Hudson rushed out of the bathroom before Amanda could say anything or hit him for stealing her first kiss. As she made his way back outside, he gently brushed his fingers against his lips. He wished he could have kissed her longer. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her as he took her breath away and deepened their kiss. But he would have to wait. Good things come to those who wait. That was what he was going to do. He would wait for her, wait until she finally made up her mind and started to listen to what her heart said was the right thing to do.
Hudson walked over to Marco who was stretching his arm. He was about as banged up as he was. That damn Lycan was strong. Hudson went into that situation blindly, not knowing what his competition was like. He needed to be more rational about this. But he was concerned for his mate. An alpha must know his surroundings and boundaries before getting into a fight. He knew better than to go in there hot-headed. The truth of the matter was he wanted to get into a fight, and for the most part, it felt good. He had gotten in a few good hits against the Lycan. But he fought with his emotions and aggression. That was not what won a fight. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he would be having with his father later on the subject and how he handled things. The worst of it was he still had yet to tell his father that he had found his mate. He was still worried that his father wouldn’t accept her. He wanted him to so much. He was concerned that if he picked his mate over the pack his father wouldn’t allow him to take his place as Alpha. Could he handle not being the Alpha of the pack? His wolf whined at the thought of not being with their mate. His wolf was willing to step down if that’s what it came to. But he was getting an eye strain peering into the future. He needed to take it one thing at a time. The main focus now was letting his father know about the fight with the Lycan.
“How are you feeling?” Hudson asked.
“Like I got my butt handed to me by a Lycan. How are the girls?”
Hudson nodded. He knew and felt exactly what Marco was talking about.
“They’re fine.”
“Did you apologize to Amanda?”
Hudson smiled as he brought his thumb back up to his lips. He could still feel a bit of a tingle left over from the quick kiss.
“I did. She wants to start over as friends.”
Marco raised an eyebrow at Hudson. “Friends, huh?”
Hudson shrugged. “At least it’s something, right?”
Marco laughed and shook his head as they headed back to their dorms. “I guess you’re right. It’s definitely something.”
They walked back the rest of the way in silence.
Amanda just stood there frozen after Hudson kissed her.
He kissed her.
Her first kiss.
She let out a breath and started to clean up her mess from helping Hudson. The flutters were going crazy inside her as she continued to think about the kiss over and over. Why did he kiss her? Didn’t he just agree that they were going to start over as friends? That was what she decided was best. Why did he have to go and kiss her and make things more difficult? She was confused now more than ever.
She walked back to her dorm and left herself quietly.
She saw the room come to light when she turned and saw Tabitha awake in her bed.
“Everything okay?” Tabitha asked.
Amanda nodded. She put her first aid kit back into the closet and walked over to her bed. She noticed Hudson’s sweatshirt laid out at the end of her bed. She let out a huff before she collapsed onto the bed.
“Why do boys have to be so difficult?” she mumbled.
Tabitha laughed.
“What happened?”
Amanda propped herself on her elbow, leaning her head on her hand.
“Hudson came to apologize for his behavior tonight.”
Tabitha looked at Amanda with shock. She hadn’t expected that.
Amanda continued, “When he came in closer, I saw he had been in a fight. So, I took him into the bathroom and helped clean him up.”
Tabitha’s heart palpitated, and her wolf whined when they heard this. Her first thought immediately went to if Marco was okay. She was a little hurt that she hadn’t reached out to her to help him heal. She knew they hadn’t really talked yet about being mates, but she would have still cared for him and helped him heal if he was hurt.
“Are they okay?”
“Hudson didn’t say anything about Marco, but I’m sure if he was hurt badly, he would have taken him to the hospital to get looked at. Hudson had a busted lip, a gash over his eye, and some bruises around his other eye and jaw.”
Tabitha nodded. All that would heal up in the next day or two with no problem, especially since he was able to feel the touch of his mate. Tabitha let out a sigh.
“Well, I’m glad they are okay. Anything else happened?”
Amanda let out a small smile, “I told Hudson that we should start over as friends. He said he was okay with that, but then he kissed me.” she mumbled that last part.
“I’m sorry. What was that?” Tabitha heard exactly what she said. She just wanted to hear her friend say it again.
Amanda rolled her eyes and sighed. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling before saying it again.
“Hudson kissed me.”
Tabitha’s mouth dropped in shock.
“And?”
“It was amazing,” Amanda breathed out. She brought her fingers to her lips and gently touched them, missing the tingling sensation she had gotten right after the kiss.
“Did he say anything after?”
Amanda shook her head.
“He left pretty quick.” She giggled. “He probably thought I was going to hit him for doing that.”
“Would you have if he had stayed?”
Amanda shrugged.
She wasn’t mad that it happened. She was just confused. Hudson caused so many mixed emotions and feelings inside her. She didn’t know what to believe to be real.
Her phone buzzed on the desk next to her. She leaned over to grab her phone. Who would be texting her this late?
Calvin: I had a really good time tonight. Looking forward to the next time we can go out.
Ugh. Amanda fell back onto her bed.
“What?”
“Calvin just texted me telling me he had a good time tonight and is looking forward to the next time we can go out.”
Tabitha started to laugh.
Amanda grabbed one of her throw pillows and threw it across the room at her roommate.
“Hey!” Amanda heard after she hid her face under a pillow. Amanda sighed. What was she going to do, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take over.