Can you hear it, p.1
Can You Hear It, page 1
CAN YOU HEAR IT
CASEY DIAM
NLM ROMANCE PUBLISHING
Copyright © 2019 by Casey Diam
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact diamcasey@gmail.com. Thank you for supporting writers and respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Print ISBN: 978-1-7321105-9-5
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Cover Design: Okay Creations.
Copyeditor: AW Editing
Proofreader: Allusion Graphics, LLC
Proofreader: The Passionate Proofreader
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www.caseydiam.com
CONTENTS
1. Averie
2. Averie
3. Averie
4. Ashton
5. Averie
6. Ashton
7. Averie
8. Averie
9. Averie
10. Ashton
11. Averie
12. Ashton
13. Averie
14. Ashton
15. Averie
16. Ashton
17. Averie
18. Ashton
19. Ashton
20. Averie
21. Averie
22. Ashton
23. Averie
24. Ashton
25. Averie
26. Averie
27. Averie
28. Ashton
29. Averie
30. Ashton
31. Averie
32. Averie
33. Averie
34. Ashton
35. Averie
36. Averie
37. Averie
38. Ashton
39. Averie
40. Averie
41. Ashton
42. Ryker
43. Ashton
44. Averie
45. Ashton
46. Averie
47. Averie
48. Ashton
49. Averie
50. Ashton
Epilogue
Alpen Springs News
Also by Casey Diam
About the Author
Sneak Peek
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 1
AVERIE
I peered into his caramel-colored eyes, my hands running up his jaw. “You’re going to do great today.”
A chill breeze passed around James and me, and I shivered. He tugged me closer, a charming smile pulling at his lips.
He caught my long hair in his hands, carrying it over my shoulders to curtain my face as he leaned against his car. “I love you.”
“Lawrence!” someone called, and his gaze shifted to the sound while I kept my eyes on him. He looked uncertain, exhausted almost.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He kissed my forehead.
“Lawrence, come on! We got a game to win, dude.” Ben winked at me from across the high school’s parking lot, a lopsided grin on his face and his duffel bag slung over one shoulder. “You can snuggle with your sweetie later. Hey, Averie.”
Smiling, I lifted a hand and waved before giving James Lawrence, my number nineteen, one last hug.
He squeezed me. “See you in a bit. You’ll be getting a winning kiss tonight. I can feel it.” He grinned, and I chewed on the smile that stretched across my lips as I watched him go before turning around.
My best friends, Nicky and Sydney, would be here soon, but as I scanned the nearby vehicles and the people walking through the gates to the football field, I realized that they were nowhere in sight. Instead of waiting, I headed to the gates and showed my student ID to the teacher responsible for the ticketing tonight.
A few people were already were scattered across the metal seats on the bleachers, most of them being parents. Once I got there, I climbed up to sit on the far-left side and pulled James’s hoodie over my head.
The crowd would multiply soon and everyone would be shoulder to shoulder. Because in Alpen Springs, Colorado, a small mountain city with a population of about sixteen thousand, this was one of the main sources of entertainment.
What felt like minutes later, James ran out onto the field. Moments later, I began to tense.
Our football team wasn’t the best, but we weren’t the worst either. And as time flew by, the former was clear, because now, at almost an hour into this game, things weren’t looking too good for us.
I shifted on the bench, my feet tapping restlessly as I waited with bated breath for the second half of the game to kick off.
James was so competitive and hated losing, so I really wanted our team to win tonight.
We were still down by fourteen points at the end of the third quarter when it became so noisy I could barely hear what Sydney was saying to me.
“I . . . didn’t think . . . catch up . . . win!”
The gist of it was clear enough—we had a chance. We’d caught up, and everyone on the bleachers was just as anxious as the players. Night had fallen upon us so fast that everything outside of the field was dark, non-existent. Kind of like everything was beyond the finite views that surrounded us due to the mountain peaks and hills in every direction.
I loved it here.
Alpen Springs was fresh air and freedom.
I inhaled and caught a whiff of marijuana.
Damn it.
Regretting the disturbance of said fresh air, I covered my nose with the sleeves of my hoodie. The no-smoking rule became muddied at night, because with a crowd like this, it would be impossible to find the culprit.
