Rebel Summer (Falling for Summer)

Prologue

Where it began

Day 47

The palm trees above my head swayed in the breeze, causing an eerie sound as I sat in the pitch black, wondering what to do next. I had just left a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the island’s nature preserve. My golf cart made it halfway home before coming to a sputtering halt, leaving me stranded on the side of the road. I tried both of my parents’ numbers again before chucking the phone into my purse. Apparently, they cared more about whatever bigwig they were trying to impress tonight than accepting a phone call from their only daughter.

Volleyball practice started at 5:30 the next morning, and my dad hadn’t been anywhere near ready to leave his precious event, hence me skipping out on my own. I contemplated walking home, but I had worn a dress and the highest heels in my mom’s closet and couldn’t fathom covering the distance. A flash of headlights turned the corner, coming my way. My initial instinct was to hide, but there was a good chance on this tiny island that I knew whoever it was. I stepped out of the golf cart and waited until the fast-approaching cart came to a screeching stop beside me.

I definitely should have hid.

Dax Miller peered over at me through the open doorway of the cart, his eyes slightly wild. He glanced behind him before calling over to me.

“You broke down?”

“Battery died. I’ll just call Cat.”

My unfortunate biology partner—no, that didn’t sound right…the biology partner I was unfortunate enough to have wasn’t someone I was about to step into a vehicle with. If I couldn’t trust him to operate a scalpel properly, there was no way I would trust him to take me home.

“It’s almost eleven. Just get in.” He seemed distracted, obsessively checking every direction. I was distracted by his distraction and absolutely not by the manly jawline or the dark rumpled hair that gave the unruly moron a certain boyish charm. My feet stayed firmly planted on the blacktop.

“You gotta move faster if you want a ride, Books.”

“I don’t.” I smiled at him.

To his credit—and he didn’t have much credit with me—a look of hesitation passed over his face. “I can’t leave you here in the dark.”

“Nothing ever happens on this island.”

His eyebrows rose. “You sure about that?”

The warm island breeze lifted the curls at the nape of my neck. The trees rustled above me. I glanced around the darkened road, trying hard to look like I wasn’t nervous at all to be stranded. It was a small island—less than two thousand people. I’d be fine. I didn’t need Dax’s help. He jolted his cart onward a few paces, testing me, and my feet lurched forward after him.

“Come on,” he said.

“Fine. Why are you in such a hurry?” I asked, reluctantly trudging toward him.

“So I can write in my journal before I go to bed,” was his obnoxious reply as I slid into the seat beside him.

The golf cart looked fancy—a newer model with plush seats and one I was surprised to see Dax driving. In all actuality, he looked more like a car guy. If the island of Sunset Harbor ever allowed actual cars to be driven on the streets, I’d imagine him in one of those scratched and dented old muscle cars.

“Nice wheels,” I said.

The bottom of my sequined dress had barely crossed the threshold before Dax slammed on the gas pedal and peeled out. Obviously, “peeling out” in a golf cart was really more just springing ahead in a quick burst of forward movement.

“What are you doing?!” I asked, grabbing the handrail on the dash in front of me. Though we weren’t going fast by a car's standards, there were no doors on this thing, and I was in a slick dress.

Dax didn’t say a word as he rounded the bend toward the quiet town square in the center of the four-mile-long island.

“What’s going on?” I asked again.

Suddenly, flashes of red, blue, and yellow blazed behind us. A police siren cut through the night. I turned around and stared at the police golf cart with lights strapped on top. I wondered who he was?—

I stopped. Turning slowly in my seat, I gave Dax a withering glare.

“Is he chasing you?”

No answer.

“Why is he chasing you?” I demanded.

Dax glanced in the rearview mirror. “I mean…there’s not a lot to do here.”

Things began slowly ticking into place.

“Is this golf cart stolen ?!”

To my dismay, Dax laughed off my question.

“Let’s just say borrowed.”

