I gripped my pole tighter, my jaw throbbing from how hard I was grinding my teeth.
“You’re disgusting, man.” Dark Hair grunted, reeling his line in at double-speed. He looked at me. “I think I’m done.”
I nodded, avoiding Blondie’s face because my fist wanted an introduction with it, and I couldn’t go there without losing my job.
“So dramatic.” Blondie scoffed and sent his lure flying toward the water again. “It’s just a plan.”
“It’s called preying on the weak, and I’m not backing you this time. Let’s go.”
“Another call came in while you were out,” June said behind me as I locked up the shed for the night.
“Who was it?” I asked.
“Someone named Neil? He said to call him back when you have time. He’ll be in his office late tonight.” She handed me a note. “Here’s his number.”
I nodded, wishing I felt more relief than I did. “Thanks.”
“Cory?”
I turned to look at the peppy little redhead who’d somehow decided she was the mother hen of every staffer at camp. Forget the fact that she was our age.
“Is there anything I can be praying for you?”
Ha. Praying for me? That was an interesting idea. I shook my head. “I’m good. Thanks.”
I turned back to the shed, a familiar longing pulling through my chest. The one that I used to get down on my knees for, but I knew better than that now. I never considered myself a self-loather, but God had way too many holy people to worry about. He didn’t need to be bothered by a mess like me.
The pay phones were all empty, and I stood at the farthest one from the road, pulling the note with Neil’s number out of my pocket. I was hoping to have some other options lined up by this point in the summer, but with Mom gone, and Dad back home wreaking havoc, there was no way going back to the ranch would be a valid option. More than likely, there was no way anyone who would hire me would put up with his antics for long anyway.
I dialed Neil’s number, listening to the rings as a few campers passed on the road ahead. The idiot high schooler from the fishing tour earlier went by with his friend.
I needed to warn Lea about him.
Lea . . .
Thinking about her wouldn’t do me any good, but thinking about anything else was near impossible. I had to find her after this.
“This is Neil,” a gruff voice echoed on the other end of the phone.
“Cory Griffin, sir.”
“Griffin. Good to hear back from ya. So, you’re still thinking of enlisting?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Well, look. I have time tomorrow afternoon if you have time to meet.”
Tomorrow afternoon . . . I had fishing tours until after hours. Dang, this was about to get thorny. “What time?”
“What time works for you?”
I cleared my throat. “I work ’till four, then I break ’till six-thirty.”
“You’re still up at Bridgeport Lake, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Still taking people fishing?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell you what. I’ve been fixin’ to get some fishing in, and a drive up the mountain sounds like a nice break for me. I’ll meet you there at four. Sound good?”
“Yes, sir.”
“See you then.”
The call disconnected, sealing my fate. In less than twenty-four hours, I’d be meeting with a Naval recruiter, and if everything went the way I needed it to, by the end of summer, I’d be starting the path to becoming a U.S. Navy Seal.
LEA
My guitar case slung over my shoulder, and Taylor’s arm looped through mine, I made my way from our cabin to the chapel, where I was supposed to meet the band tonight.
“I’m so stoked for you, girl!” Tay whisper-shouted—for the thousandth time—as we neared the massive wooden double doors.
I couldn’t help my smile as we walked through and Bridgeport’s lanky worship leader greeted us.
“Name’s Philly,” he said, offering his hand and a half-grin.
“Lea,” I said, shaking his hand. “Thanks so much.”
“Are you ready to get started with your song?”
“Beyond.”
He led us through the lobby, and another set of wooden doors, into the sanctuary with the shipwreck scene, except all the lights were on, and it didn’t look so ominous tonight.
A loud laugh came from the stage, and I looked to see King Kyle up there, chumming it up with the rest of the band.
“Oh. Does he need more time?” I asked Philly.
“No.” Philly shook his head. “He’s done.”
Why was he still up there?
