The Goodbye Boyfriend (The Boyfriend Series Book 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  Please Leave a Review

  Also by Christina Benjamin

  About the Author

  The Goodbye Boyfriend

  Christina Benjamin

  Crown Atlantic Publishing

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 2017 by Christina Benjamin

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Crown Atlantic Publishing

  Version 1.1

  September 2017

  To those who put one foot in front of the other, even when it seems impossible.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  Please Leave a Review

  Also by Christina Benjamin

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Camille’s Plan for Dying

  #1: Cross all items off bucket list.

  #2: Graduate high school.

  #3: Say Goodbye.

  Camille LaRue had her senior year perfectly planned.

  And plans are great. They really are. But mostly only when they work out.

  Too bad they almost never do. And it was definitely too bad that Nathan Hawthorne didn’t know about Camille’s plans, because he was about to throw a giant wrench into the heart of them.

  1

  Cami

  Camille LaRue glanced up at the clock in her last period class. She exhaled with relief. Five minutes left. She drew a dramatic X through the date in her day planner. Three more months of school remained. Or sixty-six actual school days if you wanted to be technical. And Camille did. She was a habitual planner. Ticking boxes and keeping track of her self-inflicted countdown was soothing to her. She liked to know the exact amount of time she had left, so she could make the most of it.

  Camille had a lot to accomplish and not a whole lot of time. She flipped to the back of her planner and glanced at her bucket list with determination—only a few items remained unchecked. That was a good thing since there were only a few months of high school left to pull them off.

  She closed her eyes, fighting exhaustion. Today was not a good day. You’ve got this, Cami. One foot in front of the other. She mentally repeated her mantra while drumming her fingers impatiently on her desk, waiting for the bell to ring. School was the last place she wanted to be. It was a complete waste of her time—literally.

  Only sixty-six days of her senior year of high school remained. And that miniscule number was her driving force.

  Nate

  Skateboard tucked under his arm, Nathan Hawthorne meandered through the bright hallways of his new high school trying to keep his awe contained. But it was nearly impossible not to gawk at the rich accommodations. The posh New Orleans prep school was a stark difference from his old California public school. He couldn’t believe he’d actually convinced his mom to let him come to New Orleans Academy. It had to be costing her a fortune in tuition.

  Nate let out a low whistle while admiring the expansive view of campus from the floor-to-ceiling gothic windows in the student lounge. A student lounge for God’s sake! His old school in Cali didn’t even have a real gym, only a glorified rec room that doubled as the cafeteria. Therefore the makeshift gym always smelled like tater tots and the cafeteria smelled like sweat. Neither combination was something Nate particularly cared to remember about his old school, but it sort of stuck with him anyway.

  But this place . . . well, Nate was pretty sure he was gonna like it here. There was a freaking Starbucks on campus! What was not to like?

  It was unreal to Nate that people lived like this. It’s not that he was poor by any means—his mom was a doctor. But she had a thing about living large, always telling Nate that honesty and modesty would serve him better than anything else in life. And he’d agreed with her. But he was starting to wonder if maybe his mom hadn’t ever seen NOLA Academy.

  The elite prep school looked more like a castle than a school. Nate’s mom must’ve been feeling pretty guilty about ditching him his senior year to send him to a place like this. He didn’t blame her for uprooting their life. She’d gotten an incredible job offer with a medical program in London. Nate was happy for her. He knew the past few years hadn’t been easy on her. It was time for her to take her life back. It was time Nate did, too.

  He pulled out the class schedule he’d just picked up from the Dean’s Office. Technically, Nate didn’t start classes until tomorrow, but he wanted to get the lay of the land. This was the first school he’d ever attended where a map was necessary for getting around. And he didn’t want to look like the idiot
, new guy showing up late for class because he’d gotten lost.

