Summer Nights Read online

  Summer Nights

  Cruel Summer, Book 3

  by Rachel Van Dyken

  Copyright © 2018 RACHEL VAN DYKEN

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  SUMMER NIGHTS

  Copyright © 2018 RACHEL VAN DYKEN

  ISBN-13: 978-1-7321428-6-2

  Cover Art by Jena Brignola

  Formatting by Jill Sava, Love Affair With Fiction

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Epilogue

  Want more RVD?

  Acknowledgements

  About The Author

  Also By Rachel Van Dyken

  To Dirty Dancing and hot Summer Nights.

  GRAVEL PIERCED MY hands as I tried to stand.

  Tears cascaded down my cheeks.

  I hung my head as the world continued around me in a frenzy of firefighters and crying campers.

  I wasn’t strong enough to do this.

  I couldn’t.

  I fell in love.

  I lost it.

  I lost my heart.

  I lost my soul to a burning building.

  To a blue duffel bag.

  I moved to my knees as a paramedic tried to help me to my feet.

  “I got her.” Jackson’s rough voice sounded like alarms in my ears, or maybe they were just ringing from the blast. All I knew was that his arms felt all wrong.

  His smell. Wrong.

  He was just wrong.

  I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let me as we walked toward an ambulance.

  “You need to get checked out,” he whispered.

  I shook my head no, but the paramedic didn’t listen, maybe because I couldn’t find my voice.

  Maybe because I couldn’t feel my heart.

  It had died with him.

  Burned.

  The way I burned for him.

  Tear after tear streamed down my cheeks in rapid succession. I tasted salt on my lips as my heartbeat picked up for no reason, shock? Devastation?

  And then.

  “We got him!” A male voice yelled.

  I turned as they pulled Marlo out of the cabin on a stretcher. I stumbled over to him just as he opened his eyes.

  “Hey there, SP.” His voice was hoarse, his words punctuated by several coughs. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.

  I burst into tears over his body while paramedics tried to move him.

  “Holy fuck,” Jackson said from behind me. “Could you not ever do that to us again?”

  Marlo didn’t even look at him, just stared me down like he couldn’t believe I was real.

  I clung to his wet hand and then frowned.

  “They sprayed the building with water the minute it exploded, I got hit with a shit ton of water shoving me back against the closet.” He winced. “When the fireball from the explosion hit, I was behind a fallen bed frame and the only part of the cabin that wasn’t burning.”

  I cried harder.

  He tried to sit up, but the paramedic gently pushed him back down. “Look, I’m fine!”

  “You were just in an exploding building, sir, you’re not fine,” He made air quotes with his fingers, then grabbed an oxygen mask. “Now let me do my job and examine you.”

  Marlo smirked, looking sexier than ever with smoke caking his face, against his white teeth and perfect smile. He nodded to me. “Can she do it instead?”

  The paramedic looked less than amused while Jackson chuckled under his breath.

  And then Jen was suddenly airborne.

  Jackson caught her and stumbled back. “What? What’s wrong?”

  She kissed him so hard everyone with girly parts got pregnant with twins.

  “Damn.” Marlo wrinkled his face as though in pain. “I think she broke him with that kiss.”

  Jackson set her on her feet, wrapped his arms around her body, and pulled her so close my chest ached, in a happy way, for them. It was like once he was unleashed he couldn’t help but love her back.

  The paramedic flashed a penlight in one of Marlo’s eyes and then the other.

  I smiled as Marlo reached for my hand and squeezed it.

  “Mild concussion.” That same paramedic said as he took his blood pressure and did a hundred other things while staff members kept the campers back. “You have someone who can stay with you tonight?”

  “I’m the someone.” I raised my hand. “What do I need to know?”

  “Not to let him fall asleep for one,” the paramedic said in a stern tone.

  “Don’t worry, sir, we’ve got that covered.” Marlo rasped while my cheeks flashed red.

  “Uh-huh,” the paramedic looked between us like he was doubtful Marlo was in good hands. “And you’re going to need to take it easy the next few days.”

  “Wait!” Marlo tried jumping to his feet and stumbled against me instead, I steadied him. “I can’t just take it fucking easy I’m the camp director. I have—”

  “Look, I don’t care what you have to do, you were just in both a burning and exploding building where little things like humans go splat. Who’s your second in charge?”

  We both looked to Jackson, who was currently pulling at Jen’s clothes in such a frenzy that I almost covered my eyes.

  “Her.” Marlo cleared his throat and pointed to me. “She’ll take over.”

  I gave him a wide-eyed look, ready to strangle him and send him back into the building.

  “Great, all settled.” Mr. Happy Paramedic finished checking out his unhappy patient while I sent seething thoughts Marlo’s way.

