Lightning

By Michelle Grotewohl

Gavin was head over heels in love with Katrina, expecting to spend the rest of his life with her, when she suddenly broke his heart. It took months for Gavin to feel alive again, and he still can't trust, even after ten years.
Now he's going back home, to walk the younger sister he dotes on down the aisle. Unbeknownst to Gavin, Katrina is his sister's maid of honor.
Gavin is forced to face his past when he sees Katrina, as well as feelings for her he'd thought long dead. Can these two put aside their misgivings to keep from ruining Liza's wedding with their fighting?
Lightning struck once when Gavin and Katrina were teenagers. As adults, dare they hope it can strike again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Grotewohl
• Release date: Dec 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301279517

Michelle Grotewohl

I currently reside in Colorado with my husband and three children. I would love to hear from my readers, as writing has always been a dream of mine, and I am thrilled to finally be published! Thank you so much to everyone who has downloaded or purchased a book for supporting my lifelong dream!

Book preview

Lightning

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Michelle Grotewohl

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Chapter One

High school senior Gavin Furlong stood at his locker, partially hidden by the door- he was too tall and broad for it to hide much of him- staring down the hall through the slits at the top of the metal at Katrina Stahl. Her locker was only a few down from his, and from where he was standing- or, rather, hiding- he could plainly see her long blonde hair, which had driven him crazy since elementary school, and sky blue eyes, which sparkled now as she laughed at something one of her friends said. Her slight figure- perfect if you asked him- was encased in a light blue silk blouse that made her eyes practically glow, and a pair of blue jeans. She was his sunshine, always able to brighten his day, no matter how crappy it was.

And she barely knew he existed.

He sighed quietly, ran down the list of all the reasons he’d never be more than a friend to her: she was rich, he was poor; her parents were a perfectly happy, loving married couple, and his father had walked out on him, his mother, Barbara, and his sister, Liza, years ago; Katrina was perfect in build, height and coloring, and he towered over everyone he knew at 6’4" and had the monstrous build of Frankenstein with the black hair and green eyes to match. Not to mention the fact that she had a boyfriend, Marcus Wallace, a jock with steroidal rage who threatened people on a regular basis and fought people smaller than him. Gavin couldn’t figure out why she stayed with him, other than the fact that he was rich and what most girls considered good-looking with his surfer blond hair and sea green eyes.

But it wasn’t as if Katrina hadn’t always been friendly to Gavin. She had, unfailingly. She talked to him all the time, mostly when Marcus wasn’t there. He liked to think they were closer to friends than acquaintances. And he wanted to be her friend.

Well, he wanted to be more than that, really, he thought with another sigh, but he’d take what he could get.

The first bell rang, letting the students know they had about a minute to get to class, so Gavin slammed his locker closed and stalked off to his third hour. He hated Science as a subject, hated Chemistry more, but Katrina was in his class so he suffered through it. Typically, instead of listening to the teacher, he was watching Katrina from across the room, wondering at her ability to focus on what the teacher was saying, take notes… generally pay attention.

Yet, somehow, though he rarely heard what was going on in class, he always managed to pass the tests and maintain pretty good grades, in all of his classes. He figured it was because he knew he had to, or else he’d never get out of this damn town and away from his psycho mother, who doted on his sister and never failed to put Gavin down by comparing him to his loser father. Gavin used to believe her crap, that he was the reason his father had left, but now he knew it was because his mother was a bitch. Liza tried to be a buffer between the two of them as often as she could, and frequently ended up stuck with their mother to give Gavin a break.

He figured he owed his sister- who was younger than him by two years- a whole hell of a lot, and one day, he’d pay up. He’d make damn sure of it.

After third hour was lunch, and Gavin cruised through the line and went to sit down, his tray piled high with pizza and chocolate milk. Last year, he’d brought cold lunch from home that Liza had packed for him when she was making her own. After the first week, he’d been so sick of people looking at him funny- though they were too afraid of him because of his size to say anything- that he’d gone out and gotten a job after school just so he and Liza could eat hot lunch at school.

A few minutes after sitting down- and so lost in thought that he didn’t notice half the girls in the large room were casting him furtive looks of interest- he was joined by his two friends, Hugo and Luiz. Hugo, with his curly red hair and glasses the same green as his eyes, got something different every day. For instance, yesterday had been fries and a burger, and today was chicken nuggets and sliced peaches. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

On the flipside, black-haired and -eyed Luiz had gotten the chicken sandwich with mayo and French fries, just like he did everyday. Luiz was afraid of change.

