Paper Stars Rewritten: Fallen Brook Series: Book 2

by Jennilynn Wyer

  Elizabeth already told us about her distant cousin, Daniel, and his husband Drew. How they took emergency guardianship over her, flew her to Washington, and have been caring for her over the past year. We were surprised to hear that she had a distant cousin that we never knew or heard about. In the thirteen years Jules and I have known Liz, no other family members ever visited; there was no one else she or her parents talked about. Both sets of her grandparents were deceased. There were no aunts or uncles. As far as we knew, it was just her, Hailey, and their parents.

  “How bad is it? Your amnesia?” This from Ryder. We’ve avoided asking her anything about the attack. I don’t think any of us are ready to tackle that blight of hell anytime soon. I still have nightmares about that night.

  “It’s basically like someone wiped my operating system clean and I was rebooted. I don’t remember anything. Well, that’s not exactly true. I remember things like math and science – school stuff. I can play the guitar and the piano, but I can’t remember how I learned to play. I remember songs and movies. It’s the people, places, and events from before that are missing.”

  “You must remember some things. Why else would you pick a Hellcat like mine for your car?”

  She chews on her thumbnail considering his question. “I guess you’re right. Everything’s just locked away so tight. The doctors are cautiously optimistic that things will come back to me, but they can’t make any guarantees. I do have flashes of memories. Like tiny little puzzle pieces I have to string together to make a complete picture, except there are a lot of missing pieces.” Her gaze goes to Ryder. “I had some flashes of you today.”

  Ryder chokes down his food. “You remembered me?”

  “Yes.” Is Liz blushing? What the hell?

  “What did you remember?” I want to know.

  “Um. I can really only recall a little. Like us driving in a car...and other stuff,” she weakly says into her food before taking a bite. I don’t like how her gaze keeps flicking to Ryder. Jealousy hangs heavy over me like a thundercloud ready to burst.

  Clearing his throat, Ryder tells her, “I used to race in the Fields back home. You would come watch. I found a local racetrack here – Coastal Speedway. I take my car out there most nights. Either that or I’m driving one of Fallon’s new cars. He’s the other guy that was with me today.”

  “Did I know him too?”

  “A little, but not very well. He went to another school in Highland. The one Elijah went to.”

  “Oh.”

  Everyone is silent for a few minutes while we eat our pizza.

  “How long have you and Elijah been dating?” she asks Julien.

  “Going on a few years now. You were actually the first person I talked to about him.”

  “I was?”

  “You were our biggest cheerleader. I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you did for me and E. You’re truly a great friend, Liz.”

  Elijah nods his head in agreement. “Absolutely. I mean, it takes a very special girl to have three guys completely and madly in love with her.”

  Liz’s soda sprays out of her mouth before she can catch it with her hand. “I’m sorry. What?”

  “You have a big fucking mouth, E,” Julien grumbles at him.

  Liz grabs her napkin to wipe the table and spears me with her green gaze. “I thought you said I was your girlfriend?”

  “You are.” No one misses my choice of verb tense.

  “It’s complicated,” Ryder tries to explain to her. “The way things were between the four us – you, Jay, me, and Jules – it’s a long story that’s best saved for another time.”

  “Oh my God. My old life was like a crappy telenovela,” Liz mumbles. “Did we date too?” she asks Ryder.

  “No!” I assert a little too loudly. “Just me.”

  “Hmm” is her only response. She looks at her phone. “Oh, crap. I didn’t realize how late it was.”

  Without another word, I take her plate and glass from her and walk to the kitchen to rinse them before placing them in the sink. I turn and lean back against her countertop, watching her. She looks phenomenal, pink-tipped hair and all. Before, she was tall and slender. Now, her legs and arms are defined with lean muscle. Her hips and ass are rounder, fuller. She has the same gorgeous green eyes, the same full, cupid-bow lips. The same smile. She’s still the same beautiful girl, with just a little more steel added to give her strength. She catches me watching her and cocks her head to the side. What does she see now when she looks at me? Am I still her prince? The boy who climbed through her window? The one who wrote her a hundred stars filled with wishes?

