جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

"Come again?" I choked out, wiping a sticky drop of overly sweet spiked punch off my chin with the back of my hand. My throat was straight-up burning like I had just swallowed battery acid.Justin didn’t even flinch at my total lack of grace. He just offered this small, easy laugh, standing there looking ridiculously handsome under the glowing orange light of the massive fire pit."You look absolutely gorgeous tonight," he repeated. His voice dropped an octave, losing that polite, overly-friendly tone he always used whenever we passed each other outside the lecture halls.My brain completely stalled. The guy I had been subtly pining over for months—the guy who barely even registered my existence when I sat two rows behind him in microeconomics class, was currently standing two feet away, looking at me like I was the only girl on the entire campus green. A warm, giddy blush crept up my neck, burning hot enough to rival the roaring bonfire right behind us."Wow. Thanks for the compl

"Are you actually kidding me right now?" I stared at the absolute hurricane of garment bags, makeup palettes, and lighting equipment currently taking over my crappy apartment living room.Jax stood right in the middle of the chaos, looking way too smug for a guy who had just barged into my home at four in the afternoon. Standing next to him was a blonde girl holding a literal ring light and a camera rig."Clara, meet Daisy," Jax said, gesturing to the blonde. "My little sister. She runs the Briar Insider blog.""Hi!" Daisy chirped, completely ignoring the fact that I was wearing sweatpants and a stained t-shirt. "Jax gave me the rundown. I’m going to stick to you guys like glue tonight. We’re going to feed the internet so many cute, exclusive moments of you and Carter at the Gala that everyone will completely forget that weird photoshopped picture ever happened. Think of me as your personal paparazzi."Before I could even process that, Allie walked out of my kitchen dragging a woman d

Backing out just wasn't happening.If I even breathed a word about canceling this stupid trip, Jax would literally have an aneurysm, and this entire fragile PR miracle we just pulled out of our asses would go up in flames. So yeah, I was going to Telluride. But I sure as hell wasn't doing it without some serious ground rules.Carter rolled up to my crappy apartment building right at noon. Of course he looked disgustingly good. He was wearing a thick, dark flannel and faded jeans that did way too many favors for his thighs. He didn't even flinch when I shoved three heavy bags at him for a two-day trip. He just smirked, grabbed the straps, and hoisted my luggage into the back of his massive, snow-dusted truck like it weighed absolutely nothing.The drive was five hours of pure, agonizing torture.A massive blizzard hit about halfway up the mountain pass. The windshield wipers were violently slapping heavy, wet snow away, and the truck’s heater was blasting full force. Trapped in th

I stretched, my legs tangling in a mountain of ridiculously soft hotel pillows. The morning sunlight was stabbing aggressively through a tiny gap in the blackout curtains, hitting me right in the eye. My brain was completely fuzzy, still half-stuck in that weird, heavy zone between sleep and the leftover panic from yesterday. I blinked a few times, staring at the ceiling, waiting for that familiar wave of dread to settle in my chest like it usually did after a flashback. It didn't come. Instead, I just felt warm. Safe, actually. I rolled over, fully prepared to yell at Carter for hogging the thick faux-fur blanket. But my hand just slapped an empty mattress. I propped myself up on my elbows, squinting through the dim room. Carter wasn't in the bed. I found him on the floor. He was literally crumpled on the rock-hard, ugly geometric hotel rug. Carter is a massive guy, six-foot-something of pure athlete, and he was folded into a human pretzel just to fit in the space betw

​My thumb hovered over the glowing screen of my phone. The apartment was completely dead quiet except for Allie snoring softly through the thin drywall of her bedroom. My heart was doing this stupid, heavy pounding thing against my ribs. ​“And what exactly do you mean?” I typed back. I hit send before my brain could talk me out of it. ​Three little grey typing bubbles popped up instantly. She was waiting for me. ​“Why don't we just meet up in person,” Britney replied. ​I actually rolled my eyes at the ceiling. Lol, yeah right. “Hmm, Alright, when?” ​“Now.” ​I let out an audible scoff in the dark living room. “Are you out of your mind? It's literally ten minutes to 1AM.” ​“I am aware, Andrew's Cafe, you got thirty minutes.” ​The absolute nerve of this girl. I gripped the phone tighter. “Who do you think you are bossing around?” ​“Dont keep me waiting sweetheart.” ​I sat there in the dark for a solid three minutes just glaring at the screen. Every single logical brain cell I p