The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories

by Brina Courtney

  “You want to see crazy?” I ran into the bedroom, pulling open the walk-in closet door with too much force. I stumbled back as I almost fell back on my ass. I grabbed an armful of clothes that was hanging and walked towards the front door.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, racing to the front door.

  He wasn’t in time. I threw his clothes over the railing of my second floor apartment. I didn’t know where Tarah went, but I was thankful she left the door open when she left.

  “Get the fuck out and have your tramp buy you a new one!” I said, coming back to the crushed X-Box and throwing a big chunk at his head.

  He ducked before it hit him, and it shattered against the white wall. After he told me I was crazy a few more times, he finally got the hint and left. I stared at the broken pieces as I sat around them and texted Nicole:

  Me: I went home early from work and walked into my apartment where Jared and Tramp Tarah were watching TV on MY couch.

  I knew she wouldn’t respond until she got off work and I had another text to make anyway.

  Me: I did it! I broke up with Jared.

  I set my phone on the kitchen counter as I grabbed a glass of water and took two pain pills. My shoulder was on fire from my rage. I grabbed my phone when I heard a text come in:

  Easton: Are you okay?

  Me: More than okay. I walked in on him cheating on me.

  My phone started to ring in my hand and Easton’s name popped up.

  “I’m a fucking idiot,” I groaned without a hello.

  “Want me to kill him for you?”

  I smiled at his offer. “No. I don’t think I can survive on only conjugal visits with you.”

  “Oh, so there will be sex in our future?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I felt like a hypocrite for already moving on from Jared, but it also felt good that I didn’t give into temptation on the cruise. I wanted my relationship with Easton to start off with a clean slate.

  “There is definitely sex in our future. How does this weekend sound?” I smiled back, just thinking about him naked.

  “Damn, you don’t take things slow,” he teased.

  “Not when I’ve been wanting to do it for ten days now.”

  “You’ll need to come here. I can’t leave Cheyenne again. Being away a week...”

  I cut him off. “Right, Cheyenne. Sorry, I was caught up in the moment. I can’t come there.”

  “Oh...”

  “I’m having a biopsy done on Saturday,” I said and sunk into the couch, but quickly sprang up, remembering Tramp Tarah and Jared were just on it doing God knows what. “And I have to burn my couch.”

  “I’ll figure something out. I really want to see you.”

  “I really want to see you, too,” I sighed, looking around at the disaster I created.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Easton

  “So...I met someone,” I said to my mother as she started to take a bite of her salad.

  “Are you trying to kill me? You could have waited until I didn’t have a mouth full of food!”

  “Sorry, I just couldn’t wait any longer,” I said, taking a bite of my pastrami sandwich.

  Since the first day I met Brooke, most of my thoughts were of her. I was still trying to wrap my head around all the emotions I was feeling for her. I wanted to talk to her every second I had, I wanted to drive to Boston and wrap her in my arms—fuck, I just wanted her.

  If her tumor was cancerous, I didn’t want to waste any time being without her. I wasted a lot of time when I could have been a better person to Dana. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes. I felt different when I was with Brooke, felt a different way towards her. Dana was my first love, but the more I thought about it, I thought that Brooke was my soul mate.

  I’d never believed in soul mates before—that was Avery’s state of mind, but I was starting to change my mind. Brooke was in my thoughts, in every song I heard, in every TV show and movie I watched, and in my heart.

  “Did you meet her on the cruise?” My mother was grinning wide.

  “Yes.”

  “When do I get to meet her?”

  “That’s the thing. What if it doesn’t work out? What if I introduce her to Cheyenne and she gets attached, and then I fuck it up and we don’t work out?”

  “Just take it slow and when the time is right, you’ll know that it’s okay to introduce her to Chey.”

  “I can’t take it slow. She might have cancer.”

  “Oh my!” she gasped.

  “She needs me. She doesn’t have anyone except her best friend, who is now in love with Avery.”

