When the Stars Fall (Lost Stars Book 1)

compete with me. Even though she never won, she still believed that one day she would.
She sprinted toward the water, and I gave her a head start before I chased after her just like I’d been doing since we were nine years old.
As usual, she lost and I was waiting for her when she reached the waterfall.
She pushed her wet hair off her face with both hands. “You did that on purpose,” she accused, green eyes narrowed on me, water spiking her long lashes. The sunlight picked up the flecks of gold in her eyes. She was beautiful. Full of fire and sass. And I didn’t want anyone else to have her.
I wanted to kiss her. Lick the beads of water off her face. Suck on her plump bottom lip.
“Did what?” I played dumb. We were treading water, circling each other, her long dark hair slicked back from her summer sun-kissed face and I was loving the idea that she’d be my slave for a day. My imagination was running wild with the possibilities of having Lila at my beck and call.
“Challenged me to a race, knowing I can never resist.”
“You can never resist me?” My leg brushed hers under the water and I wondered if she felt it too, that current of electricity that zinged through my body.
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you meant.” I spread my arms. “I’m irresistible.”
Which was the only invitation she needed to launch herself out of the water and dunk me. I wrapped my hands around her waist, lifted her clear out of the water and tossed her in the air like she weighed nothing. The look on her face was priceless when she emerged from the water, spluttering.
I laughed. She was so cute. It only took her a few seconds to pounce on me again. “You just never learn, do you?”
I tossed her. She flew through the air. And we played this dunking game a few more times until we were both laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe. I didn’t even know what we were laughing about and I doubted that she did either. It didn’t matter.
She was my favorite person. Even when she got bitchy. Even when she shot me dagger eyes when I talked to other girls. Especially then.
She was the only girl who made me angry. Frustrated. Jealous. The only one who made me want to protect her from all the bad things in the world. The only girl I wanted to spend my time with. The only girl I wanted to talk about everything and nothing with.
Late at night, we texted. Sometimes we’d text for hours. Sometimes we just talked about stupid stuff like which superpower we’d choose or how wrong it was to mix Skittles and M&M’s together like Brody did.
It didn’t matter what we talked about. It didn’t matter if it was two in the morning and I had to get up early for football practice. I wanted to be her two in the morning person. The one who was there for her no matter what.
Lila was mine. End of story.

Chapter Seven


Lila
I ripped out the weeds in the flower bed like they were responsible for the cancer that was killing my mom. It had only been one year since we’d planted this garden but everything had changed. For the worse.
I looked over my shoulder as Jude did another lap with the lawnmower. Our back yard wasn’t that big so he used the mower from the shed instead of his dad’s riding mower. The muscles in his arms flexed and I took a moment to appreciate his muscular calves and the broadness of his shoulders while his back was turned to me.
The ends of his brown hair curled a little where it hit the collar of his sweat-stained white T-shirt. Kate was always on him to get a haircut but I liked it when his hair was a little bit too long.
He’d made it his mission in life to give my mom straight lines on the back lawn. Derek had just laughed, and said, “Whatever floats your boat.”
Now he came out onto the back deck and called my name. “I’m going out. Just checked the fridge. Looks like you’re all set for dinner.”
Jude cut the lawnmower engine and stared at him with a stony expression. Our refrigerator was filled with food in Tupperware containers that Kate brought over. Her way of trying to help out in any way she could. When my mom was too weak to do the cooking, cleaning and laundry, Kate and my mom’s friends from the hospital took care of it. Until I told them I could take care of everything.
And I could. I wanted to do it for my mom. I wanted to be there for her in any way I could. I didn’t want her to have to worry about the house being clean or the laundry or anything that drained what little energy she had left.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” I told Derek, my expression neutral so she couldn’t see how much I hated him.
“Where you headed, Derek?” Jude asked, as if he had the right to question an adult.
Derek stroked his black beard, leveling Jude with a look. Jude called him shifty and I think it was his beady eyes that made him look like that. My mom was so smart with such a huge heart. How could she have fallen for a man who had only been there for her when times were good? That wasn’t love. He vowed to be there for her in good times and bad, in sickness and health.
“I’m going out,” he said. “Catching up with some friends.” That was code for: I’m going to a bar where I’ll pick up a bimbo and give her a ride on my Harley because I’m the asshole who bought a motorcycle when my wife got sick with cancer. “Is that okay with you?”
Jude looked up at my mom’s closed bedroom window—she’d gone upstairs