On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss

Chapter 75

Seth

Five Goals for a Perfect Year

1.

The cursor blinks. Taunting me. Mocking me.

This is stupid.

I reach for the backspace key again, then pause. No. I can do this. I should be able to come up with five achievable goals. It can’t be that hard to visualize who I want to be by this time next year. If Drew can manifest, then I don’t see why I can’t.

The cursor blinks. I stare at it on the laptop screen.

With a huff, I open a browser. Vision board examples, I type into the search bar. Several million results pop up. Guess these things really are popular.

I scroll through the examples. Buy a house. Nah. Lose twenty pounds. No need. I’m already tasty. Compete in a triathlon. Looking for baby steps here, folks...

But, I have been running more lately. I could see myself training for a 5k. There’s one of those, like... every weekend somewhere in Chicago. Maybe that’s something Jenna and I can do together. She’d probably dig that. She runs, too.

1. Run a 5k race with Jenna.

I smile. One down. Four to go. Not bad so far. Assuming Jenna and I are still together at all, but let’s not wallow on that right now.

I scroll a little more. What the fuck does abundance mean?

There’s a knock at the door. I set my laptop on the coffee table as I rise off the couch. Jenna said she’d come by today. So naturally I’ve been awake and waiting since dawn. Not that I got a ton of sleep last night, anyway.

How much trouble am I in? Am I totally screwed? Is this going to be a make-up conversation or a break-up conversation? Now that everyone knows about us, will it even be the same? Will Jenna get bored with me now? Is my sister done with me, too?

I take a breath. No sense in spiraling to worst-case scenarios just yet.

I open the door, and there’s Jenna. Breathtaking as always, even in something as simple as a T-shirt and jeans.

“Hey,” I say.

She gives a brief smile. “Hi.”

I open the door a little wider, silently inviting her inside. She glides past me with a stiff posture. Her arms dangle at her sides. She barely even looks at me. Oh, god...

I’m about to get dumped.

I close the door. Best just get this over with. “Jenna, I know why you’re—”

She rushes forward and hugs me. I inhale sharply, taken by surprise, but I curl my arms around her.

Or, maybe, I’ll enjoy this bit first.

I bury my nose in her hair. She clings to me with her head resting on my chest and her arms locked in an unyielding grip.

“I love you, too,” she says.

Oh.

Oh.

I exhale, relieved. I kiss her forehead and she tilts her head up. Another kiss, this one on the tip of her little nose. Two more, just beneath her eyes.

Ouchies banished.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t say it before,” she says.

“It’s okay. I, uh...” I clear my throat. “I knew you’d get there, eventually.”

Liar.

She smiles, but doesn’t call me out.

I take a quick, soothing breath. “So, about last night...”

“Wait. Before we get into that...” She holds up a hand and steps back. “Did you know that Corey’s uncle was the president?”

“President of what?”

“Of the country.”

“Like... the entire country?”

“Yes.”

I search my memory. I’ve known Corey King for years, but other than the basics of his daily life and relationships and a few minor idiosyncrasies, I’ve got nothing.

“No,” I answer. “But that explains a lot.”

“Does it?”

“There was a black car parked outside the Delta Xi house for almost a week one time. Corey said they were his babysitters because there was a threat made against his family, but we all thought he was just fucking around. Or mafia. I thought mafia for a second there.”

Jenna hums with interest.

“Jack slept with one of them,” I add.

“Oh, well, that’s no surprise.” She takes a breath, exhaling hard as her face softens again. “So, about last night...”

“I shouldn’t have told them like that,” I say. “It was a dick move.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I just thought that if we ripped off the bandage, it wouldn’t be that bad. I mean...” I shake my head. “Who knew Heidi could blow up like that?”

“I did. I knew she could blow up like that.”

“She’s so tiny. Such a tiny person.”

“The tinier the girl, the bigger the meltdown,” she jokes.

“I’m sorry.”

Jenna squints, putting on a faux angry face that fades quickly. “I should have let you go with me last night.”

I push her hair back behind her ears, proud to find those pearls peeking back at me. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I shouldn’t have left without you.”

“You came back, though,” I say. “Keep doing that and we’ll be okay.”

Her lips press together, appreciating the words. “And I’m sorry I wouldn’t tell anyone about us, I just...”

“What?”

Jenna swallows hard. “I wasn’t sure if things would be the same after that.”

I nod, having had the same worries myself. “Jenna.”

“Seth.”

I cup her cheeks. “You’re hot, you’re mine, and I’m not gonna get bored.”

She chuckles. “Are you sure?”

I kiss her on the lips, practically crushing them, but it feels good not to have to worry anymore. It feels good to know — to truly know — that the way my heart beats for her is real.

She came back. She loves me.

Jenna Abrams isn’t going anywhere.

I hug her again. There’s still so much to talk about. How we’re going to handle the Heidi situation. The logistics of us.

But that can wait.

Jenna breaks the embrace with a curious tilt of her head. “Five Goals for—”

I jolt, realizing that she can read my laptop screen beyond my shoulder. “That’s not important—”

She gasps. “Is that a vision board?!”

“No!”

“Yes, it is!” She tries to run around me, but I grab her by the hips. “You’re making a vision board!”

“No, I’m not. That’s something for work.”

She wiggles free from my grasp. “I wanna see it!”

“No!”

“Is that my name?”

“No!”

I hook an arm around her waist, carefully tackling her onto the couch as I reach out with my other hand and slam the laptop closed.

“Oh, come on!” Jenna laughs. “Let me see it.”

I hold her down, arms pinned above her head. “No.”

“Why not? I wanna help you achieve your goals.”

“There are no goals.”My laugh gives me away. “It wasn’t a vision board. You saw nothing.”

Jenna stops fighting beneath my weight, but her entire body shakes with laughter. “You are so embarrassed!”

“No, I’m not.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed about,” she teases. “Gotta love a man full of abundance.”

“Yeah, what is that?” I ask. “Everyone talks about it, but no one says what it means.”

Jenna leans closer. “I’ll show you.”

She kisses me. I release her pinned hands in favor of feeling her body instead. She shifts beneath me, parting her legs so we can be closer.

The door opens. We leap into action, but our bodies are far too entwined to de-couple before whoever it is steps inside. For a moment, I think that maybe it’s Mr. White. Or a maintenance guy.

But I’m not that lucky.

Drew walks in first, his arm extended to hold the door open for someone else, and there’s only one person I can think of that makes him smile like that.

Jenna and I stumble to our feet as Heidi steps inside. She sees us immediately, and the smile on her face vanishes. Her brows draw together, creating a wrinkle between them as she stands tall and crosses her arms.

“What are you doing here?” she asks Jenna.