Undone: A New Adult College Bad Boy Romance (Mature Young Adult Fun Contemporary Romance)

by Alli Sims

  “I can't go back there. I'm going to go back to school for art like I should have a long time ago,” Heather said as she took a sip of her coffee.

  “Wow, really? I'm excited for you. It's a bit scary though, isn't it?”

  Heather nodded. “Very scary, but I don't want to just get by anymore. I want to live. If that means I have to struggle for a while, fine. I'd rather be doing something that makes me happy.”

  Samantha smiled at Heather. She knew exactly what the woman meant. Samantha wasn't sure herself if she was going to return to the bank. The memories that lived there were still a bit too much for her to handle. Still, she was happy. She knew that no matter what, Clint would be by her side.

  She spent the afternoon with Heather before the woman headed off to her therapist. For the first time, she realized that she was proud of Heather. While she'd been running from her fears, Heather had been facing hers down. It took courage to do that. She waved to her friend as she slipped into her car. As she stood up to throw away her cup, her phone buzzed.

  “Hey, I thought you would still be busy,” Samantha said when she picked up.

  “No, ma'am. I am all finished with my errands. Do you want to do something?”

  Samantha grinned. “Sure. Can it involve food? I'm starving.”

  “I know just the place. Are you home? I'll pick you up.”

  Clint showed up at the coffee shop ten minutes later. When she slipped into the truck, she noticed that he'd changed into jeans and a t-shirt. He looked good in it. Once he had closed her door she asked where they were going.

  “Oh there's this great little fancy place, called Burgerville...”

  Samantha laughed. “Not fancy, but it is my favorite restaurant, so I'm in.”

  When they'd brought their food, they drove over to the park to eat it. Clint produced a bottle of wine and two glasses. She laughed as they clinked the glasses together.

  “How is it possible that you know me so well?” She asked.

  “Shouldn't a boyfriend know his girlfriend?”

  Samantha paused. “So, I'm your girlfriend now?”

  “Damn straight. You don't have a choice.”

  Samantha burst into a fit of laughter as Clint looked on, grinning. When she wiped her eyes, he leaned over. The kiss he placed on her lips was soft, she could still feel his mouth smiling against hers.

  “Seriously, will you be my girlfriend? I know we haven't known each other that long, but-”

  “Yes, definitely yes.”

  Clint kissed her again before they went back to eating. When they were done, Samantha leaned against his shoulder. He buried his face into her hair, the smell of peaches filling his nose pleasantly. His hand slipped into hers.

  When the sun started to set, they cleaned up their impromptu picnic before heading back to Samantha's place. Clint sat on the couch, channel surfing, while Samantha excused herself. As she stepped into her room, she picked up the trash can near the door. She walked around her room throwing little bottles of pills into it. Every click-clack of shifting pills hitting the bottom of the can made her feel a little better. Once they were gone, she took the bag out of the can and tossed it into the dumpster. When she came back in, she curled up next to Clint, smiling.

  Clint raised his eyebrow. “What was that all about?”

  Samantha shook her head. “Just doing what needs to be done.”

  She leaned up to kiss him, before she settled against him again. Clint wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in tight. He leaned down, planted a kiss into her hair. No matter what happened next, Samantha was sure that she was at least heading in the right direction.

  The End

  A Sinful Secret

  Chapter 1

  I bit my lip staring down at the list. “I just don’t get it. Why do I have to bother with any of this crap?”

  “Because, you’ll get more presents that way.”

  “What if I don’t care about presents?”

  “Your mom is going to be hurt if you don’t let her plan a bridal shower for you.” Jake reminded me.

  I let out a deep breath resting my head on my best friend's shoulder. “I know.” I closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure what I’d do without him as my man-of-honor. We sat like this for a couple of seconds before the front door opened. My eyes snapped open.

  Chris gave me a soft smile. “Is it that hard?” My fiancé asked, sympathy filling his eyes. I nodded weakly.

  “I just don’t get it. No one wants to help but then when they ask all about it they only ever do is question my choices on it. ‘Oh you’re not having cupcakes? But they are so in style these days’, ‘You’re only going to have two hour long dance? Is that going to be long enough?’ yet no one fucking likes dancing.” My eyes narrowed into a glare as I thought about everything.

  Jake patted me on the head. “Oh don’t worry about what everyone else wants. It’s about you.”

  I opened my mouth, about to remind him that he’d just told me I should have a wedding shower to make my mom happy. I paused, thought better of it and kept my thoughts to myself.

  My eyes locked on my fiancé as he slipped out of his shoes and pulled the suit jacket off. “How was work?”

  “Long.” He didn’t say anything else as he kicked his shoes off and sat down.

  “I’ll get dinner. Are you hungry? It’s already in the oven.” I forced myself up and mentally shook myself. Despite the fact that I was going to be a stay at home wife I was beyond tired. I’d been on the phone with the photographer , and I’ve been trying to find a DJ that will cost me less than two grand, I groaned as I padded into the kitchen, already compiling my to-do list for tomorrow. Yup, weddings sucked.

