Page 37

End of Spring Semester – May

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s happening already.” Ella stared at me wistfully and pulled me into another tight hug.

I laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic, I won’t be that far away.”

“No, but way too far away for us to just meet up,” she pouted.

She wasn’t entirely wrong. My brief college career was coming to a temporary end, and I was moving to Nashville with Colt since the Gladiators had selected him in the first round of the draft. It was a three-hour drive from brU, not a distance you’d travel to grab some coffee.

Still, I wasn’t worried that our friendship wouldn’t survive the move. I also firmly believed that a change of scenery would be good for me. Yes, I would have to put my studies on hold until I’d be able to save up enough money to continue my education, but I’d be with Colt and living independently for the first time.

I wasn’t afraid of work, especially since I’d had to support myself for the past few months already. At least my father had paid for my first year of college in full in advance, so I had the chance to finish that.

I was looking forward to finding myself. My major had been my parents’ choice anyway, and I couldn’t wait to figure out what I was passionate about.

All my things were already packed and loaded into Colt’s truck. Ella also packed her car with the help of Colt and me. She decided she wanted a little more freedom and chose an apartment off campus.

“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered before pulling away again.

“I’ll miss you too.” I blinked quickly, my eyes burning. Our friendship had grown stronger over the past few months than any I’d had before.

“But I’m happy for you too!” She dabbed at her eyes and gave me a genuine smile.

“Thank you. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

After loading as much as we could into her SUV, we drove to her new apartment together not far from campus, which she’d be sharing with a girl she met in one of her classes.

“Do you think you’ll get along?” I asked her as we looked for a parking spot.

“For the most part, yeah. She seems like a real mean girl and like she has a stick up her ass, but I’ve seen her party and worked on several group projects with her, and believe me, it’s all an act. Hard shell, soft core, or rather bitchy shell. But only at first glance.” She giggled.

I shot her a skeptical glance. “That sounds delightful,” I said dryly.

“Oh yeah, I think you two would really clash, but I can handle it. Look, that’s Dominic’s truck, I guess he got here before us.”

We parked next to the monstrous bright-red truck with black detailing belonging to her brother, who will attend brU next semester, and grabbed a few things to take upstairs. Panting, we reached the third floor and were greeted by a curious scene as Ella shoved the door with the number 3D on it open with her hip.

A massive guy, somewhere between Colt and Hunter in stature, with dark-red hair and covered in tattoos from neck to fingertips, stood leaning against the kitchen counter, grinning, while a slender, long-legged blonde girl at the other end of the room glared daggers at him. That was probably the new roommate, and the guy had to be Dominic. Even though I hadn’t imagined him looking like that when Ella mentioned her little brother. Someone talking about their little brother, didn’t bring the image of a tattooed giant to mind.

“Sierra!” Ella called cheerfully. “I see you’ve met my brother.”

“Yes, indeed,” Sierra replied stiffly, and I knew immediately what Ella had meant earlier. This girl and I were probably not going to warm up to each other.

“Oh yes, Sierra and I are well acquainted, aren’t we?” Dominic grinned, mischief oozing from his every pore. Shit, that one was a troublemaker.

Sierra huffed and flicked her perfect blonde hair over her shoulder but didn’t acknowledge his comment.

“Oookay?” Ella sounded unsure of how to handle the situation. “Hey, Dom, why don’t you go downstairs and put all those muscles you’re lugging around to good use?”

Ella looked at her brother as she spoke, but I didn’t miss the way Sierra’s blue eyes darted over Dominic’s muscular arms with lightning speed. Uh-oh.

“Sure,” he drawled, then strolled toward the door as we moved to unload the stuff in Ella’s room.

Dominic was about to step over the threshold when he almost collided with another equally tall figure.

“Oh, sorry, dude,” my boyfriend’s voice rang out, and my head whipped around.

“No problem. Hey, congrats on the draft!” Dominic sounded a little starstruck, and I had to stifle a giggle.

“Thanks! Cool tattoos. Are you Ella’s brother?”

“Yup. What gave it away?” he said, laughing.

“Might’ve been the hair, dude.” They chuckled. “Oh, wait, that means you’re going to be my replacement, huh? You’ll love it, don’t worry. The guys are great.”

“Sure am. Definitely, I usually get along just fine wherever I go.”

Sierra snorted in her corner, then disappeared into her room without a word. Both of them glanced after her, Colt rather confused, but Dominic once again with mischievous amusement.

By the time I had deposited the things in Ella’s room, the two of them had finished their conversation, and Colt came in alone. Over the past few months, he had begun to ditch the oversized shirts more and more, and I happily checked out his beefy biceps straining against the sleeves of his shirt.

“Aren’t you going to help him?” I asked, confused.

“In a minute. I have something to show you first.” He smiled his crooked smile at me, walked over and kissed me in greeting. “Hi, Princess, missed you.”

“Ugh, that’s my cue. Don’t make out too long, I still need your help,” Ella said, feigning repulsion and leaving her room, presumably to grab more stuff from downstairs.

“Where have you been?”

Colt’s grin widened. “Got myself a little souvenir.”

My brow furrowed as I looked up at him. What the hell was he talking about? “Okay? What kind of souvenir?”

“The kind that’s permanent.”

He pulled up his shirt, and just above his heart was something covered in the clear film I recognized from my tattoo.

“Oh my God, you got inked? Without telling me?” I swatted him lightly on the arm, and he winced playfully. On my tiptoes, I examined the ink that would adorn his skin forever.

“What is it?”

“A star map from the day we met. The day you took my heart and lit up my life.”

I stared at him speechless, then slowly placed my hand over it. “You’re crazy.”

“So you keep saying. I’m only crazy when it comes to you.” He placed his hand over mine and pulled me in for another kiss. “Besides, I don’t think this is crazy. You know it and I know it. It’s been you since day one.”

“Since day one,” I echoed. And hopefully every other day for the rest of my life.

THE END