After cleaning up and redressing, we turn off the lights and cuddle. “Night, babe,” Kal whispers, ghosting a kiss across my cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. Goodnight, Stinky.”
He is out for the count within seconds, snoring softly as he holds me secure in his arms. And even though my mood swings are veering between dangerous highs and abysmal lows, and my brain is churning with apprehension, I follow him a little while later.
The alarm on my cell phone wakes us both the next morning. We’ve changed positions during the night, and when I wake, Kal has his arms wrapped around me from behind and our legs are tangled together. “Ugh,” Kal mumbles, “turn that noise off.” He buries his head in my shoulder, and delicious tingles caress my body. “Go back to sleep,” he murmurs.
“I can’t.” I run my hands up and down his strong arms. “I need to drop my bag at my dorm and pick up my stuff for today.”
He tightens his arms around me like a vise-grip. “Not letting you go. Let’s ditch and stay in bed all day.”
Warmth suffuses me, and I lean into the outline of his erection against my lower back. My core starts a happy dance, and it takes enormous self-control to wrestle out of his hold. “I can’t, Kal. I can’t miss any classes.”
He sighs, rolling onto his back and yawning, as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. He peers up at me. “Okay. I’ll drive you.”
I push him back down. “Don’t be silly. I can make my own way there.” I bend down and kiss him quickly. “I’ll catch you later.”
His hand darts out, grabbing hold of my elbow before I can get up. “Nuh-uh. I’m not letting my girl walk around campus this early by herself. I’m driving. No argument.”
And my heart melts all over again.
After we stop off at my place and I change bags, I go with him to pick up coffee and doughnuts, and we eat them in his truck parked around the corner from the business school. “I’ve decided I’m going to tell my other friends who I am,” I tell him in between bites of my chocolate doughnut.
“You sure?” He’s leaning back against the door, with one knee crossed over the other.
I nod. “I don’t want to risk them finding out from someone else. It’s only a matter of time before everyone knows. I’d rather take control of it. I’m not going to let it derail me.”
Leaning over the center console, he kisses me. “I won’t let it either.”
I lace my fingers in his. “I’m really glad you’re here, Kal. Thank you for coming after me.”
“I would go to the ends of the earth for you.” He sweetly kisses the tips of my fingers.
We part ways then, agreeing to meet up at the end of the day. I practically float into the building and skip through my morning classes with a dreamy grin on my face.
At lunchtime, we head to one of the open areas around the back of our school to enjoy an al fresco lunch, stopping to pick up sandwiches and soda on the way. “I’m so glad I decided to come here,” Bree says, tilting her face up and allowing the balmy air to coast over her skin. “I love the climate and the campus.”
“You coming to the game Friday night?” Maya asks, balling up her sandwich paper and throwing it skillfully into the adjoining trash can.
“All hail the Gator Nation,” Liv jokes, pumping her fist in the air.
I shrug noncommittally. I’m not a big sports fan, although you’re almost a pariah around here if you don’t support the Gators. “I’ll check with Kal.”
Maya nudges me in the ribs. “So, things are heating up between you and the stud?”
I wipe my clammy hands over the front of my jeans. It’s now or never. “I guess so.” I gulp as Liv shoots me a subtle, reassuring nod. I told her I planned to talk to them, and she agreed it was a good idea. “Actually, there’s something I need to tell you both.” My eyes flit between her and Brianna. They give me their undivided attention, and, before I lose my nerve, I launch into my story, explaining who I am and why I enrolled under a different name. I don’t go into all the details, giving them enough so they have a good picture. I don’t breathe a word about Hewson, for obvious reasons. As I speak, I watch their expressions alter. Neither of them interrupts me, giving me the full floor.
“And that’s pretty much it,” I finish up, feeling a little lighter.
“You knew?” Maya asks Liv in a clipped tone.
“I only found out recently.”
“I understand why you did it.” Bree reaches across the wooden picnic table, touching my arm. “And I can tell you’re genuinely remorseful. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
I squeeze her hands. “Thanks, Bree. That means so much to me.”
Maya snorts, a look of naked disgust on her face. “I call bullshit. You honestly expect us to believe you were manipulated by some bitch into accusing the guy you loved of rape, all because he hurt you?” Her voice raises a notch, and I hope no one else is tuning in to this conversation.
“That’s what happened. It’s pathetic, I know, but it’s what went down.”
“It’s beyond pathetic,” she snarls. “It’s disgusting! It’s immoral! It’s wrong on so many levels! How can he forgive you for that? I would never speak to you again. In fact”—she rustles up the remnants of her lunch, shoving it in her bag and standing up—“I don’t want to speak to you again.” She glares at me. “You are not the sort of person I want to call a friend. Stay the hell away from me.”
She storms off, leaving the three of us speechless.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kalvin
“What’s wrong?” I ask the minute Lana appears in front of me. It’s the end of the day, and I’ve been hanging out here the last fifteen minutes waiting for her to show.
“I’ll tell you in the truck.” The glum expression on her face concerns me. I attempt to tuck her into my side, but she shucks out of my reach.
“What’s happened, babe?” I ask again once we are seated in my truck.
