Page 29 of Free

I grip the steering wheel tighter, her words landing like blows to my chest.

“I thought I did something wrong,” she continues, her voice cracking slightly. “I’ve been here for three weeks and this is the first time you’ve said anything to me and here you are coming tomy rescue and joking around like everything’s fine and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with all that. What are we, Nick? Are we friends? Are you mad at me?”

“Mad at you?” My voice comes out sharper than I intended. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know! But you’re hot and cold all the time, and I’m just… tired of trying to figure it out.”

My jaw tightens as I search for the right words, pulling into the parking lot of Scoops with a frown. This conversation is too big to have in a parked truck, with my family waiting to celebrate Nell’s game. It’s too big for today, or any day, really.

“I’m not mad at you,” I say finally.

“Then what’s with the distance?”

The air between us feels heavy, suffocating. I don’t know how to explain the mess in my head without making everything worse.

“I miss you,” Charlie says, her voice soft now, almost a whisper. “I just want to know how to act around you. Can we at least be friends?”

The wordfriendspunches through me like shrapnel. It’s too small to hold what I feel for her.

But it’s all I have to offer.

“Friends it is,” I say, my voice rough.

I force a smile and hold out a hand to shake on it. She stares at it for a moment, her expression unreadable, before reaching out to take it.

BANG!

The sound is deafening.

Adrenaline slams through me, my muscles coiled and ready to act. Someone screams. Charlie’s hand jerks out of mine as her eyes widen in panic.

My heart races. My vision tunnels. I scan the parking lot, my body moving on instinct.

What the fuck was that?

The only thought that cuts through the noise in my head is her.

I need to get Charlie to safety. NOW.

FIFTEEN

Charlie

Nick extends a hand to shake on our newfound—renewed?—friendship when a loud bang splits the air. My whole body jolts, heart racing.

Outside the truck, Mina screams, clutching a hand to her chest as Jeremiah starts wailing in Ivy’s arms. Nell freezes mid-step, wide-eyed and motionless, and Micah immediately crouches to comfort her. An older man in the car beside us rolls down his window, his face apologetic and wrinkled like a well-worn map.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Every time I think I’ve got this heap in workin’ order, she starts backfirin’ sumtin awful.” He tips his hat, oblivious to the ripple effect his car has caused.

The air in the truck feels tight, like a bubble that’s about to burst. I turn to Nick, my pulse slowing now that the shock has passed, expecting to see a wry grin or hear a sarcastic quip.

But Nick isn’t laughing.

His face is ghostly pale, his lips parted, trembling slightly as he murmurs something too quiet for me to hear. His chest risesand falls in sharp, uneven bursts. His hands grip the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles are white, his body rigid.

“Nick?” I say softly, alarm threading through my voice.

He doesn’t respond. His eyes are fixed somewhere in the distance, but they aren’t seeing the parking lot.

---