Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
Bru
Bow Reed was on her phone when I approached her. I lifted my hand. “Hey.”
She jumped. Like nearly a foot off the street, she jumped. She was in her running gear like me, her pink jacket zipped up to her neck and her earmuffs on. The holidays had passed, but it was still cold in the spring semester. She gripped her phone through her mittens. “Hi. Sorry. You scared me.”
Clearly. I propped my hands on my waist. “You okay?”
She was kind of jumpy considering she expected me. I was late for our run but only by a few minutes.
Bow slid her phone into her leggings pocket. She’d been standing near a bench on Pembroke University’s quad which was our meeting place for our weekly runs. We didn’t do it as much since spring in the Midwest still got snow on occasion, but we tried to get out of the library when we could.
Bow and I were both a couple of nerds. She was the only person I knew besides me who studied when they didn’t have to. She was brilliant and the little sister of one of my best friends.
She chewed her lip, a flush in her cheeks.
She had her curly hair up in a bun and looked like an ad for The North Face with how coordinated and put together she was.
She even matched her gray socks to her earmuffs, but that was Bow.
She was always polished with rarely a hair out of place.
She wrestled with her hands a bit, her smile wobbly. “I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Mmhmm.” Her face managed to get even redder, but it was cold out. “You ready?”
I was, so I allowed her to lead the way. We picked up our feet, and I knew this would be a nice release.
Especially after yesterday.
I had so much shit going on in my head right now, and it was nice to get a run in with a friend.
Thatcher’s sister and I were good buddies.
She was the only person I could relate to in regards to school and stuff, and she was just incredibly kind.
The exact opposite of ninety percent of the people in our friend group.
My friends weren’t bad people. Many of them were just dudes, and I found I got along much better with girls in general. Another one of my best friends, Fawn, was a girl.
I really pushed the run with Bow today. We took some of the more elevated areas through campus, but I made sure to keep my strides slow.
Bow was the exact opposite in regards to Thatcher in size and general stature.
She was barely five feet, if that, and it took her several strides to catch up with my one.
“Come on, Bru,” she laughed, sprinting ahead of me. She was a ball of energy, and I felt stupid for trying to take things slow. My legs may have been longer, but Bow could talk and move a mile a minute.
“Hold up,” I said, easily catching up to her. Once I did, she charged off, and I got nothing but her back. It seemed we both needed the run, because the pair of us were thoroughly exhausted by the time we wrapped around back to the quad, and later, to my car.
We sat in my Audi and warmed our hands on the vents.
It was so weird I had such a nice car. It was so weird I had paid tuition and never wanted for anything. My parents, the Mallicks, were incredibly generous.
There was a lot of history there with the Mallicks.
They adopted me after finding my sister, Noa Sloane-Mallick.
She was their biological daughter, and, though I wasn’t their biological son, they took me in too.
I had a family again. My sister and I both did after we tragically lost the people who raised us.
I could write a book about tragedy, but every day I found the past more and more behind me. I found I didn’t dwell on it so much and embraced my future.
It was easy to do with people like Bow, Fawn, and all my other friends in my life. I was grateful to say I had very few worries these days, but the ones I did I was reminded of often.
Bow and I were barely in my car before her phone buzzed, and she had it out again. Her face shot up in color once more and very few people in her life made her look that way after hearing from them.
“That Wells?” I asked, though I shouldn’t have asked. “I heard from Thatcher you’re tutoring him.”
I didn’t get that almost as much as I didn’t understand why he seemed to have an issue with her.
That’s none of your business.
It may not be, but Wells Ambrose was pissing me off these days, and I had no problem getting in his business.
Bow froze before slowly lowering her phone. She gazed up at me. “It’s not him, but I am tutoring him.”
“Why?” I asked, forgetting about who she was texting. She and Wells had my attention now.
Keep your mouth fucking shut.
I should but I wasn’t. My eyes narrowed. “He’s not very nice to you, Bow.”
Truth be told, Wells wasn’t nice to many people, but that was just the dudes in my friend group. They were aggressive. They were guys, but Wells in particular seemed to single Bow out. He always had. Even in high school he appeared to have a distaste for her.
Why is he your every thought?
He wasn’t my every thought, but he did piss me off, and Bow was literally the nicest person in the world. She didn’t deserve his aggression.
You don’t either.
That was neither here nor there, and I watched as Bow slipped her phone in the pocket of her jacket.
