Page 3 of Bless My Body

She pinches my side. “Shut up. I’m going to miss you.” I hate when she starts getting sentimental

on me because it makes me feel like there’s a chance for me. But hope is a dangerous thing to have

with someone like Celine. She can crush someone’s heart without even knowing she did it.

“I’m gonna miss you too, Red.” I put my arm around her and pull her into me as she wraps her

arms around my waist. My heart speeds up from just her touch, and I’m fairly certain this woman will

be the death of me.

Chapter 1

Celine

Three Years Later

“I ’m so done with men.”

I flop down on my best friend Stella’s bed. She turns in her desk chair to face me, her blush

brush pausing mid-stroke.

“I’m sorry, what?” she asks in disbelief.

“Yep,” I say, popping the P. “I’m done. I’m going to take a mental health break from all the games

these boys are playing.”

She laughs and turns back to the mirror. “What happened with that baseball guy?”

She’s referring to my latest fling. A player on our school’s baseball team. They’ve been on a

winning streak, so Stella and I decided to go to a game even though we both hate baseball. We just

happened to run into Chad after the game. I’ll admit, his big brown eyes sucked me in, but I should’ve

known better.

“Ugh. Chad. I can’t even. He talked a big game, but then the sex lasted like five seconds.”

“Oh my God. Five whole seconds?”

“Yes! I didn’t even come. It was terrible.” She scrunches up her nose. “I know. I know.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to be single?”

I came to Brunswick University three and a half years ago with a specific goal to sleep my way

through college. I was finally out of the small town in South Carolina where I grew up. It was

impossible to do anything there because, one way or another, someone would always go blabbing to

my parents. Even if I planned on telling them something, other people would get to them before I

could. It was annoying and suffocating, and I couldn’t wait to be free from that.

College was my fresh start.