Ever: The Ever Trilogy, Book One (Volume 1) by Jessa Russo [paranormal] Read Free Book Online Page B

It’s my lucky day. He’s gorgeous and he has great taste in music. Seriously? I guessed Jessie wasn’t the devil incarnate for making me go out with him after all.
    Once we hit PCH, I had him head south to Laguna Beach. We found a spot to park on one of the residential side streets that luckily didn’t have parking meters … since neither of us could find any quarters. Toby parked the Mustang, and we set out to Tablerock Beach on foot. He didn’t touch me or grab my hand on the way down to the beach, but I swear I felt his close proximity to me in my entire body. I’m sure that was only due to my nerves and excitement, but I was lit up like I’d been plugged into a wall socket—currents dancing happily just below the surface of my skin. I had the usual Frankie guilt, sure, but everything else about being near Toby was so thrilling that I was a bit annoyed I hadn’t followed Jessie’s advice before now. If going out on a date with a hot guy was this exciting, I’d been missing out.
    “So, back at the house, you said something about not going to regular school. Did you drop out or something?”
    “Oh no, nothing like that. I’m homeschooled.” Here it comes. I cringed slightly and braced myself for ‘the look,’ but it never came. Weird.
    In fact, he seemed genuinely interested in my homeschooling. I proceeded to tell him all about it, leaving out the part about why it began in the first place. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine telling Toby that my mom started homeschooling me after —or because of— Frankie’s death. I’d been such a mess after he died—and came back—that I’d had an enormous amount of trouble in school. Not like starting fights and smoking, though I did try both at one point, but basically just not being able to focus on anything—or caring to. All I’d wanted to do was get home to Frankie. So eventually, my parents decided to just teach me at home.
    We got down to the beach and found a large grouping of rocks. We climbed up to the highest point we could reach, and he sat down, taking my hand in his. As he pulled me down to sit next to him, I couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to hold his hand. More of that excited warmth spread through me at his touch. I wondered if Jessie felt this every time she dated a new guy. It could be the reason she chose to go out with a new guy every weekend.
    As the sun descended, turning the skyline impossible hues of orange and purple, I found myself able to open up to Toby almost completely. He was good at prompting me to continue, but it was difficult to be one-hundred percent open with him without sabotaging myself by bringing up Frankie. I managed to pay very close attention to my words, and after a few hours, I felt I’d exhausted my life story—all seventeen years of it.
    When he asked about my neighborhood, I mean, our neighborhood, it became even more difficult to keep Frankie a secret. So instead of talking about anything current, I decided to tell him about my home’s embarrassing history of paint colors. We’re talking seriously embarrassing aesthetic quirks. I lived in the house that for years was periwinkle—amid a neighborhood of varying shades of beige. As I neared the point in the history lesson where Dad finally convinced Mom to paint over the hideous shade of—
    “Oh shoot! My mom!” I jumped up and nearly toppled off the rocks in my haste. He jumped up as well, reaching out to grab me, and steadied me so I didn’t plummet to the sand below. My heartbeat was far from steady as I realized I was completely wrapped in his arms, held tightly to his body. Oh. His eyes narrowed in on my lips, and I heard myself sigh. Then I cringed. Ugh. I had to stop doing that. He donned that knowing smirk of his and released me without letting go of my hand.
    “I’m sorry I totally just freaked out, but I realized I never told my Mom and Dad where I was going tonight. Do you have your cell phone with you?”
    “No. It’s charging on my