  “I’m so confused. Her best friend knows Av?”

  “Yeah, we all met on the cruise.”

  “Oh.”

  “They got close on the cruise, and Brooke and I got close on the cruise.”

  “Brooke—that’s a lovely name.”

  “I know.” I paused to take a sip of my beer. “I fell in love with her on the cruise—before any of us knew she had a tumor, and I can’t get her out of my head. I just want to be with her, but if she dies...” I shook my head at the thought and started to tear up.

  “Oh honey,” she reached over and grabbed my hand.

  “If she dies and Cheyenne is attached—I just can’t do that to her again.”

  “East—Baby, Dana’s death was not your fault.”

  “If I had never cheated on her—if I was a better husband, we wouldn’t have been at the courthouse, and she wouldn’t have been driving on that street.”

  “Oh Honey, you know we aren’t very religious, but God works in mysterious ways. It was her time. There was nothing you could have done to prevented her death. Who’s to say that she wouldn’t have been running an errand and the same accident had happened? Her death was not your fault, and you need to stop beating yourself up. You need to move on and let love in again.”

  “But what if Brooke dies and my heart is ripped from my chest again—from Cheyenne’s chest?”

  “People fight cancer all the time.”

  “That’s true. She is strong. She raised her sister from the age of thirteen.”

  “Where were her parents?”

  I told my mom everything that Brooke told me about her mother not being there for her, how she doesn’t know who her father is and how her sister is in college. I also told her about Brooke’s tumor and that she was having a biopsy done on Saturday. She told me not to worry about anything until Brooke got the results of the biopsy. But that was easier said than done.

  I was freaking out, and I could only imagine how Brooke was feeling. When I called her, we didn’t really talk about it. I didn’t want to bring it up, and I was trying to distract her.

  If Brooke were to have cancer, I would be there to help her fight it—no matter what.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this way. You know it makes me happy, right?” Her eyes were glossy as she spoke.

  “What? That I’m in love?”

  “Yes. This means I might get more grandchildren.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I don’t even know if she wants kids after having raised her sister, and I’ve only known her for two weeks.”

  “Alright, alright,” she said, holding her hands up in defense. “I just haven’t seen you in love since Dana.”

  “I know,” I said, smiling as I remembered Brooke’s smile.

  My mother wiped the corner of her eye with her white linen napkin.

  After we finished our lunches, I paid and kissed her goodbye, then headed back to Halo to talk to Avery before hitting the gym. Avery mentioned that he was going to Boston for the weekend to see Nicole, and I needed to find out the details so I could leave Saturday morning when I got off work.

  I wanted to surprise Brooke, and my mother agreed to watch Cheyenne on Sunday until I got home. Usually Cheyenne woke up to me cooking breakfast Sunday mornings. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Cheyenne after I had just spent a week with
out her, but my mother assured me that I needed to be there for Brooke. She would tell Cheyenne that she missed her and wanted to spend extra time with her.

  *~*~*

  I convinced Avery to not tell Nicole or Brooke that I was coming. If Avery were to tell Nicole, she would probably spill the beans, and I just wanted to see Brooke’s face and make her feel good before going in for the biopsy. I also just wanted to see her. I missed her laugh, her smile and her sense of humor. Everything was just better in person, and I was counting down the days. Avery found out that the procedure wasn’t until noon, and that was cutting it close, but I was going to make it, even if I had to get a speeding ticket doing it. I was going to be there for her.

  Wednesday and Thursday night after Cheyenne’s softball practice, I talked to Brooke on the phone. It felt like we were on the cruise again and in the tiny room as we laid on the twin beds. Our conversation never faltered, and I tried giving her advice about Jared, but I didn’t want her to go back to him. He came back on Wednesday for his things, and Brooke and Nicole watched him like a hawk while he boxed up his shit.

