Wild Forces: A Friends to Lovers Romance (O-Town Book 2) by Karen Renee (summer reads .TXT) 📕

“Really, Cassie. I see how you look at him. It’s all good. And you’re gonna be fine.”

AFTER MY DATA ANALYTICS class, I went to the parking garage. I unlocked my Toyota Camry, settled in the driver’s seat, closed the door and locked it. Reaching to the backseat floorboard, I grabbed the small cooler I kept there.

While I dug out my lunch, I told my phone to call my father, but then I mashed the end call icon before it could connect. Between talking to DeShawn and a ninety-minute class, my brain was shot, and I couldn’t handle talking to my dad. I cued up my iTunes, which seemed to be set constantly to my ‘Soothing Songs’ playlist.

I hit the play button, and Sade’s “Love is Stronger than Pride” filled my car.

My nose began to sting, and I deep-breathed.

That song encompassed everything about me and Gabe. Well, except the ‘not pretending to be good at forgiving’ part. I thought I had forgiven him for sleeping with Kaylee, and I acted like I did. Maybe I was pretending, though. It still stuck in my craw, seeing him on my bed yesterday. Mainly because the first visual I had after seeing him there was of him with my roommate instead. Suppressing my feelings wasn’t working any more. Maybe it never had.

But, as much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t do it. Then that beautiful voice reminded me I did still love Gabe, and my love for him was stronger than my pride. It was funny though because my pride prevented me from sharing my feelings, so what did that say for the strength of my love for him?

I ate my peanut butter and jelly and let it settle before I opened a bag of potato chips. My stomach felt weird, but not in a bad way.

The song faded and “Sunset Lover” by Petit Biscuit began. It brought a smile to my face because I had argued with Gabe and Brock that as club DJs they should expand the musical horizons of the people at GILT and other clubs with some laid-back electronica stylings. They humored me, but since I rarely went to the clubs, I figured they ultimately ignored me.

They were two of the hottest DJs in town, and not just because of their looks. The two of them knew music and what made a throng of club-going twenty-somethings go crazy. They wouldn’t have kept their jobs for the past three years without a feel for the business.

I popped a few chips in my mouth but closed the bag in favor of the banana in my cooler instead. While I peeled the fruit, my phone dinged with a text. I hit the display to see it was from Gabe.

Hey, D tells me you’re on campus. You got a few? Meet you at Foxtail in the bookstore.

I admired and loathed his ability to force a meeting on me. He had told me his father had spent years as a sales consultant or some sort of thing, and the pushiness in that message certainly reflected his father’s influence.

Then, I re-read it and it hit me. DeShawn told him I’m on campus. Guys! Wasn’t the first time I realized men gossiped as much, if not more than women.

With a sigh, I finished my banana and texted back: I have maybe ten minutes. See you there in twenty?

With my eyes to my rearview mirror and side mirrors, I surveyed my surroundings to make sure Asher wasn’t in sight. Not that he should be, but as Vamp had pointed out, I couldn’t count on a piece of paper, so I had to stay smart.

I carried my garbage to a trashcan and walked over to the bookstore to meet Gabe.

Gabe

IMMEDIATELY, I KNEW something was wrong when Cassie approached. The smile on her face looked real to anyone except someone who knew her. My aviator sunglasses hid my eyes narrowing on her as she approached. When she came even with me, I tugged them off and slid the arm into my t-shirt.

“You sure you have ten minutes, Cass? I get the impression I shouldn’t have been so pushy.”

She pressed her lips together for a moment. “No. It’s fine. Are you getting coffee?”

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it. You need a jolt?”

She shook her head.

I led her to a secluded alcove with a bench and sat down. She joined me, but put more distance between us than usual.

My instinct was to arch a brow –or ask her outright about that– but I held back.

“So. What did you need?”

After a deep breath, I recounted my conversation with Dad.

“Your father’s tired of paying your freight, I take it.”

I smiled but didn’t mean it. “I wouldn’t say that exactly. He shares my opinion about not pursing a degree if I don’t genuinely intend to work in that industry.”

“Okay,” she mumbled.

Cassie wasn’t a girl who mumbled very often, but I figured her stomach still wasn’t quite right. Either way, I wasn’t going to take her to task about it.

I sighed. “Thing is, I can’t figure out what I should do. There’s plenty of things I could major in, but I don’t know that those things will lead me to where I want to be in life. Hell, I have to wonder if any major will lead me to where I want to be later in life.”

She turned to me, and for the first time since she walked up, she really looked at me. “So, where do you want to be ‘later in life,’ as you put it.”

I looked into her emerald eyes and a voice in my head whispered with you. Surely, I didn’t hear that right.

I cleared my throat and shook my head. “I don’t know, Daughtry.”

“Liar,” she returned.

My eyes shot to hers. Her expression said no bullshit with her. Just like the first day I approached her. I chuckled.

“I don’t know. I dig the scene at the club, but I don’t always dig the hours.”

Her head