Summer_The Chosen by Him Series Prequel Read online

  "Real relationships have ups and downs," I told Mara. "And graduating college is a stressful time."

  "Especially if you get caught cheating," Mara muttered.

  Before I had time to answer her and defend my boyfriend, my phone alerted me to a new message. "The college president has requested a meeting," I said.

  Mara put down her coffee. "Oh, Summer. What are you going to do?"

  I tried to laugh it off. "Maybe it's about my application for the Velocity Capital internship. I asked Dr. Anderson to give me a recommendation."

  "Good luck," she called as I headed toward the administration building, but I could hear the worry in her voice.

  "It's nothing," I told myself as I settled down in the polished chairs outside the president's office.

  Why was I worried?

  Brandon had assured me and sealed his comforting words with a hundred kisses. I could still feel the press and pleasurable rub of his body. I could still feel him penetrating deep inside me and finding that spot…

  "Summer Farris?"

  I sprang up with bright cheeks. "Yes, sir."

  I followed the college president into his office. The sight of Brandon's professor was more shock than a bucket of ice water. All feeling left my body completely.

  Dr. Anderson cleared his throat and gestured for me to sit in the open chair next to the professor. "I'm sorry to call you in like this, Ms. Farris, but we have some concerns we need to discuss."

  "Concerns?" My voice sounded small in the impressive office.

  "It has come to our attention that someone is changing grades, hacking into the system and adjusting grade point averages," Dr. Anderson said.

  "I have a perfect 4.0," I said.

  "Exactly," Dr. Anderson said. "You had a perfect 4.0 until yesterday. We don't offer grades higher than that but suddenly you are far above the top GPA."

  "And suddenly two of my failing students are passing with flying colors," added Brandon's professor.

  I pinched my lips together and knotted my fingers. They showed me the print-outs and I saw Brandon and Tanya's names. My stomach burned but I knew this had nothing to do with me.

  Dr. Anderson sighed. "We know this has nothing to do with you, Summer. You are an exemplary student and we don't wish to cause you any pain, but we cannot have students hacking into our system and getting away with it."

  "If someone was clever enough to hack into your system, why would they make the changes so obvious?" I asked.

  "Recklessness. Arrogance." Brandon's professor made a distasteful face. "The hacker knows our policies and that all of these allegations will take a long time to prove. In the meantime, these grades can be accessed as they are and graduation will proceed based on what is in the computer."

  "I'm sorry the system is so frustrating," Dr. Anderson told his colleague. Then he turned to me. "That's why we need your help, Summer."

  I shook my head. "This has nothing to do with me."

  The college president softened. "It shouldn't have anything to do with you, but your relationship with Brandon is known on campus."

  The professor snorted. "Among other things."

  "Like what?" My voice was sharp and both men sat up a little straighter. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

  Dr. Anderson no longer treated me like a sheltered student. He turned his computer monitor towards me and said, "Brandon is not the loyal boyfriend you think he is."

  Security footage showed Brandon and Tanya sneaking into the computer science lab. It was clear from the way she clung to his arm and the way Brandon's hands roved over her that they had something else in mind before hacking.

  I swallowed hard and looked away. "Have you talked to the students who are actually involved?"

  The college president pursed his lips at my dispassionate tone. "Yes."

  "And I am not implicated in any way?" I asked.

  "You are not. If anything, you could give us a helpful testimony. Outside of our disciplinary measures, the hacker will face criminal charges," Dr. Anderson said.

  "The alleged hacker may face criminal charges," I asserted. "And I am free to go?"

  The men stood up. The interrogation was over. Brandon had kept my name out of it and I was clear of any suspicions.

  I should have been relieved, but I only made it fifty feet outside the administration building before the tears started falling. Brandon's professor was right: Brandon had been reckless with more than just his hacking skills. He'd cheated on me and broken my heart.

  Chapter 5

  Brandon was lounging on my twin bed when I rushed into my dorm room to hide. He sat up lazily and smiled at me. "It's no wonder you prefer to sleep at my apartment. These beds are tiny and super uncomfortable."

  I watched him bouncing around and grinning and could do nothing but ball my fingers into fists. There were too many words caught in my throat and I was afraid if I dislodged them, the tears would pour out again too.

  He pretended not to notice. "Though your place has got more privacy than I thought. I don't think your roommate likes me very much."

  "What are you doing here?" I asked between gritted teeth.

  "Well, before your roommate ran away, she told me you had a meeting with the college president. I just thought I'd hang out and see what Dr. Anderson tried to intimidate you with." He leaned back on my bed again and hooked his hands behind his head.

  "Why?" It was all I could get out.

  He dropped his hands with an irritated sigh. "I did it for you, Summer. You made it clear that me graduating was really important to you, so I made it happen."

  "By cheating?" I cringed at my own words, the video of him and Tanya still painfully flashing through my mind. He’d cheated in more than one way.

  "They can't prove anything." Brandon swung his dirty boots off my bed and stood up. "These so-called allegations will be tangled up in college policies for months. We'll be graduated and long gone before they amount to anything."

