Wasted Summer

by Cathryn Fox

  “That’s not true. Tell me it’s not true, Melody. Please tell me it’s not true!” he yelled.

  “You always said I was the bad judge of character.” She stomped down the emotions and met his gaze unflinchingly. “Maybe you’re the one who’s not so good at reading people.”

  “Melody, Jesus. No! You’re lying. You’re fucking lying.”

  “No, I’m not. Your mother was right. You should have listened to her.”

  He pulled on his hair and struggled to get up, but his mother stopped him. “You love me. I know you do!” he yelled. She took a small, unstable step backward. “Melody, come on. Please. You’re a fighter, you fight for everything and right now I’m the one thing I need you to fight for.”

  “Goodbye, Ryeland. Go back to school. Don’t waste anymore time with me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  After getting discharged from the hospital, Ryeland went in search of Melody, but she was nowhere to be found. His texts went unanswered and she’d moved from her lodge, no forwarding address. He checked her mother’s house and when he found that empty too, he went to the hospital to talk to her. Except her mother hated him with the same ferociousness as his folks hated Melody and wouldn’t tell him a thing. Even Jaelyn had said she had no idea where Melody was, but Ryeland didn’t believe her.

  Two weeks had gone by, two weeks of searching, coming up empty-handed, and going over everything that had happened since he’d met Melody. Over the course of those weeks he had read over his medical file, learning it was true, that his chances of having a child were slim to none. He was going with slim, because deep in his gut he knew the baby was his. He also went looking for answers on his real father and had received the results of his MCAT test. But what good was changing his career track now? That other path included Melody, and if he didn’t have her in his life, if she insisted on pushing him out of hers, he might as well go to law school and become a first-class prick like his old man wanted.

  He tossed the last of his clothes into his duffle bag and glanced out his bedroom window to see his family drive off. Ryeland had barely spoken to his folks since the hospital, except to ask if his father had been behind all this. He’d insisted he wasn’t, naturally, but Ryeland suspected otherwise. Arthur was a man who won at all cost and would do whatever was necessary to gain that win. Except Ryeland wasn’t some courtroom case or some protégé son used to help his father build his name and reputation. If anyone caught wind that all was not right in the Montgomery household and that Ryeland wasn’t his real son, wouldn’t that shit hit the fan?

  Ryeland walked down the stairs, his hand feathering the oak rail as he glanced around. So much had changed in the last four months, and while he loved hanging out with Ashley and Evan here, he knew this was the last time he’d ever step foot in this place again. He pushed through the front door and lifted his head to find Jaelyn standing there, holding out the T-shirt he’d given Melody that first day Justin had soaked her.

  “Jaelyn,” he rushed out, his heart squeezing as he took in the concern in her eyes. “Where is she?”

  She looked down and hesitated a moment before saying, “She doesn’t want you to know.”

  His heart raced faster. “Tell me.”

  She went quiet for a moment, then nodded. “I’m only telling you because I know she needs you.”

  He crushed his hands in his hair, panic invading his gut. “Is she okay?”

  “No. She’s not okay at all. That’s why I’m here.”

  He pushed down the stairs past her and opened the door to his Wrangler. “Get in. I need you to take me to her.”

  “Maybe I should drive,” she said.

  “Just get in.”

  After Jaelyn slipped in beside him and gave him directions to some out-of-the-way cabin Sattler owned and was letting Melody use, he took off up the mountain. He took a side road, and when they went over rough terrain Jaelyn grabbed the “oh shit” handle above her door to hang on.

  “Slow down or you’re going to get us killed. You’ll be no good to her dead.”

  Soon a log cabin came into view and Ryeland slammed on the brakes.

  “She’s expecting me,” Jaelyn said, nervousness lacing her voice. “Should I go in first and give her the head’s up?”

  “No.” Ryeland had his door open before coming to a complete stop. “I need to see her alone.” He ran across the wide dirt driveway and pulled open the front door to the cottage.

