Paper Stars Rewritten: Fallen Brook Series: Book 2

by Jennilynn Wyer

  Meredith taps her finger against her bottom lip. “Are you also picturing Woody the Woodpecker with a penis for a beak, just pecking away. Or is that just me?”

  “You are one weird girl,” I say.

  “So it is just me.”

  “Let me turn the tables. I see how you look at Trevor. Anything going on there?”

  “Trevor is… well, Trevor.” Meredith drags her hand through her short hair, making it stand up on end in a stylish way. “He’s mysterious and handsome. Not as fuck-hot as Ryder is, but yeah, I’d climb that. I’m going to test the waters at the party tomorrow. See if there’s anything more to his dark, brooding persona. Don’t think I haven’t noticed he’s given you a nickname. Why does he call you Wildcat?”

  I sit down on the corner of the bed and Meredith starts playing with my long hair. “You’ve got such great hair. I love the pink. Perhaps a simple updo tonight since it’s still so hot out. Yes, that’s what you should do.”

  This girl surely does talk a mile a minute. I backtrack so I can answer her first question. “Remember him telling you that we met one day at the beach by accident, before classes started? He figured out I was at CU and started calling me Wildcat, I guess because of the college’s mascot.”

  “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? Follow me. I’m fixing your hair.” She pulls me up and leads me into my bathroom. After rummaging around my vanity drawers for hair clips, she takes a brush out and starts working on piling my hair up in sectioned twists. “I want a nickname. Something cool like Wildcat.”

  “I’ll ask Trevor to give you one.”

  “Don’t you dare!” She smacks me lightly with my hairbrush. “I already make a fool out of myself whenever I’m around him. You think I talk a lot now. That man has gotten it double-time the past two times he’s walked me back to my dorm room. He makes me nervous.”

  Meredith intricately twists a few strands of my hair, shakes her head, then starts over again. “So what’s your story morning glory?” she asks me.

  “Not much to tell. Literally.”

  “There has to be a story there. I mean, you and Ryder growing up together. Lots to tell, am I right? It must be so cool to fall in love with a guy you’ve known since you were a little girl. That’s stuff you only read about in romance novels. So spill it, sister.”

  “Like I said, there’s literally nothing to tell. Besides, Ryder and I just started dating.” I debate on how much I should tell her about my amnesia. Some stuff is just too painful to talk about, even now. But I want to have a friend, another girl, that I can confide in. Perhaps it’s a part of me that subconsciously misses my sister that’s prompting me to open up to Meredith. “I have amnesia.”

  Meredith blows out a raspberry at me. “Yeah, right. Nice try.” Our eyes meet in the mirror and she must see the serious, sad expression plastered across my face. “Wait. You’re serious? Like truly serious? Are you shitting me?”

  “I wish I was. It’s a long story and one that I probably won’t feel comfortable enough to tell you most of, but I was attacked over a year ago and then was in a coma for two months. When I woke up, the first eighteen years of my life were missing. I don’t remember anything.”

  “Holy shit, Elizabeth! Like, holy shit! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. Next time, tell me to mind my own damn business. Oh! So Ryder was a guy you grew up with but you don’t remember him, at all?”

  “I have had flashes of memories of him, but I don’t really remember him if that makes sense. But I can feel the connection. When we ran into each other at the student center before classes started, he was so happy to see me. Me? I bolted. Like up and ran away from him as fast as I could. Thankfully, they all found me again that night.”

  Meredith pins a strand of my hair and wraps another piece around it. “They?”

  “You haven’t met the other three. There’s also Jayson, Julien, and Elijah. Jayson and Julien are twins. Julien is dating Elijah. From what they’ve told me, Jayson, Julien, and I met when we were six and we lived right next door to each other. Then Ryder joined our group when I was nine. He lived down the street. They’ve been filling me in on what our lives were like. Sharing pictures of us growing up. We’ve started having breakfasts together – they all live with each other in the same condo. I go running with Julien almost every morning. And then there’s the stuff that’s happening with Ryder. It’s a little weird right now. Before my attack, I was Jayson’s girlfriend.”

