Ceaseless Read online

  “See? She’s got this. Now let’s go. You act mysterious and sexy. Go get your ass on that motorcycle and drive away without a word.”

  Leaving Pagan was hard. I didn’t want her to have to carry all those things inside. I wanted to do that for her. I was supposed to be the one doing that. She had been going to pay me in sexual favors. We’d joked about it for weeks. But now… she was here. Alone.

  “You stay here. Stay near her. Help her move in. Most importantly, keep the voodoo prince away from her. I’ll be back as soon as inhumanly possible.”

  Surprisingly, Gee didn’t argue.

  Pagan

  “Smart move. He looked like a creep.”

  The blond with the pink tipped hair was suddenly beside me. I hadn’t heard her walk up but I’d been busy trying to get rid of the overly-friendly guy who had met me at Miranda’s car and wouldn’t take a hint.

  “He was nice enough. I’m just not crazy about giving directions to my room to every guy on campus.” I explained. And I didn’t want them to feel as if I owed them something for their help.

  The girl reached into the car and pulled out my suitcase. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine startled me and I spun around too see Dank Walker drive away without so much as a glance my way. Not that I expected it, really. I mean he had been very nice and seemed somewhat interested, but I didn’t exactly encourage him.

  “Weren’t you going with him?” I asked as the girl walked around me with a suitcase handle in one hand and one of my boxes tucked in her other arm. She was really going to help me unload? Why? I’d done nothing to win her favor. She didn’t appear to be someone who made friends easily.

  “Changed my mind. He’s in a bit of a funk today,” she said without looking back at me. I watched as she made her way to the entrance of the dorm then I turned around and grabbed a box myself. She wouldn’t know which room to go to and even if she found the room on her own, it would terrify Miranda if emo girl walked into the room when she was there alone

  Five hours later we were completely unpacked. Even our very large room was set up. We’d taken he empty boxes to the dumpster, packed the fridge with water bottles, and I’d given half my closet space to Miranda. She’d brought too many clothes to fit in hers. This was not surprising in the least. I figured that it would be easier to live with a jam-packed closet than listening to Miranda whine for the next nine months because her closet wasn’t big enough. Besides, with the size of this room we could easily fit one of those portable closets in the corner.

  “I still can’t believe she is in the room connected to ours and she doesn’t have to share with anyone. What is she? A rock star’s kid? THAT’S IT! She is some famous rocker’s kid. She looks the part. She is obviously on a first name basis with Dank Walker and she has the money and power to have her very own dorm room. And she has that weird name. Who calls their kid ‘Gee” but some famous person?”

  Most times, I waved Miranda’s ridiculous ideas away, but this time she just might be right. No one else in the dorm had her own room, everyone else had a room-mate. Granted, our room was huge. It was even bigger than Gees, but we were sharing it. I plopped down on my black polka dotted comforter that Miranda had insisted I get. She wanted us to match. Hers was black with white polka dots and mine was white with black polka dots. I didn’t really care for the pattern but honestly I’d have been fine with a quilt from home as my cover. Miranda had thrown a hissy fit when I’d suggested that. So, we had polka dots. Everything else was black and white too. Black and white was her current decorating color scheme obsession. She had even bought us matching pin boards with black and white ribbon on them to hang above our desks, right beside the black and white dry erase boards.

  “It looks good doesn’t it?” She asked smugly as she sat down beside me. She was happy with the way everything had fit into place. I was just glad she’d left the One Direction posters at her house. I don’t like boy bands and I sure don’t want to them plastered over the walls of my room all year.

  “You did a good job,” I agreed and she beamed at me. It didn’t take much to make her smile. She’d gone through a rough patch there for a while after her boyfriend, Wyatt, had passed away. It had been the three of us growing up. Losing him had hurt me too, but not as badly as it had her. They had a connection I didn’t share. Shopping for our room had kept her busy over the past month and she’d slowly started to heal.

  “What should we do now? Want to go check out the campus? Or go find something to eat? The campus food court doesn’t open until tomorrow. We’ll have to leave campus to find dinner.”

