Page 43 of Harmony Island Gazette
His phone beat him to a response. The ring cut through the silence between us. He held up his hand as he pulled out his phone. “Hello?”
I turned my focus forward, but from the sound of his footsteps and the way his voice remained constant, I knew Asher was still following behind me.
“Hey, Collin.” He paused. “I can do that.” Silence again. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do about tracking him down.”
I wasn’t close enough to hear the other side of the conversation and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I had a sinking suspicion that this Collin character worked for Marcus Proctor, and the less I knew, the better.
“I’ll head over there after my open house.”
I was standing in front of my car now. I set the jars down on the hood before I fished my keys from my purse.
“I understand, but I have to?—”
It seemed the man on the other end of the call was not happy with Asher’s response.
“I do have other clients that I have to—” I peeked over at Asher. He had tipped his body away from me with his head dipped down as he held the phone to his ear. “No, I don’t want that.” He must have felt my stare because he turned his gaze to mine, and I saw worry in my best friend’s eyes. “Yes. I’ll head right over there.”
Collin must have not even bothered to say goodbye because Asher didn’t return the sentiment. Instead, he just shoved his phone into his back pocket. He gave me a forced smile as he nodded toward his car.
“I gotta go,” he said as he started to back up.
I wanted to call him back. I wanted him to tell me what was wrong. I wanted not to care about who he was working for. I wanted to turn off my journalistic brain that always saw a story in every situation I got myself into.
I wanted to be a support to him. I just wanted to be his friend. But from the way he’d looked at me and the hushed tones he’d spoken in, I wasn’t sure we were that anymore.
That’s when I realized what was happening. I was losing my best friend.
And if I didn’t stop him from slipping away, I was going to lose him. Forever.
16
BOONE
It was five in the morning, and I was awake. In all honesty, I hadn’t slept much last night. I’d spent most of my time tossing and turning. Thoughts of my night with Juniper haunted me in a sort of morbid fantasy.
I wanted to be the hero in her story. I wanted to be the man to save her and carry her away from the toxic situation with Kevin, but then the sight of her wide eyes and panicked expression when she thought I was going to hurt her crashed into my mind, grounding me back in reality.
Kevin may be the villain, but I was the monster.
I yanked my blankets off and sat up. I planted my feet on the ground in front of me while I rested my elbows on my knees and tipped my head forward. There was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep. And there was no way I could hang out here with my thoughts.
I needed to run.
I grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt and headed into the bathroom. Once I was changed and I’d splashed some water on my face, I opened the door and made my way back into the living room. I dug through my bag for a pair of clean socks, then laced up my tennis shoes and stood.
As soon as my feet were pounding the pavement and I was taking in deep breaths of salty air, my mind began to clear. I forced out all thoughts of Juniper and focused on the task at hand: running until I stomped out my feelings for her.
Last night was the first time I’d felt alive in so long. Touching Juniper. Feeling her body under my fingertips. Seeing her stare up at me with trust and admiration made me long for more. I felt like the Grinch. When Juniper was around, my heart grew.
I feared who I would become when I left.
I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing on the sound of my breath.Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.I opened my eyes. I was running on the side of the road. Thankfully, in a small town no one was up this early, and I was alone on the road. The occasional car passed, but they were few and far between.
I ran and ran. I was going to keep running until I could accept that Juniper and I were never going to be what I so desperately wanted us to be. I wanted her to be mine. I wanted to protect her until my last breath.
But she wasn’t mine, and she never would be.
Thirty minutes later, I glanced up to see the sign for Harmony Cove in the distance. I blinked, confused how I got here. I left not knowing where I was going to run to, and suddenly, my mother’s community came into view. My body thought it knew what I needed while my mind remained oblivious.
