Chapter 1 #2
A college party. And on my first day. I mentally patted myself on my back. So far, I was off to a great start.
A loud group of guys came through the side gate, garnering my attention. However, it was the blond-haired guy who entered last who piqued my interest. He was slightly taller and broader than the others with piercing bright blue eyes and a kind smile.
I unscrewed the cap on my water, taking a sip.
The gorgeous specimen seemed to be the leader of his group since they all kept looking to him as if for approval.
I had to force myself to look away. He was not the sort of person I needed to be pining over.
My goal this year was to make some good friends, have a fun time, and get solid grades.
Having a boyfriend wasn’t on my list. Dating, yes.
Relationships that sucked up all of my time, not so much.
Fun, casual—that was what I wanted. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.
One of the guys who’d just arrived sat in the chair next to mine. “Have we met?”
“I doubt it,” I said. “I’m new.” I forced myself to look at him instead of the blond guy.
He held out his hand. “I’m Adan Rivers.”
“Laney Lake.” The second our palms touched, an odd, familiar sensation filled me. I yanked my hand away.
He laughed. “I’m Rivers and you’re Lake?” With a smile still on his face, he ran a hand through his messy brown hair. “We have to be friends.”
While I was certain I’d never met him before, I found myself wanting to be friends with him. Compared to the guys he’d arrived with, he was on the skinny and lanky side though he was by no means small.
“Are you a freshman?” he asked.
“No, I’m a junior. What about you?”
“Same—junior.”
Adan stared at me an uncomfortable minute before opening his mouth, as if to say something, but he snapped it shut. His brows furrowed. “Are you sure we haven’t met?”
“I think I’d remember meeting you.” I took another sip of my water, unsure of why he didn’t believe me and half wondering if this was a line he used on girls.
He chuckled. “Glad you think I’m memorable.”
My face warmed. I hadn’t meant my response to sound flirtatious. While the guy was cute, he wasn’t my type. He felt young, and I liked my guys on the bigger side, handsome, and smart.
Austin started singing a slow tune.
“Want to dance?” Adan asked.
I shook my head. “I’m good here.” Watching. I’d gone out of my comfort zone enough just coming here, so there was no need to push it further and dance. Maybe next time. And it would have to be with someone like that blond-haired guy. I wondered where he’d gone.
“So Laney Lake…what do you think of SU so far?”
“I’ll reserve my judgment until after classes start.” I hoped the professors were good and the content engaging. This was a top school, so I expected to be challenged. Things had been a little too easy at the JC for my liking.
Adan snapped his fingers. “Are you friends with Ward?”
“I don’t know who that is.” I fidgeted with the water bottle cap.
“Forget I asked,” he said. “You just…”
“Seem familiar,” I finished for him.
“Yeah.”
My attention drifted back to the people dancing, searching for the blond guy.
I easily spotted him since he was so tall.
He was dancing with a girl, her head resting on his shoulder.
They looked cozy. Comfortable. Familiar.
Jealousy surged through me, hot and potent.
I wanted to be the girl dancing with him, running my hands over his back.
As if sensing I was thinking about him, the guy looked my way. Our eyes locked, and a warm feeling filled my chest, expanding though my body like fire. Startled, I jerked, breaking our eye contact.
“Are you okay?” Adan asked.
Mortified that he’d noticed my reaction, I asked, “Do you know that guy on the dance floor? The one with the blond hair and black shirt?” I left off the part about the shirt hugging him and showcasing his muscles. Adan didn’t need to know I was drooling over the guy.
“That’s Rowan Ward. The person I asked if you knew. We’re on the rugby team together. We both live next door.”
My gaze drifted back to Rowan. He’d turned, his back now facing me. He was twice as wide and a head taller than almost every guy here. “You play rugby?” I asked Adan. Next to Rowan, he seemed…small, though his arms were toned and his shoulders pulled his t-shirt tight across his back and chest.
“Blow to my ego,” Adan said with a laugh. Then he looked up and nodded to someone. “I’ll be right back.” He stood and left.
Sarah plopped down in the now-vacant chair. “It didn’t take you long.” She plucked the water bottle from my hands and twisted off the cap, taking a sip.
“What?” I asked, having no idea what she was referring to.
“Adan. Did he ask you out?”
I burst out laughing.
She handed me my water bottle and folded her arms, slouching in the chair. “What’s so funny? He’s cute.”
He was cute. Which was part of the problem. I didn’t want cute. “I hate to break it to you, but he wasn’t hitting on me. And even if he was, I’m not interested.”
“Why wouldn’t you be interested? He’s like a large scoop of ice cream.”
I blinked, trying to make the connection from a cute Adan to a scoop of ice cream. I wasn’t seeing it. “What?”
“Lickable,” she said as if it should have been obvious.
I chuckled, having totally missed that one. “Yes, he is good looking, but he’s not my type.” And I definitely didn’t want to lick him. Now Rowan, I’d lick him all over. Twice for good measure.
“How is he not your type? He’s like, literally, everyone’s type. Girls are always hanging all over him.”
In high school, I’d dated a few guys but never had a serious boyfriend.
Jenn, my friend from home, always teased me that my standards were impossibly high.
They were, and I had no intention of lowering them.
Maybe I’d read one too many books, and the perfect guy didn’t exist. Regardless, I’d rather be alone than with someone who couldn’t give me what I wanted and deserved.
My gaze drifted to the side of the yard where I spotted Adan talking to Rowan. There was something about that guy that screamed ice cream. “I prefer my guys smart, muscled, and blond.”
“Like Rowan?” Sarah asked, noticing where my attention had gone.
I shrugged. “I’m not looking for anyone right now. I just got here and need to settle in.”
