Riley's Pond (New Adult Romance)

by Harley Brooks

  “Had a ‘hard on’!” we said together, laughing so hard we both started coughing.

  “I’m sorry, Riley. Did you get caught?”

  “Nah, she shooed her sister out and followed. I waited until the coast was clear, then climbed out and ran home. We never told anyone.”

  “Did you ever try it again with her?”

  “Oh, hell no. She thought the whole thing was disgusting. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never has sex. Poor schmuck who tries.”

  “You’ve spoiled her for other guys,” I giggled. “And technically, you’re still a virgin.”

  Riley’s free hand cradled my neck and pulled me to his lips. “Sorry if I was out of line, earlier.”

  “It’s okay,” I whispered back.

  Our lips were about to lock again when my cell phone chimed. “Crap! What time is it?” I dumped the contents of my purse onto the blanket, frantically trying to find my phone.

  “12:30. Why?”

  One missed call. Grammy. “I’m so dead!” I scooped everything back into my purse and scrambled to my feet, running for the Mini.

  “Wait!” Riley yelled, balling the quilt into his arms and running after me.

  “Sorry,” I called out my driver’s side window. Gravel spewed in a semi-circle behind me when the Mini skidded sideways.

  “Taylor!”

  No time to stop and explain. I needed to book it home before Grams decided to ship me back to Boston, or lock me in my room the rest of my summer vacation. Either one removed any more chances for steamy nights with Riley.

  The tires squealed when the Mini launched from the dirt road onto the asphalt, leaving a perfect calligraphy “S” on the highway before I gained control of the steering. I felt horrible ditching Riley, but I couldn’t stop for him. However, I had all the time in the world to stop for the red and blue flashing lights, suddenly filling my rearview mirror.

  Damn.

  My window purred when it retreated into its hidden compartment. The flashlight aimed at my retinas was overkill and I covered my eyes to avoid permanent blindness.

  “License and registration, Miss.” The voice sounded hard edged, void any inkling of compassion. I handed my documentation over and stewed while the officer went back to his car to see if I could be wanted for any mass murders or bank heists. Between the colored strobe lights and a spotlight that could light up a space station in another galaxy, I glowed inside my car.

  A second set of headlights pulled behind the officer’s cruiser. Great. Backup. Dad probably put some alert out on me. It wouldn’t surprise me to be arrested for a stolen vehicle, seeing how I didn’t really obtain official permission to charge an insane amount of money on his credit card.

  The officer reappeared at my window and I braced myself. “Taylor Wilson?”

  “Yes.”

  “Step out of the vehicle,” he commanded.

  I complied, leaning against the driver door. The officer’s badge said “Sheriff Martin.” Wonderful. I couldn’t get a rookie I could bat my eyelashes at and flirt my way out of a ticket. No. I had to get the Sheriff.

  “Miss Wilson, I’m afraid you’re under arrest.”

  “Under arrest? What did I do? I’m eighteen. I can be out after curfew.”

  “It’s not for curfew.” I swore I saw the corner of his lip twitch, but I couldn’t tell with the damn flashlight burning my eyeballs.

  “It’s for not giving the Sheriff’s son a proper kiss goodbye. You’re looking at five to life, girl.” The reply came from a different voice, behind the Sheriff.

  “Riley?”

  The flashlight clicked off, and between the spots dancing before my eyes and the disco lights surrounding us, I found the cocky, sexy lopsided grin attached to the boy who copped a feel from my chest earlier and stopped my heart from beating.

  He hooked a thumb at the cop. “Taylor, this is my dad. Sheriff Martin.”

  “Oh crap. You’re the Sheriff’s kid?”

  “You make that sound like a bad thing. I just saved your ass Miss Taylor and that’s the ‘thanks’ I get? ‘Book ‘em Danno’. Take her away.”

  “Riley, you’re pushing your luck.” The Sheriff handed me my license and registration. “Slow down. You could have rolled your car driving that way…and one more thing.”

  “Yes Sir?”

  “Kiss my boy so I can get back to work. He did save your pretty ass. Return the favor.”

  Riley pushed me against the Mini, his hands framing my waist.

