Kiss To Conquer (Blairwood University #1)

by Anna B. Doe

  “Sure.”

  After an awkward wave goodbye, Yasmin turns and walks away to meet her friends.

  “She seems like a cool chick,” I comment, as we turn back to our table, only to find Nixon staring after her. He shakes his head like he’s trying to span out of whatever the hell he was thinking.

  “She doesn’t seem like your biggest fan.” I can’t help myself but grill him a little bit. Give him a taste of his own medicine, so to speak.

  “Fuck off, Hades.”

  “Oh, so there is something there.”

  “They met the other day when we were in Cup It Up,” Callie explains. “Nix brought up his charm, but athletes aren’t really Yasmin’s type.”

  Nixon crossed his arms over his chest and huffs. “I’m everyone’s type.”

  “My God, Nixon. A little humility wouldn’t kill you.”

  “Humility is for idiots who don’t know what they want.”

  “I can see how the two of you are friends,” Callie says to me before returning her attention to Nix. “I don’t think it has anything to do with your looks. She’s just not into athletes.”

  “What’s there not to like about athletes?” Now he looks positively offended. “We have great bodies and excellent stamina.”

  “And you’re also modest to a fault.” The sarcasm is dripping from her every word.

  Just then Callie’s phone chimes. She picks it off the table, and without as much as looking at it, says, “Gotta go.”

  Confused by the sudden change, but deciding not to say anything, I start to stand up. “I’ll walk you.”

  Her hand covers mine, stopping me even before I finish the sentence. Those lean, chilly fingers touching my heated skin. Our gazes meet at the same time, a current—strong and unyielding—spreading between us.

  “Finish your dinner,” she says softly. She starts to pull her hand away, but I stop her.

  “Friday. I’ll pick you up at six.”

  Silence settles over us for a moment as she looks at me. I start to get weary, but then she simply nods and whispers, “Friday.”

  Disentangling our fingers, she stands up. A shiver runs through me at the lack of contact.

  Picking up her tray, she gives us one final look. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  “La—” I try, but she’s already walking away. “—ter.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  CALLIE

  “I’m not sure about this.” Giving my reflection in the mirror a critical look, I tug at the hem of my red tunic.

  Well, Yasmin’s tunic. After a thoughtful inspection of my closet, whose contents were scattered all around the room like a category five hurricane just went through it, she concluded I didn’t have any date-worthy clothes so she forced me to put one of her own.

  The tunic isn’t something I would usually pick for myself. It’s tight fitted and comes to my mid-thigh—thank goodness for the height difference between the two of us—so it looks more like a dress than a shirt on me. I, however, drew the line when it came to putting on skinny jeans. I thought I got rid of them all, but somehow Yasmin managed to find a pair in the mess that was my clothes. Instead I opted for black leggings and matched the whole look with a pair of flat boots.

  “You look fine.” Yasmin covers my hands to stop me from fidgeting. “More than fine, actually. You look hot.”

  “How can you know that? I don’t even know where we’re going,” I protest. I know I’m acting bitchy after she took the time to help me get ready, but I was going out of my mind. Why did I agree to this? It was such a bad idea.

  “Are you going to meet the Queen?”

  The Queen? I frown at her. “Not that I know of.”

  “Then you’ll be fine.” She grabs my hands in hers, stopping me from fidgeting any more. “Stop stressing about it. Go out and have fun.”

  “I wish it were that easy.”

  “It is.”

  “We have too messy of a past for this to be easy, you know that.” I still half-expected her to run for the hills, telling me what an awful person I was. Though for now, she seems like she actually doesn’t care.

  “Do you like him?”

  The question catches me off guard. I’m physically attracted to him, but that’s different. Do I like him? Back then I needed him, but the more time we spent together the more I grew to like him. Now? Now I don’t know him anymore.

  “With our past…”

  She waves her hand to stop me. “Put the past in the past where it belongs if only for a moment. Does your heart skip a beat when he’s around?”