  Nate studied the map, figuring he’d pick up his uniform and do a dry run of his schedule while he was on campus. He still couldn’t quite believe he was in New Orleans. He’d begged his mom to let him come visit ever since his dad had moved back, but her answer was always the same. “Your dad doesn’t understand adult supervision. He only speaks booze, music and women.”

  To Nate, it didn’t seem like such a bad language to speak. But then again, he was a hormone-crazed eighteen-year-old boy who played the violin and hadn’t been known to turn down a beer when it was offered. He could see his mom’s point though. Nate’s dad hadn’t been the best role model lately. Then again, Nate’s mom had a pretty jaded opinion of his dad after their divorce.

  Nate tried to remain neutral during the whole thing. He loved both his parents, and didn’t see the point in picking sides. Now that he was technically an adult, he really just needed a place to crash while he finished up his last semester of high school. He could’ve stayed in Cali. He had plenty of great friends out there who offered to let him stay. But Nate planned to go to Tulane in the fall, and was eager to get a jump on his future. God knew he was ready for it.

  Nate was ready for a change of scenery. He’d only been to New Orleans a few times. But the city stayed with him. The brief time Nate had spent in the resilient city always left him hopeful. And now that he was back, he clung to the notion that New Orleans would help him move on. And NOLA Academy seemed like a pretty great place to start.

  Nate stepped into the pool of sunlight bathing the student lounge. He let the warmth seep in, recharging him. He sighed with relief. It was already easier to breathe without being surrounded by the suffocating sadness of his past. Nate exhaled and repeated his mantra to himself—life is good.

  He was in a beautiful city, at a great school, with his whole life ahead of him. He was good at focusing on the positive, and as he looked around at the sea of faces spilling out of the classrooms as the bell rang, he saw a lot to be optimistic about. But maybe nothing as much as the girl with the purple hair and studded combat boots who caught his eye.

  She poured out of classroom 214 like a rainbow. She wore a scowl on her pretty porcelain face and a shiny black backpack. Time slowed when she walked past Nate through a sliver of sunlight. The light illuminated her features, making her eyes glow pale gray. They were the exact color of the Pacific Ocean at dawn, and Nate felt homesick when he looked into them. His heart filled like helium, spreading heat through his body. And all he knew, was that he had to know her.

  2

  Cami

  Camille was rummaging through her locker when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see a boy with caramel eyes and floppy brown hair smiling at her like a serial killer. She didn’t recognize him. But that didn’t mean anything. Her high school was large, and she purposely avoided her classmates like the plague.

  Camille enjoyed anonymity when she could get it. Her mother was always saying, it wasn’t very N’awlins of her, but Camille didn’t care. Being diagnosed with lymphoma as a nine year old didn’t give her the warm and fuzzies when it came to being gawked at by strangers.

  Ever since her diagnosis, Camille’s childhood had consisted of pity friendships and sorrow-filled stares. She hated being the cancer-girl. It made her different. And that’s the last thing any adolescent girl wanted to be.

  No one was ever real with Camille. Adults handled her with kid gloves and peers made her feel like an outcast. It made her distrustful, and rightfully so. Her faith in her fellow classmates ended at a fifth grade sleepover when Ashley Dupree pulled Camille’s wig off while she slept, dubbing her, Sleeping Baldy.

  That stupid nickname stuck until eighth grade, when her classmates finally developed a conscience and started to understand what cancer truly meant. The pity was almost worse than the name-calling. All of it forced Camille to build an impenetrable layer of unfuckwithability around her pale skin. Camille was Teflon. Everything the world threw at her just slid off—well, everything except the fucking cancer.

  Camille had been silently staring at the boy near her locker for almost a minute now. She was giving him her best resting bitch face. She’d perfected it over the years and was used to it scaring people off. But the strange boy just stood there, grinning like a fool. Camille tilted her head, taking in his alarming smile. He was cute. Really cute, actually. But he didn’t have the usual hot guy smile she was used to—the one that was sly and crooked. The one that said, ‘I want something from you.’ That was the smile Camille was used to seeing in the halls at NOAH. But this boy’s smile was full on dazzling. It was like he was trying to show you all his teeth at once. It was kind of offensive, but also kind of beautiful.

