“This view right here is worth a trip to Midsummer.”
“Yeah, it is.”
We bask in this beauty for a while longer. I think I could probably just sit here for hours.
“How come you want people to visit here? I mean, I get why your aunt wants it, but what’s your motivation for trying to make me fall in love with Midsummer?”
Love sits down next to me, her gaze on the same breathtaking view. She smiles into it for a moment, and I do the same, not sure I’ve ever felt a place be so peaceful before.
“I like you, Conner,” Love finally replies. “I knew it the minute I saw your videos. Then, as soon as I realized you were here in Midsummer, I knew I had to get to know you. And you’re exactly like you are in your videos. Your charm isn’t put on. You’re a lot of fun, and if we’re missing one thing in this place, then it’s people who can have fun.”
I grin from her compliments. “I like you, too.”
She rests her head on my shoulder, clearly completely comfortable to do this with someone she only met properly the day before. Although, to be honest, the touch doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I feel a kindred spirit with Love, a friend who you just know on sight. It doesn’t happen often in life, but I decide not to take it for granted.
“The other reason is more selfish. My parents run The Last Resort, and they’re booked out when we have the Founder’s Parade and a few other times throughout the year, but the rest of the time, they struggle. When Angus Thom has his film crew and actors in town, sometimes they hire out some of the rooms, but he has this huge mansion right along the studio that has, like, sixty rooms or something ridiculous. It took two years to build. He has it so he can house everyone and not have to add those costs into the production budget. But it means my parents miss out.”
“Maybe I can do some filming at the hotel? Show it off in one of my videos?” I suggest, earning a heartfelt hug.
“That would be so awesome.”
I laugh at her emotion. “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t heard my whining yet when we have to leave to get back to the car. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had this much exercise in years.”
She glances over me. “You’re saying you just naturally have that body?”
I glance down at my lean body, at my golden skin shining with sweat, which is beginning to dry over me. “Yes. But if it makes you feel better, I look like my dad did at thirty, and he now has a gut that hangs out enough that I’m sure he hasn’t seen his dick in years.”
“Ew! Too much information!”
I chuckle. “I figure I have a few more years before I have to worry about serious exercising or diets.”
“Lucky you. Although, I guess you won’t be short on getting some exercise if you hang around Sheriff Green.”
I roll my eyes at her. “Let’s change the topic. So, I think I get why you wouldn’t ever want to leave Midsummer. Your town is beautiful.”
“Most of my friends that I went to school with couldn’t wait to get out of Midsummer. My aunt says there is about fifteen years when kids go to college, go exploring, and find love. Most of the townspeople find their way back to Midsummer, eventually.”
“I wonder if that’s true for most small towns.”
“You know who else has never left?”
I give her a heavy sigh, realizing she is likely going to swing every conversation back to this. “Let me guess. Sheriff Green?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, I can see you’re dying to talk to me about him, so give me what you got. What’s the gossip you’re dying to tell me?”
I can tell she’s considering whether or not to drag this out, perhaps hoping to have me begging rather than just blurting it, but either she decides she can’t be bothered or she senses that I’m probably more stubborn about this than she is, and that it’ll be a waste of time.
“Well, like I said before, he doesn’t date anyone in town. He has an ex-wife who left him and their daughter, because she felt like Midsummer was too boring. Rumor has it that he offered to leave so she could be happier somewhere else, but she said he was just as boring as the town is. Don’t think their daughter even factored in.”
I wince, feeling horrible that something that awful happened to Green, while also feeling a little nervous that she just confirmed he is a dad.
I’ve never dated a single parent before, not that I’m dating Green. In fact, I should just ignore that part, since it truly doesn’t matter. I’m obviously never going to have to meet his kid, and Green made it clear that tonight is just about sex. No one wants their kid to meet a person that they’re just messing around with.
Although, I have to wonder where his kid is if he’s a single parent. She certainly wasn’t home on Friday night.
“He also has three different friends with benefits outside of town.”
I scoff, not sure if I’m jealous or weirded out. “Is that seriously public knowledge?”
“Not really. People know he goes out of town every once in a while, and I’m sure they assume he’s getting it on, but they don’t know with who, and I think most of the town don’t really care.”
I shake my head in exasperation at her. “What else you got?” I ask as I stand, stretching out my stiff limbs. As much as I’d like to stay out here longer, I get the feeling the trek back will take more time with my sore feet and legs.
Love follows my lead, putting away our almost empty water bottles into the bag and begins to lead me down a trail, a different one than what we came up on. The slope is harsher, and I can tell immediately that we’re making much better time than the long way that we came up. I keep filming the views around us, hoping they come out as breathtaking on my laptop as they are in person.
“So, as you probably figured, Rocky is bisexual. He loved his ex-wife—that much was obvious—but I also know his father was not okay with having a queer son. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t just shove that side of himself away to keep his dad happy.
“After Sophie left him, he took some time to heal, and then he came out. People were shocked at first, and I’m sure he had several homophobic assholes to deal with, but he stuck it out, and now it’s old news.”
