Free Ever: The Ever Trilogy, Book One (Volume 1) by Jessa Russo [paranormal] Page A

breathed a sigh of relief.
    “Oh, by the way, I heard your mom and dad arguing about that new kid next door. It sounded pretty heated. Do you know what that was all abou—?”
    “Fine!”
    I threw up my hands and spun around in my chair to face him.
    “Yes, Frankie, I was out with Toby, okay? Are you happy now? Ugh! Just … just go , Frankie. I want to go to bed.”
    His eyes practically bulged out of his head as I yelled at him, and he was clearly confused by my outburst. Well, that made two of us. I couldn’t believe I’d just shouted at him like that, totally unprovoked.
    “Wait, what? You were out with … but … I thought you said … ?”
    The wounded expression on his face made me feel even guiltier , which in turn made me feel even angrier . It didn’t make sense, but sometimes feelings just don’t. His confusion should have softened me, caused me to rein myself back in. It didn’t. Instead, it irritated me, confusing me further, if that’s even possible.
    “Yes, Frankie. I was out. On a date. With Toby . That hot new guy from next door. Okay? We had a blast . We kissed too, Frankie. Now run along and tell everyone about it. Good night !”
    I emphasized each part of my story, unable to stop the words from flying out of my mouth. I’d gone too far. Like I was deliberately trying to hurt him.
    He was gone instantly.
    No comments. No theatrics. No puff of smoke. Nothing.
    He was just gone .
    I felt like someone punched me in the gut. Why did I do that? I was so beyond ashamed of myself—even more so than I had been about the date with Toby. I had never lied to Frankie, and I had never attacked him the way I just did. I would never forget the stricken look on his face.
    I crawled into bed and fell asleep crying, though my sleep was again troubled. My subconscious continued to dissect my relationship with Frankie and my feelings for Toby, leaving me restless.
    When I awoke in the night, I was again terrified and sprawled out on the floor. Like before, I was unable to remember a single thing about my nightmare, except my fear for Frankie’s safety and my desperate need to find him. Frankie was back in my room, obviously responding to my calling out for him from the terrifying world inside my dreams.
    He was squatting just a few inches away, leaning down over me, his weight resting on his fingers like he was about to play a childhood game of leapfrog. He was watching me intensely, his face twisted with distress. He looked frozen in place—like half of his mind was telling him to reach for me and the other half was dutifully reminding him he could do no such thing.
    “Frankie.”
    “I’m here, Doll.”
    We stood at the same time and ended up almost nose-to-nose. My breathing began to slow as we stared at each other, and my fear eased slightly with every second. He licked his lips, and out of the corners of my eyes, I saw him begin to reach for me, only to see his fists clench in mid-air and land back at his sides.
    I climbed back into bed, my eyes never leaving Frankie’s, trying to grasp for something— anything —that I could remember about my dream. I couldn’t come up with a single image or scene, aside from Frankie’s face, and Frankie’s name on my lips.
    He walked over to the bed and looked down at me, his expression pained.
    “Was I loud? My parents will come in … .”
    “No, Doll, you weren’t loud. I was pacing outside your door. I doubt they heard you all the way down the hall.”
    I don’t know if it was the shame I’d felt earlier, the confusion of all the strange feelings I was having, or the leftover terror seeping out from my dream world, but hearing that Frankie was pacing outside my door brought tears flooding down my cheeks. I’d obviously really hurt him earlier if he found himself pacing outside my room.
    “Shh, Doll, please don’t cry.” Frankie paced restlessly back and forth over the floor in front of my bed, his eyes remaining on me the entire time.
    “I’m so