Read Online After All by Jolene Betty Perry - Free Book Online Page B

hospital, I just didn't like to think about that part of it. My heart hammered as I sprinted up the steps like I was being watched. Stalked. Followed. And what other explanation was there? We told no one we were moving aside from the people we had to. They shouldn’t know where I was.
    “Amy? Amy !” I called as I sat on the couch, shaking everywhere. This was stupid. They were just people. Just people. Just people . And just a call. But the fear wasn’t simply from the way they’d threatened me, it was also the terror that Josh felt for years.
    “What’s going on?” She dashed up the stairs as breathless as I felt, blue eyes wide.
    “His parents got my number.” I was still staring at the screen on my phone, my teeth chattering, and my insides shaking apart. “Josh’s parents. I don’t…” All I could see was his dad’s angry face. The feeling of my skull hitting the stucco. Knowing I was going to die as everything went black.
    “How did they find you?” She sat next to me on the couch and pried my phone from my grip.
    My chest locked up so tight that breathing became tricky. “I don’t know.”
    Amy wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “Carry your pepper spray, okay? They might not know where we are, but I don’t trust either of them, especially Josh’s dad.”
    “Yeah. Okay.” Filling out the forms with the court for the restraining order had almost been more terrifying than him screaming obscenities at me on my porch and slamming me into the side of the condo. I was alive. He could have killed me. But it was the paperwork that made it real. Giving my statement to the police after waking up in the hospital. It made me face the threat and the fear I felt when I left my house that we’d run into them. How did Josh survive as long as he had? How had I not done more to help him get out of there?
    Amy rested her head on my shoulder. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you found a place for Josh’s ashes, there would be nothing to argue over anymore.”
    “I know,” I whispered. I just couldn’t… I just hadn’t found the right spot yet. But one thing was for sure. If they had my number, it was only a matter of time before they stopped by the house. I needed to find Josh a new home, even if it wasn’t permanent.
    * * *
    “You know, the organization here doesn’t completely make sense.” I bit my lip as I flipped through Brandt’s vinyl.
    “Is that so?” He stopped behind me. Close enough so send goose bumps across my skin. One mark for him being maybe interested.
    “Well, like John Mayer—you’ve got an alternative section he could go in, but he has some albums that could be more blues, and end up with Jonny Lang…”
    “A girl who knows her music.”
    I stood up and turned to face him, but he was so close my eyes were even with his chest. His very, very nice chest. “Yeah,” I breathed.
    “So, what about the soundtracks?” He pointed, forcing my attention down a very toned arm and back to his shelves of vinyl.
    “They can be separate, but really? The rest is just music, and all the best stuff is music that can fit in more than one category.” I nearly stepped back to lean into his chest, almost like this was our millionth dinner together, instead of the second.
    “Yeah, well. I haven’t found time for a haircut in too long, the chances of me taking a day to reorganize my vinyl, even for a good cause, probably isn’t going to happen.”
    I turned and thought again about what it would be like to touch his very touchable hair. Nope. I spun back around to see a section of very few albums. “Country? Why is it off by itself on the top?”
    Brandt grinned. “Don’t want it to contaminate the rest of them.”
    “So why are they here?” I teased, once again feeling a little more like I could pull in a deep breath. Maybe because I was staring at his collection instead of him.
    “Ree went through a phase. She’ll deny it, of course. It was the only time she liked