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fifteen

G roaning, I roll over and try to figure out what woke me up. After I got done with my classes for the day, I decided to come back to my room and take a nap rather than go to the center. Someone pounds on the door, making me frown.

“Coming,” I say as I get up.

Whoever is on the other side doesn’t have any patience because they knock again. It takes me a couple of steps to cross the room to answer the door.

“Yes?” I say with far more attitude than I mean to when I open the door.

The girl from this morning is standing across from me with her fist still raised in the air, like she was going to knock again.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah, here,” she says, shoving a shirt into my chest.

Frowning, I pull the material away from my chest. “Why are you giving me this?”

“I figured if you’re Kellan’s latest plaything, then it would only be right for me to give it to you instead of back to him. He left that with me last year.” She smirks, thinking she’s saying something that will upset me.

“Okay, I can give it to him for you…”

Her eyes narrow, clearly upset I’m not giving her the reaction that she was hoping for. “Do you know who I am?”

“Based on what I heard this morning, someone who used to be involved with Kellan.”

“Exactly. So hear me when I tell you that right when you think things are going well between you two, he will drop you like a hot potato. Kellan isn’t the kind of guy who sticks around long term. He’s only looking for a couple weeks of fun.”

Even though I don’t think things are like that between Kellan and me, her words still sting. If he was going to walk away, he would have done it already. Especially when we haven’t even fooled around.

“I’m sorry that he hurt you.”

Her eyes narrow. “Kellan Cooper could never hurt me.”

Right.

“Just watch your back,” she snaps.

I watch her walk down the hall and shoulder check Peyton as she passes by.

“I fucking hate that bitch,” Peyton mumbles as she rubs her shoulder.

“I can see why,” I say when I walk back into our room.

Peyton shuts the door and sits on her bed. “Why was the she-devil here?”

“For me.” I sigh as I toss the shirt in the dirty clothes pile and sit down on my bed.

“What the hell did you do to end up on her radar?”

“I’ll give you one guess.”

Peyton winces. “Kellan.”

“Yep. She saw us together this morning, and they shared a few words. Apparently that wasn’t enough, so she thought she would come give me a friendly reminder and a T-shirt that he left behind when they stopped seeing each other.”

Date. They probably dated, but I won’t use that term. I hate the idea of him dating anyone other than me.

“You know why she’s mad though, right?”

“No.”

Peyton sighs and makes herself comfortable on her bed. “Kellan and Monica started dating at the beginning of the year. She hated Grace and who she was to Kellan. In all honesty, the woman was jealous as hell. Then when Kellan thought that he was in love with Grace, he broke up with Monica. Supposedly she never saw it coming, but if you had two eyes, you could see the writing on the wall. She wailed about it for weeks after he supposedly broke her heart. Then she got pissed when he didn’t date anyone else. Think it hurt her ego that he’d rather be alone than with her.”

Groaning, I throw myself to the side and bury my face into my pillow. “Great, so she’s a jealous ex.”

“Oh, one hundred percent. Every time I saw Monica last year, she had a new guy on her arm, trying to make Kellan jealous, but he never noticed, which just pissed her off more.”

Rolling over, I look at Peyton. “Fan-fucking-tastic.”

She tilts her head to the side. “Did Kellan really not explain who she was when you saw her?”

“Honestly, I never asked. He was running late to practice, and it was just…weird.”

“You should ask him about it.”

“Should I though? I mean, an ex is an ex. Do I really need the details?”

“Usually I would agree with you, but a woman like Monica isn’t going to take kindly to him moving on. I can almost guarantee that she’s going to cause problems for you two.”

“Fuck me,” I grumble.

“No thanks, you’re not my type.”

“You’ve got jokes today.”

“I always have jokes, baby,” she quips as she gets off her bed. “Now, unfortunately for the both of us, I have to get ready for work.”

“Do you have to go?” I whine.

Peyton looks over at me with sympathy. “I know. Now stop procrastinating and text him.”

“I don’t even know what to say to him.”

“How about you start with ‘hi,’ and then work your way to ‘what are you doing,’ then cap it at ‘want to hang out?’”

I roll my eyes. “You are such a smart ass.”

“Better than being a dumbass.” She snatches my phone off my desk and tosses it to me.

I catch it before it can hit me in the face, and I glare at her.

“Sorry!” She laughs as she turns to get dressed.

Sighing, I pull up my text thread with him and do exactly what she said.

Me

Hi, Hotshot.

Kellan

Hey, beautiful. How’s your day?

Me

Can’t complain. I was wondering, do you want to hang out?

I chew on my lip while I wait for his response. My heart races as I watch those three little dots bounce along the screen, letting me know that he’s typing.

Kellan

Sure. I’ll come pick you up.

Me

Cool. See you soon.

“He on his way?” Peyton asks.

I sit up and nod. “Yep.”

“Cool. Remember to hear him out. Don’t accuse him of anything.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Peyton rolls her eyes and walks toward the door. “I expect a full report later.”