  I started to answer when Gee walked into the room through the bathroom that adjoined our rooms. “I know the perfect place to go eat and have a little fun. Let’s go, bitches.”

  Chapter Three

  Pagan

  Although it was an age-restricted club, Gee had gotten us inside without a hitch. I’d started to refuse to go inside but Miranda had gotten all excited when the bouncer waved us through. I had to go in to keep Miranda out of trouble.

  “Stop frowning, Peggy Ann. It ain’t that bad. Loosen up,” Gee said as we made our way toward one of the empty tables.

  “My name is Pagan,” I informed her.

  “You used to be more fun,” she mumbled. What the heck did she mean by that? We’d known each other all of six hours tops. I was about to ask about her comment when a guy stepped in front of me.

  “Hey, beautiful. You’re new here. I’d remember eyes like those if I’d seen them before.”

  I let out a weary sigh and looked up at him. “Really? That’s the best you’ve got?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

  His confused frown annoyed me and I stepped around him.

  “Harsh! I like it.” Gee chuckled as we took our seats at the bar.

  Miranda grabbed my arm and jerked me close to her, “Don’t look now, but Jay is here,” she whispered excitedly in my ear.

  I knew Jay went to University of Tennessee, which was just one city over from us but I hadn’t expected to bump into him so soon, especially not on my first night in college. I started to look back but Miranda squeezed my arms tightly. “I said don’t look. He’s with a girl. They’re dancing really close and well I think she may be humping his leg.”

  “What do you want to drink Pay-gan,” Gee asked in a mocking voice drawing my name out since I’d corrected her before.

  “A Coke will be fine,” I said and turned my attention away from Miranda’s death grip on my arm to Gee, who was perched on a barstool as if she were actually old enough to order something more than a soda.

  “You want Coke? Why am I not surprised?” She replied with a roll of her eyes. Her gaze shifted from me to something over my shoulder. “Well, shit.” She mumbled.

  Curious, I turned around and my eyes met Jay’s. He was in fact dancing with some girl who just might be humping his leg. His hands were cupping her butt and he was whispering something in her ear or at least he was until he saw me. His surprised expression made me smile. I’m sure he had no idea I was at Boone. I hadn’t spoken to him since Wyatt’s funeral. I smiled and gave him a little wave and turned around to look at Gee. She was watching me closely as if she may need to tackle me to the ground at any given moment. What was her deal? She was just weird enough to make me nervous.

  “You know him?” She asked, shifting her eyes from me to Jay’s direction.

  Shrugging, I picked up the Coke the bartender placed in front of me. “Yeah, he used to go to my school,” I explained. I didn’t want to explain to her that he had also been my boyfriend for three years. She would probably embarrass me somehow with that information.

  “He was her boyfriend for three years. They were inseparable.” Miranda chimed in with her juicy piece of gossip. I’d have to thank her later for that one.

  “Hmmm… well Pay-gan, you need to decide what you want to do because here he comes,” Gee replied. She seemed annoyed.

  Great.
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  “Pagan?” Jay’s surprised tone had me wishing I’d stayed in my dorm room tonight. I was not up for this right now. Especially with Gee watching my every move.

  I took a deep breath, forced a smile on my face, and turned around to face Jay.

  “Hello, Jay.”

  “Hiya, Jay. Fancy meeting you here,” Miranda said with a giggle.

  “ I can’t believe y’all are here,” Jay said, with a huge grin on his face. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re both at Boone,” I explained.

  “Boone? Really? As in you’re living only thirty minutes from me?” The excitement in his voice surprised me. We’d been broken up over a year and a half now. It wasn’t like we were long lost friends.

  “Yep. Moved in today,” Miranda said before taking a sip of her Shirley Temple. At least I hoped it was a Shirley Temple. Surely Gee hadn’t ordered her something with alcohol in it.

