by Jade, Ashley
He tried because he wants better for himself.
He tried because he’s determined and hard-working.
He tried because he’s not the type to give up, despite whatever obstacles are in his way.
It’s just one of the many reasons I love him.
Framing his face with my hands, I utter, “You’re amazing and smart—”
“Stop.” He removes my hands. “I don’t need or want your pity.”
It’s not pity…it’s love.
But he’s so upset right now, feeling like the universe is against him, he can’t tell them apart.
“Stone?”
“What?” he grinds out.
“What can I do?”
Because there has to be something.
Dark brows snap together and his shoulders hunch. “Nothing.” Turning to his car, he gets inside. “I just want to be left alone.”
I ignore the disappointment in my chest as the engine roars to life.
“Get in. I’ll drop you off at home.”
Part of me wants to argue because I don’t want to leave him alone tonight, but I think there might be a way I can help him after all.
I know Stone loathes rich kids whose parents have connections…but his girlfriend happens to be one of them.
And she’s going to use it to his advantage.
* * *
“Is Dad home?” I ask Jace as I pass him on the staircase.
“Yeah, actually. He’s in his office.” I continue up the stairs, but he stops me. “I saw your acceptance letter from Duke’s Heart on the kitchen table.” His face lights up. “I’m proud—”
“Can we catch up later, Jace? I really need to talk to Dad.”
As happy as I am to be attending college with my brothers and their girls, I can’t celebrate quite yet.
Not until I know Stone will be there too.
He blinks. “Yeah…sure. Is everything okay?”
“No, but it will be.”
Brushing past him, I sprint up the stairs and into my father’s office.
“Hey, Dad. Do you have a minute?”
He presses a button on his phone. “For you? I have a million.” Speaking back into the receiver, he says, “Nadia, darling. I’ll have to call you back in a bit. Bianca needs to talk to me.” He smiles. “I love you.”
Hearing him tell another woman who isn’t my mother that he loves her should probably make me angry, but it’s hard when I see how happy Nadia makes him.
My chest knots.
He deserves someone who loves him unconditionally.
After hanging up with Nadia, he looks at me. “What’s up, sweetheart?”
Heart beating fast, I walk over to the empty chair across from his desk and take a seat. I haven’t worked out what to say exactly, but my father is the best person to help me because he owns the largest pharmaceutical company in the country…which means he has a lot of connections in the medical industry.
“My boyfriend, Stone—”
His green eyes narrow. “The DaSilva boy.”
It takes everything in me not to scream because the one thing Jace, Cole, and my father all seem to agree on is that I should never be allowed to have a boyfriend.
“Yes, Stone DaSilva.” I can’t help but fidget because I’m nervous. “He applied to the pre-med program at Duke’s Heart.”
My father seems impressed. “Good for him. It’s a tough program, but also one of the very best in the nation. Lots of great doctors come out of there.”
I sit up straight. “I know, and he worked so hard for it.” I lick my dry lips. “However, he found out today that he was waitlisted.”
He rubs his chin, assessing me. “Okay.”
Time to stop talking in circles and get to the point. “I guess I was hoping…you know, with all of your connections—”
“You want me to see if I can get him into the program,” he concludes with a sigh.
I draw in a breath. “Yes.”
It feels like an eternity before he speaks. “Bianca, you know I love you, but asking me to do a favor for some boy—”
“He isn’t some boy, Dad.” I stand, my frustration rising. “I love him.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I stare him down. “Stone is the hardest working person I’ve ever met, and he deserves to be in that program.” I punch my finger into the mahogany wood of his desk. “All I’m asking for is a phone call so they give him a chance.” I throw my hands up. “But if you don’t want to help me, it’s fine. Because I will figure out another way to make it happen.”
Stone’s dreams are my dreams and come hell or high water, he’s getting into that program.
“Wow,” my dad whispers.
I glare at him. “Wow, what?”
He sits there—staring at me—for what feels like an eternity before he finally speaks. “You remind me so much of your mother right now. She was always so passionate about the things—the people—she believed in.”
My muscles lock up and my heart seizes. “Oh.”
Scrubbing a hand down his face, he leans back in his chair. “This young man is really important to you, huh?”
I look him right in the eyes. “I wouldn’t be here asking for your help if he wasn’t.”
A long-defeated sigh escapes him. “I’ll make a few phone calls tomorrow.”
Chapter 34
I can barely contain the excitement coursing through me when Stone opens the door to his apartment.
He doesn’t know it yet, but my dad was able to get him into the pre-med program.
They’ll be sending out his acceptance letter this afternoon, but I wanted to be the first person to tell him.
He perks up a bit when he sees me. “Hey—”
“I have to tell you something, but I need you to promise me you won’t get upset,” I blurt out.
I know how Stone is and I don’t want him to get upset that my family pulled some strings. I want him to be happy, because strings or no strings, he’s earned this.
He raises an eyebrow. “Okay.” He gestures for me to follow him into his bedroom. “Not gonna lie, though. You’re kind of scaring me.”
