Page 27 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“No! Jason, please. It’sme,” she said, and reached for him again. “I swear. Listen, you’re my best friend. We’ve known each other for nearly half our lives now. We went to school together. We used to live together, we—”

“More personal than that,” Cole coached.

Dell grumbled and turned to him. “Would you please just let me handle this?”

Jason followed her gaze in the direction she’d spoken, and Dell remembered he couldn’t see Cole. “Who are you talking to?”

“No one,” she said. “But what I was saying was, it’sme.Dell. Your best friend.”

Jason cast her another angry glare. “Robbie, knock it off. Dell—” He paused and cast a glance back at the house. The paramedics had her body nearly into the ambulance now. He lowered his voice. “Delldiedthis morning, okay? So I don’t need you here spouting nonsense at me. Go back to the park and leave me alone.”

“No! That’s what I’m telling you, Jay. Ididn’tdie. I’m right here!” She gestured at herself—at Robbie—with a pleading look.

Jason flinched. “What did you call me?”

It took her a second to realize she’d used his nickname. “Jay! I called you Jay. And you call me Dell, which everyone does, but my real name is Verdella.”

He leaned back and eyed her suspiciously. Few people knew her real name. She’d ditched it so long ago it really only existed on official records. Hope swelled in her chest—Robbie’s chest—that this was alittle thingto convince him.

She jumped on the opportunity and tried for more. “Those are my brothers, Alex and Andy,” she said, and pointed at them. They stood between the ambulance and the reporters with their arms up, trying to block any more photos. “They are real estate developers. They run our family’s business. Andy is married and has two kids and Alex is single. Shit, wait. No. Other way around,” she said, and smacked her hand to her forehead. Damn their identicalness.

Jason gave her another suspicious look, though slightly less so. She could feel him swaying.

“I live here with my fiancé, Tommy. He’s the mayor’s son. I used to live here with you until we got engaged. You run front of house at my restaurant.”

She thought she had him, but his gaze narrowed, and he folded his arms. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Robbie, but so far this is just a list of information you probably found from your hacker lair in your mom’s basement.”

“No! It’s not, I swear,” she said, and desperately reached for him.

He shook her off. “Please leave me alone.”

She grumbled and dug deep, realizing she needed to bring out the big guns. “You have a shellfish allergy. Your left foot is slightly bigger than your right. You weirdly think Hawkeye is the hottest Avenger. On your twenty-first birthday, we drank appletinis, and you puked on the dance floor. You had a goldfish named Sushi. You actually don’t even like sushi. You think milk chocolate is superior to dark. You hold very strong opinions about McDreamy versus McSteamy, which caused the greatest falling-out of our friendship to date.”

He blinked at her as his mouth slowly fell open. “McSteamy all the way,” he said as if in a trance.

“Nope. Still disagree. McDreamy one hundred percent.”

He continued staring at her, his eyes searching as he leaned in closer, as if he were trying to peel back layers. “Dell?” he quietly whispered.

“Really?That’swhat did it?” Cole said skeptically. “AGrey’s Anatomyreference?”

“Shut up,” Dell shot at him, and kept her eyes on Jason. “Yes, Jay, it’s me.” She could see the realization in his eyes like a risingsun. No one else on the planet knew all those things about him. Even the world’s best hacker couldn’t have found them out, because they were only stored in the collective vault of their friendship.

“Oh my God,” Jason breathed. His eyes misted over. “Is it really you in there?”

“Yes,” she said, and felt Robbie’s eyes wet—a welcome sensation she’d already begun to miss.

Jason squeezed her arms as if he were testing to see if she was real. Then he pulled her into a hug and kissed her temple. “I knew this couldn’t be real. Iknewsomething wasn’t right.”

“I knew you would believe me!” she said from where her face was buried in his neck.

“Of course I believe you,D,” he said, and held her tighter. “God, Robbie needs a shower.”

She wetly laughed and wiped her eyes. “I’m just borrowing his body to talk to you. You can’t let them take me away, Jay. I’m not dead, not really. I’m—” She glanced over at Cole, unsure what to say. He didn’t offer any input. “I’m trapped, I guess.”

“Trapped?” Jason asked. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t exactly know, and it’s a long story, but I need your help.”