  “That was fast,” Melody began. She turned around and her hand went to the back of the sofa when she found Ryeland standing there. “Rye,” she whispered.

  In two swift strides he crossed the room and gathered her into his arms. He took in the puffiness in her eyes, like she’d been crying for weeks. “Melody,” he said emotions choking him as he buried his face in her hair. “Melody, are you okay? I missed you so much.”

  Her body shook and he held her tighter, absorbing her tremors.

  “Rye,” she murmured into his chest. “How did you find me?”

  He gripped her shoulders and inched back. “Jaelyn. She’s outside.” His glance moved over her face, accessing her. “How are you feeling? How’s the baby?”

  She pulled away from him and turned her head, but not before he saw the tears in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. You need to go.”

  “I’m not going.” Frustration ripped a hole in his gut. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. You love me. I love you. I want to know why you lied.”

  “I didn’t lie,” she choked out.

  “What did my father do?” he asked, struggling to keep his anger in check and wanting her to stop with all the lies. At the mention of his father, she moved to the other side of the sofa. He moved with her, and grabbed her shaky hands. “Tell me what he did.”

  “I can’t do this, Rye. I can’t.”

  “Melody, I love you.”

  “You’re wasting your time here,” she said, pulling out of his grasp.

  “No, I’m not. I don’t get it at all. I know you love me.”

  “Ryeland, please.”

  “No. I’m not leaving, Melody. The baby is mine. I know it, and even if it isn’t, it doesn’t change anything. We love each other. We’re going to make a life together. I want you and the baby.”

  She turned to him, the pain in her eyes so raw and real it cut him deeper than Trevor’s blade. “You…you would still want me if the baby wasn’t yours?”

  “Yes. But it’s mine, Melody. I know that.”

  The sound of her swallowing cut through the air, then she put her hand over her stomach and whispered, “There is no baby. You deserve to know that.”

  He fell onto the cushiony sofa, air evacuating his lungs. “What? What are you talking about? I know you didn’t lie about the baby. I know that much.”

  “I didn’t. I lost the baby.”

  “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” He buried his face in his hands. “This is my fault. I’m so sorry, baby.”

  Her voice hitched when she said, “It’s not your fault.”

  He reached for her hand and pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. “I should have been there for you. I couldn’t find you. I couldn’t find you anywhere. I searched everywhere. I damn near tore this town apart, but I should have tried harder. I should have forced Jaelyn to tell me.”

  “Ryeland.”

  “Yeah.” She looked at him, her hair spilling forward. He pushed it off her face and tucked it behind her ears. “I…I…” She stopped speaking and those haunted eyes of hers looked at some distance spot behind his shoulder.

  “Why did you push me away? I needed you to fight for me, baby.”

  “Rye,” she said, choking back the tears. “I wanted to. But I couldn’t fight him. If I did, he’d ruin your future.”

  He clenched down hard enough to break his teeth. “What did he do to you? What did he say?” She shook her head and her eyes went wide, like she’d said too much. “Tell me,” he commanded in
a soft voice. “Tell me, Melody.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Tell me.” He gripped her shoulders. “I deserve that from you too.”

  Tears ran down her face. “You’re right, you do. But then you have to go.” He went silent, waiting for her to explain. She sucked in a quick breath, then said, “He came to me and told me he would ruin your life if I didn’t back off. He said he wouldn’t get the charges dropped and not only would it ruin your future as a lawyer but as a doctor too. He said you’d never get into med school with a criminal record. I couldn’t let that happen.” She cupped his cheek, her voice bordering on hysteria. “Don’t you see, Rye? I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “You should have come to me. You should have told me.” He shook his head, anger tearing through him.

  “I couldn’t…your future.”

  “That never would have happened. It was just a convenient way to get you out of my life—”

  She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Ryeland, stop. He was just doing what parents do. He was doing what my parents never did. He thought I tricked you. How can we fault him for wanting me out of your life?”

