Free More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) by Kelly Oram Page A

freak and are thinking about taking up hero work as a hobby?
    “You and Ryan aren’t having problems, are you?” Becky asked.
    “No. Of course not. That’s not it. I’ve just had a lot of stuff going on. It’s got me stressed.”
    Becky responded to the hesitation in my voice with concern. “What stuff? What can I do to help? You’ve helped fix me, so now it’s my turn. Talk to me.”
    “I don’t know, it’s just—Mike’s accident really messed with my head, but not in the way you think. I feel so guilty.”
    Becky’s face soured the way it always does when Mike’s name is brought up, but what she said shocked me. “You too?” she asked. “I’ve been going crazy since it happened.” She was quiet for a second and then scoffed bitterly. “That’s sick, isn’t it? That Mike could do what he did to me and I still feel horrible about what happened to him. I mean, he was trying to apologize, and I pissed him off so bad he stormed off without looking.”
    “Beck, no. He was drunk. He stepped off that curb without looking because his judgment was severely impaired. It wasn’t our fault.”
    “I know,” Becky started to say. “That’s what I keep telling myself, but I still feel guilty. Hey, wait. I thought you just said you feel guilty, too.”
    “I do.” I was not explaining this right at all. I took a deep breath and then said, “But it’s more than just the fight we had. I could have stopped the accident. I saw it coming. I could have pulled Mike to safety, but I didn’t. I let him get hit.”
    Okay, that did it. I knew she didn’t understand what I meant yet, but it didn’t matter. Admitting it out loud again made my eyes get moist. Becky saw my tears and threw her arms around me.
    “That’s crazy, Jamie. You can’t do that to yourself. Yeah, when he stepped off that curb there was a heartbeat there where I knew he was about to get hit, too, but it all happened so fast. You couldn’t have done anything. There were tons of people there. People who were closer to Mike than you were, and they couldn’t stop him, either. Nobody could have done anything about it, or somebody would have.”
    “But that’s just it! I could have.” I pulled back so that I could look Becky in the eye. “There’s something you need to know. Something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but I didn’t know how.”
    Becky frowned, but it was mostly out of confusion and concern for me.
    I took a deep breath, but before I could spit it out there was a loud knock at the door. Both of us jumped and managed small laughs. I wiped my eyes and started to get up, but Becky stopped me. “Ignore it,” she said. “Whoever it is can come back later. This is more important. What’s wrong, Jamie?”
    I took another breath. “Nothing’s wrong exactly, it’s just—”
    There was another knock, louder this time, and then Teddy called out, “Hello? Anybody home?”
    I couldn’t ignore Teddy. He had lousy timing, but he was Becky’s first real crush in a year. “It’s okay. We’ll talk later.”
    “Are you sure?” Becky asked. “Because I can always talk to him later.”
    “Jamie?” Ryan’s voice joined Teddy’s. “Becky? You guys in there?”
    Becky and I shared a smile. “Later,” she said, and then went to answer the door.
    Teddy came in first and gave me that irresistible, dimpled smile. “So nice to see you again, Jamie.”
    “You, too.”
    I went to Ryan and kissed his cheek. “How was the game?”
    “We won. You up for a victory party?”
    I’d hardly seen Ryan all week. I was definitely not in the mood for a party. “I’ll go if I absolutely have to.”
    Ryan grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. I don’t want to go, either. I’ve got a surprise for you.” He kissed me then turned to Becky with an apologetic smile. “Will you hate us if we bail?”
    I was worried about ditching Becky at her first party. I would have gone for her if she needed me to. I gave her a silent look