Kyle noticed me as we got closer and started clapping. “She lives! We were all so worried about you yesterday.”
Right . . .
Tay tightened her grip on my arm.
I bit back a million rude remarks and followed Philly up the steps. There was no way of knowing what The King had lurking under his ’50s style vibe t-shirt. What kind of a look was he even going for, anyway?
“Sure you’re good to compete?” Kyle stuck his hands in his pockets and lifted a wicked brow at me, green eyes stuck on my walking boot as we approached him on the stage. “Heard you tweaked it pretty good.”
“I’m fine.”
He winked at me and turned to Philly. “Look out, guys. This girl can kill it.” He headed for the stairs, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he passed. “Good luck, Lea. See you after.”
“Uh . . . okay?” Why would he say that, though? We weren’t scheduled to do anything together for this were we? Maybe there was another part of the night I didn’t know about yet.
“What was that?” Tay whispered, giving me a weird look.
“No idea,” I whispered back.
Tay took a seat in the front row and let out a little “whoop!” She was always my rock, no matter how dumb I’d been. I had to find a way to make it up to her while we were up here.
“So this is the band,” Philly said, breaking through my confusion. I turned to face them, and went through the rounds of learning their names. “Guys, meet the legendary Lea Miller.”
My neck warmed, and then my cheeks, but my nerves could shove it. I was here on a mission to finish what I’d started, and I wasn’t backing down for anything. “Awesome to meet you.” I pulled my guitar out of the case and checked that it was tuned. “Ready to get started?”
Philly showed me how to work the microphone, and I was beyond ready to go for it.
I started up my strum and leaned close to the mic, drawing a deep breath and closing my eyes, envisioning the reason why I was up here in the first place. Dad’s face came to mind, and then his famous last words before any of my performances. Do it for God and no one else, bug.
I swallowed, nodding.
For you and no one else, God.
“Darkest nights and hollow days,” I started, slow and deep, emphasizing my rasp on the last word. “Memories burn as your voice fades.” I picked the instrumental and glanced at Philly because he’d be the one playing it on Saturday night. He adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses and came to stand beside me, studying my music as I kept going. “Shallow laughter, deepest pain.”
I looked at the drummer. “This is where the kick comes in,” I told him. He nodded. “Memories burn and your voice fades.” I looked at the keyboardist. “Keys here. I’ll pick the hook for you this time.”
The keyboardist nodded and looked to the drummer, who grinned and raised a brow before he started in on the kick.
“Been so long since you were here.” I stopped playing and signaled for them all to stop, then nodded. “Now full sound—Wanna hold you close, wanna keep you near. Can’t go where you disappeared. Been so long since you were here.”
“You rocked that so hard!” Tay said, all giggles and elbow nudges after we left the chapel. “How did it feel?”
“Better than chocolate froyo on a hundr
ed-degree day.”
“Girl! I’m so stoked for you!”
“Went good, then?” A deep voice came from somewhere in the darkness to the right. “I knew you’d kill it.”
Kill it? . . . Kyle.
Tay scoffed and tugged my arm. “Just ignore him.”
“No. Wait.” He rushed toward us, pushing his undercut up higher on his head. “I wanted to talk to you guys. Well, mainly you, Lea, but Tay, you can hear it, too.”
“Don’t call me that.” Taylor’s hand tightened around my arm.
“Sorry . . . Taylor.”
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine if you keep it to your little old self, Kyle.” I nudged Taylor toward the path, and Kyle followed.
“Seriously. I owe you guys an apology.”
Taylor gasped.
I froze stiff. The King was apologizing? “What?”
“Yeah. Seriously.” He nodded, lifting a shoulder. “I just . . . You’re really good, Lea. Like, star status, you know? And we’ve always been neck-and-neck. I guess, I’ve always been kind of jealous of you.”
“Of me?” What was he even saying? The King never admitted to his faults.
