Blitz'd (Evergreen University, #1)

by Lee McCormick

“Oh, Kerian. Do you think you’ll be back for the holidays? I know I’d love to have you here. I’m sure Zander would too.” His mom sounds so fucking warm, inviting… and Zander is blushing, but he looks up at me through the dark strands of his hair that’s still slightly damp from the shower we just took. His smile is absolutely helpless, and so warm I feel like he’s trying to burn me alive. It’s probably the reason I give an answer at all. “Yeah, maybe.” Fuck—I feel like they’re trying to draw me in. To make me a part of something. To make me a part of this. Nightly dinners and board games, gardening and family and love. Everything I’ve never had. I can’t take it anymore. I’m not sure if it’s the way the emotions are overwhelming me, or if there’s a part of me that realizes exactly how empty the echo in my chest is. I’ve never cared before that I didn’t have a family—a life. I didn’t care that I had no one who really cared about me but myself. I was happy with it. I was content. But being here with Zander is giving me a glimpse into the person I could have been if my life had been different. My hand slips around Zander’s waist and I pull him against me—I feel his body tense for a second before he goes loose. He practically melts, and it just makes that weird feeling in my chest wind tighter. I almost feel like I can’t breathe. I feel like my entire world is shifting, and I can’t understand it—there’s a brand new pathway laid out in front of me, and I don’t have a fucking m...