by Nicky Shanks
Oliver is nearly speechless. “I didn’t know you were so deep.”
The smile spreading across my lips warns me that Brandon might get jealous. “I’m a different person now, Oliver. Will you just promise to think about it? He will help you, just think about it.”
“I’ll think about it,” he agrees, glancing at Brandon. “Call me if I need to get back here and if you think Casey is getting too out of hand.” A darkness swirls in Oliver’s voice as he sticks his hand out for Brandon to shake. “Take care of it for me.”
They shake hands and Oliver doesn’t say anything before leaving the two of us alone.
The air that I manage to exhale is stale and dry; it fills the distance between Brandon and I, turning his focus from what just happened…back to me. The look in his eyes is scary, the kind of scary when I’ve done something he really doesn’t like.
“Are you pissed that I’m helping him?” he rumbles.
My lips feel raw from my tongue rubbing against the insides. “No, I think this will work. Julie doesn’t seem like the type to hold a grudge for long. Plus, maybe Oliver will still give us a vacation if something bad happens and we save her.”
“Why do you want to be her friend so badly?”
The lump in my throat rises and I can’t answer him.
What do I even say?
I never thought about this; I never even dreamed that Julie and I would ever even be friends. Still, the edge of something better hangs in the balance, and I keep reaching out to grab it only to keep being let down each time.
This time, I’m not letting lies and secrets get in my way.
I’m looking forward, and making a clean break from the old version of me seems like a good start.
Brandon looks at me for an answer. “Who said I wanted to be her friend?” I chuckle loudly and put my hands on my hips. “It’s not like I have any friends left, but we might like each other, who knows.”
“So you do want to be friends with her.” He laughs and puts his arms around my waist. “I don’t know who you think I am, but you’re not fooling me. You have a warm, beating heart underneath that soft, sexy skin, Heather Michaels.”
I blush. “You have a little something to do with heating things up.”
Things are heating up, all right.
They’re about to get so hot that someone’s gonna get burned.
Chapter Twelve
Julie
Oliver just left me alone with Casey.
We all know this isn’t a good idea.
I look at the clock above the sofa and make note of the time Oliver left.
8:19 p.m.
I already miss him, but my stomach grumbles so loudly that Casey hears it and his ears perk toward me. He has a lot to say to me, but I don’t want to hear anything that comes out of his mouth unless they’re the words, “I’m leaving.” He opens his mouth and closes it again quickly before something ridiculous seeps out and I have to shove it back down into his throat.
“Julie.” His voice is strained. “Please say something to me.”
My foot taps on the floor. “Like what?”
“Like, anything.” He starts to move toward me, but I hold out my hands for him to stop. “I just can’t take the silence between us anymore. I know you don’t hate me as much as you think you do.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel,” I growl. “I don’t want you here. I let Oliver think he was doing something by asking you to stay, but now I’m telling you to leave.”
Casey licks his lips. “Oliver wants me here with you.”
“I don’t care what he wants!” I scream. “He didn’t ask me what I wanted, did he?”
“What do you want?” The terror in his voice makes me self-conscious. I’m not in the business of making other people feel badly, but there’s something crawling inside my skin that’s warning me to get as far away from Casey as I possibly can. “Julie, what do you want?” he asks again, and the calmness of his voice spreads over me.
I click my tongue against my teeth. “I want people to stop treating me like I’m a magical creature. I have problems just like everyone else; I have issues that I need to work out too. I can’t be that person for everyone…I can’t make people’s problems go away just by holding their hand. I want you to stop idolizing me and twisting me into someone inside your mind that I’m not.”
He blushes. “You were one of my best friends.”
“I still am.” A rush of hot air leaves my mouth. “I’m just…really mad at you right now for how you’ve been acting. You try to take things from Oliver that don’t belong to you, and that’s not fair.”
“I know.”
My chest is on fire now. “You manipulate people into thinking you’re some sensitive and fragile guy, but Casey—” I take a step toward him on accident, “—you’re not. You’re a strong person and a good friend when you really want to be. I never really said thank you for what you did for me when Oliver was in the hospital. You were there for me and I didn’t show my appreciation.”
The light has returned to his eyes now. “So, does that mean we can be friends again?”
I shrug. “Can you keep your hands to yourself and not express any weird feelings for me?”
The smile that spreads across his face is wide and toothy. “I just want you to trust me again, Julie. I can work on the rest.”
I nod. “Okay, then. Let’s order pizza, because I’m freaking starving.” My eyes fix on the unopened bag of cold tacos sitting on the counter. Seeing it makes me smile, because Oliver went out of his way to make sure I got what I wanted. “So, pepperoni and bacon?”
Casey laughs. “Yes, so much pepperoni and bacon.” He holds up his finger and dials a number on his phone without hardly looking down at the screen. I listen to him order the pizza and for a split second, it actually feels like nothing that happened in the past six months was real. Of course, I still don’t completely trust him, and the fact that Oliver thought it was okay to push him on me is gnawing at my insides. I can feel the depth of my annoyance for him rising into my throat, and it takes all I have to push it back down into the place it slithered from.