“Did I already mention how seriously disturbing it is how much you know about him? You sure you aren’t in love with him?”
“No way! Like I said, he’s more like a brother to me. Besides, I’m demisexual. I have zero interest in Rocky.”
“I’m not entirely sure what that means. I’ve never met someone who identifies as demisexual before. You can only be attracted to people who you are emotionally invested in, right?”
“Pretty much.”
“So, is that hard for that to happen? I mean, I can’t say I’ve formed many emotional bonds to people, and rarely ones to the guys I’ve slept with in the past.”
“I don’t sleep around, no. I’ve been in love before, but that didn’t really work out.” Her voice peters out, and I realize we’ve stumbled into heartbreak territory.
I’m not the best person to have a heart-to-heart with at the best of times, let alone when I’m completely on my own and the other person could very well burst into tears at any second.
“You want to change the subject?” I offer.
“Yeah.” Her voice is watery, but after a tense silence and a few deep breaths, she sounds back to her usual self again.
“Okay, back on topic now. You want more of what I know about our local sheriff so you can wow him with your knowledge of him, right?”
I sigh, wondering if she might not have manipulated me back to this, because I’m obviously not going to turn her down when she seemed so upset just before. “You do know I’m not trying to win him over. I mean, not only am I not going to be here long-term, but I’m also not interested in trying to change someone. Been there, failed at that, got the broken heart to prove it.
“Relationships one-oh-one is to never try to change someone. If they want to grow for themselves, then grea
t, but having that as a requirement for it to work out never ends well. The pressure is always too much, and it’s doomed to fail at the start.”
“You’ve barely given him a chance!”
“He has a kid, Love! There is no way I can mess around with that, and no way that he would either.” I take a deep breath as a new thought occurs to me. “How old is his daughter?”
“She’s ten.”
“And he’s thirty-five …” I mumble, doing the math.
“Yep. He was our youngest sheriff elected six years ago. Although, I think if his father hadn’t died when he did, then he would have still been waiting.”
“How long ago did his wife up and leave?”
“It all happened around the same time. Just after his dad died, if I remember correctly.”
“Shit, seriously?” I can’t imagine what it would take to abandon your child, and I’m sure no age makes it better or easier, but I can’t believe Green has been a single dad for that long, and that she would leave him when he was likely grieving for his father. What a bitch.
“Yeah. He has a few neighbors who help look out for her, plus some close friends. I’m pretty sure she’s been on a weekend long sleepover at Bell’s, the woman who owns Read or Die. She has a daughter the same age.”
Our nondate tonight makes a lot more sense, given that it’s likely the last chance we’ll have together before his daughter is back home.
What will he say when he finds out that I might not be leaving as soon as we both thought?
“Doesn’t he have a brother and a sister? Where are they?”
“His sister, Rian …” Her voice cracks, and I glance over at her, wondering what has her upset again. But she shrugs it off, clearing her throat, and continues, “She’s off traveling the world. She says she’ll come back, but …” Love shrugs despondently. “And his brother is doing time in jail.”
“What?” I gasp. Never in a million years would I have expected that answer.
“He got six years for vehicular-manslaughter. He went to a bar and got drunk, then thought it would be okay to drive home. Pretty sure that happened not long before his dad died.”
I open and close my mouth several times, not sure how to respond. That is one fucked-up situation, and again, the timing of it sounds like the worst possible.
“What was the deal with his father then?”
“Sheriff Stone Green was a tough son of a bitch. I don’t remember him too well, but the times I saw him, I remember being scared of him.”
“Wait, wait!” I gasp, holding my hands and making us stop walking while I stare at her in open amazement. “You’re telling me his father was named Stone?”
“Yeah.”
“And he named his son Rocky?”
Love laughs. “Yep.”
I shake my head in laughter as we begin walking again. “What the hell did Green name his daughter? Pebbles?” I gasp, chuckling hard at my own joke before I find myself tumbling over a boulder. Except, I can’t stop my fall, and when I land, I realize whatever I’ve landed on feels soft.
And squishy.
And it stinks.
“What the hell?” I mumble, using my arms and elbows to shift myself up before I realize just what broke my fall.
Or, more accurately, who.
A freaking body.
A freaking dead body!
Chapter Seven
I stare at the cold, dead body of King Alder. I can’t take my eyes off him, desperately wishing I could.
As soon as I realized I was lying on top of a dead person, I freaked the hell out. Probably understandable.
I’m not sure what freaked Love out more: the dead body or me flipping out. Probably the body, but I’m sure I didn’t help.
I never imagined that I might one day discover something so gruesome. Even so, part of me would have assumed I would keep a level head. I didn’t.
I screamed. I gagged. I came close to shitting myself. Even now, I’m only vaguely aware that Love left to go phone for help, not having a phone signal out here.
I have no idea how much time has passed. The sun has definitely sunk lower in the sky, but still, I have no idea. Has it been minutes? Hours? Is she even coming back? Maybe she was more freaked out than I realized. Maybe she just took off to get away from this. Maybe if there had been a car nearby, I might have done the same.