  “Were you gonna call me? Clue me in that you’re right around the corner?” Jay’s focus was on me, but I was watching the blond who had been humping his leg. From the look on her face she wasn’t very happy. I watched her approach us and wrap her arms around Jay’s arm. I shifted my eyes from her angry glare to his suddenly tense one.

  “So who are your friends, Jay Jay?” the girl asked, pressing closer against him.

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at “Jay Jay”. Miranda kicked me and I heard her muffled chuckle. She was getting a kick out of the nickname too.

  “Uh, this is uh, “ he stammered.

  I decided to save him from his moment of panic and smiled over at his new girlfriend. “Hello. I’m Pagan and this is Miranda. We went to high school with Jay.” I’d wanted to say “Jay Jay” so badly, but I refrained because I knew if I did, I would burst into laughter.

  She reached up and ran her hand through Jay’s shaggy blond hair while keeping her eyes locked on me. Apparently I was the one she was least fond of. “Is that so? He never mentioned either of you.”

  That was a little surprising. Since we’d broken up the summer he left to come up here for college. I figured he would have at least missed me a little. Guess I thought wrong. I shrugged, “Must not have ranked real high on his importance radar,” I replied.

  I shifted my eyes to Jay’s and smirked. I was done with this fun conversation. I could see the frown puckering his forehead and decided to get away while I could. The last thing I wanted was for him or Miranda to delve into our past.

  “It was nice seeing you again, maybe we’ll bump into each other again over the next three years.” I turned back around in my stool and let my fake smile dissolve. Now, it was his turn to walk away. We’d had our little weird moment. Time to move on.

  “Is your cell number still the same?” Jay asked. Dang it. Did the boy not take a hint? I was not interested in him. He had moved on. Jeez.

  “Yep. Her number hasn’t changed,” Miranda replied when it was obvious I wasn’t going to.

  This time I kicked Miranda.

  “Ouch!” she squealed.

  “Get rid of them,” I whispered to Gee who was sitting there surprisingly quiet watching the whole thing.

  She winked at me and turned her attention back to Jay. “Looks like Pagan isn’t up for anymore chat-chat, Jay Jay. So you and your girlfriend can get back to humping on the dance floor. It was entertaining us earlier.”

  I covered my face with my hands. Why had I trusted her to handle this?

  Miranda burst into a fit of giggles and spun around on her stool away from them too. I kept my eyes closed tightly hoping they’d just walk away. I did not want Jay to think I’d been watching him dirty dance.

  “They are gone. You’re welcome.” Gee announced and raised her empty glass in the air and rattled the ice around. “He’s kinda cute but I’m thinking that chick he has hanging on him has silver tipped nails ready to slice open anyone who gets close.”

  “I picked up on that,” I replied and drank the last of the soda in my glass.

  “He is so still into you,” Miranda said nudging my arm. Was she blind? Jay was very taken. He had always been polite and friendly to everyone. Of course he would be to us. We’d all done everything together from the time we’d been freshman to the year he graduated before us.

  “No he isn’t. Besides, I’m not looking.”

  Miranda sighed and made a pouty face. “You’re never looking. You weren’t even aware of the sexiness that is Dank Walker today.”

  That was where she was wrong. I was very aware of how sexy Dank Walker had been. It would take a blind person to miss that fact and even then they would probably be able to tell. His voice was hypnotic. But he was a lead singer in a rock band. Not my type. His kind wanted a girl long enough to get her naked and in bed. Then he moved on.

  “I noticed. I just didn’t care. I don’t do rockers. That’s your thing.”

  Gee cleared her throat and I turned my attention to her. “What you got against musicians?”

  “The fact that they want a different girl every night. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll,” I replied.

  Gee studied me a moment then nodded her head slowly as if she agreed. “Maybe, but Dank isn’t your typical lead singer.”

  “Sure he isn’t,” I replied letting the sarcasm drip from my tone. “I’m not in the mood to talk about this. How long do we have to stay here?”

  “We just got here, Pagan. A cute guy hasn’t even asked me to dance yet,” Miranda whined, glancing over both her shoulders for any males who may be checking her out so she could pounce.

