Page 28 of Drifting

Taking in the party, I notice everyone whispering and glancing at me. Seems Nick was right about Hannah spreading rumors. Good thing, this isn’t my first rodeo.

Nick stops beside a guy with medium-length, messy, curly, blond hair, who wears a blue shirt that hangs open. He says something to the guy, then points back to me.

The guy responds before he disappears into a crowd of giggling girls.

Nick heads back over with two drinks. He hands me a Coke and sits beside me, putting his feet out in front of him.

Taking a sip of the drink, I give him a half-smile and cock my eyebrow. “So, do you have a girlfriend?”

His cheeks turn red, his feet kick the grass. “No. Too busy trying to get into John Hopkins.”

The way he says it makes me think it’s not something he wants to do.

I peer at him from over soda. “You want to go into medicine like your father?”

He takes a big drink. “Yeah.”

Way to sound enthusiastic about it. Going into a seven-year program without ambition is going to suck. But by his tone and the shortness of his answer, he doesn’t want to talk about it.

I try to lighten the conversation. “Who’s the sexy blond you were talking to?”

“Cam. He said he’d be over to say hi. He’s the big flirt I warned you about,” Nick cautions, pushing up his glasses. “Maybe we should stay away from him tonight. Don’t need to make a run to the hospital.”

I lean over. “You do know I can take care of myself, right?”

He smiles. “Oh, I can tell. I’m envisioning you putting him in his place and him ending up in the hospital.”

A laugh bubbles up from deep down.

Nick finishes his drink. “Ready for another one?”

I still have half my Coke left. “No, but go ahead and get one for yourself.”

As Nick heads over to the keg, I lose sight of him in the crowd.

“Hello, beautiful, someone as gorgeous as you should not be alone.” The sexy blond, Cam, appears in front of me with a wicked smile. He holds out his hand. “I’m Camden Wright.”

“Shelby Winters.” When I go to shake his hand, he turns mine over and kisses my fingers. A tingling sensation runs through my body, and his eyes sparkle before they go back to normal. “And you know Nick’s here with me. He just walked over to get a refill.”

“Oh, I know. I wanted to get you alone,” he says, using a smooth, seductive voice.

He still holds my hand in his, running his thumb over my knuckles.

I stare up into these unbelievable blue eyes, getting lost in them, until someone screams, “Cam! Watch out, dude!”

Cam turns in time to catch the football barreling toward him. The force of catching it sends him flying back into me, though, and the flimsy chair I sit in collapses, sending me toward the ground.

I don’t know how he does it, but the football vanishes. His hands slip under my bad leg and the other under my bad arm, raising them so they don’t hit the ground. My back slams to the ground instead, and I can’t breathe for a minute or two. My ribs scream in pain, but my leg and arm stay cradle safely in his arms.

He, of course, ends up on top of me and between my legs. It takes me a second to realize exactly what happened, and I peer up into those ridiculously blue eyes. He has the longest lashes I’ve ever seen.

“Are you hurt?” He gently lays down my limbs.

The fire flickers in his blue eye, making me think of fire and ice colliding.

He gently shakes me. “Shelby?”

“Huh?”

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