Chapter 2

Mary the waitress did finally kick us out of the diner around one in the morning. She handed us two paper cups of fresh espresso for the road, locked the doors behind us, and firmly flipped the sign to Closed.

After the stuffy place with its smells of fries and burgers, the campus night air felt cool and clean. Small puddles from the recent rain gleamed on the asphalt. We walked down the empty street side by side, lit by the occasional dim streetlamp, and I don’t even know why we didn’t just split off in opposite directions.

Kai shoved a hand into his windbreaker pocket, I wrapped my fingers around the warm paper cup, and for the first fifty yards we were silent. Not because there was nothing to say, but because the day was behind us, and we were both digesting the confessions we’d poured out on each other across that sticky, scuffed table.

“Thanks for the company, by the way,” Kaylen was the first to break the silence after we finished the espresso and stopped under a streetlamp to toss the cups in a trash can. He turned and looked at me. “And for the straight talk, Bri. I needed to hear it.”

“Anytime,” I said with a bitter little smile, lifting my gaze from the wet pavement. “For you, all consultations are free. But if you really want your girlfriend back, forget everything I said. When it comes to personal stuff, taking other people’s advice is stupid. I’m just a little out of my mind tonight, otherwise I doubt I would’ve told you what I did.”

“I get it. Don’t worry.”

I stared bleakly into the dark depth of the park. Beyond it, another couple of blocks and a sports field away, stood my dorm.

“And I lost my suitcase with all my things in the parking lot,” I sighed, remembering the missing bag. “On the bright side, now I won’t be clattering down the whole street on its wheels and keeping people awake. See? I can find the upside in a total disaster.”

“Do you think the suitcase is still there? Your ex might have picked it up,” Kaylen suggested.

I gave an uncertain shrug.

“I don’t know. Probably. The important thing is I still have my purse with my keys and phone. Tomorrow I’ll ask one of the guys I know to help me find it. I’m not going anywhere near that parking lot myself. Not within a mile.”

“Bri, let me walk you home,” Kaylen offered. “It’s late, and it’s no trouble. I’m not going to sleep before morning anyway.”

He was right. From the parking lot, I’d flown blind, forgetting everything in the world. But walking alone through an empty, dark park sounded deeply unappealing.

“Well, if you’re definitely not going to sleep…”

We’d gone only about ten steps when I suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the empty path and froze. Kaylen stopped too. Turning to me, he arched a brow in question.

“Bri?”

I’d always been a rational thinker and followed the rules, honest! I tried to live so I wouldn’t be ashamed of my own choices later. But what if I’d been wrong? Hadn’t tonight proved that better than any formula could?

How long would it take before I swallowed this huge lump of hurt and anger and didn’t choke on disappointment?

My heart was broken, my mascara was smeared, and I had this awful feeling deep down that if I took even one more step right now, I’d turn the wrong way.

I turned to the guy, lifted my head, and looked straight into his attentive blue eyes with absolute determination.

“Kai, I know what we need. We need to sleep together. Tonight. Better yet, right now. Can you do that?” I blurted without a single stumble.

Kaylen froze, pulling his hands out of his pockets in surprise. Even in the dim streetlight, I could see his eyebrows shoot up. But if I’d shocked him, he tried to hide it.

“Briar, are you sure?” Okay, no, his voice definitely dipped.

“Completely!” I took a step toward him, brushing wind-tangled curls off my cheek. “I know myself, Kai. Travis and I are done. Case closed. But tomorrow everyone will start buzzing around me again about how I can’t live on studying alone and I urgently need a boyfriend. ‘Bri, you’re not an Excel spreadsheet, you’re a living person.’ I’ll cave, believe some idiot again, build some rosy fairy tale in my head, give him my virginity, and a week later he’ll sleep with someone in his pickup. No. Better you. At least you won’t have to lie to me.”

“You and Sanders didn’t…”

I pointed a finger at Kaylen, instantly transforming into fearsome Briar Adams.

“Don’t you dare decide this is my fault because of some guy-code loyalty. Trev could have honestly said he wanted something different, and believe me, I wouldn’t have held on to him. At least that would’ve been more honest than messing around with someone else behind my back.”

“Bri, you’ll regret it,” Kaylen said seriously, looking at me with something almost like sympathy, and for one second I deflated. But I didn’t back down.

“Listen, I know I look awful. This isn’t exactly the best night of my life, and maybe I’m not your type…”

“Come on, Briar, that’s not the issue. You know what you look like. Even now.”

Bright blue eyes and long chestnut hair, inherited from my Irish grandmother, ran through every woman in our family. He was probably talking about that.

“Maybe. But that’s never been the main thing for me. Kai, you definitely know what to do with a virgin. I feel like I can trust you… even though we’ve only known each other two hours. You do know, right?”

The guy bit his lip and looked at me from beneath his brows. Slowly, he pushed the hair back from his forehead.

“No.”

I stopped short.

“What do you mean, no? What about your ex and dating since high school?”

Kaylen shoved his hands back into his pockets and went still.

“We had a fight in eleventh grade, and she slept with her friend’s brother—a ‘cool senior.’ Then he dumped her…”

“And she came to you?”

“Pretty much.”

“Holy shit!”

“Agreed.”

“And you forgave her? Please tell me the answer was no.”

Kai sighed heavily, staring into the darkness above my head, and gave a vague shrug.

“I was going to say no, but she was very persuasive.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed softly.

“Oh, say no more. I can see it now: you, her, and between you, words about everlasting love and her panties. That was your first time, wasn’t it?” I guessed.

Now Kaylen was smiling too, bringing his gaze back to me. For a moment, an unbelievably cute dimple appeared in his cheek. Well, look at that. Maybe the day wasn’t ending so badly after all, if we’d stopped moping.

“You guessed right,” he admitted.

“Then you were doomed, buddy!” I gave him a playful shove in the side with my fist. “You didn’t have a single chance of getting away. So how did it go? Come on, admit it, Kai. I really want to know. I promise I’ll forget everything tomorrow. Scout’s honor.”

And just when I thought Kaylen would keep silent out of male pride, he suddenly laughed and said:

“Well, I was done in about three seconds.”

I laughed for real, and Kai joined in. Our laughter startled a bird somewhere in the bushes, and the treetops rustled. I went quiet first and looked at the guy again. This time, there wasn’t a trace of joking in my voice.