The Campus Jock: A College Bad Boy Romance

by Serena Silver

  After an hour and a half or so, I saw Jessica approaching me. I got up the couch and headed towards her as fast as I could have.

  “Did he wake up?” I asked eagerly.

  “I’m afraid not,” she said and shook her head. I could tell she was sorry and felt bad for what had happened even though in reality it was not really her fault. I admired how flawless she looked, she reminded me in a way of what I wanted to be - somebody who has things under control and works hard.

  “Oh, I thought that is why you came here.”

  “I just wanted to tell you to go home, we have your number, if he wakes up, I’ll just call you and let you know.” she was right, I had to go home because I wasn’t really helping in any way and I had work to do.

  I took her advice and went back home, I had to catch up on university work and try to distract myself a bit. I felt the stress all over my body - I was constantly tired and worn out, even something as simple as getting off the couch felt impossible.

  Chapter Ten

  I was waiting around the phone all evening and then all night with no luck. I didn’t get a phone call, and my hope was slowly dying. The next day I had to spend at home because I knew that if I met anybody I knew at all they would ask me about Troy and I had no idea what I was supposed to tell them. I had about twenty missed calls but I was still hiding, I needed to give him some more time before spilling everything out in the open.

  Despite being kind of a douchebag move, I am glad I did what I did because around noon I actually got that phone call - he had woken up.

  I went back to the facility as fast as I could. When I got there, Jessica met me and led me to his room. She seemed so relieved, I imagine she had also just dodged a bullet - they would have gotten so many questions from everywhere if he had died.

  “How is he doing?” I asked her while walking.

  “Surprisingly fine, no sign of anything at all, I think he can go home by the end of the day,” she said and smiled at me.

  “And the powers?” I asked.

  “All seem to be gone, no sign of any of them,” she said as we just got to the room. Before entering, I wondered a few times how he would react, what if he was mad that I had left? The only way I could find out was by going inside.

  When I went in, he looked better than I imagined. He had color in his cheek, and he just seemed more alive than ever. It was like looking at a different person. He looked healthier than all those other times and even more beautiful than before - I didn’t think that was possible.

  “Lana,” he said and got off the bed and ran off to hug me. I loved finally being in his arms again, it was like being in heaven, he smelled like his cologne even though he had been here for days, I could recognize him by his lovely scent. “I thought you left,” he continued and would not let go of the hug.

  “I did, but I came back,” I said while doing my part of the hug and holding him as tight as I could.

  “Thank you,” he was so happy to see me I had no idea how I would tell him the bad news. When he let go of the hug, he looked at me, and he noticed my worried face expression.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked while holding my hand.

  “I…,” I couldn’t say those words. I couldn’t be the person he would remember having told him that for the rest of his life.

  “Lana, you’re scaring me…,” he saw that my eyes were tearing up and I knew I had to just do it, he deserved to know as soon as possible.

  “I don’t know how to say it…,” I really did not, nothing seemed appropriate.

  “Just tell me, please…,” he held my hands, and I knew he wouldn’t let go. I took a deep breath, and I tried to get the courage that I needed to give him the terrible news.

  “Your mother has passed away; I am so sorry.” I looked at him and waited for a reaction, I waited and the time seemed to have stopped. His expression completely changed, it was blank. He looked like he had just frozen and he would not say a thing. “Please, say something,” I continued.

  “I… knew this would happen,” that was really not what I expected, but it was better than silence. “I’ve been expecting this for months, she lived for way longer than the doctors said.” I saw a tear roll down his eye, I was somewhat glad to see him cry, it was the most natural response in the world to such news.

  “I’m sorry…,” I said and hugged him.

  “So am I…,” he managed to say through his tears. I kept holding him tight because I knew it was what he needed at that moment, I held him, and I tried to make him feel like I wasn’t going anywhere because I really wasn’t. I was there to stay for as long as he wanted me to - I loved him. I never ever saw tears as a sign of weakness, I thought it was good that he had the strength and trusted me enough to cry in front of me.

  The couple following weeks I tried to help him with everything that I could. We had a lot on our plates - I tried to catch up with University, helped him out with the funeral and generally tried to be there for him in this terrible time. It wasn’t easy to try to be there for everything that was going on but I think I did well and I could tell that he thought so too. In those weeks we got closer than ever, at one point, it felt like I was hanging out with my best friend even though we had to deal with things that were not pleasant at all.

  Eventually, we even made it public, and Amalie made sure to tease me about it all the time and ask at least a million questions a day. It was worse than being questioned at the research facility…

  About the research facility, even though Troy had made a lot of progress with his studies, he was forced to give back all his research – which was probably for the best. I think that knowing that he had nothing to do with it anymore gave us a sense of calm and relief. It was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. It was like we had a story that we were allowed to share only with each other because others wouldn’t understand and quite frankly – would not believe either.

