The girls on campus were the last to come around to the idea of me being in a relationship. I found it fucking hilarious that they’d had no problem hopping in my bed with the hope that I might decide I wanted them around for more. But the second I met a girl I really did want to keep around? Well, that shit apparently didn’t fly and the claws started to come out. I made it crystal clear that any chick who messed with Kaylie was on my shit list, so that didn’t last very long. But the catty glares didn’t stop. And it took for-fucking-ever for the sexual offers and heavy flirting to finally come to an end. I had to shoot down girl after girl any time Kaylie wasn’t with me before they finally clued in that I wasn’t interested. Hell, I even had to turn down some offers while I was with Kaylie from rude-as-shit women who seriously thought I’d be okay with them disrespecting my girlfriend like that.

Kaylie never complained about it though. Either she was the least insecure woman ever or she just didn’t care enough to worry if I’d stray. And I was too much of a chickenshit to ask her which one it was because I wasn’t sure I would like the answer. She never talked about what would happen with us after graduation and always changed the subject when I brought it up. It was tough as shit to get her to really open up about anything. Our lives had been so different, and I tried to be patient since I understood that the future was something she tried to not think about since she didn’t really trust in it after what had happened to her parents. But it was so fucking hard because I wasn’t a patient person, and I could see myself with Kaylie long term.

A future of having Kaylie in my bed night after night was something I could so easily picture in my head. I knew it should freak me out, but things were so good with her that it didn’t. And it certainly didn’t hurt that the sex between us just kept getting better and better. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but as we learned each other’s bodies, we figured out exactly what the other person liked. We both used it to our advantage so we could drive each other wild, almost like it was a contest to see who could do a better job of making the other lose control. I still fantasized about tying her up so she was at my mercy, but I hadn’t brought it up again—yet. I figured I could afford to be patient because I fully intended to make sure it happened. I had plenty of time since there was no way I was letting her get away.

Kaylie was going to be busy all day getting ready for her dance thing tonight, so I was on my way to meet Aubrey for lunch. We hadn’t hung out just the two of us in a while, and I was looking forward to catching up with what was going on in her world. I hadn’t seen her out as much lately, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d been so busy with Kaylie or if there was something going on with her that I needed to know about. I didn’t talk to Lex as much anymore either, but I still knew that she would have called me if she’d thought Aubrey needed my help, so I hadn’t worried about it too much. It hadn’t been until Kaylie asked me if she was okay that I’d realized that she’d definitely seemed more than a little off lately. I hadn’t seen her with any guys hanging around, so I couldn’t help but wonder if some guy was about to get his ass kicked for breaking my little sister’s heart.

When I pulled into the parking lot of her favorite local deli, I was surprised to see she was already there since Aubrey was notorious in our family for being late, and it usually wasn’t even just a little bit late either. We all teased her about it, pointing out that she’d even been late for her own birth since my mom had gone a full week past her due date when my little sis was born. My brothers thought it was hilarious because all of us boys had been early, and my mom had been so pissed when she didn’t have her a week early. To my mom, it was like Aubrey had been two weeks late instead, and she still complained about it any time one of us brought it up. Aubrey was so used to it by now that she just used it as her excuse whenever she was late for anything and passed the blame to Mom for not getting her out of there on time.

As I walked into the deli, I quickly scanned the room for Aubrey. She was already at a table with drinks and sandwiches in front of her. I glanced at my phone to check the time to make sure I hadn’t totally messed up, but I wasn’t running late so she must have gotten here early. Very strange. When she spotted me, a huge grin flashed across her face, settling my nerves a little bit.

“Hey, bro,” she greeted me as I sat down. “I hope you don’t mind. I took the liberty of grabbing your favorite stuff from here. I was starving so I didn’t want to wait until you got here to order.”