Rocking Kin (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series Book 3) (29 page)

Angie was the first to pull away. She lifted a set of keys and wiggled them at me. “This is for you. I picked it out. What do you think?”

I glanced from the keys now in my hand to the white Range Rover. “For me?”

“Of course for you, silly. Who else would it be for?” Caleb teased as he draped an around my shoulders and lifted one of my cases in his free hand.

“Let’s give this bad boy a test drive,” Angie urged as she opened the back so that Caleb could put my case inside before he went back for the others. She jumped into the passenger seat and I slid behind the wheel.

Laughing happily, I waited until Caleb was in the back seat before pulling out of the driveway. On the drive over to my new apartment, I asked the twins about their trip. They kept me entertained with their flight until I pulled into the garage of my new apartment building. It was just a few blocks from school so I could have walked if I’d needed to, but with my new Range Rover I wouldn’t have to.

Caleb carried my cases up to the top floor of the apartment building and I used my keys to unlock the door. The super was supposed to let in the movers the day before, who were bringing the furniture I’d picked out with Jace the weekend before. Carter had given me a nice little budget to play with for the odds and ends I needed and I’d found some great items.

“Happy birthday!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voices yell from the kitchen. Why was everyone trying to give me a heart attack? I turned to find Carter and Jace both standing in the kitchen with a cake on the small island counter between them. At the sight of Jace my heart did that crazy little somersault that it always did and I was assaulted with a wave of love for him that left me breathless.

It took me a few seconds to tear my eyes away from him and turn them on Carter. He was standing there with a broad grin on his still-handsome face. “Happy birthday, Kin,” he repeated and stepped forward to hug me close.

Happy tears blinded me and I tried to blink them away but a few escaped anyway. “It really is now.” I hugged him tight, breathing in the familiar scents that I’d always associated with love and happy memories. “It’s so good to see you.”

“So, how do you like our apartment?” Angie asked as she moved across the kitchen to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

How long had they been there? I hadn’t stocked the fridge yet. Then what she had said registered.

“Our apartment?” My heart was racing with the possibilities.

Angie closed the fridge door, a grin splitting her beautiful face. “Yep, ours.” She opened the water in her hands as if she hadn’t just rocked my world. “Mine and yours.”

“But… what about school?”

“I’m taking the semester off and starting UCLA in the fall,” she told me as if she were telling me she had ordered pizza and not just uprooted her life to be closer to me.

I couldn’t stop the tears as they rushed forward. “Angie…”

“No tears,” Carter interceded. “Today is going to be a happy day, and by God I will make sure it stays happy.”

An emotion-filled laugh bubbled out of me. “I’m happy,” I croaked out in a hoarse voice. “Any happier and you’ll kill me.”

Strong arms wrapped around my waist and I leaned into Jace’s heat. “In that case, I shouldn’t tell you that I’ve been talking to Emmie, huh?” he murmured in my ear.

Something in his voice had me turning in his arms so I could see his face. “What were you talking to her about?” He talked to Emmie every day it seemed now that his contract with First Bass was getting closer to being over. She had plans for Tainted Knights. I knew with her as their manager they were going to skyrocket into the rock world.

“Oh, nothing really.” He brushed a kiss over the tip of my nose. “Just that I really like your music and wondered if she would be interested in us recording a demo for the record labels to listen to one of your songs. She liked the idea.”

My stomach clenched with excitement. “You did? She did?” I was already bouncing up and down. “Oh, my God. You…She…I can’t even talk right now.”

He chuckled and kissed me again. “Happy birthday, baby. I love you.”

I wrapped my arms around him, knowing I would never let him go. “I love you, Jace. So much.”

Next from Terri Anne Browning

Un-Shattering Lucy

Defying her Mafioso (Book 1 of The Vitucci Mafiosos Series)

Tainted Kiss (Book 1 of the Tainted Knights Rocker Series)

Angel’s Halo MC (Book 5 Title to be announced)

Turn the page for a sneak peak into

CRIMSON CATCH

GAME TIME SERIES

BY

S.M. DONALDSON

CRIMSON CATCH

All rights reserved. This Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased or publicly performed or used in any form without prior written permission of the publisher.

Thank you for respecting the work of this Author.

Crimson Catch is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this book are either from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, with exception to brand names, Artists named, and their song lyrics, and direct quotes from movies whose titles have been named. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright © 2016, SM Donaldson

Cover by: IndieVention Designs

Cover Image: Shutterstock

Editing by Chelly Peeler

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the time where memories are made and hearts get broken.

