Ace lifted the sheet of paper up and continued reading, unaware that my world had spun off its axis.
“When Jared came to us about doing this box, at first it was just supposed to be like a time capsule of sorts, but it didn’t feel right without having you here with us. You’ve always been a part of us—ever since the beginning—and so because we’re stubborn and pigheaded—Jared—we decided that we’d add something to the box for you and open it with you, since we didn’t let you come when we closed it.”
Ace walked over, handed me the white box, and then stepped back. My hand clutched it, feeling the soft leather of the jewelry case.
“This seventh piece of six is something from all of us. You see, you’ve had a piece of our hearts ever since the beginning. Not one of us have been unaffected by you. At some point over the years, we’ve each fallen in love with you, so it’s only fitting that the combination of that love be shared after all these years. On the day this box is sealed, we will make a promise to each other. It’ll be written in our Seven rules, and that’s what we are—we’re the Seven—and you’re at the heart of us all.
Over the years, our feelings might change and our love for you might shift into the kind of love that long friendships are made of, but as of right now, you're kinda driving us all crazy. Or crazier in some cases. By now, I’m sure I’ve stunned you into silence and you’re clutching the box in your hand like a lifeline. So I’ll say it for all of us. Open the box, Riley.”
Ace dropped the hand holding the sheet of paper to his side. The box was in fact clutched tight in my hand, proving he’d known me so well for so long. I searched his face and flicked my eyes to the box in my hand. I forced myself to look away and opened it.
“We love you, Riley. We always have… we always will.”
Ace read the last sentence and folded the paper back up, as I sat in complete shock at what was in the box. It was the most beautiful heart-shaped pendant I’d ever seen. The swirling lines wove around each other, making it look like an intricate pattern.
I brushed a tear away, and then another, but they kept coming when Ace knelt beside me and took the box from my hands. His finger slid down the patterns as he spoke. “We wanted you to have a piece of us, so if you’ll notice, all of our initials are inside of the heart. Here’s Josh, Jared…” His finger slid along the left and then the right arch in the heart. “Then there’s Eli…” His finger went to the top indent and traced the letter E that flowed down. “Aiden… Ace…” To the left of the E was what I always called the fancy A’s. “And this is Mark.” His finger slid over the M that stretched out at the bottom of the heart and attached to both A’s.
It was as complex and amazing as our friendship.
“Well, aren’t you gonna say something?” Jared said, leaning over to watch as Ace showed me the secrets my pendant held. I looked up and noticed all of them were around me. I wiped the tears that wouldn’t stop falling from my cheeks.
“Thank you. Thank all of you.” Before I could recover, they each leaned down and kissed me on the cheek, leaving Ace for last.
“Lay it on ’er, Ace!” Jared hooted.
My eyes popped wide and I snapped my head up to look at Ace, who had turned to scowl at Jared.
Ace took a step in Jared’s direction, but I caught his pant leg between my fingers and it brought him to a halt. I held up the box. “Can you help me put it on?”
Ace took the box from my hand and knelt in front of me.
Jared elbowed Eli and said in a mock whisper, “I bet we see this again in the future.”
Eli shook his head and pushed Jared. “Shut up, man. Give him a dang break. You know how long he’s…you know, and he’s leaving. Dude’s barely had it together these last few weeks. Don’t make him flip on your shit.”
I watched their exchange of words. Heard everything as clearly as if they spoke to me instead of each other, even though they whispered. Ace unhooked the rope chain he always wore from around his neck, freed the heart pendant from the box, and slipped it onto the chain. He did all of it without looking at me until the heart slid to a stop, and he held the ends of the chain up. I lifted my hair for him to fasten it around my neck. I could feel the tension coming off him. Could feel his hands trembling as he tried to keep it together and not run over to beat the shit out of his friends. I gripped his wrist before he could snatch his hands away. He looked at some point over my shoulder, and I watched the vein in his neck pulse as his nostrils flared. I squeezed his wrist, and he shifted his gaze to meet mine. “Thank you for the chain, Ace. I’ll get one soon and give yours back to you.”
I knew what I had to do. I had to break the tension before the night ended up in a brawl instead of the memory they’d all wanted it to be. “But now I have to tell y’all that I kinda feel a little bad. I mean, I only got you T-shirts.”
I felt Ace’s body tremble and smiled when a laugh broke past the thin line his lips had been set in.
“Oh snap!” Aiden hooted.
