The Endless Road to Sunshine - Nicky James Page 0,131

something. He called to warn me that if you pull that kind of stunt again, this will get ugly. Did you know about this? Did you send him there?”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? Of course I didn’t know.”

I clung to the arm of the couch and heaved myself upright, staggering toward the kitchen. Skylar had gone out of town with Hunter. To the fucking prison? What the hell?

My stomach lurched, and I detoured to the bathroom, picking up the pace. I made it just in time to toss my phone aside, drop to my knees, and empty about a gallon’s worth of alcohol into the toilet.

Sweat prickled my forehead, and tears burned my eyes as I heaved and heaved. When there was nothing left to come out, I collapsed on the bathroom floor, swiping the back of a hand over my mouth as I fumbled with my phone. Levi was talking, cursing me out.

I grunted when I got the phone to my ear and closed my eyes, tipping my head back against the cold tiled wall. “Please stop yelling at me, for fuck’s sake. My head is fucking pounding, and I can’t take it. What’s happening?”

“You’ve been drinking. You’re so fucking hungover you’re barfing your guts out the next morning. Jason, what the hell?”

“So fucking what. Yeah, I’ve been drinking, and it’s a good thing I don’t own a fucking gun, or I’d have probably blown my brains out last night. I’m done. I’m so fucking done.”

“Okay, whoa, wait. Back up. So, you didn’t know Skylar went to the prison?”

“No! I told you. You think I’d have let him do that? Are you insane?”

“Then why the hell are you hungover and ready to blow your brains out? Wait, you said something about the news. What’s happening on the news?” I heard Levi scrambling around. There was a clatter, then a loud voice sounded in the background. A TV. A news program. Levi didn’t speak for a good few minutes, and I didn’t have the energy to explain. It didn’t matter. The truth was right in front of him. I could hear the report.

It didn’t take long before Levi whispered, “Oh fuck.”

“See? I’m done. They know. Everyone knows. I’m going to lose my job. I’m going to have to move again.”

“Jason—”

“No. It’s everywhere.”

“How did this happen?”

I shook my head, my chin quivering as fresh tears stung my eyes. “I don’t know. Levi. Levi, I can’t…”

“I’m on my way.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Like fuck I don’t. Do me a favor. No more alcohol, and get a hold of your punk-ass boyfriend and let him know he’s in deep, deep shit.”

My skin was sweaty and clammy. I felt like I’d been run over by a semi, and I couldn’t control my emotions anymore. Once the first tears fell, the dam broke. Shaking, trembling, blubbering, I was unable to express a single word anymore.

“Jason. Jason, I’m coming, okay? Hang in there for a bit longer.”

I hung up, sat on the bathroom floor, and cried.

It took several tall glasses of water and half a package of soda crackers before I was anywhere close to stable enough to deal with Skylar. The last text he’d sent told me he was on his way home and would be in town by mid to late afternoon.

Vibrating with a combination of anger and a residual hangover, I punched his number into my phone and waited while it rang. If he’d done what Levi had claimed, I expected Skylar would ignore my call and let it go to voicemail.

When the call connected and a tentative voice said “Hey,” I was so surprised I followed up with a long blustering moment of silence as my thoughts spun out of control.

“Jason? I heard what happened? On campus. Are you okay?”

Then reality raced back to the forefront and slammed into me with the force of a thousand-ton wrecking ball. It didn’t help that I was severely hungover and that I’d barely made it out the other side of yesterday’s mess in one piece. I was angry. Angrier than I’d been in a long time.

So, I was proud when my voice came out relatively steady. “Tell me he’s lying. Tell me it isn’t true.” Only, I knew it was true. Levi was the only person in the world I could trust. “Tell me you didn’t go to visit Morgan.”

Silence.

It was all the answer I needed.

I clutched the phone so tight, the plastic case creaked. My jaw ached, and an inferno burned in my