Now in college, Everleigh and Ryker have found themselves so close, yet so far away from the love they knew during their summer in the sunflower patch.
Ryker:
“She was mine first.”
He’d foolishly assumed Everleigh would be there waiting when he was able to be the man she deserved. When he’d battled all his demons, gotten his life back on track for himself. For her.
If Ryker learns one thing this semester, it will be that there’s only one girl for him, and he’d wait an eternity for her to see that.
Parker:
He could be patient. For Everleigh, he could be anything. She was the best thing to ever happen to him, and Parker would do anything in his power to always see that smile on her face.
Even if it means curating the truth to his advantage.
Everleigh:
Everleigh liked being friends with Ryker. He’d proven he could still keep her secrets. She liked being Parker’s girlfriend. He was so good to her.
And yet Ryker still has the power to drag her down into his gravity and swallow her whole before she even knows she’s been lost.
One night changes everything. The next day threatens to destroy it all.
Everleigh climbed the tallest diving platform once again. She’d been diving for half an hour already, and her thoughts were starting to clear a bit. To organize. Soon, she’d know her path forward. She’d know what she needed to do.
Walking out to the edge of the platform was second nature to her. She had no fear of heights. No worries of vertigo so high above the clear water below. She turned her back out, positioning herself on the very edge, weight settling on the balls of her feet.
Inhaling a deep breath, she dropped her shoulders into place as she straightened her back. She allowed herself one last glance over her shoulder at the water below while she imagined the reverse dive she would execute. An inward double somersault. Pretty basic once you got the balance at the start of the dive figured out.
As Everleigh brought her head back into position, something caught the corner of her eye. At the edge of the pool. Not something—her knees bent as she prepared to propel herself up off the platform—someone.
Just as she initiated the dive sequence, it clicked in her mind that Ryker was standing down at the edge of the pool, looking directly up at her. Her footing slipped. Everleigh lost her balance. The best she could hope for was an ugly, uncoordinated splash into the water below.
The worst she could hope for was—
Her body pitched forward. Her shoulder crashed hard onto the edge of the platform. Pain shrieked through her arm. Then the side of her head slammed mercilessly onto the platform’s surface.
And suddenly, the world went dark.