Just after they’d started eating, out of his peripheral vision, Gavin saw movement and lifted his eyes. He saw Katrina walking toward him, tried his damnedest to stay calm though his heart was tripping in his chest. It always did that whenever she was nearby. Then she lifted her eyes, caught his and smiled, and his heart just stopped for a moment.

She paused beside his table just as his heart started again, and it stuttered so bad he worried it might never recover. Hi, Gavin.

He cleared his throat, forced himself to sound normal when he spoke. Hi, Katrina.

She glanced at his plate, smiled again. That’s a lot of pizza, she said with a laugh while beside her, her friends rolled their eyes in boredom.

Suddenly uncomfortable, Gavin looked down. Yeah…

Because he was looking down, he didn’t see her reaction to his mumbled response, but she was quiet for a moment. Then she said quietly, I guess it takes a lot of fuel to keep a strong guy like you going.

Gavin’s head came up so fast he got a headache, and he could think of nothing to say, nothing to do but stare at her for the compliment.

When she realized he wasn’t going to say anything back to her, she gave him a gentle smile. Well, bye.

Still he said nothing, and so just watched her walk away. He was still staring when she sat down and began talking to her friends, still staring when Luiz whispered roughly, Dude! Stop staring. It’s weird.

Gavin blinked and turned to his friends. Did that really just happen?

Uh, yeah, Hugo said, sounding excited. And if I hadn’t been right here, I wouldn’t have believed it. At all. Ever. Even if there was a video.

Still Gavin stared blankly at the table. Did she just…?

Call you a stud and practically jump your bones? Yeah! Hugo exclaimed, causing Luiz to roll his eyes.

She did not. But she did compliment you, which is strange. He lifted his hands defensively when Gavin glared at him. "What? She talks to you all the time. Are you gonna tell me it’s normal for her to say things like that?"

No. Of course not. But… What does it mean?

It means she wants you, man.

When Gavin’s eyes lit, Luiz glared at Hugo, then said, It does not. But it does mean she finds you physically attractive. Not that she’d ever do anything about it.

Gavin frowned thoughtfully, then looked over his shoulder at Katrina. She said something to her friends, then glanced his way and smiled faintly. He tried to smile back, but thought it came off as more of a painful teeth clenching.

Stop… Staring… Luiz said again, slowly in case Gavin was still love stupid.

With a sigh, Gavin turned to face his own friends. I can’t help it. I love her.

Blah, blah, blah, Hugo said, and at the same time Luiz said, Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they both knew it was true. They’d been friends with Gavin as long as he’d known Katrina, since Kindergarten.

So say something to her, Hugo said, and though he clearly thought this was a bad idea, Luiz only shook his head and said nothing.

With a twist of his mouth, Gavin gave his friend a ‘Yeah, sure,’ look.

Good, Luiz said. Then we can forget about it and talk about my birthday party.

Gavin forced himself to pay attention, but he knew forgetting about it wouldn’t happen.

In fact, he couldn’t really stop thinking about it all the rest of the day and all during his half hour long walk home. Even Liza’s incessant chattering about some boy or other couldn’t break through his distraction, not that that stopped her. She talked all the way home, leaving Gavin free to ponder.

Katrina had never said anything to him even remotely like that before. He’d always thought she saw him as the poor boy who didn’t have many friends and didn’t really seem to want them. Yet here she was, talking to him regularly, and suddenly complimenting him. Maybe she was hinting to him that she wanted to be something more than friends, like he did. After all, she’d always spoken to him as if they’d been friends forever, and he’d never understood it. She just seemed to see something in him and stick by him, despite their differences. He didn’t really get it but he didn’t really care, either, so long as she kept talking to him.

His heart started pounding just imagining it: Katrina, his girlfriend; Katrina, going out with him to the movies and for meals; Katrina, kissing him, and… more. That thought brought with it a terrible longing and a fierce desire the likes of which he’d never felt before. Not that he was all that experienced in that department, anyway… Okay, not at all. But he could be, if Katrina was his girlfriend.

As with many teenage boys, Gavin had somehow convinced himself that Katrina wanted him as much as he wanted her. He decided right then that he was going to talk to her first tomorrow, and see where it went. If she talked to him, great. If she didn’t, fine. He’d leave it up to her, of course. Maybe he’d even grow a spine where she was concerned and ask her out.

Not on a date, of course. She already had a boyfriend and that would