The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) (15 page)

ACE WAS FURIOUS WHEN
I
pulled the Jet Ski up beside the dock. He shot Jared a dirty look and waited for me to climb off. I slid back on the seat and slapped my hand on the open spot. He climbed on in front of me, took us out to the middle of the Hole, and let us drift. I could feel the tension in his body rolling off him. “That was an incredibly stupid idea. I never want you to put yourself in that position again.”

I slid back on the seat. If we were gonna have it out, I wanted to see his face. “I wouldn’t take that shit from Jared. Why would you think I’d take it from you?”

“Riley…”

“No. Don’t you dare try to use that tone of voice with me! I’m not a child. You have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do. Jared is our friend, and he needs us right now. I took a chance that he’d talk to me, and I was right.”

Ace spoke through clenched teeth. “He could have hurt you!”

“But he didn’t.” I looked over to where the guys stood on the dock. They were focused on Jared. I could tell by the jerky movements he made that he was breaking the news about leaving in two days’ time.

“What’s going on, Riley?” Ace asked me as he watched the scene on the dock.

“Jared’s leaving Friday.”

“What? Why?”

“The phone call he got was from his manager. Kit James walked and Jared has to go, or he’s in breach of his contract.”

Ace’s chin hit his chest, and I wrapped my arms around him as he soaked in what I’d told him. “We have two more days with him. Let’s make the best of it.” I ran my hands up his side and kissed the spot between his shoulder blades. Shivering, he rested his hands briefly on mine. His anger deflated, and he took us back to the dock.

THE FUN HAD BEEN SUCKED
out of the day. We didn’t need that. If anything, we should have been making enough crazy memories to last until the next time we were together.

We were sitting on the blanket, spread out, looking out over the water, when Mark shouted behind us. “Y’all look like a bunch of old porch dogs sunnin’ themselves, minus the sun.”

I looked up, and Paige gave me a
‘what the hell is going on’
look.

Josh pulled a leg up and draped his arm over it. He stared at the water but spoke to Mark. “Jared’s leaving on Friday.”

Mark staggered, bumping into Paige. She steadied him and kept her hand on his arm until they made it to where he half sat, half tossed himself to where he could come to terms with the bad news Josh delivered.

“It’s really happening, isn’t it? We’re all going our separate ways.” His words were filled with heartbreaking disbelief.

Paige sat down beside Mark, leaning against him until he looked at her. A look passed between them and Mark shifted, pushing on Paige’s legs until he had his head in her lap. He crossed his ankles and closed his eyes.

Paige pulled her fingers through his hair, as she chewed on her lip. I could see a thought brewing, and then she broke the silence.

“I don’t know why y’all are sad about Jared leaving. If anything, you should be pissed. He’s gonna be getting more ass in one month than all of you will get for the rest of your life.”

It went dead quiet for a beat of three seconds when everyone whipped their heads to look at her with eyes widened. She ignored them and shot a toothy grin at Jared. When she winked at him, it broke the spell holding everyone speechless. It took the guys a while to get their laughter under control. They heaved deep breaths and when one would start up again, it set all of them off. They laughed until they clutched at their stomachs. Paige never spoke like that. Sure, she cussed, but she’d never joked or talked like that in the last four years she’d known the Six. Paige was the prim and proper one of the bunch, and she’d just shot the hell out of her perfectly coiffed image. All bets would be off with the Six. She’d sealed her own fate.

“I knew she was one of us!” Jared howled.

Mark reached up, put his hand behind her neck, and pulled her down for a kiss.

It made the guys howl out and try their hardest to embarrass her and Mark.

Ace nudged me with his shoulder. When I looked at him, he wore a goofy grin. “What?”

He shook his head and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Hugging me against him, he leaned in and spoke against the side of my neck. “Leave it to Paige to snap us back to reality.”

The mood around us shifted as everyone accepted that life, no matter how much we didn’t want it to, was changing for all of us.

After that, the afternoon was filled with cannonballs, Jet Ski races, and people being tossed in the water. It was perfect.

AIDEN DROVE THE FOUR-WHEELER
, loaded with the Jet Skis, back to the shed they’d been stored in. The rest of us collected our stuff and walked back to the cabin. Jared mentioned steak, and we’d hurriedly packed up so we could stuff our faces.

When I made it inside the cabin, Jared had the steaks out on plates and was pulling the spices down to season them. He glanced over at me and spun the lid off the garlic salt. “You can use my shower if you want.”

“I planned on it,” I said, setting my bag down. There was a handful of empty wrappers and a half-eaten bag of chips. I tossed the bag on the counter, turned the tote upside down over the trash, and shook it.

He spun the lid back on the garlic salt and reached for the pepper as he mumbled, “Saucy wench.”

I purposely walked around the table and hip-checked him. He hadn’t expected it, and his forehead banged into the top cabinet. I darted away from him before he could touch me with the same hand he’d flipped the raw meat with. I heard him chuckle to himself as I made my way down the hall.

Ace walked into the bedroom and eyed the shorts and underwear I’d tossed on the bed. He leaned against the doorframe as I plucked a T-shirt off the hanger. “I’m gonna grab a shower in Jared’s bathroom.”

