All of My Soul (30 page)

“Lincoln, behave.” I tipped my head away from
him so his lips couldn’t reach mine and pulled his hand away from
my breast as I scolded him.

His eyes locked on mine as his desire for me
burned through his drunken daze. “You can’t dance like that and
then tell me to behave.”

Deacon laughed and threw his pool stick down
on the table, knocking the balls out of position. “That’s why we
brought him down here to begin with. We thought he was going to
attack you on the dance floor. Kennedy told us to distract him, so
we thought playing pool would help, but I think the game’s over
now.”

Carter grumbled as the three of them
abandoned their game and headed toward the stairs.

I batted Lincoln’s hand away again and tried
to pull away from him as he kissed my neck. “No. Don’t leave!” I
didn’t want to ruin their game, plus with his injuries, Lincoln
shouldn’t have been trying to get physical.

Brian and Deacon just laughed and called,
“Goodnight, Jillian.” I heard their laughter fade as they joined
the party upstairs.

As soon as we were alone, Lincoln became even
more persistent. He slipped his good hand under my shirt and tried
to pull down on the cup of my bra.

“Lincoln…” I moaned in a halfhearted attempt
to dissuade him. I shifted against the pool table until I was
sitting on top of it, making it harder for him to reach me, but he
simply pushed up my shirt and ducked down to lick my nipple before
sucking it into his mouth.

White-hot desire shot through me, making me
forget the reasons why we weren’t supposed to be intimate. All I
could think about was how I wanted more. How I needed him closer.
So I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer to
me.

I gasped as Lincoln let out a painful grunt
and pulled away from me, stumbling back several feet. He held his
side and breathed slowly through the pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I adjusted my bra
and shirt.

He nodded and ran a hand through his hair as
he tried to calm his breathing. “It’s going to be a long four
weeks.”

With cheeks puffed out, I blew out a long
breath and flopped back on the pool table. “Tell me about it.”

~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later, I finally walked across the
stage wearing my cap, gown, and multicolored hood to receive my
diploma. My heart soared, and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much,
and I could hear my friends and family cheering for me from the
audience. Never in my life did I think I would have people other
than my siblings and mother cheering me on, especially not a man
who loved me. Lincoln cheered the loudest out of all my loved ones
when my name was announced, and I could see his beaming smile in
the crowd as the head of the biology department handed me my
degree.

And, of course, ever present in the shadows
was Brody, watching me from a distance. I thought the likelihood of
Mackenzie trying to hurt me at graduation was slim, but what did I
know?

Despite everything the police had done to
catch Mackenzie and her pathetic little gang, Lincoln felt we still
needed Brody’s watchful eye, and I couldn’t disagree.

When the police interviewed the girls, they
all panicked and confessed to their crimes. The district attorney
cut a deal with Kallie and Courtney despite our wishes.
Unfortunately it was easier to make a deal than to take them to
trial, especially once the girls saw the evidence against them.
Since Jayda had hacked and destroyed my computer using the
university’s network, she received a similar deal from the
prosecutors but was expelled from the university. However, once she
took the deal, she confessed to having messed with my e-mail.

She admitted deleting e-mail responses about
job opportunities, although she claims she couldn’t remember how
many she deleted. But it turned out that several labs had responded
positively to my job inquiries. Unfortunately, since I never
responded to their e-mails, they had given the jobs to someone
else. That hurt worse than anything else she had done. Slashing my
tires was annoying, but I could handle it. She destroyed my laptop,
but Lincoln bought me a new one. My career, though? There was
nothing anyone could do to fix this. I just had to start back at
square one. Reapply and hope another opening became available. It
was all I could do.

Once Courtney, Kayla, and Jayda pleaded
guilty to a long list of accusations against them, they were
shackled and taken away to a nearby women’s medium-level detention
center. They received a reduced sentence for pleading guilty, but
they would still remain behind bars for a while.

Detective Murray had been true to his word.
Daisy got a fairly easy sentence from the district attorney.
Community service and time served. Lincoln wasn’t real happy with
that, but I was. I truly thought Daisy felt remorseful for what she
had done, and I hoped she would get some help.