  Brooke told me how he begged for forgiveness—that the girl was just a friend, but Brooke didn’t believe him. Hell, I didn’t believe him. I was once a cheater myself, and I knew how to work the system. Jared didn’t expect Brooke to come home early from work, and when she did, the cat was out of the bag and the shit hit the fan.

  I couldn’t believe she smashed his X-Box and snapped his game in half. It actually terrified me, but I would never do such a thing to her now. I’ve been there and done that, and I’ve grown.

  Brooke knew something was off when she came home from the cruise to an apartment not lived in. I told her that he probably stayed at the girl’s place because he must not have wanted to fuck a girl on her bed. She was relieved, but still bought new sheets—new sheets I couldn’t wait to christen.

  We talked about my superstar on the softball field. I didn’t know that Brooke played growing up, but it made me that much more excited about the possibility that she could teach Cheyenne how to play, too.

  Everything I found out about Brooke made her that much more perfect for me. It scared me, but excited me even more.

  Every day, I couldn’t wait to talk to her. I was trying to play it cool and not act like a total girl, but I craved her. I wanted to show her that I was there for her, and I was going to figure out how to be with her. Long distance relationships don’t always work out, but I was determined to make this one last.

  When I wanted something or someone, I made it work.

  If she were to have cancer, I was moving her in with me so I could take care of her. I didn’t care that I’d only known her for two weeks. Being with her twenty-four hours a day on the cruise, made the time seem longer. I wanted this—I wanted her. Just like my dad once told me, Brooke made my dick hard when she walked into a room, and she put a smile on my face at the same time. That’s when you know you’re in love.

  Just hearing her voice on the phone each day and night did the same thing. I wanted to show her what she had been missing by being with a loser like Jared. I’d jerked off every night after we hung up the phone, and then went to sleep dreaming about her. I was a total mess, but I liked it—loved it. Usually, I would jerk off to porn, but just remembering her smile and laugh was all I needed to get off.

  I wished Brooke luck when I spoke with her Friday before I had to start my shift at the bar. She thought that I wouldn’t get to talk to her before her procedure. I planned to call her from the road, but she didn’t know that. I knew she was scared, but I assured her that she was in good hands with Avery and Nicole. I’d even given flowers to Avery to bring to her to let her know that I was thinking of her.

  “You are to never give me shit again,” Avery said as I handed him the red roses.

  “Fuck off. Yeah, okay, all your talk about finding the one and love at first sight—I was wrong. Now get the fuck out of my sight, and don’t ruin the flowers!”

  “Damn, I thought love was supposed to make you happy,” he said, shaking his shaggy blonde hair.

  “It would if I were in love with you.”

  “You know you love me,” he said, puckering up to give me a kiss.

  I pushed him away. “I’ll punch you in the face so fucking hard if you ever do that again!”

  He laughed and got into his truck, leaving for Boston, and I went into the bar to get ready for the five o’clock rush that didn’t let up until we closed.

  *~*~*

  “What time do you get off?”

  And there it was. The same question asked nightly by multiple women who have had me serve them one too many drinks throughout the night.

  In the past, this was the moment where I’d take a chick in the back and have her blow me, but not now. I only wanted one chick to blow me, and she was a four and half hour drive away.

  “Sorry, Babe, I’ve got plans after work. What can I get you to drink, though?”

  “I bet I can make it worth your while if you change your plans.”

  “Not going to happen,” I said, shaking my head at the tipsy blonde.

  Two weeks ago, I would have been all over this chick. She was blonde, had pretty blue eyes and a nice rack. Of course, I couldn’t help myself from looking as she leaned over the bar, trying to get my attention. I was a guy after all.

  “Here, if you change your mind.” She slid a business card to me. I took it, glancing at the front. It had her name, Mistress Renee, and a phone number. “For now, I’ll take a vodka cranberry.”

  I made the vodka cranberry and tossed the business card on the shelf near the cash register. I had no intention of using it; I just didn’t want to throw it away in front of the girl.

