Isabel is the girl Claire switched dorms with so she could share a dorm with Senia this semester. I’ve never met her, but Claire claims she’s a huge slut with a heart of gold.
The door closes as Senia leaves and Claire finally turns around. She smiles hugely as she runs to me. She jumps and I catch her around the waist as she crushes her lips to mine. I slide my tongue into her mouth to taste her and she whimpers. I kiss her slowly, savoring the sensation of her warm lips on mine.
“I love you,” I whisper as I move down to kiss the smooth skin on her jaw. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.”
Her skin tastes clean as I kiss her neck, but I’m getting a hint of something else, something sweet.
“Why do you taste like that?” I whisper in her ear before I take her earlobe between my teeth.
She lets out a soft sigh before she answers. “Senia bought me some cotton candy flavored body powder.”
I set her down on the floor and look her in the eye. “Did you put it all over your body?” She slaps my arm and I laugh. “What? I just want to know if I’m gonna have to go on a low-carb diet when I leave here.”
She rolls her eyes as she strolls to the desk to grab her phone. “You’re always on a low-carb diet anyway.”
“It’s not a low-carb diet, it’s a training diet. And I’d go off my diet to feast on you any day.”
She tucks her phone into the back pocket of her jeans and glances around the room. “Do you want anything from the vending machine? I’m gonna go grab a bottle of water.”
“Yeah, get me a Gatorade or Powerade. Whatever they have.”
She shakes her head at me before she leaves. I would offer to go with her, but I had actually planned to ask her to get me something from the vending machine so I can be alone in her room for a moment. I quickly pull her gift out of my back pocket and stare at the slim, midnight-blue box for a moment before I place it on top of the stack of textbooks on the desk. I sit in the desk chair and pull my phone out to text Yuri while I wait for Claire.
Me: Hey. I have to be back in Wilmington tomorrow afternoon. Can we meet up tomorrow around noon?
Yuri always texts back right away. He’s one of my oldest surfing buddies who I’ve known since we went to high school together in Carolina Beach. He offered to meet me in Raleigh on Sunday to give me the trophy I left in the hotel room, but now I’ll have to text him to let him know we have to meet up a day earlier.
Yuri: That’s cool. I’m bringing my girl cuz she’s not leaving till Sunday morning. A long road trip will give her a reason to give me a road job.
Me: Cool. Tell Lena to save me some of that juice for later.
Yuri: Dude, I’ve got gallons of it on reserve for you.
I tuck the phone back into my pocket as Claire walks in with three bottles of Gatorade and one bottle of water. I shoot up from the chair to help her. She closes the door and locks it as I set the bottles on top of the desk next to the stack of textbooks. She approaches the desk and completely overlooks the box as she grabs her bottle of water. She unscrews the top and guzzles half the bottle in one long swig.
“Why did you only get one bottle of water and three bottles of Gatorade?”
“Because I can go back down and get water any time, but you have to stay in here all weekend. I heard some girls talking about you in the lounge, plotting to get their hands on you.”
“Really? So are you saying you don’t trust me to go to the vending machine by myself or you don’t trust those girls?”
I grin as I sit down in the desk chair again and pull her onto my lap. I swing her legs over mine and she wraps her arms around my neck.
“I wouldn’t trust those girls around you for a single second.”
She leans in to kiss me and I turn my face.
“Don’t you want to put down that bottle of water?”
She reaches over to put the bottle of water on the desk and she finally sees the box. Narrowing her eyes, she looks back and forth between the box and me.
“What is that?”
“A small token of my affection. It’s not a big deal. Just open it.”
She looks nervous. “You’re scaring me. What is it?”
“Open it and you’ll find out.”
She grabs the box and my heart pounds as she slowly lifts the lid.
Chapter Eight
Claire
THE SILVER LOCKET GLEAMS IN the lamplight and for a moment I’m stunned into silence as I trace my finger over the letter “A” engraved in the surface.
“The ‘A’ is for Abigail, not Adam,” he clarifies, and his voice wavers with nerves.
“I know,” I whisper as I pull the necklace out of the box.