  Ryder touches her hand, and for a second, it looks like she’s about to curl her pinky around his. “Elizabeth, would you like to come out this weekend with me to the track? I’m test driving a car for Fallon. I’ll take you for a spin. You used to like that a lot.”

  Her eyes light up. Again, I have to tell my jealousy to calm the fuck down.

  “That actually sounds like fun. Yes. That would be nice. Thank you.”

  He takes out his phone. “What’s your number? I’ll text you.”

  “Can I get in on this as well?” Julien asks, taking out his phone.

  “I don’t see why not,” she hesitantly replies.

  After exchanging numbers with the guys, she warily approaches me. “Do you want my number too?”

  “Do you want to give it to me?”

  “Do you think I should?”

  “God, I’ve missed your sassy mouth.” Her mouth, her touch, her kisses, her laughter. I missed Liz so damn much.

  “Hand it over.” I take out my phone and give it to her. “There you go. My number is under Miss Sassy.” I bark out a laugh and she smiles at me. A genuine, honest-to-goodness smile. Like fucking sunshine.

  “Can I hug you now?”

  My request has her backing away from me a couple of steps, and it about kills me not to reach out and grab her to bring her back. The physical distance between us may only be a couple of feet, but the emotional distance feels like thousands of miles.

  “Alright,” she finally replies, and I thank whatever higher power is up there.

  Liz makes me come to her for the hug, but I couldn’t give a damn. My arms are finally able to wrap around her. My hands are finally able to touch her. I inhale her sweet, delicious jasmine scent. “I’ve missed you so much, princess. I’m so fucking happy you’re here,” I whisper into her hair. I don’t expect words back. When she starts to squirm, I release her. It was enough. For now.

  I reluctantly let her go and ask my brother, “Jules, you and E need a ride back?”

  “Yeah. We’re coming.”

  Liz hugs Julien bye, then Elijah. They make promises to have lunch soon.

  “Ryder, you coming?”

  “In a minute.”

  I hesitate at her front door, not wanting to leave. Wanting to stake my claim on her like I did all those years ago. But I can’t. I’ve already scared the shit out of her tonight and she’s been wary of me ever since.

  “Goodnight, Liz.”

  “Goodnight, Jay.”

  “Jayson.”

  She looks at me quizzically. “Pardon?”

  “You always called me Jayson. Not Jay.”

  “Oh, okay. Goodnight Jayson.” Music to my ears.

  As I leave, I hear her say, “Thank you, Ryder.”

  “Thank me for what?”

  “For being a good guy. For understanding. For being here.”

  Julien

  “We need to tell our parents,” Jay says to me once he, Ryder, and I get back to our condo. I told Elijah to head back to his place and I would see him tomorrow.

  “What we need to do is sit down and talk about what happens next,” I respond, pushing him toward the kitchen. Ryder grabs three sodas from the fridge and throws two of them at me and Jay. You would think words would be easy to come by, but I’m finding it difficult to articulate my thoughts.

  Liz is back. She’s
here. No more searching or wondering or worrying. But she doesn’t remember us. Our girl is lost in an ocean of darkness and we are helpless to save her. A myriad of emotions flows through me. Fear. Anger. Guilt. Happiness. Fear that she will disappear again. Anger toward the man who attacked her and her family. Guilt for not protecting her that night. Happiness because she’s alive and we finally found her.

  But what happens next? With her? With us? Jay and his desperation almost cost us Liz tonight. What the hell was he thinking, breaking into her apartment like a deranged lunatic? A part of me understands his fraught behavior, but the rational part of me knows we can’t push Liz any more than we already have.

  “At least we now know what happened to her,” Ryder says.

  “But fuck, Ry. Amnesia? It’s like losing her all over again,” Jay replies. He tosses his empty soda can in the trash and kicks the bin. Luckily, it doesn’t topple over.

  “Elijah and I cleaned up the destruction you left earlier, so don’t you dare break another thing in this place.”

  “Piss off, Julien,” he warns me, but I’m already in his face daring him to test me. I may be the peacekeeper between the three of us, but even I have my limits. Today has been an emotional powder keg and I am the spark about to light the fuse. Jay and I stare at each other, nose to nose, neither one of us willing to back off.