“Beer?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Uh, no. I won’t be drinking alone with you.” I should smack my hand over my mouth, but I’m not ashamed of being straightforward with him. We’re friends, after all, and friends don’t filter what they say around each other. “I mean, it’s not a good idea.”
“Yeah, you might be right.”
I nod. “Oh, I’m right. Let me just be completely honest…” The lump in my throat forms again and it’s hard to swallow back down. “Just because I said that we’re still friends doesn’t mean things are going to go back to normal.”
The fire in Casey’s hazel eyes flickers. “I never thought they were. I’m just here to hang out with you until Oliver gets back, that’s all.”
I squint at him like I’m going to squeeze information out of him with just one look. It’s time to let everything go and continue obeying my own rules. I’m not going to let someone else dictate how I’m feeling anymore—well, except Oliver, because that’s always going to happen no matter how hard I fight it—and I’m certainly not going to let Casey make me feel bad for being upset with him.
But, I can do this.
I can act mature and let the irritation dwindle away on its own.
“Hey, the pizza is downstairs—I’m going to run and grab it,” he says and then he’s gone. It’s lonely here, or at least it really could be if I let the silence drown out my thoughts. So much is running through my mind that it’s hard to just focus on one problem at a time. Staci and Nora have already been helping me with the Brandon situation, and there’s another elephant in the room that I haven’t really discussed with anyone else:
Oliver asking me to marry him.
I’m not that much older than I was when Brandon started asking me. Granted, I’m more mature and know what direction I want my life to go in now, but that doesn’t chan
ge the fact that I’m still too young to be someone’s wife. It’s not that I don’t love Oliver or that I don’t see myself with him as his wife eventually, but he’s never been one for perfect timing on anything considering the two of us.
Casey returns with the pizza and it smells more than delicious as he opens the box after putting it onto the counter. He gestures for me to grab a slice, and I don’t hesitate because I’m actually fighting hunger pains in the pit of my stomach.
He groans. “So good.” His smile is obscured by a glob of pizza sauce on the corner of his lips. I wiggle my finger toward him so he can wipe it away. “What?” he asks, the schoolboy grin smeared across his lips again.
“You’ve got sauce on your lips.” My eyes narrow. “I could’ve kept it a secret, but that wouldn’t be very friendly, would it?”
He wipes the sauce away with a napkin from the counter. “Better?”
I nod. “It’s gone. I could’ve just let you walk around like that.”
“Well, thanks for being so friendly about it.” He rolls his eyes. “Is this how these next few days are going to be? You’re nice to me with a really annoyed undertone to it?”
I act shocked. “I’m trying my best here.”
He puts his half-eaten slice back down in the box. “Are you, though?” The crumbs from his fingers fall like dust to the floor. “Listen, regardless of how pissed Oliver is going to be…I think maybe I should leave like you want me to. It might be better for everyone if I just laid low for a while, you know?”
What kind of person am I?
I hold out my hands to stop him from leaving. “Casey, don’t go. I’m sorry. I really am trying, it’s just hard to let go of things right now. I can’t eat this entire pizza alone, you know.” I wink at him and regret it, but it’s too late to take it back now. Something ignites in his smile and his body relaxes; he picks up his slice of pizza and inhales it in one bite.
I’ll never admit this to him, but I’m actually glad someone is here with me. Since Oliver nearly died, I’ve found myself writhing in darkness sometimes, and usually it’s okay because there’s someone nearby to help pull me out. He nearly died and I’ve still yet to face it. I nearly lost him and all I can think about is how quickly I can push that thought deep down into the pits of my mind.
“Julie?” Casey says. “Hey, is everything okay? I mean, besides my bullshit.”
I nod. “Yeah, why?”
“You’ve been staring into space for five minutes.”
I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “How did you find out that you and Oliver are related by blood?”
He gulps. “Our mother told me.”
“Yeah.” I cross my arms. “Let’s talk about your mother.” My voice is dark and cold, but I deliberately sound like that so he’ll know I mean business. “She’s a real piece of work. Did you know she threatened me while Oliver was in the hospital? Not to mention, she was waiting for me in the lobby when I left the first time.”
“Stay away from her, Julie,” he warns me. “She isn’t a good person. You have to promise me that if you see her, you’ll go the other way.”
“Casey, I’m hardly afraid of her.”
He wipes his hands on the napkin and tosses it on the table, inching toward me with a serious look on his face that I’ve never seen before. I let him put his hands on my shoulders because I feel like I can handle him if he gets too out of hand. The grip he’s taking on my arms now, though…it’s a little too concerning taken along with the fear in his eyes. “I mean it. You stay away from her, do you hear me?”
I nod but don’t say another word. The look in his eyes says it all:
Veronica has it out for me.
“I won’t let her hurt you,” he blurts out when I realize what he’s not telling me. “I fucking promise you that I won’t let her hurt you.”
