by Amity Hope
“Then,” Gabe said seriously, “I think I should’ve gotten you a bigger ring.”
“I don’t want a bigger ring,” she told him. She took the simple gold band, encrusted with two small diamonds, out of the box and held it protectively to her chest. “I want this ring. This ring is perfect.”
Gabe blew out a breath of relief as he took it from her and placed it on her finger. “I’m going to have to remember this for next year.”
“Remember what?”
“That birthday wishes come true.”
“Why,” Ava asked, “what did you wish for?”
“You,” Gabe said.
With that, she slid off the couch and landed in his lap. When he kissed her, it was slow and deliberate. He took his time and Ava was breathless when he finally stopped so that he could look at her.
“Wait, was that a yes?” he asked as his eyes drank in the ecstatic expression on her face. “Do you promise you want to spend the rest of your life with me?”
“Yes,” Ava answered as she leaned in for another kiss. “That was a definite yes.”
CRUSHED excerpt
Chapter 1
Reece had gotten to school early. It had nothing to do with being excited for the first day of senior year. Because he wasn’t. Mostly, he was tired and just wanted to go home so he could go back to bed. And avoid the day completely.
Even though he was one of the first people there, he’d parked at the back of the lot. Though he wasn’t sure what the point of that was. His black Navigator, a gift from his parents, had a tendency to stick out. Especially in the school parking lot. Then again, it wasn’t like he was really hiding or anything. More like hanging out, waiting for his first glimpse of Cleo in three months. Waiting for it, dreading it, but more than anything? Just wanting to get it over with.
He assumed that she’d be riding the bus so he’d parked at the end closest to the bus zone. Cleo was more likely to spend her paychecks on groceries or school clothes for her little sister, Luci, than she was to ever get anything for herself. That included wasting money on a car when she could take the bus, even though she despised it.
“Hey,” Adam said as he threw himself into the passenger seat. He slammed the door behind him. “Are you going to spend all morning in here?”
Reece glanced at the clock. It hadn’t been that long. Only twelve minutes, give or take. But the parking lot was quickly filling up. The lawn in front of the school was already crawling with students.
“I just got here,” he said in his own defense.
Adam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, now get out of the truck,” he commanded. “I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing anything,” he said. He didn’t bother to hide his aggravation at being interrupted.
“Right. Well, if by ‘not doing anything’, you actually mean that you are looking for Cleo, you’re looking the wrong way. She’s here already. I saw her with Emma just a minute ago,” Adam supplied.
He could have denied it. But Adam knew him better than almost anyone. So he decided to save some time. He didn’t bother with any protests. “Where?”
“Knew it.” Adam motioned with his head. “That way, by Emma’s car. Have you talked to her at all?”
“No,” Reece told him. He was pretty sure Adam knew he hadn’t.
“So you don’t know if she’s still with Ethan?” he asked.
“No idea.”
“Do you want me to check with Lauren? She’d probably know,” Adam offered.
“Nah,” Reece said. “I don’t care if she’s with him or not.” It was a lie. Adam was a good enough friend to not call him on it.
Instead he groaned and his face folded into a look of dread. “Bitch-alert, straight ahead.”
Reece sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His traditional school-is-starting haircut was too short. It felt wrong. Just like almost everything in his life lately.
“She’s not that bad,” he said with a sigh.
Adam gave him a look of disbelief. “I hung out with you guys this summer. She is that bad,” he argued. He didn’t like Mia. Never had. And he had no problem with letting Reece know it. “I know you agree with me or you would’ve come up with a better argument than that half-assed one. If I’d ever said that about Cleo, I would’ve ended up with your fist in my mouth,” he said as he kept a wary eye on Mia. She was heading their way. “You should probably make a run for it while you can.”
Too late. Mia had seen him. She’d already given him the get-your-ass-over-here look before stopping to let herself be adored by her many followers. He’d thought Mia had a strange habit of hanging out with underclassmen. Until he realized that they kissed her ass even more than the other senior girls that floated along behind her like some fairy princess’ wedding train.