Mackenzie and Asher were the two problems
left in our lives. Asher had never been found. We weren’t even sure
if he was still in the city or if he had fled. Mackenzie’s father
had bailed her out, and she had stayed out of public ever since.
Every time the district attorney tried to speak with her, she would
send her lawyers with a firm answer of no to any plea-deal offers.
We weren’t sure what game she was playing at. If she held this off
long enough for it to go to trial, she would definitely be found
guilty, especially once the girls in her gang testified against
her. Even though we didn’t like it, a plea deal made more sense for
her.

The one great thing that came from this was
that the tabloid reporters were ravenous over the juicy gossip of
the fallen beauty queen. They dragged Mackenzie’s name through the
mud, and it was awesome. There were times I felt a twinge of
remorse for her because some of the things they were printing were
downright cruel, but Lincoln was quick to remind me that she
deserved it.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

The Saturday after graduation, Kennedy, Emily
and I spent all day getting ready for the Governor’s Ball. It was a
formal fundraiser for the Governor’s reelection campaign. Lincoln’s
parents were required to attend, which meant Kennedy, Lincoln, and
Carter were expected to be there.

Carter had, surprisingly, asked Emily to be
his date for the evening, and I secretly hoped they had figured
things out. When I asked Emily about it, she simply shrugged and
said there wasn’t anything going on between them since it was
impossible to know what Carter was thinking. He was such a closed
book. Kennedy agreed with her. Even his sister couldn’t tell what
that man was thinking, but she also found it encouraging that he
had asked Emily to accompany him to the ball. She said he’d always
gone stag before.

Despite Emily’s reluctance, the three of us
had fun getting ready while Rebecca watched. Kennedy, and I suspect
Lincoln, had paid for a beauty technician to come to her house to
do our hair and makeup while the guys took the kids to the zoo for
the day.

I painted my toenails a pale pink while the
beautician worked on Emily. Rebecca sat on a chair in the corner of
the master bathroom, talking about current red carpet fashions,
while Kennedy sat balancing precariously on the edge of the tub,
painting her toenails.

I smiled to myself as I looked around the
room at these women that I loved. I never went to prom in high
school, but I imagined this is what girls went through to get ready
for it, or maybe even a wedding. These three women and Tabitha were
who I would want with me on my big day if and when Lincoln ever
asked me to marry him. Yes, okay. I admit it. I thought about it a
lot.

“
I hope you’re having as great a day as I
am. <3”
I sent Lincoln as I waited for my toenails to
dry.

“
It’s all right. Can’t wait to see you,
beautiful.”

I smiled at his reply. I could wear rags, and
he would tell me I looked good.

“
Can’t wait to see you either. Seeing you
in a suit makes me so hot. I can’t imagine how sexy you’ll be in a
tux.”
I giggled as I sent my uncharacteristic slightly naughty
text.

“
My suits make you hot?”
came the
instantaneous reply.

“
Very. You look so delicious. They make me
ache for you.”
I wanted to add that I didn’t care if his ribs
were still sore and that there was technically one more week to his
doctor’s ban on physical activity. We saw each other every day, but
I missed him. I missed his hands on my body. I missed his lips on
my skin. I wanted him tonight.

A sharp, yet gentle, smack on the top of my
head pulled me out of my daze. Kennedy had hit me with a
magazine.

“Are you sexting my brother?”

My face got hot, and I quickly set my phone
down. “No,” I said but then decided to admit to it. “Yes.”

“Gross,” Kennedy complained.

Rebecca laughed and agreed. “Plus we’re
supposed to be having a girls day. No boys.”

Emily snorted. “Oh, please. Leave her alone.
If I was dating a guy as hot as Lincoln, I’d be blowing up his
phone too.”

“What about Carter?” I asked her. “I bet he’d
love some naughty texts from you.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “No. I can one hundred
percent guarantee he wouldn’t.”

“She’s right,” Kennedy said. “Mom and dad
have him wound so tight, worried about his career. An errant nudie
pic could kill a political career. He’d never risk it. Not that I
want to think about nudie pics of either of my brothers!”

