by Ruby Vincent
We shook and no other words passed between us.
My parents walked in minutes after she left.
“Ready, sweetie?” Dad asked.
“Yes.”
I grabbed my things and we headed out the door. Mom put her arm around my shoulder.
“Rachel, we need to talk about Christian...”
“YAY, CHRISTIAN’S COMING back!” Nicky launched himself at Christian who caught him with a grunt. The ten-year-old settled on his back and wrapped his arms around his neck. “You can sleep in my room. Miss Ruth, can we get bunk beds?”
His foster mom laughed in between setting the table. Our families were having one last dinner together at my house before Christian was sent packing. His things were already sitting at the door.
Miss Ruth laughed. “I don’t know about that,” she said, “but I’m glad my boy’s going to be home again. We’ll just have to make a little room until Christian goes off to college.”
Christian snaked his arm around and got his hands on Nicky. “I kinda like the bunk beds idea.” Christian deposited Nicky in his seat, then sat down next to me. He slipped his fingers through mine under the table.
“We loved having you, Christian,” Mom spoke up. She strolled in loaded down with a bowl of seafood pasta. “But under the circumstances...”
He chuckled. “I get it. We’ll have to start being a normal couple from now on.” Christian brought my hand to his lips. He gazed at me over my palm. “With limits and everything.”
“Exactly,” Mom said. “Limits.”
I grinned at our private joke.
They finished putting out the food and we didn’t waste time in diving in.
I leaned into Christian. “So, Moreau,” I said softly, “I’ve been checking out Worton College and...”
He paused with a piece of shrimp halfway to his lips.
“...they’ve got a great photography program.”
Christian’s head snapped around. He gazed at me open-mouthed. “But... I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking.” I closed the distance between our lips and gave him a soft peck. “This is my choice, and I choose you.”
The smile that spread across Christian’s face made my heart pick up speed. He bent and kissed me for real, not caring who was watching.
This had been the strangest, wildest, most dangerous start to a senior year in human history, but it was worth it to be here with Christian.
I had won the game.
MORE BY RUBY
Marked
A deliciously dark tale.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Evergreen Academy was meant to be my fresh start. My hair was on point. My skin was flawless. And now I wore the hell out of my clothes instead of hiding them.
Even running into Ryder hadn't thrown me. So what that the green-eyed devil who tormented me for years now ruled my new school with a band of boys everyone called the Knights. The four of them were devastatingly rich, enviously handsome... and heartbreakingly cruel.
But the Evergreen Knights didn't scare me. I had my own plans and no reason to enter their little world... until one fateful night and a masquerade ball changed everything.
I saw something I shouldn't have and now I've been Marked.
They'll do everything they can to break me but they don't know the monsters I've faced. They don't know I've been broken before.
If they want to take on Valentina Moon... bring it on.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruby Vincent is a published author with many novels under her belt but now she's taking a fun foray into contemporary romance. She loves saucy heroines, bold alpha males, and weaving a tale where both get their happy ever after.
Copyright © 2019 by Ruby Vincent
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.