  All of which, he just deflected with his perfect smile and, well, the fact that he was alive. When the paramedics finally left, I helped him back toward his cabin where I forced him to change so I would never have to look at a burnt staff shirt again.

  Marlo peeled the staff T-shirt over his head.

  And that’s when I lost it.

  Just completely lost it.

  I fell into a heap of tears and hiccups.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Marlo gripped my head between his palms. “What’s wrong, princess?”

  “You!” I smacked his chest. “How dare you think you can just run into a burning building and save someone’s life! You’re mine! You’re mine, damn it! MINE!”

  With each shouted word, his smile grew, and then he gave me a smug look. “Are you done?”

  “No!” I fisted my hands. “I’m not done! I’m pissed! I’m terrified! I love you! I don’t love people, Marlo! I didn’t even have a pet to love! I have you! I need to always have you don’t you get it? You can’t just bare your soul, ask m
e to bare mine, and then leave me broken! You can’t! You. Are. Mine!”

  “I’m yours.” He agreed with a hitch in his voice. “I’ve always been yours, even when you didn’t want me.” His eyes darkened. “But we can’t control the universe so I need to know that if the worst ever happened, if for some reason I drown in the lake tomorrow and you can’t follow me… you’ll be okay.”

  “No. You just have to live forever.”

  “Right.” He snorted out a laugh. “Well thank you, for loving me so much you control my life, my death, my every waking moment. Thank you, Ray. I don’t think anyone has ever loved me that much. I don’t think I’ll ever deserve that sort of love.”

  “Just…” I swiped my cheeks. “Take off your clothes already!”

  “Huh?”

  I tugged his charred jeans down, kissed each bandage on his chest, and then grabbed his shower caddy, a pair of shorts and tossed them at him. “Let’s get the smoke off.”

  “All right…” he slowly got into his shorts and followed me to the bathroom.

  We stopped in front of the same stall we’d had sex in.

  I turned on the water.

  He stood behind me.

  I could feel his heat.

  Feel his need.

  It almost covered the choking fear still wrapping itself around me.

  I leaned my head back onto his chest while he gripped my hips and pulled me against him. He was hard, hot, perfect.

  Alive.

  “If I go in there, I’m not just showering.”

  “If you go in there I’m going to put my mouth on you.” I shrugged, peeled off my clothes, and stepped in.

  I WAS TRYING to be strong for her, for us, but every time I lost focus, I saw her face. Her terrified gaze as she reached for me, as the explosion sent me reeling backward so hard that the next thing I remembered was getting pulled out by the firefighters.

  It hit me in those brief moments that felt like forever, while we stared at one another, I would do anything for her. And I’d be lying if I didn’t at least admit that I was petrified it wasn’t real, that she’d consider this a summer fling and move on.

  With a sigh, I wrapped my arms around her waist. She flipped around so fast I stumbled back and then she fell to her knees, taking my shorts down with her.

  We weren’t even in the shower yet.

  I still smelled like smoke, had it all over my face and hair.

  And she was on her knees in front of me like a fucking dream.

  Maybe I did die.

  Maybe this was Heaven.

  She wrapped a hand around me.

  I jerked toward her, bracing my hands against the white tile, my fingers digging in while she lowered her head. Her hair spilled over her cheek, grazing my dick like a caress right before I felt the warmth of her mouth surround me.

  I gritted my teeth against hot, tingling sensations that ricocheted through me, weakening my knees and leaving me short of breath. “I’m not going to last that long.” Or at all. Not in my current state, not with the vision of her on her knees, taking me in, sucking me dry.

  The sound of talking had her pulling away with a smirk. I pressed her against the wall, our mouths met in a burst of pent up passion and fear as I turned on the shower and spiraled into an oblivion of pleasure with her rubbing her body against me like she was going to go insane if she didn’t have me. A heady craving drummed through me as her breasts slid against my chest. I wanted her there forever in my arms, under that shower, anywhere I could have her.

  “We seem to have a thing for sex in the wrong places.” She laughed against my mouth and deepened the kiss. Her tongue tasted so sweet I wanted to keep sucking it.

  Another shower turned on.

  We both laughed mid-kiss. I stopped laughing when she reached between us, grasping me so hard that I saw stars, and pumped into her hand.

  “Don’t stop,” I saw a dizzying amount of stars as she moved back and forth. I growled against her mouth and slapped her hand away then slid inside her in one thrust that had her thighs clenching around me as her fingernails dug into my shoulders, shooting sharp, exquisite pain down my arms and into my neck.

  I rocked into her, each thrust deeper than the last, faster. “Princess I can’t—I want—” My thoughts jumbled together. My body wanted one thing, my brain said to slow down and savor it. My body was winning the argument.

  “You’re mine, Marlo.” She pushed me against the tile while I gripped her ass and lifted her, deepening my angle. “That feels so good.”

