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  On The Rebound

  Watch for more at L. A. Cotton’s site.

  On the Rebound

  L A Cotton

  ON THE REBOUND

  * * *

  eBook Edition

  Copyright © L A Cotton 2020

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  * * *

  No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

  * * *

  Edited by Andrea M Long

  Cover by Lianne Cotton

  Images licensed from: Shutterstock and Adobe

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Love me or hate me, both are in my favor…If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart…If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.

  ~ Unknown

  Calli

  “You can do this.” I stared up at my dorm building and inhaled a deep breath, but despite my mental pep talk, my feet still didn’t move.

  Until a hard body collided with mine, sending me flying. “Shit, sorry,” the guy said, gently grasping my shoulders.

  I shirked him off. “They’re called eyes, use them.”

  “Jesus,” he muttered, running a hand over his face. “It was an accident.”

  “Sorry.” A gentle sigh escaped my lips as I folded my arms around my waist. “First day jitters.”

  “Freshman?” His brow lifted with mild curiosity.

  “Is there any other kind?” We shared a timid smile.

  He was cute. Tall, but not too ripped like most of the football players I’d seen earlier congregating in front of the Student Union.

  “I’m Joel.”

  “Calli.”

  “Nice to meet you, Calli.” My name rolled off his tongue with ease. “What’s your poison of choice?”

  My brows furrowed as I stared up at him. I held up an arm, shielding my eyes from the bright Californian sun.

  “Degree...” he chuckled. “What are you studying?”

  “Oh, sorry. I haven’t declared a major yet.”

  “Fair enough. I’m a humanities sophomore. You got assigned to Abrams?” He flicked his head to the two-story building behind me.

  “Yeah.”

  “Co-ed,” he grinned, “nice.”

  “Hmm, is it?”

  He laughed again, but it only made the knot in my stomach tighten. “You need to lighten up, Calli the freshman. Party at my place tonight? Nothing crazy, just a few friends. My sister will be there. You should come.”

  “I... I’m not sure—”

  Joel gave me a pointed look. “What are you going to do? Hide away in your dorm room and watch reruns of Sons of Anarchy?”

  “Huh?”

  “Sorry, my sister... she’s a huge Charlie Hunnam fan.”

  “Does she go here?”

  “Sure does, she’s a fresh—”

  “Oh my god,” a female voice said, and I turned to find a petite girl with the same dark hair as Joel, approaching us.

  “Speak of the devil,” Joel leaned in and whispered as if we were two old friends sharing a secret. “Hey, Sis. I was just coming to find you, see if you’d settled in okay.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You mean you wanted to check up on me.” She waved him off, giving me the once over. “Who’s your new friend?”

  “Josie, meet Calli, a new freshman. Calli, this is my sister Josie.”

  The girl smiled, thrusting her hand at me. I took it gingerly. “Don’t believe anything he’s told you.”

  Joel snorted. “Believe it or not, I can manage an entire conversation without even mentioning you.”

  “Asshole.” She play-punched his arm.

  “Bitch.” He flipped her off, and they both started laughing.

  I didn’t realize I was gawking until Josie pushed her face in front of mine. “Uh, Calli?”

  “I... sorry. I zoned out there for a second,” I lied. Because watching them gutted me in a way I hadn’t expected.

  A way I hated.

  I was over Callum.

  He was no one to me.

  Nothing.

  Liar.

  “Did Joel invite you to the party?”

  “Affirmative.” He grinned again. They were like sunshine on a summer’s day... and I was all thunder and rain clouds.

  “You’ll come, right? I don’t have many friends who are freshman. Actually, I have zero.”

  “One.” Joel coughed. “Now you have one.” He tipped his head toward me.

  “Are you alway
s this...” I searched for the right word. “Intense?”

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Josie chuckled. “But seriously, come to the party, please?” She pouted, batting her thick eyelashes at me.

  “I—”

  “Are you staying in Abrams?”

  I nodded, feeling whiplash from this entire interaction.

  “Cool, so not only are we new friends but we’re dorm mates too, yay.”

  I internally winced. I didn’t know what was worse: having no friends and spending the semester as a social recluse in my dorm room... or having Josie and Joel extending an overzealous offer of friendship.

  “Okay, Jos, I think we’re scaring her.”

  They’re just being friendly, I scolded myself. “Actually, a party sounds great.” The words got stuck in my throat.

  “Yeah?” His eyes lit up and I was sure I saw a flash of interest there.

  “Ah-mazing!” Josie laced her arm through mine. “We can get ready together and have some pre-party drinks.... I mean, if you want to.”

  “Oh, I don’t drink.”

  “No biggie. You can have soda and I’ll drink the good stuff.” She winked. “See you later, J.”

  Joel nodded. “It was nice meeting you, Calli.”

  “Likewise.”

  “Well, I guess I’ll see you tonight.” He started backing away, wearing a goofy smile.

  “Oh Lord,” Josie squeezed my arm the second her brother was out of sight.

  “What?”

  “My brother totally has a thing for you.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. We were talking for like five minutes. He doesn’t—”

  “I know my brother and I know all of his tells, and he likes you.”

  A strange sensation washed over me. Part of me was flattered at the idea that a stranger, a guy as cute as Joel, could like me. But the other part... the other part was still too broken to care.

  “This year is going to be so much fun,” Josie went on, “I can already tell.”

  I murmured a vague reply. Because this year should have been fun, but then my world had been flipped on its head and I’d spent the last eight months in a permanent state of darkness.

  Given everything that had happened, it was a miracle I was even here.

  But I had to do this.

  No matter how hard it was, and how much I didn’t want to be here, I had to do it.

  If not for myself…

  Then for her.

  A few hours later, a knock at my door startled me.

  “Hey,” Josie stared back at me as I opened it, her smile morphing into a frown. “Is everything okay?”

