Everneath by Brodi Ashton Read Free Book Online Page B

Yes, we broke up.”
    I thought about what I’d overheard in the girls’ bathroom. “Does she … know that?”
    Jack smiled. “I hope so. She was there.”
    As if the conversation were finished, Jack pulled me close and we started to dance again. Then he said in my ear, matter-of-factly, “She’ll get over it.”
    When he pulled up to my house after the dance, we could see the silhouette of my father in the doorway. “I think I’ll say good night here,” Jack said.
    “My dad’s not so bad.”
    “Oh yeah, he was great … right up until the time I started dating his daughter.”
    I’d seen how my dad had become considerably colder toward Jack. There were little clues, like the other evening when out of nowhere he told Jack about how every football player he went to high school with had gotten fat after graduation. We’d been talking about what to make for dinner.
    “Okay,” I said. “Maybe next time.” I leaned over to peck him on the cheek, but he grabbed my face in both of his hands and kissed me. His breath tasted like the mints the chaperones had passed out when the dance was over, and when he parted his lips against mine, I shivered, but not because of the cold. I pressed against him even more and hoped the dark inside the car obscured my dad’s view.
    But I knew better than to push it. As I was about to break away, Jack put his hands behind my waist and pulled me even closer, practically lifting me over the center console, so I was sitting in his lap.
    I pulled back. “My dad’s going to love that—”
    He put his finger over my lips, cutting me off. “Please don’t talk about your dad when I’m kissing you. Besides, unless he’s enacted a law against it—”
    “Which he may well do after tonight,” I interrupted.
    He smiled and then brought my face to his again for a few moments before finally releasing me.
    “After that kiss, we’d better dream of the same thing tonight,” he said with a smirk.
    My face got even warmer, but I tried to speak in a calm voice. “I’ll probably dream my usual dream, where I show up to school without any clothes on.”
    “Me too.” Jack chuckled. I gave his shoulder a playful shove.
    He popped out of the car and went around to open my door, being careful to avoid any actual contact with me as I stepped out. I waited until his car had rounded the corner before I walked up the pathway and opened our front door.
    “Careful, Nikki,” my dad said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I just don’t want to see my girl so overwhelmed.”
    “I’m fine, Dad,” I said.
    “I know,” he said. “It’s just that even though I’m totally old and unhip, I remember what boys in high school were like. Especially the kind like Jack Caputo.”
    “What kind is that?”
    “The kind that doesn’t even walk a girl to the door.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Well, he would have, but he had to go drop off his other dates. There were three of us.” My dad finally cracked a smile. “Good night, old man,” I said, giving him a hug.
    Wait a sec, honey. “Did I do that okay?”
    “I pulled back. “Do what okay?” It hit me then that this was my first dance since my mom died. I felt a little guilty that I hadn’t realized it before. It was just that the night was so perfect. Before he could explain, I said, “Yes. You did great.”
    “Night, Nikki.”
    The next morning, I found a note in my jacket pocket. I unfolded it and read two words, written in Jack’s handwriting.
    Ever Yours.

SIX
NOW
    My bedroom. Four and a half months left.
    I walked into my house after school with a smile on my face. Even the smallest interaction with Jack, and the fact that he noticed my blush, was enough to send me into orbit.
    But as I got closer to my bedroom, the mark on my shoulder began to tingle.
    Cole was here.
    I opened my bedroom door slowly.
    “It’s been over a month, Nik.” Cole was sitting on my bed, strumming his guitar. And as usual, I tried to ignore him. There was nothing I