  I close my eyes, forcing myself to take a deep breath in to steady my racing heart. I try to think back to any of the moments I saw Hayden, disentangling the complex web of feelings that comes hand in hand with being near him. Does my heart skip a beat?

  “I think so,” I confess softly. “It’s so difficult to dissect one emotion from the other because when he’s nearby it’s like an overabundance of feelings I don’t know what to do about. But seeing him makes my heart race.” I brush my palms against each other. “Palms sweaty. And…”

  The words trail off as I remember how close we were sitting in the library. The way his lips called onto mine, begging me to kiss them. To lose myself in the feel of him, his warmth… A shudder runs through me.

  “You do like him.” There is a teasing tone to her voice. Opening my eyes, I stare at my reflection, a soft smile playing on my lips. Yup, I like him alright. There is no escaping it.

  “I think a part of me always did.” It’s something I haven’t told anybody. Not a soul. I haven’t even said it out loud just to myself. Thinking it, saying it, it would give the words too much power. And back then I wasn’t ready to face it. I’m not even sure I’m ready to do it now. “I always knew he was one of the good guys. One of those people who makes you want to be better too.”

  Yasmin sets her chin on top of my head, both of us staring at our reflection in the mirror. “Mistakes, remember? We all make them.”

  “Will you ever tell me what the mistake was you made that led you here?”

  I still remember that first day we met. Two different girls, same chip on our shoulders. But somehow we made it this far. I guess it’s safe to assume a soul recognizes her sister when she sees it.

  The familiar darkness clouds her face, I know because I’ve seen it reflected in the mirror too many times to count. Yasmin looks away, closing off.

  “When you’re ready, okay?”

  One blink of an eye and she pushes it at bay, but it’s not gone. Always lingering. Once you know the darkness, I’m not sure there is anything that can forever chase it away. Not completely anyway. You can tame the storm inside you, but every once in a while it’ll come out raging.

  “One day,” she promises, taking a step back.

  I look around the mess that’s our room.

  “I guess I should…” But I don’t get to finish because there is a knock on the door. The sound echoes in the room. I glance at Yasmin and then back at the door.

  Her lips tip in a smile and she gives me a push. “Go.”

  “But…”

  I can’t leave her to deal with all this mess, can I?

  “Go.”

  Apparently I can.

  “Okay, okay.” Grabbing my coat and bag off the chair, I cross the short distance to the door. Taking one more deep breath in, my fingers close around the doorknob and I pull it open.

  My breath comes rushing back when I see Hayden. He looks handsome in dark jeans and white button-down shirt with a black jacket thrown over and left unbuttoned. A day’s worth of stubble covers his cheeks and gives him a certain edge, but I like it. It suits him.

  “Hey, Callie.”

  “H-Hi,” I squeak back. It’s high pitched and so unlike me, I want to go back inside and crawl under the mountain of clothes that’s on my bed.

  Hayden just grins, those bright green eyes shining with mischief taking everything in. “Ready to go?”

/>   I start to nod, but Yasmin beats me to it. “She’s ready. You guys have fun, and I’ll see you later. Or maybe I won’t.” She pushes me out and winks at me. “Even better.” Then she closes the door in our face.

  “She seems awfully cheery.”

  I turn around and come face to chest with Hayden, catching a whiff of him. Soap, just a little bit of cologne and the familiar scent that’s plain Hayden.

  My eyes fall shut for a moment as a shiver works its way down my spine. I allow myself a moment to indulge in his intoxicating smell before forcing my eyes open.

  “She does, doesn’t she?” I turn back to the closed door when reggaeton blasts from the other side. “I think she’s just happy to get the room for herself for a while.”

  I pull on the coat and we slowly start our way outside.

  “You really don’t go out that much?” The question isn’t intended as a jab, just plain curiosity.

