A surge of guilt washes over me. It’s the same any time I think of Kal. Which is mostly every day, so, obviously, I haven’t been entirely successful with banishing my past, but it’s a work in progress. I’m determined to move beyond it.
Otherwise, what was the point of it all?
The redhead nudges my hip, and I realize I’ve stopped dancing. Forcing all thoughts of Kalvin Kennedy from my mind, I immerse myself in the song, dancing my punctured little heart out.
Sweat trickles down my spine, and my mouth is dry as sandpaper. I’m thinking of calling it quits when I’m distracted by the sound of roaring and clapping coming from the far right-hand side of the room. A group of football players are huddled in a circle, raising their beers in a united salute. As the crowd disperses, I notice the boy and girl descending the stairs into the basement, and my heart stutters in my chest.
She is model beautiful with thick, glossy blonde locks, killer curves, and long limbs. More than a few heads turn in her direction, but I’ve stopped noticing her because the boy beside her has just sent my world into a tailspin.
“No!” I gasp, and my knees turn to Jell-O. With my stomach lurching, and my legs almost buckling, I sway precariously on the counter as everything crashes down around me.
I’m going to be sick.
His head is angled toward the bar, and my mind switches off. I dive off the counter, uncaring how or where I land. I just know that I need to get out of his line of sight before he spots me.
My heart is jackhammering against my ribcage as I flail about in the air. A pair of strong, muscular arms catch me before I face-plant the ground. “Whoa there, pretty lady!” a deep, rich voice says. “You fall or something?” my savior asks, repositioning me so I’m cradled against his very broad, very warm chest.
I peer into lush chocolate-colored eyes, blinking profusely. “Sorry!” I attempt to wriggle out of his hold, but he tightens his grip on my waist.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“She’s fine,” Liv says, materializing alongside us. “You can release her now, Chase.”
Chase frowns as he carefully places my bare feet on the ground. Olivia hands me my shoes, eyeing the guy suspiciously. With her abnormally tall frame, flawless dark skin, striking eyes, and thick jet-black hair, Olivia can command a room like no other girl I know. She’s like this fierce Amazonian warrior, reminding me of those stunning female vampires from Twilight.
I’m dwarfed when I stand beside her, scrawny and small, the contrast between us never more transparent. Perhaps that’s why she’s taken such a protective stance. Why she looks out for me even when I don’t ask her to.
Chase regards her warily, scrubbing a hand over his stubbly jaw. “Do I know you?”
“Nope, but your rep precedes you.”
He grins, showcasing a set of cut dimples. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
“Uh-huh.” My roomie pins him with a wary look.
Chase chuckles, raising his palms in the air. “Hey, I was just doing my good deed for the night. No ulterior motives.” He turns to me, his eyes roaming up and down my body as I toe on my shoes. “None, whatsoever.” He winks, and heat floods my cheeks. I’m unaccustomed to such shameless flirting, and it throws me for a loop. “Not like I was watching your pretty friend rock that counter like she belongs on stage or anything.” His grin widens, and my cheeks burn brighter.
Straightening up, I clear my throat. “Thank you. For catching me.”
He takes my hand in his meatier one, drawing it to his mouth. “The pleasure was all mine. Anytime …” He quirks a brow.
“I’m Lana.”
He plants a soft kiss on the back of my hand. “Nice to meet you, Lana.” Leaning in, he presses his ear to my mouth. “I definitely hope we meet again.” A slew of shivers ripple over my skin as his warm breath tickles my neck.
He sends me one final cheeky wink before disappearing into the heaving crowd.
“That one is trouble,” Liv warns.
Mention of trouble brings me back into the moment. Grabbing my shirt and purse, I tug on her arm. “Come on. We need to leave. Now.”
“Where’s the fire?”
I risk a quick peek over her shoulder, emitting a high-pitched shriek. He’s heading our way, and if we don’t get our butts out of here right this second, everything I’ve worked for will be shot to hell. Olivia turns to look at the object of my distraction. “No! Don’t look at him. He’ll see you!” I yank on her arm again.
