Page 71 of Quake
“Uh huh.” She sounded bored, and it riled me up even more.
“There’s more to this story than you understand. Way more.Something is wrong. I’m worried. Really worried.”
“Are you serious? You sound serious.”
“Deadly serious. I don’t know how much I should say…”
“Tell me,” Jade demanded. “She’s a star, that girl. I always wondered if something else was going on with her, but she seemed happy enough, so I never pressed. Always early, always on the ball, but there was always this… I don’t know.”
I grimaced, rattling off the cliff notes version and leaving out the details. “Something bad happened to her a long time ago, something that changed who she was, and now it’s come back to bite her in the ass. I… I have to find her. Make sure she’s okay.”
Jade gasped. “Do you think she’d try to…” I didn’t even want to contemplate the end of that sentence.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know, but I’ve got to find her. Will you help?”
“Fuck yes,” Jade declared. “Where do we start?”
27
Juliette
Iwasn’tsure what day it was.
After calling in sick to work, I’d curled up in bed and allowed my depression to drag me down. Burying under the covers seemed like a great way to hide from the world…and Melanie. I’d seen her in the mirror again, just like I had in the first year after her death. The therapist said it was my guilt manifesting, my mind playing tricks on me. She wasn’t really there even though she felt real to me.
Then there was Caleb and all the terrible things I’d said to him. Walking away had hurt so much, but… I had no choice. I should never have let my feelings get out of control. If I was completely honest with myself, there was no other way it could’ve ended. The plot points might’ve been different, but there was no happily ever after. If this were a romance novel, the reviews would stink.
At the thought of Caleb, I buried into my pillow, my heart ripping apart even more. It would be so easy to just go to sleep and ne—
Knocking at the front door roused me from my hazy thoughts, and I raised my head, listening. The knocking came again, and this time, I slid out of bed, my joints stiff. Tiptoeing out into the lounge room, I listened, wishing I had a peephole so I could see who it was.
The knocking started again, but this time, someone called out. “Jules?”
I stilled as I heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door. Was that…Jade?
Easing open the door, I peered out and saw her standing on the other side, a black handbag slung over her arm, her emerald and black dress making her head full of russet curls shine. When she saw me through the crack, she gasped and slapped her palm against the door.
“I was so worried about you!” she exclaimed, barging into my unit.
“Worried? About me?” I croaked, my voice feeling raw after not speaking for a few days.
“I assumed things had gone south with you and your fighter,” she said, looking around my flat, her nose wrinkling. “That you were pulling a sickie to mend your broken heart or something.”
“We did…break up,” I said, feeling like I wanted to burst into tears for the millionth time since the other night at Beat.
“I know…” Jade said, turning back to me. “I thought you might’ve…you know.”
“Strung myself up?” I asked with a scowl. “Hardly.”
“Caleb,” she went on. “He’s frantic, the poor guy. He said you broke up with him. I assumed he did the dumping.”
“Caleb?” I asked, shrinking in on myself. “What does he want?”
“He’s been trying to call you since Wednesday,” Jade explained, looking around my apartment again. “He said he’s been knocking on your door and sleeping in his car out front hoping to see you.”
My jaw felt slack as I stared at her, not quite understanding. Caleb had been here? I hadn’t heard anything.
“Jules…have you had a shower at all in the last week? You look a little…greasy.” Jade picked at my singlet. “And rumpled.”