  “Baby, oh, God, baby, you’ve got it wrong. He blackmailed you and that’s never okay. I know you don’t have your own good experiences to draw on but that’s never what a good parent should do. From day one he never gave you a chance. He never trusted that I could make good decisions. His every move was about me doing what he wanted, to keep all his secrets.”

  “Secrets? What do you mean?”

  “I have something on him too, something I can use against him so he can never hurt us again.”

  “You do? What?”

  “I’m not his son.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “When I got sick with leukemia, my father changed. At first I thought it was his way of dealing. But it wasn’t. I needed blood and that’s when they realized he wasn’t a match. My mother tricked him into marrying her. She slept with him, then told him she was pregnant. He married her quickly, to cover the dates. But then later he found out I wasn’t his son. I was the son of the resort’s ranch hand. But my mom wanted more, wanted out of Deerfield.” He scoffed. “I guess that’s why Arthur didn’t like me hanging out in the horse stables or volunteering. Not only did it remind him too much of my real dad, and my mother’s betrayal, he was worried people would figure it out and it would come back on him negatively.”

  “Why did he stay with her?”

  “Appearances. As a lawyer he wanted to come across as unflappable.” He held her tighter. “The charges against me have been dropped and he’s never going to hurt us again.”

  The pulse at the base of her neck jumped, and she blinked rapidly. “Ryeland, are you saying…”

  “Yes, I’m saying he’s out of our life, and he’s never going to hurt us again.”

  “You mean…” she choked out. “We can be—”

  “Yes, we can be together.”

  He cupped her cheeks and planted a warm kiss on her mouth. When he pulled back he caught the flash of emotions in her eyes.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I know the paper showed you were sterile, but just so you know, I wasn’t with anyone but you. Those things your mom said about me, none of them were true.”

  He briefly closed his eyes, hating the hurt she’d suffered. “I know that, and I know that baby was mine. The report said chances were slim to none, but obviously there is a chance my guys are working.” That brought a small smile to her face, and his heart turned over. He cupped her cheeks again.

  “I didn’t get pregnant on purpose. I was never using you to get out of here. You have to know that.”

  Ryeland brushed the tears from her eyes. “You’re the only person in the world who’s never wanted something from me, baby.” He dropped a soft kiss onto her mouth. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you when you lost the baby.”

  “I know.”

  “Melody, I love you so much.”

  Her tears fell harder. “I love you too.”

  “I want you in my life. I want to move to Toronto and go to medical school while you follow your dreams of being a writer.”

  Her glance strayed to her closed laptop. “I want that too, but I can’t write anymore. The words won’t come.”

  He pushed her hair from her face. “You’ve been through so much.”

  “We’ve both been through so much.”

  He exhaled slowly, and after a long time he said, “I’ve got an idea. How about we start again.”

  He caught a ghost of a smile, and his heart swelled because in that instant he knew they were going to be okay. No matter what the world threw at them as long as they had each other they were going to be okay.

  “I’d like that,” she whispered.

  He grinned and, taking them right back to the first time they met, he asked, “What’s Mel short for?”

  “Melba,” she said grinning.

  He nudged her with his shoulder, his heart filling with all the love he had for her. “Come on, Melba. We have a lot of work to do.”

  “We do?”

  He stood and lifted her with him. “Yeah, we need to get to work on our happily-ever-after so you’ll know how to write one for your book.”

  She pointed toward the door. “What about Jaelyn, isn’t she in the car?”

  “Yeah, she is.”

  “Shouldn’t we go tell her—”

  He scooped her up and she yelped. “Don’t worry, this will only take a minute.”

  She laughed. “A minute?”

  “It’s been awhile and I need you so bad,” he said, giving her a crooked grin.

  “If I’m going to figure out how to write that happily-ever-after, I might need more than a minute from you,” she teased, the demons finally gone from her eyes.

  “Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to give you every minute of every day of every year. Except right now I’m pretty sure I can only give a minute.”