“What the hell, Lana?” She slants a puzzled look my way.
“I’ll explain everything when we get back to the dorm, but we have to go. Please, Liv. I’m begging you. We have to go now.” Hysteria is bubbling to the surface as the words leave my mouth, and butterflies are running amok in my chest.
“’Kay. Quick.”
We start pushing our way through the crowd. My tank top is glued to my back, and tiny beads of sweat have formed on my brow.
He can’t see me, he just can’t.
Olivia guides me to a side exit at the back of the bar. We shove through the door, barreling out into a narrow alleyway at the back of the building. I run toward the steep stone steps, ignoring the sounds of heavy make-out sessions happening all around us.
“Lana!” a familiar voice calls out, and I whimper. Dammit all to hell.
“Keep running,” Olivia commands, racing hot on my heels. Fueled by adrenaline, I bound up the stairs, pushing my limbs harder than ever before, such is my desire to outrun him.
“Lana! Wait!” The voice is distant, but it won’t take him long to catch up.
We race around the corner of the building. “Follow me.” Olivia veers off to the right. I give chase as she maneuvers a curved path through the shrubbery in between various frats, weaving in and out of houses like it’s her own personal obstacle course. Under the dark blanket of nightfall, I stumble several times as I struggle to keep up. My breath hisses out in panicked spurts, but I resist the urge to look over my shoulder as I race after Liv.
We emerge on one of the main roads, a few yards from a bus stop. “Hold the bus!” Liv screeches as the last passenger ascends the vehicle parked at the curb. We tear down the sidewalk and hop onto the bus in the nick of time. Panting, I scan my card and scurry behind Olivia, dropping into a seat alongside her.
“That was cutting it close,” I pant, desperately trying to get my breathing and my heart rate under control.
“I’ll say.” She shoots me a curious look, before glancing out the rear window of the bus. It takes considerable willpower to keep my focus straight ahead.
A couple of minutes pass in silence, as we both bring our breathing back in line.
I sigh. My head is a mess, and my slightly inebriated state isn’t helping either. Anxiety is holding me hostage, and I can’t think straight.
What the hell is he doing here?
Olivia bumps my shoulder. “You said there was a guy.”
“Yes.”
I told her there was a guy, but I deliberately avoided divulging the details. I had good reasons not to. Plenty of them. Liv and I gelled the instant we met, and I didn’t want her thinking any less of me. Now, there’s no avoiding it. I owe her an explanation, and I’m not going to lie.
I’ve already told a lifetime of lies.
Liv isn’t prone to rash judgments, and I know she’ll give me the floor to explain. I hope it’s enough. Wetting my dry lips, I study her calm expression.
“When were you going to tell me it was Kalvin Kennedy?” she asks.
Chapter Two
Kalvin
“Goddammit!!” I yell in frustration, coming to a halt as I watch the bus pull away from the curb. Dropping onto a nearby bench, I rest my head in my hands. Adrenaline is coursing through my body, and my heart is thundering in my chest.
She. Is. Here!
>
When I first caught a glimpse of the crazy girl nose-diving off the bar, my heart stuttered at the mere possibility that it might be her. Well, that and the fear that she’d go splat on the floor. Then I lost her in the crowd, especially when Shelby stopped to talk to some jerk from her anthropology class. It was only when Lana’s considerably taller friend started rushing her out the side exit that I got another look. I only saw her from behind, but I knew. I knew it was her, even if her hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it and the clothes she was wearing were nothing like my Lana used to wear.
I only needed that teeny, tiny glimpse to know it was her.
You never forget the girl who claimed your heart. Even if she did it without me realizing.
It took our lengthy separation for me to see her in the right light.
To know I loved her more than I loved anyone or anything in the entire universe.
I didn’t know love until it tore up my heart. Until I was all cut up inside. Until the loss consumed me, and I could barely breathe without her. It’s only then I realized I’d do anything to get her back.
Kill. Maim. Injure. Beg. Borrow. Steal.
