“I know it’s a fresh start. No one knows us here.” I smiled and leant over to kiss him. Indie made a puking sound in the back seat before climbing out.
“Let’s go sign in and find our dorms,” Ryder said, grinning. He was really looking forward to uni. It was a chance for both of us to start anew as ourselves. No rumours. No gossip. No lies. No backstabbing.
“I’m going that way, so I’ll come find you later, yeah?” Indie said, pointing in the direction of a coffee shop.
“Okay, sure. Good luck.” I gave her a hug before she turned and walked away. I hoped we’d get a dorm together, but I didn’t like our chances.
I followed Ryder around aimlessly, letting him take care of everything because it was all just too overwhelming for me to comprehend. I was still amazed that he chose to come here with me instead of going to one of his preferences. The day he told me he was accepted and coming to university with me was the best day of my life.
“I’m not staying away from you, Bailey. I can study anywhere,” he’d told me when I tried to argue that he should go where he wanted.
“Just shut up and stop arguing with me. You’re it, Bailey. That’s all there is to it. Where you go, I go. End of story,” he’d said.
I crashed my lips to his, and that was it. The discussion was over, and he was coming to uni with me.
“Okay, this should be it,” Ryder said, stopping outside a door and dangling a key from his fingers. “You ready?”
“No,” I whispered and shook my head.
“Come on. Don’t be nervous. It’s uni. It’s meant to be the best years of your life.” He leaned down to press his lips to mine, knowing that his touch alone could calm me down and his kisses made me putty in his hands.
I felt my back press up against the door to my new dorm room as my arms wrapped around his neck. I completely forgot that we were in a hall full of new students rushing around in utter chaos as I lost myself in Ryder.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered.
“I fucking love you too,” I whispered back as the door suddenly opened from behind me.
“Oh, sorry. I thought I heard people out here,” my new roommate said.
“Oh, sorry about that,” I said as I turned around to meet her. At the same time, Ryder hissed in my ear.
“Shi—”
I looked up, and the smile dropped from my face instantly. You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.
“Christina?”
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Sneak Peek
Book 2
***Sneak Peek***
Then
Tonight was the night. I knew it. It had to be. I was leaving for university tomorrow and wouldn’t be home much for the next three years. It had to be tonight. The moment I had been dreaming about for thirteen years.
My first kiss with the boy from down the street.
Okay, well, not really a boy. He was all man, baby. And he was my older brother’s best friend. But dammit, I had been in love with Lincoln Andrews since I was five years old, and I wasn’t leaving here without a kiss.
Everything was planned out. My guests were floating around the house listening to music coming from the speakers in the ceiling, and Bailey and Ryder were here with Kenzie, attempting to get her to mingle with people her own age. And I was going to get my first kiss from my one true love for my eighteenth birthday.
We were playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. And my heaven was Linc. I just needed someone else to suggest the game, so it didn’t look like I was desperate, even though I was. I’d ever so subtly been spinning an empty beer bottle on the table where I sat with Bailey, Ryder, and Kenzie, hoping someone would get the hint. My brother was here somewhere, and I knew Linc wouldn’t be far behind. All I needed was for the game to start and for Linc to want to play, somehow.
Finally, after what felt like forever, I heard someone shout, “Spin the bottle!”
I may have squealed a little. “This is my chance,” I said to Bailey.
“For what?”
“I’m going to kiss Linc!” I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet.
“You are?” She eyed me sceptically. I knew she didn’t think I had a chance with Linc, but she was too kind to ever say so.
“Yes. If we get him to play, I’ll spin the bottle so it lands on him, and he’ll have to kiss me,” I whispered so Ryder wouldn’t hear. I didn’t want him laughing at me, because he would. He found my infatuation with Lincoln amusing and teased me about it every chance he got.
“And what if it lands on Allen or someone other than Linc?”
“It won’t. Come on. Let’s play,” I said confidently, even though that thought had never occurred to me, and tugged on Bailey’s hand. Oh my God. What if it did land on Allen, or Justin? I did not want to kiss them. It had to land on Linc.
“Like hell,” Ryder growled and pulled her back to him. “She’s staying here with me, away from that bottle. Those lips belong to me.” He touched her mouth, making me want to throw up from their disgusting gushiness over each other, as well as making me jealous. Why couldn’t Linc look at me the way Ryder looked at Bailey, like she was his entire world?
I frowned, turning to see a circle of bodies forming on the floor, and moved to take my spot. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I watched Linc stroll into the centre of the circle and place an empty vodka bottle down. “I’ll start,” he said, staring directly at me, his grey eyes so much darker than I thought.
I glanced over at Bailey, who was staring wide-eyed, with her mouth hanging open in shock. I turned back to see Linc spin the bottle and move back to watch it with intense concentration. Yeah. He was playing. Without me having to beg. He was willingly playing. And he was spinning first. Oh, no. What if the bottle landed on Mariah or Thea? I couldn’t handle seeing him take another girl into the office for seven minutes, but maybe that was his plan.
I held my breath as the bottle began to slow down. Kneeling forward to get a closer look, I gasped when it dragged to a stop. Bailey fell to the floor behind me. No, it couldn’t be. There was no way.
“Well, go on.” She elbowed me because I was frozen in shock. It had landed on me. “Your birthday wish is about to come true,” she said low in my ear.
I was still staring at the bottle pointing directly at me when a pair of black boots came into my vision. I slowly looked up at a pair of jean-clad legs and a black t-shirt that hugged his chest in a lovely way, and Linc stretched out a hand to help me up. He wasn’t smiling. In fact, I couldn’t tell what his expression was saying. It was blank. Maybe he regretted playing and wished the bottle did land on Thea. I gulped, my throat suddenly dry.