Inevitable (Book One)

Chapter 28

Shawn

I open my eyes and roll over in bed to find the space empty beside me. I glance around my room confused as I don't see any sign of Lyla. I feel myself start to panic that she may have left after her big confession last night. The only thing I could do was hold her in my arms after she told me. I had the instinctive reaction to get in my car and drive to Harrington so I could track the son of a bitch down and beat the shit out of him. The idea that anyone could hurt a girl always infuriates me and listening to Lyla tell me what happened to her last night broke my heart. She is so small and fragile. I feel sick when I picture her being manhandled by the asshole. I understand why she has been nervous about telling me about him now and I also understand her hesitancy with introducing me to her parents.

It makes sense now why they are so protective over her, with everything that happened with Connor who can blame them. I wasn't even there nor do I know the guy but if I ever run into him I don't even know what I will do but I know I will have a hard time restraining myself from beating the life out of him. I get out of bed and throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before I head downstairs. When I open my bedroom door, the smell of bacon hits me and my stomach growls in response. I walk into the kitchen to find Lyla moving about cooking food at the stove. She has music playing and her back is to me as she dances around and sings along. I lean against the door frame as I watch her.

I still find myself amazed sometimes that she's with me. I keep thinking she's going to wise up soon and run in the other direction. She's way too good for me, I know it, but she doesn't seem to have realized it yet. I am surprised at her mood after the heavy topic of last night's discussion. I was not expecting to see her prancing around like this. Lyla does a spin as the music picks up and catches me watching her as she sort of stumbles and catches herself on the counter. Her face turns beet red as she realizes I saw her little show. I decide not to tease her, she looks embarrassed enough so I just walk up and kiss her.

"It smells good in here," I say as our lips part. "Where did you get all this food?"

"I was up early so I walked to the grocery store and picked up supplies," she tells me as she smiles proudly. "I wasn't sure what you would want so I got eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and I'm making French toast!" She is so excited and I smile down at her, happy to see her in such a good mood.

"That all sounds amazing. You could have woken me up to go with you and you also don't need to do all this for me," I explain to her.

"You need your rest for your big game tonight," she replies sweetly as she pulls out of our embrace to tend to the bacon on the stove as she flips it as well as the French toast. "And you also need to fuel up so you have lots of energy to kick butt. You have a special audience tonight remember." She winks at me. I smirk at her cuteness and watch as she continues to cook and sing along to her music. Her dance moves have settled down into just a bit of hip swaying now that she knows she has an audience.

"Breakfast is served!" She exclaims excitedly as she starts to make up a plate. I follow her and load up my own plate with a bit of everything she's made. It smells fantastic and as soon as I'm seated I start to inhale everything. I finish my plate in no time and move to get a second helping. We finish eating and I realize it is just past eleven. I have to be at the arena for five. "When are you meeting your parents at your dorm?"

"They're going to message me when they're done golfing, but they said probably around two or so," she responds and I see that she's starting to get nervous again. She's biting her lower lip and starring across the kitchen in deep thought.

"We've got time then," I whisper into her ear as I lean toward to her. She turns and raises an eyebrow at me, confusion evident on her face. In one quick movement I am up out of my seat and sweeping her up in my arms as I start to carry her out of the kitchen. She yelps in surprise then starts to laugh.