  I groaned. “It feels better than good.”

  Her body went taut along with mine as I moved her against me. And then I was pushing her up against the wall, impaling her, with each thrust I swore I’d love her forever. And with each moan that erupted from her lips, I knew I would have her.

  Mine. She was mine.

  “Marlo…” Her head fell back against the wall as she found her release. I followed soon after, spent, exhausted, ready for the longest nap in the history of naps.

  I kissed up her body as she slid down mine, and met her lips, sucking the water droplets from the shower as she grinned against my mouth.

  “Glad you’re feeling better,” came Brax’s tight, traumatized voice from one of the other stalls. “Also, good to know your dick didn’t burn off. I was worried.”

  “Damn, Brax!” I yelled back. “Could you at least cough next time?”

  “Like a cough would have stopped you two going at it like hyenas.” He shut off his shower while I mouthed at Ray, “Hyenas?”

  “Don’t you mean bunnies?” Ray asked.

  I shot her a look of please don’t encourage his crazy.

  “That too.” He sighed. “Also, I feel like it needs to be addressed, that was a three-minute shower, all right then! See you soon! Get some rest, Marlo!”

  “I almost died!” I yelled after him. “Stop judging my sexual performance, this isn’t the Olympics!”

  “Good because you wouldn’t have even medaled!” he yelled back just as the door slammed.

  I was seconds from chasing after him.

  Probably would have just because I wasn’t thinking straight.

  But I heard sniffling.

  When I turned, it was to see tears streaming down Ray’s face. She’d always been beautiful to me, but when she cried, it made her eyes almost glow. It was impossible to look away, and I knew in that moment, there would never be a time in my life where I would be able to let her go. Where I could be able to walk away without a fight.

  “Ray, look at me.” I tilted her chin toward me. Tears dripped off of it, her lower lip trembled. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

  She nodded her head, though her eyes said she didn’t believe me.

  “What are you afraid of?” I whispered, slowly grabbing some soap and washing up and down her legs. I looked up, waited.

  She gave her head a shake. “I didn’t stand up for you.”

  “What?” I frowned and ran my soapy hands up her stomach, around her breasts; she sighed and leaned into me. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I didn’t stand up for you. I deserve bad things, not good things. I laughed when they made fun of you, I called you a nerd behind your back while secretly watching you from my bedroom window. I did all of those things. For four years, I did those things, so why would the universe let me have you now? When I’ve done nothing to earn you?”

  “You’re right.” I rinsed off my hands. “I should probably go.”

  She looked down at her feet, a tear dripped from her chin.

  “I mean, I’m perfect right? I should just… go find someone who can last three minutes too… Someone who likes revenge sex in bathroom stalls and likes to play the part of the asshole ninety percent of the time…”

  “It’s not working…” She wiped under her eyes. “I know what you’re doing.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “You’re saying you’re just as bad…” She shook her head. “Yo
u don’t know what I’ve done, the things I’ve done.”

  “Nothing will ever make me stop loving you.” I pulled her into my arms, “All right?”

  “Don’t say things you don’t mean,” she whispered and then grabbed some soap. She didn’t say anything more, and maybe it was my concussion but I felt her pull away.

  I felt her do what she swore she would never do.

  Only this time, out of guilt, out of a past that no longer mattered.

  I pulled her into my arms and kissed her head. “Let me see you.”

  With a sigh, she lifted her chin, our eyes met. “I’m right here.”

  “Good, because you have a long day ahead of you as director.” I slapped her ass. “Better carb up.”

  She scowled and then somehow, I was kissing her again.

  And her hands were tangled in my hair.

  And I thought, this is what I was missing out on, every summer night I saw her swim at her parents, every summer night she stared me down like she wanted me to watch.

  This.

  And I vowed, never again.

  “BRAX, SERIOUSLY!” I threw my hands up in the air. “Just get the menu so you can write it down and find me the damn whistle!”

  He grinned. “Aw, you want Marlo’s whistle? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

  I glared.

  I’d had exactly zero sleep.

  So freaked out that the concussion Marlo suffered was going to kill him that I made his Keurig my bitch and literally sat up all night waking him up every few hours and asking him stupid questions like how old are you, who do you love?

  “Twenty-two, and you. I love you. Sleep, Ray… my Ray of sunshine…” He turned on his side and pulled me next to him.

  God he was so warm.

  So strong.

  Just everything that I wasn’t, everything that I needed so desperately I hungered to just touch him, and soak him in.

  The guilt over the way I treated him kept creeping back into my consciousness ruining the dopey grin on my face when he said my name in his sleep.

  He was mine.

  I wasn’t giving him back.

  To anyone.

  I just had to learn how to deal with the guilt and move on with him, right? Together?

  I just had this horrible feeling that because of what I’d done, the way I’d treated him, the universe was going to punish me.