Campus Heartthrob (The Campus Series)

I have no idea how long we stand there, clinging to each other in the middle of my bedroom. It could be minutes or hours. All I know is that when the tears finally subside, I’m drained of all the emotion bottled up inside me. Even with the daunting history that stands between us, nothing has ever felt as right as being in Brayden’s arms. I’ve missed it so much more than I allowed myself to realize. I want to stay in their comforting strength forever.

That’s not something I was ever able to imagine before Brayden came into my life. Not even with Ethan. As much as I liked him, our relationship was filled with too much drama to last for the long haul. But the dark-haired football player was different. More than that, I felt different when I was with him.

I keep my face pressed against his chest, realizing that if I risk a glance in his direction, this fragile interlude we’ve managed to discover will shatter into nothingness. All of the heartache that triggered this gulf will rush in and leave us on opposite sides.

I don’t think I could bear that.

Not now.

Not when his arms are wrapped protectively around me.

His hands loosen from my body before settling on my cheeks as he attempts to lift my face. Instead of allowing him to do it, I fight him, refusing to glance up.

“Sydney,” he whispers, “look at me.”

I give my head a little shake. “I can’t.”

“Please, baby?”

The endearment has my heart shattering into a million jagged pieces. It takes everything I have inside to force myself to meet his gaze.

“I love you, Syd.”

I didn’t think it was possible for more tears to flood my eyes, but I was wrong.

When I remain silent, unable to give voice to all the thoughts circling through my head, he says, “Did you hear me? I love you.”

“Why would you tell me that?” I whisper brokenly. Doesn’t Brayden understand that he’s only shoving the knife in deeper and inflicting more damage? Is that his intention? To bring me to my knees? To cause as much heartache as possible?

His thumb gently swipes at one cheek as wetness continues to trek down it. “Because it’s the truth. No matter how much I’ve tried to fight it, there’s no changing how I feel about you.”

His palms fall away from my face before he sweeps me up into his arms and carries me to the bed. As he settles on the mattress, I can’t resist burrowing against the solid strength of his chest.

Even though I’m terrified to give voice to the question, the words are out of my mouth before I can rein them back in again. “How can you love me now that you know the truth?”

“I didn’t have a choice in losing my father. The circumstances were beyond my control. Beyond yours. I refuse to lose anyone else that I love,” he says simply. “I won’t allow that accident to steal any more of my happiness. Or yours.”

My heart feels like it’s caught in a vise. “How can you forgive me so easily?”

“There’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t do anything wrong, Sydney. And neither did your family. What happened...” his voice trails off. “It was a tragic accident. I’m not going to hold that against you or them. I can’t even hold it against Peter. He was a kid who made a terrible error in judgment.”

A hot rush of tears stings my eyes. “I should have told you the truth right away instead of keeping it a secret. I’m sorry for that.”

“Now that I’ve had time to process everything, I understand why you handled it the way you did. I’m sorry for how I reacted when I found out. I felt terrible about walking out of the ice cream shop the way I did. I texted Lucus the next day to make sure he was all right.”

“Really?” I blink, unable to believe that he would put my family above his own.

“Yeah. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. We talked about it and had a good conversation.”

If I hadn’t already realized that I was in love with Brayden, this would have pushed me over the edge.

My expression remains somber. As much as I don’t want to hold back, I can’t help it. “Are you sure that we can move forward so easily?”

Brayden lowers his forehead to mine as our gazes stay locked. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I love you, Sydney. More than I thought possible. Maybe this shook us a bit, but that’s all it was. A tremor. One we can move past.”

Everything inside me melts into a gooey pile. “I love you, too.”

As I release what’s been in my heart, the heaviness weighing me down finally dissipates, leaving me feeling lighter. There’s no way for us to change what happened in the past, but we can do our best to rewrite the future and make it what we want.