Crushed (The Rushed New Adult and College Romance Series Book 2)

  "Dakota brought me," I said. "Remember him? My partner in crime. I didn't tell you, Grandma. It's time I came clean. He almost ran over me with his car. But now I love him." I told her the story. The whole story from Zach to Dak. About how my license, and Dak's, was suspended. "For just a few more days now."

  And how we fell in love after being thrown together in ADIS.

  I leaned in close and whispered in her ear so only she could hear, "You were right about him."

  The beat of her heart grew stronger onscreen. Her breathing became easier. I smiled through my tears. "He's my hero. He loves me so much he drove me here through that horrible storm, risking everything because he knows how much I love you."

  Her heartbeat continued to grow stronger.

  "You're never wrong about love, Grandma. You told me that yourself. And you're right. I think I'm going to grow old with him. Like you did with Grandpa. We'll have our own epic love story. I'll tell my grandchildren about it. Like you did to me. So they can believe in true love, too."

  I leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead. Her hand squeezed mine so softly, like the pressure of a butterfly landing on a flower. But real. I smiled and squeezed back just as her hand went limp and her heartbeat flat-lined. I screamed for help and begged her not to go. To come back.

  A nurse came into the room and put her hand on my shoulder as I sat crying. "I'm sorry."

  I nodded through my tears, holding my grandma's limp hand, patting it like she could feel it.

  "Do you want a few minutes?"

  It took me a second to realize the nurse was speaking to me.

  I shook my head. "No, she's gone."

  The nurse took my arm and helped me up. "Your boyfriend's waiting for you." She led me to the waiting room.

  Dak took one look at me and knew the truth. I nodded and flew into Dak's arms and buried my head in his chest. He held me while I sobbed and soaked the front of his shirt with my tears. He held me while I shook with the despair of losing her.

  "Give her time," the nurse said.

  He stroked my hair, making reassuring noises. Finally, he spoke. "Your dad will want to know."

  I realized I was being selfish. I nodded.

  "Do you want me to call him?"

  I shook my head. "No. It's my responsibility."

  Dak handed me a tissue. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "Dad, it's me, Morgan. She's gone. Grandma's gone."

  "What? But how do you know?" He sounded stunned and in shock.

  "I was with her." I was shaking. "You knew I would be." I took a deep breath. "She wasn't alone. Dak drove me. You should thank him. She wasn't alone." I began to cry again.

  Dakota

  The storm raged all night. The roads around the city were all closed. There was no place to go. No hotels nearby. We slept on a hard sofa in the lobby, Morgan in my arms, our coats rolled like pillows. A kind nurse threw a hospital blanket over us. We were part of a small army of stranded visitors. As I held her, my conviction grew—she was the woman for me. Lavaliering her for her birthday was what I wanted. I could see myself eventually marrying her. I loved her more than anything.

  When we woke in the morning, the storm had finally cleared. The skies were blue. And the plows were out. We went to the bathrooms and freshened up. I took Morgan to the cafeteria for breakfast. Her dad texted. He'd finally gotten a flight out. He was coming to town to make arrangements.

  He met us in the cafeteria just as we were finishing. Morgan threw herself in his arms. He held her like she was his baby. Like they needed each other. Then he thanked me.

  "You shouldn't have done it." He slapped me on the back. "But I'm glad you did."

  Morgan needed to be with her dad. I felt like a fifth wheel. I had to get back to school. I offered to wait and take her back with me when she was ready. She decided to stay with her dad and help him. He promised to send her back on the bus. She promised to call.

  "You're really driving back." She looked worried. "You shouldn't. What if you're caught?"

  "Why would I be caught?" I grinned at her.

  "You won't speed?"

  I sighed. "Not even five over."

  "You'll drive carefully?"

  "Cross my heart." I made the motion.

  "What if you slide into a ditch?"

  I shook my head. "You worry too much."

  "Only about you." She kissed me. "Seriously. Drive safely." She leaned in and whispered in my ear. "I told Grandma she was right—you're the one."

