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  “You look nervous,” he remarks.

  I roll my eyes. “I’m never nervous.”

  “Liar.”

  “Show off.”

  “Pretty girl.”

  I point a finger at him. “Don’t call me that.”

  His smile grows. “Pretty—”

  “Got it,” Jane announces as she dashes back into the room, holding something in her hand.

  “Got what?” I wonder, turning toward her.

  She sticks what she’s holding out toward me—a tube of lipstick. “It’s so we can all have proof that your lips really do touch his chest. Plus, it’ll be super sexy.”

  “I like that idea,” Micha says with a grin.

  “I never agreed to lipstick,” I point out.

  “It someone scared,” Steve taunts me.

  I glare at him. “You’re not part of this, so shut it.”

  He holds up his hands in front of him. “Sorry. My bad. I was just trying to help.” But a smirk resides on his lips.

  Fucking Steve.

  I glare at him one final time before looking back at Jane, who’s still holding the tube of lipstick in my direction. I could put up a bigger fit. After all, lipstick wasn’t part of the deal. But I don’t want to seem like a chicken either, so I snatch up the lipstick and pull off the cap.

  Great. It’s bright red and will probably clash with my hair. But I guess that doesn’t matter. I’ll look stupid no matter what shade it is.

  Sucking in a quiet breath, I put on the lipstick. Micha watches me intently, his teeth sunk into his bottom lip. Why he’s looking at me like that is beyond me and part of me questions if I even want to know.

  Once I’m done, I recap the lipstick and hand it back to Jane.

  “That’s a good look for you,” Micha says, biting his lip harder.

  “Don’t make fun of me,” I reply, fidgeting with a leather band on my wrist.

  “Oh, I’m not,” he assures me, his gaze zeroing in on my lips. “You look really sexy right now.”

  “Micha,” I warn.

  He gives me an innocent look. “What? I was just giving you a compliment.”

  Deep down, I know that. But compliments have always made me uncomfortable.

  “Lets just get this over with,” I say with an exasperated exhale.

  Then before I can chicken out, I lean forward and press my lips against his chest.

  His skin is so soft and warm, is the thought that crosses my mind.

  But it’s instantly squashed as Micha’s hand touches my waist, his fingers brushing my skin peeking out between the hem of my shirt and the top of my jeans. Heat flares through my body and I hurry and slant back, pulling myself together just enough to put on a neutral expression.

  Micha’s expression is unreadable, but his gaze is intense as he stares at me.

  “Challenge complete,” I manage to get out evenly.

  His gaze remains fused on me for a slamming heartbeat of a second before he glances down at the bright red lipstick on his chest. A ghost of a smile appears on his lips, no smugness evident, just…

  Happy?

  Is he happy I kissed his chest?

  But as he meets my gaze, his smugness surfaces and my panic dissipates as I feel everything between us go back to normal.

  “Still think my chest is hairy and gross?” he questions with a smirk.

  “Yep. In fact, I think I have one of your hairs stuck to my lips…” I pretend to pluck a hair from my lip.

  He just smiles like I’m the most amusing person ever, then reaches down to pick up his shirt. Once he pulls it on, Renee lets out a disappointed sigh. Then she heads back to the dartboard.

  “Anyone want to play?” she asks.

  Micha volunteers and I return to finish my breakfast, trying to pretend like I don’t have red lipstick on my mouth.

  About a half an hour later, Micha has returned to my side and it feels like things have returned to normal between us. Although, I do catch him touching his chest a couple of times with a weird look on his face. But then I get a text and just like that, I’m thrown back to reality.

  The reality that fun is a fleeting thing in my life.

  “I have to go home,” I mutter as I read the message Dean just sent me.

  Dean: Hey, I just got a call from Mom. She’s freakin’ out and needs someone to go sit with her today. I was going to go myself, but you’re much better with these kinds of things.

  “What’s wrong?” Micha asks, worry creasing between his brows.

  I put my phone away and rise to my feet. “Dean just text me and said my mom called him and was freaking out.” I keep my voice quiet so no one else will hear me.

  “Why can’t he go check on her?” Micha asks in an annoyed tone.

  I shrug. “He thinks I’m better at dealing with her, which I guess I am.”

  “Only because everyone makes you be,” he mutters. But then he sighs and starts to stand up. “I’ll go borrow Ethan’s keys and drive you home.”

  I hold up my hand, indicating for him to stay put. “Steve and Jane are headed into town, so I’ll just get a ride from them.”

  He frowns. “I don’t mind driving you.”

  “I know you don’t, but you don’t need to.” I zip up my jacket. “Stay here and have fun.”

  He looks like that’s the last thing he wants to do and I know if I asked him to come hang out with me today, he totally would. And part of me wants to ask him to, to let him make me feel better. But I hate putting my problems on him, and I don’t like relying on people either.

