Page 114 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part One

“Click the link, Sweetness,” he murmurs in my ear.

Click the link.

Reaching out, I press the trackpad with my index finger.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

“Holy shit, smarty-pants!” Yenn’s excited squeal hits my left eardrum just as I register Ezra’s excited “fuck yeah!” as he jumps from the couch.

But while they’re excited, I have to hold my stomach with both arms as the words on the screen blur.

Before this wave ofwhat-the-fuck-ness swamped me, I read the words:

Congratulations on your acceptance to Harvard Business School.

“Amazing job, Sweetness,” Storm says close to my ear. “Do you know how damn proud I am of you? You did it.”

He kisses me behind my ear, and I paste on a smile, but I know it looks forced.

I don’t feel like smiling right now. This should be the happiest moment of my life—the culmination of everything I’ve been working so damn hard for.

So why do I feel like I want to start kicking and screaming and sobbing on the floor?

Why does this feel wrong?

Storm shifts on the sofa, and a new wave of panic hits.

I have to make a decision about the man sitting next to me.

The man I’m…falling in love with. And now, with the very real next step in my life right in front of my face, I have no clue what this terrifying news means for us.

“Thanks, Storm,” I murmur, and he pulls back. The smile falls from his face.

“What’s wrong?” he murmurs, looking at me with way too much understanding in his gaze.

“Nothing,” I lie. Storm’s expression turns serious.

“All right, babes! A Jell-O shot for you,” Yennifer drawls, handing a shot from a tray to Ezra, who stands next to our small entertainment system.

“And a Jell-O shot for you.” She gives one to Storm.

“And a Jell-O shot for the queen!” She pushes one an inch from my face, and I rear back, grabbing it with tingly fingers.

Looking at the group, she says, “And two for me! To my brilliant, amazing, incomparable, never-the-same bestie!” She shoots one shot and then the other right as Ezra puts on a Mike Pozner song.

The rest of us take the shots, the hot slide of it toward my stomach doing nothing to quell the anxious energy in my chest.

“Let’s talk,” Storm says, and the look he gives me has me wanting to follow his commands. I stand, pulling him along to my room.

“Don’t forget we got food and more celebrating to do!” Yenn says.

“The vertical kind, to be clear,” Ezra follows up.

I laugh, but it sounds weird in my ears, and Storm says something to them I don’t quite catch before I’m in my room with the door closed.

---