  “Get the fuck out of here!” Meredith shouts and drops the hairbrush she’s holding.

  I cringe. “It’s complicated.” Isn’t that what Julien and Ryder keep saying to me?

  “So you can’t remember being Jayson’s girlfriend before and now you’re dating Ryder. You’re telling me that not one, but two guys want you. Girl,” she drawls out. “Did you like have a magic pussy or something?”

  “I wouldn’t remember if I did.” Meredith snorts and starts laughing like a hyena. When she calms down, I turn to look at her. “Ryder and I are trying to keep things private right now, if you understand what I’m saying. I don’t want to hurt Jayson or Julien, but…”

  “But you can’t help who you fall in love with. I get it.”

  “I never said I was in love,” I counter even though it’s the truth.

  Meredith goes back to doing my hair. “You don’t have to say it, Elizabeth. It’s written all your face every time you look at Ryder. Hell, even Trevor sees it. And I promise I won’t say anything. Are the other guys as hot as Ryder?”

  I bite my bottom lip and nod yes. Meredith squeals. “You are absolutely inviting me over the next time you guys hang out.” She sticks one last pin in my hair and pats my shoulder. “Okay. Done. What do you think?”

  I look in the vanity mirror. Meredith has created a gorgeous intricate mass of twisting hair on the back of my head, leaving a few tendrils hanging down. “I love it,” I tell her. “Thank you, Meredith. It’s nice having a girl to talk to.”

  Meredith bends down and gives me a squeeze. “Even if you don’t remember who you are, I think you’re a really cool girl, Elizabeth. I hope we can hang out more. And if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m a great listener. Really, I am. I may talk a bunch, but I am loyal to the core. Since we’re sharing secrets, the reason I may seem like a hyper chihuahua all the time is because I have ADHD. I don’t like taking medication as it makes me feel awful. But that’s a story for another day.”

  “Meredith, I wouldn’t change you for the world. I like you just the way you are.”

  “That means a lot to me. Now, let’s find some shoes to go with this rocking dress and wait for your man to pick you up.”

  Chapter 17

  The First Date

  Elizabeth

  “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

  We’re driving in Ryder’s car down a quiet country road, my fingers twined together with his right hand on my lap. Every once in a while, he releases his hold to shift gears but always brings his hand back to mine. For our first date, Ryder took me to an outdoor concert at the local botanical gardens. We walked around the grounds while a four-piece ensemble played classical Baroque music. The gardens had strung lights in all the trees and more lights along the pathways making the whole experience enchanting, like being in the middle of a forest oasis surrounded by twinkling fairies peeking at us from the foliage as we walked by. We held hands the entire time and Ryder would press kisses against my temple, my hair, and my shoulder. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I pressed him up against one of the trees and kissed him madly. After my impromptu attack of his lips, we walked back to where folding chairs had been arranged for people to sit and watched the sunset as the ensemble played Concerto for Two Violins by Bach. Ryder told me he was fulfilling my “would you rather.”

  As we drive, I look out the window. The sky is cloudless tonight, the moon casting shadows inside of the car. I look over at Ryder’s profile. He really is so very handsome. Strong. Sexy. The butterflies
in my stomach take flight once again like they usually do when I look at him. It’s been a month since we ran into each other at the student center. Such a short amount of time, but also a lifetime between us. Whatever feelings I had for him before I lost my memory are just as strong now, possibly even more so. My mind may have buried my memories six feet under, but the way my body reacts whenever I’m around him, the way my emotions take flight and soar, the way he makes me feel… he is becoming my everything, the thing I look forward to everyday, and it both scares me and exhilarates me.

  I lift our twined hands up to my mouth and press my lips to his knuckles. “Where are you taking me now?”

  He glances at me and the yellow in his golden eyes reflects off the moonlight coming through the windshield. “It’s a surprise. Patience, baby.”

  I give a tiny girlie sigh. “I love it when you call me that.”

