The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) (2 page)

I grimaced. If anyone would follow through with the threat, it would be Jared. He was the craziest of the Six. I plastered an over-dramatic smile on my face and turned to look at him, even tossing in a little eyelash flutter. “I have no idea what you mean, Jared.”

He shook my shoulder and pushed me over so that I sat in between the two of them. I gripped my Dr. Pepper can tighter and tried to stay aloof. It was hard to act that way when threatened by the Six, however. Jared grabbed the can from my hands and finished it off in one swig. “Oh, gross, that was warm as hell.”

I leaned back a little to look at him. “I’d say it serves you right for taking my soda when there’s a whole cooler full of them back there.” I jerked my thumb to the bed of the truck.

His eyes widened, and he leaned back to drag the cooler closer to him. Opening the lid, he hooted with laughter. “See, I knew we kept you around for a reason!” He pulled out the first can his hand touched and held it out to me. I took it from him, as he dug around in the ice. I should have known better. No one kept their back turned to Jared. He was the first one to pull a prank on you. When Ace chuckled, I knew I was in for it. Jared was lightning fast and before I knew it, I had a handful of ice shoved down the back of my shirt. He made sure to catch it between my shirt and my back. A sharp hiss of air escaped my lips, and I bowed forward to get away from the arctic cold melting against my skin. Ace hopped down off the tailgate and caught me before I could jump off to get away.

“Where ya gonna go, Riley?” Ace tormented me with a smile on his face. They meant no harm. If anything, they thought of me as one of their own, so the chances of ever having a boyfriend around the Six were nill.

“That’s not fu…” I squealed when Jared rubbed his hand back and forth, spreading the chunk of ice against my lower back. Cold water seeped past the waistband of my jeans and trailed down the center of my backside.

Jared laughed when I all but slammed into Ace to get away from him. “You’re a damn jerk, Jared.”

His hand shoved at the ice, dragging it across my back, leaving a trail of red-hot pain. I jerked, as I slammed my lips on a howl of pain. Jared snatched his hand away. “Oh shit! Riley, are you okay?”

He yanked his hand back, and the chunk of ice fell to the truck bed. I grabbed it and went to toss it to the ground, but Ace’s hand shot out, catching it before it toppled out of my hand.

“Blood?” He lifted the piece higher to look at it.

Jared bit out a curse beside me. “Damn, Riley. I’m so sorry. Sometimes, I forget you’re a girl.”

I turned to look at him with complete disbelief etched on my face. “What, the boobs didn’t give me away?”

He shook his head and instantly blushed. Leave it to Jared to get embarrassed by the word ‘boobs’.

“Here, let me…” He lifted the back of my shirt, but I twisted out of his grip.

“No, Jared. It’s bad enough the shit those girls say about me because of you guys. The last thing I need is more gossip about how you got my shirt up at a party.”

He flinched away. “Yeah, sorry. But seriously, what do you care what those bitches think? I sure as hell don’t.”

He grabbed the soda he’d pulled out for me and cracked it open, chugging half the can. When he pulled it away, he covered his mouth on a loud belch.

“You’re never gonna change,” I said with sigh.

I flicked a glance at Ace, who still stood in front of me, almost wedged between my knees. There was a look on his face that I couldn’t quite read. His eyes shifted from mine, and he pegged Jared with a dirty look. “Can you try to control yourself for the rest of the night? I promised her dad I’d take care of her tonight, and we’re starting off on the wrong foot already.”

Jared brought his hand up and touched his pinky with his thumb. It was their odd symbol for being part of the Six. When you held your hand up in front of you, it sort of looked like one. They used it as a gesture of brotherhood, or some such thing like that. Ace’s shoulders slumped into a relaxed position, and he nodded.

“Riley, are you okay? Do you want me to see if one of the girls will look at it for you?” Ace asked as he tossed the ice to the ground.

“I’m fine. I’m sure it’s just a scratch. Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged my shoulders and felt the spot where the ice had dug into my flesh. No way would I let on how bad it hurt.

“Hey jackasses, what’s going on over here?” Aiden strutted over and pegged me with a questioning glare. “Hmmm… is Little Miss Riled-up all set for a swim already?” Before I could tell him to keep his ass away from me, Eli strode over.

“Mark’s gonna back his truck up over here, so be ready to unload some wood, dickhead.” He followed up his statement by punching Aiden in the shoulder. Eli darted out of the way when Aiden lunged at him. Before they could tackle each other, Mark’s truck was backed in, and Josh walked over to open the tailgate.

“Hey, knock it off you two and help me get this unloaded.” Josh shook his head and pulled an armload of wood out of the back of the truck. The driver’s side door slammed shut, and Mark rounded the front and beelined for the bed of mine. The cooler lid creaked open once again as he tossed cans to Aiden, Eli, and Josh. He fished one out for himself and closed the lid with a thump. “Gotta love our Riley. She takes good care of us.” He shot a smirk at me, downed the entire can, crushed it in his hands, and tossed it into the back of my truck.

I found myself chuckling at him, as he shot me a wink. “You’re a bunch of freakin’ animals. I swear!”

The cacophony of noises that came from them could rival a barnyard. Some moo’ed, some oinked, and one of them belted out a rooster crow. I ran my hands down my face. The Six were nothing but a bunch of unruly little boys that never grew up.

Ace moved from his spot in front of me and walked over to help finish unloading the pile of wood in the bed of Mark’s truck.

Jared slid off the tailgate and stopped beside me. He tapped my knee and when I looked up at him, he gave me a weary smile. “Sorry about that, Riles. You know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you, right?”

I gave him a smile. “I know, Jared. I’m okay, don’t worry about it.”

