Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 52976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
“A good barber …?”
“Never mind. Look, don’t worry about the stupid bus, okay? It’ll give Byron a reason to pamper you all night if you tell him. Also, you need a new phone.”
I eye the crushed and flattened thing on the table. My heart grows heavy again, as if reliving it all over. The noise. The blast of air across my face. The frozen silence inside my chest. The slow motion sensation.
Picking up pieces of my phone off the street half a block away from where it happened.
Maybe I am still in shock. Maybe West is right.
I eye him. “You should take your hand off of my shoulder before we accidentally unite.”
“Hey, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing.” His other hand finds my other shoulder, and he gently starts to massage. “I’d prochachly chalm your assch down. You’re scho uptighch all the chime.”
“Byron is going to be home any second.”
“Schee? Schtill worrying.”
“Are you—? Is the rest of your pizza dangling from your mouth? Is that how you have both hands free?”
“How elchse am I gonna rub your schouldersch?”
“No one asked you to, and I think you’re spitting pizza sauce on my neck when you talk.”
“I can’t schpit pizzcha schauche. I’m a ghostch.”
I shrug his hands off of me and spin around to face him. “I know you think you’re helping me, but you’re not. The closer my wedding day comes, the more I’m starting to see the truth. I can’t keep secrets from the one I love. Not anymore.” My eyes detach as I stare off into space. “I … I have to tell him everything.”
The pizza still hangs from his mouth as his eyes grow double. “You schucking nuts?”
Just then, there’s activity at the door.
It swings open.
I don’t know who has the thought first. Me. West. Or the stupid slice of pizza dangling from his teeth. But in an instant, we both seem to realize we’re too far away from the closet for West to hide, too far away from the candle in the living room to blow it out, and too much in the line of sight of the front door to do anything else.
West races at me, as if for a hug.
Instead of colliding, he falls inside me like a breath of cold air.
-2-
Forever
I slump back against the table, feeling like I just took a swift kick to the nuts.
Then Byron appears at the front door, looking like a dream in his fitted royal blue dress shirt and tie, fresh from his managerial shift at Spooky Beans Café. His hair shows no sign of distress, still perfectly styled the way it was this morning when he left for his last day of work this week—tight dark curls, buzzed up the sides in a stylish fade with a line cut through it, a picture off the cover of a sexy businessman magazine.
And for a split second, I have no idea whether he just saw anything.
No, he didn’t, insists West—or perhaps it’s me who is totally sure Byron didn’t see anything weird just now.
Damn it, West. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Now you’re stuck inside me until I can sneak off into the bathroom and pretend to take a piss.
Why do you keep acting like I’m something you can just pee out of you? I’m a human being, damn it.
You’re a human pain in my ass.
“Babe?”
I snap out of it and put on a smile. “Hey, Byron!” I realize I’m out of breath. That happens sometimes when Wes and I unite. We’ve obviously learned how to do it without the whole special ritual thing, but it still knocks the wind out of me. “How … How was work?”
He gazes quizzically at me, appearing on the verge of questioning me further. Then he seems to dismiss his worries as he closes the door and comes across the room to greet me, tossing his leather satchel onto the couch. “It was busy. Very busy. You know how it gets around this time of year, especially with all of our new, tasty Halloween specials rolling out.”
“I can’t sip enough of your Pumpkin Princes,” I tell him with a little chuckle—then realize my whole mouth tastes like pizza sauce. Is that you, West? Gross.
“Oh, did I mention the team developed yet another variant of it to put on the mother menu and ship out to the other stores? It’s insane! I’m going viral!”
Speaking of: where did my slice of pizza go, Griff?
Up your ass, hopefully.
“I’m so proud of you, Byron. It’s about time they recognized your greatness.”
“Thanks! By the way, is something up with your phone? Your mom called me, said you guys were in the middle of a chat when you got abruptly cut off, and then she couldn’t call back. Went to voicemail. Did the same thing for me when I tried you myself.”