The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) (17 page)

“Fine!” I snatched the tongs from him, tossed them in the dishwasher, and took the box of soap he handed me.

“Knew you’d see it my way.” He left, banging the screen door closed behind him.

I knew he meant well, but at the same time, he’d made me feel like a charity case. I’d take his help, but he’d get every penny back when it was all said and done. I wasn’t going to owe anyone for my college education.

THE DAY AFTER THE SHERIFF showed up, we ended up back at the Hole. It was Jared’s last day with us before he set off to be some sort of Rock God, and the guys enjoyed giving him a hard time about it.

I ran my hand over the soft material of the comforter I sat on, watching them roughhouse in the water. Paige had stretched out beside me and closed her eyes.

“Are you enjoying the time away from the hospital?” I asked when she laughed at the guys grabbing Aiden’s hands and feet, tossing him from the end of the dock.

She sat up, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her chin on her knees. “Yeah, I am, but it’s back to reality tomorrow.”

“So what’s up with you and Mark?” She tensed at my question, and straightened herself up. “I could ask the same about you and Ace.”

I nodded at her direct jab. Fair was fair, and I had no right poking my nose in her business.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s leaving for New York soon, and I’m hoping to see myself added to the schedule for rotations so…”

I understood. Life wasn’t always fair, and just because what you wanted was right in front of you, it didn’t mean you had the ability to reach out and lay claim to it.

I’d pretty much set myself up for heartbreak, knowing Ace was headed out to boot camp and then who knows where. A spark of anger rolled in my gut. I’d gone on so long, thinking he’d be close—right up the street. A Forest Ranger, not an Army Ranger or whatever he’d signed himself up for. He’d never said, and it made me wonder why. I’d never even thought to question it. I’d accepted everything blindly. I pushed that question back, figuring I would ask him when it was just the two of us.

“So have you thought about what you’re gonna do now?” I knew what Paige meant. The scholarship that slipped past my fingers.

“I’m gonna work my ass off, get some loans, and see what happens.” I shrugged, inwardly kicking myself for lying to her so easily.

She smiled at me, a large, toothy grin that brightened her whole face. “Now, that’s what I like to hear. Good for you, Riley.”

I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, inhaling the humid air.

“Oh shit!” Paige scrambled beside me. My eyes snapped open, expecting to find a snake slithering towards us. She darted off the blanket and took off running as Mark came up the embankment. The chase was short-lived when he caught her and put her over his shoulder.

“Riley! Don’t just sit there… freakin’ help me!” Paige wrestled against Mark’s tight hold, receiving a smack on the ass when she almost made him drop her.

Mark’s hoots and hollers blended with Paige’s shouts of protest as he ran down the dock, jumping off the end with her slung over his shoulder.

They both sputtered to the surface, as Ace sat down beside me.

The air was heavy, like breathing soup, as the afternoon crept on. Dark clouds rolled in, bringing the cooler air that comes before the rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance as we packed up and headed back to the cabin. Before we made it back, lightning split the sky and rain fell in heavy sheets. It was as if even the heavens were angry that our time together was almost over.

Ace followed me down the hallway to his room and closed the door behind me. I grabbed dry clothes and peeled off the wet ones as shivers wracked my body. A loud clap of thunder shook the house and rattled the windows. Outside, lightning ripped across the sky and lit the room up. Ace swore beside me, and we chuckled at our jumpiness.

Across the hall, I heard Paige cry out, followed by the sound of something crashing against the wall.

Ace’s voice startled me, as I stared in the direction the noises came from. “Nothin’ like a good ‘ole thunderstorm to unleash some pent-up feelings.”

Confused by what he meant, I turned in his direction. My question died on my lips when I heard Mark call out to Paige, as the thunder shook the cabin again.

“Come on, Riley, before Jared walks down the hall and starts banging on doors to see what’s taking everyone so long.”

Ace no sooner got the door open than Jared was about to pound his fist against Mark’s door. Ace stilled his hand and shook his head. “Leave ’em alone, Jared. They’ll be out later.”

A knowing grin split across Jared’s face before he turned and walked back down the hallway.

The cabin shook again, and lightning forked across the sky. The light in the kitchen dimmed, flickered, and then went out. Jared ran his hand over his face with a groan. “Well, shit. Hope the power comes back on soon, or it’s gonna get hot as hell in here.”

The rain shifted and blew in through the open windows. The guys scrambled to get them closed, and I grabbed a towel from Jared’s bathroom to wipe up the puddles of water.

Aiden grabbed his phone. “Guys, they issued a severe weather alert until midnight tonight.”

Eli sprawled out on one of the recliners, while Josh rummaged through the cabinets in search of a snack. I sunk down into the corner of the couch and Ace stretched out, putting his head on my leg. Jared paced the floor. He wasn’t a fan of thunderstorms because he hated the lightning. He cringed every time it popped around us, illuminating the darkened room in jagged shadows.

Getting his mind off it would take some doing, but I hated seeing him flinch with every crack that raced across the sky.

“Hey, Jared. When will you have your tour schedule?”

“Why? You gonna come see me play, Riles?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Just ’cause you’re gonna traipse across the US doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget about you.”

He rolled his eyes as a bolt of lightning hit yards from the house, and the thunder crashed. Diving towards the couch, he pressed his back against it
as he sat on the floor. “Holy fuck, that was close!”

I reached out
, putting my hand on his shoulder. “What time does your flight leave tomorrow?”

He turned his head enough to look at me out of the corner of his eye. His face was drawn into hard lines. “Jared… what time is your flight tomorrow?”

