Crush: A YA Romance Collection

by Lavinia Leigh

  “Hey, come on now. Damien was nice enough to fix me up some food, well kind of. He put these in the microwave for like a minute and called it a day. That’s not really cooking, but whatever. The least you could do is say hello after Damien was nice enough to try to make me some dinner.”

  “I would be nicer, but you did get my best friend and me in a huge fight and almost ruined our friendship,” I reminded him. I sighed in annoyance as Austin plopped down onto the couch next to the unnamed guy and stuck a bagel bite in his mouth.

  Austin mumbled something incoherent as he continued to eat while talking. I raised an eyebrow at him, which caused him to swallow before speaking again. “I said that I was sorry. I tried calling to apologize earlier, but you didn’t pick up so you wouldn’t know.”

  “Gee,” I began, sarcasm thick in my voice as I scratched my head to add emphasis. “I wonder why I wouldn’t pick up for you.”

  “Come on, even though Bryan says you have a reason to be mad at me, we know that I was the one who had the real reason.” He raised an eyebrow at me before shoving a pizza bagel into his mouth and chewing hungrily.

  “Oh, so telling Brooke about us in an attempt to get her to hate me wasn’t a real reason?” I crossed my arms, staring at the dark haired boy. It was undeniable that he was attractive, yet looking at him now, I didn’t feel anything special. He was just a friend, and I couldn’t see ourselves being anything more than that.

  Austin smiled up at me, rolling his eyes playfully. “Well, besides that.”

  I rolled my eyes back at him. “So you truly, with all of your heart, are sorry for that, and you forgive me too?”

  Austin’s eyes met mine, showing the sincerity in his words as he replied with, “I wholeheartedly apologize and forgive you.”

  I smiled widely, saying, “Good, but we still have to talk because telling Brooke was too fucked up for me to let you get away with it so easily.”

  He nodded in agreement before shoving another pizza bite into his awaiting mouth.

  I tilted my head to look down at the unnamed guy on the couch who I assumed was this Bryan guy that Brooke and Austin kept making references to, and was so wise to know how to fix everything for us without saying a word to me. “So, and I’m just making an educated guess here, but is your name Bryan?”

  “Yeah, actually, it is. Good guess,” he joked, giving me a friendly smile as he stood and offered me his hand. As we shook he said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jade,” in a naturally low voice. The depth of his voice, the dark eyes, and tan skin caused me to glance repeatedly between Bryan and a photo of Damien on the coffee table. There was something similar about them, but what could I say? Brooke and I were good at picking guys. Bryan was attractive to say the least. This was a fact that had obviously not been missed by Brooke, considering the way she was looking at him, and the way he was looking at her.

  From the slight glimmer in his eyes and how he smiled when she caught him looking, it was obvious that he was falling in love with my little heart-breaker of a best friend.

  “So Bryan, what do you have to do with this reunion?” I asked, curious as to how the anger between Brooke and I had melted away, and how he got Austin to admit that he shouldn’t have blurted out our secret in a burst of anger.

  Bryan sat back on the couch next to Brooke, comfortably placing his arm back around Brooke’s shoulders. “That day that you went over to Brooke’s house is the day that I met her. I was walking my dog in the park and she was sitting on a swing, kicking the ground and looking like she had just been to hell and back. So I went up to her to see what was wrong and she was so upset that she just started venting to me, a complete stranger. I offered some advice and it actually made her feel better.” He smiled at Brooke, flashing the dimple in his left cheek as he did so.

  “Then what happened?” I asked, giving Brooke a knowing look.

  “We made out,” she answered with a sheepish grin.

  “Of course you did.” I rolled my eyes before glancing at Damien as he entered the room with a plate of food in his hands that matched Austin’s meal. I lifted an eyebrow curiously as he took the seat next to Austin and pulled him into a conversation with ease. “I’m mostly curious on how you made that happen though.” Brooke and Bryan’s eyes followed mine to Austin and Damien.