  "Gone?" I unknotted my fingers and ran them through my hair. "You realize that grades follow you to graduate school, right?"

  Brandon snorted. "Who needs graduate school? I told you, Summer, I can give you so much more than that."

  "By hacking and stealing?" My voice was shaky but the volume was returning and I had to fight the urge to scream at him.

  His dark eyes flashed. "Look, Summer. I'm not going to jump through hoops anymore."

  "Why change my grades? It boosted me above a 4.0."

  "You had a 4.0?" Brandon looked genuinely surprised then he laughed. "So that's how they found out so fast. Oops."

  "Oops?" I cried.

  His eyes narrowed. "What do you care? You're an exceptional student and now your grade point average is, too. You're welcome."

  "You seriously expect me to thank you?!"

  He grabbed my shoulders. "Get ahold of yourself, Summer. Your perfect image hasn't been tarnished. The prez told you that, I'm sure. So, what's your problem?"

  I shoved his hands off of me. "That's not all Dr. Anderson told me."

  He laughed. He actually laughed and the rest of my brittle heart broke apart. I backed away from him and found myself cornered in my own dorm room.

  "Grow up, Summer. You're not some pre-teen mooning around thinking everything is romance and promises. This is the real world," he said.

  "You cheated on me," I hissed. "And now you're telling me that's just part of the 'real' world?"

  He shrugged. "It's not like she meant anything. It was just a little stupid fun."

  "Don't I mean anything?" I cried.

  He rolled his eyes but moved forward to trap me in a bear hug. "Of course you mean something to me, Summer. You wanted me to graduate, so I made sure I'll graduate. I did it for you."

  I pushed my way out of his arms and skirted around him to the door. "No. You're not putting this on me. I didn’t ask you to hack into the college's grading system. I didn't ask you to mess with my GPA. And I certainly didn't ask you to cheat on m
e with your lab partner!"

  An angry red washed from his ears over his face and he snarled at me, "No, you just asked me to play house and take a backseat to all your big plans. You seriously expected me to sit around and wait until you weren't too busy with classes?"

  "I'm trying to building a career—a future—for us!"

  "And I'm telling you that you don't have to. I've got the skills that can take us anywhere. Don't you get it? We can do anything."

  "No," I said.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. "If you expect me to apologize and grovel, you can just forget it. I don't need your righteousness or your judgment."

  He left out love and adoration. My chest burned with shame as I realized how long I had been mistaken. I really had no idea what love was like, and suddenly my grades didn't matter. I felt stupid and used.

  "There's still time to make this right," I told him. "Maybe you could help the college tighten up their online security. Isn't that part of your self-created major? You could work off your wrongdoing."

  He threw his hands in the air. "You just don't get it, do you, Summer? I'm offering you everything. My skills can open any door, get us anything we want."

  "I want to go to graduate school and build a successful career," I said.

  "And I'm just not good enough for that," he spat.

  "You broke my heart, Brandon." The tears overflowed again but he didn't see a single one.

  Instead, he pushed past me and yanked open my dorm room door. "I covered my tracks. Their allegations will never stick. And I kept you up on your tidy little pedestal. You should be grateful for that."

  "Grateful?" I sobbed.

  "You'll see, Summer. One day you'll regret letting me walk out of here."

  He marched off down the hallway and my legs held out until he turned the corner. Once he was gone, I slipped to the floor and let the sobs take over.

  Chapter 6

  "I thought your breakup was official," Mara said. She crouched behind the bookshelf with me.

  "He walked out. It felt pretty official," I whispered.

  "Then why is he looking for you and why are we hiding?" Mara asked.

  Brandon marched out of the campus bookstore and I let out a huge sigh. "I just can't face him yet."

  She squeezed my arm and checked that he was really gone. "I get it, but this is a small campus, Summer. There's no way you're going to be able to avoid him until graduation."

  "Can we just go back to all your good dating advice?" I asked.

  She saw me blinking back tears and immediately changed topics. "My sister says you should treat dating like shopping. You get to try on all sorts of things until something fits perfectly."

  "Your sister is in high school. What does she know?" I asked.

  Mara laughed. "More than us, apparently."

  Mara had spent most of college in an awkward on-again-off-again relationship with her high school sweetheart. Thinking about all the times I had to comfort her after Jack had bruised her heart again, made me realize how obvious the wrong fit could be to other people.

  "All right. Let's say your sister knows what she's talking about. How exactly am I supposed to go 'shopping' for the right guy?" I asked.

  Mara led the way into the commons now that Brandon was gone. "You don't have to go anywhere. Do you even see how many men look at you?"

  "What men," I snapped. "All I see are a bunch of college 'guys.'"

  "Guys are the worst," Mara agreed. Then she caught our freshman art professor glancing in my direction. "After we graduate we can find real men."

  "No way. I'm heading straight to graduate school and I'm not going to let another person get in the way of my career."

  Mara shook her head but smiled. "So I guess that means you're not coming with me to the senior picnic."

  "The kegger in the park? No thanks."

  She tried one more time. "There are a few instances where 'guys' are useful. Moving furniture, pushing to the front of the beer line, and getting over a breakup."