“Can you get them for me, Jake?” His hand fell to my knee.
“Sure, Riles. Where are they?”
“Behind the seat of my truck.”
Ace stood up, and I lifted my hand to rub my fingers along my very first real piece of jewelry. The chain was warm against my skin and I soaked it in, taking that small piece of heat that Ace had left behind, realizing that twice in one day he’d shared his warmth with me.
I heard my truck door slam shut and turned my head just as Ace stuck his hand into the bag, pulling out a shirt and looking at the tag. “Size small. Must be Jared’s.”
The guys laughed as Jared walked over and shoved his hand in the bag. “There is nothing small about me, bro.”
I grimaced, realizing I hadn’t taken the shirt I’d bought for myself out of the bag. I was just going to put it away since I wasn’t one of the Six. I didn’t say anything as Ace tucked it under his arm and tossed everyone a shirt. He got to the last shirt, folded the bag, and walked over, dropping the extra shirt tucked under his arm on my lap. “These are cool, Riles.” He held his shirt out to me, gesturing for me to hold it. In truth, they were pretty plain. The shirts were royal blue with the number 6 on the right side where a pocket would normally go. On the back, it said You wish. No one but the Six would fully understand what it meant, and really, it wouldn’t be what anyone thought it meant. It was just what the guys always said to each other when one of them gave the other hell about something they thought they did better.
When I took it from him, he grabbed the bottom of the shirt he’d changed into and pulled it off. The others cheered him on by throwing out comments like, “Take it off,” and “Hold me back, cowboy. My nipples are tweakin’.” I cracked up at their antics. I’d grown accustomed to the trash they talked. Jared was the worst of the bunch. He always had some sort of odd comeback or comment that flew past his lips before the filter in his brain stopped him.
I folded Ace’s discarded shirt and almost dropped it when he’d said that. “Really Jared? Your nipples are tweakin’?”
Jared ripped his shirt off and flexed his arms. “See, look at all this awesomeness. Ace has nothin’ on me.”
I shook my head, but I didn’t say anything back. There was no comparison between Ace and Jared. Ace had the type of body that reflected the work he did outside. Jared was sleeker, defined without being bulky.
Mark shot up from his chair and headed for the cabin. As he walked away, he said, “Everyone put your shirts on. I have an idea!”
Aiden groaned. “You know he’s about to do a dang photo shoot, right?”
Jared slipped his shirt over his head, making his words muffled. “Don’t worry, Aiden, no one will notice you when they get a load of me.”
“Shut up, ass-munch. You know the only drool-worthy one here is me.” Eli threw his discarded shirt at Jared, and it hit him in the face.
Jared shook his head at Eli, and then turned to me with a devilish look on his face. “Well, Riles, you’re next.”
I gripped the T-shirt in my hands. “You pervert, I’m not changing out here in front of you.”
“Oh, come on, Riles… Ace got to see…”
The flash of Mark’s camera stopped Jared from finishing his sentence. My face burned in embarrassment, and I wished for a place to hide.
“Y’all get your asses over by Riley’s truck and stand together,” he announced as he walked past the group and jumped in the back of my truck. He set his camera down, fiddling with the settings. When he looked up and no one had done what he asked, he scowled at us. “Seriously, get your asses over here. You too, Riley.”
I knew Mark wouldn’t stop badgering us until we did what he wanted, so I pushed myself up from the chair and flung my hand out. “You heard him. Let’s get this done, so Mark doesn’t freak out on us.”
The guys grumbled, but they followed me. Mark fired off where he wanted everyone to stand. When they were where he wanted them, he made them turn around, putting their backs to the camera, and then asked me to stand behind everyone a few feet back. I moved so that he could get the shot of the six of them together. The guys stood shoulder to shoulder, leaving a gap in the middle for Mark. But Mark moved to the end beside Aiden. “Riley, move to the center and stand directly in front of the camera. When the flash starts going off, I want you to walk towards us and then stop in the middle. Okay?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer him because the flash went off, signaling me to move. I looked over to Mark, and he winked at me. I smiled back at him and took another step. Aiden gave me a smile that kicked up one side of his lips. Josh stuck his tongue out at me, and I laughed. Eli wiggled his eyebrows and darted his eyes to Ace. I forced myself to breathe evenly and not run over to wrap my arms around his neck, pull his lips to mine, and get the kiss I’d been denied.
