Page 74 of The Beat of My Heart

“You’ve always put others first, Jules. I’m here to tell you, start putting yourself at the front of that line from now on. Life is too short to go on the way you’ve been livin’,” she tells me.

“GG, I’m not unhappy,” I tell her, feeling defensive.

“You may not be unhappy, but you’re not whole either. You think no one is noticin’ you, young lady, ‘cause that’s the way you’ve always wanted it, but nothin’ gets by me, you hear. You’re not unhappy, but your smile’s broken. It has been for a good long while. I want you to promise me you’ll find a way to smile again and smile like you mean it. I know you’ve been touchin’ with that friend of Lanie’s man. Maybe he’ll be a pleasurable distraction for you, huh?” she says with a wink.

Oh my God, she is so out of control.

“Trevor? Nah, I mean, we get along great, through text, GG, it’s called texting,” I explain for the billionth time. “But we just text, that’s all it is. We’ve never even spoken on the phone. I’ve got Charlie to think about, and he has his own shit. There’s nothing else there. It will be nice to have another friend once I get down there, though.”

Then why haven’t you told him you were moving?

“Mhm, mark my words, young lady. This move will change everything, just you wait and see.”

“Ah, GG, what the hell am I going to do without you?” I ask.

“Buy your own damn condoms, that’s what you’re gonna do,” she says just before she cackles in her own special way.

Chapter 27

-On Top of the World, Imagine Dragons

Trevor

BANG*BANG*BANG*

Looking at the clock, I see it’s 5:45 am. Who the fuck is breaking down my door at this hour?

“Hold on, I’m coming,” I yell.

“Trevor, open up,” Loki yells back.

Fuck. I may have just been asleep, but I am wide awake now. There’s only one reason Loki would be here waking the neighbors like a goddamn lunatic. Unlocking the deadbolt, Loki bursts inside.

“Listen, man. It’s happening. It will not be as fast as you want, but when I go dark this time, I won’t be back until it's over. It could take a few months, so I need you to hang tight, but, well… shit.”

Loki looks as unsure as I’ve ever seen him. That can’t be good. He is a completely different man than the one that told us he was going dark a few months ago. This Loki looks haunted. He’s twitchy and agitated, but last time, he strolled out of here like he owned the world.

“Listen, Julia…” he starts.

Well, that’s not where I thought this conversation would go. Letting out an enormous sigh of relief, I turn to make coffee.

“Trevor,” he barks.

“What, Loki? What is so important about Julia?” I snap back. I shouldn’t. This guy, this friend is putting his ass on the line for me every single day, but fuck, it’s 5 in the freaking morning.

“She’s here. She’s moving here,” he tells me. I wait a moment for a bomb to drop, but he says nothing.

“O-kay,” I say, “Loki, are you drunk?”

“No. Listen, Julia and her son are moving into Dexter’s guesthouse,” he tells me.

That gets my attention. “Julia has a son?” I ask.

I guess that makes sense. It’s probably why the one time I wanted to call her, she shut me down. I’ve been so busy this month we haven’t been able to text as much as we normally do, but I wonder why she didn’t tell me? I’m trying to think of our text conversations when Loki speaks again.

“There’s more,” he says.

Knowing he is waiting for my undivided attention, I pull a stool out and take a seat at the table.