"I never wanted anything bad to happen to him. I just wanted him to stop picking on me. I definitely didn't want him to get hurt."
"Nobody did. But this stuff happens. It's exactly what I've been trying to tell you."
"Which is what?"
"Stuff like this happens all the time. Hunter lost two fingers and now his football career is over. He may lose his vision in his right eye. His whole life is going to change and he had no idea that would happen when he woke up this morning. It's like I was saying...anything could happen to any of us at any time. I could get in a car accident and lose my leg. If that happened, would you break up with me?"
"No."
"But it would limit what I could do. And I'd have to learn to live with a prosthetic leg. That would take time."
"I still wouldn't break up with you. But losing your leg's not the same as not being able to see. I'm going to be blind someday, Wes. Completely blind. It's not like there's just a chance it'll happen. It's a fact. It's going to happen someday."
"And when that day comes..." He gives my hand a squeeze. "I'll be there. If you'll let me."
A tear slides down my face. "You don't mean that."
"Then bet me."
"What?"
"Let's make a bet. If we're still together years from now, which we will be, but since you don't believe me I'll phrase it as though it's still unknown...so if we're still together years from now, and I break up with you when you lose your vision, as you're predicting, I'll give you five million dollars."
I laugh. "You don't have five million dollars."
"I just signed a deal worth more than five million. And years from now, whenever this happens, I'll probably be worth a hundred million, so by offering five, I'm being cheap. You should really ask for more."
"Okay." I smile. "I'd like ten."
"Deal."
"What if you stick around? What happens then? What do I have to do if I lose the bet?"
"If we don't break up, which we won't, then you'll have to marry me."
My eyes widen. "Marry you? We haven't even dated that long."
"By the time this happens, we'll have dated for years, so accepting my proposal shouldn't be a problem. You're getting off easy here." He holds out his hand. "Have we got a deal?"
Do I do it? Do I get back together with him? Do I keep falling more in love with him, risking my heart, knowing he might leave someday? If I don't, and I end this for good, right here and right now, will I regret it?
My answer is right in front of me.
Wes is looking at me with that goofy lopsided smile of his, the one that had me falling for him the first day we met. I knew it was trouble. It still is. I can't resist it, or the guy it belongs to.
I hold my hand out. "Deal."
***
The following Friday, Hunter comes back to school after a week-long recovery at home. His hand is bandaged up and he has a patch over his eye. All day, he's looked depressed and he's been really quiet. He didn't even look at me when he saw me in the hall. He'd usually give me smirk and call me 'Tuna'.
I catch up to him after school as he's walking to his car.
"Hunter!"
He turns around. "What do you want, Luna?"
That's the first time since kindergarten he's called me by my actual name.
"I just wanted to know how you're doing."
He holds his bandaged hand up. "I'm fucked. I can't play football. Can't go to state. Can't get a scholarship for college." He huffs. "Go ahead. Say I deserved it for picking on you."
"I would never say that. I feel horrible you got hurt. I'm really sorry that happened."
"Yeah, right."
"I am. I never wanted anything bad to happen to you. I just wanted you to leave me alone. I don't know why you've always picked on me. I never did anything to you. But maybe now it could end." I hold my hand out. "Could we call a truce?"
He leans back against his car. "You can't call a truce unless both people were at war. And you weren't. It was just me." He sighs and shakes his head. "Fuck. I don't know why I did it, Luna. I don't know why I kept picking on you. For the longest time I had the biggest freakin' crush on you." He laughs to himself. "I can't believe I just admitted that. Must be the pain pills."
"It doesn't matter why you did it. I just want it to end. So will it end?"
He nods. "Yeah. And hey, if you decide to come up with a name for me I wouldn't blame you. I deserve it."
"Nobody deserves it." I start walking away. "I hope you feel better."
"Luna!" I hear him yell.
I turn back. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
I smile and keep walking. I see Wes up ahead and smile even more.
"It's date night," he says, taking me in his arms.
"Where are we going?"
"Out to dinner. There's a place that just opened by my house that I want to try." He kisses me. "And then we're gonna go find Bigfoot."
"What?" I look up at him.
"The game. I built the prototype. I want you to try it out."
"I get to try it?"
"You'll be the first one, other than me."
"Oh my God, I can't wait! I still can't believe you can develop these games."
He shrugs. "It just comes naturally."
"Not for most people."
"It does for me." He gives me a kiss. "You're dating a geek. You know that, right?"
"I love geeks."
He smiles. "And I love goddesses."
"I'm not a goddess."
"Luna, Roman goddess of the moon."
"Huh. That's right. I guess I am a goddess."
He puts his arm around me and we walk to the car.
"The geek and the goddess," he says. "I think I just came up with a new video game."
I laugh. Wes may be a geek but he's my geek. And I'm his goddess.
After all those years of teasing, all the nicknames, Wes helped me realize I can rise above all that. I am what I choose to be, and I choose to be a goddess. And love a geek.
