Page 60 of Run Free

“Not exactly,” Gage said with a laugh. “Clara tracked me down and kissed me, and then I knew I was screwed at that moment. Still, I fought it.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Clara kissed you first?” Ruby asked.

My cheeks started burning. “Lizzy told me he was worth it, that I should fight for what I wanted. I knew he was just scared.”

“Terrified,” Gage confessed.

“Amen brother!” Thomas said, and high-fived Gage as he got up to get another beer from the cooler.

“So when did you actually seal the bond then?” Lily asked. “This sounds like they danced around each other for weeks. I thought you said you didn’t fight the bond.”

“Oh, I didn’t,” I assured her. “But he did. I just waited and moped around a lot until I decided I wasn’t waiting anymore.”

The girls laughed. “It’s so weird to think of you as the aggressive one, Clara,” Ruby confessed.

“I know, but I’ve always gone after what I want in life, and this was too big not to fight for.”

“So the bonding. . .” Lily asked impatiently.

“I came to her office to talk. You know, tell her this could never work and I was leaving this time,” Gage said.

“That’s why you came to see me?” I asked. I wasn’t exactly surprised to hear it, and that felt like a lifetime ago already, but knowing what came next made it almost comical. Then again, he had apologized, stormed out, and left me crying alone afterwards.

“Yeah, but then she kissed me again and everything became a blur. We were bonded before I left that room.”

I blushed harder as the girls hooted and hollered.

“I swear my entire life has been a lie. Clara!” Ruby exclaimed.

“Oh, whatever. You guys can judge me after you’ve been through it. I think I handled things better than Lily,” I said, turning the tables to get the heat off of me.

Lily just laughed. “I’m not going to deny that.”

Peyton looked at her watch and frowned. “I have an early shift in the morning and it’s getting late. This has been a lot of fun. I hope we can get together more while you’re in town.”

Shelby got up to leave with her. “She’s my ride, so that’s my cue to leave, too.”

“Let me just clean up and put this food away, first,” Peyton said as she moved to clear the table.

“It’s okay. If you’re leaving it for us, I won’t complain, and I’ll take care of it in a little bit.”

I rose and hugged her. “Thanks, Pey.”

I hugged Shelby next and they said goodbye to the others and left.

Ruby yawned. “My day starts early, too. I should probably call it a night.”

That just left Thomas and Lily. I got up and took Gage’s hand to drag him from the hot seat and resettled on the couch where it was much more comfortable.

“I’m really sorry about the ambush with your parents today,” Thomas told Gage. “I had told them not to come, but it would have been rude and disrespectful to deny them time in my territory once they were here. It happened so fast I couldn’t even warn you.”

“It’s okay. Really. Weird as shit, but I guess in a way it was nice,” he said.

“Are you guys still leaving?” Thomas asked.

I looked to Gage, wanting to know the answer to that question, too.

“Not tonight, and now, probably not until my parents leave. It’s going to take some getting used to just saying that. I honestly never expected to see them again. I think I’m still in shock. And I may have overreacted just a little.”

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