“You’re right. He’s not,” she said softly. Her small shoulders lifted. “But he’s not a bad person. He’s not, and I understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Him I guess.” The wobble returned to her smile. “We’ve known each other a long time, and it doesn’t help being mean back. I mean, what’s the point?”
What’s the point.
My back hit my seat, her sweetness, her kindness too much. She was giving Wells way more allowances than he deserved.
You are too.
I swallowed. “You’re a good person, Bow. You are, and you shouldn’t let anyone push you around.”
Truth be told, I loved being around this girl. She was like a breath of fresh air in a world that could be full of bullshit, pain…
I never felt pain around Bow. I always felt good, and, honestly, I always felt like a selfish fuck for stealing as much of her time as I had since I came back home.
I got kicked out of my old university for fighting.
Clocking dudes had been my way of not dealing with shit from high school.
My sister, Sloane, and I had a background of violence and pain, and fighting was how I dealt with it.
It obviously caught up with me, and, after lots of therapy and support from family and friends, I was happy to say I was back on track.
A large section of that support came from Bow though.
Rainbow Reed and her relentless optimism.
Rainbow Reed and her copious amounts of joy and beautiful spirit. She was a fucking unicorn.
“You’re so beautiful,” I said, the words coming out before I could stop them. I realized how they probably sounded, but I wasn’t talking about how she looked. I mean, she was fucking gorgeous with her dark hair, blue eyes, and a tiny exterior that made a guy just want to hold her…
Protect her.
I did want to protect her, and if I couldn’t protect myself from Wells and his bullshit, the least I could do was step in and let her know she didn’t have to be the bigger person when it came to him.
I got what it was like to be around Wells.
He was an unyielding force, and it was easy to get crushed under the waves. It was easy to let him push you around.
It was also easy to want him.
I didn’t want to want him, and my life would be so much fucking easier if I could fall for someone like Bow. Neither one of us deserved how Wells treated us, and I was thinking about that when a soft scent moved toward me.
I was thinking about that when Bow kissed me.
I didn’t know what was happening at first. A warm mouth touched mine, and my eyes closed.
Though only briefly.
I froze, and, when I backed away, Bow’s eyes shot open.
“Sorry,” she said, her cheeks even more flushed. She touched her mouth. “I didn’t mean to. I mean…”
“No, you’re fine,” I said, blinking, and she blinked too.
That was when she kissed me again.
She ended up on my lap, my best friend Thatcher’s little sister. I was in shock. I was in more than shock, especially when I didn’t stop her right away.
I didn’t stop her at all.
My hands braced her trim hips, and it was different than kissing Wells. It was less angry and aggressive.
It was more Bow.
It was soft, delicate, and I let it go on for longer than I should have when I tasted her lips. They tasted like cherry lip balm.
What are you doing?
I was kissing my best friend’s sister, and that was so fucking wrong. I was also really confused because, not a day ago, I was kissing someone else.
Stop.
My hands followed the thought. I braced Bow’s hips but for a different reason this time.
I returned her back to her seat.
The air filled with Bow, her soft, feminine scent. Her fragrance reminded me of a fruit cobbler. Had she always smelled so sweet, good…
“Bow,” I started, literally shaking the thoughts out of my head. They were inappropriate, and this was Bow. I huffed. “Bow, I’m so sorry.”
I didn’t know what I was apologizing for. For kissing her back…
For liking it.
I did like it, and again, I was confused. Bow and I were completely platonic. We were friends, and this was Thatch’s little sis.
Bow’s blinks were rapid. She looked like Snow White with her dark hair and flushed lips and cheeks. She eased back in her seat. “But you said I was beautiful.”
I did say that. I closed my eyes.
Fuck.
“Bru…”
I opened my eyes, hearing the strain in her voice. I felt punched in the gut by what I saw. Bow was curled up in her seat, wincing.
And she had water in her eyes.
There was a visible sheen there before she looked away, and my stomach tossed. I reached for her. “Bow, I’m…”
Again, I wanted to apologize. I had called her beautiful, but it wasn’t in the way she thought.
I messed up.
Bow didn’t let me touch her again. In fact, she all but recoiled when I got close. My throat tightened. “Bow—”
She scrambled out of my car.
“I’m sorry,” she said before slamming the door in my face.
She sprinted away, and I assumed she was heading back to her dorm.
She lived close by, but I didn’t chase after her.
I had no right to. She may have kissed me first, but I kissed her back.
I also led her on, but I wondered how much as I sat there.
I called her beautiful, but I also meant it.
And I definitely liked kissing her, too.