Kissing Jayden: a romantic teen thriller (10 page)

BOOK: Kissing Jayden: a romantic teen thriller
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“You were going to ask me out?” I asked in a small voice.

Jayden nodded, and my stomach swirled with excitement. We turned started walking back toward the parking structure, and when we reached my house, I invited Jayden in, only partly because I wanted to be sure he iced his eye. We were on the couch, frozen peas forgotten on the coffee table, when Mom got home from work.


Molly
!” she squeaked indignantly as I jumped off the couch.

“Mom, this is — this is Jayden.”

Jayden stood up, looking way less embarrassed than I was feeling. He held out his hand to my mom.

“I’m Molly’s boyfriend, Mrs. Adams,” he smiled.

I nearly fainted when he said that. Mom reached out and took his hand, still eyeballing me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jayden. And call me Cheryl. Are you staying for dinner?”

“Thank you. But I should get home and clean up. I was at the hospital overnight with my dad.”

My mom raised an eyebrow, and I gave her a look like I’d tell her everything later, which I was totally going to have to do now. As soon as my mom went upstairs to change, I walked Jayden out to his car.

“Wait!” I gasped. “I forgot something!”

I ran into the house and grabbed my backpack, taking out the plastic container with the brownies. When I came back outside with them, Jayden looked down at the container and smiled crookedly.

“You baked me brownies?”

I nodded, embarrassed.

“Sweet little Molly,” he whispered, touching my cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

I smiled as I watched him get into his car. Then I ran back up the stairs and into the house. Jayden Stone had called himself my
boyfriend
! When Mom came back down to the living room, I told her about the whole thing — minus certain pieces of information that would send her through the roof. She kept talking about going in to talk to the principal to make sure Mike Jensen wasn’t coming back to school, but I told her they would probably suspend him.

Later, before I went to bed, I got a text from Jayden. All it said was
5#6
. I smiled, but deep down I was afraid of what would happen when we got back to school. I was afraid of what would happen if Jayden told his friends that he was dating me. I was afraid of what would happen if Mike Jensen came back to school. And I was afraid that Jayden would change his mind about me.

Basically, I was afraid of reality.

Epilogue: Happily Ever After

 

 

So I was a total coward. I completely avoided my locker the next morning. And even when I got a bunch of texts from Jayden, I ignored them. Then I made sure to get to Government right before the bell, sliding into my seat without looking for Jayden. At the end of class, I bolted for the door and hid in the girls’ bathroom, not answering any texts from Stace or Kelly, either.

Finally, at the beginning of lunch, after hearing that Mike Jensen had been suspended from school and would have to finish the year at continuation school, I slinked over to my locker and nearly died when I saw a note taped to the locker.

Shaking and sweating, I walked up and grabbed the note.

Turn around
.

That’s all it said. I flinched, and my heart started beating a mile a minute as I turned around slowly, like somebody was going to hit me over the head with something. I blinked when I saw Jayden standing there with a dozen pink roses and a black box that looked really familiar. My face paled as I stared down at it. It was the box that Mike had left in my locker — the one I had been too afraid to look inside of.

“Molly, Mike took it out of my locker. Then he left it in your locker … and you thought it was from him.”

I blinked.

“That box was from you? Mike
stole
it?”

Jayden nodded as he opened it. Inside was a silver ring with a shiny pink stone in the shape of a heart at the center.

“You were going to give this to me?” I asked incredulously.

“Better late than never,” he said, slipping it on my finger.

I looked down and started crying — like an idiot — again.

“Now, how come you’ve been running away from me?” Jayden asked.

“I was scared,” I sniffled. “I mean, what are your friends going to think when they find out you’re going out with me?”

“I don’t care what anyone thinks. I care about
you
,” Jayden said softly.

I looked down until he touched my chin.

“I was afraid you’d change your mind … about me, I guess.”

He laughed.

“After I had those brownies? There was no way I was changing my mind!” Jayden laughed.

I smiled crookedly.

“That’s the only reason?”

He just reached around and tugged at my ponytail, forcing me to look up at him.

“Sweet little Molly …”

He brushed my lip with his thumb, and I sighed. As I leaned toward him, my eyes closed, and Jayden laughed, causing me to open my eyes.

“Will you go to prom with me?” he asked.

When my eyes widened, he laughed again.

Then he bent down and kissed me.

 

 

The End

 

 

Books by C. J. Valles

 

Young Adult/New Adult Paranormal Romance
:

 

C. J. Valles

 

For Ever
(The Ever Series, Book 1)

Never
(The Ever Series, Book 2)

Sever
(The Ever Series, Book 3)

Ever
, (The Ever Series, Alternate POV of For Ever)

 

 

C. J. Valles writing as
Alessa James

 

Young Adult/New Adult Paranormal Romance
:

 

The Darkly Dreaming Series:

From a Dream

Love Me Darkly

Dreaming Ever After

 

 

Contemporary Teen Romance
:

 

Kissing Jayden: a romantic teen thriller

 

 

 

A Note from C. J.

 

Thanks for reading! If you would like to find out about my latest book releases, please visit:
www.cjvalles.com
and sign up for the appropriate list. (Announcements will only be made to let you know when the next book is being released.)

For general updates and news, follow me on Twitter, visit me on Facebook, or subscribe to the blog:

@CJValles_4ever

www.facebook.com/cj.valles.3

www.cjvalles.com/blog

 

Best wishes,

C. J.

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