Scattered Colors (31 page)

“You…what? You
transferred
?” I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. “No. No. You know what, Parker? I’m not doing this. Not now…not with you. My life is good,” I repeated, swallowing down the golf ball-sized lump that had formed in my throat. “I’m finally in a good place. I won’t let you take that from me!”

I felt Piper’s hand grab hold of my elbow, pulling me to her. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get out of here.”

“Freya, wait!” Parker tried as Piper led me past him, but I didn’t stop. I needed to get out of that club. I couldn’t be there for another second.

Piper let go of my arm and spun around, blocking Parker’s path to me. “Leave her the hell alone, asshole! You’ve done enough damage.” She took hold of me once again and led me out of the dark, packed club. Once we stepped outside, I sucked in some much needed air.

My world had just turned upside-down and I couldn’t process what had just happened. As Piper and I climbed into the back of a cab, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to just curl up in bed and fall asleep. I kept telling myself I’d wake up in the morning and discover it had all just been a bad dream, that Parker wasn’t really in Florida, threatening the serenity of the peaceful little life I’d created for myself.

I repeated the lie over and over, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convince myself that it was the truth.

“What the fuck, dude? Are you kidding me?” Caleb yelled, stepping into my space so we were almost nose to nose.

Raising my hands in a placating gesture, I took a step back. I could appreciate Caleb’s concern, but he didn’t understand. “Look, man, I had no clue she even lived in the same complex until today. Hell, I didn’t even know you guys were friends. I swear.”

In the short time I’d known him, Caleb seemed like a pretty laid-back guy, so the fact that he looked about five seconds from breaking my face really spoke to how much he cared about Freya. “Listen,” I cajoled. “I’m not here to make any trouble, honestly. Yes, I came to Florida for Freya but, hand to God, I didn’t know you two were neighbors. I’m not here to hurt her, man. You have to believe that.”

He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly “This is seriously fucked-up. You realize that, right?”

“I do, and I’m sorry you got stuck in the middle of this. I’ll try my damnedest not to suck you in any more than you already are, but I can’t leave her again, Caleb.”

He stared at me for several second, like he was weighing just how serious I was before finally shaking his head. “I swear to God, you screw with that girl and I’ll kill you myself.”

“I’m not going to, I swear.”

“Christ,” he groaned out. “Piper’s gonna kill me.”

As I lay in bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling wondering if Freya was right above me at that very moment, I couldn’t help but think about the drastic twists and turns my life had made in the past six months. After talking with Mom, I’d let myself be convinced that my relationship with Freya was salvageable, that if I worked hard enough and laid it all on the line she’d come back to me.

Mom had made it sound so simple. I left Sommerspoint for Florida feeling alive for the first time in two years, the hope of getting my heart back still fresh in my mind. But the devastation I’d seen on Freya’s face sliced through me like a knife. It was going to take so much more than an apology just to get her to speak to me. I wasn’t sure if forgiveness was something I’d ever get from her.

But like my mom had said, I wasn’t going to give up. No matter what…I wasn’t giving up.

You knew a headache was going to be bad when your eyeballs throbbed before you even opened your eyes. It felt like someone had spent the night tap dancing on my skull, but that wasn’t even as bad as the roiling nausea. Unfortunately, neither the headache nor the nausea was enough to drown out what had happened the night before. I still managed to recall—in great clarity—the disastrous run-in with Parker and the emotion upheaval it had caused. I could honestly say I’d never had a hangover so bad in my life. Even the soft knock at my door was enough to make me cringe, sending sharp spikes through my brain.

“Ugh, go away,” I groaned as I rolled over and shoved my head under my pillow.

The sound of the door opening told me Piper wasn’t to be deterred—not that I actually expected her to.

“Sorry, cupcake. No can do. Up and at ‘em. I got your hangover cure-all.”

I tired shuffling further under the covers, but it was pointless. In one fell swoop, Piper yanked the covers off the bed, the air-conditioning in my room causing goose bumps to break out on my skin.

“You suck,” I grumbled from under my pillow seconds before it disappeared, as well.

“Wakey, wakey. Hands off snakey,” she chirped happily, obviously enjoying my misery.

Sitting up, I pushed my tangled hair from my eyes and glared. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how that saying goes.”

“My version’s better. Now eat this.”

She thrust a plate under my nose and I immediately recoiled as the smell of food hit my stomach. “Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick. What is that?”

“Sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, extra greasy. Trust me, you need the grease. It’ll help.”

Despite my protesting stomach, I picked up the sandwich and took a bite, taking extra care to chew slowly so I didn’t puke. After a few bites, I grabbed the glass of orange juice on the bedside table and drank half of it down before looking up to find Piper watching me silently.

“So…we going to talk about last night, or just act like it never happened?” she finally asked once I’d finished my breakfast and popped the headache meds my loving roomy had brought to me.

“I’m voting on the latter,” I responded dryly, knowing all too well she wasn’t going to let me bury my head in the sand.

Piper plopped down on my bed, resting on her elbows with her feet swinging back and forth in the air. “Well, you see, the problem with that plan is that the person in question is currently right under your feet. And from the looks of him last night, I don’t think he’s planning on going anywhere.”

My head began to pound again as my stomach did somersaults, only that time I wasn’t able to blame it on the hangover. It was all due to the boy downstairs—no, after seeing him the previous night, I could no longer call him a boy. Parker Owens was all grown up and despite my best efforts to think otherwise, he’d turned into one fine man.

“Gah! Why did he have to come here? Things were going great! My life was great, and now he’s just going to screw it all up again!”

“Ah, sweetie.” Scooting over, Piper wrapped her tiny arms around me and squeezed. “He can only ruin what you allow him to ruin. You know that, babe. People only have as much power over us as we give them. I know you’re probably questioning it right now, but you’re tough, Freya. You are
so
tough. He can’t break you this time if you don’t let him.”

I sniffed and blinked against the tears that wanted to fall. I wouldn’t let them. “You make it sound so easy.”

“That’s because you’re a badass bitch. It’ll hurt, but I don’t have a single doubt that you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

Finally, I smiled and hugged her back. “I kind of love you. You know that?”

“I kind of love you, too, even if your breath smells like a homeless man’s farts right now.”

“Gross!” I shouted as we both burst into a fit of laughter.

After a few seconds, Piper pulled back and looked at me seriously. “I’ve got your back no matter what, babe.”

Even with all the bad I’d experienced in my life, there was one thing that held true: I had the best friends in the world.

“Hey, baby girl,” Dad said into the phone as soon as he picked up. Just the sound of his voice made me smile.

“Hey, Dad.”

“So, what’s going on that I’m getting text messages from your roommate saying things like ‘mayday, mayday’, ‘the shit done hit the fan’ and, my personal favorite, ‘Armageddon has begun’? I’d be worried if I didn’t already know Piper had a flair for the dramatics.”

Even though I felt like I’d been stuck on an emotional tilt-a-whirl for the last twenty-four hours, I still couldn’t help but laugh.

“Tell me what’s going on, sweetheart,” he said in a gentle voice that still held a note of firmness.