Page 86 of Stick Fight

“If everything’s fine,” Rip says, his eyes narrowing, “Why the hell are you getting drunk?”

I shake my head, but the room spins a little. “I don’t know.”

Maybe it’s because I haven’t heard from Gabby. She should have landed in California hours ago. Why hasn’t she answered my messages?

A voice whispers in the back of my mind.Maybe she’s just with her parents, dude.

But another thought follows, darker.Maybe she’s with... him.

I take a fast breath, my rambled thoughts returning to my conversation with my brother. Okay, this is crazy. I am letting my past creep into my future and fuck that.

I lift my hand to order another drink and Rip grabs it and lowers it. “It’s late. We should all probably call it a night.”

“Maybe we can do some sightseeing tomorrow,” Avery suggests as she exchanges a look with Rip.

My head bobbles, going back and forth between the two of them. “I told you everything is fine.”

Avery checks her phone again and I try to get a look at it. “More pictures of us?”

“No…uh…” her gaze shifts to Rip, and he gives a tight shake of his head. Maybe he thinks I’m too drunk to notice it.

“Okay, what is it you two don’t want to tell me?” I growl.

Just then my phone lights up, and I lean forward to see it. Rip snatches it off the table, but not before I catch a glimpse of something—a picture—sent by that asshole Theo.

What the fuck did I just see…

My gaze flies to Rip, and his face is pained. “Roman…”

I briefly close my eyes, the room spinning. But I raise my hand and gesture for a drink…plenty of drinks.

“Roman,” Avery says. “Maybe it’s not?—”

“How could it not be?” She exchanges another glance with Rip, one that tells me we all saw the same thing, all came to the same conclusion. Rip puts my phone back on the table. I pick it up and shove it into my pocket. I’ve seen enough for the night.

This time my friends don’t stop me. No, they actually join in the drinking. What the fuck else can they do now? I can’t unsee what I just saw.

The night flies by in a drunken blur and the next thing I know, I’m walking away from the Elvis-impersonator station, my arm slung around Avery, who is stumbling beside me. Rip, who has been by my side all night—I think—is now off talking to one of the bridesmaids.

Beside me, Avery is laughing about something as she adjusts a sash around her shoulder. I dance her around the room, and we swing past the door, but I stop when my blurry eyes spot something in my peripheral vision. I turn toward it, and nearly stumble as the vision rounds the corner and disappears from my sight.

What the hell was that?

Was it a ghost?

Except this ghost wasn’t all in white. No, this ghost was in a hideous orange floral dress and a matching orange curly wig.

Oh fuck.

24

Gabby

Travel bag in hand and heart thundering in my chest, I leave Roman’s apartment, every step a mix of hope and nerves. Officially, I’m supposed to be heading to the airport. Boarding a flight to California to visit my parents. That’s what Roman believes. And part of it is true. But after the soul-deep conversation we had last week, after peeling back every layer between us, I knew there was one thing I had to do before I could fully step into our future together.

That’s why I changed my flight.

Not to run.

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