“We weren’t sending nudie pics,” I said with
a laugh. “We were just flirting.” I held my phone up with my texts
from Lincoln, displayed so she could see there were no pictures. My
phone chimed, and Rebecca grabbed it out of my hand.

“Rebecca!” I cried as I scrambled to my feet
to get my phone back. I never wanted to hide anything from my
sisters or Kennedy, but some things were private.

My sister leaned away from me and kicked her
foot out to keep me back.
“I ache for you too, Princess.
Constantly,”
she read in a staccato voice as I clawed at her,
desperate to stop her.

“Rebecca,” Emily chimed in. “That’s
private.”

I was grateful for her opinion, but since the
beautician was fixing her hair, she wasn’t of much help.

“What should we text back?” my evil sister
asked Kennedy.

I made another lunge for her, resulting in a
kick to my thigh. “Nothing! Give it back!”

With a wicked grin, Kennedy took the phone
from my sister and started typing on my screen.

I pounced at Lincoln’s sister, but Rebecca
stood and grabbed me around the waist, holding me back.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

“
Priapism is no joke, Lincoln. You should
see a doctor for erections lasting longer than four hours.”

Emily, Rebecca, and even the beautician
howled with laughter, and I felt my face get hot. Rebecca’s arms
loosened around my waist, and I broke free of her grasp. I grabbed
my phone out of Kennedy’s hand and pushed her backward in the
process.

She screamed as she lost her balance on the
ledge and fell into the empty tub. The last thing I saw as I
stalked out of the bathroom was Kennedy lying in the bathtub,
holding her stomach and laughing uncontrollably. I tried to hide
the smile on my face. I couldn’t stay mad at these girls.

My phone chimed in my hand as I went to get a
bottle of water. Lincoln had sent two question marks, and I giggled
to myself. He was probably so confused.

“
Sorry. Our sisters are jerks.”
I
replied.

“
Ah. I see. That was from Kenny?”

“
Yeah. She thinks she’s funny.”

I took a long drink of water as I waited for
his reply.

“
You’d think she’d know by now that
paybacks are a bitch. :)”
he texted, and I laughed to
myself.

“
Something tells me she’s going to find
out.”

“
You know it, baby. Have a good day. I’ll
see you later.”

I sent him one last kiss before returning to
the girls with my own evil grin on my face.

A cloud of hairspray enveloped my head, and I
coughed slightly as I stood in front of the giant bathroom mirrors.
The beautician had weaved the top part of my hair into a romantic
swirl, leaving a few curled tendrils loose to frame my face. The
bottom half of my hair fell freely down my back, but she had curled
it into long spirals that bounced when I moved.

I had asked her to go light on my makeup
since I normally didn’t wear a lot. Somehow she had listened to me
while still making over my face. My pores, freckles, and (very
small) wrinkles had disappeared. She made my eyes pop without
needing a heavy, smoky, eye shadow, and she had gone very natural
with my lipstick, but somehow my lips still looked full and
shiny.

Lincoln had sent me shopping last week with
Kennedy, and we both found gorgeous dresses. I ran my hands over
the waistband of mine as I admired myself in Kennedy’s full-length
mirror. The strapless, light gray, floor-length dress fit me like a
glove. The sweetheart neckline covered enough to be a little
revealing while still being sophisticated and elegant. The satin
material crisscrossed over my bust until it met a band of silver
sparkles at my waist. From there down to the floor, the dress was
covered with a black crinkly lace. It hugged my hips and butt
without being too tight before opening up at the knees for a
bell-shaped hem.

It was beautiful and elegant and made me feel
gorgeous, and I couldn’t wait for Lincoln to see me.

“Ready to go, Princess?” Kennedy asked me as
she threw her arm over my shoulders. She and Rebecca had been
calling me by Lincoln’s term of endearment ever since they hijacked
my phone. Brats.

Kennedy looked amazing in her cherry-red
dress. It was much more risqué than mine. Her neckline plunged to a
depth I would be uncomfortable with, and the slit on the side came
up so high that it would have revealed my scars had I been wearing
it. I wasn’t sure it was appropriate for a political function for
her father, but I shut my mouth. My friend liked to push the
envelope, and she looked a-freaking-mazing tonight.