UNTOUCHED (Midwest Alphas) (Book 1) (35 page)

“No,” I say.

“Piper,
please
.”

“Kai…
no
.” I shake my head. “I can’t. I’ve made my decision.”

I can see his teeth clenched together behind his lips. “You’re so damned stubborn, Pipes—”


I’m
stubborn?”

“Yes.
You.
You’re stubborn.”

I stop myself from continuing the banter, no matter how much I want to. It’s so easy to slip into that mode with Kai. It’s probably what I’ll miss the most about him. “Kai…” I smile. “Go home.”

“I don’t want to leave you without know where I can find you again,” he says.

“I’ll be around…”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Kai, please…” I’m slipping fast. If I don’t walk away soon, I won’t be able to at all.

“Fine,” he says. He takes a step back. His warm hands drop from my arms, leaving behind a wave of goosebumps. “It’s a real shame.”

“What is?” I ask.

He bends over and grips his duffel bag. “After twelve years, I was just starting to really get to know you.”

My heart breaks and I can’t say a word. A crushing sorrow knocks me off course. I close my eyes. If I keep them open, I know I’ll only look at him again and this time, I won’t be able to leave him.

“Goodbye, Piper.”

I open my eyes to see his back drifting off into the crowd.

“Goodbye, Kai,” I whisper.

 

***

 

My heart thumps harder in my chest with every step I take through the train station in Paris. My next stop is London and anyone with half a brain can look at a map and tell you that two are separated by a good stretch of water. I never thought much about it until just now when I realized I would be riding a train
underneath the damn English Channel.
Claustrophobia begins to set in, a sensation I’m certain I’ve never felt before, but I continue on in the name of adventure.

Besides, it’s a good distraction.

My phone buzzes in my hand and I pause to check the incoming message.

Have fun, sweetie!

I smile at the message from my mother. We just said goodbye nearly an hour ago and I already miss her deeply. It feels nothing like the last time I said goodbye to her as a young, confused girl of sixteen. Back then, I didn’t know when I’d see her again, but now, I know I’ll see her in a week’s time.

After that, my future is blank and I love everything about that. Nothing is written in stone for me by someone else’s hand. I’ll write my own adventure, make my own choices, and be my own person.

I chuckle softly to myself. Happiness swells within me, calming my senses as I hold the power button down on my phone. I promised my father I would keep it turned on for the entirety of the trip so he could check where I am at all times. The itinerary I gave him is now officially outdated.

“All right, Piper,” I say to myself. “Let’s do this bitch.”

I continue on and find the train with a few minutes to spare. It’s crowded, far more so than any other train I’ve taken so far. It’s full of so many different people, from obvious tourists to locals commuting to and from work. I push through the narrow aisles and double check my ticket for the correct seat. I wonder who I’ll be sitting by this time and surprise myself when my first thought isn’t whether it’ll be a tall, dark, and handsome stranger.

I enter the next car and freeze in the aisle. A smile touches my lips as I step closer to my seat. Kai Casablancas sits slouched back in the window seat next to mine with his arms crossed over his chest, like he was always meant to be there. I blink repeatedly, convinced that I’ve once again succumbed to a trick of the mind, but he’s still there every time I open my eyes. I don’t say a word as I raise my bag up and slide it into the compartment above the seat.

I sit down beside him in silence. Kai’s eyes are locked on the window, but I can clearly see his amusement pouring out of them. His satisfyingly smug grin teases the corners of his lips. Finally, I can’t take our silence anymore. “Don’t you have to be at school in two days?”

Kai shrugs his shoulders. “I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now,” he answers. “And the first week is nothing but orientation junk anyway…”

I sit back as my heart trembles. His presence now… it’s overwhelming me, but I can’t dwell on it without bursting. “So, I guess Shawn was happy to hear you finally completed your collection,” I say, attempting to play it cool.

He meets my eyes. “Actually, he was really disappointed when I told him I couldn’t pull it off,” he says.

I raise an eyebrow. My skin erupts in tiny sensations. “Was he now?”

“You remain the holy grail of Belle Academy lays, Piper.”

“Yeah, and what happens when you go home and have to explain this to everyone?”

“I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” he says. “And I don’t really care to.”

I exhale and grip the armrests to hold myself steady. “What did you lose?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“In the bet,” I say. “What were the terms?”

“Oh…” He tilts his head. “My car.”

“You gave up your car?” My jaw drops from shock. “You love that thing.”

“There will always be other cars.”

“But—”

“There are more important things worth holding on to,” he interrupts me and slips his hand around mine. “There’s only one Piper Lynch out there.”

I shake my head at him. “You’re an idiot.”