“Don’t be scared,” I tell him, closing the door behind us. “It’s a good thing.” I grin so hard it hurts. “A really good thing.”
“Well, if that’s the case can you spit it out already, Bourne? The suspense is killing me.”
Right.
“Well, the other night I talked to my dad and told him that you were waitlisted and how it wasn’t fair…and he agreed.”
It’s not quite the truth, but close enough.
The air in my lungs grows thin as I gather the courage to tell him the most important part. “He ended up making a few phone calls and… you’re officially enrolled in the pre-med program at Duke’s Heart.”
I brace myself for him to start yelling, but he doesn’t.
In fact, it’s a good thing he’s sitting on his bed now because he looks like he’s about to pass out.
“Holy shit,” he says after a minute. “Are you serious?”
I nod. I nod so hard I’m surprised my head doesn’t fall off. “Yes. They’re mailing out your acceptance letter today and everything. I just wanted to be the first person to tell you because I know how much this means to you.”
Rushing toward me, he hoists me off the ground so fast I squeal.
“Thank you.” He peppers kisses along my cheeks, my lips, my forehead. “Holy fucking shit. I can’t believe I’m in.”
Whatever anxiety I was harboring about Stone being mad dissipates as I wrap my legs around his waist. “I love you.”
Walking us toward the bed, he sits us down. “I love you.”
There’s so much joy on his face, my heart takes flight. “You deserve this, Stone.”
He kisses me slow and deep, like I’m the most precious thing in the world. “You’re amazing, Bianca.”
“So are you.”
Desire shadows his eyes before he kisses me again, his tongue spearing mine
.
My chest heaves, my nipples grazing his chest with each breath I draw in as he continues kissing me into oblivion.
Groaning, he shifts so he’s lying on top of me. I instinctively part my thighs and he situates himself between them.
Goosebumps break out along my flesh as he grinds against the spot that lights all my nerve endings on fire.
My fingers grip the hem of my shirt and I slip it over my head, needing fewer clothes and more skin between us.
Stone squeezes my breast with one hand, while his other goes to the zipper of my jeans. “Is this okay?”
I slide them down my hips before kicking them off. “More than okay.”
“Good.”
My panties follow suit a moment later.
“Jesus, Bourne.” His gaze darkens with lust as he stares down at my exposed sex. “You’re so damn beautiful.”
I tug on the elastic of his sweatpants and his dick springs out, hard and ready for me.
“Stone?”
His throat bobs on a swallow. “Yeah?”
I peer up at him. “I want you inside me.”
Stone’s been patient, never pushing me for anything I wasn’t ready for, but this feels right.
So fucking right.
I wrap my fingers around him, giving his dick a slow jerk as he fishes out a condom from his nightstand. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
My mouth goes dry, want and need coiling through me as I watch him roll it over his length.
And that’s when it occurs to me.
“I can’t remember ever having sex,” I utter aloud as he lines himself up with my entrance.
Stone stills, my confession visibly confusing him. “Are you a virgin?”
I shouldn’t laugh, it’s not funny. But the thought of former me being a virgin is downright laughable given what I know about her.
Hell, I probably screwed half the town.
“I don’t think so,” I whisper.
But my past—who I used to be—it no longer matters. Not anymore.
“Should I stop?” Stone questions.
The head of his cock nudges me, desperate to get inside.
“No.” Spreading my legs wider, I run my hand along his jaw. “I want to make new memories.”
With him.
“I love you,” he rasps, slowly sliding inside me.
The first thrust is so different, so unfamiliar and new, it steals my breath.
“Are you okay?” Stone whispers, tiny beads of sweat breaking out along his brow.
“Better than okay.” I press my hands to his back, urging him on. “Keep going.”
And he does, fucking me in slow, steady strokes that have us both sucking in air like it’s our last.
“You feel so good,” he rasps. “So fucking good.”
Stone’s mouth finds mine mid-thrust. His kiss is demanding and needy, as if he can’t get enough. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” I breathe, running my nails up and down his back.
He thrusts again, harder this time. His eyes turning near black with need. “Tell me you want me.”
Our gazes collide. “I want you.”
The declaration has him grunting as his movements pick up speed. I can feel his body straining and his muscles coiling, his breaths now coming out in short, frantic pants. “Oh, fuck.”
My thighs clench. I’m so close to coming, I can practically taste my impending orgasm.
Reaching between us, I impatiently circle my clit.
A breathy moan escapes me, my legs shaking as the tension releases and ripples of pleasure shoot through my body.
A second later, Stone groans my name before he collapses on top of me. “That was amazing.”
I make a hum of agreement in my throat as I catch my breath and he gets off the bed.
I take in his naked form as I watch him deposit the condom in the trash can.
“You have a cute butt,” I comment when he joins me in bed again.
A laugh escapes him, and the sound is like music to my ears. “Thanks.” He folds his arms around me, tucking me to his chest. “I still can’t believe I got in.”