“Stop right now, and let me out!” Panic surged inside me. I glanced down at the road, now a blur beneath my feet, and considered the physical damage if I were to jump.

“No can do, Books. He’ll catch up. Just hang on. I’ll outrun him in a sec.”

“If you get me in trouble, my dad will kill us both.”

“Hey, you got into this cart of your own free will.”

“I didn’t know it was stolen!” I smacked his arm with my purse.

Dax’s hand pressed on the top of my hair, pushing me down in my seat. “Get down, then. Your curly mop’s a dead giveaway.”

I smoothed down my hair, slinking further into my seat. He took a hard right, down a dark street just past the shops on the town square in the center of the island, causing me to slide against his body. For one blinding moment, it felt like we could be out on a date. An evening ride coming back from watching the sunset while I sweetly laid my head on his shoulder. I righted myself immediately. He was a criminal. Now was not the time to feel attraction.

“Where are we going?” I demanded.

There was a slight pause before he said, “Your house.”

My jaw dropped as he turned down my street.

“No! There’s a cop back there. I’m not a part of this!”

“Ever heard of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ivy Brooks? It’s usually pretty normal for politicians.”

“Pull over right now!” I yelled, ignoring his crack about my dad.

“If I pull over, he’ll see you. If you start running, he’ll probably tackle you to the ground.”

I squeezed my hands on the handrail. “Dax, I hate your guts. It’s official.”

He nodded toward my garage. “Get ready to open the door.”

“I’m not letting you in.”

“Then I’ll be parked outside your house when he drives by. You’re an accomplice either way. If you hide us both, then you’re home free.”

His logic was flawed. I knew that, but still, my heart thundered inside my chest when the cart came to a roaring stop on my driveway. I flew from the seat, clutching my shoes in my hands, and stormed toward the doorway leading into the garage. Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I didn’t give myself time to think as I pounded on the garage door opener. Dax rolled inside, and I punched the button again. It closed, leaving us in complete darkness.

No more than thirty seconds later, flashing lights lit up the garage, giving me a chance to find my bearings and to see that Dax was now out of the golf cart and striding toward the small windows at the tops of our garage doors.

He found my dad’s stepladder and used the extra height to peer out the window.

“Is he coming?” I whispered frantically, making my way closer to him in the dark. If I were caught harboring a fugitive, I would be disowned.

Dax watched out the window for another long moment before he said, “Nah. He’s just turning around.”

I let out a breath before saying, “I’m going to kill you.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Why do you have a stolen golf cart? Whose is it?” I interrogated, hands at my hips.

Dax had the audacity to laugh even as his eyes trailed briefly down the length of my dress. “Every few months, me and some of the guys…uh…rearrange the golf carts on the island. Move them to different houses. But that’s all I should tell you.”

“That’s you ?! They’ve been trying to catch you guys for months. My dad’s cart was moved to Larry Donald’s house last time. He was ticked.”

One side of his mouth pulled into a smile. “Guilty.”

Once the policeman had left my driveway, I flipped on the garage light and began nudging Dax toward the contraband golf cart. “Okay, well…bye. This has been fun.”

“Same time next week?” he teased, ignoring me to peek out the window again. “We could use another lookout.”

With muscles I didn’t know I had, I yanked him off the stepladder and pushed him toward the golf cart. “You have to go! My dad will be home any second.”

He stopped abruptly, and my body pitched forward, brushing against his shoulder before I pulled back like I’d been burned.

“Wait. The senator?” Dax asked, his tone growing elevated.

“Yes! Bye! I had a terrible time.”

“How exciting! Do you think he’ll shake my hand?”

I threw every ounce of strength I had against him as talk of my dad created a panic in my chest. “Go! I’m serious.”

He turned around to face me, mischief lighting his features. “You know, I’ve been meaning to mail him a letter about that new water bill.”

“No, you haven’t!”

“This will be great. It’ll save me a stamp.”