  She laughed, and the sound warmed his soul. “You’re crazy, you know that.”

  He winked at her. “I think that’s already on the list.”

  “I think you’re right,” she agreed.

  He carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. He stood back to look at her, taking in the flush on her cheeks, the love in her eyes. Jesus, he was the luckiest guy in the world.

  “Want to know what I think?” he asked.

  “More than anything,” she said.

  He tore off his shirt, climbed over her, and dropped a soft kiss onto her mouth. “How about I show you instead?”

  Thank You!

  Thank you so much for reading, Wasted Summer. I hope you enjoyed Ryeland and Melody’s journey as much as I loved writing it. Please read on, I’ve included an excerpt from Crashing Down (Book one in the Stone Cliff series) ! I hope you enjoy!

  Interested in leaving a review? Please do! Reviews help readers connect with books that work for them. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

  Happy Reading,

  Cathryn

  CRASHING DOWN: Excerpt

  Chapter One

  “You reek of sex.”

  Noah Ryan grinned at his buddy Jared, a guy he’d gotten to know over the last couple of years while living and working at Stone Cliff Resort in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Taking his friend’s ribbing in stride, Noah scrubbed his hands through his disheveled hair, and sank down onto the driftwood next to him, setting his motorcycle helmet at his feet. He let his glance surf over the crowd gathered around the nightly, beachside bonfire. He zeroed in on a cute blonde with big tits and gave Jared a wry smirk. “Not yet I don’t.”

  Jared reached into the cooler, pulled out a cold brew, and handed it to Noah. “Yeah, well that’s a matter of opinion.”

  “Fuck you.” Noah laughed and twisted off the cap, the taste of weed and smoke scratching his dry throat like coarse sandpaper. “How the hell can I reek of sex when I just crawled out of bed, a
lone?”

  Jared shrugged. “Well your bed smells like sex, then.”

  Okay, so that was probably true. His bed likely did smell like sex. Sometimes a hard, mindless fuck chased away the chills that had taken up residency inside him since the accident a little over three years ago. Then again, sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes the demons managed to tunnel their way past the wall he’d built despite a warm body lying next to him.

  Noah took a long pull from the bottle, and washed the grit from his throat. Too bad the alcohol did little to drown the pain that blackened his soul. Then again, did he really deserve for it to?

  He worked to push all dark thoughts aside, and tried to keep things light. He nudged his friend with his elbow. “Ah, come on, Jared. Don’t be jealous ’cause I’m getting all the play and you’re not.”

  Jared waved to Ryan and Bobbie, a couple of locals who had just rolled in, before he flicked his beer cap at Noah. “Yeah, well, fuck you. I get all the play I need, or I would be if you weren’t always hovering around.” Two well-built, dark-haired hotties moved in front of them, smiling flirtatiously at Noah. “Christ, Noah, what the hell is it about you?” He clucked his tongue and added, “You’re like nectar to the honey bee, my man.”

  Laughing, Noah took another swig from the bottle as the cute blonde he’d been eying glanced his way. He caught the mischief in her gaze and pegged her as a local, a rich townie who’d just returned home from university. He knew her type all too well. She’d spend her days lounging on the water with her friends and her nights here at the beach, otherwise known as the Cave, where many of the resort staff and locals alike gathered for a little action. Not that he was judging her. He wasn’t. After all, unlike him she was getting an education and going places.

  With exhaustion pulling at him, Noah stretched his arms over his head and stifled a yawn. He hadn’t planned on hanging out with Jared tonight, but since he couldn’t take staring at his ceiling for one more minute, he’d decided if he couldn’t sleep, he might as well get laid. The little townie gave him a look that said, come get some and his cock twitched, but before he made his move on the blonde, he shifted closer to his friend. He pulled an envelope from his back pocket and slipped it to him, wanting to do this exchange off resort and away from their manager, Donald Brake’s, watchful eye.