“I know,” he smiles. “I can live with that… but I can’t live without Piper Lynch.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” I laugh. “You’ve proved your point.”

“Really?” he asks. “I have like six more good lines before I’m tapped out.”

“Kai…”

“Yes, Piper?”

“Shut up.”

I lean in and kiss him softly. He stays still until I pull away and see that damned smug glint in his eyes once again. I shake my head at him before leaning in to steal another kiss. He returns my kisses this time, reaching out to cup my face with one hand to hold me against him.

Kai Casablancas.

Freedom will taste just as good with you here with me.

 

END OF BOOK ONE

 

Continue the Story of

Piper & Kai

 

RAIL ME, RIDE ME, RUIN ME:

A Stepbrother Romance

Whispers From Tabatha

 

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Chapter 1

Close Your Eyes

 

“Come on, Alice. It’ll be fun.”

I shake my head, unable to fight the smile crawling across my face. Six little words. It’s Gabby’s catch phrase. I’ve lost track of how many times she’s said it to me since a computer randomly assigned us to be roommates in our university dorm a few weeks ago.

“We’re not going to get away with it,” I say without glancing up from my English textbook.

Gabby sticks her head out of the closet and rolls her eyes. “That’s not the point!”

“Can’t we just go see a movie?” I ask.

“We can go see a movie
next
weekend,” she says. “
Tonight,
I want to do
this
.”

I sigh and close the textbook. “Fine,” I mutter.

She smiles wide at me and resumes ruffling through our shared closet, picking and choosing between various articles of clothing. “I say we go with these,” she says as she turns towards me. In each hand, she holds up two little black dresses by the hangers. “They’ll make us look older. Your choice. Which one do you want?”

I slide off my bed and walk over. My eyes bounce from one dress to the next, finding the little difference between the two. One is strapless, the other features long sleeves. “I’ll go with this one,” I say as I take the sleeved one on the right, recalling that the forecast predicts a cold front on the horizon.

Gabby shakes her head twice. “So predictable.”

“Hey, if you want it, you can have it,” I say.

“No,” she says. “I got the one I wanted. This one shows more skin.”

I chuckle. “Now who’s predictable?”

She puckers her lips and kisses the air at me.

We wait until an hour after sundown to leave the dorm, giving us plenty of time to tweak our appearances to perfection. Gabby herself spends over an hour on her hair alone, curling her short, red locks into symmetrical ringlets around her head. There’s little I know to do with my long, brown hair, so I iron it straight and let it hang down just passed my breasts and focus on livening up my other features with the help of Gabby’s extensive collection of make-up.

Once Gabby approves of my look — a task she always insists on, even on casual trips across the street to the dining hall — we set out together into the autumn night to find a taxi cab.

“Where to, ladies?”

Gabby grins. “Downtown,” she says proudly.

The driver turns around in his seat. His eyes fall on us, scanning our bodies up and down until a chuckle heaves off his lips. “Whatever you say, ladies,” he croaks out of the corner of his mouth.

“Erin told me to focus on the smaller clubs,” Gabby whispers at me once the cab starts moving. “The bouncers are usually younger, inexperienced, and more susceptible to
persuasion
.” She briefly cups her breasts at the last word, pushing them upward to accentuate her sizable cleavage.

“Isn’t Erin dating a drug dealer?”

“So?” She furrows her brow at me. “Who cares? She does this like every other weekend. She knows what she’s talking about.”

“As long as we don’t get into any trouble…” I mutter.

“Alice, these are the years when we’re
supposed
to get into trouble,” she argues. “We’re eighteen years old. We are
invincible.
Nothing can stop us. The world is our oyster. We are woman. Hear us roar.”

“Calm down,” I laugh.

“Well, it’s true.” She sits back in her seat and snaps open her clutch to retrieve her phone.

We ride the remaining way in silence. Every mile we travel increases my heart rate, making me more and more nervous about what’s to come. Gabby is probably right. We’re eighteen years old. The crimes we commit at this age act only as feathers in our cap, a series of cautionary tales we’ll speak of only to our curious grandchildren when their parents aren’t listening.

Back in my day, it was easy to flirt our way into twenty-one and older clubs. I just flashed my pearly whites, squeezed my tits together, and men fell at my feet!

Unfortunately, my grandchildren will be sadly disappointed when I tell them about this.

“No way.” The bouncer crosses his thick arms about his chest. His black shirt stretches tight as he flexes his muscles to illustrate his dominance over us.

Gabby scoffs. “Oh, come on!” she whines. “I’ll give you my number.”

“Beat it.” He stands firms, blocking the entryway.

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