One Last Summer

  Piper Rayne

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  © 2024 by Piper Rayne®

  Piper Rayne® registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

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  * * *

  About One Last Summer

  He’s my first love. My high school sweetheart. And he’s leaving tomorrow for a bigger and better life.

  * * *

  I’ve loved Ben almost my entire life, and we have one night left before he heads miles away to college on a football scholarship. I’m bound and determined to make sure this day goes perfectly so he remembers me as the girl he loves. But I can’t help worrying that I’ll end up as the girl he loved.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Also by Piper Rayne

  About Piper & Rayne

  Chapter One

  Ben

  It’s going to be weird not being here.

  That’s all I can think of standing on the front porch of my family’s cattle ranch, looking out at our expansive land. This town, this land, this home are all I’ve known my entire life. Eighteen years of memories, good and bad. From racing my brothers home at dusk after a filled day of exploration, to my mom dying.

  I’m excited to attend Clemson. But the elation is tempered by fear and worry because I’m leaving behind everybody I love.

  I sigh.

  The screen door slams shut on the wood frame.

  “Jesus, are you really sulking that you leave tomorrow? Do you know how much pussy you’re gonna pull at Clemson?”

  I roll my eyes at my youngest brother, Emmett. He’s fifteen and ruled by hormones.

  “You wouldn’t get it.”

  “What’s to be sad about? You got a full ride to play football which makes you a hero in this town. And bonus, you’re getting the hell outta Dodge. What’s the downside?”

  “Gillian—”

  “Will be a distant memory once you get to South Carolina and meet all the fresh meat.”

  He’s shot up in the last couple of months, almost meeting my six foot two inches now. Though at two hundred pounds, I have him out-muscled.

  “You talk about girls like they’re one of our heifers and you’re the bull.”

  He shrugs. “Sorry, I don’t put them on a pedestal like you do with Gillian.”

  “Keep Gillian out of it.” My words hold a bite I don’t intend. The last thing I want is to get into it with my brother, but today is my last day with Gillian before I leave, and I want every minute to be memorable.

  Almost everyone else attending college, still has weeks before they have to leave, but football starts early for workouts and practice.

  Emmett raises his hands. His classic move after he’s the cause of my annoyance from his oversharing mouth. “You’ll see soon enough.”

  “Where’s Jude?” I ask.

  My older brother, Jude is one year older than me but acts a decade older. Responsible, reliable, and grumpy are the three adjectives to describe him. It wasn’t always that way though. Before my mom died, he was more carefree and wilder. Maybe he was always going to be the most responsible one of us three. Hard to say since we were only five and six when she died.

  “Heard him tell Dad he was heading out to check a fence on the north end of the ranch.”

  A sharp familiar pain pinches my chest.

  Guilt.

  I’m leaving to play football and Jude’s stuck here helping my dad run the ranch.

  “What are you up to today?” Emmett jumps up on the porch railing.

  “Picking up Gillian to swim at the old quarry and then coming back here.”

  Emmett’s eyes light up. “Can I come?”

  “Hell no.”

  My brother is the town’s biggest flirt and the last thing me or Gillian want is to spend our last day together with my little brother in tow picking up girls. It’s the reason I didn’t invite my friends. I’ll see everyone tonight at our annual Fourth of July pig roast, but this morning is just for us.

  “You suck.”

  “Whatever.” I walk across the porch to the wooden screen door and head inside.

  The door slams against the wooden jamb making the same sound I’ve heard a thousand times in my life, but still, I stop to commit it to memory.

  My dad’s bedroom door is wide open as usual. He’s shrugging on a clean T-shirt, wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. In a house full of only guys none of us feel the need to close the doors if we’re changing.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  He smiles, pride shining through the creases around his eyes. No one is happier about me playing college ball than him.

  “You need me?” He walks over to his beat-up dresser, the same one he shared with my mom and pulls out a pair of jeans.

  “Still okay if I take the truck this morning?”

  “Yep. Just be back early afternoon. Gonna need your help before everyone arrives.”

  Willowbrook is a small town, and almost everyone ends up here at some point during the day to eat, hang out and trade stories we’ve all heard a hundred times.

  “Will do. You need me to do anything before I go?”

  A part of me hopes that he’ll say yes. My dad has always required less of me than my brother’s as far as the ranch goes, insisting I concentrate on football. I wonder at times what he saw in me that he didn’t in my brothers. As if he put all his eggs in my basket to make it out of this town.

  He shakes his head. “Nah, we’re good. Got Jude on what’s needed done this morning.”

  There’s that guilt sliding through my veins once more.

  “Okay then, see you later.”

  “Later, son.”