She glances out the window, her frown deepening. I follow the direction of her gaze, spotting her friend Maya glowering at her from across the street.
Oh shit. That conversation clearly didn’t go well.
“Can you just get out of here, please,” she beseeches, and I hate how her voice trembles.
My jaw clenches, but I say nothing, putting the truck into first and driving off.
I come to a complete stop outside the park, twisting around in my seat and taking her small hands in mine. “I gather your conversation didn’t go too well?” I scrutinize her face.
“Bree was okay with it. She understood, but Maya … Maya kinda flipped.” She chews on the corner of her lip, averting her gaze.
“Screw her.” I gently grip her chin, turning her face to mine. “She’s not a real friend if she can turn on you so quickly. She has no right to judge you.”
Her beautiful eyes are vulnerable, and she looks so upset. I want to rage at the world for dealing her such a shitty break. Can’t they see how sorry she is? How she’s trying to make amends? Hasn’t she paid enough of a price? A searing need to run away with her, to protect her and keep her safe, is riding me hard.
I open my mouth to speak, but she cuts me off with a look. “I know you mean well, but I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I need to get ready for my shift.” She pulls her hands away from me, and it feels like we’ve just taken ten steps back.
“Lana, please. Don’t let her do this to you.”
“Take me home, Kal. Please.”
She’s retreated into her shell, and I know if I continue to plead she’ll only dig her heels in further. It’s like that time she discovered I kissed Jan Matthews at a party. Lana asked me about it on the Monday after the party, and I told her it was meaningless, but she went all kinds of quiet. When I pressed her for details, she clammed up, ignored me for a solid two weeks
, and wouldn’t tell me jack shit about what was going on. When I discovered that Jan was one of a group of girls bullying Lana at school, I was sick to my stomach.
Even thinking about it now turns my insides. I hate that I did that to Lana. I am never going to stop trying to make up for it.
I got my revenge on Jan at the next party—rejecting her very vocally and publicly—before pulling her aside and telling her if she ever threatened Lana again I would ask my buddy, Cole, to share the naked photos she’d texted him all over school. She never came near me or Lana again.
But it took Lana ages to thaw out, to forget what I’d done.
I hate the thought we might be back in that space.
Sighing, I power up the engine and drive to her dorm.
The rest of the week follows a similar pattern. Lana is subdued and closed off, and I’m at a loss what to do. I continue to show up, driving her to and from her dorm each day, picking her up from the center, and she spends time with me on her free nights, but she may as well be a ghost.
We kiss.
We cuddle.
A lot.
And it seems like the only time she’s able to let go of whatever’s troubling her.
Friday night, I convince her to come to the Swamp to watch the Gators game with Riley and Olivia and a couple of the guys as a show of support for Brett. While he doesn’t start, and I’m not that big of a football fan, I like to attend some of the games so he knows I’m here for him.
After, we hit a party outside campus with the football team. Lana is a little more animated, and I’m hoping she’ll be in better form for our birthday date. “So, where are you taking me tomorrow?” she asks, sipping on the same beer she’s had since we arrived.
I plant my mouth against hers in one brief, sweeping gesture. “That’s classified. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Could you be any more cliché?
“Says the writer,” I tease.
“Not anymore.”
“You’re not writing?” As long as I’ve known Lana, she’s always writing some story. It’s as natural to her as breathing.
She casually shrugs. “Well, I do have one project, but I hardly ever get to work on it.”
“What’s it about?” I swig from my bottle.
She ponders this a minute, and I wonder if she’s going to shut down again. Lana has never had any trouble confiding in me about her ideas. Hell, we discussed plot lines and character development so much in the past I could demand co-writing credit, and she’d be hard pushed to deny me. She knows I love discussing her work.
“It’s kinda semi-autobiographical,” she admits a minute later.
“What’s the title?” I know there is one because it’s always the first thing she considers when an idea has popped into her head. She has an uncanny ability to nail it even before she’s started writing the damn thing.
She hesitates again before responding in that soft-spoken tone of hers. “The Story of Us.”
I almost choke on my beer. Brett approaches, slapping me on the back. “They have words for dudes who can’t handle their beer.” He pretends to whisper. “Pussy!”
“Takes one to know one, asshole.”
“How’s my girl?” Brett asks, sliding an arm around Lana’s shoulders, surprising her and me.
“I’m good.” She smiles up at him, but only I can tell she’s lying. She’s wound as tight as a ball of yarn.
“Hi, Kalvin.” The voice comes from behind me, but I’d know Shelby’s faux sultry tone anywhere. I inwardly groan. After our last convo, most girls would run a mile before accosting me. That girl has skin as thick as a rhino’s hide.
Lana’s smile fades, and her body goes rigidly still. Pulling her out from under Brett’s arm, I tuck her possessively into my side and turn us around to face my most recent mistake. “Hi, Shelby. Have you met my girlfriend, Lana?”
Brett grunts out a laugh. Lana is like a frigging statue in my arms. I smooth my hand up and down her back, urging her to chill the fuck out.
“No.” Shelby fakes a smile. “Nice to meet you.” Her endearment is as fake as her smile. Her lips purse into a thin line as her gaze rakes over Lana in a transparent disbelieving manner.