  Chapter Eleven

  Troy didn’t want us to fall into habit with the way we were around each other - at least not yet. We deserved some of the dating and the sweet words and the excitement, so he finally asked me out again. I was excited and this time I was planning on going all the way with how I looked - amazing from head to toe.

  I wore a little black dress because I wanted to be cliché… well not really, but it did look amazing no matter what. I put on my high heels, and I knew he would not be able to take his eyes off me. My hair was in romantic curls, not a perm, and my red lipstick made the whole look come together. Maybe I did go a little bit too far with trying to look my best, but I thought the time was right.

  He asked where I wanted to go, but considering how amazing last time turned out (except the people who followed us of course), I just said that I wanted it to be a surprise again. I did warn him, however, that I will be wearing high heels so he should avoid the walking part somehow. I was excited to be dating again. There was something so fun about that part of a relationship. Even though we had long gone over to the other side of the relationship, we had shared way too much of our lives with each other, we were so damn close, it was still nice to be able to go back a bit and enjoy the simple things.

  When we got out of the car, he asked me to close my eyes and grabbed my hand. He was leading me somewhere, and I just had to hope that he would hold me well enough and I would not fall and hurt myself, I was wearing high heels after all.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Yes!” I replied and I was not just ready, I was excited.

  He told me to open my eyes, and when I did, it was like a movie. There was a table decorated with beautiful flowers, wine bottles and a fantastic smelling meal on the table. Behind it was another table full of all kinds of sweets, I love sugar. I couldn’t believe how great it looked, I am pretty sure my mouth was open because I was so surprised and finally surprised in a good way instead of bad.

  “Where are we?”

  “Red Rose Restaurant, I rented it for the night, it is all ours.” J
ust as he said that romantic music started playing and the lights were going around on the dancefloor, the whole dancefloor was just for us and the whole night was ours as well. I liked the privacy, I preferred it to a crowded restaurant where we can’t even hear each other.

  “This looks amazing,” I said and looked at him. He could definitely see in my eyes how excited and impressed I was. After all of that, we really deserved to have a good date together.

  “Did you prepare the food?” I asked while sitting down on the table.

  “Nah, it was the chef, they made the food right before they left, I didn’t want to poison you with my cooking.” The fact that we could joke about things now was a sign that everything was slowly starting to be ok again.

  He had accepted the loss of his mother, and I was proud of him for being so strong, there was nothing wrong with mourning over a loss, but it was also good that he didn’t let that loss rule over his life forever. It was time to move on. All that had happened was a lot to take in, he lost his powers and his mom in such a short time. I helped him with everything that I could, and it felt good to know that my help had actually been of use to him. He was standing strong and continuing his life.

  When we sat down the rest of our evening included wonderful conversation, laughter and a lot of sexual jokes, I liked his humor, it was a bit dark and dirty, but that was exactly how I wanted it to be. Spending time with him was more than amazing, and even though he had no powers anymore, he was still incredibly interesting. He had so many stories to tell me, I couldn’t stop listening to him, then I got to share some of mine and he was paying the same interest. I felt like I was hanging out with my best friend, although in this case I was insanely attracted to that friend.

  While I was taking a bite off my tiramisu cake, he took out some small package from behind the table. It was beautifully decorated in pink, and I had no idea what it could be.

  “What is that?” I asked excitedly.

  “It’s for you.” It was a gift.

  “No, I can’t take it, you’ve already made all of this happen, this dinner is amazing.”

  “Look, Lana…,” He grabbed my hand over the table and put the box in it. “Please accept it for me, I could never have done this without you, you give me a reason to live, you excite me, and you are everything that I could dream of, you deserve this and so much more.”

  I knew that I was blushing, that was so nice to hear my heart started beating super-fast.

  I started opening the box and gasped when I did. It was a beautiful necklace with flowers shaped on it, it was in silver, and the little flowers were gorgeous like diamonds. It was so wonderful, both simplistic yet lovely.

  “Thank you,” I said and looked at him. He got off his chair and walked up to me, he took it and started putting it around my neck.

  “You know there is a reason I got you this necklace,” he said as he gave me his hand as if he was asking me for a dance. I got up and looked at his beautiful face. “The flowers can always remind you of our first date and of our adventure.” He smiled and hugged me. I loved the gift even more now, not only because it was incredibly beautiful but because it was also thoughtful. He had put a lot of thought in it, and that is what counts the most. It isn’t just jewelry, it is a reminder that I can always have with me because even though everything that happened wasn’t easy or always pleasant it was how our story began, and for that, we should always remember it.

