“What the heck is going on?”
I pop my head into the aisle to see everyone moving to the other side of the bus to look out of the window. Not caring what’s happening outside of the bus as long as I can get off and head home, I turn back to gathering my trash and putting my books away.
“Zahirah, I think you should come see this,” one of my teammates calls.
I knit my brows and stand, slinging my backpack onto my shoulder. I walk up the aisle a few rows before I find an empty row and look out the window. I scowl when I see what’s going on.
The school band is the reason the bus is having trouble pulling into the lot. They are surrounding the bus as they march in place. The drum major points when I come into view and the band begins to play.
They are playing “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. I frown and purse my lips. The band changes formation and that’s when Bentley comes into view. He’s sitting on the roof of his car with a huge teddy bear in his arms.
I guess Corey and Jason are the official sign holders. This time, they are holding a sign that saysI love you, Zahirah Nickels. I turn from the window and go to storm from the bus.
I mumble to myself the entire way. This makes him look guilty. I hate him for continuing to embarrass me.
Clearly, he’s trying to get ahead of his bullshit. Why do all of this if he’s not guilty? My blood is boiling as I go to get off the bus.
I step off the bus and head straight for my car. However, I stop in my tracks as my parking spot comes into view and it’s empty. Confused, I look around, trying to figure out where my car went.
My dad had it shipped to me a week after I made it to school. I know I parked it in this lot in spot number eleven. I remember because that’s Bentley’s number and I smiled to myself when I took the spot.
“I called in a favor. I had a feeling you were going to try to run off. Besides, I would prefer if you ride with me for our getaway,” Bentley says in my ear as he comes up behind me.
“Where’s my car?” I bite out.
“It will be in the student lot when we return Monday morning. Congratulations, baby. I heard you killed it,” he says, his hand splaying across my belly.
I close my eyes and curse my treacherous body. Shaking my head, I pull away and turn to face him. Tears are soaking my face again and I can’t stop them from falling.
“Zah, come on, baby. Please stop crying. That picture was bullshit. Pacey is Carly’s friend. They set that shit up. They’re trying to break us up,” he says as he palms the side of my face and swipes at my tears with his thumb.
I shake my head, not able to speak words just yet. He moves closer to crowd my space. I look up at him as he searches my face.
“I love you so much. Don’t let them take you from me. She had her arms around my neck. I wasn’t touching her. I left the party right after she pulled that stunt and tried to get me to hook up with her.”
When I still don’t say a thing, he tugs me to him and takes my lips. I don’t kiss him back at first. My mind is all over the place. I think back to the photo and remember what I saw.
He wasn’t touching her, but her arms were all on him. I want to believe him. If I didn’t need to focus on my meet, I would have called him last night to ask him about it.
“Zah, listen to me. I didn’t even know about the picture until this morning. I’ve been going crazy for over nine hours now.
“I can’t lose you. You make me so happy. Why would I ever cheat on you? You’re amazing,” he says against my forehead.
“Why did you do all of this if you didn’t do anything wrong?” I ask.
“Because it dawned on me I haven’t told you how much I love you and I wanted you to know. Erica might have called me to kick your boyfriend’s ass too, I knew I needed to fix this if you called her crying.
“I never want to hurt you, Zah. Say you believe me, so I can take you on the date I have planned. I want to celebrate with you. Please.”
I search his eyes and see the sincerity within them. As if knowing I believe him, he wraps his arms around me and crushes my lips with his. I lift on my toes and wrap my arms around his neck. We both laugh when the teddy bear hits us in our faces.
Bentley breaks the kiss. “Are we good? Will you come with me?”
I bite my lip as I look up at him. Then I give him a small nod. “I love you too.”
“God, baby. I was going crazy thinking they took you away from me,” he croons before kissing me again.
CHAPTER 15
