Free Everbound by Brodi Ashton Page A

hoping that would be the end of it.
    “And you and I would store those spiky chestnuts, and we’d throw—”
    I slammed my hand down on the table, startling her. “Sorry. I … don’t remember as much as I used to.”
    She shook her head. “You’re lying. You just don’t want to remember.” She could still read me so well. But she wasn’t sympathizing. By cutting her off, I could see I’d crossed some sort of line. She frowned. “And I can only think of two reasons you don’t want to remember. Either you don’t know how to face what happened … or you feel guilty.”
    It was as if I were sitting in front of her completely transparent. I looked away, out the window. A lot of time had passed, and people were now trickling out of Harry O’s.
    I couldn’t face her anymore. “I have to go.”
    Suddenly she latched on to my hand. “Becks. If you know where he is … you have to do something.”
    “But—”
    “Just promise me. If you know what’s happened to him, even if it’s bad, you have to tell someone. Do you hear me?” Her voice shook with emotion. “No more lies.”
    I opened my mouth but couldn’t answer. So much for thinking Jules believed me. She knew I was hiding the truth from everyone. She knew I was responsible for Jack’s disappearance. She knew I was lying.
    She lowered her eyes, slapped some bills on the table, and left without another word. Everything she said had added weight in my chest. I sat in the booth for a long time, staring at the checkered pattern on the plastic tablecloth, willing myself to get up.
    When I finally stood, I crossed the street as the last few stragglers trickled out of the club. Cole was inside. And he held my only chance for getting Jack back.
    Please, Cole. Please give me hope .

EIGHT
NOW
    The Surface. Harry O’s .
    A s I walked in, the lingering smell of sweat and beer hit me in the face. A tall guy behind the bar eyed me. “Are you Nikki?”
    I looked from side to side. “Um … yes.”
    “Follow me. Cole’s in the back.”
    Cole must have known I’d be here. I took a deep breath and followed the bartender back behind the stage and through a small hallway that led to a beat-up wooden door marked GREEN ROOM .
    The bartender knocked three times. I read some of the messages carved into the door.
    LB + TK + FR = AWESOME TRIFECTA
    Before I could decipher what it meant, the door opened and Gavin’s face appeared. The last time I’d seen the Dead Elvises’ drummer was when I was sneaking around trying to figure out what was so special about the Shop-n-Go. He’d almost caught me there. “What?” he demanded.
    Then he recognized me.
    “Oh.”
    He closed the door, and a few seconds later it opened again and Gavin walked out, followed by Oliver and lastly Max. I watched them, quiet.
    Max paused as he passed by. He leaned down to talk to me, and I remembered how much taller he was than Cole. “Nik, be gentle. Cole was doing so much better until that stunt you pulled last night. Don’t screw him up again.”
    I looked at him incredulously. “Me screw him up?”
    Max just walked away. Cole had destroyed six months of my life, most of my soul, and the boy I love, and Max was worried about me hurting him?
    Okay, so maybe some of that had been my own doing, but still.
    I went inside and shut the door behind me, feeling more riled up by the second. Before I turned around, I heard an intake of breath.
    “Nik,” Cole said. “Those boots. You do care.”
    Turn around, Becks. Turn around . Why was it so hard to be in the same room with him? I took a deep breath and faced him. He was sitting on the corner of an old brown leather couch. It was worn in the center seat, where a large chunk of leather was missing. His guitar sat beside him like a constant, faithful companion; and he flipped a guitar pick over the knuckles of his fingers, passing it from finger to finger like he always did.
    I must have been staring at the pick, because Cole froze it midflip, then