The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) Page 12

  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.

  It was dark when I woke up. The weight of Ace’s body trapped me against the mattress as he bent down to kiss me. “I need you, Riley.”

  His whispered words rolled through me, and I returned his kiss until he settled over me. We moved together, slowly. Each caress, each roll of his hips, was stretched into the next. He took his time, showing me with his body what he couldn’t say with words. It was the single most tender moment I’d ever had in my life.

  I STRETCHED, PULLING MYSELF FROM the edge of sleep that beckoned me to roll back over and cover my head. The bedroom door cracked open, and Paige walked in. “The boys are making breakfast. They said to get out of bed, or they’ll come get you.” Her lips turned up on a smirk. She knew them as well as I did. If they said they’d come and get me, it meant all of them. I huffed and tossed the sheet aside.

  Paige stepped into the room and closed the door. “I’m headed out. I just wante
d to let you know that you won’t be able to get a hold of me for a couple of days.”

  I rubbed at my blurry eyes and picked out clean clothes. “Okay.”

  “Riley?” Paige stood in front of me with her arms crossed and her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “Yeah?”

  “This isn’t good-bye. Remember that, okay?”

  With my back turned, I gave her a nod and fought the tears that threatened to spill. “I know, Paige.”

  The door opened, and Paige slipped out. I waited for a minute, and then made my way across the hall to the bathroom. There was no way I’d step foot in the kitchen with puffy red eyes from a night of crying. It was bad enough that Ace had witnessed my breakdown.

  The cold cloth helped a lot. My eyes weren’t as red as I thought they’d be. A little bloodshot, but nothing that would bring too much attention.

  I grabbed my dirty clothes and left the bathroom. After I tossed them on the bed, I made my way to the kitchen as Paige’s car started outside.

  Jared stood at the stove with his back to the room. “So Aiden’s gonna be in Texas, you’re gonna be in Georgia, Mark and Josh will be in Yankee land, Eli will be on the other side of the world…” The spatula came up as he turned around. “That, my brothers, is a whole lot of awesome spread out across the globe.”

  Jared turned back around, slid the spatula under a pancake, and flipped it.

  “Yeah, well, I better see some concert tickets, that’s all I have to say,” Mark said as he got the syrup out of the refrigerator.

  Josh dumped a handful of forks on the table, slid out a chair, and sat down. “Me too!”

  Jared shut the stove off, grabbed a plate piled high with golden-brown, butter-drenched pancakes, and put it in the center of the table. “Already mooching.”

  Aiden’s fork stabbed into the stack, and Jared brought the spatula down on his hand. “Ouch!”

  “Ladies first, jackass,” Jared said, raising the spatula again.

  Jared eyed me until I stabbed one and put it on my plate. I moved fast to keep from being in the way of the war of forks that descended onto the diminishing stack of pancakes.

  I forced myself to finish what was on my plate. Even though I loved Jared’s pancakes, it sat like a brick in my stomach.

  It took the Six no time at all to devour every last crumb.

  Aiden sat back and rubbed at his stomach, groaning. “I’m so full.”

  “Fat ass,” Mark said, jabbing him in the stomach with his elbow. Aiden bowed forward and kicked at his chair.

  “If I didn’t feel like I’d puke, I’d take your prissy ass out to the yard and show you a fat ass.”

  I slid my chair back, grabbing the empty plates from the table before they went crashing to the floor. They always cracked on one another, and it usually ended up in some sort of wrestling match in the yard. A few times, it never made it that far, and one of us ended up buying new dishes. I’d be damned if they broke anymore. Mark lunged for Aiden and I snatched up Jared’s spatula. It slid down between their faces as I shouted, “Take it outside, you two!”

  Aiden and Mark snickered at me but made their way to the door, shoving each other until they were outside. Josh, Eli, Jared, and Ace followed them with shouts that egged the two on. I blew out a breath of relief. The plates were safe.

  I plugged the sink, squirted dish soap into the hot water, and grabbed a dish towel. Even though there was a dishwasher, sometimes I liked washing them by hand. It gave me time to think, as I zoned out in front of the window. As I was just about to plunge my hands down into the soapy water, Jared’s cell phone rang. There was no way they’d hear me call out to get his attention with the way they carried on outside, so I grabbed his phone and saw it was his dad.

  “Hey Mr. Jackson.”

  “Riley?”

  “Yep.”

  “How’s everything going? We haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Good, just tryin’ to keep these boys in line.”

  “Either you have the patience of a saint, or you’re just as insane as they are,” he said with a low chuckle.

  “Probably a little of both.”

  I liked Jared’s parents. Out of all the mismatched parental units, Jared’s were probably the coolest.

  “Is my son right there, by chance?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, let me see if I can get his attention.”

  Shouts came from the yard loud enough that Jared’s dad could hear them over the phone. “Is everything all right, Riley?”

