Page 34 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

I exhaled heavily. “Ryan apologized, then begged me to take him back. I told him I was with Daniel, and then we came back here to find Daniel’s car gone. Then Ryan dropped me at his place.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Ryan said he wants you back? Then he agreed to take you to Daniel?”

I shrugged. I hadn’t really thought too much about it at the time. I’d just wanted to get to Daniel.

Amber shook her head, her eyes wide with shock or horror or something. “So what happened with Daniel? He wasn’t pissed at you, was he?”

She looked like she was about to go castrate some boys if I answered with an affirmative. I thought about Daniel’s reaction when I’d walked in his room, and my heart rate quickened. Sitting up, I pulled my knees up and turned so I was facing her a little more.

“No, he was fine. We . . . uh . . . we talked, and I let him know I would choose him in a heartbeat.” I took a deep breath. “Then we . . . uh . . . I may have let him skip a few bases and steal home . . . ”

She frowned for a total of one and a half seconds before her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Shut up!” she whisper-yelled. “You didn’t!”

I felt my cheeks heat with a blush and buried my face in my hands again.

Amber squealed, and I felt the bed move up and down. “Tell me, tell me! Was it good?”

I looked up at her and laughed. “It really was. It didn’t hurt, though. Isn’t it supposed to?” I asked, worried something might be wrong with me.

She waved my concern away. “Nah, your hymen probably broke ages ago using tampons or something. Besides, it usually only hurts if you’re really tense and nervous and not primed and ready to go. So, he was good, then?”

I cringed at her directness before considering her question. “God,” I said, closing my eyes. “He turns me on so freaking much. I literally begged him to take me. I’m such a ho.”

Amber started laughing and fell back on the bed. “Oh my God, you’re so funny. But that’s exactly why it didn’t hurt. I’m sure he didn’t take much convincing, though.”

I shook my head, the depth of my emotions sobering me. “Do you think it’s stupid to think you could fall in love with someone in a month?”

She pushed herself up to sit and c

rossed her legs, her expression now serious. “No, I don’t. I think it’s entirely possible.” She shifted on the bed, her brow creased with thought. “The thing with you and Daniel is that even though you didn’t know each other personally before he came here, you kind of knew each other by default, if you know what I mean . . . ”

I frowned and shook my head.

“Well . . . for instance, we’ve all heard about Daniel and what he’s gone through with his dad sending him to military school and all that, so we already had some sense of the kind of person he was before he came. Knowing Ryan made us feel like we kind of already knew Daniel in some way. The same thing applies to you for Daniel. Even though he might not have known who you were or that Ryan was even dating you, he would’ve heard things about you from his mom that gave him some knowledge of what kind of person you were. It’s kind of allowed both of you to bypass that phase of trying to work out if the other person is decent or not and just focus on your connection—which, might I remind you, is visible from the freaking moon.”

Inhaling deeply, I slumped back against the foot of Amber’s bed and bit my lip in thought. What she said made perfect sense to me. Without the worry or questions that usually came when getting to know a perfect stranger, we’d both been able to just relax and let our feelings do what they wanted. And it seemed they wanted to grow fast.

I smiled. I liked the fact that what Daniel and I shared was obvious to others. It seriously helped knowing it wasn’t just in my own head.

Chapter 14

Daniel

Turning the music down, I pulled into Amber’s drive and stopped behind a black Camaro. Frowning, I cut the ignition and climbed from the car, eyeing the shiny black machine with unease.

It had been just over two weeks since Amy had left her parents’ home, something that still didn’t sit well with me. She’d insisted she was good with it. That it was something she needed to do—not just because of me, but because of her—and I definitely agreed her parents needed a big wake-up call when it came to Amy’s love, but I still felt solely responsible for her now sudden homelessness.

Moving around the circular drive, I slowed my steps when I saw Amy on the porch with a tall, blond guy. The dark expression he was wearing made my blood pump harder.

They both turned to look my way when I reached the bottom of the stairs, and the guy dropped his head to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Daniel—” Amy said, instantly moving to meet me at the top of the stairs.

The guy’s head snapped up, and his gaze narrowed on me curiously.

“Seth,” Amy said softly. “This is Daniel. My boyfriend. Daniel, this is my brother, Seth.”

I forced myself to relax a bit now that I knew the guy was her brother, but the fact her parents weren’t such nice people made me keep my guard up.

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