Change of Heart Read Online Free Page B

together, the least I can do is refrain from lecturing him. It is too late for it to do any good anyway. Isn’t it?
    I sigh in acceptance, and he takes it as an invitation, rolling towards me and cupping my face. I look into his deep green eyes, and for a moment, I swear he looks sad. But he can’t possibly be. He doesn’t know what’s really been plaguing me these past couple months.
    He closes his eyes and presses his lips against mine. I pull him closer and he moves himself above me. My mouth opens on a soft moan and he takes advantage, pushing his way inside. Our tongues clash and our bodies grind against each other as we rid one another of our clothes, coming together completely one last time.
    It’s a night I will never forget. I’m so grateful that the bedroom light is out, and the moon is low so he can’t see the tears I can’t hold back in the dark.
    “Decker?” I take some comfort in the heat radiating from his naked body pressed up against my back. It makes me feel bold. Bold enough to speak my heart? My mind? 
    “Hmm?”
    “Things are going to change.” I close my eyes tight, badly wanting to tell him everything. How much I love him…really, really love him. And that I’m going to Stanford. I want him to assure me that everything will be okay…that we’ll be okay. That he loves me, too, and we’ll make it work despite the distance. I need his strength.
    “Nah.” He yawns loudly, the liquor on his breath wafting over my shoulder as he exhales and pulls me tighter against him. “We might not see each other as much…but we’ll always be best friends.”
    The small glimmer of hope I had burns out in the night.
    “Best friends…right.” A final tear falls from my eye, runs down my cheek and drops to the pillow with an audible plop.
    “Forever…” he murmurs.
    By morning, Decker is gone.
    A few hours later, so am I.

Chapter Five
     
    Decker
     
     
     
     
     
     
    One Week Later
     
    It’s been one week since I’d last seen Casey. Her car hasn’t been in the driveway, and she’s not answering any of my calls or texts. Her bedroom window is even locked—it’s never locked. I know I was drunk the last time we’d seen each other, but I don’t think I’d said or done anything stupid. And she wouldn’t be ignoring me if I did, she wouldn’t shut me out. Casey would’ve given me hell for it. That’s just the type of girl she is. She always calls me out on my shit.
    I’d been too busy to catch up with her during the week because of training, but I’m not letting this go on any longer.
    “Hey, Mrs. Evans,” I say as I approach Casey’s mom. She’s unloading groceries from the trunk of her car. “Let me help you with those.” I grab a few bags.
    “Thanks, hon.” She pushes the trunk lid down with her elbow and starts walking to the house. “How are you doing?”
    “I’m doing well. Is Casey home? I haven’t seen her car, and she’s not answering my messages. I probably did something to make her mad again.” I give her my best ‘get out of trouble’ smile, but it quickly turns into a frown when I see the expression on her face. She looks upset. “What is it? Is it Casey? Is something wrong?”
    “I’m sorry, Decker. I thought Casey would have told you.” She unlocks the front door and ushers me inside.
    “Told me what?” Now I’m panicking. Where the hell is Casey? “Where is she?”
    “She’s gone, sweetie. She left a week ago. Last Saturday morning.”
    Last Saturday morning…the morning after the night I’d last seen her…she hadn’t told me she was going anywhere. Come to think of it, she hadn’t said much that night at all.
    “Where did she go?”
    “California,” Mrs. Evans says, eying me as if I should already know the answer to my question. And dammit, I should know. She should have told me. What the hell is Casey doing in California? Vacation?
    “Why?” I ask, feeling like an even bigger idiot.
    Mrs. Evans looks at me curiously. “Didn’t