He pushed off the doorframe and dropped a kiss to my lips. “All by yourself?”

“It’s how I’ve done it these last fourteen plus years, so yeah, I think I can handle it.” Once the reply left my mouth, I realized what he meant, and the telltale blush of embarrassment tinged my cheeks a bright red. I busied myself by turning away and picking up the clothes I’d set on the bed.

“Yeah, but there’s always that one spot that gets missed no matter what angle your arm is bent.” His arm shot out in front of me when I went to walk past him. “So really, I’m doing you a favor by coming with you. Ya know—to make sure that one spot gets clean.”

I hugged the stack of clothes tighter to my chest. “Oh please, did you honestly think that would work?”

His eyes crinkled at the corner and he brought his hand up, pinching his cheeks to keep his lips from curving into a smile.

“You gotta come up with better lines,” I said, pushing his arm down so I could walk past him.

The room swirled around me, and I ended up pressed against the wall. My clothes fell to the floor, and my hands landed against Ace’s chest. “How about this…? I’ll wash your back, and you can wash mine.”

My mouth opened and closed several times as he stood there in front of me, waiting, caging me in as my short breaths pushed my chest against his.

Ace’s eyebrow kicked up as he moved back a step, and then bent down to pick up my clothes. When he handed them over, my underwear was hanging from his finger. I went to snatch them, but he pulled them out of my reach. “So what do ya say?

My voice came out a husky whisper when I gathered the nerve to answer him. “I still think you need better lines to get a girl to share her shower.”

“Challenge accepted, Riley. I’ll work on that later, but right now… shower.” He grabbed clean clothes, took my hand, and rushed me down the hallway to Jared’s bathroom. When the bedroom door closed behind us, Ace turned the lock in one swift movement.

My feet felt like they were glued to the floor when Ace walked toward me. Prowled was more like it. He pulled at the clothes I clutched tightly to my chest. They fell from my grip, and I wobbled back a step. I wasn’t scared, not in the least. No, I was so wound up that the tiniest of touches from Ace would shatter me. He watched me through hooded eyes as he maneuvered around me into the bathroom. The shower turned on and seconds later, steam rose up above the glass doors. I clasped my hands together in front of me, twisting my fingers together as I wondered if I should bolt, chiding myself for being unsure.

Ace twisted at the waist, and I watched the way his skin stretched over his chest, bunching the muscles in his back. His hand came out, inviting me to make the first move—to go to him on my own. I took one step, and then another. Before I knew it, he had a tight grip on the bottom of my shirt, lifting it over my head. His lips found mine and he kissed me, as he tugged the strings holding my bikini top in place. His hands spread out over my back, fingertips digging in as he pulled me close. As he slid his lips along my neck and down to my shoulder, his left hand raked down my side, while his thumb hooked at the waist of my bottoms, dragging the material over my hip. He smoothed his hand up along my ribcage and switched hands, tugging the other side of my bottoms until they puddled at my feet.

I reached out with fingers that shook, ran my hands along his sides, and brought them around, wedging them between us and untying his swimming trunks. Ace sucked in a hiss when I grabbed the top corner of the Velcro and yanked it apart. My hands ran back and forth across the bottom of his stomach until I trailed my fingers under the waist of the shorts, pushing them down and over his nicely shaped backside.

I waited as he took a deep breath and then released it as he stepped back. He held my stare as my top fell to the floor. I stepped out of the tangle of material at my feet and followed him as he walked backwards into the shower. He never broke eye contact once, as he backed me up under the steady pounding of water coming from the showerhead. His touch was light, tracing his fingers up my arms, over my shoulder, until he held his hands at the base of my neck and used his thumbs to tilt my head under the water.

Dropping one of his hands, Ace lifted mine up in between us. My eyes snapped to his when he placed a kiss against my palm and then moved me out from under the shower spray.

He turned away, grabbed the shampoo, squeezed some in his hands, and then stuck his head under the water. Scrubbing the shampoo into his hair, he rinsed it. I had to lean against the shower wall, as I watched Ace turn, lift his arms, and rinse the shampoo from his body. The water ran down over his face, along his neck, over the chiseled perfection of his chest, and…

“Riley?” Ace had been watching me watch him. He had a handful of shampoo that he rubbed between his palms. The shower was huge, but Ace’s presence shrunk it down when I turned to stand in front of him. His fingertips against my scalp made me sag against him until he turned me to rinse the shampoo from my hair. Water ran off us and hit the tiled floor in loud splashes with every move. I closed my eyes and soaked in every touch of Ace’s body against mine. The creaking sound of a bottle opening snapped me out of the haze he had put me under.

“Ready to get soapy, Riley?” His voice vibrated against my chest. I shuddered when I felt the first slide of soap bubbles run down my chest. Ace’s hands roamed my entire body from shoulder to feet. Steadying myself, I held onto his shoulders, feeling his muscles bunch under my hands. I felt the tremors that wracked his entire frame. He was shaking from the arousal he’d built between us. My breath caught in my throat on a gasp.