Page 115 of Forever Yours

Oh, god.

Just breathe.

I rubbed my chest to ease the constriction.

It would be okay. I was going to be okay.

Tipping my face up to the night sky, I chose a star. And I made a wish.

Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight…I recited the old children’s rhyme.

My feet walked me back inside the hotel, and when I got to my room, I pulled out my phone.

A sleepy voice answered on the second ring. “Hey, baby.”

“Julien,” I sobbed and let the tears finally come.

Banging on the hotel door woke me with a start at six in the morning.What the hell?

I fell out of bed, trying to grab my shorts from the chair.

“Ow! Fuck!”

Whoever it was, wasn’t letting up.

Pound. Pound. Pound.

Worst-case scenario immediately popped inside my head. Something happened to Julien. Or Dad. It could be April. Or Brad. Or Mom. Or, god forbid, Marshall.

Every awful permutation scurried through my brain like an army of cockroaches.

So, imagine my surprise when I hastily flung open the door to find Fallon, Jayson, Ryder, and…Ash?

Jayson pushed past me and started throwing stuff in my open suitcase. Ryder handed me a huge paper cup of what smelled like coffee. Ash just shrugged and waved at me.

“What’s going on?”

Fallon grabbed me by the shoulders and muscled me toward the bathroom.

“Get dressed. We need to meet Jules at the plane when it arrives.”

Confused as fuck as to what was happening, I asked, “Why?”

“We’re going to Hawaii.”

CHAPTER 33

Jessi: I kind of hate you right now. Just saw the pics you sent. Your penance for being in Hawaii without me is to listen to me sing the song fromFrozen.

Oh, she was evil. Jessi knew that song made my ears bleed.

She had sent a selfie of her pouting along with a WAV file which I would not be listening to.

I refused to give in to her emotional blackmail and typed out a “Nice try. Love you.”

Jessi wasn’t able to come to Hawaii because she had class. NYU’s fall break wasn’t until next week and only for one day, a Monday, which really wasn’t a break at all. CU did a nontraditional week off, but we had a shorter winter break over the holidays, and spring semester started soon after the new year.

“Hey, sleeping beauty, you don’t want to nap our last day away. Come for a walk with me.”

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