I decide now is the perfect time to share my own good news. “I didn’t tell you before, but I got accepted into the psychology program at Duke’s Heart.”
Grinning, he peers down at me. “This is seriously the best day ever.”
“I know.” I skim my fingertips along his stomach. “I heard they have co-ed dorms on campus, so maybe we can—”
“I can’t dorm on campus.” His face falls. “My financial aid only covers the classes.”
My heart sinks. There goes that idea.
Unless…
“Let me talk to my dad again, his company gives out grants and—”
“No,” Stone barks, sitting up in bed. “I don’t need your daddy to come to the rescue again.”
Wow. That hurts. A lot.
I hug the sheets tighter around me. “Calm down, Stone. I was just trying to figure out a way we could live close to one another since our schedules will be hectic next year and we’ll barely have time to see each other.”
A horrifying thought hits me. Maybe distance is what he wants.
I mentally slap my face because that’s crazy talk. Stone’s given me no indication that he wants to end things.
Quite the contrary actually.
“I know.” Jumping to his feet, Stone shuffles back into his sweatpants. “Which is exactly why I want you to move in here.”
I stare at him, silently pondering if the sex we just had scrambled his brain.
“You want me to move in here?” I repeat, making sure I understood him.
“Yeah.” Scoffing, he places a hand over his heart. “Oh, I’m sorry, princess. Is this apartment not good enough for you?”
The apartment is fine…it’s the woman who gave birth to him living in it that might pose a potential problem.
“Your mom doesn’t even like me,” I hiss. “Therefore, I’m pretty sure she’d hate the idea of me living here.”
He looks offended. “My mom likes you just fine.”
That’s a heaping pile of bullshit.
“You know, I might actually believe that if the woman ever bothered to say more than two words to me.”
Hell, his neighbors talk to me more than she does.
“She’s always been quiet.” Narrowing his eyes, he points a finger at me. “Stop thinking you’re so goddamn special that people need to roll out the red carpet and kiss your ass whenever you appear.”
Pure rage sears through my belly and I climb out of his bed and search for my clothes because arguing when you’re stark naked feels weird.
“Stop treating me like I’m some kind of snobby brat when you know I’m not like that.” I shimmy into my jeans. “Bottom line, even if your mom did like me—which she doesn’t. I want to live on campus so I can have the full college experience.” I open my arms wide. “But, hey—fuck me for wanting my boyfriend to be a part of that, right?”
His jaw tics. “Bianca—”
“Just let my dad give you the grant, Stone.” I pull my shirt over my head. “This way we can—”
“I’m not your goddamn charity case!” he roars so loud I jump. “Unlike you and the rest of your rich, pampered, stuck-up family, I don’t need your daddy to hand me everything on a silver platter.”
It would hurt less if he slapped me across the face.
My brothers and I might be well off thanks to our dad, but we work hard for the things we want.
Hell, I busted my ass to maintain my good grades so I could get into the psych program. Jace works his brain and fingers to the bone creating video games and has never accepted a dime from my dad past the age of fourteen. And Cole works his ass off on the football field—suffering through grueling games and practices all while pushing his body to limits most aren’t capable of—day in and day out.
The fact that Stone just reduced us to a bunch of pretent
ious, superficial, high and mighty assholes, shows what he really thinks about us.
It also makes him a hypocrite.
“You needed my daddy to get into the pre-med program,” I bite out before I can stop myself.
I immediately regret the words the second they leave my mouth, but it’s too late.
“Wow.” He flinches, his jaw bunching tight. “Didn’t take long for you to hold that over my head, huh?”
Dammit. That was a low blow. One I truly didn’t mean, but he shouldn’t have said those things either.
“I’m sor—”
“Fuck you,” he seethes.
Whatever. I’m not going to stand here and keep apologizing to him if he’s going to be like that.
I grab my purse off the floor. “I’m going home.”
He regards me like I’m nothing more than garbage on the side of the road. “Good.”
It’s tragic how in the blink of an eye, the best day can turn into the worst.
Chapter 35
The knock on my bedroom door lulls me from the constant loop of thoughts running through my mind.
The mean things Stone said.
The cruel things I said back.
How loving someone so much gives them the power to hurt you.
And how ironic it is that the only person who can fix my broken pieces is the same one responsible for causing the damage in the first place.
“Come in,” I croak out, my voice hoarse from all the crying I’ve been doing.
Everything was perfect with Stone and I…
Until it wasn’t.
The door opens, revealing a concerned Jace on the other side. “Your boyfriend’s downstairs.” Hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, he ambles inside my room. “He looks like someone killed his dog. What happened?”
That’s the thing…I don’t even know.
One second we were making love—soaring—while sharing this amazing moment together…and the next we were crashing.
It’s as if my heart is on a constant roller-coaster ride.
The lows are brutal, but the highs are so great—so addicting—it’s worth the price of admission.
But is it?—a tiny voice in the back of my head whispers.
Ignoring that negative voice—because nothing good ever comes from it—I peer up at my brother. “We got into a fight.”
