She's My Everything (Crave and Claimed Book 1) by Sam Crescent (books like beach read TXT) 📕

He ran his hand up and down the metal. “I like this space. You know. It makes me feel at one with … everything.” He wanted the world to open him up and swallow him. “It’s so hard and, you know, gray.”

She burst out laughing.

Damn, that sound.

It did shit to him, making his cock ache just watching her. She wasn’t fake. The laughter was real. Everything about her was real and he found it highly addictive.

****

Laylah glanced over at the jock leaning against her locker. She placed the books inside. It was her mission to read through a list of one hundred books by the end of the year. So far, she was at seventy-five. Still twenty-five more to go and she was excited about reaching her target.

Every single year, she made a long list of achievements she wanted to work through. Excelling at school was always at the top of the list. Losing weight another, which often ended in failure. She had a few more, but as Blue smiled at her, she had to wonder what he was doing here.

“Are you meeting someone here?” Who hung out at a locker just because of the color? Made absolutely no sense to her, but whatever. She grabbed her English books and closed the door.

“Actually, I wanted to see you,” he said.

“You did?”

“Yeah, how do you feel about food?”

She frowned. “Is that a trick question?”

He ran his fingers through his hair and if she wasn’t mistaken, he looked nervous and kind of cute. She couldn’t deny the cuteness oozing off him. It was … funny. The few times she’d found herself glancing over at Blue, he’d always been cool, calm, and collected. She considered him the three Cs, but again, she never took all that much time thinking about him. She wasn’t being cruel, she just didn’t see a reason to linger on a conversation that had no grounds.

Blue laughed. “Well, I happen to love pizza. What about you?”

“Who doesn’t love pizza?”

“You’re not helping me here,” he said.

“Blue, what the hell is going on?” she asked. This was the longest conversation they’d ever experienced.

Silence passed between them. Blue kept looking at her like he wanted to say something and still, she was none the wiser. She glanced at her wrist, seeing she was running out of time. “I really got to go.”

“Go out with me,” he said.

This made her stop, nearly dropping her books. Surely, she’d heard wrong. There was no way he was asking her to go out with him. She chuckled. “Excuse me?”

“Go out with me. I know a great pizza place. Let me buy you some food.”

This wasn’t a joke. She glanced around to see they’d gained a bit of an audience.

“I have to go to class.” She spun on her heel, making her way toward English, hoping for some distance. Of course, that wouldn’t happen. Nope. She and Blue had the exact same English class.

“Is that a yes or a no?” he asked.

She stopped and turned toward him. “Is this some kind of joke?” Her two friends, Becky and John, had both told her they’d caught him staring at her. She didn’t give herself time to dwell on it. What was the point? He was the most popular guy in school, while she held her title of nerd proudly. There were a few other insulting words people said to her, but she often ignored them as they weren’t worth her time. It was how she got through school without crying. Also, she’d discovered if she didn’t respond to anyone, they’d get bored and move on to another target.

Whenever she saw bullying happen, she did intervene because she couldn’t stand others to get hurt.

Blue grabbed her arm. “I’m talking to you, Laylah.”

“Yes, I know and I’m … dealing with that. I am.” She blew out a breath. “I need to get to class, and I appreciate the offer I do, but no, thank you.”

Cringing at her response, she quickly ducked under his arm and entered English class, where John waited for her. Becky had a different lesson this period. They tended to stick together. Right now, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of sticking. She sat down and kept her gaze away from the main door.

“What’s up with you?”

Glancing over at John, she forced a smile to her lips. “Er, I’m not exactly sure.” She pinched her arm and winced.

John frowned. “You know that’s strange.”

“I think Blue Jones just asked me on a date.” She tried to whisper.

“Really?”

She stared at John as he started to look for Blue and she grabbed his arm, tugging him to focus on her. “Stop that.”

“Oh, come on, this is way too good. You know that.”

“Stop it. You’re not funny.”

“He’s looking at you. I mean really looking at you, and the dude has this giant frown on his face. Wait a minute, you turned him down, didn’t you?”

She took a deep breath. “It’s not against the law to say no.”

“Have you seen that guy?”

“Yes, I’ve seen him.”

“Then you and I both know it should be a sin to deny him.”

“John, stop it.” If he kept on going, she wasn’t going to be able to stop laughing.

“Babe, I’m a heterosexual and even I’d go out with the guy.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s some kind of joke.”

John looked toward Blue, and much to her surprise, he’d actually dropped down on the table behind her.

“I don’t think it’s a joke,” John said.

“Whose side are you on?” she asked.

“Your side, but if you’re being a royal pain in the ass, I’ve got to, you know, tell you.” John cleared his throat and she turned to see him holding a note that clearly came from Blue.

She took the note.

Why won’t you go out with me?

She wrote back: There’s no law that says I have to. She turned and slid the note back to him. The teacher started the lesson and she expected that to be over.

Seconds passed.

John slid the note back to her.

Staring at it, she took a breath,