Under the Lights (The Field Party #2) - Abbi Glines Page 0,64
was scared of it, and we were younger. Then she starts saying Rhett raped her and she was pregnant. My parents, or rather Rhett’s parents, made it go away. And her. But still it hung in the air around here for a while. Almost cost Rhett his scholarship. She admitted she’d lied, then left town.”
The girl I’d met didn’t seem the type to lie about something like that, but then I’d barely spent any time with her. Rhett, on the other hand, might just do that. “She came back, didn’t she?”
Gunner shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. She gave you a ride, so I guess I’m lucky there. I wouldn’t have wanted you walking on that dark road for miles.”
Sounded like she had a sordid past much like my own. I hadn’t seen her since that night. From all the girls in this town I’d met so far, I thought Riley would be the one I would bond with the best.
Poppy’s face immediately settled itself firmly in my head, and I squashed that thought. I had a best friend once, and I’d not been there when she needed me. I hadn’t saved her or Quinn. I didn’t need another friend like Poppy. I wasn’t good at that.
“Where are we going?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
“To the lake,” he responded.
The lake that I remembered was off limits to us as kids. It was far out on the opposite side of the Lawton property from Nonna’s. Nonna’s house sat at one back corner. The lake sat at the other. Apparently Gunner’s “father” had had a younger sister when they were kids who drowned back there after getting bit by a snake.
“I’ve heard about the lake but never actually seen it,” I said, suddenly curious.
Gunner shrugged. “Not that grand. But it does have a waterfall that my grandfather . . . or father . . . whoever the hell he is, put there in memory of my aunt Violet. Or I guess she was my sister. Fuck.” He ended with a mutter.
“When did you first go back there?” I asked, hoping to get his mind from going in the direction it was currently headed.
“When I was twelve. Nash, Brady, West, and me all decided to go camp down there. Didn’t end well when my parents found us. My mom cried and cried. I was surprised she cared so much. That was the first time in my life I actually felt like she loved me. Guess that’s why I still come here.”
He pulled off the main drive that circled the Lawton residence, and we went down a grassy path that had been taken before. I was sure by him. The moon was almost full, and it made the water up ahead sparkle. I wondered about the girl who had drowned here and how old she’d been. Had she meant to sneak off to swim that day, or had someone brought her here? The little girl who never got to grow up and experience life always intrigued me. But Gunner never had these answers, and he was too afraid to ask. We had talked about it when we were younger and wondered what her story was.
“It’s beautiful out here. Peaceful.” I didn’t know Gunner’s real father. He had passed away when Gunner was young, but if he’d memorialized his daughter this way, I thought he must have been a nice man. Not like his older son, who I’d never seen say a kind word.
“It’s my place to escape. They don’t know I come here, and even if they do, they don’t care anymore. I guess me drowning would be helpful. They’d get to keep all that Lawton money and power to themselves. Not hand it over to the bastard son.”
His words were so raw as he spoke them it made my heart hurt. Even now, the cocky full-of-himself teenage boy still felt unwanted. Unloved. I hated that for him. Gunner was special. He wasn’t all he flashed around. He was damaged, but deep down he was kind. He cared. He was just too scared to show anyone.
“Brady and West would be devastated if you drowned. So would the other guys. They love you. Nonna would be a mess. She’s always loved you . . . . And I’d be devastated too.” I wanted him to remember it wasn’t just family that mattered. He had friends around him who cared. He wasn’t alone and unwanted.