  I grab the keys from the brass hook with a silhouette of a cow and the words, “I’m an expert in the field”. I leap off the stairs to our scratched and dented red pickup truck parked in the dirt drive.

  Gillian doesn’t live too far from me, about fifteen minutes, but she’s closer to town than me. She’s already waiting outside when I pull up in front of her ramshackle bungalow.

  She always waits outside when she’s eager to get out of there.

  One of the first things that bonded us when we met was that we were raised by single dads. First, her mom died during childbirth. Then her dad remarried but her stepmom ran off a couple years ago, which means Gillian’s been picking up the slack at home with her two younger siblings Rowan and Koa.

  Before I press on the truck’s brakes, Gillian’s walking my way. She whips open the passenger door and climbs inside.

  “Rough morning?” I ask.

  “You could say that.” She sets her large beach bag at her feet and leans, giving me a chaste kiss.

  Gillian attempts to pull away, but I place my palm to her face to keep her lips against mine. Her eyes are red-rimmed and swollen.

  “Hey?”

  She shakes her head. “Let’s just enjoy our day together, okay?”

  I study her face for a beat and nod. She doesn’t add the word last to her sentence, but I know she’s thinking it. We both are.

  She’s been emotional about my leaving and despite my best efforts to reassure her she has nothing to worry about, that we’re going to be fine, I still get the feeling that she thinks this impending goodbye is final.

  I’ll just have to prove her wrong.

  Chapter Two

  Gillian

  The warm air streams into the truck’s open cab windows on the way toward the old quarry. My eyes can’t stop fixating on his hands on the steering wheel, the smell of the old pickup where we’ve made out for hours, not wanting to say goodbye late at night. I’d never tell him how I laid awake last night scared how I’ll survive this town without him.

  When he insisted I choose what we do today, I wasn’t sure how to best spend our last day together until his Christmas break. It’s a given that we’ll end up at Plain Daisy Ranch at the end of the day, everyone does. I considered hanging around the ranch before the entire town showed up or taking a couple of the horses and hitting a trail for a picnic.

  Then I remembered all the fun times we had throughout high school at the quarry and it felt right. That’s how I want Ben to remember me while he’s gone, a fun-loving, happy girl. Not the sullen and sad girl I’ve been repressing lately.

  I can barely hear Carrie Underwood sing about heartbreak on the radio over the sound of the wind funneling through the truck. Which is probably a good thing, otherwise I’d be a crying mess. He mindlessly reaches over for my hand, gripping it in his large one. I’ve never felt safer than in this truck with him by my side. Now, he’ll be ripped away from me like my childhood security blanket and I want to fall down and wail, but I’m putting on a brave face because he deserves the amazing opportunity of playing college football.

  I look o ver at him and my heart does that thing it always does when I study him, it skips a few beats and then picks up the pace.

  He’s so good-looking with his soft brown eyes and matching hair. His hard, muscled body might intimidate some, but his baby face makes him more endearing.

  Sometimes I can’t believe he’s mine, that he chose me. I’m not the head cheerleader, hell I’m not even a cheerleader at all. I was much happier keeping to myself.

  Unlike him, I don’t have a bright future ahead of me.

  That’s not to say that I don’t have dreams and aspirations. I’m just not going to a D1 school on a full scholarship. I do okay at school, but I was never an academic whiz which is why I’m going to the local community college to be a court stenographer.

  Ben is the anomaly in our small town. Hardly any of our class is going so far away. Most are attending state colleges, many will work on their family’s ranches, or businesses. For me, my dad needs me to help out with Rowan and Koa. He has to work long hours at his job to support us and they’re not old enough to be left on their own.

  So, Ben will be leaving me and Willowbrook in his rearview mirror to start a life I can’t imagine. He’s going to experience new things, meet new people and eventually, I’m going to look like a used ragdoll compared to all the shiny new girls.

  Which is why I’m determined to make today the best day ever.

  We pull up to the area where everyone always parks and there’s already a decent amount of people. It’s not unexpected, teenagers and college kids gather here all summer long.

  The old quarry is the spot for the local young people to hang out without adult supervision. It’s not like the adults don’t know about this place, most of them hung out here when they were younger. Maybe that’s the reason they leave us alone.

  Ben parks and we both hop out of the car, me with the beach bag full of supplies. He’s great for a lot of things, but preparation isn’t one of them. If I relied on Ben to bring what we need, we’d be dehydrated and burnt by noon.

  We approach the swimming hole and say hello to a few classmates but don’t join them, instead veering off to the side to sit on our own.

  The water surrounds us on three sides by tall rock walls and on the fourth side, where the land gently slopes into the water, is where everyone congregates. It’s sandy there and I don’t know if that’s a naturally occurring thing or if someone trucked in sand at some point—it’s just always been this way.