  It seemed almost disrespectful, but I couldn't help smiling.

  As I drove out of town and saw the piles of drifted snow, I realized we'd been lucky. It would have been easy to have driven off the road and been stranded. I wondered if I'd been heroic. Or foolish. Only a girl like Morgan could have made me risk everything for her.

  I thought about the lavalier necklace with my Tau Psi letters in the jewelry box in my room at the frat. This was going to be the best birthday ever.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Morgan

  Grandma's funeral was a week later. Just two days before my birthday. She'd left a gift for me. I brought it back with Dak and me on the bus. I'd been clinging to Dak's hand like it was a lifeline. "I'm glad you came with me."

  He looked so handsome in his suit it made me want to cry with joy in the face of my sorrow. He was my guy. I could barely believe it.

  He squeezed my hand. "Glad to."

  I gave him a shaky, emotional smile.

  It was just after eight in the evening when Victoria picked us up at the bus station. She dropped Dak off at the frat.

  He gave me a quick kiss. "I'll change and come right over. See you in a few."

  Dakota

  A couple of my frat bros were lounging in the living room playing video games when I came in.

  "Dak, there you are, buddy," Brett said. "A girl was here looking for you. She seemed upset and desperate to find you."

  I frowned and my mouth went dry. "Who the hell would be desperate to find me?"

  "That's what we were wondering." Brett went in for the kill in his game and blew something up. "She wanted to stick around until you got back. We told her you were at a funeral with Morgan and should be back around now. We thought you'd go directly to the sorority house. That's what we told her. She took off."

  I made a fist. "Did she leave a name?"

  Kirk looked up from his game momentarily and shrugged. "Maybe. I don't remember. Didn't recognize her."

  I didn't know what made me ask. I already knew. "What did she look like?"

  "Besides pissed?" Brett laughed.

  My heart stopped.

  "Dark hair. Average height." He paused and looked up like he was thinking. "Kirk, here, has the memory capacity of a pea. She said her name was Jordan. Or something like that."

  Shit. I swore beneath my breath. "She just left? How long ago?"

  Brett glanced at me. "I don't know. I lose track when we're playing. A few minutes, maybe."

  Or way too long. I raced out the door.

  Morgan

  I was emotionally fatigued and weak with relief as I walked into the house, carrying the gift from my grandma, which looked suspiciously like a jewelry box. I was tempted to open it. And yet I wanted to savor it. I knew she'd left me things in her will. But this was the last true gift she would ever give me. I had an idea what it was. I would wear it forever.

  A dark-haired girl sat on the sofa in the living room, apart from the clusters of my sisters who were sitting around studying and chatting. She stood when Vicki and I walked in. It might have been my imagination, but she glared at me. Her eyes were hard and her icy persona filled the room and killed the conversations going on around her.

  "Morgan Peterson?" She stared directly at me like I was the girl who'd killed her dog or something. Hatred glittered in her eyes. She looked like a jealous girlfriend. Which made absolutely no sense. I hadn't even hooked up with anyone but Dak in ages.

  I'd done a lot of crappy thing
s in my life. Like trying to chase Alexis away from Zach. But even she didn't stare at me with such sparkling malice. Like she was in the right, and justified in whatever she was about to say.

  I frowned, trying to place her. I came up with nothing. "Yes?"

  Victoria came up beside me, ready to intervene, as the girl took a step toward me.

  The last murmurs in the room fell into stone-cold silence. A group of people, including Sarah, Katie, Kayla, Kelly, Alexis, and Zach, came around the corner from the study room.

  The girl got in my face. "I came to warn you to stay the hell away from my boyfriend." Her face contorted with rage.

  "You must be confusing me with someone else." I stared back at her with pity. "I don't have your boyfriend, whoever he is."

  "Damn right you don't have him."

  She must be drunk or high, I thought.

  The door to the sorority flew open, bringing with it a gust of cold air. Dakota stood in the door, his cheeks pink from the cold. Even still, I thought he paled when he saw the girl.

  Another group of my sisters heard the commotion and came down from upstairs. They froze on the steps.

