CHAPTER FIVE #2
“We were each other’s . . . at least that’s what he told me, and I believed him. We’d fooled around before then—a lot—but the night we finally went all the way ended up being the last night we ever saw each other. Until tonight that is.”
“What do you mean it was the last night? How did I not know any of this? I’ve been your best friend for almost thirteen years. Apparently, you’ve been holding out on me.”
My heart thumps in my chest as I stare at myself in the mirror. My cheeks are flushed and my smile is wide.
We did it.
We actually did it and . . . oh my God, it was . . . okay? I giggle, unable to take my eyes off my reflection.
Do I look older?
Changed?
Like a woman?
I mean, I know it’s not supposed to be great the first time. Well, at least according to the girls at school it isn’t, but the way he kept asking if I was okay. How gentle he was when I could tell he was trying so hard to go slow. How he held me afterward and whispered how much he loved me.
I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Tires crunch on the gravel driveway outside, but all I can think about is getting ready. Once Gran and Pop are asleep, I’m sneaking out to meet Ledger again.
There’s a knock on the front door.
I don’t want this night to ever end.
Muffled voices float down the hall and through my closed door.
Possibilities fill my head. Meeting up while we’re in college. Becoming engaged. Getting married. Having the life away from here I’ve always dreamed of.
I hold my hand up and look at it as if I have a wedding ring on my finger. Asher Julia Sharpe.
“It has a nice ring to it.” I smile again, unable to take my eyes off my reflection in the mirror. I’m so glad I saved myself for him. So glad that soon we’ll go to college and be able to be with each other all the time.
He said we’ll find a way to make it happen and I believe him. I’ve never believed anyone more in my life.
The voices raise in pitch. Pop is upset? That’s a rarity.
It gives me pause and then, I hear the next words loud and clear.
“The last thing he needs is someone like her to bring him down,” a masculine voice says.
But the voice definitely isn’t Pop’s. Nosy, I head down the hall without thought, curiosity and dread on equal footing.
“He has a bright future ahead of him, an empire to run, and I won’t have him sidetracked by a motherless girl with no pedigree and no future.
This is non-negotiable. Do you understand? ”
“You have no right to come in here and order us around. We’re not your—”
“He’s my son. I have every right to look out for his best interests. And she’s not it.”
I subconsciously reject the idea that they’re talking about me.
Why would someone ever say that? But as I turn the corner and the man standing before Pop comes into view, I know I’m wrong.
Maxton Sharpe. Ledger’s dad. His features are similar enough, but it’s the way he carries himself, his mannerisms that are just like his son’s, that confirm my assumptions.
“What do you mean I’m not in his best interest?” I march into the room, tears already burning in my throat. “You think I’m going to bring him down because I’m not rich or—”
“Asher, go back to your room. Right now,” Pop demands, his eyes steely, his voice hard. I can’t remember a time when he’s ever spoken to me like that before.
“Pop—”
“Go!” he shouts without looking my way.
“No. Stay,” Maxton says to me before looking back to Pop.
“She needs to hear this.” Maxton’s eyes soften as he takes a step toward me, but I’m not fooled by them.
“I’m sorry if you heard what I said. I was harsh.
” He hangs his head as if he’s apologetic, but it’s all for show.
Even I know that. “I was merely trying to push you away to protect you from the truth.”
“What do you mean the truth?” I ask.
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but my son used you. He got what he wanted from you, Asher,” Maxton says, his eyes boring into mine as shame washes over me.
Gran and Pop now know what happened tonight.
He knows.
The room spins around me. Our private, meaningful moment, now public knowledge.
“What are you talking about? He didn’t use me. He—”
“He’s not meeting you later like you two planned either.” No, no, no. “I had his phone. I read his texts. You’re not the only one, if that helps.” I want to cover my ears and stop the noise. “In fact, he’s been seeing a couple other girls this summer and is out with one of them right now. He’s—”
Liar.
“No, he hasn’t,” I whisper, my head shaking and my mind not believing.
“He has. He is. He’s down by the willow tree right now.” I wince. “Oh no, he didn’t con you into thinking that was your special spot too, did he?” His sigh is heavy as he shakes his head, disappointment all over his face.