  “What?” she finally muttered. Anxiety flooded her as she wondered if maybe he was staring because her wig was askew or one of her fake eyelashes was stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “Hello,” the boy greeted, his obnoxious smile growing impossibly wider.

  Camille cut her eyes. Was this guy for real? “Who says hello anymore?”

  “I do,” he replied, his pearly whites glowing. “Hello.”

  She looked around suspecting she was being pranked, but no phones were pointed in her direction to stream this strange encounter. She lowered her voice to a hissing whisper. “Why are you saying hello to me?”

  He shrugged. “I want to.”

  “But you don’t even know me.”

  “I want to.”

  “Are those the only words you know?” she grumbled.

  He laughed. “No. What’s your name?”

  “Are you stupid or something?”

  He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I’ve been told it’s sorta my thing.”

  Camille snorted. “Stupid is your thing?”

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s not something to be proud of. You might want to pick a new thing. And while you’re at it, stop smiling like that and speak like a normal human.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “Not trying to be,” Camille said turning back to her locker to finish grabbing her things. He was still grinning when she slammed it shut.

  “Do normal humans exchange names in New Orleans? I’m Nathan, by the way.”

  “Camille. Now put that thing away.”

  “Put what away?”

  “That blinding smile.”

  “Do you need a permission slip to smile here?” Nathan asked. “I’m new to New Orleans Academy High School.”

  Camille snorted “Ya think? And we call it NOAH. New Orleans Academy High is a mouthful.”

  “Great tip!” he replied. “Got any others for me?”

  “Look, I’m sorta running late. I don’t have time for NOAH 101 today.”

  “Okay. Maybe tomorrow?”

  Camille was already stomping down the hall, but Nate seemed to take that as an invitation to follow. Unfortunately for him, Make a New Friend, wasn’t on her bucket list. Camille had erased that goal a long time ago, along with fall in love, and live happily ever after.

  She stopped short, turning to tell the weirdo to take a hike, but he plowed into her. Luckily, he was quick on his feet and his arms flew around her, keeping her from falling down the stairs. Unfortunately his skateboard wasn’t so lucky. Camille stood stone still for the deafening seconds it took for the wood and wheels to come to its final resting place at the bottom of the staircase.

  Camille stared at the mangled skateboard, panic blossoming in her chest. That could have been her. Death was something she thought about often. Having cancer made it impossible not to. But something about an accidental death stealing her life unsettled her. Perhaps that was why she didn’t notice that Nathan’s arms were still tightly coiled around her.

  “Your eyes are beautiful,” he said, softly.

  She looked up at him. He was so close she could m
ake out the gold flecks in his caramel brown eyes and the smattering of freckles that dusted the bridge of his nose. He was tall, with sun-kissed skin that smelled like soap and sunshine. He wasn’t unattractive, that was for sure. Camille flushed when she realized it wasn’t so bad being in his arms. But then he ruined it by dipping his head to her hair and inhaling deeply.

  “What the hell?” Camille pushed him away. “Did you just smell my hair?”

  “I’ve always wanted to smell purple hair.”

  Camille was pretty sure her resting bitch face had morphed into angry anime mode. “Where the hell are you from?”

  “California.”

  It’d been a rhetorical question, but Nathan’s answer threw her off. Camille would’ve expected Iowa or somewhere sheltered, but not California. Although, it did help explain his uber-sunny disposition. Maybe that much perfect weather warped a person’s brain after a while?

  “Do you always go around sniffing hair?” she asked.

  Nathan laughed. It was a pleasant sound, warm and easy. “No. But your hair is exceptional and it was right there for the sniffing.” He shrugged. “I just wanted to do it.”

  “Do you always do whatever you want?”

  “Absolutely! Life’s too short not to.”