All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

I pushed myself forward, my head spun like a whirligig. It took several blinks before I could focus on any one thing again. I concentrated on Oliver, making him the center pin of my world that would make everything else fall into place.

I started working on doing the buttons up again, something to keep my mind occupied for a few moments more so I could compose myself.

“Everly, are you okay?” Oliver repeated.

When I was done with my shirt, my fingers touched the back of my head and returned covered in blood. There was nothing I could do about it. There were no doctors to stitch me up. Hopefully the cold would help dry up the flow of blood.

“I’m fine. Did they hurt you?” I asked. My eyes scanned over him. He appeared to have escaped any harm but I couldn’t be sure.

“No, I’m good. I was more worried about you.”

I gave standing up a try.

A quick grasp of the railing stopped a second fall.

“Why did they choose us? We didn’t have anything to rob,” I pointed out. Surely there had to be better kids to steal from? A few of the more naïve ones actually carried everything they owned around with them.

Robbing us was pointless. They took off without anything.

“I don’t know. Something interrupted them.”

“Did you see what it was?”

Oliver shook his head. “No. Come on, we should get back before it gets any darker.”

I couldn’t argue.

We walked faster this time. My eyes didn’t miss a thing as we moved. I jumped at every leaf that blew in the wind, every rodent that scurried away, and even at my own long shadow. Everything was a threat and it scared the hell out of me.

Our musky basement apartment was a welcome refuge. Even my growling stomach couldn’t send me out into the night again. Once we were certain we were alone in our place, we sat on the floor together.

Oliver barely shivered in the cold, I wished I had his stamina. I needed to do something for warmth. Desperate, I searched through the moldy apartment and into all the dark places I didn’t dare before. In what used to be the kitchen, I found a small linen cupboard. A black coat was still hanging, waiting to be washed.

It reeked of mildew and it was too big but it would offer warmth. I slipped it on, instantly grateful for the person who once lived in the apartment.

Checking the remainder of the cupboards, there was little more than a few rags. Nothing to offer much warmth or comfort for anyone. I returned to Oliver and did a twirl.

“Nice work,” he exclaimed, impressed.

“Do you want it? We could share it?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m fine. You keep it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I’ll tell you if I’m not.”

He would, too. Oliver wouldn’t be too polite for my benefit. He knew I wouldn’t want that.

I sat on the floor and pulled my new coat around me tighter, trying to create warmth where there was none. It was all I could do to stop my teeth chattering. The warmth of the underground was all but a distant memory now.

My head was throbbing and I felt nauseous from the attack. Or the lack of food. Or the anger from my encounter with Jet. It was probably a combination of all three.

The only thing in my life that never let me down or hurt me was the guy sitting beside me. Oliver was the only constant in my life, the only one I could count on.

The only one I loved.

As I looked up into his emerald green eyes, I knew it without a doubt. Any lingering hesitation was gone, lying on the street somewhere under the wet snow.

My childhood friend, the one whom I had grown up with, he filled my heart like nobody had ever done before. All those fluttery feelings I had heard about from the other girls at school, he was the reason behind them all. He was my light, my sunshine, the reason why I wanted to go on when everything else was so hopeless.

He was my everything.

The reason why I couldn’t give up.

Oliver was looking at me intently, as if he could read all the thoughts running through my head. Lightning crackled between us, something intangible that I could never describe with words.

Love.

Care.

Trust.

Forever.

It was all there in his eyes as they burned into me with the intensity of a million suns. I felt everything he was feeling. The emotions coursed through my body like I was experiencing them all at the same time.

Perhaps I was.

In those eyes I couldn’t see the friend that I used to. He was gone, lost in the pages of history and replaced with something so, so much better.

Sitting next to me was the man I loved. The man I could trust with my life and never be afraid that he would let me down. He was right here and it had taken me too long to see him.

We had wasted too much time already. In our new world, the next minute was never guaranteed, they belonged to those brave and strong enough to survive and see it. So many people had already proven unworthy. Our very existence of still breathing proved we were.

While my heart still beat in my chest, I was determined not to waste any more time.

I wanted Oliver.

I wanted all of him wrapped around me and whispering how much he wanted me, too. It wasn’t a stupid schoolgirl crush. It was a deep, true love.

The kind they wrote poems about.

We were magnets, being drawn together with nothing to stop us colliding. We didn’t have parents. We didn’t have rules.