Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls, #1)(69)

Cooper’s expression turns worried. “I honestly don’t know. He’ll be crushed. And probably pissed. I feel like shit about it.”

“Same…” I tug on the collar of his hoodie. “But it also sounds like something we can figure out tomorrow.”

He grins, letting me pull him closer, and kisses me again. His tongue slides along mine, and his weight collapses gently on top of me as he lowers himself. My hands find the small space where his shirt has ridden up, and they memorize the feel of his warm skin as goose bumps erupt across it. They travel the ridges of his back muscles, and heat pools in the pit of my belly as his fingertips skim down my ribs. My back arches of its own accord, pressing me even closer to him; our breaths become ragged as we drown in each other.

Then a bright light hits us.

“What the fuck?” someone says.

My heart stops beating.

Jake.





Chapter Twenty-Nine




Cooper jumps up fast. I’m climbing to my feet after him as Slug turns the corner. His eyes bounce between us as Jake’s giant flashlight shines like a spotlight.

“Oh shit,” he mutters.

Even in the dark, I can see Jake’s jaw clenching, his nostrils flaring. He shakes his head, speechless, before grabbing a whistle from his pocket and blowing it, presumably to alert anyone else searching that we’ve been found.

“Let’s go,” he says, looking at his map. Probably just to avoid looking at us.

Cooper takes a step toward him. “Jake—”

“Not now,” Jake says. He shoots me a glare and turns around. My whole chest collapses in on itself.

He shouldn’t have found out this way.

Cooper glances at me before following a few strides behind Jake.

I walk beside Slug. No one says a word as the minutes drag on.

And then: “And to think I was worried when Sloane called and said no one could find Ellis,” Jake says, eventually breaking the silence. “Turns out she was in great hands.”

Cooper lets out an agonizing sigh. “I didn’t—”

“No. You don’t get to talk, Coop. Not tonight,” Jake says.

Beside me, Slug shakes his head, but no one says anything else the rest of the way back.

By the time we all walk out of the corn maze, roughly fifteen people are waiting for us.

Mom flies over and throws her arms around me. “Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a corn maze in Bramble Falls,” I say. “There’s not a whole lot that could have happened to me.”

She lets go. “Um, it’s freezing. Plus, there are coyotes and bobcats around here.”

If Cooper didn’t look so wrecked and Jake weren’t so upset, I’d probably laugh at how similar Mom and I are.

But I can’t think of anything besides my whole life imploding right now.

Sloane runs over. “Now that I know you’re alive, I’m so excited to get to say, ‘Told you so.’?” She laughs, but when I don’t (because I can’t), her smile fades. “Oh no.” She glances at the boys. “Sleeping in my room tonight?”

I nod, and Mom narrows her eyes at us. “Why? What’s going on? What am I missing?”

“Nothing,” Sloane says. “Let’s get home.”

My eyes connect with Cooper’s as his mom finally releases him from a tight hug. Then I turn and follow Mom and Sloane over to Aunt Naomi, and we all walk to the car.

We pull out, and I rest my head against the cold window.

How can everything be so wonderful and so awful at the same time?



* * *



The next morning, I make my way to the town square, where I’ve asked Jake to meet me. I’d rather chew off my own hand than have this conversation, but it has to be done eventually. And I’m leaving for New York soon. I don’t want to leave on a sour note.

I realize there’s not much I can do about their friendship, but I don’t want to leave with things messed up between him and Cooper, either.

Jake’s sitting on the steps of the gazebo, scrolling on his phone, wearing jeans and a black jacket over a red-and-black flannel. He doesn’t bother looking up when I sit next to him.

I bite my lip nervously. Because it doesn’t matter how many times I cycled through the things I wanted to say. Now that I’m here, my brain is blank.

“Say what you have to say, Ellis,” Jake says, finally hitting the button on the side of his phone and setting it on the ground beside him.

“I don’t know what to say,” I blurt. “Other than I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for exactly?” He sighs.

“Cooper and I should have told you we liked each other.”

“No. As one of my best friends, Cooper should have told me he was into you. You didn’t owe me anything. You’re just some girl passing through here,” he says, shrugging.

Ouch.

“Maybe. But I still consider us friends,” I say.

He scoffs. “Yeah, well, you did make it clear we were going to homecoming as friends when you agreed to go with me. I guess I was just an idiot for thinking we might become more eventually.”

“I’m sorry. I never meant to lead you on.”