  “The norm, sir, the norm.”

  “Ah, I see.” He knew how they all acted, but hearing it was far different than seeing it. If I were on the other end of the phone, I’d be worried at what I heard too.

  “Hang on, I gotta go get loud.”

  “Give ’em hell, Riley Girl.”

  I have no idea why, but Jared’s dad always tossed that nickname in at some point in our conversations.

  “You know it.” I set Jared’s phone down and walked out to where I’d be close enough to be heard, but far enough away to not get hit, and let out an ear-piercing whistle. The guys stopped long enough to wince as they looked in my direction.

  “Jared, phone.”

  I walked away as they started up again with Jared right behind me. I pointed to his cell phone when we got inside the cabin. “It’s your dad.”

  He snatched up the phone from the counter, sticking it between his shoulder and ear as he snatched the dish towel out of my hands. “Hey, Pops. What’s up?”

  Jared’s dad hated it when he called him Pops. I winced and shoved my hand into the sink, dragging the soapy rag over a sticky plate.

  “I figured I wouldn’t see you until you popped into one of my shows… Yeah, I’ll stop by before I go to the airport. Okay. Bye.”

  He pulled the phone away, shut it off, and set it down on the counter.

  “How long are they in town for?” I asked as I handed him another plate to dry.

  “Not sure. It’s weird though… them being in town right now. They weren’t supposed to be back for another week or so.” Jared hitched his shoulder and opened the cabinet to slide the plate in.

  “Are they still working for the same company?”

  “Cole Enterprise? Yeah, I doubt they’ll ever leave. The money’s too good. Ya know?”

  “What do they do there?”

  Jared took the glass I held out to him. “Right now, they’re working on a second location, but it’s all hush-hush. Dad slipped up and told me it was in Scotland the last time he was home. Weird, right? What the hell is so important you can’t even talk about it?”

  It was sort of odd, but then again, the military had all sorts of things they didn’t talk about. Maybe his parents were more than they let on. “Do you think your parents are spies?”

  He laughed at me. “Yeah right! Have you seen my mom? She’s tinier than you!”

  “Whatever, Jared.” I shot him shut-up look and handed him another plate.

  “So they came back to see you off?”

  “I guess so… maybe. It’s weird, though. Ever since they hooked me up with getting my demo out, and I landed a manager, they’ve kinda been off the grid.”

  It was no secret that his parents weren’t exactly happy with his choice of career, but they did step in and help him when they realized he was going to do it with, or without, their help.

  “Hey, do you think you can do me a favor while I’m away?”

  His question took me by surprise. “What?”

  “My car. Do you think you can drive it sometimes? That way it doesn’t sit for too long.”

  “You want me to drive your car?”

  “I’d appreciate it. That way it doesn’t sit for too long without being driven. You’d be doing me a solid.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Good, but no cow pastures… okay?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Black top only. Got it.”

  He put the last plate away, and I pulled the plug in the si
nk.

  “I guess I better get my stuff together, so I can head home and see the ’rents before I head out.”

  He was back with his bag in hand as the others strolled in. “I’m headed out. Gotta stop at my parents. They wanna see me before I leave.”

  A somber mood rolled in and heads dipped. Deep breaths were pulled in and let out as one by one they hugged Jared, wishing him luck. He sauntered over to me, lifting me off the floor in a bone-crushing hug. When he stepped back, his car keys were dangling off his finger. “No cow pastures.” He tapped my nose and walked out.

  “Josh, come fire up your piece of shit and give me ride home!” Jared shouted as the screen door closed. Josh grabbed his keys from the hook by the door, clenched his hand around them, and then squared his shoulders as he walked out of the cabin. Seconds later, we trailed out behind them, waving as Josh and Jared drove away.

  I DON’T THINK THE GUYS realized that Jared and all his quirks were what kept the Six such a tight-knit group of friends. Sure, they would all still be friends, but Jared was that one friend that kept the insanity rampant in the group, and every one gravitated to his crazy ass, including myself.

  The afternoon Jared left, we moved around the cabin like zombies, meandering around, not quite sure what to do with ourselves. I kept myself busy by cleaning the living room. Eli grabbed the vacuum, and Aiden cleaned the windows. Outside, Ace started the lawn mower and slipped his sunglasses over his eyes. Mark grabbed his keys and shouted over the sound of the vacuum. “I’m headed out to the store. Need anything?”

  I couldn’t take it anymore. The sound of the lawn mower outside, the vacuum inside—it was static noise, the kind you filled the silence with when you were so far inside of your head that it was deafening. I walked over to the stereo and turned it on, needing something—anything—to stop the sadness that crushed against us. Harvey Danger’s voice rolled out of the speakers, singing about paranoia, and I found myself smiling. Jared would crank that song and belt it out at the top of his lungs. There was enough of Jared around the cabin. We could either chose to accept that life was moving forward or slink off and sulk about it.