The Spark by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 13
Autumn
Eight years ago
“One more.” Nick held the bottle of tequila out to me.
I shook my head. “No way. I’ve already hit my limit.”
My friend Felicia thumbed toward me. “Her limit is one. Give me that.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “I thought we were celebrating you kicking all our asses on the calc test.”
“We are. But I celebrate responsibly. You get blackout drunk and strip naked while standing at the drive-thru ordering Taco Bell, then get belligerent when the woman at the pickup window won’t give you your food.”
Nick grinned. “That was once, and that woman really needed to loosen up.”
Felicia and I laughed. “I think we’ve discovered the reason we’re celebrating my perfect score on the test and not your sixty.”
Nick took the bottle from Felicia and knocked back another long swig before handing it to one of his frat brothers. “Dance with me, ladies.”
I looked around. No one else at the party was dancing, but that never stopped Nick, and man, could he dance. I shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
Nick made a big commotion about needing more space in the living room and then yelled to his buddy to turn up the music. By the time we were halfway through the song, most of the party had joined in. Nick stood in front of me and stuck his ass out, and I pretended to smack it. Felicia and I sandwiched him between us and gyrated our hips as we moved up and down. It was harmless—the three of us had been goofing around since we met at freshman orientation last year. Plus, Nick was more into our Calc TA, Ian, than he was Felicia or me.
We danced a few more songs and then sang along to a new Ariana Grande ballad while acting it out. At one point, I turned, pretending to be the girl in the song who walks away, and I happened to look across the room. My eyes met Braden’s. I blinked a few times. I’d had a couple of drinks, but that couldn’t be him. Though it looked exactly like him… Anyway, whoever it was did not look very happy. The guy stood in the corner of the room and made no effort to come toward me, even though he was very clearly staring. I motioned to my friends that I’d be back and headed toward the guy, wiping sweat from my forehead.
“Oh my God, it’s really you. I thought I was seeing things.” I smiled. “What are you doing here? I had no idea you were coming up this weekend.”
“Obviously. I came to visit my girlfriend and find her grinding on some guy. So I guess that makes two of us surprised.”
I waved toward my friend. “That’s just Nick. I’ve mentioned him.”
“Pretty sure you said you study together, not dry hump.”
“Nick’s gay. He’s not interested in me. We’re just having fun.”
“Having fun making me look like an idiot?”
“How am I making you look like an idiot?”
Someone turned the music up even higher. Braden frowned. He had to lean forward and yell just so I could hear him. “This isn’t my scene. I’m going to go. I’ll see you whenever the next time you come home is.”
“Go? What? No. Don’t be ridiculous. Let me just tell my friends I’m leaving. I’ll be right back.”
I squeezed through the crowd to make my way back to Nick and Felicia. I could barely hear myself as I yelled to them over the music. But I pointed to Braden and waved goodbye, and they seemed to get what I was trying to tell them.
I walked back to Braden, and we headed outside together. When I stepped outside onto the porch, my friend Jason didn’t see the guy behind me and engulfed me in a bear hug.
“There she is. Be my beer-pong partner, gorgeous?”
I could feel the tension radiating off the man behind me before I even turned around. Disentangling myself from Jason, I said, “Umm…I’m just heading out. This is my boyfriend, Braden.”
Jason held out his hand. “Braden, you lucky bastard.”
Braden looked down at his hand and back up at him without saying a word, then folded his arms across his chest.
Jason might’ve been drinking for a few hours, but there was no way he could miss the cold shoulder. He took the hint and pulled back his hand. “Alrighty then.” He caught my eye. “You good, Autumn?”
I smiled, appreciative of his concern, however misplaced it was. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, Jason.”
Braden and I walked down the stairs and crossed over the lawn. He veered right at the sidewalk, so I followed his lead, even though my dorm was to the left. We passed a few more fraternity houses as we walked down the block in silence. When we came upon a BMW, Braden walked toward it.
“Is this what you’re driving? Whose car is it?”
He walked around the passenger side and opened the door for me. “It’s mine.”
“Yours? What happened to the Toyota?”
“I got rid of it. I figured I needed a nicer car to take clients out, now that I have a job.”
My eyes widened. “You got the job? Which one?”
“I got offers from three. But I took the job at Andrews and Wilde.”
“You took the job at our dads’ firm? I thought you didn’t want to do that?”
“I thought it over. It was the best offer. Plus, I’ll get to try cases a lot sooner than I would at other places.”
“Wow. Congratulations!” I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed. Braden didn’t hug me back, but he also didn’t stop me. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks.” He nodded toward the open car door. “Why don’t you get in?”
Once we were both inside and buckled, I decided to clear the air. While I was surprised to see Braden, I really was happy he was here. “Listen, I didn’t mean to upset you by my dancing with Nick. I guess I just see him as harmless since he doesn’t like girls, and we were just dancing.”
“Grinding isn’t dancing. It’s simulating sex. Even if the guy isn’t interested, you’re putting a show on for a damn frat house, Autumn.”
I’d never thought of it like that. In fact, I’d never actually given dancing any thought at all. We’d just have a few drinks and burn off some stress. “I’m sorry. I didn’t look at it that way. But I guess you’re right.”
Braden kept shaking his head and staring at the road, even though we were still parked. “Is this what you do every weekend? Go to fraternity houses and get drunk? Play beer pong and act like a whore?”
My head snapped back. “Whore? I don’t act like a whore. I might’ve been dancing with my friends, but don’t call me a whore.”
“Then maybe try not acting like one.”
“I apologized. I said I wasn’t thinking about how my dancing might appear to others. But don’t call me a whore. In fact, don’t call me any names.” I unbuckled and grabbed for the door handle. As I went to open it, Braden caught my other wrist. His grip was really tight.
“Owww. You’re hurting me. Let go.”
Braden’s jaw flexed. He stared right at me, but I felt like he wasn’t actually seeing me. “Braden, let go. That hurts.”
After a few more heartbeats, he released my hand. “Stay. Don’t get out.”
I rubbed my wrist. “That hurt, Braden.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to stop you from leaving.”
Something about the incident didn’t sit right, and my gut told me to get out.
But Braden stroked my hair. “I’m sorry, babe. Sorry about it all—for calling you a name and for squeezing you too hard.” He lifted my wrist to his mouth and kissed the inside. “I just drove all the way up after work to surprise you and tell you the good news, and when I found you, you were all over another guy, and then some other guy grabbed you.” He shook his head. “I overreacted. I love you. Forgive me?”
I felt bad. He’d driven five hours up to Boston only to find me rubbing myself all over another guy. “It’s okay. Just please don’t let it happen again.”
He smiled. “It won’t.” Leaning across the center console, he brushed hair from my face. “I missed you. I’m glad I found you.”
I softened. “I missed you, too.”
As he started the car, it dawned on me for the first time that he had found me. “How did you know where I was tonight?”
“Your iPhone. Location tracker.”
“Oh.” I thought a minute. “I didn’t realize I had that on. Don’t I have to grant you access or something?”
Braden shrugged and held out his hand. “I guess you did at some point.”
Again, I had a fleeting funny feeling. But this was my boyfriend of two years… I’d probably shared my location with him at some point and just didn’t remember. So I pushed it aside and laced my fingers with his.
Yet for the rest of the weekend, I couldn’t shake this niggling feeling. I kept trying to remember exactly when I’d shared my location with Braden. I had a pretty good memory, yet no matter how long and hard I thought, I couldn’t ever recall doing it.
