Rushed (The Rushed Series) (34 page)

"Zach gained consciousness. He woke briefly and asked for you," she said. "The doctors think he's going to be okay. Please come. He's very weak. But he'll want to see you when he wakes up again."

When I got to the hospital, Zach was sitting up in bed. His mom sat beside him.
 

"Alexis?" she asked.

I nodded.

She got up. "I'll leave you two alone."

I stood beside his bed and took his hand.
 

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" He tugged my hand, trying to pull me toward him.

I kissed him lightly, then more passionately. I took his mom's seat beside his bed and held his hand like I would never let it go. "You promised me you wouldn't do this. You promised you wouldn't sacrifice yourself."

"I wasn't trying to die this time, pledge." He gave me a half-grin. "I didn't even think. I reacted on instinct."

"Is it over now? Have you paid the price by almost sacrificing your life for another? For Morgan?"

He squeezed my hand. "I didn't even think of that. Until later. I did it for Dak as much as Morgan. Mom said the police arrested him for drunk driving and vehicular assault.
 

"I'm going to give them a statement. It wasn't his fault, drunk or not. He didn't see her. He would have run over her and killed her. No one should die young and no one should have to live with the guilt of accidently killing someone. But yeah, it's over now. It was the minute I fell in love with you. You give me a reason to live."

My smile grew wobbly. I kissed him again, gently.
 

"I'm not made of glass." He gave me a weak grin. "Give me a real kiss."

I leaned down and really kissed him then. "I love you so much."

He ran his fingers through my hair. "My dad's on his way. He'll be here any time now. I have to go home. The doctors and my parents want to transfer me to a hospital in Seattle. They've ordered an ambulance to take me.

"After that, I'll have to recover at home for a while. My parents are fighting over who gets to have me while I recover. I become a hero and suddenly everyone wants me. It's crap."

"Zach—"

"No, it's okay. They mean well." He sighed. "I think we're going to be okay. We might even get along eventually."

"Are you dropping out?" I could barely ask.

"No." He squeezed my hand. "I'll be out on medical leave. Mom says they'll rent me an apartment when I'm ready to come back to school so I don't have to go back to the house or work. My dad was so shaken up, he practically promised me the moon. Guilt is a bitch." He laughed and winced. "Shit, Alexis. I'm going to miss you. But I'll be back. As soon as I can. I promise."

Epilogue

One Month Later

Alexis

Zach was coming back! Coming back to me. October had crawled into November. Time crept by excruciatingly slowly without him. The month he'd been gone felt like a year. A year of gossip, rumors, and accusations.
 

He was coming back to his own apartment. We could be together. Despite all the bad stuff, like the rumors about me and Dakota. Like being in deep trouble with my parents. Like having to make nice with Morgan. Everything was working out. Because I loved Zach, he was all that mattered.

After Zach left, I was called before a secret, closed-door meeting of the five-member standards board.
 

Victoria, the no-nonsense VP of the standards board was surprisingly gentle with me as she handed down my punishment. "We've all messed up and lost our heart to the wrong guy. I'm living proof of that." She gave me a gentle, encouraging smile. "Zach is hard to resist. Most of us have crushed on him a time or two." She choked up. "We love that guy."
 

She cleared her throat. "We love you, too. We want you to stay in the house. That said, forbidden love has consequences. In this case, we have to fine you for breaking house rules." She paused. "As Double Deltsies, we don't use punitive measures and fear for control. We like to think of discipline as corrective action with the goal of house harmony. You and Morgan have to find a way to get along. Understand?"

I did. But they'd given me an impossible task. Morgan hated me.
 

The powers that be also voted to make Zach a big brother, even though it was really rare for a Geed to be given the honor. The house voted to give him a special award for saving Morgan's life. They even offered to let him keep his job. He refused it, saying he wanted to date me without causing problems and he'd rather be a big brother than a houseboy now.

My parents were slowly coming to terms with me dating the houseboy. They were a little mollified when they found out how successful his parents were.

Zach didn't want to press charges against Dakota. But the cops had picked him up drunk. It wasn't Zach's decision. He swore out a statement in Dakota's defense.
 

Dakota and I had a decoy breakup. The Tau Psis would have ostracized me, except for Dakota. He stuck up for me and opened up to me like the true friends we were. No one could understand our friendship after all that had happened.

Zach texted me that he was on the outskirts of town. It was a cool, sunny November day. I put on a jacket and went outside to sit on the steps and wait for him.

When I saw his car turn up the street, my heart practically leaped out of my chest. The girls had left an open parking spot for him out front. I ran to him, bouncing I was so excited, as I waited for him to park.

He jumped out of the car and pulled me into his arms.
 

"You look good!" I said. He looked whole again. "I missed you so much!"

"You look totally hot." He kissed me. And kissed me. And kissed me as my sorority sisters gathered on the front steps of the house.

They held back like they were waiting for something.

