Falling In Hard: Book Four in The Bridgeport Lake Summer Series

by Danielle Arie

  “June to Cory. You have two campers requesting a night tour.”

  Two campers . . .

  “Copy. Send ’em down,” I said.

  I don’t know why I’d hoped Lea would come alone. Well, aside from the obvious attraction building between us, but there was something else there, too. Something stronger than an attraction. Something that felt like a friendship—camaraderie, even—and the potential for more. I’d felt hints of it last summer, but she was barely seventeen then and I was twenty, and I’d been accountable to her brother. This year was proving to be different. We were both adults. And we were both up here with hopes of better futures. And Nolan? Well, he might not like it, but he wasn’t here to whine in my ear about it, either. And as far as Dad’s threats were concerned, there was a big chance I wouldn’t have to worry about him after August.

  For now, though?

  For now, we had to keep things friendly. At least for this week—but she wouldn’t be a camper next week, would she? And a few more days wouldn’t be too long to wait. Hope swelled in my chest, because a few more days were nothing. After that, we could have a serious talk and figure out where this thing could go. We had a couple months to figure things out before I’d have to leave for boot camp, anyway, and Nolan would get over it. Especially after I told him about the Navy.

  Dang. I was actually making some headway in my life for once. Wasn’t too familiar with the feeling.

  “What’s that grin for?” Lea’s voice broke through my triumph, and I glanced at the dock.

  “Where’s Taylor?” I asked.

  “She had to use the bathroom.” Lea winked twice.

  “Just you and me, then?”

  “Unless you want me to go grab her?”

  I glanced at the shoreline, which was dark and pretty bare, and the boathouse was already closed for the night. There weren’t many people milling around, and the last time I’d seen Tucker, he was up at the basketball courts with the rest of the maintenance crew, which meant we had at least as long as a basketball game lasted to hang out before I had to start worrying about being seen alone with her. “Where’s your youth group?”

  This was a bad idea.

  “We just got out of night service. It’s downtime until lights out.”

  She climbed into the boat without permission.

  I sighed. “Never broke so many rules in my life.”

  “Welcome to the wild side. I’ve been breaking them all week.”

  “You’re dangerous.”

  She shrugged. “Try and stop me.”

  I chuckled, untying the boat and pushing us off. “If I ever knew the definition of unstoppable, you’re it.”

  “Gets you places when you need it to. You should try it sometime.”

  I locked eyes with her, chills coating my skin at the conviction in her gaze. “I think I might.”

  We rowed in silence, until the bow of the boat grated against the rocks on the south bank, at the opposite end of the lake. It was technically state property on this side, which might be a good thing for us. Over here, we weren’t Bridgeport liable. Over here, we were just Cory and Lea. Over here, we were just two adults having a conversation. I hopped out, my wader boots gripping the rocks on the lake floor as I pulled the boat all the way to shore. I offered Lea my hand, and she took it, something wild flashing through her eyes before she jumped out and slung her legs around my back, wincing a couple times when her boot hit my hip.

  “What’re you doing, crazy?” I chuckled, hooking my arms through the crook of her knees to get a better grip.

  “Living a little.” She tightened her hold on me and set her chin on my shoulder, so her breath hit my ear with every exhale, sending a wave of chills down my spine.

  Moonlight danced across the water as it sloshed against the bank. I’d bet all my summer earnings there’d be a ton of fish biting in the shallows tonight. For once, I didn’t really care.

  “This a good spot?” I asked, stopping at the bottom of a massive sequoia on the edge of the bank, its roots twisting and stretching toward the water like it hadn’t had a drink in a hundred years, like it would die if it didn’t make it to the water somehow.

  “Anywhere’s perfect.” Lea squeezed her arms around me tighter as I leaned to set her down, but when her feet hit the ground, she didn’t let go. She moved to stand in front of me, a question in her eyes I didn’t have an answer to. Not yet. I trailed my hands down her arms and wove my fingers through hers, leading her to the ground in front of the tree trunk.

  I sat back against the trunk and patted the space beside me, a huge wave of relief washing through me when she sat and snuggled in close.

  “Thanks for saving me earlier. I don’t know what Kyle’s thinking.”

  I did. Anyone would be lucky to be with Lea, and he knew it.

  “I mean, I’ve known him forever, but he’s always been like this annoying little fly in the background of everything that has to do with my singing life.”

  I pulled her hand to my lap and ran my fingers over her knuckles. “Want me to knock him down a few notches for you?”

  She chuckled. “I think you already did.”

  I leaned my cheek against her crown, all kinds of warmth flooding my chest when she sighed. “You okay?” I asked.

  “It just sucks.”

  “The Kyle thing?”

  “No. This.” She squeezed my hand. “We’re finally doing this, and you’re leaving.”

  Something pinched in my chest, and I nodded.

  “Is the Navy thing official now?”

  I shook my head. “There’s a little more preliminary work.”

  “When will you leave?”

  “End of August.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Illinois.”

  “For how long?”

  “Eight weeks for bootcamp, then I get transferred to an A School.” I gnawed the inside of my cheek, lifting an arm to wrap it around her shoulders.

