LAILAH
FOURTEEN
Brayden scooped me up and wrapped me in his comforter before he turned to deal with his best friend.
Micah stood there with only a pair of boxers on and red headphones around his neck.
The shocked look on his face as he absorbed what he had walked in on was priceless.
I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn’t burst out laughing and make his embarrassment worse.
Brayden, unbothered by the fact that he was still naked, stood up from the bed and grabbed his boxers off the floor. “What the hell are you talking about? No one is under attack.”
“I felt a power surge, and the walls rattled, I assumed . . .” Micah said, trying to justify his actions.
“Bro, you're going to need to tell me what kind of headphones those are if you couldn’t hear the noises that were going on in there,” Parker said, leaning against the door jamb.
Oh my God. They heard me. I am going to die of embarrassment. Please ground, open up under me so I can just hide in a hole deep underground.
“Shut the fuck up, Parker, you’re freaking Lailah out,” Brayden snapped.
Parker looked as shocked as I was. Brayden never yelled at the others; he was always the last to get riled up about things. Wait, could he hear what I was thinking? Can he understand what I am thinking right now?
Turning, Brayden walked over to me and wrapped me in his arms, and I buried my face into his neck. “Angel, you're going to need to calm down. Your panic is driving me crazy with the need to fix it.”
“You can feel her emotions?” Hudson asked.
Is everyone awake? Did I keep everyone awake with how loud I was during sex? Kill. Me. Now.
Brayden pulled back from me to look at the others, but I continued to hide behind his chest. “Yes, now you all need to leave before her embarrassment chokes me to death. God, guys, show some class and go back to bed.”
“You try going back to bed with the worst case of blue balls ever,” Parker muttered.
The sound of shuffling feet and the slam of the door brought a flood of relief.
“They're gone now,” Brayden confirmed.
I sat back and searched his face, feeling his irritation at the guys for barging into the room like that. Then his gaze met mine, and I was flooded with warmth at being so cherished.
“I’m sorry our first night together ended so poorly.”
“How could we know that sex would send off a power burst like that? I guess we can’t fault him for jumping into action,” I said with a smile.
“True, but still. He and the others didn’t need to linger after they knew everything was okay. Parker most certainly didn’t need to bring up how vocal you were.”
I slapped a hand across Brayden’s mouth, glaring at him. “Which is something we are not going to bring up ever again.”
He just nodded his head under my hand before licking it. “Gross.”
“That’s not what you said when I was licking you before . . .”
Blushing furiously, I grabbed a pillow and slammed it into his face. “That’s it, I’m going to sleep in the other room by myself.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, Angel,” Brayden said, grabbing me around the waist as I tried to hop off the bed. “You’re going to stay with me all night. Who knows, if you're lucky I might remind you how much you liked my tongue on you.”
My body tingled at the thought of him giving me a repeat. “Fine, but I need to use the bathroom first. I can’t sleep feeling so . . . sticky.”
“Shit,” Brayden muttered, letting his head fall to my shoulder. “I feel like such a dick.”
“What? Why?” I asked, feeling panicked. Did he regret what we just did?
Brayden looked up at me, his lips thinned and worry creasing his eyes. “I didn’t put on a condom or even ask you if you were on birth control. God, that makes me such an ass. I’m also clean by the way I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”
“I appreciate that you’re worried, but we're all good. I got the implant before coming to school. My mother insisted that you never know what could happen, and it was better to be safe than sorry,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush.
He let out a heavy sigh and kissed my lips before lifting me to my feet and giving me a swat on the butt. “Go get cleaned up. We both need to get some sleep.”
I could feel Brayden’s heated gaze as he watched me walk to the bathroom, making me feel sexier than I ever had before in my life.
The connection between us warmed me, letting me know just how much he liked the view.
Quickly washing up, I made my way back to him, and he lifted the covers for me, inviting me in.
As I slid in, he wrapped his arms around me and hummed his contentment.
Wrapped up in strong arms and nestled against his warm chest, it was easy to drift off to sleep.
The late-night and early morning classes weren't the combination I wanted after the amazing night I’d had with Brayden, but there wasn’t much I could do.
Letting him sleep in, I borrowed a t-shirt and made my way into the room they had set up for me.
I found a pile of clean clothes on the bed with a note from Beth letting me know that the rest would be cleaned and brought over along with all my other things.
As much as I wanted to argue with her, I was going to need to put a pin in that for later.
I quickly showered and sorted through the clothes on my bed.
