When the Stars Fall (Lost Stars Book 1)

I’d suspected for a while now. She’d become more to me than just my childhood friend.
I grabbed Reese by the shoulder as he lurched forward, ready to make his move. “Lila is off-limits. Any other girl but her.”
“Pretty sure your words were ‘Pick a girl. Any girl.’ Are you backing down now, McCallister?” He puffed out his scrawny chest. “Scared she’ll see that I’m the guy for her?”
“You’re not the guy for her.” I widened my stance and crossed my arms over my sweaty chest, confident that I was the guy for her. Not Reese. Not Tyler. Not that douchebag Kyle who was always sniffing around like a dog.
“Guess we’ll see about that. Hey Brody,” Reese yelled as my cousin climbed out of the bed of a truck I didn’t recognize and ambled down the hill toward us. Even in boardshorts and a T-shirt, he walked, looked and acted like a cowboy. He’d gotten involved in the rodeo and this summer he’d been competing in bronc riding. Which just went to show how crazy he was.
He ran his fingers through his longish dirty-blond hair and stopped in front of us, squinting against the sun. “What’s up?”
“Reese here claims he got a BJ from some chick on his family vacation,” Tyler said.
Brody snorted. “Sounds like a tall tale to me. You’ve got no game, dude.”
My thoughts exactly. Sometimes Brody and I were on the same page.
“I’m about to prove you all wrong. Watch me make my moves on Lila Turner.” He cracked his knuckles and rolled out his shoulders, psyching himself up for what I was sure would be a massive defeat.
Brody’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He gave me an inquiring look that asked if I was cool with this. Pretty sure he could tell that I wasn’t.
When it came to Lila, we were in complete agreement. Nobody got to mess with her. Not any of the guys or the girls. We made sure of it. She was ours to protect.
“He’s going to get shot down,” Brody said. “Might as well enjoy the show.”
“Too bad he missed the memo that she belongs to Jude.”
“Not sure how he could have. Jude might as well have announced it over the school loudspeaker, it was that loud and clear.”
Couldn’t deny it. It was the damn truth. But Reese wasn’t overly bright. Nice guy, a few screws loose but he wasn’t a douchebag. Which was the only reason I stood back and watched from the sidelines, eyes narrowed, arms crossed over my chest, as Reese moved in on Lila.
“Oh, look at that folks, he’s going in. They’re looking this way,” Tyler said, narrating the play-by-play as if I couldn’t see it with my own two eyes.
Reese cupped his hand and whispered something in Lila’s ear. She glanced my way and smiled. I knew that smile. It was the devious smile she used when she was about to do something to piss me off. She leaned in and whispered something in Reese’s ear that put a smile on his face. He took the bottle of suntan lotion from her hand and she turned her back to him, sliding her hair over one shoulder to expose her suntanned skin. Only a string tied at her neck and her back held the bikini top in place and she was offering it up to Reese Madigan on a silver platter. Like her skin was his to touch.
Oh hell no. Not happening.
Before I could stop myself, I was striding toward them, ready to put an end to this little game they were playing.
“Hey Jude.” Ashleigh stepped in front of me, blocking my path to Lila. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled at me. “You looked really good out there today. At practice,” she added.
“Thanks.”
“So I’m throwing a pool party next Saturday. You should come. Bring whoever.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I said, distracted by Lila whose back was being slathered with suntan lotion compliments of Reese who was doing a shitty job of it, might I add.
But his hands were touching Lila. I was having trouble breathing.
“I’ve invited the girls from the squad. We’ll just hang out and chill by the pool.” Giving me another smile, she swept her tongue over her pink glossy lips and placed the palm of her hand on my bare chest, looking up at me from under her long lashes. “It’ll be fun. Even more fun if you’re there.”
I looked straight into Lila’s eyes as she watched us over her shoulder. She averted her gaze quickly but not before I saw her face fall. Disappointment? Hurt?
Meanwhile, she was sitting on top of the picnic table next to Reese, talking now. They were shoulder to shoulder, thighs touching, and he was listening to every word that came out of her mouth like she was the most fascinating creature on the planet.
No part of her should be touching any part of him.
There were a few different ways to put the brakes on this, but I knew Lila well enough to know that if I shut it down she’d push back so I opted for a different tactic.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
“Hey Lila,” I said casually.
“Yeah?” Her brows raised, a look of practiced boredom on her face to hide the curiosity. I knew this girl so well, I could practically read her mind.
“You up for a race?”
“What kind of race?”
I jerked my chin toward the water. “First one to the waterfall wins.”
“What are you willing to lose?”
How laughable that she actually thought she could beat me. Gotta love that kind of optimism. “The winner gets a slave for the day.”
“So when you lose, you’ll be at my beck and call for an entire day.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing as she jumped off the picnic table faster than you could say Rebel, earning me a scowl from Reese. Hey, I’d warned him. Fair is fair. “You’re on. Get ready to eat my dust.”
Lila never could resist a dare or a chance to