  We got up and decided to dance together. Slow music was playing, and he was holding my body close to his, I could feel the scent of his cologne, and it was amazing. He kissed me, and I felt like I was flying once again, every little kiss that we shared together was more than amazing, it was perfect. Having just one kiss with him, however, was impossible. Our kiss turned into a big make out session, and before I could realize it, we were on the ground making out.

  It got from romantic to hot in a few seconds. I unbuttoned his black shirt and started kissing him all over. He lifted my dress and started touching me. His hands all over my body were the best thing I had felt. I loved the way he touched me, it was electric.

  Not after long our clothes were at the other end of the dancefloor, the music was playing, and we were playing with each other while using the rhythm to guide us. I couldn’t stop moaning, and I really hoped that nobody would walk in because then we wouldn’t be able to rent out this place ever again. This time was even better than the last because we had nothing to worry about, we were free to explore each other, and our bodies for as long as we wanted to and I knew that I never wanted to stop exploring. I was more in love than I had ever been, I knew at that moment that he was the right person for me and I knew that we would have a lot of moments like this in the future. I was ready to have a life with him and excited because I felt like I would never have to go through anything alone.

  The Love Potion

  A Fantasy Romance

  Cara Green

  The Love Potion

  Copyright 2017 by Cara Green

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: Due to mature subject matter, such as explicit sexual situations and coarse language, this story is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older, and all acts of a sexual nature are consensual.

  Chapter One

  Justin Timberlake blared out of the car stereo at the top of his voice. The notes of, Can’t Stop the Feeling filled the air as Rowena Carpenter took yet another treacherous turn on the hilly road. Her green eyes narrowed in concentration behind her oversized sunglasses. She was going too fast for the backcountry hilly terrain of Azmin Creek. But she couldn’t help it. She was mad. Mad at the world. Mad at herself.

  She had run out of material for her products that morning. They had been stolen, and there was a huge order coming up next week. Mrs. Norris, her neighbor, had once again wrongly accused her of stealing apples from her garden, the heating system in her house was once again not working, and Han was sending yet another vacationer to his cottage and wanted her to go up there and get the place readied.

  The thought of Han brought a smile to her face. He was a dear friend. She and Han and Gabe were siblings of a sort. They were bound by magic. Their mothers were sisters of the craft. Their magic was joint to each other making them like a team or a family.

  All their lives the three women had stayed in the Azmin woods. The people from the town had accepted them as a part of the community. They had saved many people in sickness, women in childbirth and in general helped people with their special knowledge. When they wanted to have children, they had simply taken a healthy mate, mostly a traveler who would never come back looking for his kid.

  Han’s mother had died early when they had been around twelve. Then around the time, they turned twenty Gabe and Rowena’s mothers had died in a fire at the public library. They had been in the middle of some sort of magic when the spell had rebounded.

  Ro puckered her lips and rolled them from one cheek to the other as she chewed nervously on the inside of them. Her head and her torso rocked with the blasting music, her feet tapped lightly on the clutch, and the break and her mass of auburn curls flew in a riot around her head as she deftly maneuvered her Karmann Ghia around yet another sharp turn.

  She had five boxes of herbal products sitting in the back seat of her car that she was late to deliver. Gabe, as usual, would say nothing. Gabe had the nicest, the ge
ntlest and the mildest of manners a man had ever had. People usually mistook them for a weakness. But after they dealt with him once, nobody would ever make that mistake again. His inner strength and the quiet force of his character engulfed him like an aura.

  Good old Gabe would simply smile in understanding and instead of admonishing her for being late he would ask if she was ok and if she had had any problems. Besides with the death anniversary of their mothers coming soon, he would never berate her for anything.

  They both knew it was not the work that was making Rowena more nervous and Gabe more protective of her by the day. It was the Blood Moon. Seven years had passed, and the Blood Moon was coming.

  “Damn…” Rowena cursed profusely around the long steep curve as she heard the unmistakable thud of something hitting the side of her car. Around that same moment, she noticed in the rear view the black SUV parked on the valley side of the curve.

  “Shit…” she said under her breath as she parked in a clearing a little further and got out of her car. She had seen the man lying face down beside the other car and was already jogging back towards him. It would be the last straw in all senses if she were to be arrested by the sheriff’s office for speed driving or worse homicide.

  As she neared the man, she cleared her mind. With practiced ease, she pushed all her thoughts, preoccupations and problems on a back shelf and let her healing powers fill her to the brim. At hundred meters from the man her aura collided with his and she was taken aback for a moment.

  As she kept advancing, she first felt the frost, the cold around his heart. He was inaccessible. When she knelt beside him and put her hand out to turn him around, she knew what was coming. Even then the force of it overwhelmed her. The moment her fingers closed around his upper arm to turn him her way, pain shot through her arm and into her whole body. She gasped and gritted her teeth to tame the sensation, to overcome it, but it just kept coming, intense till she finally turned him over with a groan.