“For real. You’re crazy good. So, I’m sorry. I’m over the fifth-grade tactics. And I want to wish you genuine good luck this year. Promise.”
I glanced at Taylor. Her parted lips and furrowed brows matched mine.
“Actually, to show how serious I am, I want to ask you something.”
“Uh . . . Okay?”
He grinned and stepped closer, dropping to his knee in front of me. “Lea Miller—
“What are you doing, Kyle? Get up.”
“Hear me out, okay? Look, I know I’ve been a class-A jerk for the past hundred years. But I want to make it up to you. Would you go to the reveal dinner with me?”
“Wait. What?”
“No way, dude!” someone shouted from the path above the chapel. “Is Kyle asking Lea out?”
My stomach dropped, and my eyes widened. “Get up, weirdo. People are saying stuff.”
His grin widened. “Is that a yes?”
“Kyle,” Tay chided.
“Kyle’s asking Lea out!” another voice shouted.
“Get up,” I whispered, trying not to sound so desperate, but I’d never felt this desperate in my life!
Kyle cocked his head. “Not until you answer. Can the rivals make up at our competition dinner? Think about how epic it could be.”
“Oh my gosh! He moves so fast!”
He lifted his brow at me.
“Fine! Yes. Okay? I’ll go with you if you just get up.”
“Yeah?”
I pressed my fingers to my temples, nodding. “Yup. Yes. Okay? Yes!”
He hopped to his feet and pulled me into a hug I was not expecting. “It’ll be fun.”
“Sure.” I tapped his back and stepped backward as Taylor cackled maniacally beside us.
“What’s so funny, Tay?” I asked, as Kyle saluted me and headed up the path. She pointed to me and then to Kyle, and back to me. “Do you realize what you just agreed to?” She busted up worse and doubled over.
“Dinner with Kyle?”
She slapped her leg. “Dinner with Kyle!”
“Hey, Lea?”
I glanced up the path to where a familiar, gorgeous shadow stood. For as much as I’d told myself to stay focused on the competition and just forget about last night, you’d think I wouldn’t be so excited to see Cory, but I was. “Hey.”
Taylor cleared her throat. “I’ll uh . . . be at the Snack Shop.”
Cory came toward me, still in his waders and eternal baseball hat, but there was an element of fierceness in his eyes that wasn’t there last night. “Can we talk?”
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head, glancing over his shoulder. “That guy . . . Is he . . . Are you guys––”
“Wait. What? No. We’re not anything. He just asked me to the reveal dinner. He’s the worst. At least, he has been.”
“Are you going with him? To the dinner?”
“Yeah.”
Cory’s face hardened, and his dark brown eyes shifted to the space above my shoulder.
“He was making this huge scene, apologizing, and practically begging me to go with him, I didn’t know how to get him to stop, so I said yes.”
He wouldn’t look at me.
“As friends.”
He grunted. “You sure?”
“Why are you so worried about it, anyway?”
Cory sighed and ran a hand down his cheek. “He was on a fishing tour earlier. Heard him talking about you.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head, returning his sights to mine. “Just be careful.”
Something was off in his tone, and he kept looking away from me.
“What’s wrong?”
He nodded toward the path. “Gotta go.”
I should’ve just let him, but I didn’t want him to. “Just tell me.”
“Not this time, Lea.”
My heart sank, and I closed the distance between us, wanting to lock my arms around his neck and lean my head against his chest. “Whatever it is, I can handle hearing it. I want to hear it.”
His eyes traveled my face, and he almost looked pained.
Shoot. Up until now, I’d thought I could just put last night behind me and shift my focus back to the competition, because that was what mattered the most up here. I mean, yeah, I liked Cory. A lot. But being this close to him, and having him look at me like this, in that weirdly protective, but also super tender way? It did something funky to my brain, and made my heart ache. I slid my hand into his and squeezed, and that same spark ignited between our palms, just like last night. “Tell me.”
