Page 14 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

“Hey, are you okay?” Dustin asked, straightening back up and searching my eyes.

Ripping my eyes away from Nate, I swallowed past the thick lump in my throat, the previous desire gone. Now I was cold. “I need to go.”

Dustin seemed confused for a moment, a frown marring his forehead before he looked over his shoulder. Nate was gone, the doorway empty of his looming presence. Dustin stepped back, rubbing his neck, and I tried not to make things awkward as I jumped down off the desk and righted my skirt. Dustin looked stricken. Tangible regret oozed from him.

“I fucked up,” he whispered, staring at an empty spot behind me. He wet his lips nervously, then blew out a breath. I felt sorry for him, but I also didn’t have the energy to worry about this. Not after I’d had another vision.

“Skyler,” Dustin called after me when I dashed out of the room, but I didn’t turn around, in need of space away from him. Away from everyone. I needed to be alone.

CHAPTER

FIVE

SKYLER

Evelyn had talked non-stop since she picked me up this morning, with her endless energy. She loved gossip, especially when it involved me, and as predicted, I was at the top of the rumor mill this morning.

Shutting the car door, I hiked my bag higher onto my shoulder as Evelyn rounded the vehicle with a wide smile on her face.

“You know I need details. So, you kissed him? Anything else?”

I didn’t know what story Dustin had spun, but it was favorable by the sounds of it. He wouldn’t want to make it seem like I’d turned him down. I didn’t. Not technically. I ran because I was spooked by what I’d seen. But even so, it was for the best. At least we never took things too far. Dustin was my friend, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that.

I set off walking with Evelyn close on my heels. Her curious gaze burned the side of my cheek as we ascended the steps. We were running late this morning and the others were already inside, waiting for us by the lockers.

Evelyn walked ahead, holding open the door for me. “Well?”

“I told you,” I replied, sidling past her, “I left before we could take it too far. It was just a kiss.”

“I don’t get it,” she replied, letting go of the door and following me down the hallway. “He’s good-looking. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I don’t feel that way about him.”

We turned the corner and our steps slowed as we noticed the silence. Something was up. Evelyn and I exchanged concerned looks. The tangible air of excitement quickened my heartbeat while I hurried after Evelyn. We turned the next corner and came to an abrupt halt, each drawing in a sharp breath.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nate leaned against the lockers, my locker, talking and laughing with the others. Max clasped his shoulder and jostled him, a wide smile spanning his face.

“It’s not possible,” Evelyn whispered beside me with a quiver in her small voice. Then quieter, “He died.”

I blinked, but he was still there, his steel-gray eyes slowly lifting and locking on mine. My heart jumped to my throat and my fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, telling me to run for my fucking life. Before I could act on it, the others spotted us too, and gestured for us to join them. I stood rooted.

Evelyn steeled her spine, then set off walking, her ponytail swaying behind her. I still couldn’t move. My feet felt like lead, glued to the floor. It was a vision. It had to be. Nate was not here in the flesh, taunting me with his knowing smirk. He died. We carried his corpse down the wet, dark road.

Max hollered, “Skyler, look who’s back.”

It was real.

I wasn’t imagining this.

My feet moved and I inhaled a shaky, shallow breath on my way over to them. Max released Nate, then rounded me and clamped his hands down on my shoulders, his mouth grazing the shell of my ear. “The one and only star quarterback has returned from the grave.”

Nate’s intense gaze held mine, burning with a flicker of twisted amusement that chilled my bones. I held my breath, uncertain and a little afraid of what I saw in those gray depths. My nightmare had come to haunt me. I should be happy, ecstatic even, to see him alive. I wasn’t responsible for his death, after all. But where had he been this last year? And why was he so intent on unnerving me with that sinful smirk that sent shivers crawling over my skin and a spark of pleasure shooting down to my core?

Maybe I associated fear with arousal? Maybe there was something wrong with me?

“Where have you been?” Alice asked, stepping up next to him and pulling him in for a hug. His eyes remained on me the entire time, which unsettled me enough to make me look away as my cheeks flamed.

“A specialist hospital abroad,” he vaguely replied when Alice stepped out from his arms, her beady eyes following his line of sight until they landed on me. She and Nate had been on and off before the accident, so she, if anyone, knew where he was this entire time. But the look she shot me told me everything I needed to know; Nate’s rich father had kept his son’s survival a secret from everyone.

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