He kicked his shoulder up in a half shrug. “You might think you’re tough, but I know I hurt you. If you want one of us to look at it, we can do it where no one can see.” There was a glimmer of honesty in his eyes. I knew that all I needed to do was say the word and one of them would do just that. After all, they’d been taking care of me for a long time. Whether I wanted them to or not.

“I’m okay, Jared. Honest.”

He dipped his head and left me sitting on the tailgate.

Daylight was slowly waning as the Six unloaded the last of the wood and stacked logs for a bonfire. It was nights like these that made me happy. If only we could minus out the rest of the senior class, it would be perfect.

The guys were pros at building a decent fire, and they all took turns keeping it burning. It was like an unspoken rule between them. Some sort of Six code. They had lots of codes they stuck by, but they never talked about. And I had a feeling one of those had something to do with me.

I slid a glance over to where Ace stood beside the unlit fire. He pulled out a small gas can, poured a stream out on the logs, and walked back over to the truck to put it away. I couldn’t tell you who lit the fire, but I heard the gas ignite and saw the outline of the flames dance along the back of Ace’s gray T-shirt. I jerked my gaze away from him when he turned, looking back down at my boots. If I didn’t stop watching him, someone would catch me, and I’d never live it down.

LUKE BRYAN’S VOICE CROONED ON about a girl, and how she could crash his party anytime. For a second, I closed my eyes and let the song carry me away to my latest daydream of Ace. His voice broke through my carefully constructed moment.

“Are we boring you?” he asked, sliding back onto my tailgate beside me. I hadn’t moved since I’d been shoved to the middle by Jared. When Ace’s thigh brushed mine, my eyes popped open, and I shivered from the contact.

He bumped his shoulder into mine. “You okay?”

I bit my cheek and held back a hiss of pain. The ice Jared had tortured me with sure did a number on my skin.

I jerked my head up and down, drawing his attention away from me by pointing to the fire. “I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d say you guys were Boy Scouts at one time.”

He looked over to where the others stood talking around the fire. “Yeah, well, what can I say? We’re all a bunch of fire bugs.”

He laughed at what he said, knowing full well that once the summer was over, he’d be stepping into a job with the Forestry Division. That meant he’d be busting people like himself soon. Wherever the Six were, you could guarantee there’d be a bonfire of some sort, and it didn’t matter where.

“So what are your plans this summer?” he asked.

Before I could reply, a high-pitched voice interrupted us. Samantha Sloan sauntered over in her skin-tight jeans and cling-wrap shirt that dipped low in the front to give any and all a view of her very ample chest. She batted her heavily mascaraed eyelashes to draw focus to her light blue eyes. When Ace looked at her, she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “She’s finally leaving and then maybe one of you lucky boys will look in another direction.”

I let the comment slide. At no point had I ever been the reason why none of the Six dated her. She loved saying stupid things like that when they were within earshot.

I waited. One of them was bound to acknowledge her. When they didn’t, she turned her focus to me. “So where’s your other half?” She must have found her joke funny because she snorted out a squealed sort of laugh.

I arched a brow up at her. “Other half?”

She tossed her hand in the air. “Oh please, we all know you use them,” she gestured at the guys, “as a cover to being a lesbo with your girlfriend.”

Ace stiffened beside me, and the others stopped talking mid-sentence. I hadn’t really looked at her until then and when I did, she backed up a step.

“What bothers you the most, Sam?” She cringed at the nickname. “Is it the fact that none of them will sleep with you? Or that you want to sleep with me?”

Laughter erupted around us, and Samantha fisted her hands at her sides. “You’re probably fucking all of them. That’s how you keep them close, right? How does that work, Riley? One every night and then a break on Sunday? Or is Sunday the day you sleep with your bestie?”

I flew off the tailgate before Ace could stop me. My fist shot out and slammed into Samantha’s eye. She staggered backwards, tripping over her own feet. I hauled her up by her shirt, as the guys circled around me. They weren’t letting anyone past them. They knew I’d finally had enough of Samantha’s hateful comments and had even asked me when I’d planned to kick her ass.

When I’d straightened her back up, she slapped my hand away. “How dare you?”

“How dare I? You just can’t keep your mouth shut, and I’m done listening to your bullshit.” I shoved her, and she stumbled back a step.

Her lip curled, and I knew whatever she was about to say would seal her fate with me. I’d had enough of her snide comments and her bullying ways. I would put an end to it once and for all.

“You are, aren’t you? You’re sleeping with all of them!” Her shrill voice carried over the quiet night, and I hissed between my teeth when I realized that even the damn radio had been shut off.

The guys had promised that if it ever came to setting Samantha in her place, they’d let me do what needed to be done. By the looks of it, they were having a hard time keeping that promise. Eli had a hold of Josh’s arm, and Aiden had his arm out in front of Jared. Mark and Ace kept shooting glances at each other. I waited until they looked at me and shook my head. I was over Samantha dragging my name through the mud because none of them were interested in her.

She shot forward and I dodged her hand, but her intent wasn’t to punch me. No, she went for the low-ball move and grabbed my ponytail. I swore under my breath, brought my arm up between us, and pulled my head back with everything I had. When there was enough room between us, I shoved her away. Excited chatter rolled around us. Her friends cheered her on, telling her to ‘take care of that whore,’ and other hate-filled comments that insinuated my reputation was no better than a hooker’s.

Samantha laughed and tossed her hands out to the side. “Look at you. I don’t know what I was thinking. Who the hell would sleep with you?” She picked up her hands and swept them in the air from my feet to my chest. “You have nothing there for them to hold on to, and you sure as hell don’t look like you could keep up with them.” The girls around the circle laughed, as she pointed out all of my flaws to the entire senior class. It hit me wrong, and I let a telltale wince slip across my face.