Chapter 1
"Happy Birthday, Denver. My present to you this year is... me."
My hands shook with nerves as I whispered the words to myself. I was hurrying up the stairs in Denver's college dorm, practicing how to say the words. Should I sound serious, or sexy? Should I sound excited?
"Happy Birthday, Denver! My present to you this year is me!"
Shaking my head with embarrassment, I pulled my long winter jacket tightly around myself. It wasn't cold enough yet for a jacket like this, but I didn't want anyone to see that I was wearing nothing but lacy lingerie underneath it.
My heart was pounding.
I had been dating Denver for two years. The first year was his senior year in high school. Back then, I was scared to sleep with him because he was older and I hadn't done it before.
If we had been at high school together last year, I probably would have given in. But Denver was a year ahead of me and came here to university while I finished high school. Even though Chandler University is only thirty minutes from our town, Denver lived in the dorms because his parents were split up. I barely saw him all year. And during the Whitfield he worked with his father in Texas.
So many times during that year I thought I was losing him. But finally I was at the university too. And I could see him every day.
As I walked towards his room I thought of his smile and the way it felt when he kissed me, how it would feel to finally give myself to him... A nervous thrill made my stomach tingle.
We hadn't talked about having s*x since I arrived here at
Chandler last week. We hadn't seen each other much in the last few months, and when we did, there was always other people around. But last month I had this idea.
We didn't need to talk about it. I just needed to take action. And his birthday was the perfect chance. I didn't want to wait anymore. I wanted to know Denver Hudson was mine, once and for all.
I made it to the door of his room. My hand shook as I knocked quickly.
"Denver, it's me!"
I darted inside, closed the door behind me and locked it.
The room was darker than I expected. The curtains were pulled so there was only a dim glow of light in a square behind them.
The lights in the hallway outside had been so bright it took a minute for my eyes to adjust.
So, when I started to see, at first I couldn't make sense of the mound on the bed.
Denver's head popped up, the blankets over his back. He looked at me over his shoulder with wide eyes. His hair was messy, but why was he pushed up on his arm like that? Was he doing yoga?
"Kels?" His deep voice made my stomach flutter. It always had. But there was an edge to it now that made me uneasy.
Then another head popped up to stare at me around the thick bulge of Denver's bicep. A girl's face...
Denver had introduced me to her a couple days ago. It took a minute for me to remember... her name was Melinda Black.
She had been the only girl sitting at a table with Denver and all his friends. And all of the guys had drooled over her. Except Denver.
I had thought I was so lucky.
But here she was again, and her hair was messy too.
Before I could make sense of it all, the bed erupted. Blankets flew. Hands and legs appeared and disappeared. They were both talking, scrambling, but I was frozen. My heart pounded so hard at first I couldn't hear their words. Nothing I saw made
sense.
"Stop f*****g staring!"
I whirled around, putting my back to them. I couldn't breathe.
This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be what it looked like. There had to be an explanation!
"What—" I started, but they both spoke.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Denver muttered.
"Is she some kind of p*****t?" Melinda snapped.
My heart stopped. All the hopeful butterflies that had been fluttering in my stomach disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty, hollow ache. In my head I kept seeing all the ways Denver had been so incredible and thoughtful and patient over the past two years. Those moments suddenly looked very, very different.
Denver hadn't been patient.
Denver had been cheating.
I was so stupid!
Humiliation and shame rushed through me. My first instinct was to run. I leaped for the door, but I'd locked it on my way in and it took a second to figure out why the knob wouldn't turn.
But just as I got the lock to unclick, his voice rose behind me.
"Kels, what the hell?"
The irritation in his voice flipped the hollow ache in my stomach to a roaring, white-hot bonfire of rage.
I stepped out into the hall before I turned back to look at him, standing there with a pillow held over his privates, gaping at me while that b***h behind him pulled his blankets up to cover her fake boobs.
"You cheating sack of s**t!" I screamed.
I was aware of the sound of pounding feet, murmuring voices, doors opening down the hall. In the corner of my eye I could see heads popping out of rooms, both guys and girls rushing out to see what the screaming was about.
Good. Let them see it.
"Kels—"
"You're a lying, cheating, douchbag! I hope you get crabs!"
"Keep your voice down!" Denver eyes's flashed. He stepped closer, right into the doorway, glaring at me and hissing through his teeth.
"You couldn't even get it up for me I guess you needed a p**n slut to help, huh?"
"Hey!" the girl piped up from behind him as a chorus of
"Ooooo" and "Burn!" echoed from the guys in the hall.
Denver's handsome face went hard. "Would you stop being so f*****g dramatic and just—"
"Have you shown her your Lego collection yet, Denver? I notice you didn't bring any of it to school." I dropped my voice to a stage whisper. "Has she seen your Harry Potter wand? Oh….. wait... I guess she has," I said, flapping a hand towards his crotch. "Was she surprised how thin it was too? Thin and.. so bendy.