A laugh bubbled out of me before I could stop it, even as hysteria began to climb up my neck in the form of heated red splotches. Twenty minutes ago, I was leaving a ritzy ribbon-cutting ceremony. Now I was HIDING FROM A COP. Based on my current heart rate, a life of crime was not for me. I looked down to find that Dax’s hands were now on mine, counteracting my attempt at shoving him toward the cart.

Suddenly, he stopped resisting my efforts and allowed his arms to go slack, which meant that, without the resistance, I also went slack.

Directly into his warm chest.

My body froze, cocooned against a chest with a heart beating much faster than normal. Or maybe that was mine. Last I checked, we were fighting. We were always fighting. He loved to make me mad, and I loved to put him in his place.

Nestled against his chest was definitely not my place.

Our clenched fingers had yet to uncurl from their fisted embrace. His chest just felt so…warm. A direct contrast to the detached image he presented to the world. He didn’t pull away. Instead, it almost felt as though he inched closer.

“You want me to go?” Dax’s low voice sent my pulse skyrocketing.

I still hadn’t moved away from him. The feeling between us had shifted so quickly my head was having a hard time catching up. This was DAX. The biology partner I detested. The guy barely passing high school. Dax, who made me miserable in class.

He was trouble.

I just…didn’t know trouble could have such gentle hands. His fingers released mine to move to my neck, tugging the locks of my hair and coaxing my chin to lift. It was troubling to gaze into murky eyes that enticed and pulled and…convinced. When his darkened gaze lowered to my lips, a shiver nipped my spine. Trouble grew closer until he was a blur of lashes and softness. Troubling lips, brushing ever so?—

The side door flung open, slamming against the shelves lining the garage. We both jumped at the sound. Seeing who it was, I pushed myself out of Dax’s arms.

My dad stood there with my mom peering around his shoulder. My mom wore a new gown of hunter-green silk she’d bought for the occasion. My dad wore a striking gray suit and green tie to coordinate. They both wore matching expressions of shock that brought the whole ensemble to another level.

The senator’s voice wasn’t loud in anger, though sometimes I wished it was. To have the tone match the words would have definitely made things less confusing. His voice was soft, but his words were cold like steel. Like the knife I had metaphorically stabbed in his back.

“What is going on here?”

Dax ran a hand through his hair and took another step back.

“I was just taking her home, sir. Her cart ran out of battery.”

“In a stolen golf cart?”

We both looked at him in shock while my stomach coiled into knots.

He let out a dry laugh that held no trace of humor. “Francis, from the police department, just called me. Said he chased a stolen golf cart into my garage and thought he saw my daughter inside. But as a favor to me, he said he’d let me check it out first.”

“Dax was just…” I floundered for words. For some reason, a protectiveness for Dax surged through my veins, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that knowledge. “It was just a prank. They’re not really stealing them.”

“The second you take a vehicle off of someone’s property without them knowing, it’s stolen.” He scoffed and nodded toward Dax. “Is that what he told you? That he’s not really stealing it?”

I glanced at Dax. Yes, but…

“It’s my fault, sir,” Dax said, casually stuffing his hands in his pockets.

My dad’s gray eyes narrowed in on Dax. “Oh, I know it is. That’s why you’re going to leave now, return the golf cart, and stay away from my daughter. You hear me? Unless you prefer that I go to the police.”

“Yes, sir.” Dax’s voice was polite, but his face twisted as though something amused him. He took a seat in the golf cart and turned the key.

My dad brushed past my arm, punching the garage door button. The squeak of the door rising felt like awkward elevator music while we all waited.

“I now know who’s involved in these thefts,” my dad said, walking alongside Dax as he backed out. “So remember that. If I hear of you doing this again, I will be going straight to the police. If Francis is not out there waiting for you right now, consider yourself lucky. Now get off my property.”

My dad turned around and strode back to where my mom and I stood. A small smile touched Dax’s lips before he threw me a salute and disappeared into the night.