian says and runs the back of his fingers across my face gently. “I have a feeling I’ll wait to hear you tell me anything.”

  I smile at his words and lean forward to give him a soft kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Oh boy, now they’re going to be even more obn
oxious,” Alex fake gags from down the table.

  “Oh shut up, they’re cute!” Nina rolls her eyes at the quarterback.

  “You only say that because you’re just as obnoxious with Jackson,” Alex rebuts.

  “God, I can’t wait for you to get a girlfriend so I can cram as much obnoxiousness down your throat,” Nina sighs loudly. “Someone on this planet has to be able to put up with you.”

  Alex shrugs his shoulders in response.

  “We’ll just have to wait and see,” I tell Nina.

  “I’m glad we got here,” Killian tells me quietly, drawing my attention away from our friends. “To the place where that line in the sand is officially gone.”

  “It was bound to happen,” I grin at him and lean my head on his shoulder. “One way or another, I’m sure something was bound to happen to get us here.”

  “To fate,” Killian murmurs before kissing the top of my head.

  I lace our fingers together and set them on his leg. “To fate.”

  The End

  Introduction to The Wrong Girl

  Grace Hart gave up her love story for a chance at something more. The more wasn’t another guy, it wasn’t even another person. It was a chance to fulfill her dream to be a dancer.

  See, the thing they don’t tell you about dance when you’re little, is that it’s extremely competitive. Now, take into account that you happen to be dating the high school’s starting quarterback, and competitive doesn’t even begin to describe my life. So I gave up Alex Hunter midway through senior year to leave for college four months earlier than planned.

  And now with my grandfather, who happened to raise me, health concerns, I decided after three and a half years away, it was time to come home and finish my degree.

  Now, if only I can manage to avoid Alex Hunter for the rest of the year, my life will be golden.

  Because that love story I gave up?

  It didn’t quite give up on me.

  Acknowledgements

  So, I wanted to try something new. It’s set in a town that doesn’t exist, because it’s actually a few places that fill up my heart combined into one. As someone who knows that we all fall in and out of love in life, countless times. Some we wish we could take back, or wish had lasted longer, or prayed for a second chance. I wanted to dedicate this book to everyone who ever fell in love with their best friend.

  Because who else is better to fall in love with beyond them?

  My parents were friends when they were little. They grew up together and eventually fell in love. They drifted apart as teenagers, like most do, but found their way back together. They gave me the definition of fate. The idea that falling in love with someone that’s meant to be will always happen. Even at the strangest of times.

  This is the first book that I’ve edited completely by myself, so pray to God for me that I eventually get the hang of grammar and how it actually works. But my underuse of commas has officially disappeared! Danielle, previous editor, did teach me something!

  I hope you all fall in love with Killian and Lila the way I did. The Wrong Way is going to be one of those books that enter me into a different category than Western Romance, and I’m so glad I decided to take that plunge. Hopefully, you all agree!

  My readers are by far the kindest people that I have the pleasure of entertaining with my fictional world. Stay in love!

  About The Wrong Way

  This is a little different. I wanted to write something to explain why this book means a lot to me and why it took so much longer to put out than anticipated. It started out titled Rules of Love because it had a completely different concept than what is actually written. Something that I felt strongly about, but in the end, I felt more strongly about this.

  Rules of Love had 81 pages written in a matter of five days. That’s pretty impressive to me. I don’t like to do drafts of my books, I feel like things are better the first time around and then to tweak it when necessary. Which is why absolutely none of those 81 pages got used.

  This story was for a different situation, in a different town, in a different form of love.

  The Wrong Way possessed the ability to let me tell a story of love that first came about of friendship. That the foundation for something more was already in place. As will be the whole directive for this series placed at Hanson University.

  I hope you enjoy this series as much as I know I will!