  "What?" I had to laugh despite the hollow feeling in my chest. "You're suggesting I find a rebound?"

  "It's scientifically proven to help," she said.

  "You're an econ major," I reminded her. “Since when did you like science instead of numbers?”

  "Fine. I'll get you the numbers. C'mon, Summer, you could use a little fun."

  I appreciated her attempts to distract me, but I had more important things to focus on. I left her and headed to the library, determined to finish all my schoolwork. It felt like Brandon's misbehaving had made it even more important for me to be a perfect student.

  And a much, much more discerning lover.

  The thought filled me with anguish. Brandon hadn't been my first, but he had certainly unlocked passions I had never felt before. I wondered sadly if I would ever be able to access those feelings again. Every time I felt a flare of lust, all I could see was that security footage of Brandon and Tanya.

  I felt sick but I went to study in the library.

  It took an hour before the sour feeling in my stomach faded. Schoolwork helped and I was relieved when daydreams of investment firms and corner offices took over my thoughts again.

  Maybe Brandon was right and I was too focused, but there was no other way to get what I wanted.

  "Hey, Summer. Mind if I sit with you?"

  I looked up and saw Jackson, one of the top students in my hardest class. He was smart and quiet, though neither of those traits hid his square jaw or handsome face.

  I couldn't help but grin. "Sure. It looks like we might be the only two people in here."

  "It's hard to study when it's so sunny." Jackson sat down and spread out his laptop and notes.

  "You don't seem to have that problem," I pointed out.

  "Not now that I have company." He smiled at me shyly and then focused on his computer screen.

  We worked diligently and silently for nearly forty minutes before I needed to get up and stretch. Jackson pushed back his chair and rolled the broad shoulders I had never noticed he had.

  "Want to get some coffee?" he asked.

  I thought about Mara and her sister and the supposed healing of a rebound, but Jackson was too nice. Still, there couldn't be any harm in coffee and it was such a relief to be around a fellow student who took his studies as seriously as I did.

  "Sounds good. I'm just going to run to the restroom first." I smiled at Jackson and slipped between the bookshelves.

  I was still smiling to myself when I bumped into Brandon's chest. He blocked the end of the row and caught my arms in a tight grip.

  "Are you avoiding me?" he asked.

  "Shh. We're in a library," I hissed.

  "You've been avoiding me," he growled.

  I shoved his hands off me. "You're the one that walked out."

  His voice softened, as did his touch. "We had a fight, Summer. That's what people in a relationship do."

  "We are not in a relationship, Brandon." My hands shook but I pushed him back another step.

  Instead of arguing, Brandon swooped down and caught me in a searing kiss. No matter how much my head and heart cried, my body couldn't help but respond. He'd confused me, hurt me, and still I felt something for him I couldn't explain.

  It wasn't love, I reminded myself harshly, and I pushed free of the intoxicating embrace. "What are you doing here, Brandon?"

  "Just showing you that we aren't over yet," he said. He stole another quick kiss and walked away.

  I fled back to my dorm room and it was hours until I remembered I had left all my things and Jackson waiting in the library.

  Chapter 7

  After the kiss in the library, Brandon left me alone. Almost a month went by, but he must have known that I thought about that kiss every day. It took all my strength and focus not to call him, and there were some days that I found myself walking off campus and heading to his apartment automatically.

  It didn't help that classes were officially over. I didn'
t have any more assignments to help distract me.

  Mara couldn't convince me to find a rebound guy, so she had settled for regular retail therapy. "Wow, Summer. That sundress looks amazing on you. You’re like a Greek goddess!"

  I swirled the light material around me and had to admit it made me feel pretty. "If I buy it, you're going to try to make me go to that party, aren't you?"

  "You are buying that dress and we are going to that party," she asserted. She pushed me back into the dressing room to change. "And you know who's going to be there?"

  I tossed off the sundress and pulled on my loose jeans and tank top. "The entire senior class?"

  Mara laughed. "Jackson."

  I pulled aside the dressing room curtain. "You mean I won't be the only one that was forced to come?"

  "Very funny, Summer. I think he's coming because you'll be there." She dragged me to the counter to purchase the sundress.

  "He's too nice. You can get that whole rebound idea out of your head." I thanked the clerk and headed outside.

  "C'mon, Summer. You've already been accepted to graduate school. If there was ever a time for you to cut loose and have some fun, it would be tonight," she insisted.

  I had to admit she was right. And by the time we'd arrived at the wild party and had a few drinks, I was starting to look forward to seeing Jackson. At least we could talk about grad schools and internships while everyone else cheered on keg stands.

  His friends shoved him my way as soon as they entered the party. "Ah, um, hey, Summer," Jackson said.

  I smiled and laid a hand on his arm. It was much firmer than I expected from all his studious ways. "I never thanked you for returning all my stuff that day at the library."

  "It's okay," he said with a grin. "I'm just glad you're, ah, feeling better."

  He awkwardly took my hand and threaded it through his arm. We walked together to the edge of the party and found a wall to lean on. I tested out his bicep with my fingertips and was surprised to feel a flame of desire.