AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I loved it.
I loved hearing about their battles, how they fought to protect their brotherhood, or how they’d met their old ladies—that may have been my favorite part.
“Of course, I’ll be there,” I whispered back, pressing a light kiss to his pouting lips before taking a step back. “I need to tell you something, though…”
“Stella, I’m gonna need you to clear some tables!” my boss, Lexi, called from behind the counter. We weren’t crazy busy, but the dinnertime rush would be starting soon, and if I didn’t get ahead of it now, I would be in hell in an hour or so, trying to catch up.
“I better?—”
“What’s going on? What do you need to tell me?” he asked, holding my hand a little tighter so I couldn’t pull away until I answered. I chewed my lip for a second, making his worried frown grow even deeper. “Stell…”
Glancing around, I checked to make sure things in the diner were still quiet and under control before I pulled him off to a quiet corner. “I got an acceptance letter from the University of Chicago.”
His eyes shot wide open, and before I knew it, I was being lifted into his arms. “Stella! That’s fucking great!” I couldn’t help but giggle as he buried his face in my neck, his short, unshaven bristles tickling my skin. Jaxon had been my anchor for the past few months while I worked on my grades and applications. He knew how badly I wanted this and the blood, sweat, and tears I put into it—mostly tears. “I’m so fucking proud of you,” he murmured, squeezing me a little tighter.
When he pulled back, I mentally added the look on his face to the list of pros I’d started for staying here in Athens.
Jaxon alone was also a pro.
But, on the other hand, staying here with him and giving up on my dreams because of a guy I’d been dating for less than a year was also added to the cons.
That had never been me.
I’d spent too much time already allowing my parents to dictate my life and choices.
And while I knew Jaxon wasn’t intentionally flashing me these heartwarming smiles and letting me know how proud he was of my accomplishments to guilt me into staying, I still allowed it to happen because I was in love.
At least, I thought I was.
Neither of us had said it yet, I suspected because neither of us had felt it before. We weren’t sure what this was, but I had no other explanation—the way my heart raced when he was around and how it ached when he wasn’t. I’d had boyfriends before, guys who’d made me laugh and my heart flutter when they held my hand, but Jaxon had helped to make me a stronger person.
He’d given me more confidence, encouraging me to fight for myself. I think because he’d grown up around fiercely strong women like his mom and the other old ladies, it didn’t intimidate him like it would other men.
Maybe my parents were right about how spending time around Jaxon and his family had changed me.
It had.
But in a way, I knew I’d hold on to it forever.
“Unfortunately, it’s not all positive news,” I added, stepping back and feeling my shoulders drop. “I found out Mom and Dad had made a donation to the school to encourage them to accept me. Now, I’m not even sure I want to go.”
His demeanor changed instantly, folding his arms across his chest while his nostrils flared. “The hell do you mean you don’t know if you want to go? Stella, this is what all that work was for.”
“But I don’t even know if the work I did got me accepted or if it was just my parents’ money.”
“Who fucking cares?” My body jerked at his harsh tone, and he quickly lifted his hands in front of him. “Sorry. I just mean, whether it was their money or your hard work, you can still go and prove to them and yourself that you can do it. You’re the one who has to go to class, do the assignments, and take those tests.”
He was right.
Getting into college was technically the easy part.
So many people ended up dropping out because they couldn’t handle the pressure or the workload.
But that didn’t have to be me.
I already knew what it was like to work hard for something because it didn’t come easy. In the past few months, I’d managed to lift my grades higher than they’d ever been, so even if my college acceptance was because of my parents, at least I knew I could still hit those goals. It wasn’t about academics not coming as naturally for me as it did to others, it was about how badly I wanted it and how hard I was willing to work to get it.
That was when that excitement began to bubble up again.
