Free Certified Disaster (Beautiful Mess Book 2) by Jennifer Preston

your
motorcycle.”
    “Of course!  I haven’t left her side
since I got here.”
    “Again, I don’t know if I should be
mad that I’ve been replaced,”she laughed.
    “Nothing and no one could ever
replace you, baby,”he
tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.  “You’re my whole world.”   She smiled, and he
leaned in to kiss her.
    “I know you two are adults now,”Connor’s voice
broke them apart.  “But do you have to shove it in my face?”  
    Bri and Cole exchanged guilty smiles
before Bri replied.
    “Come on, Dad, you knew this was
coming.  After all, you were the one who insisted I get on the pill before I
left for college.”   Bri
winked at her dad, who had been shocked into silence and had turned bright red.
    “That was prevention, not
permission!”   Connor
finally found his voice.  Cole, who had also been shocked into silence, just
stood there gaping at both of them.
    “I know, I know,”Bri grinned, and
patted her dad consolingly on the arm.  She then grabbed Cole’s hand and pulled
him to the front door.  “We’re going down to the beach for a walk.  I won’t be
too late.”
    “Back by eleven,”Connor called after
them.
    “Still with the curfew?”she teased before
waving goodbye.
    After she was situated behind him on
his bike, Cole found the courage to ask, “You’re on the pill?”
    “Of course.  You know, bright future
and all that.”   She
hugged herself against him.
    Cole couldn’t help the satisfied
smile that crossed his face.  Maybe she wasn’t as apprehensive as he’d
thought.  She was thinking about it.  He wondered exactly what she was
thinking, but decided not to push it.  He might just find out first hand soon
enough.  He grinned, and gunned the bike down the street.  
     
     
    December arrived, and with it the
Blue Devil’s first pre-season tournament.  Being the top seed, they got to play
all four of their games at home, breezing through the field to win the final. 
It was kind of a surreal experience, knowing that thousands of people were
watching them.  Cole was still trying to get used all the TV cameras and
reporters everywhere, none of whom were at all interested in him.  He wasn’t
sure if he was grateful for that or resentful, as he watched Jordan doing more
and more of the post-game interviews. 
    Not that Jordan didn’t deserve it. 
He was playing great, living up to all the freshman phenom predictions.  But
every once in a while, Cole really wished someone would pay just a little
attention to him.  Being second string and only playing a handful of minutes a
game wasn’t likely to garner much attention.
    Their next tournament was held at
Madison Square Garden in New York, and as Cole got ready to board the bus with
the team, he was admittedly a little nervous about what was coming.  He’d never
played on such a big stage before, and he just kept praying that he wouldn’t do
anything humiliating on national television.  That was a whole new pressure he
never dreamed he’d have to deal with. 
    His nerves were only outweighed by
his regret at having to leave Bri behind.  Since she was a freshman, she wasn’t
part of the cheering/dancing contingent that would travel with the team for the
tournament, and he was feeling really bad about leaving her.  She was obviously
feeling something similar as she pouted up at him.  He was intentionally the
last in line to board the bus, and taking advantage of every last second he
could get.
    “I’ll be back before you know it,”he smiled down at
her.  “You won’t even have time to miss me.”
    “Yeah right, too late for that. 
Besides, if you guys win, you won’t be home until Tuesday.  That’s like five days
from now.”   She
snuggled against his chest.
    He was trying not to let it show,
but it was killing him to have to say goodbye.  This was the first time they’d
been apart since they’d gotten back together that summer.  He remembered all too
well how miserable