There isn’t anything I’m unprepared to do to win Lana back.
Fuck me. I’m turning into my pansy-ass brother. Lying flat on my back on the bench, with my knees bent, I laugh my ass off as relief cascades over me like a waterfall.
She enrolled, after all. Thank fuck.
My laughter dies off, replaced by a heady surge of longing.
I can hardly believe it.
I’ve been on campus for two months now, and I spent the first few weeks scouring the place for any sign of Lana. I had no idea how vast the University of Florida was or how trying to find one girl on a two-thousand-acre campus was virtually impossible. Although, it doesn’t seem as big now that I know my way around a bit better. After weeks of roaming the campus like an aimless idiot, I finally succumbed and called my brother. Keven has mad IT skills, and it didn’t take him long to hack into the college servers and search the considerable student database only to draw a blank.
My heart had sunk when he confirmed there was no Lana Taylor registered.
I’d been so sure she’d come here. I knew she had enough credits built up to skip senior year, like me, and she’d had her heart set on UF. I remembered the times we’d talked about it, and it’d played no insignificant part in my decision to come here instead of attending Harvard with my brothers and my cousin.
Although this is one of the top universities in the country, and their architecture program is dope, I came here for her.
A goofy smile appears on my lips.
For the first time in over a year, I feel alive. The urge to pull a Leo and shout “I’m the king of the world” is riding me hard. Damn my wacky Irish cousin Faye and her stupid Titanic fixation. That girl has messed with my brain in a big way.
If anyone found me now—lying on a bench, in the pitch dark, in the middle of the night, laughing to myself—they’d have me carted off to the nearest psychiatric ward before I could draw a breath.
My knee bounces up and down, and I’m chock-full of nervous excitement. I desperately need to track Lana down. If I knew where to begin, I’d be on it in a flash. It feels like an eternity since I last spoke to her, and I crave her company as intensely as a druggie craves his next fix.
To have come so close is killing me.
However, I refuse to feel anything but pure excitement.
Lana is here. That is all that matters.
This changes everything.
I may have lost her just now, but I’m not giving up until I find her. Until I speak to her and convince her I’m finally in the right place. Ready to give her a commitment and mean it this time.
I haul myself upright and make my way back to the frat house.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Shelby asks, the second I reappear in the room.
The music is blaring and the crowd is getting rowdy. Most of us have been partying since the event earlier, and things are turning messy. I’ve been making a concerted effort to keep my nose clean. Party-boy Kal is a thing of the past, and I’d rather not hit a speed bump.
Shelby palms my face in concern. That’s another thing I’ll need to deal with but not now. Now, I need to drag Brett’s ass out of here and force him to help me.
“Who was that girl?” she asks, peering up at me through her gorgeous big blue eyes. Shelby is every dude’s wet dream, and I know I’d only have to say the words and she’d be mine, but that was never my intention. Even less so now. In the past, I wouldn’t give two shits about screwing a girl one minute and ignoring her the next, but I’m not the same person I was. All the stuff that went down changed me. I’d like to think for the better.
“Someone important.” That’s as much as I’m saying on the subject.
Little lines crease her forehead. “Oh.” She’s not pleased.
“Look, I need to get out of here, but wanna meet for lunch tomorrow?” She deserves to be let down gently.
She perks up, and I feel like a dick. “Awesome. It’s a date.”
Double shit. “I’ll text you in the morning.”
She leans in to kiss me, and I twist my head at the last second so her lips meet my cheek instead of my mouth. Hurt flickers in her eyes, and I feel like a dick again. Over her shoulder, I spy Brett entertaining the adoring masses, and I catch his attention, gesturing toward the door.
My roomie nods, draining his beer and making a dash for it. “Please tell me we’re not calling it a night, bro.” He slaps me on the back. “I’m only getting started.”
“We’re not, but I need to talk to you. You want to shoot some pool?”
He steers me out of the room. “Lead the way, dude.”