  “Knock it off you two. Now is not the time.”

  Jay shoves at my shoulders to push me off, then leans his elbows down on the center island, clenching and relaxing his fists. “I don’t know what to do. I need someone to tell me what to do.”

  My anger dissipates quickly as sadness filters in to take its place. “I don’t think there is anything we can do, Jay.”

  “What if she never remembers? What if we lose her again? What if she doesn’t want anything to do with us?” Jay continues to ramble, lost in his what ifs.

  Those are thoughts I know have played through all of our minds tonight. “I refuse to believe any of that,” I tell him.

  Ryder has been leaning back against the stove, observing our exchange. He interrupts us when he says, “What we need to do is be there for her in whatever way she needs. Elizabeth isn’t lost to us. I refuse to take that defeatist viewpoint. Our Elizabeth is in there. She’s not gone.”

  “Maybe for you,” Jay snaps out.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Ry snaps back.

  Jay’s fists tighten until his knuckles blanch, then he exhales loudly. “Nothing, man. I didn’t mean anything.”

  “Can we get the PI to look into her cousin, Daniel?” I think out loud. Jayson and Ryder both flash me looks of vexation.

  “That fucker didn’t even know she was here right under our noses. Remind me again, whose idea it was to hire that idiot?”

  “It was yours,” I remind him, and for the first time tonight, we’re grinning at each other.

  “Shit. Well, next time, veto my ass.”

  Ryder grabs a loaf of bread and starts making us sandwiches. I don’t realize how hungry I am until I see him pull out the turkey and ham from the deli drawer. “Like I was saying, Elizabeth knows we’re all connected. She can feel it. She hasn’t forgotten us. Think about it. She didn’t call the police tonight, though she had every reason to. She trusted us enough to be alone with four guys she doesn’t remember. She was very interested in all the pictures we showed her. She talked to us about Seattle. She even bought a Hellcat,” Ry muses. “I’m still not over that one.”

  He’s right. Liz is still in there. We haven’t lost our girl. One question remains, however. How do we get our old Liz back?

  Chapter 5

  Elizabeth

  WTF! My phone blows up with ding after ding and it’s driving me crazy. Is this what my previous life’s self put up with every day? This is insane. The first text is from Ryder.

  Hellcat: Good morning.

  He attached a picture that was taken of the two of us as kids. We’re sitting in a car, me in the driver’s seat, him in the passenger, the photographer at the open driver’s side window. For fun he added the hashtags #firstdaywemet, #instantbestfriends, #thisgirlistheboss, #adrenalinejunkie to the text message. I save the photo to my cloud storage, but not before I stare at it for a while. Even as a kid, Ryder was handsome. I swipe two fingers wide on the screen to enlarge the image and stare at the younger version of myself.

  Hellcat: Looking forward to getting you out on the track this weekend. Have a great day, sweet Elizabeth.

  I smile and read the next text from Julien.

  Doppelganger: Let me know if you want to grab lunch today. Just you and me. E has to work.

  There are ones from Jayson and Elijah, too.

  ScaryGuy: Miss you, princess.

  Elijah: So good to see you last night. Glad you’re here. I haven’t seen Jules so happy in a long time.

  What kind of person was I to have so many drop-dead gorgeous men’s attention, I wonder? And yes. They’re all absolutely gorgeous, even the scary one. These guys are the kind of gorgeous that’s an in-your-face sexy kind of way. The kind of sexy that would make any girl breathless and drop her panties in an instant. And there are four of them.

  And it’s not just their attention. It was clear from last night that I mean something to each of them. They all care deeply about me, even Elijah who’s with Julien. The way Jayson watched me. It was intense, just like him. And then there’s Ryder. Clearly, there’s something between us. It’s tangible. I feel it. I think he does too. That instant tug, that powerful pull, those strong emotions that made me run away from him at the student center, but also had me running to him after Jayson barged into my apartment.

  Yep, Elizabeth, I warn myself. I think you’re in for a hell of a ride. Buckle up, girl.