  “You’re not seriously going to kiss me with your Dad watching, are you?”

  His head bent, his hands braiding into my hair. Riley’s lips brushed mine, teasing. “You bet I am.”

  A second hungrier kiss pressed, more possessive, the tongue full and in search of something deep in my throat. As soon as the light show ended and the cop car pulled away, Riley’s knee nudged between my thighs.

  “Want to play ‘house’?”

  Thirteen

  FAMILY COUNSELING

  Riley

  Rummaging through my closet, yanking hangers sideways down the rod then back again, I pulled out T-shirt after T-shirt, disgusted with my wardrobe. I couldn’t believe I didn’t own a decent shirt, one nice enough for a real date. Later, I’d take Taylor for pizza as promised, then try to convince her to run the “bases” with me. Something I didn’t promise.

  After last night, my mind wouldn’t shut off. I barely slept and when I woke, other parts of my body remained alert, as well. I wore my tightest jeans to breakfast for fear my usual morning attire of boxers and a T-shirt would scare the hell out of my mom. My body ached, thanks to last night’s events.

  “You all right, Riley?” Mom asked.

  I dropped onto the first chair and scooted tight against the table fast when Mom alerted the rest of the family I acted strange.

  “I’m fine,” I squeaked an octave higher than normal.

  My dad stopped drinking his coffee and peered over his cup at me, one brow arched in suspicion.

  “What? I didn’t sleep good. That’s all”

  Mom went back to scrambling eggs. Dad leaned closer. “Dreams keep you awake, son? Miss Wilson seemed to have your attention last night. I must say, she’s a pretty little thing.”

  “Who’s pretty?” Dirk chirped in, taking a seat across the table from me. “Kaylee?” he crooned, doing annoying smacking sounds.

  “That’s enough, Dirk,” Dad said firmly.

  No one ever scolded Dirk. Dad’s reaction surprised Dirk as well as me. Mom sat the platter of eggs and sausage in the middle of the table, exchanging glances with Dad. I guessed she’d found out about Kaylee and Jaxson.

  “Leave Riley alone,” my mother added, causing a pout to form on Dirk’s face. Two strikes against the baby angel? This was huge. I needed to save the little beggar before he started crying.

  “Yeah, well thanks to you, ‘douche bag’, Kaylee dumped me.”

  “Riley!” my parents chastised in unison. Dirk’s face lit up. He officially moved off the hot seat and back onto his pedestal.

  “She finally smarten’ up?”

  Silence impregnated the kitchen. The voice sounded out of place, like purple carpeting in an orange painted room. It had been so long since the timbre came without a snarl, I hardly recognized the tone.

  “Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” my mother said, moving in jerky motions because she had no idea what to do next. Jaxson never came to breakfast. “Let me get you a plate.”

  My dad folded his newspaper, sliding a sideways glance to me. “Dirk, do you want to take your breakfast downstairs and eat while you watch television?”

  Whoa! Life passed through another dimension! Breakfast in front of the TV was considered sacrilege, not to mention food on a carpeted surface being a definite cardinal sin in our house. Unless Mom and Dad were gone. Then everywhere became up for grabs.

  “Oh boy!” Dirk stopped to look at Mom. Apparently Dad wasn’t the “boss” as he proclaimed. Again with t
he weird glances between my parents.

  “Sure, if your dad says it’s okay, go ahead.”

  My little brother stopped halfway to the doorway, precariously balancing his plate of food and glass of juice. “At least you guys aren’t going to talk about sex. Otherwise I’d have to carry this across the street to the Hendersons.”

  Dad’s coffee spurt through his nose onto the table cloth.

  Mom followed Dirk, closing the basement door once he settled and became engrossed in some cartoon action flick. She sat at the other end of the table from Dad, leaving Jaxson and me in a glaring contest across from each other. I shoveled eggs in my mouth as fast as I could to keep from saying the disgusting words clamoring to get out.

  “All right you two, listen up,” Dad commanded. “We’ve got six weeks until Jax ships out. I expect you both to suck it up and pretend you give a damn about each other. No more fighting or ugly language. We’re going to be a happy family until September, if it kills us.”

