Hit the Wall (Blythe College) Read Free Page B

at arm’s length,” Charlotte said before hopping out of her bed and climbing into mine with me. “I worry about you. We’re graduating soon, and I won’t be there to make sure that you pick well if you wait to really fall for someone once we’re gone.”
    I wrapped my arms around her as I realized that she was really worried about me. “I love you too, Char. No matter how far apart from each other we end up, I promise that you will get the chance to give me the thumbs up or down on guys, okay? But I really worry about your choices if you think that Jackson would be considered picking well. You don’t even know anything about him except that he’s hot and intense.”
    She looked at me, her green eyes narrowed on mine as she replied. “I know more than that, Kaylie. He’s someone who managed to get a rise out of you, you think he’s hot even if you won’t admit it, and it would piss Sasha off. I get that the third reason isn’t a good one, but the first two work for me. Add in that his sister is pretty awesome from what you’ve said about her when you talked about helping Aubrey out in the dance class you’re taking together and he can’t be all that bad.”
    “Except that he’s a man-whore!” I protested.
    “And my mama always said that reformed rakes make the best husbands. Hell, look at Shane. He was a huge player in high school before he met me our senior year, and he settled right down and into a long-distance relationship when I decided to come here for school. He’d like nothing more than to put his ring on my finger, and nobody would have ever expected it of him four years ago,” Charlotte argued.
    I stopped to consider the point she was making, and it was a good one. Just because a guy played around a lot didn’t mean that when he really fell for a girl he wouldn’t be able to be faithful. If anything, maybe at our age it would make him more likely to be able to not cheat since he’d already been with so many other women and worked it out of his system. But that didn’t mean that Jackson Silver was the guy for me, and I wasn’t even looking for Mr. Right in my life. Maybe a Mr. Right Now, but not a forever guy. Charlotte was relentless when she was trying to make a point though. Better to deflect the conversation now or spend the rest of the semester with her trying to catch Jackson for me.
    “I hear what you’re saying, and if I meet a guy like that who’s totally into me, I promise to at least consider giving him a chance. But I am really glad you mentioned Shane and a ring. Do you think he’s going to pop the question over Christmas break? Because as you pointed out to me, we are graduating soon, and I’m sure he’s hoping that you’ll be ready to come back home and become Mrs. Shane Sorenson.”
    She flopped down onto my pillows and tossed her right arm over her face, covering her eyes. “Ugh! I just don’t know. I love Shane, I really do. But do I really want to take my brand-new college degree back to the middle of nowhere in Tennessee and hope that my parents will use some of my ideas to market the bar while Shane’s training horses at his dad’s place?”
    “You know your parents will listen to your ideas. They might not use them all, but they pushed for you to go away to college so you could spread your wings a bit,” I reminded her.
    “I know,” she sighed. “I guess I just pictured something different for my future than the same life in a small town that my parents have.”
    “Then tell Shane that. Give him a chance to give you the something different that you’re dreaming of. He worships the ground you walk on. Are you ready to walk away and give him up?”
    “No! I can’t picture my life without him in it,” she protested. “We didn’t survive four years of college and a long-distance relationship only for me to dump him when I graduate. I just need to figure out what I want. But I hate the thought of him making any more sacrifices to be with