  “Okay, fine. We’ll wait until you get to dance, then can we leave?”

  “You got boring Peggy Ann,” Gee mumbled.

  What was it with her calling me Peggy Ann? She knew my name was Pagan. And why did she keep referring to me as if we had known each other for longer than half a day? Did she do drugs? She had been on the back of Dank Walker’s motorcycle today. Maybe she was a groupie. Didn’t groupies do drugs and sleep with the band?

  “Oh, boys!” Miranda squealed quietly and tugged on my arm. Two boys were standing behind us. One of them looked familiar; I must have seen him somewhere before.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Nathan,” Miranda said in her sweet voice. The one she thought was sexy and only used when an attractive guy was talking to her. The familiar one was very focused on her. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair that curled on the ends giving it a messy look. I liked him. I wasn’t sure why exactly, but I approved.

  “This is my friend, Pagan,” Miranda announced to the boys. “Pagan this is Nathan and Kent. They both go to UT.”

  Kent took a step toward me. “If you dance with me, I think your friend will dance with Nathan, and if you’ve noticed he’s practically drooling. He hasn’t taken his eyes off her since y’all walked in here.” The teasing grin on his face as he looked at Nathan alleviated any worry I had. He wasn’t hitting on me. He was here as Nathan’s wingman. I stood up and took the hand that Kent had held out to me.

  “I’d love to dance,” I smiled back at Miranda, “throw the boy a bone.” I told her causing her to laugh as she stood up and slipped her hand in Nathan’s. He was staring at her as if he’d just been gifted some rare jewel. I liked that. A lot. So far Nathan had my approval.

  “By all means, you two run along and dance. I’ll just sit here and drink.” Gee said reminding me she was there. Feeling guilty I looked back at her, but she had an amused smirk on her face so I knew she was teasing. Besides, Gee was a rock band groupie. She didn’t do college boys.

  “We’ll be back soon,” I assured her.

  She held up her newest drink, “I’m fine and dandy right here. Please go entertain yourselves. Maybe you’ll lighten up Peggy Ann.”

  I rolled my eyes at her continued use of her nickname for me. I realized that I would always be Peggy Ann to her. She wasn’t going to stop calling me that.

  “Let’s dance,” I said turning to Kent.

  He led me onto the cr
owded dance floor. Bodies were moving everywhere. Most of them were just as intense as Jay and his girlfriend had been. I really hoped Kent wasn’t expecting me to rub all over him. That wasn’t the kind of dancing I’d signed up for.

  “I saw you talking to Potts earlier. You know him?”

  He knew Jay? The University of Tennessee was a big place. How odd. “Uh, yeah. Jay and I went to high school together.”

  Kent pulled us into the thick of things and slipped a hand around my waist. I wasn’t sure I liked that. “Really? That’s cool. Jay and I are ATO brothers.”

  Ah. A frat boy. Great.

  “Are you at UT?” he asked with interest.

  “Nope. I’m at Boone.”

  Kent slid his hand down my hip and pulled me against him as the music slowed to a sexy beat. I did not like this. I searched the crowd until I found Miranda to see how she and Nathan were doing. She was wrapped in Nathan’s arms and looking at him like he was the most beautiful guy she’d ever seen. I wanted her to have this time. She needed to have some fun and begin to go out with other boys. But could I deal with Kent rubbing all over me to give her that time?

  Just then two larger hands slid around my waist and held me firmly. Warm breath tickled my neck and instead of being startled by it, it excited me. “Times up,” a deep sexy drawl said from behind me. Kent’s eyes went wide.

  “Are you… are you … holy shit!. You’re Dank Walker. Cold Soul’s Dank Walker.” Kent’s arms immediately let go of me as he stepped back. His eyes were focused on the guy behind me. Why Dank Walker was standing behind me making some big claim on me I wasn’t sure, but at the moment I was just glad tat he was no longer pressing his pelvis against me.

  “Yeah. Now go,” Dank replied. Kent nodded his head and backed away into the moving bodies.