We grab an Uber to the local town and hop out in front of the combination sports bar and tavern. One of Brett’s brothers attended UF a few years back, and he told us about this place.
They happily accept our fake IDs as the real deal, so we grab a couple of beers and slip into a booth while we wait for a pool table. Most Friday nights, this place is hopping, but it’s quieter than usual tonight. The majority of the college crowd is still on campus, hitting up parties and enjoying the last festivities of homecoming week.
“What gives?” Brett asks, sipping from his beer.
“I found her. I just found Lana.”
His eyes pop wide. “No shit.”
“She was at the party, but she ran off before I could talk to her.” I raise the bottle to my lips, enjoying the cold, bitter taste as the beer slides down my throat.
“What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to get my brother on the case again. If she goes to school here, she must be registered under a different name.” I lean my arm along the top of the booth. “Now that I know she’s here, she can’t hide from me.”
“What if she was only visiting? She could have a friend here.”
It’s a legit argument, but it carries no weight. “She doesn’t have any friends here. She grew up, with me, in Wellesley. Besides, it was always her dream to come here. She’s enrolled at UF. I’m certain of it.”
He props his arms on the table. “I still can’t believe you traded Harvard—Ivy League, dude—for UF, on a hunch that some chick might attend.”
“It was more than a hunch, and she’s more than some chick.” Brett isn’t a fan of my girl, and he’s starting to get on my last testicle. He’s judging her—like the rest of the country—before he’s even had the chance to know her. I take another quick glug of my beer. “The summer before we started high school, we discussed it. She told me she had her heart set on the University of Florida because she wanted to attend college in a sunnier climate and she wanted to connect with her grandparents. Her Mom never let her visit them.”
“What’s up with that?”
/> I shrug. “No idea, but it was important to her to be close to them. She had no other family.”
He scratches the top of his head. “Dude, it’s still weird. Who leaves their family behind to go on a wild goose chase? Just ’cause you discussed it a few years back was no guarantee she’d actually be here.” His lips curve up. “Knew you had more than a little reckless in you.”
I grin wickedly. “Dude, whatever, you’re totally missing the point.” I cock my head to the side. “I was right, because she is here, and that’s all I give a crap about now. I knew she’d be here. Maybe my cuz is right.” He arches a brow, waiting for elaboration. “Faye sa—”
“That’s the hottie Irish chick you told me about? The one who’s fucking your brother?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, and yes, but you know it’s not like that. Ky’s my half-brother, and they’re not actually blood related.”
“It sounds much hotter the way I tell it.” He smirks.
“Whatever gets you going, bro.”
“You have any pictures of her?”
“Faye?”
“No, dipshit!” He taps his bottle against mine. “Your girl.”
“Yeah.” I remove my cell from my back pocket and hand it to him. My screensaver is a pic of Lana and me. It’s the last happy image of us before everything turned to shit.
Brett whistles low on his breath. “She’s pretty.”
I grab my cell back, scoffing. “She’s fucking gorgeous, but I don’t expect you to understand everything she means to me.”
He taps his fingers off the tabletop. “Enlighten me.”
I pick at the label on my bottle. “I told you I spent years acting like a jerk. Pushing her away and pretending I didn’t have feelings for her. Then I lost her, and my world lost all its color. When I get her back, I’m going to treat her like a fucking goddess.”
“Pussy-whipped all ready,” he murmurs, “and you don’t even have the girl.”
“Semantics, dude. That’s all it is.”
“Or a nasty case of overconfidence.” His grin is teasing.
“I fucked up before, but I’m not going to do that again. I just need to make her understand that. She told me not to find her, so she’s bound to be a bit pissed, but I’ll use some of the ole Kennedy charm to win her around to my way of thinking.” I’m spouting the biggest load of bullshit, but maybe if I say it out loud, I might start believing it. Truth is, I’m scared shitless that Lana will refuse to have anything to do with me. Can’t say I blame her. Not after the years I spent acting like a complete moron.
Loving Kalvin (The Kennedy Boys Book 4) Page 2
