Page 68 of Awakened in September (Sleepless November Saga 4)

Laci: I saw your girlfriend.

You invited her home with you?

She must be talking to Dawson about it and Laci overheard.

Me: None of your business.

Stay away from her. I mean it, Lace.

The last thing I need is one of my exes intimidating the only girl who has managed to hold my attention in a vice grip. She doesn’t respond, so I toss my phone back down and continue packing.

I’m just putting the last couple things into my bag when my door swings open. I turn to see Kayleigh standing there, looking at me like she might self-destruct.

“Okay.” She says so quietly I almost think I imagined it. “I’ll come with you.”

And there isn’t a word in the English language that could describe the feeling that floods through my body.

Chapter Twenty

The airport is swarming with people traveling for the holiday. Kayleigh follows me through the crowd and down to the baggage claim. As soon as we get there, I look around for Brandon. My phone starts to ring in my hand.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Hey.” He shouts over the noise. “I take it your plane landed?”

“Yeah, we’re at baggage claim C. Where are you?”

After hesitating for a second, he makes a sound like he found what he was looking for. “B. You should be right near me.” The two of us search the crowd for each other while standing still. “Are you standing next to the hot brunette?”

I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, you see me?”

“Yeah. I’ll be right there.”

“Okay, cool.”

Hanging up the phone, my eyes stay on Brandon just in case he loses sight of us. He lights up as soon as he’s close enough.

“Hey man!” He greets me, wrapping his arms around my torso excitedly. When he’s done, he turns his attention to my guest. “And you must be Kayleigh. You’re even hotter in person.”

The smirk on his face lets me know he’s only saying it to fuck with me. I watch as Kayleigh seems shocked and I chuckle – pushing Brandon’s chest and making him back away. “Okay, enough of that.” I turn to Kayleigh. “Forgive him, he lacks a filter.”

She smiles politely and I do my best to ignore the jealousy in the pit of my stomach when I think about her eyes being on anyone but me.

THE DRIVE HOME IS a couple hours long, so it doesn’t surprise me when Kayleigh falls asleep. During one of the many times I turn around to check on her, I notice her eyes are closed and soft snores escape her mouth. Brandon feigns disgust when he sees me look at her for a little longer than necessary.

“I can’t believe you got her to come with you.”

I smile. “Yeah, me either. I thought she would turn me down for sure.”

“Let’s just hope your stalker doesn’t get her hands on her while you’re here.”

Thoughts of Bianca plague my mind. I hadn’t even thought about her when I asked Kayleigh to come. God only knows what B would do if she realized I brought a girl back with me. There was a time she found out I was considering dating someone other than her during senior year. She threatened the poor girl until she cried and wouldn’t so much as look at me.

“Yeah. We’ll have to avoid Alec’s house. Maybe we can go to Craig’s or something instead.”

He thinks about it for a second, then nods. “Sounds like a better plan than Alec’s anyway.”

The topic changes into hockey and how school is going. It’s nice to just be able to talk like this with him. We’ve been inseparable since we were younger, so being away at different schools has always been hard. It isn’t until we get closer to the house that he mentions Kayleigh again.

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