Page 56 of Indigo Sky

I stayed on the phone with her for twenty whole minutes, and we talked about the most trivial shit, but somehow, it didn't feel trivial at all. Like movies we both thought were overrated and bands we were both into and couldn't believe the other liked. I mean, do you know how difficult it is to find someone else who thinksThe Shiningis lame as hell and also thinks Sister Hazel is one of the most underrated bands of the ‘90s? Honestly unheard of … but I found that in her, and I thought … I thought that was when I reallyknew, you know? Like, I had already known I liked her. I had already known I wanted to get to know her better … and I’d sure as fuck known there was a physical attraction there.

But, nah, that conversation …

That need I felt to make sure she wassafe…

It went beyond friendliness between coworkers or a crush I had on a pretty woman.

It was the first time in my life when I knew I had something I'd fight for.

Hell, maybe even to the death, if it came down to it.

And I had no idea then why I felt like that, but … man, I did, and that feeling only grew and grew and grew until I had an entire army raging beneath my skin.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

After I made sure Kate got home safely—even if my paranoia had made me look like a complete psychopath—I called Nate’s number for the first time in … well, years probably.

He answered immediately despite it being nearly three in the morning.

“Hey,” he said, his voice sounding exactly the way it always had when he was just waking up. “Rev, what’s—Jesus Christ, do you know what time it is?”

“Have you been home all night?” I hissed into the phone as I climbed the dark stairwell to my bedroom.

Mom and Dad were both sleeping. The last thing I wanted was to wake them up with my ridiculous worrying over what was likely nothing.

“Uh, yes?” he questioned. “Where else am I supposed to be?”

There were about a thousand explanations as to why there could’ve been a guy standing at that corner tonight. Maybe he had been waiting for someone to pick him up. Maybe he was in the middle of a drug deal. Maybe he was just hanging out. Maybe he’d gone for a late-night walk, ended up on that corner for a few minutes, and turned around to head back home. Logic told me this. Logic wasn’t stupid. But none of it sat right with me.

“Sorry,” I muttered as I walked quietly to my room and shut the door behind me. “Just wondering.”

“Everything okay?”

I sighed deeply and kicked my shoes off. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just fuckin’ tired.”

He didn’t respond immediately. He took a moment before saying, “You sure you’re good?”

My heart lurched with a strange tug at the genuine concern in his voice. Was it completely insane that I missed him? I knew the crazy shit the guy had done, I knew he’d cost me my job, I knew he was probably up to all that very same crap he’d always gotten up to—shit that would likely get me in trouble again too. But it didn’t erase the years we’d been friends, the years we’d spent asbrothers, the stuff we had been through together. At one point, he’d been all I had. I couldn’t forget that, even when things were different now.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Sorry,” I said again, undoing my belt. “I’ll let you go.”

“All right.” He hesitated for a second, then said, “If you weren’t okay—"

“Nate, I’m fine. Seriously. I’m just tired as fuck, and I need to sleep,” I interrupted, untucking my shirt and undoing the buttons.

“Yeah, okay. Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“You too.”

I jabbed at the phone angrily and threw it on the bed before getting undressed. I knew I was being an idiot. I knew I needed to calm the fuck down. And that was exactly what I planned to do … just after I got some sleep.

***

When I woke up, I started thinking a little more clearly, and by the time I finished showering, I felt like a complete jackass for freaking out the way I had.

Honestly, the more I thought about it throughout the day, the more unconvinced I was that I'd even seen anyone across the street from Midnight Lotus. It was embarrassing, and I considered texting Kate to apologize for being such a moron, but every time I started to type out a message on my phone, humiliation got the best of me, and I'd delete everything I'd written.

That night, I went to the club with my stomach in knots, afraid Kate might mention the phantom across the street or how ridiculous I had been, making her talk to me until she was inside her house with the door locked. But she was off, and as much as I wanted to see her, I was also a little relieved.

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