Tears blur my vision as I stare at a man I’ve never met but truly hate. “I don’t believe you. I need to talk to him. There has to be an explanation.”
“Does a teenage boy really need one other than hormones?”
I stare, blinking at this man who just turned my world upside down.
All I can think of is Ledger’s easygoing, flirty nature.
The way he fit in with everyone here. All the girls wanted him.
It was even a running joke between us. Am I the fool here?
For believing him? I mean, it would be so easy for him to be with one of them during the hours I worked here at the farm.
Gran squeezes my hand, and it breaks the pieces of me I’m trying to hold together.
He’s wrong.
He has to be.
Cedar Falls is a small town. Gossip is the norm here. Rumors are the currency teenagers trade. I would have known. I would have heard about it.
“We’re leaving Cedar Falls tonight. I think it’s the best course of action after . . . everything. I’m sorry. I never taught my son to treat girls this way.”
“I think you need to leave now,” Pop says, opening the door.
“I’ve blocked your number from his phone and erased your information from his contacts, so he can’t hurt you again. I think it’s best for everyone, all around. A clean break. I’d hate for this to get . . . messy, if you know what I mean.” Maxton gives Pop a warning look that I don’t understand.
“You’re lying. You have to be,” I shout as tears I didn’t realize I was crying hit my lips.
“I’m sorry. Truly I am.”
“No. This isn’t—he wouldn’t—”
“I thought he was better than that too.” He bows his head briefly.
A sob lodges in my throat. “Gran.” I look over at her, and she squeezes my hand. “He wouldn’t . . .”
“Come on, Ash.” When her arm goes around my shoulder, I sag into her. “Let’s go to your room.”
I struggle, wanting to hear the rest of what is being said, needing to, but Pop pushes Maxton out the front door and shuts it behind them.
More is said. More arguing. More . . . I don’t know what.
All I know is that when I ran out the front door against Gran and Pop’s wishes later that night and went to the willow tree as we’d planned, Ledger wasn’t there.
“Whew. That’s rough. When I’m wrong, I admit it and yes, I was wrong about the man. Shit. I’m usually good at reading people too. Clearly, he is a dick of epic proportions,” Nita says as she pours more wine in our cups.
Her words make me smile. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think.
” I shrug, thinking of the look Ledger gave me after Hank interrupted us.
The unspoken epiphany it looked like he had.
“For the longest time, I believed that Ledger had used me. That he took pride in taking my virginity before moving on. I was humiliated and heartbroken and hated Ledger as much as I loved him.”
“I sense a but coming here.”
I nod. “But I knew Ledger. Like, you don’t spend three years getting to know somebody and be wrong like that.”
“Do you think his dad was lying to you about it?”
“It all came down to pedigree. Something I didn’t—don’t—have.
He looked at me as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
Think about it. I have no parents who claim me.
I live in this small town that’s a blip on a map.
There is no way I could ever be good enough for the golden son he was grooming to take over his empire.
” Even saying the words now cause a mixture of disbelief and disgust.
“I’d like to say it makes sense but only in the worst kind of way.”
“I know what you mean—and I agree.”
“What did Gran and Pop say about it?”
“Whatever Pop talked to him about that night outside is a mystery. Pop grumbled about assholes and avoided all talk of the Sharpes, while Gran babied me and my broken heart for months. She told me that’s what the boys we don’t want in our lives did and was glad he was gone.
” I take a sip of wine and savor its tartness on my tongue.
“I think it was easier for them to let me be heartbroken than to believe I wasn’t good enough. ”
“So his dad lied to you. He was fine being blunt and honest about his reasons until he came face-to-face with you. Then what? For some reason he took pity on you and decided to blame his son for breaking your heart rather than Ledger doing it himself?”
“That’s my guess,” I murmur.
“Did you ever try to call him? Ledger? Get in touch with him? Did he try to call you? I mean, it’s the twenty-first century, there are so many ways to talk.”
“I did try. My texts and calls didn’t go through so I’m assuming his dad did block my number.
Either that or Ledger got a new cell. I left messages on his social media.
His email. Nothing. That’s why at first, it was so easy to believe that Ledger did use me.
If that weren’t the case and he still loved me as I loved him, he would have tried to get ahold of me, right? ”
“True, but his dad was a powerful man who—”