  We spread the blanket and Ben’s eyes flare with appreciation when I strip off my sundress. I need him to remember me like this. Then I grab the sunscreen from the bag, squeeze a dollop into my palm and rub it on my legs, arms and chest.

  “Can you rub sunscreen on my back?” I offer him the bottle.

  Ben swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Sure.”

  I lay face down on the blanket and Ben crawls over me, straddling my ass, being careful not to rest all his weight while he leans forward and rubs sunscreen on my skin.

  “Love the bikini.”

  I chuckle. “You say that every time I wear it.”

  “Well, you look smokin’ hot every time you wear it.” His fingers work in the sunscreen over my back, ending with a light smack on my ass. He rolls over onto his back beside me on the blanket, staring up at the blue sky and bright sun.

  “My turn.” I scoot up onto my knees and grab the bottle of sunscreen, dispensing a generous amount into my palm. Ben shrugs off his T-shirt and uncaringly tosses it into the sand.

  The space between my thighs tingles when his broad chest comes into view. There’s a dusting of hair that leads from his belly button down below his shorts that always gets me hot.

  I playfully straddle him and his hands move directly to my hips. My hands move over the rise and fall of his muscles, making sure sunscreen is covering every inch.

  “You’re giving me ideas,” he says in a strained voice.

  His growing bulge under my ass tells me exactly what kind of ideas he’s having, but I play innocent.

  “What kind would those be?”

  Ben growls and I giggle. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I lean forward to slide the sunscreen over the top of his shoulders and place my mouth to his, making sure my breasts rub up along his chest.

  He deepens the kiss and I lower my body on top of his.

  “Ben! Gill! This is a public beach!” Our names are shouted across the space, echoing off the rock walls behind us.

  Laughter ensues and we part, turning our heads in the direction of the voice. It’s Brooks, Ben’s best friend with a group of kids from our graduating class. Disappointment gnaws in my stomach because they’re going to hang out with us and I’m feeling protective—I greedily want my last moments with Ben to be with him alone.

  “Shit,” Ben groans. “I gotta turn over so they don’t see my hard-on.” His cheeks are pink and I laugh, rolling off of him.

  Ben and I have been together for years, but we only started sleeping together at the beginning of our senior year. While Ben doesn’t hold back when we’re together, he always seems a little embarrassed whenever the subject of sex comes up in front of other people.

  He rolls over and I straddle him again, this time sitting on his ass, applying the sunscreen to his back.

  “Hey guys,” I say when the group reaches us.

  “You guys been here long?” Brooks asks. Although he played quarterback on the football team, he either didn’t try to play in college or he just didn’t have it because he’s attending state.

  “Nope, just got here.” I climb off Ben and sit on the blanket beside him.

  His hard-on must be gone because he rolls over. “You guys heading to my place later?”

  “You know it,” one of the other guys says.

  “How could we not spend the fourth at Plain Daisy?” Brooks says. “Is Lottie going to be there?”

  Ben glances at me. “She’s my cousin, so yeah.”

  Brooks nods and looks around the quarry.

  For the next hour the group talks mostly about where everyone’s headed for college and how excited they all are. I’m one of the few staying in Willowbrook and when one of the girls asks if I’m looking forward to starting my classes, I feign excitement.

  I’m excited to become a court stenographer. I just wish I were going to school in South Carolina with Ben. He’s the north star in my life.

  “I’m getting hot. Wanna swim babe?” Ben asks me.

  Ben can always tell when I’m bothered or uncomfortable with others or their conversations.

  He leans over and whispers in my ear. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

  When he pulls back, his eyes hold the look. The one that means he’s horny. My nipples pebble in my bikini top, and Ben notices, licking his lips.

  I hop up off the blanket and accept his outstretched hand. We run toward the water, Brooks shouting something obscene.

  Chapter Three

  Ben

  The cool water feels good against my scorching skin on a hot day like today.

  There are other kids in the water, a few of my teammates throwing a football around but when they ask me to join them, I decline.

  Gillian was uncomfortable about the never-ending conversation with our friends about everyone moving on. I wish more than anything that she could come with me, but her family situation won’t allow for her to leave. I worry she feels less than because I’m going to a four-year university and she’s staying local. She should be proud of how selfless she’s being by pitching in to take care of her siblings. Not everyone would do that. When your mom dies at five, you tend to see the importance of family. Then again, I’m abandoning mine.

  “Think you can beat me to the other side of the quarry?” I grin.

  She looks out at the distance. It’s not that far, definitely swimmable but not easy. I’m a stronger swimmer only because my brothers, cousins and I spent a lot of our summer swimming in the lake smack-dab in the middle of Plain Daisy Ranch property.

 

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