As everyone grew quiet, I glanced at the scoreboard.
With one minute and forty seconds remaining in the game, we were only down by one point.
Come on.
I bit my lip as the line of scrimmage formed at the thirty-five-yard line in the Hollis territory, Alpen Springs North on the offense.
Our quarterback got the ball and shuffled to the side before hurling the football to James. He caught it and took off running as a chant broke out behind me, around me. “Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence!”
My eyes followed James as he ran, did a three-sixty-degree turn, escaping two of the defenses from the other team who stumbled trying to tackle him. Then he was a lone figure running down the field and straight into the end zone for a sixty-five-yard touchdown.
Jumping out of my seat, I screamed, “Yes! Oh my God!” Barely able to hear myself as the crowd went wild.
That was exactly how long the excitement lasted, because in the next second . . . my life would change forever.
Chapter 2
AVERIE
ELEVEN MONTHS LATER . . .
Tomorrow would be my first day at my new school.
A fresh start.
A relief, if it didn’t also kill me inside, but Mom thought it was best. I’d been at our new home for a week and I couldn’t seem to feel settled. I was still lost, still broken, still dead inside.
“Averie, are you done yet?” Mom called from inside the doorway.
“Almost,” I responded without glancing up from where I was washing her car.
Silence met me a second before the front door closed, and that was when my gaze lifted to the two-story house, one of the few in the cul-de-sac neighborhood we’d moved into. It was Steven’s place, my mom’s boyfriend. I still didn’t know the man, and I didn’t care to. I didn’t want a father figure in my life who wasn’t my dad, it was too late for that.
Dropping the wet sponge into the bucket at my feet, I grabbed the hose that was lying on the grass and aimed it at Mom’s white Nissan. Pushing the knob with my thumb, I watched as the suds began to disappear.
Once that side was done, I turned with the water still spraying, only to soak the guy who was jogging by on the sidewalk.
“Crap,” I muttered, lifting my finger from the knob.
My eyes widened as he turned to face me, tugging the black T-shirt away from his chest. The sun had just lowered behind the mountain peaks, but it was still bright out, at least enough for me to see his gray-blue eyes.
His head cocked to the side and he blinked as some sort of recognition formed in his eyes.
With his height and build, I couldn’t imagine him being younger than nineteen or twenty, but as I stared at the mop of dark-brown hair curled onto his forehead, and his square jawline, sharp, yet somehow soft, it was possible that he was eighteen like me. Or maybe I just wanted him to be. Either way, his face did seem somewhat familiar, and he was extremely attractive. So much so that I’d just been ogling him instead of apologizing.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Are you really?” he responded, his voice deep, mysterious, and almost teasing.
I nodded. “I didn’t see you there.”
His gaze swept over me while a corner of his lips pulled up in what would have been a smile if he hadn’t turned and resumed his jogging.
“What the hell?” I might have almost drenched him with the hose, but I expected more than . . . whatever that was. Not even an introduction.
Maybe things were different here than in Alpen Springs North.
By the time I finished washing the car and went inside, Mom was sitting at the dining room table with Steven. The heart-shaped angles of her face and her chestnut-brown hair were like mine. Except that my hair was twice as long as hers, which was cropped just past her ears.
Steven was in his fifties like my mom, had a large bald spot on top of his head, and was out of shape. Dad had all his hair and was in shape.
“That guy you were talking to. He’s bad news, Averie,” Mom said.
My head slanted, and my eyes narrowed. We just moved here. How would she even know that?
My gaze flitted to Steven, who was staring at his plate of veggies and salmon. He was the only one who would have known who that stranger was. Annoyed that he was here whispering things to my mother, I said, “I didn’t even do anything.”
“We just got here. This change should make things better. I need you to at least try,” she explained.
I wasn’t the same girl I’d been . . . before . . .
These days, if someone said there was trouble, that was probably where I would end up. It didn’t require thinking, it was my distraction.
“Why is he bad news, Steven?” I asked, placing a hand on my hip.
“I can’t give you the specifics. He just is.”
“We don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all,” Mom added, her eyes lowering to her plate.
Most days I didn’t think she knew how to help me. No, I knew she didn’t know how to help me, which was fine. I didn’t know how to help me either. My one wish, though, was that I could dispose of all my emotions, the way she did.