  “What-ever,” Jax mumbled between bites of sausage—bites he had to take on one side of his mouth, thanks to Ally.

  Dad slammed his fists on the table hard enough our silverware changed places. “Damnit Jaxson Charles Martin! I’ve had a gut full of your attitude and it stops now! You hurt your brother in the worst possible way, humiliated your mother and me, not to mention disgrace our family name. Dirk doesn’t need to pay the price, understand?”

  Dad’s fork flung scrambled eggs in every direction as he shook it at Jax. “You and Riley will settle your differences here and now. Your mother and I will serve as mediators. That way we protect the furniture.

  My mother’s voice actually trembled. “Oh, I don’t know Stan.”

  “Why did you take Kaylee to the party?” I blared over her. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “You don’t want to know what I thought, bro.” Jax stopped eating. “Mom, Dad, I know what you’re trying to do, but this is really between me and Riley.” He lifted his coffee mug and rose out of the chair. “Let’s take this outside, Riley.”

  “Bring it on.” I grabbed my mug and followed him out the sliding door, ignoring my mother’s plea to stay away from her prized rose garden.

  Jaxson lugged two lawn chairs out to the farthest corner of the yard. “This should be far enough away they can’t hear us. Sit your ass down, Riley. We need to talk.”

  I stood debating, looking over my shoulder at the house. Dad planted his body on the other side of the patio door inside the house, fists pushed into his sides. Mom’s head bobbed like a cork in water in the small window over the sink.

  Taking necessary precautions, I pulled the chair away to give me room to bolt if Jaxson lunged at me. Between the gym and the loading docks, his arms had grown massive and any punch would be painful, if not bone crushing.

  “Okay, I’m sitting,” I said, my tone curt.

  Jax eased into the other chair. He took a long sip of his coffee, regarding me. “I’ve been thinking since the day you came to the hospital. There’s something I should tell you, but I need you to swear to keep this to yourself. If you spill it to Dad, you won’t hurt me. You’ll hurt Kaylee.”

  “Like I give a damn about that little slut.”

  “You do. Yeah, maybe what happened can never be fixed, but you’re decent, Riley. Despite how much you want to hate her, you can’t.”

  He was right. Except about me being decent.

  “Just tell me why you took her that night? Give me something. You owe me that much.”

  “Kaylee wanted to come with me.” Jaxson leaned on his knees, fingering his cup. He faced me directly, not dropping his gaze. “Dude, seriously. Didn’t you notice the way she always threw herself at me whenever she came around? Riley, I’m sorry. Really I am. I was drunk and stupid, but I’m not responsible for Kaylee leaving you. She’d left you weeks ago, you just haven’t paid attention. Hell, Riley, she’s fucking your best friend, Cade.”

  Anger burned through me. “Take that back!”

  “What? You didn’t know? Why the hell do you think he’s been MIA the last couple of weekends? Shit ‘Sherlock’. Are you really that blind?”

  Cade had avoided me. I always got voicemail when I called his cell and last night was the first time since school ended, he’d hung out at Barney’s. But Kaylee still hung out with me. It didn’t make sense.

  “How do you know? Got proof? Kaylee’s been with me almost every day since school ended.”

  “Days, Riley. Not nights.”

  “She works nights cleaning her uncle’s dentist office, trying to earn money for a car.”

  “Every night? How do you know? Do you have proof?”

  No I didn’t. Even with Taylor slowly capturing my heart, a bigger part of my cardiac muscle burned with anger, jealousy, and fear all at once.

  I swallowed the hard bubble in the back of my throat. “Damn,” I muttered almost inaudible, feeling deflated and vulnerable. “Still doesn’t change what happened between you and her. Between you and me.”

  “Like I said, I’ve got something to tell you, but I need your solemn oath it stays between us.”

  “Sure. Whatever.”

  “Riley, I’m serious. This is confidential.”

  “Okay, you have my word. Do I need a secret decoder ring, too?”

  “Always the smart-ass. No, just a blood promise. I’m calling for the ‘brother code’.”