  “That was difficult, but I basically convinced him that if it wasn’t him he should be glad it was Damien. At least Damien cares about you, whereas if you had chosen someone who didn’t care about you, that would have been a different story. I also pointed out that Damien didn’t fall for you in spite of Austin. It had nothing to do with Austin, therefore he never had a reason to be mad at Damien in the first place,” Bryan explained as Brooke wrapped her arm around his large bicep and leaned her head on his shoulder while sighing deeply. A smile curved onto my lips as I regarded the two. I had never heard Brooke make that sound before, unless I walked in on her halfway through riding a guy; which hasn’t happened yet, much to my appreciation. Looked like she had it bad for him too.

  “But how did you get them to be friends?” I asked curiously.

  “Guys don’t over complicate things like girls do. Once they work it out it’s as if it never happened, or if they don’t like each other they just don’t talk to each other. Girls make everything way too complicated.”

  “Really? You could have fooled me,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I glanced around to look at my friends socializing and truly enjoying each other’s company for the first time since they met. At the sight of it, an easy smile slipped onto my mouth and I let out a deep breath. It was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I could only hope that this was a good sign and that everything would work out from now on, but with my luck, I could never be too sure.

  Chapter 31

  “Jade,” I heard a voice whisper as a hand landed on my shoulder. I felt my body tense before I reacted instinctively and threw a punch with everything I had in me. There was a sudden puff of air as I hit the person straight in the stomach, followed by a loud thud as they fell to the floor in a heap. I blinked my eyes open repeatedly to see Damien on the floor clutching his stomach in pain.

  “What was that for?” he groaned, giving me and accusatory glare.

  “You should know by now not to wake me up when I’m sleeping. I go into bad-ass ninja fighter mode,” I cried out, flicking on the light of my bedside lamp. I stared at Damien’s form for a moment before I smirked at him, earning a questioning look.

  “What are you smiling about you, you,” he searched for a word that would be good enough to describe me before he found one saying, “bully.”

  I rolled my eyes at his words. “Oh, calm down. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. It’s just amusing to see that I was able to knock you down.” I sat up in the bed, leaning forward to add, “Now you know what will happen if you ever try to hurt me.”

  “You caught me off guard.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, smiling down at him. His shaggy black hair was messy, making him look younger than usual when he looked up at me, fixing his warm brown eyes on me. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled. “Are you going to help me up or not?”

  At his words, I rolled out of bed, offering my hand to him. As he grabbed my hand and stood to his feet, I gave him an innocent smile. I tilted my head up, placing a swift kiss on his lips before saying, “Of course. I always help out a damsel in distress.”

  He frowned, obviously not amused at my words.

  I poked him in the stomach, feeling his hard abdomen beneath his shirt. “Get it?” I laughed at my own joke as he just raised an eyebrow. “Oh come on, lighten up. I didn’t hit you that hard.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I was going to ask you out on a date, but now I’m not sure that I could make it out the window. I think you may have bruised my stomach,” he joked lightly, lifting his shirt and pretending to survey the damage beneath it before dropping it back
down.

  Giving him one of his own infamous smirks, I said, “The only thing bruised is your ego.”

  “Touché,” he chuckled, pulling my body into his.

  “Besides, you don’t have to go out the window now since your mom is forced to be okay with us dating.”

  “That’s true,” he replied before sighing and poking out his bottom lip, “but the window is more fun.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it is,” I said sarcastically as I went to pull on a pair of jeans and a crop top that showed off the compass tattoo I had on the back of my neck. Whenever I wore something that showed it off, my dad wouldn’t talk to me. I think the memories of how Brooke and I got the tattoo may haunt his nightmares. Let’s just say, basement tattoo parlors are not a girl’s best friend. “But the front door is more practical.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me, coming forward to brush his fingers over the tattoo. “Since when is Jade Phillips practical?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe this whole ‘fake boyfriend changed me’ stunt really changed me.” I gave Damien a wide eyed look, receiving a smile and a kiss on the forehead.