“There’s Cleo,” Adam said with a smug look. He motioned to a crowd off to their far right as he started to slip out of the truck. “See ya.”
“Yeah,” Reece replied as Adam swung his door shut. But his attention was already elsewhere. His eyes dug through the crowd Adam had pointed to.
Cleo Bennet had been his secret on-again off-again crush all through middle school. Back when no one actually dated. Not really. He’d thought she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Because of that, he’d been too intimidated to talk to her. Except for one time, the last day of eighth grade. He had asked her to sign his year book. Reece-Hope you have a nice summer. See you next year-Cleo was the stellar, heart stopping note she’d written.
And then he didn’t really think about her or talk to her again for another two years. Not until the end of sophomore year. Not until the year her life shattered into a million pieces. By some strange twist of fate she happened to let him in enough to help her put it back together again.
He realized how ridiculous it was to think that you’re going to end up with the girl you dated in high school. It’s not exactly the fifties or even the eighties anymore. He got that. He really did. But he had foolishly thought that he and Cleo had a chance. They’d talked about a future. He had thought he and Cleo would be forever.
Turned out he was wrong.
He spotted her standing with Emma Donavan. Emma had obviously given her a ride. He reached for his phone. Lame? Yeah, he knew it. He held it up to his ear. Pretended to talk when he saw Mia send another near-death glare his way.
Seeing Cleo again was like being tackled by a two-hundred and fifty pound linebacker. All of the air shot right out of his lungs. She was smiling at Emma like all was fine and great with her world. Probably she was making plans with Emma that involved Ethan, he decided. That’s probably why she was smiling.
He glared out the window at Emma. As if it were her fault that Cleo had left him for her brother, Ethan. And for all he knew, maybe it had been. It had all happened so fast he wasn’t sure who was to blame. Three months later and he still felt like he had no idea what had just gone down.
He was just glad he wouldn’t have to deal with seeing him every day. Well, him with Cleo. If he had to be grateful about something, it was that. Ethan was a year older. And now, off at college in a town at least two hours away. Or so, that’s what he’d last heard. He hoped he hadn’t stuck around here, in Sheridan.
He wondered how the long distance thing was working out for them. Honestly? He hoped it sucked.
He kept his eyes glued on the school as they disappeared into the crowd. It was a three story brick building, old and up for constant debate about whether funding could be found—or forced—for it to be replaced. There were two sets of wide steps that led to the doors. One at each end. A row of junipers stretched out between the two staircases. His stomach twisted at the sight of those stupid bushes. As if it were their fault Cleo had used them as a semi-private shield when she decided to rip out his heart.
With the help of Emma’s red hair shining out like a beacon he managed to find Cleo again as she walked up the steps that led into the main hall.
It was then that he h
ad a fairly clear view. Her hair was longer, well past her shoulders now. She looked thinner. And Cleo was plenty thin to start with. He didn’t want to be concerned about this.
But he was.
He sent out a pathetic telepathic plea, begging her to look his way. Of course she didn’t. Then she made her way up the steps. She was swallowed up behind the doors that would spit her out into the main hall.
He also spotted Adam making his way in. His arm was slung over the shoulders of a girl who was not Lauren. Reece vaguely wondered if that meant anything. Probably not. Adam always seemed to have his arm around one girl or another. Usually with mixed results.
His passenger door flew open again. Mia’s icy blue eyes cut into him. “Seriously? Are you just going to sit here all day?” She paused, her eyes narrowing. “Who are you talking to?”
He was frozen for a moment. Forgetting he held the phone to his ear. “Bye, Mom,” he finally said. He ended his nonexistent call and tossed his phone into the empty seat.
“Hey, Mia,” he said.
“Your mom?” Mia asked suspiciously.