  I respond to Julien’s text first.

  Me: Lunch sounds good.

  Doppelganger: How about you come over to our place. I’ll cook.

  He texts me the address.

  Doppelganger: Around 1 sound good?

  Me: Perfect. See you then.

  I text Ryder.

  Me: Who’s car are we in?

  Hellcat: Hey! Didn’t expect to hear back from you until later. Car’s my dad’s. You about busted out all our garage windows revving the engine.

  Me: Excited about the racetrack. Can I drive too?

  Hellcat: I’ll make certain of it.

  Anticipation pulses through me.

  Me: Having lunch with Julien today. At his place.

  I type the last words while biting down on my lower lip, a little part of me hoping Ryder crashes lunch so I can see him again.

  Hellcat: I know. Jules just told us.

  Me:??

  Hellcat: We all live together.

  That never came up last night. He sends a picture of the three of them sitting down at a counter island, breakfast in front of them.

  ScaryGuy: No good morning for me, princess? I feel left out.

  Me: I was getting to you. Did you guys used to blow up my phone like this every day?

  ScaryGuy: Basically. Yeah.

  ScaryGuy: We would all have breakfast together before school too.

  Me: Every day?

  ScaryGuy: Yep. After I would wake you up with your morning orgasm and climb out of your warm bed to go home and take a shower.

  Holy shit. This guy is so intense.

  Me: You can’t say things like that to me. I’m not your girlfriend. I don’t remember us like that.

  ScaryGuy: I can be patient, Liz.

  Hellcat: Whatever you’re saying to Jay has him grinning like a fiend. Want to share?

  Me: Nope.

  Hellcat: Would you rather…go watch a movie or go watch a sunset?

  Some spark of recognition at his text has me excited.

  Me: Definitely a sunset.

  Hellcat: Good to know.

  Me: Got to go. Talk to you later?

  Hellcat: Absolutely. Have a good lunch with Jules.
>
  Carolina University and the town it’s located in are near the coast, slightly inland but close enough to do easy day trips to the beach. An hour’s walk on the beach would be a perfect way to start my day before I have to get ready for my lunch with Julien. I grab a water and a trail bar, slip on my flip flops and head out to my car.

  Twenty minutes later, I park in front of a public beach access. I found a bikini halter when I was unpacking boxes, so that’s what I’m wearing this morning along with a pair of jean shorts. I pull my hair into a high ponytail. I’m still not comfortable showing my scars or tattoos, so I grab a long-sleeved overshirt to put on over my bikini top. As I walk down the beach access stairs, I take off my flip-flops and leave them on the side of the last step. The fine, white sand is already hot after soaking up the summer sun’s early morning rays. I curl my toes into the warm sand and breathe.

  There are umbrellas and sunshades dotted down the beach from a few families enjoying the last of the summer. Several kids are playing in the waves, a few on boogie boards. The sun’s angle on the water creates a crystalline effect causing the rippling water to sparkle like it’s filled with brilliant diamonds. Along the horizon, a fishing trawler is moving out to deeper waters. And the smell of the ocean is heavenly, a mix of salt spray and coconut, which is weird because there are no palm trees anywhere. That’s when I see a mom spraying her little girl with sunscreen and I have the answer to why I smell coconut.

  Pulling my sunglasses down to shield my eyes, I get out my earbuds and put them in, select a playlist from my phone, and start walking to where the low tide has left shallow wading pools of ocean water.

  I dip my toe into a wading pool, the seafoam bubbles popping where my foot makes contact. A tiny hermit crab scuttles over my toes, tickling them with its little pointed legs. I reach down and pick it up. It immediately shuts itself inside its shell. Even though I have my music cranked loud, I can hear the sound of a man’s voice beside me. I look up from my hermit crab to find a guy smiling at me.

  I pull my earbuds out with my free hand. “Sorry. Are you talking to me?”

  The guy looks friendly enough. He’s tall and leanly built like Julien, not as muscular as Jayson or Ryder. Pieces of his dark blond hair escape out from under his baseball cap. He’s wearing dark aviators and a simple short-sleeved shirt and shorts.