  “What? Baby?” He cocks his brow at me.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll make sure to use it more often then.”

  He hands me his phone. Without thinking, I open his music app and select a song which starts playing from his speakers. A memory flash of me doing the same thing at some other time flits across my eyes. Just another one of those something else that tie us together. “The Distance” by Cake starts and I turn up the volume.

  “Nice,” Ryder tells me when he hears it.

  “I was going to ask you if I could come back out to the racetrack with you again sometime.”

  “Baby, anytime you want. I would love for you to come out again. I was impressed with how well you handled your car last time.”

  I beam at his praise. “I had a good instructor.”

  “I want to take a look at your car and check out your engine, if you don’t mind. I have some ideas for a few improvements you might be interested in.”

  “Seeing as my car is basically your car.” I laugh, because it really is a carbon copy of his but in a different color. “Do whatever you want with it. I trust you.” His hand squeezes mine and he leans over to kiss my temple.

  Ryder slows his car down and turns right onto a dirt road. We bump over dried mud until we reach the top of a hill where he parks. Below us, the city and college are illuminated by street and house lights while streams of traffic along the highway and roads create streaks of red and white light. Above us is the open night sky, filled with twinkling stars. It’s like we’re existing in our own separate space, caught between two worlds.

  “Alright, I’m intrigued.”

  He gets out of the car and walks around to open my door. “I found this place several months ago. Sometimes I come out here when I need some peace and quiet.”

  Ryder lifts me bodily out of my seat and carries me to stand at the hood of his car. He turns me around and sits down on the front part of the hood, keeping his arms wrapped around my middle, my back to his chest. I relax into him and we listen to the chirps of crickets, the buzz of cicadas, and the singing of frogs.

  “This is nice. Very peaceful. I can see why you like it out here.”

  Ryder begins humming a tune, one that is familiar to me. As he hums, he nuzzles my neck. My eyelids close. My voice joins his and I hum along with him. Our voices combine, his deeper, baritone one, with my higher, soprano one, both fitting together beautifully. Just as we fit perfectly together.

  “Your dad wrote this song,” Ryder begins. “He taught it to us when we were younger.”

  I’m taken aback at his words. “My dad wrote this?” My breath hitches and I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to force the memory forward. It’s there, on the periphery, if I can just grab it and pull it out.

  I feel Ryder shift behind me. He removes one of his arms from around my waist and pulls his phone out. The beginning notes of “Helium” by Sia start to play.

  “We danced to this at our senior prom. No one else existed in that moment. It was just you and me.” He turns me in his arms. “Dance with me, Elizabeth,” his deep voice says next to my ear causing a thousand goose bumps to form on my arms.

  Another memory breaks through. One of Ryder and me dancing. He’s wearing a tuxedo and the emotions between us are potently palpable, I can actually physically feel them now. The memory is so powerful, my legs go weak, but Ryder’s strength holds me up. He presses our cheeks together while lifting my hand up to place it above his heart which is beating as frantically as mine. My other hand wraps around the back of his head. He finds the dip of my spine and splays a large, warm hand across it, and we sway.

  “As first dates go, you really nailed it,” I tell him, my heart so full of love it’s about to burst.

  Ryder tips my chin up and lays a soft kiss on my mouth. “Beautiful Elizabeth.”

  I choke up, no longer capable of speaking. Ryder doesn’t say anything either and we just hold each other in our private, intimate dance until the song ends.

  Ryder

  Just like every night this week, as soon as we enter Elizabeth’s apartment, we can’t keep our hands and mouths off of each other. Besides, I have ten years to make up for. Ten long years of wanting her to be mine. And now that I have her in my arms, I will never let her go again.

  As I back her down the hallway to her bedroom, Elizabeth jumps up and wraps her arms and legs around me, not once breaking our kiss. Her dress opens and falls out and around her bent legs as her tongue does wicked things with mine. My cock, which has been hard as granite since we walked through the door, wishes her delectable lips were wrapped around it instead, and throbs in time to the rhythm of our open-mouthed kisses. Elizabeth breaks our kiss, gasping for air, her hips undulating against my hardness as I carry her the rest of the way to her bedroom.