I smiled when I found the right shirt to pair with my jeans.
This one said Physically, I’m here. Mentally, I’m in a galaxy far far away.
It would fit my mood perfectly. Swiping the hoodie I took from Brayden’s room, I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
“Oh good morning, Lailah. I heard about what happened last night. How awful is that,” Sarah said, reaching out to hug me.
“Thanks, Sarah. It definitely was not a college experience I was expecting to deal with. I have to run to class, so I’ll just grab something at the cafe between classes. I just didn’t want you expecting me,” I said, when she released me from her hug.
Sarah frowned at me and walked over to where breakfast was waiting to be set out on the table. “There will be none of that, dear; you will just have to take this with you,” she said, handing me a breakfast burrito.
“Wow, this is amazing, thank you!” I smiled, wrapping it up in a napkin and waving as I left the kitchen.
Stepping out the front door, I was shocked to see Jay’s Jeep idling in the driveway. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Jay in the driver's seat. “Get in, you're gonna be late.”
His words made me jump into action, and as soon as I hopped up into the car, we were off. I noticed that Jay was just in sweats and a T-shirt, which he never wore. He was always ready for anything to happen at any moment. Seeing him so relaxed was nice to see for once.
“Did you just wake up?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity to myself.
“Yes.”
Okay, strange. He’s always up at five am to go running or work out. Seems like everyone had a late night last night. Then a thought struck me.
“By any chance, did you wake up just so you could take me to class?”
“Yes.”
Seriously, I thought we’d gotten past the one-word-answer part of our friendship.
Wait, does he no longer want to be my friend because I slept with Brayden?
No, that doesn’t make sense, you don’t wake up to take someone you’re not friends with to class.
Chill, you’re making more out of this than you need to.
Just be grateful; you probably would have gotten lost as it is on your own.
“Thank you,” I said, and shoved my burrito in my mouth so I couldn’t question him more.
Jay’s gray eyes flicked to me then back to the road as we pulled into the parking lot. “You’re welcome. Call me if you need a ride back.”
Jumping out of the Jeep, I flashed Jay a grateful smile.
“Sure thing,” I said, and shut the door, heading to class.
My first class went without a hitch, even if I struggled to keep my mind on the material that Professor Phillips was having me go over.
I kept drifting back to all that had happened last night.
Days like yesterday made me wish I could go back in time to when I was a simple girl from Wisconsin.
Then my mind would bring up images of my night with Brayden, and I went back to thinking that I wouldn’t change a thing about my life now.
Class finished early enough for me to get a chai latte before my psych class, which I was eternally grateful for. I didn’t notice the looks everyone was giving me as I waited for my drink until someone knocked into me.
“Trash,” someone said under a lame, fake cough as the girl continued on her way.
I looked around the coffee shop to see everyone glancing at me.
Some snickered behind their hands, as I was totally clueless to what was happening.
I grabbed my drink as soon as they called my name and headed for the door.
That’s when I noticed the bulletin board near the entrance.
Pictures of my dorm room were plastered all over it, showing everyone what they had done.
I was rooted to the spot at the horror of realizing the whole school knew and that they’d left these pictures here for me to see.
As my anger increased, power rose within me, burning through my veins.
I wasn’t even trying to hold it back. I was over being a doormat for these bitches.
I was sick of it! As I pulled my power around me, I noticed it was stronger than it had been yesterday, and I could see my golden energy tinged with flickers of green.
The Bond seemed to have added to my strength, and it made me grin.
With this much power, I could bring everyone to their knees. They would know how inferior they are and beg for mercy that I wasn’t going to give them. I didn’t start this fight, but I was going to end it in a way they would remember.
I let my power pool into the ground below my feet, and with a swipe of my hand, I collapsed the wall the bulletin board was hung on and watched it crash down into the fissure that I created on the floor.
Another swipe of my hand, and I shut it so no one would ever see those photos again.
Then, pulling on my own golden energy, I let it swirl around me and let out a piercing scream that shattered all the windows and glass in the place.
This caused everyone else to scream and dive for cover.
There was no way out since I was blocking the front door, and in their panic, they didn’t think about a back door.
Watching their tear-stained faces plead with me to let them live pleased me, but mercy wasn’t what I was going to give them—
“Lailah!” Parker shouted.
Suddenly, the whole scene around me shattered, and Parker was standing in front of me shaking my shoulders. Panic was all I could see in his normally playful brown eyes.