Crush: A YA Romance Collection Read online




  Crush

  A YA Romance Collection

  Crush: A YA Romance Collection

  Copyright © 2020.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: April 2020

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Book Pages By Design

  Cover Design: Deranged Doctor Design

  ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-805-9

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Bad Publicity by Sara Schoen & Taylor Henderson

  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

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Better Than Revenge by Taylor Henderson

  Prologue

  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

  Flirt by Lavinia Leigh

  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

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  It Starts With L by Cassandra Fear

  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

  Epilogue

  Our Little Secret by Ashelyn Drake

  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

  Bad Publicity

  By Sara Schoen & Taylor Henderson

  Chapter 1

  A shiver of pleasure pulsed through my body as his tongue danced along the waistband of the jeans I had borrowed from Brooke’s closet. His hands trailed warmth up the side of my thighs and as they neared the zipper I silently prayed the jeans would slip off easily. Brooke’s jeans were two sizes too small for me and I could already feel my circulation cutting off around my thighs.

  Austin skillfully popped open the button and pulled the zipper down slowly. I sighed deeply in relief and anticipation. It had been weeks since I had been touched like this and I couldn’t help but crave the attention. I raised my hips up off of the bed as Austin tugged at the waistband gently. After his failed attempt at relieving me of the jeans, he let out a soft chuckle and eyed me suspiciously. Then, going back to the task at hand, he began to forcefully yank and tug, but to my horror, they didn’t budge.

  I felt the bed dip as Austin went up onto his knees to give the jeans a final yank. I silently prayed they wouldn’t rip as he groaned and pulled harder than before. In an attempt to help him, I reached up to grip the headboard as the jeans began to slip down inch by inch. Eventually, they were bunched at my ankles and I could feel the blood start to flow again as he slipped the jeans over my feet.

  He looked up at me with a smirk lining his handsome face before he spoke. “Don’t borrow Brooke’s clothes anymore.”

  Raising my leg, I kicked his thigh playfully. “I had nothing else to wear.”

  “Then just walk around naked. I wouldn’t complain.” He raised one eyebrow seductively as his eyes scanned down my body. “I don’t think anyone in their right mind would complain,” he whispered as he leaned down to place a kiss at the base of my neck.

  “Well, how could you complain? You’re a ho
rny teenage boy.”

  His hands gripped my hips tightly, pulling them forward as his head lowered again. “I’m more of a horny teenage man,” he corrected.

  “Oh, are you now?” I asked sarcastically. I must have bruised his ego by calling him a boy otherwise he wouldn’t have corrected me. I should have realized that he wasn’t going to accept being called a boy, and would argue about it.

  “Mhmm,” he murmured, hooking his thumbs into the lace edges of my panties. “Want me to show you?”

  I arched my back up off of the bed and moaned as his hand replaced where my panties once were.

  He groaned in response to my moan. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  ***

  Austin’s sweaty body collapsed next to me; his chest rose and fell rapidly. Once he caught his breath, he turned toward me and wrapped his arms around my naked body, pulling me close and kissing my collarbone. “Just lay here with me,” he pleaded.

  A frown tugged at my lips. I didn’t want to lay here in his arms. That would give him the wrong impression. I’ve told him before that I wasn’t looking for a relationship and that when he started to have feelings for me, other than just sexual desires, then we’d have to stop hooking up like this. Feelings get in the way. I wanted something simple, and nothing more. Especially since Austin was Brooke’s brother—that was a situation that wouldn’t blow over well.

  “Austin, I can’t.”

  He sighed, obviously not surprised by my response. “Not even just for a few minutes? I don’t have feelings for you, Jade. I just like to spend some time with a girl after we have sex. Not just have her leave right after.”

  “Technically I’m not leaving; I’m just going down the hallway. I should probably go anyway. Brooke should be waking up soon,” I said, coming up with a lame excuse. Brooke wouldn’t be up or another four hours, maybe more. She claimed it was beauty sleep, but really she was just lazy and hated mornings.

  Austin sighed and pulled his arms from around me. He sat up and reached to the floor, pulling on a baggy pair of basketball shorts and tossing me my bra that was somehow connected to my tank top. He threw me the inside out skinny jeans and flopped back down on his bed. “Get out.” His words were cold, but he would get over it. He always did.

  I stood up slowly, clutching my clothes in a pile in my arms. Without responding to his words, I held my head high and proceeded toward his door; stark naked. From behind me I heard him say, “You can put your clothes on first you know.”

  I shrugged, “It doesn’t really matter. No one’s awake and you want me to get out, so the fastest way for me to get out is to go like this.”

  Austin rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so damn stubborn and just put your clothes on, Jade. I don’t want Brooke to wake up and see you like that, unless you’re ready to tell her you love me,” he joked forcefully, trying to dissolve the tension between us.

  “Fine,” I retorted. I dropped my clothes on the ground and pulled on each item wordlessly and as quickly as possible, leaving the pants off. I wasn’t willing to go through pulling them on again. “Happy now?”

  “I’m always happier when you don’t have clothes on, but yeah, I guess. Now, get out.”

  “Someone’s on their period,” I mumbled, turning and leaving his room with Brooke’s jeans crumpled up in my arms.

  I made my way silently down the hallway until I made it to Brooke’s room. Her clothes were thrown everywhere, leaving the floor a mess, and nearly impossible to navigate in the dark. Yet somehow she managed to make it to bed every night, even after drinking, without falling into the piles of clothing. I groaned internally, not wanting to wake Brooke up so that she could see my half naked state, but I had no other option considering that there was no way I would be able to make it across her floor again without getting hurt or making noise.