“Will do. Have a good shift,” I say as she walks out the door.

And now I wait.

* * *

With my backpack slung over my shoulders, I bound up the steps to her dorm room. I wasn’t expecting to see her so soon, but I won’t complain. Usually when she finishes class, she heads right over to the center, but I guess after the shit show that was yesterday, she decided to take a day for herself.

Which she deserves.

I swear, if I ever find out that woman’s name who made her day hell over a fucking vending machine, I’ll give her a piece of my mind.

“Excuse me,” I say as I pass someone going up the stairs.

In no time at all, I’m in front of her door. Taking a deep breath, I roll my shoulders back. I probably should have made her wait a little longer so that way she wouldn’t know how eager I am to see her, but frankly I don’t care. I want to spend every moment I can with her.

Her and hockey. That’s all that matters to me right now.

Raising my fist, I knock on her door once before it swings open.

“Hey, beautiful,” I say as I pull her into my arms.

Cora comes willingly and buries her face into my chest, right above my heart.

“Hi,” she mumbles against my shirt.

When she pulls back, I lean down and kiss her lips softly. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. Now get in here.” She grabs me by the front of my hoodie and pulls me inside her room, shutting the door behind us. “Make yourself comfortable.”

I drop my bag at the foot of her bed, out of the way, and kick off my shoes. “I didn’t realize how tall your bed is,” I say when I get onto it.

“Yeah, I have it on stilts so I can have some storage underneath,” she says as she gets onto the bed too.

Instead of curling up into my side like I expect her to do, she keeps her distance and faces me.

“Is something wrong?” My heart begins to race.

Shit, is she going to end this before we can really start? Did I do something to fuck this up? Did someone say something?

It’s like she can sense my spiral because she reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing it with hers.

“Hey, we’re good. I just want to talk to you about something.”

“Sure, what’s up?” I say as I try to calm down.

She isn’t ending this. Just breathe.

“I had a visitor today.”

I frown as I study her. “Okay…”

“Your ex that we ran into this morning, Monica? She stopped by my room.”

“Why?”

“She wanted to warn me off of you.”

I open my mouth to defend myself, but Cora raises her hand, cutting me off.

“Before you say anything, everything she said went in one ear and out the other, but I wanted to talk to you about her. Oh, and she gave me this.”

Cora leans over the edge of her bed and grabs something. When she comes back up, she hands me a shirt. Reluctantly, I spread it out and see that it’s a shirt from The Williamson Hotel. I got it after my luggage was lost on a trip to Boston.

“I don’t even remember the last time I saw this.”

“Apparently you left it at her place,” she deadpans.

I scrunch my nose. “And she kept it for a year? Seriously?”

“Guess so.”

“That’s…”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

“Do I want to know what she said?”

“Told me that after a few months you would leave me heartbroken and move on to the next girl.”

I set the shirt down and turn toward her. “Whoa, you know that’s not true, right?”

“Kell—”

I cut her off. “Monica and I were never that serious. We never said I love you or did sleepovers. Did I sleep with her and take her on dates? Yes, because we were dating. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a shit boyfriend. I mean, I broke up with her because I thought I had feelings for Grace, and I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t lead her on or anything. After I broke up with her, I kept my distance. I never played games with her or made her think there was a chance of getting back together or anything. I know now that I was self-centered back then, but I swear I didn’t hurt her on purpose.”

Cora leans forward and grabs me by the back of my neck and slams her mouth against mine. She kisses me fearlessly and with no hesitation. All too soon, she pulls away and rests her forehead against mine.

“That was unexpected,” I mumble, trying to catch my breath.

Cora smiles. “I had to shut you up so I could get a word in.”

“Sorry. What did you want to say?”

“I wanted to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. Was it an uncomfortable encounter? One thousand percent, but those are bound to happen. If we didn’t have an awkward run-in with one of your exes, it would have been one of mine. It’s part of dating.”

“I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else,” I tell her bluntly.

Cora rolls her eyes and smiles. “The point is we both have a past, and we’ve clearly moved on with each other. You didn’t show any emotion when we saw her this morning, and when I mentioned she stopped by, you looked worried that she said something mean, not because you were trying to hide something from me.”

“I would never.”

“And I believe you.”

“Good. I really don’t want to mess this up. Or let my past fuck it up for us.”

“Like I said, the past is the past. It’s in the rearview mirror, and I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to look back. I only want to look forward. I just didn’t want to keep her little visit a secret from you.”

“I appreciate that. Actually, she’s on a list I’ve been making. It sounds silly, but I have people I need to apologize to. Maybe I should start with her.”

She hums a moment. “She’s going to be a dick about it.”

“Yeah, but I deserve it.”

She shakes her head. “You’re not that Kellan anymore. You don’t deserve to be beat up for something you are clearly trying to make right.”

Pulling away slightly, I kiss her forehead. “I don’t know what I did to get so lucky to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one,” she says softly.

She might think she’s the lucky one, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s me. I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but I’ll work my ass off to keep her.