AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why don’t you two kids come inside for a few minutes?” his father said, stuffing the hankie back into his pocket. “Yer momma just made fresh tea.”
His eyes lit up, and I giggled.
“We’ll be up in a second.” Jase turned to me as his dad ambled off. “You okay with how I broke the news? Guess I could’ve done it better, but really, how do you announce you have a girlfriend without sounding lame.”
“No. It was fine.” I paused as he sauntered up to me. “So I’m the first girl you’ve brought home?”
He tucked a loose strand of hair back. “Since high school.”
That was forever ago it seemed, and I bet it was Jack’s mom. One of these days I was going to get him to talk about her. “That’s . . . wow. I’m . . .”
“Honored?”
I snorted. So ladylike. “That sounds a bit extreme.”
Jase laughed as he sidled up to my side. “Well, a guy only takes a girl home to his parents that he’s really serious or cares about.”
It was late when we returned to my dorm, and when Jase pulled around, I could see that the light was on in my dorm room. Deb must be back.
Jase followed my gaze. “We still on for dinner tomorrow?”
I glanced back at him. “I thought we were having lunch at Betty’s?”
He grinned. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have dinner.”
“True,” I laughed, but the sound died off as he pulled up to the sidewalk. I was reluctant to leave him. Today . . . today had been a great day. Jeep idling, he reached for the door handle. “You don’t have to walk me up.”
“But—”
I silenced him with a kiss. If he came up, I wouldn’t want him to leave, and I needed to talk to Deb. “You don’t have to do it. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
He took his hand off the door. “Text me before you go to bed.”
My lips split into a wide grin. “Okay.”
Before I could pull away, he wrapped his hand around the nape of my neck and kissed me. At once, my mouth opened to his. He tasted me in a way that made it even harder to leave. “Night, Tess.”
I closed my eyes as I pulled back. “Night.”
Jase waited until I was inside before pulling away and I hopped along on my crutches, taking the elevator. Like I suspected, Deb was in the dorm.
She was sitting on the bed, cross-legged, hair pulled back and wearing an oversized hoodie. When she looked up, she smacked her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”
I stilled in the door, confused. “What?”
“Crutches!” She unfurled her legs but didn’t make it far. “I knew you would be on crutches, but I just . . . I don’t know.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Placing the crutches against the wall, I carefully walked to my bed and sat down. I didn’t know how to start this conversation, but I knew I was going to tell her about my past. It just wasn’t easy to say, by the way, I dated a fucking loser who beat me. “Debbie—”
“I broke up with Erik.”
I blinked, thinking I hadn’t heard her right. And then hope sprang within me. “What?”
She got up and sat beside me. “I broke up with Erik earlier today.”
“That’s . . .” What did I say? Great? Fantastic? That seemed inappropriate because I think Deb really cared about him.
“It needed to be done. It had to be because . . .” She ducked her chin, hiding her gaze. “Because you were right on Sunday. Erik . . . he can be a really good guy, but . . .”