Zach's eyes danced as he pulled something out of his pocket. "You've heard the rumors?"

I frowned, puzzled. "What rumors?"

"That I've been shopping for a promise ring." He opened a wooden jewelry box. A promise ring with a tiny diamond sparkled in the November sunshine. "So?"

"Yes! Yes!"
 

He took my hand and slid the ring on. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. As my sorority sisters swarmed around us, welcoming him back and congratulating us, Dakota drove up and jumped out of his car.

He joined the group and put his arm around Zach. "Welcome back, QB1!"

In that sparkling moment, everything was perfect.

An Important Message from the Author

Are you the kind of person who sits through all the credits at the movies, waiting and hoping for that surprise little scene at the end? Even though you might be the last person left in the theater and the staff is busily sweeping up popcorn around you? That scene is called a stinger. You don't always get one. When you do, score! It might be a funny scene or an outtake. Maybe it wraps up a small dangling thread. Or sets up a sequel. My husband
loves
them.

This book is technically a standalone, cliffhanger-free book. But it does have a stinger. If you love stingers, it's your lucky day! If you don't, read the next page at your own peril.

Gina

Stinger

Zach

There was still one thing I hadn't told Dak. One thing I'd done to him that he didn't know about. That made me disgusted with myself. I'd slept with Jordan. For revenge. Way before I met Alexis. The summer between high school and college. While Dak was still dating Jordan.
 

Then they broke up. I was relieved. Case closed. They weren't right for each other. Everyone could see that. Except them. Crap. Why did they have to get back together?

While I was home recovering, Jordan visited me and begged me not to tell Dak about it. Ever.

So maybe I shouldn't. But as I'd learned, it's hard to keep a secret forever.

Reckless Longing

RECKLESS LONGING

Book One of the Reckless Series

Ellie and Logan's love story begins one hot August night…

Ellie

My mom betrayed me in the worst way possible. I can't forgive her, but I can outwit her. I'm going to unravel the family secret she's been keeping from me my whole life. So I'm going to college across the state from her, to the place that has the answers.
I hope.
But I have to be careful or I'll blow everything. I can't tell
anyone
what I'm doing.

I didn't mean to fall in love. I can't afford to give my heart away or open up to anyone, least of all charming, rich, former bad boy baseball star Logan Walker. But he looked so adorable sitting there nursing a black eye the night I met him at my very first campus event. The way he held my hand made me flush in the suffocating heat of August and feel really beautiful for the first time in so long I can't remember. My scar didn't even hurt.

But Logan's moods are mercurial. He's keeping secrets of his own that are too dark to share, even with me. We agree to be just friends. But our hearts and bodies have minds of their own. Before I know it, I'm in too deep with him and the answer to the family secret I came to campus to find may be the thing that tears us apart.

Chapter One

Twilight was falling along with the outrageous hundred-degree heat of the late August day. The shadows were long and crisp and the summer colors vivid in a way that made life feel exceptionally real and every experience heightened.

It wasn't supposed to get this hot in Washington State. Just my luck the heat wave hit as I moved in. Maybe it was symbolic. Maybe it was a warning that I was stepping into a situation too hot to handle. I didn't care. I ignored that intuitive feeling that I was in over my head.
 

My dorm wasn't air-conditioned. I had put my sparse makeup on in front of a box fan blowing hot air at me. Now, even in the comparative cool outside, my crop top stuck to my body. I felt the neat lines of my eyeliner bleeding together and my meticulously applied concealer melting away from the red scar on my left cheek, leaving me exposed. I fought my habitual urge to touch the fresh scar, reminding myself I was trying to forget everything about it.
 

I approached the open mall in front of the student union building and the gyrating throng of people who would be my classmates, my fellow alums, my future network, with my roommate Bre. She was, by default of proximity and length of acquaintance, my new best friend on campus. By length of acquaintance, I meant two days. That tells you something about the newness and state of things. Two days was an eternity when everything, and everyone, was new.

The mall rocked with music, laughter, pickup lines, the smell of beer, and pulsing bodies. I paused on the outskirts of the crowd at the entrance to the mall, uncertain, for the millionth time, about the sanity of my plan. Yet determined to carry it out. No one had ever accused me of being cautious.

"Welcome to the Week of Welcome—WoW!" Bre took my arm. "Are you ready to meet a man?"

Men were the last and first things on my mind, but for Bre they were everything. She was like a wounded bird in her desperation to find a boyfriend. I felt both protective of her and totally annoyed. As emotionally banged and bruised as I was, I wasn't really in any shape to take care of her right now.

I'd transferred to this particular university precisely seeking a man. I knew he was here. Not because I was psychic, though I sometimes wished I were. Then I'd know where this was all headed and if I was doing more irreparable damage to myself than good. Were the risks calculated enough? Was the potential payoff worth it? Wreaking more havoc on my self-esteem and bruised psyche could very well crush what was left of me.