Collin Atwood is a sophomore at Everly High School and the all-American boy in an all-American family. It's his first year on the varsity team and the pressure is on, from his dad and the town. For the first time in over twenty years his hometown could be in line for a state championship title and he’s their ticket to get there. 

That is if he can get his grades up enough to play. 

Enter the daughter of the last guy that held the town's hopes and dreams of state titles, who turned into a drunk after he blew it all. Paired up with Joelle Prescott as his tutor, these two are far from being in the same social circle. She's an honor student and a badass on the drum line. In her family full of athletes, she feels invisible. Which is good sometimes...makes it easier to keep her secrets. Will he keep her secrets? Will she help him make the grade?

WARNING: This book is a Mature YA book. It is intended for people 15+, it is not suitable for those younger.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

This series is very special to me. For a long time I wanted to try my hand at Young Adult, now my hometown has inspired me to do it.

The small town I grew up in had two schools, an elementary school for Pre-K – 5
^th
and a high school for 6
^th
-12
^th
. All of the surrounding towns are pretty much the same way. Growing up in a place like this is special. Every Friday night during the fall you can hear the noise and see the lights from the football stadium and once you get close enough, you can smell the boiled peanuts and grilled hamburgers from the concession stand. During the winter and early spring, the high school gym is packed out a few nights a week with the smell of popcorn wafting out the door. Spring time brings baseball and softball to life. With parents somewhere between the school fields and the recreational fields, many nights of supper are eaten from the concession stands.

Our school wasn’t your typical high school with cliques. We didn’t have enough people, so we were like one big clique. I graduated with just under one hundred people. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have the couple of small groups of snarky people who thought they were better than everyone, but our school just wasn’t segregated that way. Most of the kids in our school were on multi teams. They may cheer, but they could also be marching with band at half-time. At the end of football season a player may be leaving that practice to go straight to basketball practice. I had a great principal who thought the students shouldn’t have to choose. The adults had to learn to work with the students and each other on scheduling.

So this book I hope brings a little bit of the small town world to life for you. The town where your parents know what you did before you got home from thinking you got away with doing it. You can’t go anywhere without someone knowing your parents, the words “do I need to call your (insert…parents, Mama, Daddy, Grandma)” are scarier than the idea of getting a paddling or any other punishment and most of the time, also, the cops are just going to give you a ride home.

So here’s that glimpse. I hope you enjoy it.

XOXO

S.M. Donaldson

DEDICATION

To my band director,
Marty Clark
, for telling me my eighth grade year that I was trying out for color guard and not accepting the answer that I was trying out for cheerleading. LOL Some of my best memories come from those four years I was in marching band, even if I didn’t play an instrument. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. So much of the discipline in my life comes from then. And last, I’m not sure how many innocent bull horns and cordless microphones lost their lives during those years, but it was so worth it.

To my English I and English III teacher,
Tammy Jones
. Thank you for always being open to see things the way I did. Thanks for not trying to commit me to the state hospital when I said that Romeo and Juliet were stupid to kill themselves over a petty teenage romance. Also the fact that I thought Van Gogh, though misguided, was a lot more romantic because he was a real person who had to walk around with a messed up ear from his declaration of love.

Both of you shaped so much during that period of my life and I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.

Not to mention the stories from you guys being neighbors was hilarious.

Ms. Jones. Attack of the rain frogs. Screaming like someone was murdering her, to the point Mr. Clark runs out of his house and the VP who lived on the other side comes running out also. LMBO.

CHAPTER 1

Collin-

“You wanted to see me, Coach?” I nervously ask as I enter his office.

“Take a seat, Atwood,” he says, motioning to the black chair on the other side of his desk. Clasping his hands together, he rests on his elbows. “Son, you are aware that with you starting as our quarterback this year that we have a real shot at State?” I nod as he continues. “Don’t you think this school, hell, this town deserves the chance to host that honor?” I nod again. “Well, how are we going to manage to do that if I have to bench you for grades?” I shrug my shoulders forward. “Well, the answer is we won’t. I know a great group moved up to Varsity with you this year and that’s the reason we could be great, but you’re their leader. I know Prescott is the Captain, but mainly because he’s the only senior. He’s a great player, but it’s not the same level of playing. You are calling the plays and taking the snaps, so it’s your job to lead this team. Now, the only teacher that has come to me so far is your Geometry teacher. Any others I should be expecting?”

I sigh. “Mrs. Jones, my English teacher,” I say, looking at my lap.

He nods. “All right, here is what we are going to do.” He stands up. “Prescott! Come in here!”

James Prescott sticks his head in the doorway. “Yeah, Coach?”