There’s a long pause as hundreds of discarded words crackle through the silence. Finally, in a sad whisper, she answers, “Okay. See you soon.”
Callie’s gaze is full of worry when I hang up the phone. She’s unaware of what I’m about to do, but she knows from my body language that it isn’t something good. She squeezes me tightly and rests her head right over my thundering heart. I close my eyes and breathe in her scent of orchid and pomegranate. Despite what’s happening, a pleasurable elation runs through me over the fact that I can touch and smell her.
Giving Callie a squeeze of my own, I look up to find the rest of the guys standing and staring at me, not even trying to pretend that they weren’t listening to my conversation. Blood drips from Donovan’s and Connor’s busted knuckles as they stand side by side, their expressions carved into a set of protective glares. Nolan’s face is made of stone, unreadable and waiting. Kaleb watches with a concerned frown. A wall of friends ready to do whatever I need them to.
“Anybody want to drive me to Twin Cedar Park?” I ask with a weak smile and a flat laugh. “Guess it’s time to have my first breakup, and just my luck, I didn’t get to have the relationship part first.”
Chapter 11
Felix
"Iknow you told me, but I’m panicking and forgot. How does one break up with someone again?” I ask Nolan from the passenger side of his gray Audi R8. He takes a corner a little too tightly, forcing me to grip the seat with both hands to keep from smashing into the door. “Also, maybe slow down? I already died once. It’s not something I want to experience a second time.”
“Huh?” he yells over the whine of the engine as he quickly shifts gears. By his expression, I can tell his mind wasn’t anywhere in this car.
“Dude, tell me what’s up with you,” I demand, no longer able to stand whatever Nolan is hiding.
His gaze stays glued to the road in a way that makes it clear he’s willfully not looking over at me. “Nothing.”
“You’re a crappy liar,” I challenge while staring down his profile. “You’ve practically become mute, and when you do talk, you sound like a fifty-year-old smoker. Do I also need to point out that you and Callie have also been really weird around each other?”
“I have a sore throat,” he admits through gritted teeth, “and the weirdness between Callie and me is none of your business.”
“None of my business?” I exclaim, fully turning in my seat to face him. “Regardless of my feelings for Callie, I’m stillyourbest friend. If something happened, it’s definitely my business.”
He issues me a quick glare before turning his eyes back to the road. “When did you get so nosy?”
“When I was dead for several months, and my only form of entertainment was watching the living. I’ve literally seen you naked and witnessed too many of your exploits to pretend that we hide stuff from each other. Now, out with it. What the hell happened?” My words pour out at lightning speed, and then I gasp for air because breathing is a thing I have to do again.
Nolan slides his hands along the black leather steering wheel and sighs. “It’s not something you can fix. Callie’s magic accidentally did… something that I didn’t respond well to. We haven’t had a chance to talk since.”
Looking at Nolan’s tired, gaunt features, I’m scared to ask what that something was. Before I can gather the courage to find out how much this might affectmyrelationship with Callie, he changes the subject.
“We’re almost to the park. Do you know what you’re going to say to Bree?” He makes a turn onto Main Street, this one much slower than the one before. We’re a few minutes away from the end of one life path and the beginning of the next—mine.
“Not a clue,” I announce, my legs bouncing so fast I might as well be half hummingbird. “I’ll… wing it, I guess?”
“I’m sure that’ll go well,” Nolan comments with his usual dripping sarcasm. I’d be happy to see any semblance of normalcy if it wasn’t currently pointed at me. He continues evenly, “Be clear and precise on why you’re breaking up. Don’t do your normal nervous, muddled chatter to try and make her feel better. It’ll only confuse her into false hope. This is going to suck. Nothing you say will make it suck less.”
Releasing a big breath, I nod, acknowledging that I heard him.
It feels like we pull into the parking lot for Twin Cedar Park in the blink of an eye. I get out of the car and search for Bree, finding her sitting on top of a concrete picnic table, dressed in a puffy, fuchsia winter coat that’s bright against the gray February afternoon. Her thick brown hair is pulled back by a pale pink head warmer studded with white jeweled snowflakes. I’ve never seen it before, but I know exactly what it is—James’s Christmas gift to her right before the accident. He mentioned it when we ran into him at the mall in early December. Well, he told Nolan, Callie, and Mei since I was a ghost he couldn’t see at the time. All of my earlier courage whooshes out of me at the sight of that head warmer, and I feel like I’m about to vomit up my breakfast all over Nolan’s fancy car.
“I can’t do this,” I panic whisper into the open passenger door. No matter how much I breathe, I can’t seem to get enough air in my lungs.
“You can and will do this,” Nolan states sternly. He leans over his center console to talk to me, which is unfortunate since it puts him into the potential splash zone.
Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up,I chant in my head while the guilt starts eating me up inside. Leaning my forehead on the hand that is braced against the roof of the car, I lament, “She’s innocent in all of this. James loved her, and if he hadn’t been such a fucking idiot, none of this would be happening. She doesn’t deserve to have her heart crushed because James won the morbid lottery of being my next body.”
“She also doesn’t deserve to be strung along,” he counters with a tough love edge. “You don’t have any feelings for her because you’re in love with C-Callie.” He stutters over her name, a wave of frustration furrowing his brow and tightening his lips into a hard line. After taking a fortifying breath, he continues his lecture as if nothing happened. “You’re not a coward, Felix, so don’t act like one now. Give her a chance to find someone who can love her properly.”
Something tells me he’s not just talking about Bree, but I let it go because I have a heart to smash into little pieces.
“You’re really annoying when you’re right,” I grumble, standing up to my full height. “Go back to moping so I can have the moral high ground again.”
Nolan points toward Bree’s sad, hunched form. “Go break up with her and put her out of her misery.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m about to give her a bunch of misery,” I retort and am awarded a particularly vicious glare. “Alright. Alright. I’m going. Doing the right thing sucks.”