  “Change is good. I like you just how you are though. You’re perfectly imperfect.”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not, but either way it was still cheesy.”

  After I finished fixing my hair—which took longer than necessary considering Damien tried to give me a braid that ended up looking like a rats nest more than anything else—we left the room and headed to the front door. Halfway down the stairs, Damien almost tripped and blamed it on the fact that he was prepared to climb out the window and not walk down the stairs. I laughed at him until my laughter was cut off at the sight of the senator.

  She was standing at the bottom of the steps with her hands on her hips and an unmistakably evil glint in her eyes. “And where do you two think you’re going?”

  “We’re going out, and we are doing it at night so no one will see us,” I answered, which seemed to make her loosen up a bit. “Unless we want them to,” I added with a mischievous smirk.

  “Now, Jade—”

  “Now, Senator, we wouldn’t want those photos getting out would we?” I could see her trying to control her anger, but she knew I had her, although I also knew that she would try to find them.

  She had tried before, but luckily for me I had moved them from under my mattress to a book safe that Alyssa had in her room. It looked like an ordinary dictionary until you opened the cover and saw the metal door covering. I had also made copies, just in case she ever found where we moved them to, but I didn’t think she would ever look in her obedient daughter’s room for them.

  “Jade, I’m warning you—”

  “No, I’m warning you. I already made copies, so just stay out of our business, Senator, and make sure my dad knows it’s okay, because Damien and I will both be attending the wedding, and it will be together, as a couple,” I said, lacing my fingers in Damien’s before I ushered him out the front door and slammed it behind me.

  Once we were outside, Damien pulled me along to the car and told the driver to take us to the usual place. I noticed on the floor at his feet was a boom-box and his iPod so that we would have music to dance to. He had told me before that swing was one of his favorite dance styles, while mine was salsa. It was clear we would have to teach each other, but any time spent with him was time well spent.

  Sighing, Damien leaned into me, wrapping his arm around me and kissing my shoulder gently, sending tingles down my spine. “So, how are you feeling about the wedding?” he questioned, his warm breath blowing down the side of my neck as he spoke.

  I bit my lip as thoughts about the wedding began to flood my mind. “Honestly?”

  He nodded, then as he spoke again his voice was calm and smooth. As if he had no worries about how the public would react to us coming out as a couple, or to the fact that his mother was just a few weeks from marrying his girlfriend’s father. “Honestly.”

  Shrugging my shoulders, I turned my head so that I could meet his eyes. “I’m honestly so nervous about it all. On one hand I’m ready for my dad to marry her and for it all to be done with, but on the other it’s still weird to think about my dad being remarried and forgetting about my mom all together.” I sucked my lips into my mouth, biting them again as I shifted my eyes downward. It was silent for a moment before I mumbled, “How do you think the public is going to take our relationship? What if your mom’s right about the bad publicity that it might bring? I don’t like her, but I would feel bad if we were the reason that she loses the election.”

  Damien lifted his hand to my face, smoothing my hair back and tucking it behind my ear before gently cupping my cheek. He tilted my head up a bit so that my eyes were staring into his again. “Hey, don’t worry so much. First off, your dad could marry a thousand different women, and even that wouldn’t make him forget your mom. She sounds like she was a great woman, and from that picture on your wall,” he paused to raise an eyebrow suggestively, “she was hot too. I see where you get it from,” he joked, making my smile. “Your mom is irreplaceable, Jade. If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t even be here, and I’m sure he’s thankful for that every day. You are a constant reminder of her. I bet everyday he thinks you grow to look more like her.” His hand was warm against my skin as he spoke, and even the slight contact made my stomach flutter.

  I smiled easily. “Except for the brown hair and green eyes.”

  “Yeah, but everything else.”