  “What’s an A-School?”

  “It’s where I’ll go for technical training in whatever field they decide to put me in.”

  “Where will you be transferred?”

  “No idea. They’re all over the U.S.”

  She went quiet again, nothing but the slosh of the water and the ticking and chirping in the forest to fill the void.

  “Cory?”

  “Mm?”

  “Why don’t you just stand up to your dad?”

  “Not worth it.” Every muscle in my body tensed, and I shook my head.

  “Why not, though?”

  “Not important.”

  “You can tell me.”

  “He’s not right, Lea.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He’s a monster when he’s drunk. He can’t shut his rage down.”

  “So the black eye in high school? He actually punched you?”

  I didn’t know how to answer. “I didn’t usually get the brunt of his anger.”

  “Your mom did?” she whispered, eyebrows drawn together, squeezing my hand tighter.

  “The black eye was from the first time I actually tried to protect her. It was his way of trying to get me to shut my mouth.”

  Lea shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Cory.”

  “Don’t be.” I shrugged, shifting my eyes to the lake. There had to be swaths of bass out there right now. What I wouldn’t give to go catch a few. “Just the luck of the draw.”

  She shook her head again, turning to sit back on her knees. “Look at me.”

  I sighed. This wasn’t what I’d pictured when I told her to take a night tour.

  “Cory. Look at me.” She slid her hand to my jaw, coaxing me to face her. “That wasn’t just the luck of the draw. That was wrong. Did you ever tell anyone? Was he ever reported?”

  “Mom didn’t want him in jail. We kept it to ourselves.” I closed my eyes because hers were too full of pity. I never liked being pitied. “I’m fine, Lea.”

  She grunted and slid her thumb ove
r my jawline, looping her arms around my neck as she drew my face to hers and rested her brow against mine. “Whatever happened in the past, you’re not alone now.”

  “No?”

  I rubbed her shoulders and grazed her cute nose with my lips.

  She sighed and raised her chin, staring hard into my eyes. “No,” she said before she gripped my face between her hands and pressed her soft lips to mine.

  An explosion went off inside my chest, and I covered her hands with mine. She was the only one I’d ever told about my past, and I was positive she’d never want anything to do with me after she knew the truth about it, but she didn’t so much as flinch. Her hands traveled my arms, gripping my shoulders tight before they twined behind my neck again and she moved even closer.

  It felt like she was trying to comfort me.

  It was working.

  LEA

  After all the heartache I’d been through in the past year, being in Cory’s arms felt like a tangible piece of Heaven. His hands were resting lightly on my back, and he was kissing me like I was a porcelain doll or something. Which was beyond cute, but I was having the hardest time focusing. I couldn’t believe what he’d just told me, and a thousand questions were swirling through my mind about it.

  They all could wait.

  Right now, he needed to forget all of that. He needed to know he was important, and worth way more than the hell his dad had put him through. No wonder he’d been so quiet all his life.

  Ah! It made me so mad. All I wanted to do was kiss away his pain, and if being out here with him wasn’t risking his job, I might try.

  But if being at Bridgeport was keeping him from being home, I had to help him stay.

  Right?

  Right.

  I made myself pull away, savoring the feel of his breath against my cheek and the warm buzz pulsing through my veins. “Sorry,” I said.

  “For what?”

  “Kissing you.”

  “Are you?”

  I lifted my eyes, taking in the spark in his gaze. “Not at all.”

  “Me, neither.” He pressed his lips to mine again, and lifted them to my brow. I shivered.

  “Mind telling me something now?” he asked.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “How long do you think it’ll take Nolan to get up here after he finds out about us?”

  “Why?”

  “So I have enough time to run.”

  I mock-slapped his shoulder. “He’ll be fine with it eventually. We just have to prove we’re good for each other.”

  Cory grunted.

  “What?”

  “I have my doubts about that.”

  “What? Why?”

  He sighed, sliding his arm over my shoulder as I leaned back against the tree with him. “You’re good for me, no doubt about it. But I’m broken, Lea. I come from generations of drunks, cowards, liars.” He shook his head. “I’m terrible for you.”

  “I’m not an angel, Cory. I have my vices. And all the negatives you just listed have nothing to do with you. Those were their lives. This is yours. You’re the only one who gets to decide how it goes.”

  “Me and God, right?”

  I grinned, snuggling my cheek in against his chest, shifting my eyes out to the lake where a few campers were rowing, their flashlights bobbing in the distance like what I’d always imagined fireflies would look like. “I’ve been having the hardest time with that part lately.”

  “Which part?”

  Something pinched in my chest. “The God part.”

  “Mm. Why?” He rubbed my shoulder and leaned his head against mine.

  I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to put words to something that sounded totally lame, and selfish, and stupid. “Just. Ever since my dad passed, I’ve been feeling like God doesn’t really care anymore, you know? Like, I’ve done everything right, my whole life. I go to church every Sunday, I sing on the worship team at youth group, I was in the Christian club at school. Like, looking at my history, you’d think I was planning on joining a convent or something.”

  Cory chuckled. “What, are you Catholic now?”

