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

sorry, Frankie. I didn’t mean to be so rude earlier. I just … .”
    “No, Ever. Please, don’t cry. You don’t have to apologize. You don’t have to tell me what you do every single time you leave this house, and I shouldn’t have asked you. It’s not my business.”
    “But it is, Frankie. It is your business. You’re—”
    He looked at me expectantly when I paused, eyes intense, as he waited for the next words. As if he wanted me to say how I felt about him, who he was to me. Did he already know my feelings for him were so much more than they should be? Could I say them out loud?
    You’re my entire world.
    ”—you’re my best friend, Frankie … and I … I just … .”
    He flinched slightly when I said best friend , but I couldn’t take it back, couldn’t change the words without letting out the truth. The truth that he was so much more than my best friend remained unspoken. Where would that leave us anyway? Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere.
    I had to move forward and see where this new thing with Toby would lead. I couldn’t tell Frankie that I loved him any more than I could continue to love him.
    “No. Shh. Really, it’s okay. Go back to sleep, Doll. I’m not mad at you.”
    After I crawled back under the covers, chilled from the night sweats and exhausted from crying, he sat down on the edge of my bed with his back to me. He fit almost perfectly in the crook between my knees and my stomach, as though I was curled up around him. The pained look was still on his face, though he tried to mask it.
    Before I drifted off, I saw that his hand was resting on top of mine.
    But I couldn’t feel it.

D ays later, almost the entire week of Spring Break had passed since I’d seen or heard from Toby. It hurt. We’d been on two dates back-to-back, and I had really thought we’d hit it off. Maybe my lack of experience with boys was rearing its ugly head, because clearly, he’d been uninterested.
    Mom and Dad had relaxed about Toby’s age, which was perfectly ironic considering he’d burned me. I didn’t tell them that though.
    Frankie and I were pretty much back to normal, my unspoken secrets still tucked down deep, safely hidden away from exposure. It seemed my moment of insanity when I’d yelled at him was a distant memory.
    I hadn’t had any more nightmares, which also meant no more late night visits from Frankie … which sort of sucked, but let’s face it, what on earth would have ever come of that ? The fact that I wanted him in my room at all was big enough to deal with, let alone the intense feelings I had when he was actually there. His concern for me was adding fuel the fire. When I was trying to get over him by moving on with Toby, he was being all compassionate and showing up to comfort me in the middle of the night, thus totally confusing me further. So yeah, avoiding those late night situations was best. Or so I kept telling myself.
    On Friday afternoon, Jessie and I were hanging out in the backyard, getting some sun, when she randomly started yelling at me.
    At least, I thought the yelling was random. I was pretty sure it was the first I’d heard from her in the past hour or so. I think. Shoot.
    Actually, now that I thought about it, I couldn’t really recall if I had been ignoring Jess or not. Had she been talking?
    “ Ever ! Do you even realize that you first agreed to , and then allowed me to paint your toenails pink? Pink, Ever! And not just any pink, oh no, I painted them the brightest pink I could find just to prove a point!” She waved the hideous pink bottle—which she obviously carried around in her purse—in my face for emphasis. “Right after I told you I was skipping college, moving to Las Vegas, and becoming a showgirl! A showgirl ! This is spring break, Ever! The last spring break of my high school experience, and you have ignored me the whole time! Ugh! I should be off on a senior trip or something, meeting boys in Mazatlan and drinking cold drinks on hot sand, but oh