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    1983: Cruel Summer
    1983: Cruel Summer
    1983: Cruel Summer
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    1983: Cruel Summer

    By Amber Lynn Natusch

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    About this ebook

    From Bestselling Author Amber Lynn Natusch

    Isadora Lancaster is in hell.
    She passed on a European vacation with her parents, choosing instead to spend an amazing summer with her boyfriend. But that plan changed when she walked in on him and another woman.
    Now Izzy’s stuck in a town she’s avoided since high school, and has to face uncomfortable truths about her past—including the best friend that abandoned her during their senior year. The boy that broke her heart.

    "1982: Cruel Summer" is a stand-alone, new adult romance novella.

    ******************************************

    Before the internet...before sext messages, selfies, like buttons, and d**k picks...epic loves and broken hearts played out offline, on mixtapes that became the self-made soundtracks of a generation.

    Love in the 80s: A New Adult Mix is a collection of ten contemporary romance, new adult, stand-alone novellas set in the 1980s.

    Written by award-winning and bestselling authors, one digital novella will be released on the last Friday of each month January - October in 2016.

    The title of each love story will be a hit song from the year that the novella represents. The totally awesome authors include: Casey L. Bond, Lindy Zart, Cambria Hebert, Amber Lynn Natusch, Misty Provencher, Rebecca Yarros, Rachel Higginson, RK Ryals, Cameo Renae and Chelsea Fine.

    Love in the 80s: A New Adult Mix was created by UTOPiAcon founder, Janet Wallace, and is co-produced with award-winning book cover designer, Regina Wamba (together they are WaWa Productions).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWaWa Productions
    Release dateApr 29, 2016
    ISBN9781310104893
    1983: Cruel Summer

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      Book preview

      1983 - Amber Lynn Natusch

      prologue

      I hate this fucking town…

      In fact, I’d always hated it. From the moment I set foot in that podunk, redneck place, I dreamt of leaving. I’d wanted to grow up in New York City, where my dad had been born and raised—where his work and family ties had been strong—but when I was eight my mother protested until he gave in and moved us to her hometown in Johnsonville, West Virginia. From that point on, only one thing made my existence there palatable—or one person, to be exact.

      But even he failed me.

      After high school, I escaped that town, going out of state to attend college. I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line into Ohio, seeking refuge there. I left Johnsonville with only three ties still binding it to me: my mother, father, and my boyfriend, Jason. He’d saved me my senior year and helped me scrape myself together before graduation. From that point on, he’d been my lifeline.

      But he too would betray me eventually.

      In retrospect, I don’t know why I’d ever thought it would be a good idea to come home that summer. Actually, I knew damn well why I’d decided to return: Jason. My plan was to have a romantic summer together while my parents were in Europe. It was all supposed to be so perfect.

      But there was no perfection in my life, and seeing him at the party that fateful night reminded me of that fact.

      I was supposed to have gone to Paris right after my classes finished, but at the last minute, I decided to head back to Johnsonville to surprise Jason instead. We’d managed to stay together through two years of college, even though our schools were far apart, but I didn’t get to see him that often. I loved the idea of getting to spend two amazing months with him—parentless months at that.

      What I got, however, was anything but.

      I’d walked into that party the night I’d arrived back in town, a bright smile on my face as I waded through the drunken masses, searching for Jason. In retrospect, I should have recognized the looks on the few sober faces that were in attendance. At first I’d thought they were just shocked to see me. I hadn’t really been home in years. But, in reality, they were just wincing at what was inevitably about to go down.

      When I opened that bedroom door, I expected to see a ring of people smoking pot or drinking or just hanging out. What I hadn’t expected to see was my boyfriend’s naked ass in the air with a pair of long, lean legs wrapped around it. I must have stood there for at least a minute before they realized they weren’t alone. The look on his face when he turned to see who had interrupted him was more than I could bear. There was little if any guilt to be found in his stare.

      Annoyance was all I found.