  I sighed. “Dad’s gone. Mom’s marrying Garrett. Nolan’s gone. Then my stupid ankle. It’s like one blow after the other, and for what? For living the way I always thought I was supposed to? How is that fair?”

  He squeezed my shoulder and pressed a kiss to my hair. “I love that about you, Lea.”

  “What? My cynical rants?”

  “You’re so good. At your core.”

  “Ha.”

  “Seriously.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You are.”

  “I don’t feel it, though. Not anymore. Whatever drove me to live that way before kind of faded in the past year.”

  “Makes sense to me.”

  “Does it? ’Cause I’m a little confused. Usually, people don’t get punished for doing the right thing.”

  “That’s not how it works, though, right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Cory cleared his throat. “I’m not an expert, but you live the best you can down here, and your reward doesn’t come ’till Heaven, right? At least, that’s what Pastor Gregg’s been talking about this week.”

  “Hmm.” I squinted my eyes, imagining Dad up there, in total peace.

  “Then there’s the whole Jesus thing,” Cory said.

  “The Jesus thing?”

  “Mm.”

  “Meaning?”

  He shrugged. “Isn’t what He did for us supposed to be the biggest reward already?”

  “Maybe it is . . .” My voice was a whisper. I wanted to trust what he was saying, and it sounded like everything I’d ever heard, but my justice bone was getting the best of me. “What’s the point of even trying, then?”

  He scratched his chin and leaned forward to adjust something on his boot. “Because He asked us to, with His help. And, maybe it’s a way to thank Him, too.”

  I swallowed, a pit forming in my stomach, kind of ruining the good feelings I’d had going. He was right. Way right. Gah! I’d been living the past year in a total stink-fest about how bad my life was when I should’ve been looking for the creme de la creme in it all the whole time. And Jesus was always that, wasn’t He? “Man, I’m an idiot.”

  “Don’t say that, Lea.”

  “You’re right, though.” I shook my head. “I’ve basically blown the last year of my life. Might as well have thrown myself a massive pity party.”

  “You’ll bounce back.”

  “Think so?”

  Cory chuckled. “We’re talking about you, right? Just make your mind up about it. I don’t think anything could stand a chance against your resolve.”

  I grinned.

  His two-way crackled. “June to Cory.”

  He grunted and reached for it in his pocket. “Cory here. Go ahead.”

  “Um. There’s a guy in the parking lot yelling your name and getting a little belligerent with security. He says he’s your dad.”

  He dropped his head.

  I laced my fingers through his.

  He rubbed his face. Shook his head. “I’ll be there in ten. Call the sheriff if you need to.”

  “Copy that. Over and out.”

  “Over and out.”

  Cory stood and started for the lake, dropping my hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I rushed to catch up to him again and gripped his hand. “For your dad showing up here at random? Why would you apologize for that?”

  His lips hardened into a tight line, and he nodded toward the boat. “Get in.”

  I did.

  He launched the boat and hopped in, rowing like getting there fast enough meant the difference between life and death.

  “You can’t control what someone else does, Cory.”

  “He might hurt someone.” He rowed harder, grunting with every stroke.

  “What?”

  “I helped my mom escape. He doesn’t know where s
he is. He’s furious, and probably drunk. He won’t stop until I pay for it.” He went quiet again, avoiding looking at me at all. “I can’t believe he came up here.”

  “Whatever happens, I’m here.”

  “No.”

  I scoffed. “No?”

  His eyes cut straight to mine, a hardness inside them I hadn’t seen since the first day here. “I don’t want you anywhere near him, and . . . you need to stay away from me.”

  “There’s no way I’m going anywhere.”

  “He can’t know about you.”

  “Why not?”

  Something eerie pulled through the space between us. “Just . . . he can’t.”

  The boat hit the dock, and he jumped out, rushing to tie it off before he pulled me close, kissed me hard, and backed away. “Stay away from me now. Please.” He hustled toward the parking lot, and it was like a whole other night had rolled in, stealing the perfect one we were just having. Someone’s shouting echoed through the camp.

  All I could think about was Cory’s face when he realized his dad was here. I’d never seen fear in his eyes over anything before. I’d never heard his voice waver about anything either. But there was no mistaking panic in a steady voice like Cory’s.

  I drew a deep breath and lifted my face to the night sky.

  “Please, God,” I whispered. “Protect him. Help him. Comfort him.”

  Stay away from me now. Please . . .

  My eyes welled, and a thick lump formed in my throat. I was about to lose him again, wasn’t I? I hated that thought more than anything else. No. I didn’t just hate it. I couldn’t handle it. And there was no way I was about to let Cory face the source of his fear alone. Not when I could be there for him. Not when I wanted to more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life.

  More shouts filled the air, and white-hot fire filled my bones. There was no way that guy was going to mess with Cory like this.

  I had to do something to stop him.

  Ten

  CORY

  Dad’s blue eyes were set hard on mine, his breaths labored, gray hair sticking out in wild tufts beneath his hat. “You’re gonna pay for this! You burned down that barn, and everyone’ll know it!”

  I stood stick-straight and swallowed, my palms clamming and my forehead beading with sweat.