  “I’ll see you later, okay?” I tell him as I start toward the door so I can catch up with Steve and Jane.

  “Do you still want me to spend the night tonight?” he calls out as I hurry toward the doorway.

  Boy do I want him to, partly because I’ll be able to sleep better. But I don’t want him to feel obligated to.

  “You don’t have to,” I say as I put my fingerless gloves back on.

  He holds my gaze steadily. “I know that, but I want to.”

  Smashing my lips together, I nod. “Okay, cool.”

  He smiles but worry remains in his eyes.

  He looks that way a lot. He’s always worrying about me.

  It makes me feel bad and guilty. Micha is such a happy person except when he’s worrying about me. Sometimes I wish he’d stop, but the selfish part of me is glad he doesn’t.

  Is glad I can rely on him.

  One day, though, I know I’m going to have to stop relying on him so much. It’ll suck for sure, but it’ll be for the better.

  He deserves better than the crap that is my life.

  The Real Reason

  Micha

  I hate watching her go and it takes all of my willpower not to get up and chase after her. If I had my way, I’d be with her all the time, but she won’t let that to happen.

  Ella and her walls. I wish I could find a way to crumble them.

  “You look tired as hell,” Ethan remarks as he sits down on the sofa beside me.

  “Gee, thanks,” I reply dryly, getting a cigarette out of my pack.

  He takes a drag off his cigarette. “Sorry, but I was just stating a fact.”

  “I know.” I sink back into the sofa and light up. “And I probably look tired as hell because I am tired as hell.”

  He smirks. “Did Ella keep you up all night.”

  He’s always cracking jokes like that, about Ella and I hooking up, even though we never have. A lot of people think we have, though, and I can’t really blame them. We spend a lot of time together. Plus, we sleep over at each other’s houses sometimes. Although, lately I’ve been kind of taking a break from that, mostly because sleeping next to her has started… Well, to turn me on. I wish I could stop thinking about her like that because it’s complicating our relationship. But Ella is… Well, she’s hot as hell and feisty and funny when she isn’t buried in her life problems.

  “I didn’t even stay over at Ella’s house last ni
ght.” I move the end of the cigarette toward my lips as I stare off into empty space. “I had to wake up early this morning to shovel the driveway for my mom. The fucking snow won’t let up.”

  But my excuse for not getting enough sleep is a lie.

  I actually spent half the night staring out at Ella’s bedroom window while I penned some new lyrics. Lyrics that are about her. But that’s something I’m going to keep to myself because for one, Ethan would tease the hell out of me. And two, Ella would freak out if she found out I was writing lyrics about her.

  She gets weird about anything that has to do with emotions and her, something I know because I know her better than anyone else. And she knows me better than anyone else does.

  Although, there’s a few things she doesn’t know about me, like the real reason I don’t spend as much time in her bed anymore, and why I probably won’t wash this lipstick off my chest for a least a couple of days.

  My hand drifts to my chest as I replay what it felt like to have her lips touch my skin. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never had a girl kiss me before—even Ella has kissed me. But those red lips… Jesus, she’s so damn gorgeous. It’s something I’ve been noticing more lately.

  “You look stressed out,” Ethan says to me he puts his cigarette out in an ashtray. “You want to go up to The Hitch and spin donuts. I just got some new chains so we should be able to get out if we get stuck.”

  I nod, relieved to have a distraction from thoughts of Ella.

  At least that’s what I tell myself.

  Deep down, though, I know I’ll continue to worry about her.

  I always do.

  A Vow

  Ella

  I spend most of the day taking care of my mom until she falls asleep. Then I clean the house and put a couple of bills into the mail. I want to go to the grocery store. But by the time I’m done with everything else, it’s late and cold outside, so I decide to wait until tomorrow and trudge up the stairs to go to bed.

  I skip taking a shower, even though I feel gross, and put on my pajamas. Then I climb into bed, a little sad that I haven’t heard from Micha since I left Jane’s. His bedroom light isn’t on, so he’s probably not home. I could call him and see where he is, but I don’t want to be needy. Plus, he’d probably stop whatever he was doing and rush over to me, and I don’t want him to do that.

  So, I turn off the lights and climb into bed, burying myself in blankets to keep warm.

  I spend the next thirty minutes tossing and turning and thinking I’m not going to get any sleep. But then I hear it—the window squeaking open.

  A smile touches my lips, but I hastily erase it.

  He doesn’t say anything, but I hear the sound of his boots being kicked off and the shuffling of clothes as he probably removes his jacket. Then the blankets are being lifted up as he climbs into bed with me. The second his foot touches mine, I let out a squeal.

  “Holy crap, you’re freezing,” I say, flipping over to face him.

