was one reason I agreed. Come fall, I’d be starting NYU along with Alivia. Together we applied to a few schools. Alivia had wanted to stay local and got into each one. By the skin of my teeth, I had gotten into NYU, and our decision was made. The plan was to eventually get an apartment together in the city. Knowing her father, that would create an argument. For our first year we’d live on campus in separate dorms. Living with some random dude over her held no appeal.
So, again, Alivia was the only reason I was going at all… and getting that stupid degree to make my parents happy.
“Buh-bye, high school,” Chase announced with his glass in the air. My buddy was heading to UCLA come August. Kim had accepted a scholarship at UMass and was heartbroken over it. Alivia hoped their relationship survived the distance. “High school won’t be missed.”
“Nope… because soon we’ll be taking the world by the balls,” I went on to say. “In the meantime, here’s to the summer of our lives. You three are my best friends, and I love you guys.” They echoed my words, and I tapped my glass on Alivia’s before taking a sip. Leaning closer, I kissed her softly. “I love you the most.”
Her crystal-blue eyes shimmered with emotion as she said, “Ditto.”
We were two kids who’d gone from playmates to soul mates. Some would say that was an extreme thing to claim at the ripe old age of eighteen, but it was true. Alivia Felice Taylor was my soul mate.
Chapter Two
Alivia
Shane stared down at me with a smile. “Ready?”
“I’m ready.” He opened the door and led me into his bedroom, where I gasped in surprise. “Oh, Shane…” More words failed me as I stared in awe at the pale-pink rose petals scattered over the floor and on the bed, the flickering candles strategically placed around the room.
“You like it?”
“I love it.” I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. “It’s so beautiful.”
“No… this is a romantic gesture. You’re beautiful,” he countered, skimming his hand up and down my back.
I could say the same of him. As a boy, Shane was adorable, and I’d crushed hard… as much as a six-year-old could. When we met, being the oldest of all the other kids in the Devil’s Lair family naturally bonded us. Even though there were only a few or so years between us and them, his little twin siblings Madden and Siarra looked up to us, and Drexel, who was a baby at the time, adored Shane.
Once my brother, Trestan, was born, the nine-year age difference with Shane had automatically put my boyfriend into an idol-worshipping situation. Funny, their relationship wasn’t much different than the one Shane had with my dad when he was younger.
As far as myself, the older we got the more my crush intensified. Shane’s cute boyish looks slowly morphed into those of a hot, tall, fit man in the making, with just the right amount of cockiness. His brunette locks always had that perfectly tousled thing going. Thanks to working out religiously, his lanky frame filled out into a male model’s physique. Just imagining those sculpted pecs, that ridge along his hips, and the sexiest thin trail of hair that stretched from his belly button southward never failed to make me delirious with desire.
He dressed like a rock star: leather jackets, basic T-shirts, and jeans. He acted like one too… although he was destined to become famous. At eighteen, Shane was really good, already labeled by people in the business as a prodigy. Watching him perform had to be the hottest thing I’d ever seen short of seeing him naked. He commanded his instrument as though it were an extension of his body. Shane was already a musical marvel. Fate had given me no choice but to fall hard for him.
But our relationship wasn’t always a sappy love tale. No one could piss me off as easily and as thoroughly as Shane could. My mom said it was because I loved him so much. Maybe so, but still, we’ve had our share of fights over the years. As kids it may have been a board game, competitive soccer match, him teasing me over my love for Hello Kitty, or how he despised my cat, Miss Kitty, that caused them.
Now our arguments usually stemmed from his aversion to making plans or being serious when I needed him to be.