AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” I snap. “That’s exactly what I was doing. And I washappy—”
“Do you haveany cluehow fucking charmed a life you’ve lived?!” June blurts, shaking her head at me with this look of incredulousness that cuts into me.
“Dude, you won the game! Cry me a fucking river about fame being too hard, or the fans being too much, or that touring is tiresome? I mean are you for real?!”
My eyes narrow.
“You done?”
“No,” she snaps. “Because even without the Becca thing, or without my friend disappearing into Judy-world, Iknowshe didn’t write that piece. Because Melody would have never in a million years have added the part about her dad’s letters in a published piece. That’swaytoo personal to her. She doesn’t tellanyoneabout those.”
“Well, hate to burst your bestie bubble,” I shrug. “But she told me.”
“Yeah, and that’s what scares me.”
I frown. June swallows.
“It scares me, because I know her. And I know how she was before she went to your stupid island, and I know how she was when she got back.”
She looks away, shaking her head.
“You changed her, you know. Like it or not, you did something to pull her out of a place in her head she’s been in for as long as I’ve known her.”
She glances back at me, her sharp eyes slicing into me.
“And I get the feeling, she did the same for you.”
I flinch as my brain glitches. Flashes of heat, and desire, and lyrics and music, and that feeling I once told myself I’d never have like Alice and Iggy burn into me like hot ashes. My jaw grits as the memories of Melody and I back on my island come swirling through my head.
“Why did you say you were worried about her?”
June’s lips purse.
“Because she’s one of my best friends, and I’ve barely seen her inmonths. And when I have, she looks and acts like a ghost. Besides that, she’s living with her mom.”
“And?”
June’s eyes narrow.
“She’d willingly live with Judy like you’d willingly stop playing music.”
I look away, my pulse thudding heavily in my veins.
“Melody isnotokay, Jackson,” she says quietly, her eyes wide with fear. “And I’m pretty sure you might be the only one that can help her.”
My eyes close as my lungs fill slowly.
“That’s none of my concern, anymore.”
“Are you seriously—!”
“Melody made it pretty clear how she felt about me being anywhere near her life.”
My jaw tightens painfully as I turn away.
“That’s it!?”
“Yeah,” I grunt, walking over to my bike. “That’s it. I hate to break it to you, but real life isn’t a cliched fucking song lyric.”
