Free Heartless (The Heartless Series) by Kelly Martin

Truth be told, it is the truth. I didn't sleep well, and I did need a nap after history. Of course, one of the reasons I have to take a nap is because my nightmare sat next to me the entire friggin' time. Good times…
    Sam's eyes get the puppy dog look that I haven't seen in, well, forever. He moves my laptop to the side and sits down on the edge of the bed. He pushes his hair behind his ears and leans his elbows on his knees. All that is fine and dandy, but when he starts fidgeting with his fingers, I get nervous.
    "What's wrong? I'm fine, Sam. I promise. I'm fine…"
    He clears his throat.
    Oh God, this can't be good. Why am I so nervous? Could be because I keep hearing Hart in my ears? He keeps whispering about a girl… the girl. Who is the girl? And why can I still hear him? I need my mommy, or a supportive version thereof.
    "This is… more difficult than I thought it would be."
    Oh no… no… no… no.
    Hart shuts up.
    "Gracen, look, I know you've had some problems in the past, and I've never asked you about it. It's none of my business. I've always loved you anyway, right? Despite any mood swings, or whatever."
    Well, I'm wide awake now. I sit up, cross my legs, and stare straight into his eyes. "What in the world are you talking about?"
    "The cops were here earlier today."
    Can't say I expected that. "The cops. Here? Why?"
    "I was going to text you and tell you, but it seemed like something that should be talked about in person, you know, without wire traces or physical evidence or whatever. I went to your class and you weren't there, so I kept looking. Didn't think you'd be here. It's bad, Gracen. It's really bad."
    "Sam." I grab his hand and hold it firmly in mine. Part of it is to get him to focus. The main part was to get myself in the right frame of mind. If I ever really knew what that was. "Spit it out. Please. What did the cops want?"
    "To talk to you. I told them that you'd already gone. I figured they'd catch you there."
    I shake my head. "They didn't… I didn't even see them. What did they want to talk about?"
    The girl… the girl… Hart's words echoed through my head. I don't think it's really him. And yeah, I realize how weird that sounds. I feel like these words rattling through my noggin are an echo of what he'd told me before. The girl… focus on the girl.
    Danika?
    "Danika." Sam pauses and seems to be sizing me up. Is he trying to figure out if I'm going to talk or crack? Oh God, he's gauging my reaction to see if whatever the police told him about me was true!
    Stay calm. Play it cool. I can't act guilty because I can't be guilty of anything. "What about her?"
    Sam's eyebrows shot up. "You know her?"
    Not exactly. "I think she's in my history class. The one with Professor Mitchell."
    "Seth Mitchell?"
    Wasn't expecting that detour. "Yeah. I think that's his name."
    Sam nods. "Seth and my dad were friends. He came to my house like once. Stayed for dinner. Nothing big. Sort of weird."
    Sounds about right, but I don't think it's the right time to go down memory lane with a side person who doesn't even really fit part of the story. We need to stick to the main characters, and the secondary characters if we must. Not the D-listers. We have enough to worry about as it is.
    "Is that what the police wanted to know? About Professor's, er Seth's, connection to Danika?"
    Sam shakes his head and flicks under his already clean nails. "They wanted to know about yours."
    "My what?"
    "Your connection to Danika, Gracen." Now he's starting to get irritated with me, which I can't figure out because I have done nothing wrong. Nothing.
    "I don't have a connection with her. I just saw her in a dream, and I saw her in class." Once I said it, I wanted to push those words back in. Stupid, Gracen. Stupid, Stupid. I blame my big mouth on my mother. I inherited it from her, and I hate it every day. Sam sits up straighter. Why does he have to look at me like that? Like I'm fixing to snap. I'm not snapping. I'm perfectly