  “Define ‘that much.’” I laugh, but the sound lacks amusement. “After everything happened, I just didn’t have it in me. People don’t say without a reason that you start to appreciate what you have once you lose it. It’s the truth, plain and simple. Losing my parents made me realize I was selfish. I loved them, I still do, but the only person who mattered was Callie. It was all about me and my future. Until I lost it.”

  The cold night air hits me in the face as soon as we leave the building. It’s crispy, biting at my skin and getting all the way to my bones.

  Hayden tips my chin up, those intense green irises boring into my blues.

  “Who’s Callie now?” It’s unnerving, the way that guy can read me like I’m an open book.

  A small smile tugs at my lips, nostalgia setting in my soul. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m trying to find out.”

  Hayden observes me for a long moment, not saying a word. His face is stoic, unreadable, and a part of me is glad, because I’m not sure I’m strong enough to take in everything he might throw at me.

  But he says nothing, only gives me a slight nod in acknowledgment.

  He reaches forward, pushing one runaway strand of hair behind my ear. His touch is like a zap of electricity, sudden and intense, making my heart kick up a notch until the only thing I can hear is the sound of it beating in my eardrums. “You ready for tonight?”

  Glad that he’s letting the subject go, my smile widens. “Are you finally going to tell me where we’re going?”

  Hayden shakes his head. “It’s a surprise. Come on.”

  He laces his fingers through mine and pulls me toward the parking lot. The feeling of unease comes rushing back instantly. He must sense it, because he stops, and turns to look at me.

  “Are you okay?” He watches me, a tingle of worry, something so unlike Hayden that I’ve gotten used to, marrying his forehead as he looks between me and the truck. “Shit, it’s the driving isn’t it?” he asks as if he only now remembered the accident.

  “It’s fine,” I try to reassure him.

  “You don’t look fine. Fuck, Callie, I figured…” He runs his hand over his face in frustration.

  Tugging at his hand that’s still holding onto mine, I make him stop and look at me. “It’s fine. It happens every time, it’s a knee-jerk reaction I guess. To freeze every time I have to sit in the car. I have driven in the car since the accident.”

  “You have?” He looks skeptical.

  “How do you think I move around, silly?” I put more pep into my words for his benefit. I don’t want him to feel bad about something neither of us has control over. I can’t help the way I react, just as I can’t escape driving in the cars every so often.

  “On foot.”

  I look down at my feet skeptically, remembering all the things I used to do but now couldn’t even if I tried, and then back at him. “There is only so far these two can take me.”

  Hayden follows my line of sight. He pulls his lower lip between his teeth, nibbling at it in thought. “Why…”

  He starts but stops. I can see the uncertainty on his face, the wonder.

  “Why…?” I urge him to continue, ask whatever’s been on his mind.

  “Why haven’t you done anything about your injuries?” Every word is spoken slowly, his tone carefully measured. “You had the means, obviously, so why…”

  Instinctively my hand reaches for the side of my face, only to remember his hand is already there, touching the damaged skin.

  Swallowing hard, I start to pull back, but something in Hayden’s eyes makes me stop. Instead I let my fingers wrap around the strong line of his wrist.

  “Doctors suggested it. Plastic surgery, I mean. They already did all they could for my leg. They saved it, broken and bruised as it was. It will never be the same, and I’ll never be able to dance professionally again, but it’s more than some people get. It was the first thing they told me after I woke up. It was something on the lines of ‘Hey, you woke up, great! You’ve been in an accident and suffered great injuries, but no worries, you’ll get better. We fixed your legs, the pieces were so tiny we had to screw them back together. Your face is a mess, but there is plastic surgery. Oh, your parents didn’t make it. Now, about that surgery.’” I repeat in a mocking voice. The doctors weren’t so insensitive, but they weren’t much better. “Like I cared about myself. They were dead—because of me—and all I wanted to do was die.”