  I’m not sure what ever made me think that Chris was right and we should have a wedding. We had the money for it, thank god Chris had a good job and was more than willing to spend as much as we needed but that wasn’t it. It was nice not to have that stress on my shoulders but I still had so much.

  I pulled the chicken out from the oven and set it on the stove to cool.

  “I’m going to head out.” Jake said behind me.

  I turned to face him. “You’re not staying for dinner?”

  “No, I’ve got a couple things to take care of. I’ll see you tomorrow though.”

  “Yes! And we’re going to get a head start on the dress.”

  “Sounds perfect.” Jake grinned as he closed the distance between up and pulled me into a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow muffin.”

  I honestly couldn’t remember how I’d earned that nickname, but he was the only one who called me that. I couldn’t help but grin as he pulled away and I watched him head for the front door.

  “Has he been here all day?”

  “Yup.” I nodded as I reached for two plates. “We’ve been trying to make a dent in the invitations.” I never realized how many people I’d have to invite to the wedding, and with Chris’s mom being Italian, it seemed like she wanted to invite everyone from her mother to her hair dresser. I bit my lip resisting the urge to bring it up to him.

  He was having just as much trouble saying no to his parents as I was.

  “So, did you guys get much done?”

  “We got some work done.” So no, but we tried!

  I scooped the chicken onto his plate and passed it to him.

  “It smells great.”

  “I hope it’s good. I decided to try something new tonight…” I’d spent just over two hours working on it, one of the reasons the wedding stuff hadn’t gone according to plan.

  “So you two are going dress shopping tomorrow?”

  “Yup.”

  “What kind of dress are you looking for?”

  I paused grabbing a plate for myself and scooping a piece of chicken onto it, with forks and knives in hand Chris led the way to the two person table. I couldn’t resist the urge to tease him.

  “What kind of dress do you think I’m getting?”

  As we slid into our usual seats he mulled it
over. “I think you’d go for a princess-y type dress.”

  My heart dropped. Is that really what he thought? I mentally shook myself. It shouldn’t matter so much that he didn’t know what kind of dress I wanted. Even though I’d mentioned it before- I couldn’t expect him to remember.

  “Nope.” I shook my head and tried to hide my disappointment.

  “Oh,” His brow furrowed. “Sorry… what about one of the dresses that is just poofy down at the bottom?” He grabbed a bridal magazine (one of the dozens family had been picking up for me) and held it up to me.

  I looked at it. Satin, diamonds along the neckline, and a belt along the smallest part of her waist. Everything I wasn’t looking for.

  Again I shook my head.

  “Alright, I give up. What are you looking for?”

  “Something simple, lace with sleeves and maybe a little bit of bling, but not too much.” I cut into my chicken and took a bite, pleased with the flavors that hit my mouth and promising myself that I would try it again.

  “Oh… well now I feel dumb.” Chris gave me a sheepish grin.

  “Don’t, I didn’t expect you to remember what I was looking for.” I forced a smile over my lips hiding my disappointment as we finished our dinner.

  When Jack met me in the parking lot the next morning I thought I was going to be sick.

  I couldn’t believe I was finally going to try on wedding dresses. I grinned as he pulled me into a hug. “Hey.”

  “How’s it going?”

  “Oh fine…” He trailed off lost in thought.

  “What’s up?”

  “I… went on a date last night.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. “Really? How did it go?” why hadn’t I heard anything about this yesterday? “Who was she? How’d you meet her?”

  “I…” He looked away. “I met her online.”

  “Really?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, we connected over some writing we’d thought about doing together… the date went… okay…”

  “Okay?”

  He pulled the dress shop door open. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

  I beamed looking forward to the gossip. I turned my attention to a woman behind the counter. “Hi, I um have an appointment…”

  “Of course.” The girl glanced down at a computer then looked up. “Natasha, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Welcome! Is this your first time dress shopping?”

  “Yup!” my smile widened but I felt a blush touched my cheeks.

  “Congrats! When is the wedding?” The girl stepped away from the counter.

  “Next year, in the spring.”

  “Oh, spring weddings are my favorite.” I couldn’t help but wonder how many people she said that to as we padded into the back from the building. “Now, over there are the sale dresses, they are discounted but they are all out of season dresses. Do you know what style you’re looking for?”

  “I like lace.”

  “Oh, I bet that looks gorgeous on you.” She almost gushed as she said the words. “I’ll pull a couple things from the back, feel free to look around and grab anything you like. We’ll start getting a change room ready for you.”

  “Hey,” Jake got my attention. He was holding up a lace dress with sleeves, along the sleeves were small beads. I swallowed staring at it. It was gorgeous.

  I forced a nod, unwilling to show my reaction to it. “Go put it by the change room, I’ll try it on.” Then I turned my attention back to the dresses.

  “How’s it going in there?” The girl asked as I sat down to wait for Nat.

  “Alright.” She called back. A few seconds later she pushed the door open and smiled. “Could you do me up?”

  “Of course.”

