Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Books by Erin Jade Lange
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
I laughed, but deep down, I recognized Reg’s response for what it was—a half-truth. I’d seen him with Poe, and it wasn’t just a fling. I had an uncomfortable feeling that Reg was telling me what I wanted to hear, instead of the truth. Didn’t he know that after a century, I could see right through his casual disguise? Nonchalance was one of my brother’s hallmarks. Keeping secrets was not.
I decided to ask him, point-blank, if he still wanted our immortal lives back, but just as I opened my mouth to speak, I felt a hand on the small of my back.
Dex.
I turned toward him, careful to keep in contact with his hand. Our date was still a few days away, but the confident, familiar way he touched made it feel like we were already a couple. If Reg had even a fraction of the same chemistry with Poe, I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to stay. A part of me wondered if I should cut things off with Dex now, before I found myself in the same tricky situation. But it was drowned out by the other part of me, that was focused on how Dex’s one hand could make my whole body tingle.
“Hi,” I said, voice so low it was almost a whisper.
Dex’s smile was just for me. “Hi.”
Reg leaned into our private space, arms wrapped around us both and face just inches from ours, his own grin stretched from ear to ear. “Hi.”
I will murder you, my eyes said.
It will be worth it, his wagging eyebrows replied.
Out loud, he said, “Sample. Don’t indulge.”
“Oh my God, get out of here, right now. I hate you.”
“What was that about?” Dex asked when Reg was gone.
“Sibling stuff.” I remembered Dex was an only child. “Be glad you don’t have a brother.”
Dex leaned against the lockers. “He’s more than your brother though. He’s your best friend.”
It was so simple the way Dex said it, and yet, it hit me like a truck. I had never thought of it that way. Reg was my family, someone you are stuck with by definition, but a best friend . . . that’s someone you choose. And when it came down to it, that’s all I really wanted from Reg—not for him to choose immortality but to choose me.
I nearly fell back down the well of worry over our appeal, but Dexter’s hand touched mine just in time, bringing me back to the Hope High hallway. This farm boy was proving to be an excellent distraction.