All of the bigs in my life were with him. First love. First death. First heartache. They fell in that order. It took him dying for me to learn the truth about him. About me. I’d chased his memories for so long that this was just another far cry to keep my sanity. No good ever came from chasing ghosts, though, and having that knowledge should have kept my feet firmly planted. It didn’t. Quite the opposite, I ran as fast as my feet would carry me into the shadows of his past only to find my stupid heart was just an addict feigning for one last hit—he was my highest high and my lowest low, and I lied to myself to remain standing in his world for a little while longer. We both knew I didn’t belong, but it didn’t stop us from using each other to make it through until next high. I needed an escape, and he sought a safe haven. The thing about ghosts was they appeared to you when you least expected them, and you couldn’t run from someone who didn’t really exist. Each book in this series is written so that they may be read as a standalone; however, we do recommend that you read this book after Cocked Hammer It is not necessary to fully enjoy or understand this story, though.