Read As I Fade (One Breath at a Time: Book 1) for Free Online

I rummaged through the contents of my purse, searching for hand sanitizer. Eyeing the small container, something felt terribly amiss. I panicked.
    “Wait! I squealed aloud. “Where’s my credit card?” I frantically fumbled through the contents of my purse, rechecking it several times, and then scanned the area around me, looking for the shiny plastic rectangle. I searched everywhere, on the floor beneath me, on my seat, the one next to me, my jeans and in my coat pockets. Nothing. It was gone. The sweet little lady (what an understatement) must have taken it. Her “insight” obviously told her I was an easy mark. She had somehow managed to pickpocket my card with her sticky little fingers. In a way I felt a sense of relief, stealing my credit card explained how she’d known my name.
    In less time than it takes to blink, I went from feeling miserable and hopeless to being royally pissed!
    “Excuse me,” I snapped at the man sitting behind me who had been verbally abrasive moments earlier. “You know that sweet little old lady that you thought I was bullying? Well, she stole my credit card,” I stormed. He only shrugged and shot up one corner of his crooked lips, as if to say, “Good for her.”
    He wasn’t going to be of any help.
    “ Whatever. I’ll cancel it,” I growled to myself, feeling the stares of everyone in the coach focused upon me.
    I dialed Nuilley’s number.
    “Bonjour,” Nuilley greeted me.
    “ Hey...Nui.”
    “ Bonjour, my little swizzle stick,” she answered cheerfully. She always called me cute little pet names. Kind of like soup-de-jour, it changed daily.
    I whispered, “Some lady just stole my credit card.”
    “Why are you whispering? I can barely hear you.”
    “ I’m on the Metro,” I explained, still whispering. I flashed on the faceplate of my cell, checking the service bars.
    Recently the city installed underground towers—or whatever fiber optic technology that was needed to provide service for wireless connections below the earth. It wasn’t perfect but better than nothing.
    “So what were you saying? Speak up, Princess.”
    “ Someone stole my credit card, and I know who—I’m on the subway and kind of made a scene over it. So everyone is staring at me now,” I whined helplessly.
    “ So what? You have every right to bitch about it.” Nuilley indignantly sided with me. “Report it ASAP—prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
    I half-chuckled at her strong suggestion. “That’s not necessary, she won’t get too far. Listen, I know it’s not the best timing, but on a more serious note”— as if my card wasn’t serious —“I need you to meet me at the brownstone in about an hour. I have to tell you some things that I’ve been holding back, and I feel terrible that I haven’t told you before today.”
    Nuilley sighed loudly. I could hear her disappointment through the phone. Either way it was time to unload the truth. It had come to a tipping point, and I couldn’t shoulder what I had been keeping from her any longer.
    “You’ve been lying to me?” Nuilley brought up the obvious.
    “ No—not lying, I’ve just been keeping things to myself,” I squeezed my defense into the conversation. I sank into myself, allowing her to give me a piece of her mind.
    Nuilley spoke over me. “Not to mention, you’ve been ignoring me too. Every time I’ve asked you to go somewhere you’re either writing or too tired.”
    She was right. “I know...I’m sorry I haven’t been acting like my usual fun self...but it’s true, I’ve been really stressed with writing this novel and the pressure from Jack to finish has been too much. Trust me—but most importantly I wanted to tell you what else that has been going on but I wasn’t sure ...oh fuck”— the phone bleep out again—“ no one would believe—not even you.”
    “ Believe what, Brie?” Nuilley bit out between my justifications.
    I rambled on in a million different directions without taking a