  The girl pointed to Dakota. "Dakota has been mine since high school." She smiled at him. "Tell her, baby. We're off. We're on again. But we always get on again."

  "Jordan—" Dakota took a step toward her.

  I felt sick, dizzy with fear as I realized he knew her. And was afraid of what she was saying.

  "You're just his cover girlfriend." She spat the words out and laughed like it was all a joke. Like I was a joke.

  My sisters let out a collective gasp.

  "So he could be with me," Jordan said. "His parents don't approve of him dating a girl like me. A working-class girl. They want a blond sorority bitch with family connections like you for him. Or a girl like Alexis." She turned and grinned evilly at Alexis. "Tell her, Alexis. Tell her how you pretended to be Dak's girlfriend so you could sneak around with Zach and Dak could be with me."

  All around me, my sisters were wide-eyed with shock.

  Everything moved in slow motion. I looked at Alexis and saw the truth written on her face.

  Jordan wasn't lying. The truth felt like a sucker punch to my gut. Everything made sense now—their crazy friendship, the way Zach and Dak had remained friends after his "betrayal." Everything.

  "Jordan, stop!" Dak came toward her.

  Jordan took a step back from him.

  He pleaded with me. "Don't listen to her. It's over between her and me."

  "He was dating me. And playing you, making you think you were something special." She put me between her and Dak. "I'm not mean. Just trying to save you time and heartbreak. He always comes back to me. We've been together over four years. Tell her, Zach. You know as well as Dakota. We've all been buds since high school. I'm his girlfriend back home."

  The room spun. Dak took a step toward me. Victoria caught my arm to steady me.

  "No!" I shook my head and fought back tears. "Stay away from me!"

  Dakota reached for me. Victoria stepped between us. I ran for the stairs. My sorority sisters on the stairs broke rank and let me pass, forming a wall behind me.

  Dakota ran after me. "Morgan! Morgan! Come back. I can explain."

  He tried to push his way through, but the girls held him back.

  "You need to leave, Dakota," I heard Kelly say. "And take her with you."

  I didn't hear any more. I ran to my room, shut the door, and threw myself on the bed in a gale of sobs. I'd just lost two of the people I loved most.

  I let Victoria, Kayla, and Kelly in. Vics was my twin, after all.

  "He's gone," Victoria said.

  Kayla sat beside me on the bed and leaned her head against my back, circling me in a hug. "Alexis would like to talk to you. When you're ready. Everyone's stunned." She hugged me tighter. Kayla's gift was her compassion. "We're your sisters. We're all on your side."

  I let out a sob.

  "You should see Alexis," Victoria said. "It would help to hear the whole story." She paused. "You and Dakota were so good together."

  "I know he loves you." Kelly sounded fierce.

  How could she be so sure?

  "There has to be an explanation."

  "Such bad timing. She just got back from her grandma's funeral. She needs time to recover from the shock. Time to think. Get her a glass of water, will you, Vics?"

  Dakota

  After Kelly asked me to leave, I grabbed Jordan and dragged her out of the house and down the street. "What the fuck were you thinking in there? Why are you here?"

  "Isn't it obvious? I want you back. I came for your birthday. Now that you'll finally be twenty-one, too, we'll celebrate like we always planned."

  I cursed to myself. I'd forgotten about those long-ago plans. Generally when you broke up, you assumed they were off. "That was a long time ago."

  "Last summer."

  "We broke up since then."

  She shrugged. "Breaking up never sticks with us."

  "It does this time." I sighed. I had to make her see. "I'm in love with Morgan."

  Morgan

  I didn't answer Dakota's calls or his texts. I put my status back to single on all my social media and cried myself to sleep. I woke up the next morning a lonely, headachy twenty-one-year-old. The best birthday ever had morphed into a nightmare.

  There would be no birthday call from Grandma. No joint birthday with Dakota. Crap! What was I going to do about the cake? I texted Kayla and asked her to pick it up and dispose of it. It was already paid for.

  The jewelry box from Grandma sat on my nightstand, where Kayla had carefully set it last night.