  I watched out of the corner of my eyes as the girl helped Nat get the dress all sorted out and pinned it in place with what looked like something you’d clip to your battery if you needed to jumpstart your car. I couldn’t help but smirk a little.

  I was pretty sure neither of the girls saw it.

  “So…” Nat said as I caught her out of the corner of the eye heading towards me. I turned to see her. My jaw almost dropped.

  “Wow, Nat… you look.”

  She turned to face herself in the mirror. “Wow…. Yea, I do.”

  I watched her as she stared at herself in the mirror. I couldn’t help thinking of the date I had last night. She’d been so nice and we’d been able to bond over our love of writing- something Natalie and I never could do but… there was just something about her. When she texted me today… I didn’t get the feeling I wanted to.

  The feeling I had right now as I stared at my best friend in a wedding dress.

  “Is that your fiancé?” The girl asked in a quiet tone as she unzipped the dress. I didn’t want to take it off.

  “No, my man-of-honor.”

  “Oh! I’m sorry… I just… a lot of couples have been coming in together these days and when he saw you… I just thought…” The girl trailed off as she undid the last button. “Alrighty, all done.” I stepped into the dressing room and closed the door with a quick thank you.

  When I turned to face myself in the mirror I couldn’t bring myself to take the dress off. I just stared at my reflection.

  My first choice had been the one Jake picked out. Despite the fact that I was short, and the dress was probably a couple sizes too big, it looked gorgeous. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the neckline. The thick straps covered my shoulder and hung down just a little bit. The small beads on the straps dazzled me.

  “Are you okay in there?”

  “Yup.”

  I cleared my throat mentally shaking myself as I forced myself to step out of the dress.

  “Just pass the dress out when you’re done.”

  “Yup.” I kicked away the excessive amounts of fabric and opened the door just enough to hand it out to her. I couldn’t stop thinking about the question she’d asked. Was Jack my fiancé.

  My cheeks flushed just thinking about it as I reached for the next dress. It would have made sense for her to think we were together, I mean not many women have a man-of-honor and I’m guessing even fewer bring him wedding dress shopping. I wish I’d thought to have brought Chris. I would have loved for him to help me pick out the dress. Then again he might be worried it would be bad luck. We were breaking a few of the traditions for our wedding but people always seemed so anal about that one.

  I slipped into a strapless lace dress and surveyed myself in the mirror. I was able to get the zipper done up on this one myself and as I pulled the door open my eyes locked on Jack’s.

  He stared at me, a grin on his face as I made my way over to the stand and mirror in front of him. The girl followed me with something to clip the extra fabric back.

  “What do you think of this one?” She asked.

  “I… I like it, but I think I like the other one better”

  The girl paused. “Should I even pin this one back or do you want me to just leave it?

  I looked at myself in the mirror. The dress was gorgeous but I knew it was a no. not after the last one.

  It was going to be hard to live up to.Chapter

  “You should come wedding dress shopping with me.” I said as we sat down the couch together.

  He wrapped a blanket around me and we cuddled close.

  “I thought I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t believe in all that kind of stuff.” I reminded him. “Do you want to come with me sometime?”

  “No.” He shrugged. “I’d rather it be a surprise.”

  I felt disappointment tug at me but tried to ignore it. It was silly to be disappointed over something so foolish. Instead I leaned closer and cuddled as close as I could get myself. His arm wrapped around me.

  “We’re making the right choice, right?”

  “Yes.” I said.

  At least I thought we were.

  “Alright, as long as you think so too.�
��

  “What do you mean? Do you think we’re not?”

  “No… it’s just something someone said to me. It doesn’t matter.” He paused for a couple of seconds. “I can’t wait to be able to call you my wife.”

  Whatever disappointment had been there a few seconds ago was gone. His words sent a shiver of excitement down my spine, the same kind of excitement that I’d felt when we first got engaged- hell, when we first met.

  “I can’t wait either babe.” It was going to be amazing, and I couldn’t be happier to spend the rest of my life with anyone else. Hell I wasn’t sure I would be able to spend the rest of my life with anyone but him. “I love you.”

  The urge to say those three words overcame me before I even realized it.

  “I love you too Natalie.”

  I smiled closing my eyes, thankful for a little time together.

  “Oh, by the way….” My brow furrowed as he spoke. “My sister was wondering about the bridal party.”

  I blew out a deep breath. “Why was she wondering?” Even though I already knew the answer.

  “I don’t know, she just asked who was in it.”

  “You mean she asked if she was in it?”

  “I…” He paused. “I don’t know, she asked me who was in it. That’s all.”

  “Sorry.” I pulled away from him and reached for my note book. “Alright, let’s decide who’s in the bridal party right now.”

  I’d had a hard time deciding on this. I didn’t get along well with Chris’s sisters and knew I would have to have them in there, but I was hoping if I put it off I wouldn’t have to face it, as stupid as I knew that sounded.

  “Jack.”

  “That’s a given.” I hadn’t even bothered to think of anyone other than my best friend for the role by my side.

  “Do you know your groomsmen?”