The room spins and I need to sit down. I find the sofa and collapse onto it, but I’m not afraid as much as I am shocked by the sudden knowledge of a crazy woman gunning for me. I know that she wants money from Oliver, and if he knew about this, then he’d just freak out and do something stupid instead of just giving her what she wants.
My eyes widen. The missing journals.
It had to be her.
“Casey, I need to get to Lake Reed,” I say, standing up. “I need you to drive me there.”
He looks around the apartment. “It’s nearly nine p.m. and you have class tomorrow. You know it’s a three-hour drive.” He licks his lips when he sees that I’m not joking around. “Julie, what could you possibly need from there right now?”
“Journals from Oliver’s dad.” I blush. “I need them because…” My voice trails off because I’m not sure what to even say. Why do I need them? “I need them because they help me understand Veronica and how to play her game.”
He runs his fingers through his shaggy blond hair. “I don’t think we should even play her game.”
Defeated, I plop back down next to him on the sofa. I can hear the wheels turning inside of his head like the insides of a clock, but he doesn’t back down. “Tell you what, when you’re in class tomorrow, I’ll go up to the lake house and get them for you. What do they look like?”
This will have to do.
“Here.” I shake the last journal from the bag next to the sofa. “They look like this. There’s a whole row of them, but different colors. They’re on the fourth shelf from the top of the first bookcase near the door.”
His eyebrows rise. “Well, that’s descriptive.”
I blush. “These mean a lot to me…and Oliver.” Before Casey can retort with any kind of horrible comment, I remember something that puts a damper on my plans. “Oh, crap. I forgot that Oliver changed the locks and he’s the only one with a key. Madrie—that sweet older lady who works at the Lake Reed Inn—she has a copy for emergencies. I could call her and have her meet us. She won’t just hand it to you.”
Casey sighs. “Okay, what time do you get out of class?”
“Ten.”
He scratches the stubble on his jawline. “Okay, after class I’ll pick you up and we can go to the lake house, get your journals, and come straight back home. We don’t need to be caught out and about without any protection against Veronica.”
He’s serious.
He’s really, really serious.
“Did she say something to you?” I ask, sitting up and looking directly at him. “Did Veronica threaten you or something? Why are you so keen about her not being near me?”
He looks like he’s sucking on a lemon. “I’ve met her before, when Oliver and I were little. She’s not a nice person, and yeah, okay…she contacted me after that night at The Tavern and she has delusional plans to get her money, that’s for sure.”
“Like what?”
He doesn’t answer me, so I straighten my body and turn to face him.
“Like what, Casey?”
His eyes flicker down to my fingers, and I can tell he wants to hold my hand. I shove them underneath my legs so he can’t see them anymore and be distracted. “She just wants money, Julie, and she’ll do whatever it takes and talk to whoever she can to get it.”
“What do you mean? Who else has she talked to?” It’s getting scarier now; the woman that was supposed to love and nurture the man I’m in love with…she hardly had the time to even love herself, let alone Oliver or Colin.
Casey hesitates. “Brandon. She’s talked to him.”
“What!” I can’t control the fear in my voice. “What did he tell her?”
Now he really wants to change the subject. “I don’t know—can we drop it?”
My eyes narrow. “Casey Anderson, you tell me right now—”
“He told her about your little secret, you know…the one about you two being married?”
“Shit,” I whisper. “Does Oliver know?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m really not in the mood to talk about what Oliver knows or doesn’t know or how he feels. I wa
nt to talk about this…I want to talk about how you could keep something like this a secret instead of asking me to help you.”
“This isn’t your problem, and it’s not your place to help me out of it.”
He closes his eyes, then opens them slowly. “It’s my place if I care about you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
He snorts. “Clearly, you do. How are you going to make it go away without Oliver finding out?”
I blush. “Brandon is getting the papers drawn up, and all I have to do is sign them.”
“Jesus, Julie, can you be any more naïve?”
I really want to punch him in the jaw now. Who does he think he is? I finally got Oliver to slow down on acting so possessive, and he actually has a right now. Casey doesn’t, not by a million miles. I know Casey cares about me and would protect me if need be, but I believe Brandon is going to do what he says he’s going to do. I heard the apology in his voice.
Casey sighs. “Okay, if you say he’s taking care of it…then I’ll let him take care of it.”
Wow.
“But don’t think for one second that I’m not going to keep tabs on this. It’s one thing to keep it from Oliver, because we know he’ll blow his top, but keeping it from me isn’t an option. Understand?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Good.” He stands up and retrieves a few bottles of beer from the fridge. Instead of handing me one, he puts it on the coffee table in front of me to decide if I want to open it or not. After shoving a few more slices into his mouth and chugging his beer, something comes over me and I feel the need to share more information with Casey. I don’t know if it’s out of vindication or friendship, but it jets out of my mouth before I can stop it.
“Oliver asked me to marry him.”
He exhales hard. “Did you say yes?” He shakes his head. “Jesus,” he whispers before he can meet my eyes. “I suppose you want me to be happy for you two?”
“I just thought you should know.”
He takes the beer intended for me and snaps the cap off before guzzling the liquid. “And now I know.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”