Begin Again (Again #1)(69)

“That’s so honorable of you,” I said and grabbed her intact hand. We intertwined our fingers. Dawn was the best girlfriend I’d ever had. And even if I wanted to shake her for having hurt herself for my sake, we both knew very well that I would have done the same for her.

“If your ex crosses my path, I’ll give him what for, too,” I promised her.

She grimaced. “That would be great, but let Kaden show you first how it’s done. Otherwise you’ll end up like me.”

“Ms. Edwards?” a nurse called from across the room. “Please come into treatment room three.”

Dawn and I both stood.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Dawn said with a glance at Kaden.

“Cut it out. Of course I’m coming with you,” I said, and then turned to Kaden, considering whether to kiss him goodbye. But he made the decision for me. He grabbed my hand and murmured—his lips on mine—“I’ll wait here for you.” Then he kissed me, swift but firm. My face glowed as I followed Dawn out of the waiting room.

In the hallway, she dug the fingers of her healthy hand into my arm. “He kissed you.”

“And that’s not the only thing he’s done with me,” I whispered in her ear.

Dawn turned bright red, then laughed out loud.

The X-rays showed that no bones were broken. Her pointer was just bruised, and that would heal quickly. But her middle finger was in worse shape: A small fracture had formed in the bone, causing pain and swelling. She’d have to wear a splint for two weeks, take painkillers, and avoid using her fingers until her follow-up appointment in three weeks.

When we left the treatment room, Dawn placed her head on my shoulder. “Please don’t tell Spencer about this. That would be embarrassing.”

“My lips are sealed,” I promised her with a laugh, and even gave the gesture that went along with the saying. But Dawn wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead she stared into the waiting room at Spencer, sitting there next to Kaden. Kaden said something, Spencer laughed and patted him on the back. His right eye looked bad: blue and purple and nearly swollen shut.

Why was he here? Had Kaden called him?

As if he’d read my mind, Kaden looked up. He began to smile but stopped when he saw the bandage on Dawn’s hand.

We went over to them. Dawn was shifting her weight from one foot to the other. I’d never seen her embarrassed.

“The way the two of us look,” she murmured, raising up her bandaged arm. “Like a gang of thugs.”

Spencer grinned. With his swollen eye he did look pretty scary. “An unsuccessful gang of thugs. And Allie is our boss or something like that. She’s the only one who’s come away unscathed.”

“Spencer,” growled Kaden.

“Of course I could help out with that and give you a few black and blue marks, so you could feel like you belong. What do you think?”

Kaden’s fist went into his arm.

“Oh, come on, dude! Do you have to?” Spencer groaned and rubbed the spot.

“Yes,” we chimed in together.

Then we all burst out laughing.





Chapter 28


My eyelids kept drooping shut. I was bored to death. Our instructor was anything but motivated and just read aloud some random historical facts from a packaged presentation. Film and TV was normally one of my favorite classes, but today it was monotonous beyond compare.

Kaden, sitting a few rows behind me, seemed to feel the same. Whenever I stole a glance at him, he was playing with his cell phone or gazing at the ceiling of the stuffy classroom. I tried not to be caught staring at him, but it wasn’t easy. Especially since I knew how it felt to have his muscular arms wrapped around my naked body.

When I left the room after class, Kaden was right behind me. He reached for my hand and entwined his fingers with mine. He had done this a lot in the last few days. He touched me whenever he had a chance, no matter who was close enough to see us.

I liked it. A lot.

“I want you. Now,” he whispered, as we walked together outside. He brushed his lips against mine.

We had arrived in the parking lot. Students were streaming past us on their way to lunch.

“Come here,” murmured Kaden, pushing me right into his Jeep. Then he kissed me full on.

“Kaden,” I said, struggling to speak. “We’re in public.”

He mumbled into my mouth. “You should be glad you got out of that classroom alive.”

I smiled and pushed him back. His eyes were dark, and he could hardly control his heavy breathing. Over the last few days I’d learned a lot about him, especially that he was always ready for anything.

“Want to go on a hike?” I whispered.

He grumbled.

“I have to work on an essay later, but I would love to go to the mountain,” I suggested, surprising myself a little with how seductive my voice sounded. “And there are other things we can do after that.”

Kaden didn’t need to be told twice. In the blink of an eye he had off-loaded me to the passenger seat and started up the engine. But in the end we didn’t manage to bring this plan to fruition. We didn’t go for a hike. We didn’t even leave the Jeep. Instead we parked at the edge of the mountain, the only car visible for miles. I’d planned to give him a quick kiss, but somehow I ended up straddling his lap.