The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence, #1)

I scratch off number five very slowly and the marker squeaks. “But I’m only dancing with you.”


“Sounds like a great plan to me.” He offers me his elbow and I link my arm with his, feeling safe with him by my side as we saunter down the hall to go outside.

It’s late, the sky is black, and the stars look like pieces of shimmering glass. Crickets chirp in the damp grass and there’s a couple sitting on one of the benches kissing each other fervently. It makes me blush a little because for a split second I picture Kayden and I in their places.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Seth wonders observantly.

I look away at the road. “What look?”

He sighs, but doesn’t press. When we reach the grass, he stops moving his feet and pulls me back, his eyes darting to my face. “Wait a second.”

I touch my hair self-consciously. “What’s wrong? Do I have something in my hair?”

He slants his head to the side and then his hand snaps out, his fingers snagging my hair. With one swift yank, he’s torn the elastic from my hair and strands fall to my shoulders. “There we go. Let that freaking hair of yours down.”

I gather my hair behind my head and stick out my hand. “Give me that back, Seth.”

Batting his eyelashes, he raises his hand and stretches the elastic on two of his fingers.

“Don’t,” I warn, lunging for him. “Please, Seth, don’t do this.”

He flicks his thumb so the elastic flings through the air into the darkness. “Whoops.”

I drag my fingers along my face as I hunch over and search the damp grass for the elastic. “Where the fuck is it?”

Seth laughs. “Holy shit, the swear words are coming out.”

I stand up and glare at him with rage burning in my eyes as I work to tie the strands of my hair into a knot. “I need to get my hair up. Please help me find it.” Tears sting at the corners of my eyes. “God dammit Seth, where the fuck is it?”

His expression falls and his skin drains of color as he realizes he might have pushed the wrong button. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to find it.”

I shake my head as tears bubble out of my eyes and trail down my cheeks. “I can’t breathe,” I gasp.

“You’re hair smells so good, Callie,” he says, twisting a strand of my long brown hair around his finger. “Like strawberries.”

My chest constricts as I start to sob. In three short strides, he has his arms encircled around my shoulders and is drawing me into him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize the hair thing was that big of a deal. I thought it was more of a complex.”

I wipe the tears away with my fingers and suck in a slow breath through my nose to regain control over my fear. “I’m sorry, it’s just… it brings back things I don’t want to remember.”

He leans away and threads his fingers through mine, squeezing my hand. “You’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll be right by you the whole time.”

“Maybe I have time to run back to my room.” I glance at the doors, right as Kayden and Luke come strolling around the corner of the dorm building.

Luke is a little smaller than Kayden, with shorter hair, and a face without scars. He has a plaid shirt on, a pair of faded jeans with a black leather belt and boots on his feet. Kayden’s hair is tousled with stray pieces hanging in his eyes and he has on a hooded black thermal shirt, with dark jeans that ride extremely low on his hips. I bet when he raises his arms above his head his stomach will show.

“Callie, you’re staring,” Seth hisses under his breath and prods me in the ribcage with his elbow.

“What?” I blink at him as I wipe the last of the tears away from my cheeks, surprised how calm I’ve become.

He presses his lips together, containing a smile. “You were staring at a particular someone.”

“No, I wasn’t,” I deny. “Was I?”

He nods his head once and then hisses through his teeth, “You were and your mouth was hanging open.”

“Hey,” Kayden says and his forehead creases at my tear-stained face. “Were you two just arguing?”

I shake my head and glance at Seth. “No, we were just talking heatedly.”

“Okay…” He eyes me with skepticism. “Should we get going?”

Nodding, I step aside so him and Luke can walk between us and lead the way.

Seth pulls his cigarettes out of his pocket and pops one into his mouth as we trail behind them. “Are we riding with them?”

“No.” I swing my gaze over to the rusted single cab truck where no other vehicles are parked. “Not unless they want to ride in your car.”

“Well, let’s offer to drive then,” he says. “And then you can be our DD since you never ever drink. Although, you should try it tonight. It’ll probably calm you down.”

“I drank a beer that one time,” I protest. “And it didn’t relax me.”

“Oh, my na?ve little Callie.” He sighs, retrieving his lighter from his pocket. “One beer isn’t going to do much to you. You need something with a kick. Something potent.”

“We can’t drink at the club,” I say as he flicks the lighter with his thumb. Cupping his other hand around the flame, he lights the end of the cigarette and the paper burns and crinkles. “Remember what happened the last time you tried that at a club?”

He sucks in a breath, inhaling the smoke, before puffing it out in front of his face. “Yeah, excellent point. Don’t want to go back into the holding cell again.”

“You’re lucky it was your birthday and they let you off the hook.”

“I also flirted with one of the officers.” He grins as a thin trail of smoke snakes out of his lips.

“So, who wants to sit on whose lap?” Kayden asks with his hand on the open door of the truck. His eyes are on me and there’s a hint of amusement on his lips. “Personally, I think there’s only one option here.”

I point at Seth’s black Camry parked a few spots down. “I think we’re going to take Seth’s car. You guys can ride with us if you want.”

Luke tosses the keys up in the air like a baseball and then catches them in his hand. “Sounds good to me. That way, I don’t have to be responsible for driving.”

I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t ride with us so Seth could give me a speech of encouragement and I could put my hair up with something because the way it touches my shoulders and the smell of it’s driving me crazy. I have the urge to run back to my room and hack it all off again.

As we walk over to Seth’s car, I comb my fingers through my hair trying to get it manageable and out of the way. I reach for the passenger door, but Luke’s arm extends out and he opens the door for me. Moving to the side, I elude around him like I’m dancing, when really it’s just to keep my distance.

“Thank you.” I catch Seth’s eye over the roof of the car and he arches an eyebrow as we climb in.

Seth slams the door and I jolt in the seat. “Relax Callie,” he whispers as he turns the key and the engine purrs to life. Rolling down the window, he puts his hand outside so the smoke doesn’t fill the cab. “You’re going to be fine.”

Seth and Kayden hop into the back seat from opposite sides of the car and their doors slam simultaneously. Seth turns the stereo on as we buckle our seatbelts. “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails turns on and he presses on the pedal, ripping the tires against the wet pavement. The car lurches forward and I grab onto the door handle. Seth is a crazy driver. He has a drawer full of tickets and when he was a teenager, his parents took away his car twice, because he kept wrecking it. He always seems to be in a hurry, like he kind of is with life.

Luke leans forward, bracing his hand on the back of my seat, and I angle my head to the side. “Can I smoke in here, man?” he asks Seth.

Seth raises his cigarette, which is burnt almost to the end. “Of course.”