He drew in a deep breath through his nose. “Early afternoon.”

“Do you need help packing your stuff?” I asked.

The room lit up again, and he pushed harder against the couch. I tightened my grip on his shoulder. “Come on, Jared. Let’s go get your stuff together.”

There were fewer windows in his room and, with the blackout curtains, it would keep him from seeing the lightning that zigzagged along the sky relentlessly.

Ace propped himself up so I could stand. It wasn’t the first time I’d kept Jared’s mind busy during a storm. He gave me a wink when I grabbed Jared’s hands and helped him up from the floor. I put myself between him and the windows, ushering him down the hallway.

When we made it to his room, I rummaged around his closet, found the battery-operated lantern, and turned it on. Jared lowered himself to the edge of his bed and braced his elbows on his knees. “Why the hell does it bother me so much?” It was the question he always asked when a nasty storm blew in.

“People just have fears, Jared. There’s nothing wrong with it. Mine is snakes and Old Man Willis’ pond.”

He blew out a shaky breath and ran his hand down his face.

“What bag?” I asked, holding up two different duffel bags for him to choose from.

He pointed at the larger of the two, and I tossed it on the bed. “Are you taking any of your stuff from home?”

“Nah, there’s enough here.”

“You get underwear duty.” That brought a chuckle from him. It also kept his back to the window.

To keep his mind occupied, I grabbed two T-shirts at a time and held them up, making him choose until he had a pile of shirts on the bed. We moved on to his jeans and went through the same process, as the storm outside raged on.

“Start folding those while I get your razor and stuff,” I said, pointing at the stack of clothes on the bed.

Jared grabbed a shirt and shook it out in front of him. “I’ll get that stuff in the morning after I take a shower.” He flinched when the corners of his blackout curtains lit up, and the sky rumbled.

I grabbed a pair of his pants and folded them in half. When he wouldn’t stop staring at the window, I smacked him in the arm with them to get his attention. “That shirt’s not gonna fold itself.”

Keeping his hands busy didn’t seem to help. I gave up and snatched the shirt from his hands, tossing it back on the pile. “Play me a song,” I told him as I pointed to the guitar in the corner.

He picked the twelve string up off the stand and sat down against the wall to where he couldn’t see the window. His fingers ran over the strings as he tuned it by ear and then ran a few chords as he settled in to play. Song bled into song, and Jared lost himself to the music. I zipped his bag closed and set it down by his dresser. Even when the windows rattled from the thunder, he kept playing, exercising his demons with each strum of the guitar. I curled up and closed my eyes, as the guys trickled in and sat in various spots. When Jared would finish a song, someone would ask him to play something else.

I woke up to Ace running his finger down my nose. “Time for bed, Riley.” I sat up, looking around. I’d fallen asleep to the guys singing loud enough to block out the sound of the storm. Jared’s bathroom door opened, and he strolled out.

“Aw man, I thought sleeping beauty was staying in my bed tonight,” Jared said with wink.

“Not likely,” Ace grumbled.

I stretched as I stood, and Ace walked over to wait for me at the door.

Jared leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom. “Can I get a second with Riley, Ace?”

Ace nodded and stepped out into the hallway. “Night, Jared.”

“Night, Ace.”

Jared waited until he heard the door to Ace’s room close. “Thanks for tonight, Riley. I don’t know how you do it, but you keep me from the ledge when it gets to be too much.”

I waited until he walked over to where I stood. Wrapping my arms around him, I hugged him tight. “That’s what friends are for. I’m gonna miss the hell outta you. Promise you’ll stay in touch?”

He propped his chin on my head. “I promise. As long as you promise to come see me play.”

“It’s a deal,” I answered him.

He squeezed me tight before releasing me. “Better go before Ace comes back and drags you off.”

“You gonna be okay?” The storm had quieted. Thunder rumbled off in the distance. The flash of lightning muted as the wind took the heaviest part of the storm away, leaving a good, soaking rain behind in its wake.

He walked me to the bedroom door. “Yeah, I’m good. Go get some rest, Riley. I’ll see ya in the morning.”

I nodded sharply and forced myself to reply. “Night, Jared.”

It felt like a good-bye. I swallowed the tears as I made my way down the hallway, opening Ace’s bedroom door. I kicked off my sweatpants and crawled across the bed. Ace pulled me against his chest. I hugged him tight, refusing to give in and break down. None of them deserved to feel guilty about the futures they chose for themselves. I owed them that much as a friend. My traitorous body rebelled against me. Tears pooled in my eyes, rolling onto Ace’s naked chest. He never said a word, just held me as my silent meltdown shook my entire body.

It wasn’t all about Jared either. Part of it, but not all. Who would take care of them when they couldn’t take care of themselves? Who would know that Aiden was allergic to strawberries, or that Josh couldn’t use a certain brand of laundry soap because he’d break out in hives? That Eli had nightmares about his life before the Bentons, and it took hours to bring him around from one? Who would know where Mark kept his inhaler for those random bouts of asthma that kicked up every so often? Who would be there for Ace when the rest of us weren’t? Who would keep him from becoming a raging lunatic, one he’d teetered on being for so long—one that we all kept him from being? Out of the Six, Ace was the silent one. The one no one would expect it from. We’d kept it all within our group. There wasn’t a soul who knew us, like we knew each other. Jared kept Ace in check, and Ace, in turn, kept the rest of the group in check. It worked… it was a dynamic that had never been split apart. And it scared the shit out of me, knowing that within only a matter of days, it would all fall apart.