Resonance (The Falling Star Trilogy #2)

Prologue

JUDE GRAVES

“Nightcrawler” by Travis Scott pounds through the speakers, the bass vibrating through the frame of the car and into my bones.

I let the music swallow everything else.

My black T-shirt clings to my chest as I glance down at my arm.

Track marks wind between my tattoos, thin reminders that somehow, against all odds, I’m still alive.

I exhale smoke and watch it curl into the cold air, twisting like the fucking ghosts that won’t leave my head no matter how hard I try. The wind tears through my messy black hair as the chorus hits. For a moment, I feel strangely peaceful. High, detached…and untouchable.

Like the world is just a movie I’m watching instead of a life I’m actually living.

Against my better judgment, my thoughts drift to her and the spark in those honey-brown eyes when she looked up at me...

The memory shouldn’t matter anymore...but it aches in a place I keep trying to bury beneath the bass, the smoke, and the speed. It’s better this way. At least she’s safe.

And Micah.

I left them for a reason. I told myself distance would dull everything eventually. But every song, every rush of wind, every streak of passing streetlights drags me right back to the life I walked away from. To the man I used to be. I refuse to say her name, even in my own head.

My phone buzzes, and I glance at it.

Adriana:

Hey, baby. I know you’re enjoying that car, you lucky asshole. I’d love it if Nolan got me one. Dinner is at 7. Meet us back at the hotel, and we’ll go together.

I don't respond. I have my hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. The city stretches endlessly ahead, neon bleeding into the darkness as the speed climbs higher.

Faster.

Further.

Away.

This is who I am now. And for tonight, at least, I can pretend I’m okay with that.

I have to be.