The only things I do know are that there is a dead body at my feet and I’m covered in his blood.
I’m no expert, and if I could take my eyes off the poor bastard, I would, but since I can’t stop staring, barely even blinking, I think it’s likely obvious what killed him.
While there are tears along his clothes and a dark bruises over his face, more noticeably, there is a round hole in his shirt and his entire chest is covered in blood. It doesn’t take an expert to figure out he was shot, which also means this wasn’t an accident.
I replay what happened just a couple of nights ago.
He had seemed on edge, shifty, and he was certainly aggressive. But he had been breathing. He had been alive.
Did my delaying going to see Sheriff Green and my adamant refusal to press charges mean this happened to him? Instead of being in a jail cell, he is dead on a walking trail in the freaking mountains?
I force myself to blink, my eyes burning. I’m not sure if the wetness isn’t just because my eyes are sore from not blinking or because I’m losing it.
“Conner?” a voice grumbles behind me, a hand touching my shoulder.
I leap in the air, my instincts telling me to defend myself, even as I realize that it’s only Sheriff Green.
His brow is sweaty, his breathing labored, and his eyes skirt from me to the body then back to me.
“Conner, it’s me. Rocky,” he says again, speaking gently as he slowly reaches out to touch me. When he grips my arm this time, I feel anchored and not scared. “Are you hurt?” he asks, taking in my bloodied clothes.
I had debated removing them, even if it did leave me standing in just my briefs with a dead body, but I hadn’t quite finished the thought enough to make a decision.
I shake my head. “It’s not mine.”
It’s then I realize that we’re not alone and that more people have just showed up.
“King Alder? The guy you alleged attacked you two nights ago?” Deputy Smith asks, his eyes taking in the dead body with about as much sympathy as you would expect a psychopath to display.
Great, just what I need today.
“Lay off it, Randy,” Green snaps at him.
“Sir, you can’t exactly ignore that Mr. Sherwood here not only had a previous altercation with King Jr., but he’s currently covered in the man’s blood!”
“He tripped over him! We weren’t paying attention!” Love snaps at Smith angrily.
“So you allege.”
Love growls, but before she can utter any words, Green steps in.
“Take a breath. No one is accusing anyone of anything,” he thunders, his eyes staying on his deputy for a touch longer than necessary, no doubt conveying his displeasure.
“We at the very least need to take Mr. Sherwood in for questioning, and his clothing as evidence,” the deputy points out.
“Yes, but it’s getting late, and that can wait until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Now it’s Deputy Dickhead’s turn to splutter. “Sir, this is clearly a murder, and we—”
“I want you to secure the scene and wait for the M.E. to arrive.”
“Sir, with all due respect, I’m much better suited—”
“That wasn’t open for negotiation.”
Lowering his voice and taking a step closer to Green, one that sure as hell makes me feel uncomfortable, he speaks just loud enough for me to still hear him. “Are you sure you’re not thinking with your cock here? This seems like one hell of a conflict of—”
“Say one more word; I dare you,” Green growls, looking like he is ready to thump Smith in the face.
Deputy Dickhead
has the sense to heed his warning, immediately stepping away and not voicing any more complaints. “Sorry, that was out of line and—”
“It sure the hell was. Now secure the fucking scene,” Green snaps at him, his tone brokering zero room for argument.
While Smith doesn’t mutter another single word, I sure get a scowl, which speaks a thousand words. None of them kind.
“You’re both coming with me.” He nods at Love and me. “I’m taking you both home.”
“But my car—”
“One of my deputies will have it back to you by morning. Neither of you are in the right frame of mind to drive.”
“Okay,” Love agrees, reaching out and taking my hand when I don’t immediately move.
The walk back down to the bottom of the mountain flies by. It feels as though only steps have happened before we’re standing around a fleet of cars at the bottom.
“Get in the back, would you? I just need a minute,” Green asks Love, who looks at me for a moment before agreeing.
I can’t help feeling like I’m in some sort of weird daze. Everything surrounding me has a strange sort of fuzz to it, even voices seem to come through as though straining to break through a fog.
But as soon as Green stands in front of me, his hands cupping my face, my gaze sharpens, and I inhale a deep breath, feeling starved for oxygen.
“I need you to remove these clothes,” he tells me. Then he steps back, opening his trunk and grabbing a gym bag.
Looking down at myself and seeing the smeared blood again has me eager to finally get out of them. I rip my undershirt off, handing it over to Green, who is standing in front of me with an evidence bag, and then I pull down my shorts that have some blood over my right leg. Thankfully, none has touched my bare skin, not that I don’t want a boiling hot shower as soon as possible.
The weather has cooled now that the sun is low in the sky, but it’s by no means cold. Even so, I shiver as Green hands me over some sweats.
“These are mine,” he explains.
I pull the pants up, finding them just a tad too long, and the sweater is just a tad too big than what I’m used to. But it smells like him and wearing them gives me a sense of relief that I wouldn’t have thought possible.
Stranded Page 10