###
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***
Books by Allie Everhart
(Click on titles to purchase at Amazon)
The Jade Series
(New Adult Romance/Suspense)
Choosing You
Knowing You
Loving You
Promising You
Forever You
Finding Us
Becoming Us
Always Us
Garret: A Jade Series Companion Novel
The Kensington Series
(Romantic Suspense)
Needing Her
Keeping Her
Protecting Her
Only Her
Lilly: A Kensington Family Novel
Lilly and Reed: A Kensington Family Novel
Moorhurst College
(Romantic Suspense)
Secrets Kept
Secrets Told
Standalone Novels
(Contemporary Romance)
Next to Me
Give Us a Chance
Can't Let You Go
More to Us
Still Love You
Holding On
One Night
Do you like college romance mixed with mystery and suspense? Check out The Jade Series! It's a story of forbidden roman
ce. Deadly secrets. Hidden agendas. And rules that must never be broken.
Choosing You (Jade Series, book one)
When Jade is given a scholarship to an elite private college in Connecticut, she sees it as a chance to finally escape her painful past and get a fresh start. She's determined to succeed and that means keeping her focus on school and not guys. But that plan falls apart her first day on campus when Garret, a wealthy prep school boy with swimmer abs and a perfect smile, offers to help her move in.
Jade tries to push him away but she can't deny her attraction to him and Garret won't let her. Things quickly heat up between them, but then come to a sudden halt when reality hits and Jade realizes that a relationship with Garret may never be possible. He comes from a world of wealth where there are rules, including rules about who he can date. And not following those rules has consequences.
As the two of them try to overcome the obstacles working to keep them apart, Jade is confronted with another challenge. On her 19th birthday, she receives a letter that her now deceased mother wrote years ago. In it are revelations that explain her traumatic childhood but also make her question the past she's been running from.
Here's Chapter 1...
October 30
The lines on the track are like a map telling me where to go. I follow their orderly path, my arms and legs moving in a rhythmic pattern. My body repeats the motion effortlessly, leaving my mind to replay what just happened.
I see a girl at a party. She's drinking. She never drinks. Ever. But there were no other options. It was history repeating itself. Like the script had already been written and she just had to let the scene play out. For 18 years, she promised herself this would never happen. And then it did. She lost all control within a matter of seconds.
That girl was someone else. I will never be her. And I will never be her mother. I refuse.
My legs take longer, quicker strides as I become aware of my body again. I pump my arms because I'm not going fast enough. I still feel all of it. The confusion. The rage. The pain. And I just want it to go away.
The cold night air clings to my skin, cooling the sweat and sending an icy chill through me. My arms and legs ache and my lungs burn from inhaling the frigid air. But I keep going. Because I like feeling this pain. I understand it. And it keeps my mind off the pain that I can't understand.
A drop of rain hits my face. Then two, then three. Soon rain pours from the sky, stinging my skin.
"Jade, what the hell are you doing out here? I've been looking everywhere for you! Jade!"
It's Garret, the boy who made the girl live out that scene at the party. The scene that was never supposed to happen.
My eyes remain on the lines in front of me and I run past him like he's not even there.
"Jade, stop! Wait!"
I make another loop around the track as he continues to call out my name. As I approach him again, he moves into my lane and I veer to avoid him.
There's a sharp tug on the back of my shirt and I stumble forward to a stop. I'm gasping for breath as Garret turns me around and holds me against him so tight I can't move despite my efforts to break free.
"Stop." He says it quietly now as he presses my head against his chest. "Just stop running."
I give up trying to fight him and let my body collapse into his.
A minute ago I never wanted to see him again, but now I don't want him to let me go.
"Tell me what's wrong," he says. "If it's something I did, I'm sorry. I'll fix it."
The cold rain continues to pour down in a steady stream. My shorts and shirt feel heavy against my skin and I shiver as the wind blows around us.
He runs his hand along my arm. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing and you're soaking wet. Let's go inside."
My legs aren't ready to move. My entire body is aching, leaving my emotions numb, just the way I want them.
"Jade, talk to me."
I look up and see him watching me, waiting for some kind of answer. Before he can speak again, I reach up and press my lips to his. I shouldn't be kissing him so I don't understand why I'm doing this. But I don't understand anything right now.
Garret gently pulls away. "Tell me what's going on. Why are you out here? Why were you at the party? And why were you drinking?" His voice is filled with so much worry and so much concern. After seeing him at the party I don't know why he even cares. But I know he does. I can feel it and I can see it in his face and it pisses me off. I don't want him to care about me. Not now. Now after what he did.
I push away but his arms tighten around me. I won't look at him. Because when I do all I see is the image of him coming out of that room. With her. And then I see the vodka bottle and it reminds me of my mom and that letter she wrote.
It's too much. It's too many emotions. I want the numbness back.
The rain continues to pour and I shiver again.
"We're going inside." Garret's tone is forceful. He finally lets me go but grabs my hand, pulling on me to go with him. "Jade, come on. I'm not leaving here without you."
My mind is still racing, trying to make sense of things that make no sense at all.
When I don't move, he picks me up and carries me up the hill to our dorm.
Want to read more? Choosing You is available now in ebook, paperback and audiobook!
The Geek and The Goddess Page 27