      With that gut punch, I bolted from the room and tore out of the party. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. I didn’t think much about the scene I had made. At the time, I didn’t really care. But the next morning I woke up with a headache from crying and red-rimmed eyes to complement it, and I knew that my life was about to be hell. Single, scorned, and trapped in Gossipville, USA was hardly how I’d expected to spend my summer. It seemed a cruel twist of fate, indeed.

      But there was no escaping it.

      My parents were the last ties I had to that town. I had no friends there. Nobody to lean on. All I had was an empty mansion on a hill and the knowledge that things were about to get far worse for me long before they got better. Everyone in town would be talking about what happened between Jason and me by the morning. Most would be reveling in the fact that Izzy Lancaster had been publicly humiliated. My family was rich and prominent, my father a renowned defense attorney in the state. To our faces, everyone was kind and friendly, but behind our backs they wished bad things would happen to us—knock us down a peg or two.

      Man, would they love to know that the princess had fallen.

      I really do hate this fucking town.

      chapter one

      My father might have been rich, but he didn’t believe in giving me everything, and when I’d told him at the last minute that I wasn’t coming with them to Europe, he was very clear that he wouldn’t be funding my summer off. In short, I needed a job. Since I wasn’t going to find one wallowing in my pajamas and eating ice cream for breakfast, I forced myself to get showered and dressed, and left the house.

      The fact that my period started that morning only cemented my need to leave. There wasn’t a feminine product to be found in any of the five bathrooms in my house.

      I hopped in my tiny silver sports car—the one Daddy had given me for graduation—and made my way to the only store in town that would have what I needed. The last thing I wanted to do was run into anyone I knew there, but that likelihood was inevitable, so I readied myself for the fallout of the party. Parking my car at the knock-off box store in town, I took a deep breath then made my way inside.

      It’s like this place never changes, I mumbled to myself as I entered the Big Eddie’s Surplus. It had been there for the better part of my childhood. And it still smelled like the ‘70s.

      I hightailed it to the health and beauty section which comprised one half aisle with everything from make-up to face care to feminine products. I grabbed a box of super absorbency tampons from the shelf and headed toward the checkout line. I didn’t want to be there any longer than I had to. That store was gossip central. I had little doubt that my breakup was headline news in town. I didn’t want to be interrogated about it while I paid for my tampons.

      Thankfully, I saw an unfamiliar face at the register, and I sighed with relief. No looks of false pity accompanied with empty well wishes for me. At least that was what I’d thought until Wendy Bryant rounded the corner.

      In fairness, we’d been friends in school. She was three years older than me, which is an eternity in high school years, but her brother and I had been best friends, making us friends by default. Since I’d graduated, I’d only seen her a couple of times.

      But that didn’t mean she wasn’t about to grill me.

      Izzy! She ran toward me with open arms and scooped me up into a hug. What are you doing here? I heard your parents were in Europe all summer. I thought you’d be with them.

      I was supposed to go. I changed my mind at the last minute.

      I’ll bet your dad was thrilled about that.

      Here we go…

      Yeah, well, you know Dad.

      She forced a tight smile, understanding all too well just how well my dad had likely taken the news. Wendy had worked at his law firm while in high school. She knew what his temper was like.

      So, what are your plans while you’re here then? Are you staying for the whole summer?

      Looks that way….

      She picked up on my unease, knowing damn well why I had it in the first place. To her credit, she avoided that subject altogether.

      Are you working?

      I hadn’t really thought that through, to be honest.

      A mischievous smile spread across her face. I knew that look. That look was trouble.

      I need a lifeguard at the pool. Cindy Homer broke her leg this past weekend. She got drunk and tried to do a basket toss. It ended badly.

      Yeah it did…

      So that leaves me a body short at the pool. You still have your certification?

      Yep. I lifeguard at the pool in the rec center at college.

      Perfect. You’re hired.

      Wendy, I—

      Come by the pool tomorrow before we open so I can get you your gear and a key.

      But Wendy—

      I feel like I’m forgetting something, she continued, unfazed by my interruptions. She tapped her finger on her chin for effect while she looked to the sky for the answer that

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