  We hadn’t used the “brother code” since middle school. Any time we did something that could land us grounded for at least a year, or owned a secret we could never tell Mom or Dad without getting ourselves implicated somehow or blamed, we demanded the “brother code” on the other. It was binding. I’d held a lot of blood oaths for Jaxson over the years.

  “All right. I swear. Brother Code.”

  Jaxson leaned back in the lawn chair. “The night of the accident, I asked Ally to go with me to Brandon’s party. She said she was sick of dealing with my drunken ass and looking back, she had good reason. I’m a mean prick when I drink.

  “I stopped on my way to the party for ice at the gas station, and Kaylee walked in. Riley, she rubbed herself all up my side in the chip aisle. Because I was pissed at Ally, plus sick of fighting off Kaylee, I told her if she seriously wanted some ‘Jackson action’ to be at Brandon’s at nine. She arrived at 8:30. Good thing she’s got a body because the upstairs compartment is empty.”

  “So true, but I’ve never cared about her IQ. It’s always been about me trying to get in her pants and her keeping me out. I can’t believe she and Cade hooked up.”

  “Don’t take it personally. Word is Cade slipped her something Grad night. She felt so cheap after and scared of you finding out, she played it out that she seduced Cade. Guess they’re made for each other.”

  “That dumb ass! I’ll kill him, I swear.”

  “Thought you didn’t care?” Jax reminded inside a smirk.

  “I don’t care that she’s banging Cade, but I care about him drugging her. That’s not right. It’s one thing if something happens, but to force a girl, even a ‘stoned’ one who wouldn’t know the difference, makes me sick.”

  “Like I said. You’re decent, Riley, and deserve better than Kaylee Baker. Especially after what I’m about to tell you.”

  Jaxson launched into the ugly details of the night of accident. All the details, convincing me he told the truth. After he finished, I had a healthy respect for my brother. He shouldered the blame and would pay the consequences for everyone’s actions that night.

  True, he did take Dad’s cruiser, but he pushed Kaylee away when she went after Jackson Jr. In retaliation for being rejected, she yanked the wheel hard to the right, careening the car into the town marker. Seeing Jaxson impaled by the steering wheel, Kaylee apparently took off running, but being so drunk, smacked into a tree, knocking her out cold.

  Meanwhile, her self-righteous-whore-of-a-friend Shar, managed to talk an inebriated and apparently stoned Brandon into removing all clothing from
the waist down and well, let Shar do what Kaylee failed to accomplish. When the car smashed into the marker, they also took off with everything but underwear. I imagine Brandon’s boxers are marked “Exhibit A” in a box in the basement at the station. Shar’s panties probably hung off some rookie’s rearview mirror.

  Jax was also right about the information he’d passed to my safeguard. If anyone found out, a lot more lives would be altered than just his.

  “So why are you taking the fall? You’re going into the army, Jax, for two damn years. Don’t you want some payback for taking the heat on this?”

  “What good would it do? I’d still go to jail. I took the car. No one held a gun to my head. This way, the charges are dropped if I keep my nose clean and complete my tour.”

  Jax looked at me with an expression showing a hint of maturity. “Someday Riley, you’ll meet a girl that you’ll do anything to make her proud.”

  “Ally?” I snorted. “Really. Ally.”

  “I love her Riley. If she never speaks to me again, I’ll be okay with that, as long as I prove to her I’m not really a selfish bastard by doing this army thing. I want her to be proud of me.”

  “Well good luck with that. Hey, can you say ‘sneaky snake’ for me?”

  Jaxson’s lisp became pronounced when he got excited or tried to say a series of “S” words. According to Mom, the condition appeared permanent and we were to be delicate with the way we approached Jax about it. Delicate? She had to be insane. No one in our family even knew the word delicate, let alone had any idea how to behave that way.

  “I thould beat the thit out of you!”

  I started laughing. “That works!” He cuffed the side of my head. “Okay, okay!”

  We folded the lawn chairs and faced the mountain at the end of the meadow. Aspen and cottonwood trees shimmered among the dark pines at the base of the hill with the late morning breeze. Tucked out of sight inside the leafy fortress, sat the pond.

  “Ever go there anymore?” Jaxson asked, sounding melancholy.

  “Yeah. Went there the other day. Still the same.”