Page 54 of A Ballad of Betrayal and Beauty

“In Nebraska.”

My knees buckle from under me. “Nebraska? You’re moving to Nebraska?”

My parents’ bed squeaks from down the hall and my heart gallops in my chest. I need to be careful and quiet. But she’s leaving me. What if it’s forever?

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers through tears.

“But I don’t understand. Why do you have to leave?”

“I think it’ll be good, actually. A fresh start. You know?”

“Right . . . a fresh start. Without me.”

“No!” she says, her hair swaying as she shakes her head. “No. This has nothing to do with you. Believe me, the only reason I’m upset about leavingisbecause of you. You’re my best friend.”

Now it’s my turn to fail at holding back tears. “You’re mine.”

A horn honks in the distance, and for the first time, I glance out the window to see a car idling in the distance. “I have to go,” she says, pulling her hands away from mine as fresh tears spill down her cheeks.

“What if I just kidnapped you?” I joke, but I know it doesn’t come out sounding like one. “Kept you locked up in my closet. I’d make it comfy, of course.”

She smiles. “Just remember what I told you.” At the tilt of my head, she continues. “I’ll always come back to you. I’ll never forget you.”

I pull her against me. She gasps, and maybe I handled her too hard considering her bruised body, but if this is the last time I’m going to see her, I want her to feel the way I’ll miss her.

“Come back to me,” I whisper into her hair. “I’ll wait for you.”

The horn honks again, and I squeeze her just a little longer before letting go. When I do, I can’t even move as she walks toward the window, her fingers grasping mine for as long as they can before she’s climbing back out. My heart feels like lead, heavy and aching in my chest. Why is life so unfair?

“Psst.”

I turn and scrunch my face, willing the tears not to spill over in front of her.

“I almost forgot,” Dusty says, then ducks down below the sill before reappearing with?—

“My guitar?”

Her smile beams in the darkness. “Amazingly, it was one of the only things he didn’t break. Keep playing, okay? I want to hear all the new amazing songs you’ve written when I come back.”

She offers me one last smile, then runs off into the night.

For hours, I sit on the edge of my bed, cradling the guitar in my arms. My mind races, but nothing makes sense. She’s safe. She’s gone, but she’s safe, and after fighting against my own selfishness, wishing she really could come back to live in my closet, I need to hold up my end of the bargain. When she comes back, and she will, I need to be ready to run away to Hollywood with her so we can both make our dreams come true. Together.

CHAPTER14

The Name of the Game

JOEL

I’m nervous.Reallynervous. And not the good kind of nervous, like right before a show. More like the kind of nervous where I might barf up my breakfast in the bushes over there. What if she doesn’t want to see me again after all? Her voice on the phone when I called to arrange this date was strange. Happy but also not?

What the fuck is happening to me? Just as I begin to spiral, the door opens and the breath is knocked out of me. She stands there in a pair of skintight white jeans and a white cherry-covered shirt cinched at her impossibly tiny waist by a bright red belt. Her lips match and she’s got her wild curls piled on top of her head with a white-and-red polka dot bandana. And those shoes. Those fucking red heels almost kill me. The freckles that grace her face are also on her arms, her ankles, and I bet they’re all over her.

I could strip her naked and play connect the dots for hours with them.

“Hi,” she says, pulling at her shirt slightly. Could she be . . .nervous? I shake the thought away.

“Wow,” I exhale. “You—hot damn, you look out of this world.”

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