After barely eating dinner, I hurried to my bedroom, picked up my small black coin purse that had a pre-rolled joint in it, and stuffed it inside my pocket with a lighter. Then I got everything ready for school the next day: my cropped burgundy tee, high-waist fitted jeans, and my black flats.
Once that was done, I pulled on my shoes, took out James’s Alpen Springs North football hoodie from my dresser, and hugged it to my chest.
One year ago today, we were lying on my bed in my room, making jokes, making out, and having one of the many perfect nights we’d had together.
Always together.
As I felt a stinging in my nostrils, I inhaled and then dropped his hoodie on my bed to cuddle with when I got back. Then I crept out of my room, down the stairs, and through the front door.
Spotting Nicky’s brake lights a few houses down, I jogged over to her car and hopped in before lighting up my joint.
We drove out to the lake and tracked up a dirt trail to our spot behind the big boulders. The others were already there with the music playing and the conversation flowing, loud enough for us to hear but not loud enough to attract unwanted attention.
This was my crowd. The one I found after James . . . left me.
“Oh, look who’s here, Averie Mozey, the traitor,” one of the guys badgered.
My middle finger went up as I exhaled smoke, my head and body already surrendering to its weightless effects. “Nothing’s going to change.”
“You’ll be cheering for the Panthers team now. New school. New crowd.”
“No way. Besides, I would have to go to a game first.” That was definitely not happening. Ever again.
“True.”
The Alpen Springs Panthers was the least of my concerns. New school in my senior year with twice as many students was what topped that list.
Chapter 3
AVERIE
I hated the school bus. I felt like a loser. I mean, I wasn’t the only senior who didn’t have a car, but according to my mom, since we were being financially responsible, her money would go toward my college fund, not car payments and insurance. I supposed I couldn’t be mad about that, but it still sucked. And it didn’t help that no one had spoken to me on the bus, causing nerves to creep along my spine as I got off in front of the school.
It seemed everyone had drunk some kind of unicorn soda. They were all excited and colorful, laughing and gushing about things they did on the summer break. It was as if summer was just starting instead of coming to an end. Although, to be fair, the school campus was downtown with even the river flowing behind it. A river that my friends and I would drift down in giant tubes during the summer.
It was beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to hang around the city after school, but Steven’s house was at least three miles away.
As I sorted through my options for transportation, I went up the steps to the school’s entrance, walking under the huge banner that read: “Welcome Back, Panthers!”
The senior hallway was on the third floor, so I took the first staircase to my left as I pulled up my schedule on my phone.
I clicked on the PDF to verify my first period and the room number . . . 312. Calculus. Great. Getting high last night was pretty dumb, considering my first class for the day, but that was the only way I knew how to cope.
As I got to my assigned locker, I swung my backpack off my shoulder and ended up smacking someone behind me.
“Shit, sorry.” I turned to see a girl with chocolate-brown skin and black hair.
“It’s okay,” she said and then smiled. “I’m Candice.”
“Averie.” I looked down as I unzipped my backpack, grabbing my new purple combination lock, a notebook, a pen, and both a green and yellow highlighter.
“What classes do you have today?” Candice asked.
I peered over my shoulder as I stuffed my backpack in the locker. “Calculus with Ms. . . . Peterson, I think it was?”
The warning bell went off.
“Oooh,” she cooed. “I hear she’s really cool.”
With that inside news, I held up my phone and showed her the rest of my schedule. My plan was to be invisible, but it would be good to know at least one person here. My eyes shifted to two girls walking down the hallway, looking from me to each other. And unless I was just being paranoid, they were talking about me. I knew this because the gossip had started the second I showed up at the bus stop this morning.
“We have sixth period together,” Candice remarked, drawing my attention to her.
She was beautiful with a round face and petite body. I was five-three—okay, five-two and a half. And we were about the same height, but that was where our similarities ended.
“Did you just transfer?” Candice asked. “I’ve never seen you before.”
I pushed my locker closed. “Yeah, I’m new, but I should warn you, I’m a bad influence.” I smiled. “I’ll see you around, Candice.” As I started forward, I twisted and pointed at her. “Or in sixth period.”