  “Rise and shine, sunshine!” I yelled as I flipped the light switch, sending the room into a sudden burst of illumination.

  My best friend of eleven years groaned and put the pillow on top of her face to hide her eyes from the light. “You’re a bitch,” she said through the pillow as I navigated her room easily, heading toward her bed.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. What did you say?” I said with a cheery smile as I lifted the pillow from her face.

  “I said you’re a bitch!” she screamed as she rolled over, pressing her face into the mattress. She said something else but her words were muffled and I couldn’t hear her. I was sure it was something along the lines of my alleged, and notoriously true, bitch status, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “I seriously couldn’t hear what you said that time, Brooky,” I spoke, using her childhood nickname. I knew she didn’t like it, but that’s why I only use it when I am being a hundred percent serious so that she can see that I’m not messing with her.

  She slowly sat up, her hair ratty and matted from her full night of sleep. It looked as if a giant tumbleweed had landed directly on top of her head. It would be a miracle if all those knots came out when she decided to brush her hair. “I asked why you’re half naked. Austin could walk by at any time and see you. You know he likes you. Please don’t taunt my brother,” Brooke said with a silent pleading in her blue eyes.

  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Austin and I had been hooking up since high school started two years ago. I used to have a crush on him, back when he didn’t have one on me. Now it’s switched, but it would have been mutual if he hadn’t broken my heart freshmen year. We had unofficially been together when he had started making out with this girl right in front of me, just moments after telling me how much of a good time he had with me the night before when I had mistakenly allowed him to take my virginity. Then he had proceeded to make plans to see her later that night and give her a ‘birthday gift,’ which I assumed meant getting naked and having sex from the smirk that had passed across his lips.

  Of course, he thought nothing of it especially since he was getting laid by some senior. I swear that girl just wanted to get into every attractive guy’s pants, and with her looks it wasn’t a challenge for her. It shattered my heart how he was able to use me like that and then move on so quickly without even batting an eye. Ever since then he had been just a strict hook up in my eyes, and I didn’t care whether or not he had feelings for me because he hurt me first. I wouldn’t let him hurt me again; he used me for sex, and now I was just returning the favor.

  “You’re brother has a yearly subscription to Playboy and has sex on a daily basis. Will it really matter if he sees me without pants on?” I asked, mostly to test the waters and see if I could tell her about Austin and me.

  “You’re different though. You aren’t just some random slut. You’re my best friend, and he likes you. It would change our relationship drastically. I mean he already hangs off you like he would do anything to get in your pants. I couldn’t handle it if my best friend and my brother were dating. That would be sickening.” To add emphasis to her words she feigned gagging noises and stuck out her tongue.

  “Why would it be gross?”

  Brooke sighed, her freshly dyed blonde bangs falling into her eyes. “I just can’t imagine you two dating, especially not after what he did to you freshmen year. Why are you asking me all this anyway?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows curiously.

  “Because I’m standing here half naked and if you said you were cool with it, I would be in Austin’s room right about now getting laid,” I suggested with a smile. I didn’t like lying to Brooke so instead I tried to find ways around it, normally she took it as a joke and moved on.

  “That’s disgusting!” Brooke yelled, throwing her pillow at me.

  “It’s the truth! You know I need the attention…”

  “You sound like a whore,” she responded with a straight face as she finally got out of bed and went to the bathroom, but I knew that she was joking by the smile playing at the corners of her lips.

  “Well, Austin could be my pimp,” I joked, dropping her jeans onto the gr
ound and looking around for my sweat pants that I had worn last night. Once I finally found them, wedged in between Brooke’s dresser and her bed, I slipped them on.

  “That would mean he gives you to other people, dumb-ass!” she called over the flush of the toilet. She let out a long drawn out scream sending me running into the bathroom. She was decent and the sink was running, but I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Why am I up at eight in the morning on a Saturday?” Brooke yelled as she pointed at the clock. Its bright red, fluorescent numbers lit up displaying 8:23 a.m. I wasn’t sure Brooke had seen what eight in the morning looked like since middle school, considering how she never managed to show up to school before ten.

  “Because you got out of bed,” I answered simply. I walked back into the room to see Austin, who was still in only basketball shorts and bare-chested, handing me a newspaper. I saw remorse in his eyes, whether it was because he had heard Brooke’s and my conversation or whether he realized he had been a jerk this morning, I wasn’t sure.

  “What’s this?” I asked, glancing at the front page to see the only female senator in our area on the cover. Despite a large toothy grin that seemed to be plastered on her face, her eyes were hawk-like, staring at me as if I was her prey. In the picture, her hand was held high, flashing a huge diamond ring on her bony ring finger. She was apparently getting married. I couldn’t help but wonder what poor sap would be desperate enough to marry her. I looked up at Austin, confused as to why he was showing me this.

  “Look at who she’s marrying,” Austin instructed, pointing to a section of the article. I read carefully at first, but then my attention span phased out and I skimmed until I saw my dad’s name.

  I stopped and snatched the article from his hands to look over it myself. I read and re-read the article again until I could practically recite it by heart. I couldn’t believe that these words weren’t considered slander. I felt my face turning red from anger at the fact that this bullshit had even been allowed to be printed. There was no way my father was getting married only a few months after burying my mother. It was ridiculous.

  Austin stepped closer to me and tried to pull me into a hug, but I stepped away. I didn’t need to be comforted because I knew that there had to be some mistake. I knew my dad and I weren’t close, but he would have at least had the decency to tell me if he was getting remarried. He wouldn’t make me hear about it from a newspaper instead of him. I tucked the newspaper under my arm and went to grab my stuff so that I could head home. I needed to get to the bottom of this.