“She wanted me to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home.”
Worst excuse ever, he thought.
Mia bought it. Either that or she just didn’t care enough to question it.
“Get your stuff so we can get inside,” she commanded. “Everyone else has already gone in.”
This wasn’t entirely true. There were a few random clusters of people. He didn’t bother to argue.
He did fight the urge to salute her. It was almost unbelievable that someone so tiny could be so bossy. He grabbed his backpack anyway. Not so much because Mia had told him to. But because he really did need to be getting inside.
By the time she grabbed his hand to tow him across the parking lot, it was nearly empty. He was pretty much oblivious to the comments flying around about it finally being senior year. He managed to make the obligatory comments in return. Tossed around a few greetings.
He listened to Mia prattle on and on about the party they “absolutely had to go to” after the football game on Friday night. She brought up—for possibly the hundredth time—that he never should’ve quit the team. She was head cheerleader, after all. And it would’ve been nice of him to stay on the team.
Because then on game days, he’d be wearing his jersey and she’d be in her uniform. They could coordinate. And to someone as vain as Mia, that held a lot of importance. Because Mia was about as shallow as they come. Reece knew Cleo pretty much hated her. Well, as much as Cleo hated anyone. This was probably part of the reason why he hadn’t turned Mia down when she’d asked him out.
He wasn’t proud of it, even if he was very much aware of it.
He did try to explain to Mia why he had quit football. He’d mistakenly thought that since they were a couple that she would actually care. She hadn’t. He had never tried to justify himself again.
He had put a lot of effort into trying to like Mia. But sometimes? She was a lot to handle. She was kind of exhausting. He wasn’t used to a high maintenance girlfriend. In the summer he’d been able to shield himself a bit with work and baseball. Now, it wouldn’t exactly be Mia all day. But it would be every day. The thought of it was overwhelming.
The reality of it? He was starting to worry would be even worse.
But it wasn’t like he could break up with her. Right or wrong—and yeah, he knew it was wrong—he needed her. He needed her so that he could prove to Cleo just how over her he was. Even if it was a lie. He wanted Cleo to believe it was true. She was over him, right? So he was damn well going to prove he was over her, too.
“Reece!” Mia snapped. Her small hand slapped him across the shoulder.
He wondered just how long he’d been zoning out.
“Yeah?” he asked. He leaned against the locker next to hers.
“Are you listening to me?” she wondered. Her head was tilted to the side. Her eyes were narrowed at him again. He wondered if she was aware of the little wrinkle it formed between her eyes. He doubted it or she probably wouldn’t be looking at him that way.
“Yes,” he said. “Party at Mel’s. Friday night. Me and you. Got it.”
“I’m going to class. My first hour is on the other side of campus” she said. She hugged a sparkly purple notebook to her chest. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was squeezing the notebook just a little too hard on purpose. Causing her to spill out of her top just a little too much.
“’Kay, see you later,” he said. He pushed himself off the locker.
She reached out and snagged his hand in hers, reeling him in. He had never been much for PDA. Definitely not while standing in the crowded hall, the first day of class. He cut the kiss short and tried to back away. But not before she squeezed his butt and smirked at him. He tried not to cringe. He forced a smile and left for his own locker.
He dug out his schedule. He’d scanned over it when he got it. But he hadn’t looked at it recently. He glanced over it again as he walked. Dodging people as he went.
The inside of the school depressed him. The boring beige tile. The horrible fluorescent lighting. The multi-colored lockers in primary colors. They made him feel like a kid on the set of Sesame Street.
He found the bank of lockers that held 1036. His locker was yellow this year. It was a bright, cheery, awful yellow.
He hated it already.
He stuffed what he didn’t need inside of the ugly locker and glanced at his schedule again.
Community Participation. That’s right. First class of the day. The class was only offered to seniors and in the past, it had been hard to get into. He’d heard you had to work hard, a lot of volunteering, but never any homework. And better yet? No final exam. That being the reason a lot of seniors signed up.