  As I watched the girls dance together on the dance floor and the guys watch from the sidelines as if they were prey, I realized this wasn’t my scene anymore. I didn’t have that urge to have a random chick suck my dick; I had the urge to please Brooke any way she wanted me to.

  I tried to concentrate on making drinks since we were swamped, but all I thought about was Brooke. Damn my father for being right. This woman consumed my every thought, but honestly, I didn’t care.

  I called Bethy and had her come in to relieve me. I needed to get to Boston.

  *~*~*

  Me: What’s Nicole’s address?

  Avery: Why?

  Me: I need the roses.

  Avery: I gave them to B already. We are having dinner.

  Me: What’s B’s address then?

  Avery texted me her address after asking me why. I didn’t have time to explain other than I was on my way. I was already on the road to see my girl.

  As I neared the exit to take to get me to her apartment, Rascal Flatts came on the radio, singing about not wasting time with the one you love and to give it all as if it was your last day. I couldn’t waste any more time. I needed her to know how I felt. I needed her to feel what I felt, and I wasn’t leaving Boston until she knew.

  My palms became sweaty as I parked on the street near her building. When I was an hour away, Avery texted me that he was lagging on getting Brooke home, so I could get to her before she fell asleep. I knew he was truly my best friend, because I figured he wanted to be buried deep in Nicole instead of “babysitting” Brooke for me. He told me after dinner they went for ice cream then coffee. He tried everything, but Nicole was getting antsy, and he couldn’t stall anymore.

  I just hoped she was awake.

  Me: Still awake?

  Brooke: Just got out of the shower and trying to stay awake for your call. How’s work going?

  I got out of my car and started to walk towards her building.

  Me: Busy. I just made myself take a break. I miss you.

  Brooke: I miss you more.

  I found her apartment and started to walk up the stairs while I dialed her number and smiled at her words. There was no way she missed me more.

  “Hey,” she answered. I could hear the smile through the p
hone.

  “Hey, I just wanted to hear your voice.”

  “You’re always telling me pick-up lines.”

  “How is that a pick-up line?” I asked, still smiling as I stood outside her door. The lights from inside her apartment glowed through the blinds.

  My palms were still sweaty. Why was I so nervous? This was my Brooke. The one I spent seven nights with on a cruise. The one I talked to every night before bed.

  “You always say things that make me melt.” Knock, knock, knock. “Weird, someone is at the door,” she said, losing her train of thought.

  “Who could that be this late at night?” I asked, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

  “Probably Nicole. Ever since we’ve found out about my tumor, she’s been babying me. Tonight, she and Avery acted like they couldn’t leave me home alone because I would be depressed or something. After dinner, they took me to get ice cream and coffee,” she said, dragging out the word “and”. “Hold on, let me see what she wants.”

  I heard the wind through the phone as she made her way through her apartment. My heart was racing more than the day I held Cheyenne in my arms. The day my Peanut was born changed my life. I hoped tonight was life changing, too.

  I could see her shadow as she looked through the peephole and I waited nervously.

  She gasped and then said my name. “Easton...what...”

  The deadbolt turned, and she opened the door. She stood with the phone held to her ear and in my boxers and Halo t-shirt she never gave back on the cruise.

  My phone was still to my ear, too. “Hi,” I said, smiling—still. My smile hadn’t faltered since she answered the phone.

  She bit her bottom lip, and my cock jerked in my jeans. “Hi,” she said, taking the phone from her ear.

  I lowered mine, pressing the End button and stepped forward as she did the same. Our bodies were inches apart, hers smelling like apple orchards and mine smelling like a stuffy bar.

  “What...” Brooke started to say, but I grabbed her face with both hands, my phone still in my right hand and kissed her like the night we kissed on the cruise. Her phone fell to the floor, and she then reached up, running her fingers through my hair and pressing her body against mine. My dick grew hard with the contact, but this time, she didn’t pull away like she had the first time she felt my cock stiffen when we kissed.