Needing Her (From Ashes #1.5)(67)
He leaned back a little so he could see my face. “Cassi, I’ll take you with me everywhere I go. And don’t worry about Gage, he’ll get over it eventually. I’m sure it’s not you that he doesn’t like, he just said it’s going to mess up his relationship with Brynn having a girl live with him.”
“I don’t want to do that.” Yes, yes, I do. I’d never experienced jealousy until I met Gage last night, and it was one ugly feeling. “When I turn eighteen, I’ll get my own place, Ty.”
“No, you won’t. He’ll get over it, and I want you with me, okay?”
I curled into his chest and nodded. “Love you.”
Tyler leaned back again and tilted my face up to his. “I love you too, Cassi.” His lips fell onto mine and I scrambled back, pushing against his chest as hard as I could.
“What the hell, Tyler?!” We slept in bed with each other, but we’d never actually kissed before.
“I’m sorry! I thought you wanted me to.”
“What? Why would I want you to?” Oh my God, seriously, what the hell just happened?!
He sighed and relaxed his hold on me. “I don’t—I don’t know what got into me. I’m sorry, that was really stupid.”
“Is that why you brought me to Texas with you?”
“No, it’s not, I swear. You’re my best friend, I would have never left you there. I’m sorry, like I said, that was really stupid.”
I crawled off the bed and grabbed my pillow. “Maybe I should sleep on the couch tonight.”
“No! Cassi, come on, don’t do that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, it hasn’t just been a long three days for me. It’s been even longer for you. I think we’re both too tired and we aren’t thinking clearly.”
“Cass.” He sighed and got out of the bed as well. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking doing that.” He hugged me loosely and stepped back. “Please get back in bed.”
“It’s all right, I promise. I’m just going to sleep out there tonight—I think it would be best for us. I’ll be back in here tomorrow, okay?”
“I’ll go out there, you can stay in the bed.”
I put my hand on his chest and pushed him onto the bed. “I’m way shorter than you; that couch was practically made for me. Good night, Ty, see you in the morning.”
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Chapter One
Rachel
“CANDICE, YOU NEED to focus. You have got to pass this final or they aren’t going to let you coach this summer.”
She snorted and her eyes went wide as she leaned even closer to the mirror and tried to re-create her snort. “Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell me how ugly I look when I do that!?”
I face-planted into the pillow and mumbled, “Oh dear Lord, this isn’t happening.” Lifting my head, I sent her a weak glare. “Snorts aren’t meant to be cute. Otherwise they wouldn’t be called something as awkward as ‘snort.’ ”
“But my—”
“Final, Candice. You need to study for your final.”
“I’m waiting on you,” she said in a singsong voice. “You’re supposed to be quizzing me.”
I loved Candice. I really did. Even though I currently wanted to wring her neck. She wasn’t just my best friend; she was like a sister to me and was the closest thing to family I had left. On the first day of kindergarten, a boy with glasses pushed me down on the playground. While he was still laughing at me, Candice grabbed his glasses and smashed them on the ground. That’s playground love. And since then we’ve never spent more than a handful of days apart.
By the time we started thinking about college, it was just assumed we would go away together. But then my parents died right before my senior year of high school started, and nothing seemed to matter anymore. They had gone on a weekend getaway with two partners from my dad’s law firm and their wives and were on their way home when the company jet’s engine failed and went down near Shaver Lake.
Candice’s family took me in without a second thought since the only relatives I had lived across the country and I hardly knew them; if it weren’t for them I don’t know how I would have made it through that time. They made sure I continued going to school, kept my grades up, and attempted to live as normal a life as possible. I no longer cared about graduating or going away to college, but because of them, I followed through with my plans of getting away and making my own life. I would forever be grateful to the Jenkins family.
I applied to every college Candice did and let her decide where we were going. She’d been a cheerleader for as long as I could remember, so it shouldn’t have surprised me when she decided on a university based on the football team and school spirit. And granted, she was given an amazing scholarship. But Texas? Really? She chose the University of Texas at Austin and started buying everything she found in that god-awful burnt-orange color. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be a “Longhorn,” but whatever got me away from my hometown was fine by me . . . and I guess the University of Texas accomplished that.
When we first arrived I remember it felt like walking into a sauna, it was so hot and humid; of course the first thing Candice said was, “What am I going to do with my hair?!” Her hair had already begun frizzing, and not more than five minutes later she was rocking a fro. We got used to the humidity and crazy weather changes soon enough though, and to my surprise, I loved Texas. I had been expecting dirt roads, tumbleweeds, and cowboys—let me tell you, I had never been so happy to be wrong. Downtown Austin’s buildings reminded me of Los Angeles, and the city was unbelievably green everywhere and had lakes and rivers perfect for hanging out with friends. Oh, and I’d only seen a couple of cowboys in the almost three years we’d been there, not that I was complaining when I did. I had also worried when we arrived that with Candice’s new burnt-orange fetish, people were going to be able to spot us like Asian tourists at Disneyland. Thankfully, the majority of Austin was packed with UT Longhorn gear, and it was common to see a burnt-orange truck on the road.