  His face is just a shadow in the darkness. “You better warm me up then.”

  “You’re supposed to warm me up.”

  “Well, today we’re switching places.”

  “Fine.” I pretend to grimace then scoot toward him, trying to ignore that I’m a bit nervous.

  Why am I nervous?

  Once his arms wrap around me, though, I relax a bit.

  I can hear his heart thudding in his chest as I rest my head against it.

  “I thought you weren’t going to show up,” I admit.

  “Of course I’ll show up—I always will,” he promises. “And I wanted to be here earlier but Ethan and I took his truck up to The Hitch and got it stuck. It took us hours to get it out

  “Sounds like fun.” And compared to how I spent my day, it does.

  “It really wasn’t.” He grows quiet for a moment. “I missed you.”

  I want to say it back—I really do—because I did miss him. But the words won’t leave my lips. So instead, I press myself closer to him and his arms tighten around me.

  “Thank you for coming over,” I tell him quietly.

  He tucks my head underneath my chin. “You don’t have to thank me, Ella May. I like being here with you.”

  I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth. I mean, who wants to be here at my house? Even I don’t most of the time, for many different reasons.

  And only minutes later, one of those reasons makes a grand appearance as my dad stumbles into the house, ranting and raving about something. With all the banging going on, I assume he’s drunk and worry he might come up here and yell at me for not bailing him out of jail. But thankfully, he never does; either he passes out on the sofa or leaves the house.

  Still, I find it hard to relax.

  Micha traces a path up and down my spine with his fingertips. “Relax, I got you.”

  He really does too and in that moment, I’m grateful he does. But in the back of my mind I’m afraid.

  Afraid of when he realizes he doesn’t want to deal with all of my problems anymore.

  I need to start taking care of myself more, I make a silent vow to myself to do just that.

  Then I drift off to sleep, cuddled up to my best friend, grasping onto him while I still can.

  About the Author

  Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.

  Also by Jessica Sorensen

  The Ella and Micha Prequel Series:

  Heat

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  The Coincidence Diaries:

  The Evermore of Callie & Kayden

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  The Breathing Undead Series

  Breathing Lies

  Shadowed Whisperers (coming soon)

  * * *

  Enchanted Chaos Series:

  Enchanted Chaos

  Shimmering Chaos

  Iridescent Chaos (coming soon)

  * * *

  Capturing Magic:

  Chasing Wishes

  Chasing Magic

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Chasing Hadley Harlyton:

  Chasing Hadley

  Falling for Hadley

  Holding onto Hadley (coming soon)

  * * *

  Cursed Hadley:

  Cursed Hadley

  Enchanting Hadley (coming soon)

  * * *

  Tangled Realms:

  Forever Violet

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Curse of the Vampire Queen:

  Tempting Raven

  Enchanting Raven

  Alluring Raven

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Unraveling You Series:

  Unraveling You

  Raveling You

  Awakening You

  Inspiring You

  Fated by Darkness

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Unexpected Series:

  The Unexpected Way of Falling

  The Unpredictable Way of Falling

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Shadow Cove Series:

  What Lies in the Darkness

  What Lies in the Dark

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Mystic Willow Bay Series:

  The Secret Life of a Witch

  Broken Magic

  Untitled (coming soon)

  * * *

  Standalones:

  The Forgotten Girl

  The Illusion of Annabella

  Confessions of a Kleptomaniac

  Rules of a Rebel and a Shy Girl

  The Opposite of Ordinary

  * * *

  Broken City Series:

  Nameless

  Forsaken

  Oblivion

/>   Forbidden (coming soon)

  * * *

  Guardian Academy Series:

  Entranced

  Entangled

  Enchanted

  Entice (coming soon)

  * * *

  Sunnyvale Series:

  The Year I Became Isabella Anders

  The Year of Falling in Love

  The Year of Second Chances

  * * *

  The Coincidence Series:

  The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

  The Redemption of Callie and Kayden

  The Destiny of Violet and Luke

  The Probability of Violet and Luke

  The Certainty of Violet and Luke

  The Resolution of Callie and Kayden

  Seth & Greyson

  * * *

  The Secret Series:

  The Prelude of Ella and Micha

  The Secret of Ella and Micha

  The Forever of Ella and Micha

  The Temptation of Lila and Ethan

  The Ever After of Ella and Micha

  Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always

  Ella and Micha: Infinitely and Always

  * * *

  The Shattered Promises Series:

  Shattered Promises

  Fractured Souls

  Unbroken

  Broken Visions

  Scattered Ashes

  * * *

  Breaking Nova Series:

  Breaking Nova

  Saving Quinton

  Delilah: The Making of Red

  Nova and Quinton: No Regrets

  Tristan: Finding Hope

  Wreck Me

  Ruin Me

  * * *

  The Fallen Star Series: