Begin Again (Again #1)(5)

Kaden shrugged and turned toward the door. “As soon as you pay the rent and the deposit, the room’s yours.”

I didn’t do my dance of joy until he’d left the room.





Chapter 2


“They. Look. So. Good!” Dawn’s round eyes opened even wider when she saw the star-shaped string of lights in our shopping cart. By now we’d reached the aisle with bedspreads and throws, but I turned up my nose at all the bright flower patterns attacking me from all sides. I brushed my hand over the colorful fabric and turned toward my new friend.

I’d met Dawn at the intro lectures. We’d both gotten there way too early and started chatting while we waited—a stroke of luck, as far as I was concerned. There was no other explanation. Dawn was new here, like me. But she hadn’t moved to get away from her family. In her case, it was an ex-boyfriend. They’d been together six years when he cheated on her. She’d needed to get away, too. Now here we were together at Target to snag stuff for our rooms. The hour-long drive to Portland did us both some good. Besides, it was a way to get to know the area around Woodshill a bit better.

“Take one with flowers,” she said as she disappeared into the next aisle. “Or the pink one!”

At the end of the row I found a crocheted, cream-colored throw with fringes—a perfect match with the pale blue curtains already in my cart.

“How do you like this one?” I called out, holding up the throw for her to see. Dawn came back around the corner, carrying a reading lamp with a rose-colored lampshade.

“Bingo!”

Kaden would lose his shit if I came home with something like that. But then it wasn’t any of his business how I set up my room.

I’d had to spend the entire past week in the hostel before Kaden could finally give me a key. Turned out the previous tenant had needed more time than he thought to pick up his bed. But today was the day: I was moving into my new room. Kaden still seemed a bit wary when he handed me the key this morning. As if he already regretted his decision. But that was his problem, not mine.

Right after that, Dawn and I set out to shop for my first-ever furniture. I’d saved up some money in high school; I always socked away any cash I’d gotten from tutoring or as birthday gifts from relatives. My little stash would easily cover the cost of everything in my shopping cart. I also had a savings account that Mom had set up, but I only dipped into that in emergencies … or to pay for essentials—like tuition. After all, it wasn’t for nothing that she’d paid into the account for the last few years. It made me sick to think about why she’d given me the money at all. She honestly believed I could be bribed, and that money would make me forget what had happened. She had another thing coming. But even if I couldn’t be bought, I could still exact a kind of revenge by using some of Mom’s money.

I took a deep breath and pushed the dark thoughts to the back of my mind. Back to shopping.

“Do you need another table?” asked Dawn as we wheeled our shopping cart down the next aisle.

“No, the guy who had the room before me left his desk and shelves there. Kaden said if I don’t like the stuff I can get rid of it myself.” I rolled my eyes. “Thank goodness he picked up the bed. It looked disgusting.”

Dawn raised an eyebrow. “That guy sounds lovely.”

“That’s not necessarily the first word I’d choose,” I replied.

Oh man. Hopefully things would work out okay. I didn’t want to give up my room any time soon. The endless search for a place to stay had left me mildly traumatized.

I’d be the perfect tenant. At least, that was my plan.

Kaden wouldn’t find any excuse to throw me out.

“I wish I hadn’t gotten a place in the dorm,” Dawn sighed. “Then we could have rented something together.”

“Yeah, that’s too bad,” I agreed and pushed the cart onward. By now it was nearly full.

“My roommate is a bitch,” Dawn continued. “I’ve only been there two weeks, and she’s already brought three different guys over. With each one she brings back, she kicks me out! I’ve thought about just not leaving, out of protest. But that’s also gross—would you want to have to watch your roommate having sex?”

For a second I winced and shook the image of Kaden’s naked skin, glistening with sweat, from my mind. “No. I wouldn’t want that. Though with us it’s a bit different,” I added.

Maybe my hesitation was too obvious. Dawn glanced at me searchingly, then a grin spread across her face, deepening the dimples in her cheeks.

“Oh yeah? A bit different?” She egged me on, wiggling her eyebrows.

I responded in kind, raising an eyebrow. “Yup. Because I don’t live in the same room with him and don’t have to get up close and personal.”

In a flash Dawn grabbed one of the pillows from the cart and started beating me with it. I dodged the blows, laughing.

“It’s not funny!” She dropped the pillow back into the cart and buried her face in her hands, groaning. “Really not. She doesn’t seem to have any problems finding new guys to hook up with. I mean, we’re in Woodshill! Who would’ve thought that there were so many hotties running around in a small town?”

I had to agree with her. Right now, at the beginning of the semester, there was a cute guy our age on every street corner—one of the advantages of a university town. Hotties as far as the eye could see.