He made his way toward the room. The hall was crowded and loud. He wondered how people could seem so excited. Personally, he’d rather be just about anywhere but here. He’d even rather be at his crappy summer job. Cleaning up dirty dishes and scraping off other peoples’ half-eaten food scraps.
When he got to the classroom, there was a cluster of people in the doorway. He realized they were looking at a huge piece of tag board taped to the wall.
A seating chart? What senior class has a seating chart? he wondered. Oh, right. Apparently Mr. Jessen’s.
He stood there for a minute, waiting for the cluster of people to thin out. He took a few steps forward when it did. He was able to see over the top of the head of the girl in front of him. He scanned over the chart and found his name immediately.
Reece was relieved to be in the back row. Right next to the windows. He made his way to his desk and tossed himself into it. He flipped his notebook open, for lack of anything better to do.
He thought he vaguely recalled Adam saying they had this class together. He realized he should’ve asked him this morning. Or taken a better look at the seating chart. But maybe Adam had been talking about second hour. He couldn’t remember. He looked around. If Adam had this class, he definitely wasn’t here yet.
The classroom was on the third floor. He realized it had a mesmerizing view of…absolutely nothing from where he sat. Except clouds. Lots of clouds.
He ground out a sigh.
He glanced around looking for the clock. It was going to be a long year. He was already desperate for the time and first bell hadn’t even rung yet. He found the clock on the wall behind him. Directly over his head. He was just swinging his gaze back around when Cleo walked in.
Her eyes landed on his immediately.
Reece had always thought that Cleo’s eyes were the most incredible shade of blue he’d ever seen. Like the Cornflower Blue Crayola he’d always chosen for the sky when he was a kid. They stood out against the espresso color of her hair. They were beautiful. And expressive. They also made her easy to read.
At least, easy for him to read.
Now that he had a closer view than he’d had that morning, he noticed a few things. Her skin was pale. H
er eyes were hollow and glossy, the way the eyes of only the severely sleep deprived are.
Not my business anymore, he told himself. As if it would stop him from worrying. It didn’t, of course.
Her eyes lingered on him as long as his lingered on her. He forced a small smile and a wave, feeling pretty sure she was going to ignore him. She didn’t. Not completely anyway. She bit her lip and raised her hand. Just barely. Then her eyes finally darted away. Emma was tugging on her sleeve.
“You sit right here,” Emma pointed out to her.
He hadn’t seen Emma walk in. Too busy watching Cleo, he supposed. Emma was pointing at the seat in the front row. It was the seat closest to the door. Right where she’d been standing. He was in the seat furthest from the door. This put Cleo in a perfect diagonal line from where he was.
He saw Cleo’s lips move. He was sure she said ‘thanks’ or something along those lines. He couldn’t hear her over the racket the class was making. Emma started heading his way. She gave him an uncomfortable looking smile. Then she popped into a desk a row ahead and one seat over.
Emma was Cleo’s best friend. He’d gotten to know her pretty well over the last year. But now that he wasn’t with Cleo…because Cleo was with Emma’s brother…he was pretty sure he and Emma might not be friends anymore. Wasn’t that how those things were supposed to go? He didn’t really know.
He slouched down in his chair and forced his eyes to the front of the room.
Not seeing Cleo all summer had been tough. But sitting in the back row, where he would have a clear vantage point of her? Day after day? He knew, without a doubt, it was going to be hell.
Chapter 2
She shouldn’t have even been looking. She knew this, yet she couldn’t help it.
“You okay?” Emma asked as she grabbed her elbow. She knew she’d spotted Reece. He was sitting in his vehicle which was pretty impossible to miss. If he had gotten out, he would have at least blended with the crowd and she might have been able to avoid seeing him. But he was chatting with Adam while he gazed out the window. Like he was already bored with school and it hadn’t even started yet.