I don’t like it one fucking bit.
“Was there something you wanted because we’re having a private conversation here.” I’m being deliberately rude, and I couldn’t give a flying fuck. Her blatant disregard for Lana has me irritated and grouchy.
Brett snorts, spraying beer out his nostrils.
“Actually, I was hoping we could chat in private.” She bats her eyelashes at me, and Lana squirms in my grip. I clamp my hand firmly around her waist. She’s going nowhere.
“Anything you have to say can be said in front of Lana and Brett.”
She scowls, and it’s remarkable how much it transforms her pretty face. It’s like taking a sneak peek into the ugliness of her soul. “Fine!” she hisses. “Have it your way.” She pulls a garment out of her purse, throwing it at my face. “I just wanted to return these. You left them at my place.” I fist my hand in a pair of my boxers, cringing as Lana stiffens again. Shelby’s eyes glisten maliciously as she eyeballs Lana. “After we fucked.”
I’ve never wanted to hit a woman before, but I do now.
She cocks her head to the side. “You remember?” Running the tip of her finger up my chest before I can stop her, she leans in. “I’m still sore all over.”
What a fucking bitch.
I’m done trying to be nice.
I’ve stood by and watched other girls trample Lana’s feelings in the past, and I’m not going to make the same mistake again.
I shove her hand away from me. “Fuck off, Shelby, and to answer your question, no, I don’t remember that one time over a month ago because it wasn’t memorable in any way.” A muscle ticks in my jaw. “I’m with Lana, now. And if I wasn’t, I still wouldn’t touch you even if you were the last vagina on the planet. I’d rather suck my own dick than go there again.”
Brett is doubled over, clutching his stomach, trying to withhold his laughter.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she rages, her face as red as a tomato. “You’re welcome to the douche. I don’t want him anymore,” she flings that parting comment at Lana before stomping off.
“Dude,” Brett says, slapping my shoulder as he struggles to breathe. “I’d rather suck my own dick. Fucking-A!” He convulses with laughter.
“Don’t knock it, bro. I heard you can get a couple ribs surgically removed and then you’re all systems go.” I give him a knowing wink, and he doubles up laughing again.
“Dude, seriously, is that a thing?”
“Fact, friend. Google it.”
“Can you take me home, please,” Lana says, not meeting my eyes.
That sobers me up. “Of course, if that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
Brett sobers up real quick too. He raises his brows, and I subtly shake my head. Old wounds are the hardest to heal, and all it takes is one confrontation, one whisper of suspicion, for the wound to rip open, festering and aggravating sore feelings all over again. Lana’s hurting, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it go away.
“I’m sorry about Shelby,” I tell her once we’re comfortably seated in the back seat of the Uber.
“Forget it.” She looks out the window, staring into the bleak darkness, as we turn onto the campus. “It’s not like it’s anything new.”
I bite back my groan of frustration. This time last week everything was fucking perfect, and now it’s all in the toilet. Guess it wouldn’t be worth fighting for if it was drama-free.
The Uber stops in front of Lana’s dorm, and I move to pay the driver, but Lana stalls me with one look. “I’d like to be by myself tonight, Kal.”
“I
f that’s what you prefer.” I grit the words out, failing to disguise how pissed I am. I know Olivia agreed to stay with Riley to give Lana and me some time alone.
“It is.”
“I’ll collect you at eight in the morning. We need to get on the road early.”
“I—”
“No, you don’t,” I cut her off. There’s no way in hell she’s backing out of tomorrow. I do the only thing I can to ensure she follows through. I guilt her into it. “I’ve gone to tons of fucking trouble organizing everything for you to pull out at the last minute.”
I watch the silent battle waging war inside her. “Okay. I’ll see you then.”
I’m at her door at eight a.m. sharp the next morning, determined to put things back on an even footing. The door opens slowly, and I hold the large bouquet of red, white, and pink roses out in front of me. “Good morning, birthday girl. I hope you slept well.”
She looks exhausted, and I can tell she didn’t have a good night. I wish I knew what the hell was occupying her mind.
She buries her nose in the roses, inhaling deeply, and a genuine smile graces her lips for the first time this week. Thank fuck. “They’re beautiful, thank you.”
After she arranges them in a vase, she grabs her purse, and we set out on the two-hour trip to Orlando. She’s jittery the whole ride, and we don’t talk much. I’m not at my best first thing in the morning, and she’s still playing the virtual mute role. We listen to some U2, and I hide my smile when she hums along with the songs, afraid she’ll shut down if she notices my observation.
I pull into one of those all-you-can eat buffet places a few miles outside of Orlando, and we fill our bellies.
When I pull into the entrance for Universal Studios, her beautiful face lights up, and she turns to me with blatant excitement on her face. It’s contagious, and soon I’m sporting a matching smile. I pay and pull the car into the express parking zone, slotting into a vacant space. The crowds are starting to form, but we don’t need to worry about that. Dad’s guy is already waiting off to the side with a sign bearing my name.
Loving Kalvin (The Kennedy Boys Book 4) Page 17