  “What?” I blinked. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t realize what time it was.”

  When I’d finally managed to untangle myself from Josie, after her insisting I attend the party, I’d thrown myself into a day of unpacking and pre-course reading.

  I liked to keep busy. If I didn’t, it was too easy to become paralyzed by the grief I tried so hard to keep locked away.

  “I brought supplies.” Josie held up a bag, and I gave her a tight smile.

  “Great.”

  Without invitation, she ducked past me and into my room.

  Okay then. I guess this was really happening.

  It was just a party, what was the worst that could happen? I would show my face, smile in all the right places, then quietly slip out and retreat to my room. I wasn’t against faking a stomach-ache if absolutely necessary.

  Madison, my best friend from back home, would be rolling her eyes at me if she saw me now. She’d made me pinkie promise that I’d try.

  ‘Try to make the most of it, she’d want you to’, had been her parting words as we’d hugged before she left for UCLA.

  I’d never been like her: outgoing and warm, a real social butterfly. But I was even less so since my mom passed.

  Losing her had been like losing a part of me—all the best parts. Now I didn’t feel whole. A ship without its anchor, drifting through uncharted waters.

  I shut down those thoughts, not ready to deal with them.

  “Okay, I brought you some apple and peach fizz; no alcohol, but it tastes like fancy champagne.” She waggled her brows as she pulled out the bottle. “Have you decided what you’re wearing?”

  “I was just going to wear jeans and a t-shirt.” My shoulders lifted in a small shrug.

  “Not going to cut it.” Josie thrust the bag at me and sauntered over to my closet. “It’s the first party of the semester. You want to make an impression.”

  As if I cared.

  “Jeans will work but you need to pair it with something sexy like...” she fingered through my limited array of blouses and halter tops, “this.” She pulled out a black lace cropped halter top. “Perfect.”

  My brows furrowed. It was one my mom had insisted on buying last summer when she’d been going through her ‘push Calli to try new things’ phase.

  “I’m not sure it’s—”

  “It’s eighty degrees out. Trust me, the less you wear, the better. College parties can get crowded. Can I use your bathroom? I brought a couple of outfits to try.”

  “Sure.” I flicked my head to the door, accepting the halter top from her.

  “Joel is going to die when he sees you in this.” She shot me a saucy wink before grabbing her bag and ducking into the bathroom.

  I spent the next thirty minutes helping Josie pick her outfit. She settled on jean shorts and a skintight cropped t-shirt with a black and gray ombre effect. She looked killer and was clearly confident in her own skin.

  “Lip gloss?” she asked me.

  “I’m good.”

  “Suit yourself. We should probably leave soon if we want to get there ahead of time.”

  “Do we want to get there ahead of time?”

  “Sure we do.” Josie chuckled, rubbing the corners of her smoky-lined eyes. She caught my eye in the mirror and frowned. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

  “I’m just not sure I’m ready for a party.”

  Disappointment glittered in her gaze, and I hated that I’d put it there when she’d been nothing but nice to me. “If you really don’t want to come, I can always go alone.”

  “No, you don’t have to do that. I’ll come.”

  “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

  I wasn’t sure about that, but I could at least try.

  “Ready?” I asked, not wanting the spotlight on me for a second longer.

  Josie blotted her lips again before nodding. “Let me just finish up my drink.” She grabbed the glass and downed the rest of the contents. “All set. You won’t regret this, Calli, I promise.”

  But all I could think as we left my dorm room and made our way downstairs was, famous last words.

  The party at Joel’s house was everything I expected a college party would be. Loud and raucous, with hordes of half-drunk people lingering out front, drinking from red Solo cups.

  There was something oddly reassuring about it.

  “Whahoo,” Josie shrieked, grabbing my hand and tugging me toward the house. “I’m so freaking excited.”

  “So you’ve never been to a college party before?”

  “Of course I’ve been to a college party before.” She grinned. “But this year I’m not his annoying younger sister, I’m a freshman. I have just as much right to be here as Joel does.”

  “If you say so,” I smiled, and this time, it did reach my eyes.

  “Josie Molineux, is that you?”

  “Hey, Brad.” We came to a stop in front of a giant of a guy.

  “Little Josie Molineux, all grown up.” His eyes ran down her body, lingering on the ample cleavage spilling out her top.

  My cheeks pinked at the crackling energy between them.

  “Looking good, Brad,” she purred, fluffing her curly bangs.

  “Joel know you’re here?”

  “Of course,” she sassed. “Does Reese know you’re here?”

  “We broke up.�
� He didn’t look in the least bit upset about it.

  “I know.”

  “Of course you do.” A smirk pulled at his full lips.

  “Brad, you better not be hitting on my sister,” Joel yelled from the porch. He looked good in ripped jeans and a red and white athletic jersey that showcased his tan, muscular arms.

  “Just being friendly, J.”

  Although his words were for Josie’s brother, they never once left her face. She giggled, lifting a brow at me. Clearly, something was going on here.

  “You’d better get inside before he blows a gasket.” Brad rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. “Catch you later?”

  “You know it.” Josie shot him a suggestive smile before pulling me around him. “Sorry,” she breathed once we were out of earshot. “I wasn’t expecting... crap, he’s so fine. I didn’t make a fool of myself, did I?”

  “I don’t think he was too worried about what you were saying.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “He was blatantly checking you out, Josie.”

  Her face lit up. “He was, wasn’t he?”

  “He’s your brother’s friend?”

  “Friend… housemate… teammate, they’re practically brothers.”

  “T- teammate?” A sinking feeling spread through me.

  “Yeah, Joel’s a Steinbeck Scorpion. Didn’t he tell you?”

  “I guess it never came up. So he plays football then?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Joel didn’t play football.

  He played basketball.