Page 18 of Inside the Penalty Box

“Can’t say I blame him there. She was a bitch, man.”

“Not at first.”

“Yes, at first. She was awful. I’d have cut her loose ages before you did. She was only after you for the money anyway. Perhaps your father saw that.”

“I doubt it. My father liked no one I brought home. Besides, I’m not looking for his approval.”

“Man, you know you are in trouble, right? I mean, what if she wants nothing to do with you?”

“She already tried that. I proved her wrong, and I’ll continue proving her wrong until she admits she is wrong. She wants me, I can tell. She practically crumbled in my arms when I touched her.”

“Okay, if you say so. I’m telling you, man, you are in trouble.” Knox chuckled.

He didn’t need to say anything else. I already knew I was in trouble. Far more trouble than I could even comprehend. Somehow though, I knew she was worth every second of it.

Chapter 6

Aurora

“What are you going to have?”

I glanced up from the menu and looked across the table at Lorelai. I’d been in a daze for days, and today was no different.

“What?”

“I asked what you were going to have?” Lorelai frowned. “Are you worried about something? Is Professor Johnson giving you trouble again?”

It was a good guess. I’d had trouble with Professor Johnson earlier on in the year, but things had sorted themselves out. I just shrugged and looked back at the menu in front of me, still not really reading the words, just staring off into space and thinking about the other night.

“Aurora?”

“Huh?” I said, looking up again.

Lorelai sat there, frowning at me, a hint of concern in her eyes. “What is going on, Aurora? You’ve been like this all week. Not making full notes. Actually, you’ve barely made any notes all at, and then you borrow mine at night. We’ve been sitting here for twenty-five minutes in your favourite restaurant, and you still haven’t even decided what you want to eat yet, when normally you don’t even need to look at the menu. So, what is going on?”

I glanced around the room, the familiarity of the restaurant coming to me. I’d basically zoned out the moment I’d gotten into the car to come from my mother’s three days ago, because the only thing on my mind had been Dylan. I’d said nothing to Lorelai about that night, even though she’d asked me many times who my new stepbrother was. Instead, I’d suffered in silence, trying to figure out why my luck was so damn bad. The hottest, sexiest, most riveting night of my young life with a man, and it had to turn out this way.

“Earth to Aurora!” Lorelai shouted, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

I jumped and met my friend’s eyes. “Sorry. I think I’ll have the salmon.”

“Great, now tell me what the hell is going on? Like I said, you’ve been like this for days.”

I let out the breath I was holding and sank down into my chair. “My life is over,” I muttered.

“What are you talking about?” Lorelai laughed.

“I don’t know where I am going to apply for a job at the end of the year,” I muttered.

“Okay?” Lorelai frowned. “Where is this coming from? We are at the top of our class, and I already told you Phil is going to get us in with the Dominators.”

I sighed. “We can’t work for the Dominators,” I mumbled, fear filling me. We’d been planning to apply since we’d finished our first year in school. Lorelai’s brother was going to go to bat for us, and he promised if we kept our grades up, it would almost be a sure thing. He’d come through, landing us both an interview in the next month or so.

Lorelai shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest just as the server returned to the table.

“Any ideas?” he questioned.

“She’ll have the salmon, and I’ll have the chicken,” she said, not giving me a chance to change my mind. He nodded and left, going to put our order in.

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