  Strong arms wrap around me, pulling me in the crook of his chest. Solid and warm, he wraps around me until he’s the only thing I can feel. The sound of his steady heart the only thing I can hear.

  “You never considered it after?”

  I shake my head. “What would be the point? The old Callie is dead. She died alongside my parents in that crash, and this, this is my reminder and my penance.”

  “Losing the dream.”

  Another shake of my head. “A lifetime without them. Without two people I loved the most, the two people I disappointed the most. Having to live this life knowing they’ll never realize how sorry I am.”

  “They know.” He squeezes me tighter. “They know.”

  I sniffle, running my fingers underneath my eyes. “Not really the best date conversation starter,” I try to joke as I pull back, but it falls flat.

  “Maybe not, but it’s real.” Hayden looks back at the car. “You sure you’ll be fine?”

  “As long as I don’t have to be the one driving we’re good.”

  HAYDEN

  “What is this place?” Callie asks as she looks around. The parking lot is almost deserted, but the lights are on on the ground floor and the address matches so I guess this is it.

  “Surprise.”

  “Come on,” she moans loudly in protest, stomping her feet.

  I chuckle, killing the engine. “It’s a surprise,” I repeat, not budging.

  Callie purses her pink lips at me. The bottom one sticks out a little more, begging to be kissed.

  “We’re here.” She gives another unimpressed sweep to the empty lot. “I just hope you didn’t bring me here to kill me off and get rid of the body.”

  “Nope, but you might think that’s the better option once you enter inside.”

  I seriously didn’t know what she’d think about the surprise. Not after our conversation back in the parking lot. Old Callie would love it. But the new one? The jury was still out. For a moment I even entertained the idea of ditching this place altogether and taking her to the movies or something, but in the end, I decided against it.

  Suddenly feeling the nerves, I turn toward her in my seat. “If you don’t like it we can leave.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising.”

  Taking her hand in mine, I give it a quick squeeze. “Promise me, if you don’t like it you’ll tell me and we’ll leave.”

  She gives me a long look. “Fine, promise. Can we go in now?”

  “Sure.” I chuckle and exit the car. I walk around the hood and take her hand in mine.

  “So what did you say this place was?” she asks again, eyeing t
he building curiously. There is nothing special about it. Just a regular two-story building in a residential part of the town.

  “You really are relentless.” Laughing, I push the door open and wait for Callie to enter.

  The hallway is lit, although empty, but there are voices coming from the double-door that’s left wide open at the end of the hall.

  “This way,” I urge her with more conviction than I feel. I guess I should have come earlier to check it out, but when I saw the flyer in the library, the other day I figured this would be perfect. Now I’m not so sure.

  This better be good or else...

  “Hayden?” Callie’s uncertain voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

  I almost didn’t realize she stopped in the doorway and power through her, but end up stopping just in time. Still, my hand goes around her, wrapping around Callie’s waist to hold her still against my chest.

  “What is this?” Callie’s trying to hold in the laughter, but she’s doing a poor job out of it. It looks good on her though.

  Her pink lips spread wide, little white teeth that should be on a toothpaste commercial blinding me. A lone dimple appears in her cheek, and her blue eyes sparkle with happiness so pure it leaves me breathless. I’m so mesmerized with her at this moment that it takes a while for her words to register.

  “I… what?” With my free hand, I rub the nape of my neck.

  “Is this your usual Friday night crowd?” She giggles.

  My usual Friday night crowd? My head shoots up only to find a room full of people—all of them probably eighty or more years old—gawking at us with interest.

  “What in the ever-loving…” I say, looking around, but nope, the picture in front of me doesn’t change. It’s like we traveled at least fifty or so years in the past.

  Apparently, my stupefied face is funny, because Callie keeps on laughing.

  Just then a cheerful woman, probably in her late twenties or so comes to us. “Hey guys! Are you here for the dance class?”

  “Yeah.” I give the room another swipe. This can’t be it, can it? “Are we in the right place?”