  "Happy birthday!" I said to myself, with little enthusiasm and my eyes full of tears. Then I pulled the pink ribbon off the box and lifted the lid. A black velvet ring box was inside. I pulled it out and opened it. My birthstone—a deep red round-cut garnet that had to be several carats and was surrounded by tiny diamonds—sparkled back at me. It was set in 14K yellow gold.

  I pulled it from the box and slid it on my finger. It fit perfectly. This was the gift Grandma gave all her granddaughters on their twenty-first. My heart ached with missing her.

  Alexis tapped on my door. "May I come in?"

  I could have sent her away. But I decided to give myself the gift of truth and hear her out. "Sure."

  "We need to talk."

  I didn't want to hear what she probably had to say, but I nodded anyway.

  "I feel horrible about all this. Like it's partly my fault." She looked miserable. She took a deep breath. "Dakota might not be the most honest guy around."

  I snorted.

  "But he loves you. That much is true. Don't listen to Jordan. She's desperate. She sees how much he loves you, too. She's scared and lashing out to try to stop him from leaving her for real. But she can't."

  I crossed my arms. "How much is true?"

  She sighed heavily and plopped into my desk chair. "I was Dak's cover girlfriend. I was seeing Zach secretly a long time before we were found out. Jordan and Dak have been off-again on-again. But you were never his cover girlfriend."

  "But he was seeing her while he was seeing me." My voice shook.

  "Maybe. But not the way you're thinking. The situation isn't black and white. He was seeing her while you two were becoming closer. Until he could be sure."

  I snorted. "Of what?"

  "That you were over Zach and falling for him."

  I shook my head. "You're telling me she was his fallback plan? That he always has to have a girl?"

  "They were together a long time." She bit her lip. "He broke up with her once for you."

  I stared at her, not believing her. I made a derisive sound. "Yeah? When?"

  She answered without hesitation. "His freshman year. He was dating her when he came to college and met and fell for you the first time. He broke it off with her. Then you threw him over. It's not a good excuse, but I think he just had to be sure of you before he broke it
off with her a second time.

  "The point is—he did break it off. He chose you over her. That has to count for something."

  Did it? My heart was begging her to be right.

  For my birthday, I wanted to cower in my room alone. I managed to stay there in my sweats until nearly dinner. When Victoria dropped by to pry me out.

  "It's your Saturday birthday! How often does that happen?" Her voice was full of that peppy verve that you use on depressed people to bring them back among the living and joyful. It never works, but people keep trying it anyway.

  "Every seven years," I replied, deadpan.

  "Longer than that if you get caught on leap year." She took my arm. "And only once if it's your twenty-first! Do you know how lucky a Saturday twenty-first birthday is?"

  Not lucky enough, I thought. Or maybe I was looking at it wrong. Maybe this "lucky" birthday had prevented me from something worse.

  "It's the new semester and you're officially twenty-one and have upheld your end of the bargain. As chair of the standards board, I pronounce you officially off social probation." She amped up the pep. Which wasn't really like the cynical Victoria I knew. "You can drink your heart out!"

  "Fine. Bring me a bottle."

  She shook her finger at me. "Not so fast, alky. You're not drinking alone on this momentous occasion. And we, your sorority sisters, aren't going to let you ruin this milestone birthday. You're going on your birthday run and it's going to be awesome! Now shower and get ready." She grabbed my arm and pulled me off the bed.

  When I came back from the shower, my room was decorated with streamers and balloons. Someone had laid out the party dress I'd planned to wear before all this happened. And Kayla was waiting to do my hair and makeup. She was the queen of the birthday makeover.

  She gave me the special treatment. Getting rid of puffy, crying red eyes and circles was no easy feat. When she was finished, I looked almost good enough to pass muster as an official Double Deltsie birthday girl.

  I got dressed and hesitated at the top of the stairs. All my sisters were gathered at the bottom, waiting for me. They let out a cheer when they saw me, and sang "Happy Birthday" to me as they threw confetti at me.