“That may be, but Adan was totally hitting on you.” Sarah winked. “Must have been my jean skirt.”
“My legs do look great in this,” I teased, rolling my eyes.
“Don’t look now,” Sarah said, leaning closer to me and lowering her voice, “but the rugby team must realize there’s fresh meat, because they’re all staring at you. Like staring staring.”
A handful of guys had joined Rowan and Adan, and all of them were looking my way.
My body heat spiked from embarrassment. I wished I could hide behind the nearby tree.
I’d never had so many guys watching me at once.
Especially ones who looked like them. They were all huge and gorgeous.
“I realize I’m new, but this school is big enough that people shouldn’t notice or care that I’m here.
” I squirmed in my seat. “I think I’m going to head back to the dorm.
” I stood. “I’m exhausted.” And I needed to call my mom.
And I needed to get out of this strange spotlight that I seemed to be in.
I didn’t want the attention on me. Invisibility was where I thrived and felt safe.
“Let me say bye to Danielle.”
“You don’t have to leave with me. I can walk back on my own.” It wasn’t even that late.
“I’m ready to go. I’ll meet you at the side gate in two minutes.” Sarah wove through the crowd of people and disappeared from sight.
I was beyond thankful to have a roommate.
If I’d gotten the single room, I’d be back in my dorm right now with zero friends.
As I made my way toward the exit, it felt as if the party had doubled in size in the last five minutes.
Skirting around the crowd, I found a spot near the gate to wait for Sarah.
Adan strode up next to me. “Leaving already, Lake?” His voice sounded casual but there was a strange undertone I couldn’t pinpoint.
“I am.” I wanted to ask him if he and Rowan had been talking about me, but I didn’t have the guts to voice my question. And that seemed rather presumptuous of me. They were probably just talking about a rugby game or something.
Adan nudged me with his elbow. “What’s your major?”
The contact caught me off guard. I wasn’t used to that kind of familiarity. Not from a stranger. “Bio.”
The corners of his lips pulled up. “Mine too. Maybe we’ll have some classes together.”
“Maybe.” I hoped we didn’t. My goal was to meet people, and him hanging around was scaring everyone else off.
“Give me your phone.” He held out his hand.
I raised my brows.
“I want to give you my number. You’re new here and could use a friend or two.”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I weighed the pros and cons. While it would be good to have some contacts here, I didn’t want to encourage him.
He sighed. “It’s not like I asked you for your number. I’m just giving you mine in case you need it.”
I handed over my phone. After a minute, he gave it back.
The screen had his name at the top with a picture of him smiling. He must have just taken it. He’d typed one single message to himself from my phone.
Laney
In case you need a friend.
“Good luck, Laney Lake.” He gave a little salute and started to stroll away before stopping and turning to face me again. “Oh, and you might want to respond to your mom. I think there are over fifty unread messages.” He turned and disappeared into the crowd.
My face warmed with embarrassment. I backed out of the text Adan sent and sure enough, there were fifty-two messages from my mom and six missed calls.
To say my mother was overprotective would be an understatement.
Just to get her to agree to let me come here to SU, I had to promise to text her every morning at seven-thirty and call her every single night to check in.
“I thought you said Adan wasn’t hitting on you,” Sarah said as she approached.
Instead of responding, I exited through the gate, realizing that Adan had sent himself a text from my phone. Which meant he now had my number. Son of a bitch.
My phone rang. It was my mother, again. “I need to take this,” I whispered to Sarah. “Sorry.”
“No big deal.”
“Hi, Mom.” We crossed the street and headed for the bridge.
“Where are you?” she demanded.
“My roommate was showing me around campus. We’re going back to the dorm now.
” I needed to find a way so my mom couldn’t track my phone.
While I understood that she was worried about me, this was crossing a line from normal mom to crazy mom.
I mean, I loved my mom. She was always there for me.
We went shopping, watched movies together, and liked the same books.
But when I wasn’t with her, she started to freak out, and it could be too much to deal with sometimes.
“There’s a problem,” she said.
Of course there was.
“We didn’t empty your insulin cooler.”
Dread filled me, and I stopped walking. “I remember opening it and putting insulin in the fridge. Wait. I didn’t.
” The fridge hadn’t been cold enough yet.
Dad had brought it into the room and plugged it in, but I’d kept the insulin in the cooler, waiting for the fridge to come to temp before I transferred my medication over.
“Do you have any on you?” she asked, her voice high-pitched, the concern clear.
My hands shook. If I didn’t have any on me, I’d have to go home to get it. I rubbed my forehead, trying to remember what I’d brought. I only got about a month’s worth of insulin at a time. My cooler held three weeks. “I packed my travel cooler. It has a week’s worth in it.”
Mom let out a sigh. “Okay, good. I’ll drive up on Saturday with the rest.”
“No, Mom, don’t. I’ll come home and get it myself. It was my error for not making sure the cooler was empty before taking it to the car. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, honey, don’t apologize. These things happen. I’ll call when I get there. Let’s plan on having lunch together.”
I thanked my mom and hung up.
“You have diabetes?” Sarah asked.
“Yup. I have to take shots daily. Hope that doesn’t gross you out.”
“Stuff like that doesn’t bother me. It sucks that you have to deal with that, though. I’m sorry.”
Yes, yes it did suck. However, I was used to it. Diabetes was a part of me. I just didn’t want Sarah to feel sorry or worry about me.
“You know they have pharmacies here. Just have your doctor call your prescription in to somewhere local. That’s way easier than your mom driving here to deliver it to you.”
I sighed. I’d already had this conversation with my mother a million times. However, instead of explaining that my dad was my doctor and my mom literally made my insulin and refused to let me get it from a pharmacy, I simply told Sarah that it was a good idea and I’d look into it.