When I was a few steps away, Ace put his hand out and I slipped mine into his without thinking about it. He pulled me beside him and lifted my hand to his shoulder. The flash of the camera went off and I pulled my gaze from his, slipping my hand up on Jared’s shoulder so that it didn’t look like I was holding on to Ace, even though I’d done just that.
The flash went off again, as I realized that this night would be one of the last few nights we’d all be together. A tear slipped down my cheek, and I let it fall. Mark broke the silence when he jumped back into the bed of my truck, telling the others to turn around and face the camera. The guys turned around, and we all moved in close. Jared put his hand on my shoulder. Ace’s hand rested against my hip, and I felt him grip the hem of the shirt I wore. His shirt.
The camera flashed a few more times and then Mark broke off, jumped into the bed of my truck, and grabbed his camera. “These are gonna be awesome!” He walked away, back to the cabin, as he looked at the screen of his camera. “Yep, these are gonna be perfect,” he said to himself as he passed by me.
I could feel the effect of the pain meds, and I didn’t like the fuzziness they’d blanketed me with. The worst part was, I wasn’t ready to let them pull me down into the clutches of sleep. I wanted to savor every part of the night until my memories were stuffed with these last moments of being with the Six.
I forced myself to walk over to my chair and sit down. When Mark came back out from the cabin, Jared walked over to the box and pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper.
He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Is everyone ready?”
Ready for what? I wanted to ask, but I kept my question to myself. I was eager to know what the paper in Jared’s hand said.
JARED’S VOICE RANG OUT, MIXING with the sounds of the crackling fire.
“The rules of the Six.
Rule number one: No matter what happens, we will always be friends.
Rule number two: If someone’s being an ass-hat, the other five have the right to punch the ass-hat in the face.
Rule number three: At least once a month, we will hang out at the cabin for the weekend.
Rule number four: There will only be the six of us, except for Riley. She’s a girl and will be treated as the silent seventh.
Rule number five: We will have each other’s backs—no matter what.
Rule number six: No dating clingy girls who get in the way of the Six.
Rule number seven: Riley is off-limits. We will love her from afar until the day we graduate. After graduation, it will be up to Riley to show us how she feels. We will not intimidate her, push her, or even approach her. By now, she’s put up with enough of our shit and is probably sick of us.
These are the rules and if not followed, will result in an ass kicking by the other five.”
I shot up from my seat. My throat burned with the need to freak out on them. How dare they make me a part of their stupid rules! How dare they make me seem like their possession! My chest heaved with the added weight of feeling like a joke to them. Mark tried to steady me, and I shoved him away. “Don’t touch me!” I heard the snarl in my voice and wished that it were enough to inflict the pain I felt on them. I’d loved these boys, they’d been my world for so long, and it felt like the floor had been ripped out from under my feet. I clutched at my neck to ease the ache. It felt like I was trying to breathe out of a straw. I needed to get away, so I started searching for my keys. Ace had given them back to me, right?
“Riley, what are you doing?” Jared asked as the others sat in silence.
“Where are my keys?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“You’re not getting your keys, Riley,” Ace said as he approached me.
I held up my hand. “You just stay right there!”
“Come on, Riley. That was written four years ago. We didn’t mean anything by it,” Aiden said, not moving from his seat.
“Yeah, Riles, it wasn’t meant to hurt you.” Eli’s voice came out more like a plea than a statement.
“Hurt me? Are you kidding me right now? How long have you guys been dictating the way my life would go? Why bother even keeping me around? You make it sound like I was some sort of poison you had to contain! What, were you afraid that if one of you liked me that the whole ship of brotherhood would go down? You know what… don’t even answer that. Just give me my keys, so I can go.”
“You’re not leaving, Riley.” Ace’s voice had the commanding tone he always used to make something sound final.
“The hell I’m not. Give me my keys, Ace.” I stalked towards him, hell-bent on physically hurting him if he didn’t give me what I wanted.
“No. I think you need to sit down before you fall down,” he said, shaking his head.
“I don’t care what you think, Ace.”
Ace waited until I was about a foot away and tossed my keys to Josh. I shoved past him and set my sights on Josh. His eyes rounded, and he looked past me to where Ace stood. I felt my body waver, so I stopped and steadied myself the best I could.
“Give me my keys, Josh.”
“Riley, why don’t I help you inside? You can get some rest, and we can talk about this in the morning.” He talked to me as if 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.
The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) Page 5