“Congratulations are in order. Your first book was a success. But it’s the second book that could make or break you, and I’m sure you’re already working on it.”
I didn’t answer, and she peered up at me from behind her round glasses.
“Of course.”Not.
“Good.” Laurie went back to typing over her laptop. Travis and I exchanged glances. “So, are you ready for your first signing this weekend? I know it can be a bit much at first, but I’ll be there with you every step of the way. We’ll have to get you out of those clothes and into something more—” her head tilted to the side, and she pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose “—proper.”
My mobile rang.
“Go on, answer it,” Laurie stated without looking up from her computer.
I didn’t recognize the number, but it could be Dex.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“I checked out the cabin. The title was transferred over to an Ethan Scott a few years back …” Dex continued, but I couldn’t hear anything else.
Two fatalities.
Everything stopped—the blood in my veins, the pleads at the tip of my tongue, even my lungs stopped working. I couldn’t breathe. Travis snatched the phone from my fist and jumped from behind the booth to take over the conversation. But for me? I was frozen as the world continued to spin on its axis.
Thoughts even froze inside my head.
I closed my eyes.
Mia Rose is walking closer as Alicia, Jake, and I loiter in the hall between classes. I straighten my back against the wall and hold my breath as my fingers comb my hair back. Is she coming to talk to me? The heart in my chest is beating at an impossible rate. I’m trying to keep my cool, and hope it shows, but then her eyes lock on mine, and suddenly, I’ve lost it. Words are lost, my grip is lost, and she walks past me.
“Breathe, Ollie,” Jake whispers at my side, and that’s when I realize how obvious my affections are for her. “Way to stay subtle.”
“Shut up.”
She disappears around a corner, and I can already feel my heart breaking with the distance. Last night she came to my room for the first time. To say I was surprised to see her was an understatement. The few hours with her were spent in crisis mode. I’ve never felt so calm and nervous at once. I only wanted to be myself, but it was hard when she was turning me into this new man whenever she was around. Because around her, I wasn’t afraid of reality anymore. Around her, I wanted to keep my eyes open.
Jake chuckles. “She’s going to break your heart.”
“I can see it already,” Alicia waves her arm out in front of her, mimicking an invisible headline across the air, “Sociopath stomps on dreamer’s heart, death by ignorance.”
Instead of fueling their amusement, I stay quiet and smile to myself. Loving her until it kills me seems like a wondrous way to go.
A sting to my cheek snapped me out of it, and I opened my eyes to see Travis staring back at me. “I’m sorry, brother,” he whispered, and I looked to my left to see my agent had left. Travis grabbed my chin and redirected my gaze. “I’m so sorry.”
My head shook. “No,” I gritted out, and Travis dropped his head. “She can’t be … I’d know if she was … I’d feel it,” I slapped my chest, “right here. I’d know. She can’t be.”
“There were two fatalities, Oliver. Two—”
“Don’t.” I pushed him off me, looking for a way out.
Travis rushed to my side and yanked my shoulder back. “Scott owned that bloody cabin. You said so yourself. He had to have had something to do with her gone.”
My palms flew over my ears. “Stop it!” I screamed.
“Listen to me! She left you! She ran off with the wanker to a fucking cabin for crying out loud! Don’t you see?” Travis’s voice broke, “She’s dead, Oliver. I’m so sorry, but she’s gone.”
I gripped Travis’s shirt collar and slammed him over the bar. People jumped out of the way. “You don’t fucking know her!” Spit and agony flew between us. “I would know if she was gone! She’s not gone! She’s not!” My fingers released from his shirt, and I darted my gaze to the crowd surrounding us. All eyes were on me. A mother held her little girl behind her. They were scared of me. I was scared of me. It was quiet. My chest ached, unimaginable pain. A fire burned in my eyes because I’d refused to cry. Because she wasn’t gone.
Travis reluctantly placed his hand on my shoulder. “Okay, mate. Let’s get you home.”
“No,” I pushed him off me, knowing what he was implying. He didn’t know how I’d already made a home within Mia. She was my home, and I’d been trying this entire time to get back to her. I lost my footing, trying to push my way through the waves of gazes over me to find air.