  “Ryder, I need you to make love to me more than I need my next breath. I want you to strip me out of this dress and fuck me on my bed. Right now,” she demands, ripping the pins from her hair so it cascades down her back and shoulders in a blond waterfall. She smashes her mouth back down on mine and moans as her ass wiggles in my open palms as I hold her up.

  Holy fuck. I can absolutely do what’s she demanding. That’s exactly what I want to do. There’s nothing in the world that can stop me from doing just that.

  “Hold on, baby,” I tell her before tossing her on the bed and crashing down on top of her. She grunts when she bounces and then moans once again when my body lands on top of hers.

  “Get this damned dress off me now,” she pants and goes straight for the button of my jeans. Elizabeth must decide that I’m going too slow so she takes charge, unknotting the sash at her waist and slithering out of her dress so all that remains is her sinful as fuck pink lace bra and matching underwear.

  “You are so goddamn sexy,” I growl and pull my shirt up and over my head.

  Elizabeth goes back to tackling the button of my jeans. When she gets them undone, she jumps off the bed and kneels to push my jeans and boxers down and off my legs. The sight of her on her knees in front of me short circuits my brain. I can’t believe this is happening. This is really, finally, truly happening. Just the sight of her almost naked body alone has me ready to explode like a virgin prepubescent boy.

  Elizabeth doesn’t help matters when she fixates on my dick bobbing in front her face. I watch as she licks her lips, raises those gorgeous green eyes up at me, and slides her tongue across the top slit already leaking precum. Just the touch of her tongue against my shaft has my muscles tweaking. She wraps her devilish fingers around the base of my cock and then takes me fully into her warm, wet mouth. My hand acts on its own accord and grabs the back of her head to hold her close, needing to be deeper inside of her mouth, the feeling of her is just that good.

  Using her hand, tongue, and puckered lips, Elizabeth works her sultry magic, the vibrations of her moans as she suctions in and out bringing me closer to the point of no return. She glides her mouth down and back up again one last time before releasing me with a kiss to the tip. She grasps the sides of my hips and works her body up mine, never once breaking eye contact. Her
hands go to her back and I watch with lust-filled eyes as she unhooks and removes her bra, then pushes down her panties until she is standing completely naked in front of me.

  We both seem to understand at the same time that what’s about to happen is something monumental. The promise of it causes our frantic movements to slow and the flames of our desire to simmer. Now is not the time to go fast. It’s a time for exploration. A time for us to intimately discover each other. A time for us to experience the slow burn of pleasure, not just the quick release of passion.

  A quiet falls over the darkened bedroom. I cup her exquisite face, my thumb rubbing back and forth over her bottom lip. She gifts me with a smile that makes my heart expand and ache at the same time. Elizabeth lays her hands flat against my chest and turns them wide, feeling the bunched hardness contrasting with the softness of the dark scattering of hair that covers it.

  “Your body is magnificent,” her voice murmurs as her tongue outlines my tattoo.

  A couple of months after Elizabeth disappeared, Jayson, Julien, and I went to a bar and using our new fake IDs, got completely hammered. We needed just one night’s escape from our shared misery. As soon as the bar closed, we stumbled our way to the nearby tattoo parlor and each of us got her name inked on our chests right above our hearts. Mine was the princess crown with some measures of the music she wrote for me. Jayson had her name inked in red on the trunk of a tree that had stars hanging off its branches. Julien got her full name scripted on his chest with four tiny hearts interwoven through the lettering to represent the four of us.

  Elizabeth takes her time examining my tattoo again before she moves her hands across my chest, then down to my abs. She wraps her hands around my hips to my lower back, then traces her fingers up and along the sides of my spine until she gets to my shoulders. My skin tingles and my muscles contort under her light touch. She curls her fingers around the tops of my shoulders, holding on. With her mouth, she begins to explore every part of me that she just touched with her hands, making love to my body with her gentle kisses.