Read Online The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) by Sonya Loveday - Free Book Online
Authors: Sonya Loveday
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trying to calm a spooked wild animal.
“There is nothing left to say. Please give me my keys.” The sob I’d been trying to contain broke past my lips, and I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep myself from doing it again.
“If you want to go home so bad, I’ll drive you there.” Ace brushed past me and gestured for Josh to toss him my keys. “Go get in the truck, Riley.”
There was no point in arguing with him. Ace wouldn’t take my shit, not like the rest of them did. I think out of all of them, Ace and I knew each other the best. And I knew without even looking at him that he meant what he said. It was either stay there or let him drive me. I turned my back on Josh, Mark, Aiden, and Eli and walked around to the passenger side of my truck and got in, slamming the door hard enough to make the cab of the truck rock in place.
Ace slid in behind the wheel, turned the key, pulled the knob for the headlights, and shifted into drive. I sat with my back to him and watched the side mirror, angry at the five faces that watched us drive away, and hoping that wouldn’t be the last time I saw them. I was pissed, sure, but they were like brothers, and that was what hurt the worst.
Ace waited for a few minutes before he spoke. “I know you’re hurt…”
A strained laugh was my only reply.
“Come on, Riles. Do you even know how bad we feel for hurting you?”
Ace swerved to miss a dip, which told me that he was paying more attention to me than he was the road.
“If you’re gonna drive like that, you should’ve just let me take myself home.” I clutched at the door handle and hissed with the jolt of pain that ran up my back.
“You can’t drive with the medication Eli gave you. Even you know better than that.” Ace slowed the truck and shifted in his seat, as he rolled his window down. The warm night air felt good as it pushed through the cab and whipped my hair around.
My thoughts cleared a little, as I was hit with the reality that Ace had suckered me into letting him drive me home. “You did this on purpose.” I turned on the bench seat and reached out to smack him on the arm.
His hand caught mine, keeping me from snatching my hand back. The truck slowed, and Ace pulled onto the shoulder.
“Riley, can you just stop? Just for tonight, can you try to look at both sides of this? Do you know how long we agonized over you knowing the truth? Do you know how freaked out we’ve been that you’d find out about it tonight? We’ve been on pins and fucking needles for days now. We’ve been tied up in knots over what you’d think or do because of it.”
I looked away. I didn’t want to see the truth in his eyes, the raw hurt that was reflected there. I wasn’t that important. I was just me, a girl lucky enough to have some really amazing guy friends who were my support system for as long as I could remember. They should have left it alone, left me out of their brotherhood, and just accepted me as Riley, the girl who was a good friend and that was all.
When I didn’t turn back and answer, Ace put the truck in drive again and pulled back onto the road.
The worst part was that Ace’s words made me think. They made me pick apart everything he said and analyze it for the truth. So what, they decided to protect me? Didn’t any brother or best friend do that? And so what, they at one point thought that they loved me. It couldn’t have been love, because love, real love, makes you crazy and selfish. You wanted to be with that person so badly that you forsook the consequences. You jumped in with both feet, hoping that you’d find yourself sinking so deep inside the other person that you welcomed drowning with open arms.
Ace’s voice broke the silence. “Aiden and Eli were the first to admit how they felt about you the summer between eighth and ninth grade. Do you remember that summer?”
My mind shifted back to those days. Aiden and Eli had started to pick at each other and at one point, they were always
“There is nothing left to say. Please give me my keys.” The sob I’d been trying to contain broke past my lips, and I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep myself from doing it again.
“If you want to go home so bad, I’ll drive you there.” Ace brushed past me and gestured for Josh to toss him my keys. “Go get in the truck, Riley.”
There was no point in arguing with him. Ace wouldn’t take my shit, not like the rest of them did. I think out of all of them, Ace and I knew each other the best. And I knew without even looking at him that he meant what he said. It was either stay there or let him drive me. I turned my back on Josh, Mark, Aiden, and Eli and walked around to the passenger side of my truck and got in, slamming the door hard enough to make the cab of the truck rock in place.
Ace slid in behind the wheel, turned the key, pulled the knob for the headlights, and shifted into drive. I sat with my back to him and watched the side mirror, angry at the five faces that watched us drive away, and hoping that wouldn’t be the last time I saw them. I was pissed, sure, but they were like brothers, and that was what hurt the worst.
Ace waited for a few minutes before he spoke. “I know you’re hurt…”
A strained laugh was my only reply.
“Come on, Riles. Do you even know how bad we feel for hurting you?”
Ace swerved to miss a dip, which told me that he was paying more attention to me than he was the road.
“If you’re gonna drive like that, you should’ve just let me take myself home.” I clutched at the door handle and hissed with the jolt of pain that ran up my back.
“You can’t drive with the medication Eli gave you. Even you know better than that.” Ace slowed the truck and shifted in his seat, as he rolled his window down. The warm night air felt good as it pushed through the cab and whipped my hair around.
My thoughts cleared a little, as I was hit with the reality that Ace had suckered me into letting him drive me home. “You did this on purpose.” I turned on the bench seat and reached out to smack him on the arm.
His hand caught mine, keeping me from snatching my hand back. The truck slowed, and Ace pulled onto the shoulder.
“Riley, can you just stop? Just for tonight, can you try to look at both sides of this? Do you know how long we agonized over you knowing the truth? Do you know how freaked out we’ve been that you’d find out about it tonight? We’ve been on pins and fucking needles for days now. We’ve been tied up in knots over what you’d think or do because of it.”
I looked away. I didn’t want to see the truth in his eyes, the raw hurt that was reflected there. I wasn’t that important. I was just me, a girl lucky enough to have some really amazing guy friends who were my support system for as long as I could remember. They should have left it alone, left me out of their brotherhood, and just accepted me as Riley, the girl who was a good friend and that was all.
When I didn’t turn back and answer, Ace put the truck in drive again and pulled back onto the road.
The worst part was that Ace’s words made me think. They made me pick apart everything he said and analyze it for the truth. So what, they decided to protect me? Didn’t any brother or best friend do that? And so what, they at one point thought that they loved me. It couldn’t have been love, because love, real love, makes you crazy and selfish. You wanted to be with that person so badly that you forsook the consequences. You jumped in with both feet, hoping that you’d find yourself sinking so deep inside the other person that you welcomed drowning with open arms.
Ace’s voice broke the silence. “Aiden and Eli were the first to admit how they felt about you the summer between eighth and ninth grade. Do you remember that summer?”
My mind shifted back to those days. Aiden and Eli had started to pick at each other and at one point, they were always
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