Page 75 of The Golden Receiver

I guess I would just have to wait to strip him out of that suit until after the dance.

When we got inside Union Hall, I was impressed with the decorations. All the lights had been replaced with floating candelabras, casting dancing shadows on the walls around the room. All the tables were pushed to the side, leaving room for a dance floor. They were draped in gauzy fabrics of black and… well, not black. I had to assume orange, given the theme, but orange was another one of those problematic colors for me. It looked like strange, muted gold, and well, that was pretty, too.

Music was already playing, and the doors opposite the ones we entered were thrown open to the quad.

“Dance or explore?” I asked Kieran.

He didn’t take a moment to think. “Explore. I need more people to be dancing before I get out there.”

“Afraid of looking bad?”

Kieran nodded. “Not much of a dancer,” he admitted. “Never have been.”

Just another endearing fact about the grumpy Gus I’d fallen in love with.

We walked through Union Hall and out to the quad. It was filled with students gathering around selfie stations, taking pictures to post to their Fangstagram accounts. Other students were just standing around, chatting and laughing.

I spotted Preston talking with some girl with blonde hair and antlers. She was wearing a gorgeous sparkling gown and had a corsage around her wrist that I’d seen in the suite’s mini-fridge just that morning. I’d thought it belonged to Ryan or Benny, because I had a hard time imagining Preston leaving his study chair to go to the dance. I pointed him out to Kieran, and we went over to say hi.

Preston introduced us to his date, some girl from one of his pre-law classes. Then Preston forced us to go take selfies with him.

We mingled outside. We talked to a few members of the football team. We went back inside and ate our share of the offered hors d’oeuvres. Every moment of the night was magical, but nothing more magical than when the music slowed down and Kieran looked at me and then back to the dance floor.

The sour, anxious smell was wafting off him again.

“It’s time,” he said solemnly.

“Time?”

“To dance.”

Judging by the tone of his voice, I would have thought we were sending him off to execution or into battle. I was about to tell him that it wasn’t needed, we could dance later or something, but he pulled me onto the dance floor. I wondered if it was to stop himself from chickening out.

We found a place near the edge of the dance floor. I noticed Eric nearby, dancing with a cheerleader whose name I didn’t know. He smiled at us, and I waved before having all my attention stolen by Kieran.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. We swayed in time to the music, not doing anything fancy, but that didn’t matter.

It was better than I’d imagined. Every time I’d thought about dancing with him at the Halloween Ball, I’d imagined him doing it with a scowl on his face. I’d imagined having to pull him out onto the dance floor during some fast song. Never in my wildest dreams had I even thought about dancing with him like this. I’d never have thought I’d get to hold him tight in my arms, pull him close, and kiss him on the dance floor.

But I could.

And I did.

It was better than I imagined it would be.

“I love you,” I whispered as the music faded.

He gave me one of those rare smiles of his, and that was worth every step it had taken to get here. It was worth all the early morning runs. It was worth the weeks of prying every individual word from him. I’d climbed over his walls, and he’d let me stay there.

He’d let me make a home in his heart, and I was never going to let it go.

Epilogue

EVANDER - TWO YEARS LATER

Icould hear the noise from downstairs. Everyone I loved was gathered at the warehouse, and I should have been down there with them. Instead, I was hiding upstairs in my childhood bedroom with Kieran.

It had been two years since he’d come to Creelin University. I was even more in love with him now than I’d been at our first Halloween Ball. We were weeks from graduation and today would determine our futures. We’d both made the decision to put our name up for the draft. We both wanted to go pro, but we knew the risks.