  I turned away a bit to rest my head on his shoulder. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I am right, and if you don’t believe me, then you should talk to him. It’s time to make up with him, Jade.” He breathed into my hair, leaning his head against mine as he said, “And about us, you shouldn’t worry about what other people are going to think. When we tell everyone about us, it’ll be like how we do everything else; fun. We don’t have to worry about the publicity it causes, or even about my mom’s election. She’s a good senator, and have you seen her competition? She has this election in the bag.” He squeezed me tighter in his arms, making me feel better after hearing his thoughts on the subjects. “And have you seen us? We’re so damn cute that I don’t even think we’re capable of causing bad publicity for anyone.”

  I laughed lightly, leaning into his body and just enjoying his presence for the rest of the ride. When we finally got to his special place and were out of the car, Damien put the boom-box and the iPod into a bag that he put on his back. Afterwards, he carried me to the overlook and kissed me, saying that it was going to be our new tradition whenever we came here together.

  Once I was safely on the ground, he let out a loud exhaling sound. “Woo that was a workout.” I furrowed my brows at him. Was he calling me fat? He reached forward and patted my flat stomach. “Lay off the pizza bagels, baby,” he said seriously, earning a glare from me.

  “I don’t even eat pizza bagels,” I countered.

  He laughed. “I know, I was kidding. I’ve been eating those things for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They’re so bad for me, but they’re so good. I think they’re making me fat.”

  My eyes traveled from his muscular arms to his toned stomach that was being concealed by his shirt. “Shut up, you sound like a girl,” I responded.

  He smirked at me before leaning down for another kiss, which I hesitantly gave to him for fear that it would boost his ego a little more. When he pulled away, he bowed in front of me, holding his hand out. “My lady, may I have this dance?”

  Smiling, I answered with, “Why of course, good sir. Where is the music?”

  Damien winked at me as he stood and pulled off his bag. He quickly set up the music, playing a song that wasn’t too fast and wasn’t too slow. It was upbeat and jazzy, and I could tell from all of the instruments that it was a song that you would swing dance too. His eyes met mine as he said, “I bet you’re surprised by my music. Damien Clark likes to swing dance and listens to jazz. W
ho knew?”

  “I knew,” I spoke, answering his rhetorical question.

  “Yeah, because I told you.” He stepped up to me, bowing again. “Now may I have this dance?”

  I graciously accepted his dance invitation and he pulled me in. Our bodies moved together in sync as we danced to the jazzy swing music. He was a really good dancer, and as he pulled me in and out, spinning me around and gripping my waist with his large hands, I couldn’t stop the exuberance that filled my body. It was as if the smile on my face was permanently etched there, and I could feel my cheeks burning from how large it was.

  “Who taught you how to dance like this?” I questioned breathlessly as we gyrated to the music. I knew that he hadn’t learned swing dance at cotillion since they only teach ballroom dancing. We weren’t dancing as slowly as last time, but it was just as fun and romantic as the first time had been.

  He smiled as he answered me. “My grandma did. She used to swing dance when she was younger. She taught me how to do it because she said that all of the guys who used to swing dance were ladies men.” He laughed at that, pulling my body to his. “Having fun?” he questioned, his eyes flickering to my lips and seeing the wide grin there. I barely had time to reply before he spun me around, dipping me so low that my hair fanned out and grazed the grass. When he pulled me back up, he placed his mouth on mine, capturing my lips beneath his. Our dancing came to a stop just as the song ended and went to the next track.

  One of Damien’s hands was on the small of my back while the other was at the back of my head. His lips were velvety smooth and his mouth tasted like peppermint patties. When his teeth grazed my bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth for just a second, a small moan escaped my throat. I opened my mouth a bit to allow his tongue to slip inside, along with the minty peppermint taste. His tongue flickered against mine expertly, allowing them to tangle together in sweet agony.

  Going up onto my tip toes, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, running my hands through his dark hair. When I finally needed a breath of air I pulled back a bit, allowing him to trail his warm kisses down my neck. When he suckled at the skin above my collarbone I squirmed in his arms a bit, earning a guttural laugh from him. “I think I found your weak spot,” he said, pulling back and smiling. His dark eyes caught the light that was shining in the distance, making his eyes twinkle as he looked at me.