He squeezed back, searching my eyes, and then his gaze shifted to my lips. A familiar buzz ran across my palm, and my stomach did a weird flip thing. It was just like what happened last year, when I’d told him my dad passed. When he’d held me for an hour, just letting me sob into his arms, and then he’d told me it was going to be all right, with that same confident look in his eyes. But then he’d drawn a deep breath and nodded toward the house, and told me his mom sent him over with dinner, and our almost-kiss faded.
I didn’t want an almost-kiss this time. After he’d risked his life to save me on that trail, and everything that happened between us after, I wanted the real thing.
I stepped closer and lifted my face toward his, my lips tingling.
He dipped his head toward mine, until our breaths melded, and his fingers slipped behind my ear, sending a set of goosebumps straight down my arms.
Muffled voices traveled through the air behind me.
Cory blinked, shook his head, cleared his throat, and released my hand. “Meet me at the old creek bridge in half an hour.” With that, he ducked his head and walked away.
“What even,” I whispered, my heart pounding, and the electricity in my veins firing out of control. I blew a shaky breath and headed back to camp to find Tay. I’d need her distractions if I had to wait a half an hour to hang out with him again.
Eight
CORY
Flashlight in hand, I leaned back against the old wood bridge, the sound of water babbling and the forest creaking making my soul settle some. After talking to Lea tonight, I was doing everything in my power to find some decent logic, but it wasn’t happening.
Stupid or crazy were the only two words that could describe me and my thick-skulled move earlier. Wish I could say I regretted telling Lea to meet me here. I should go rush and find her and tell her to forget it. Forget me. But seeing that moron on his knee in front of her did something to my rationale I couldn’t undo. Maybe I was brain-dead; there was no telling. I’d wanted to deck that kid and tell Lea how I really felt about her. I almost did earlier, but my life was about to shift drastically. Again. I wasn’t sure there was a way to make us work. But I wanted there to be.
Something crunched on the trail to my left, and I shot the light tow
ard the path, illuminating a walking boot, then a perfect Lea in a pair of jean shorts and a hoodie, holding up a lantern. She smiled and came to stand beside me on the bridge, nuzzling her shoulder up against mine. A weight lifted off my chest.
Dang it, why did being near her feel so right?
I shined the light on the water flowing beneath us and drew a deep breath, traces of her apple shampoo swirling through my senses.
“Thought you might’ve changed your mind,” she said, gripping the top beam on the bridge railing.
“Mm.”
“What’s going on with you, Cory?”
There was so much I wanted to say. So many feelings welling up inside me—some I didn’t understand, others I didn’t want to admit to. Not when they were targeted at her. I had to keep her safe, but how was I supposed to do that when she was interested in me? When I was worse than interested in her?
I was the furthest thing from safe. At least, with my dad breathing down my neck I was. But if tomorrow turned out the way I planned, he shouldn’t be a problem anymore, and I’d be on a route to a better future. A future a little more worthy of a girl like Lea.
“That much, huh?” She tilted her head, resting it on my shoulder, and I wanted to pull her close and forget everything on my mind.
I sighed.
“I know how much you love expressing yourself. Spill.” She turned that magnetic smile on me, her eyes dancing in the light of her lantern. “Seriously, what’s bothering you?”
“How’d you sneak away?”
“Taylor. And stop trying to avoid the question. Something’s bothering you, and I demand to know what it is.” The breeze kicked up, tugging one of her curls out from behind her ear and swirling it around her face. I wanted to put it back where it belonged.
I gripped the rail instead. “I’m leaving, Lea.”
“Leaving camp? Don’t tell me Tucker told your boss––”
“After camp. I’m . . . enlisting.”
“In what?” Her voice wavered, her smile falling away faster than it had come.
“The Navy.”
She shook her head, turned her attention toward the creek. “Why, though? You’re supposed to take over at the ranch someday, right?”
Falling In Hard: Book Four in The Bridgeport Lake Summer Series Page 6