Summer Burns (25 page)

Hennessey cleared his throat.

Miller pushed the plate toward Hennessey.

Hennessey laughed and pushed it back.
"
I don
'
t need them.
"
He leaned back and rubbed his belly.

"
Thanks Sarge,
"
Miller said and started to wolf down the last wings.

Ortiz sipped on his beer.
"
You ready to get done, Sarge?
"

Hennessey nodded.
"
Mostly.
"
There was still a lot of shit he had to do, but time was getting closer and closer.

"
Staying here, or going back home?
"
Miller asked around a mouthful of food.

"
Going home.
"

Miller tipped his head to the side.
"
Thought you might be staying.
"

Hennessey raised his eyebrow.
"
Because?
"

"
That little blondie you
'
ve been seeing,
"
Miller said.

Ortiz rolled his eyes and smacked him upside the head.
"
Ignore the
girl
here.
"

Hennessey smirked.
"
No, I
'
m not staying for her. Don
'
t think she wants me to.
"

"
Why not?
"
Ortiz asked.

"
Thought you all were good,
"
Miller said.

"
We were. And then we weren
'
t.
"
He wasn
'
t going into details about the fight he
'
d had with Summer.

Hell, he wasn
'
t sure he understood what it was about, in any case. It was a fight. Yes. He knew that.

But what, exactly the big deal was, he couldn
'
t figure it out.

So what if some woman had given him her number.

Not like he can control that.

"
You all fight?
"

He shook his head, and then proceeded to tell them everything--the woman he
'
d been talking to at the store, then the fight he
'
d had with Summer.

"
What was the gal
'
s name?
"
Ortiz asked.

"
I, uh...
"
He patted his pockets.
"
I can
'
t remember. Marley. Something -eee at the end.
"

"
You don
'
t think,
"
Miller asked, glancing at Ortiz.

"
Shelby?
"
Ortiz asked.

"
What?
"
Hennessey asked.

"
Shelby, she, uh, has a reputation in town for dating military men. Especially married ones. She
'
s broken up quite a few marriages over the years.
"

Miller looked at Ortiz.
"
You
'
re the one from around here. Isn
'
t there a story? About her and some girl fighting way back in the day?
"

Ortiz nodded.
"
My big sister told me about it. Guess Shelby stole the gal
'
s boyfriend, and they got into a fight under the bleachers.
"

Hennessey sat up straighter. Bleachers? Surely not
... "
Wait. Who was the other gal?
"

"
Uh, I can
'
t remember. Something weird. Like Fruit or something. It was a goofy name.
"

"
Summer?
"
Hennessey said.

"
That
'
s it, Summer,
"
Ortiz said.
"
The way my sister talked about it, it was quite the deal.
"

"
Who was the guy?
"
Hennessey asked.

"
Don
'
t know.
"
Ortiz rubbed his head.
"
I think she wound up marrying the guy.
"

"
Who? Summer or Shelby?
"

"
Summer.
"

Hennessey nodded.

Son of a bitch.

Well that explained a lot.

Chapter Twenty-One

Saturday

"
You absolutely are not going in there,
"
Winter said, trying to arm-bar me from going into the waxing room.

"
Oh, you wanna bet?
"
I said, and I did the one thing that Winter couldn
'
t dare resist--I tickled her on her rib.

She jerked back, her blocking of the door gone, and I was able to slide past her and jump into the waxing room.

I shut and locked the door before Winter could stop me.

And I made Shelby jump in the process. Or maybe that was Winter banging on the door.

"
What the hell?
"
Shelby asked, hoping up from the table.

"
Where
'
s Matthew?
"
I snapped

"
Who?
"

"
Don
'
t play dumb, Shelby. I know you hit on him last week. And now he
'
s not returning my calls? I wasn
'
t born yesterday.
"
And I wasn
'
t about to admit that the idea of Matthew spending time with Shelby--or hell, any woman at this point, but mostly Shelby--made me sick to my stomach.

The stuff of nightmares.

She put her hand on her hip.
"
I don
'
t know what you
'
re talking about. I
'
m married. Did you forget?
"

"
Doesn
'
t seem to stop you from hitting on every guy in this damn city.
"

"
I
'
ve always flirted with everybody. This is not news,
"
Shelby snapped.
"
What
'
s your beef? Can
'
t hold up your end of the bargain or something?
"
She took a step towards me, resting her hands on the waxing table in between us.
"
After all, I am, well,
all that
. You
'
re just, uh,
you
. Which has never quite been enough, has it, Summer?
"

I kept the table between the two of us, because if I got any closer, I
'
d probably strangle her. Just because, you know, she
'
s a bitch for trying
twice
to steal a man I wanted.

And that was the crux of it--whether I wanted to admit it or not, I wanted Matthew. I
...
I felt a lot for him. Enough that the more I thought about him and Shelby, like it had been with Jake and Shelby, I wanted to throw up.

Or break stuff.

Right now, I
'
d settle on breaking her face.

Did I love Matthew? I wasn
'
t sure. But I sure as hell wasn
'
t willing to share him with anyone.

"
Well, this isn
'
t the bleachers, but I bet I can still beat the snot out of you.
"

"
And once again, Summer Jones can
'
t handle a little competition.
"
She said it with that head-rocking thing, and I expected her to try to snap her fingers in my face.

How damn old school.

I rolled my eyes and inched my way around the table. My fingers slid over the cart where the powders and lotions sat for waxing services.
"
I just wanna know one thing.
"

"
What?
"

"
What in the hell did I ever do to you, that you had to try to steal every guy I
'
ve ever been interested in?
"

"
I take what I want because I can. I always have.
"

"
And it always seems to be what I want.
"

She blinked, her posture relaxing.
"
Seriously? You
'
re still pissed off about Jake? Girl, you need some chamomile or something. That was like fifteen years ago on a lark.
"

"
This isn
'
t about Jake!
"
I snapped.

"
Well, then what is it? Because, I hate to break it to you, but you are
not
that damn important in my life.
"

"
If I
'
m not, then why is it the first guy I start spending time with since he died, and you have to try to hook up with? I mean, seriously, he meets you, and I haven
'
t heard from him all week? Sounds awfully suspicious.
"

"
Regardless of what you may believe, my life doesn
'
t revolve around how I can make your life miserable.
"

"
Well you do a pretty damn good job of it without trying.
"

"
What the fuck ever. I don
'
t even know who you
'
re talking about.
"

"
Sure you don
'
t. Matthew Hennessey. Tall. Dark hair. Army man.
"

"
And I thought you hated the military life. That
'
s what Jake said, anyway. Why he never talked to you about his desire to enlist. He said you wouldn
'
t listen to him. Didn
'
t matter if he wanted it, it wasn
'
t what you wanted. I just told him he
'
d look good in uniform.
"

And that
'
s it.

That
'
s when I lost my friggin
'
mind, right there, in the wax room at the beauty shop. Jake
'
s joining the military had been a point of contention between us from the day he signed up. I didn
'
t want him fighting in wars. I
'
d told him that over and over.

I begged him.

I pleaded with him.

Hell, I promised him sexual favors if he wouldn
'
t sign up.

Then he started talking to Shelby, and poof, he
'
s in the Army.

I had always suspected she had encouraged Jake, but he would never admit to it.

"
He
'
s dead. Because. Of. You.
"
I grabbed the nearest item, a little decorative candle, and hurled it at her.

Shelby ducked.
"
You are fuck-nuts crazy.
"
She grabbed a couple of cups and hurled them back.
"
I didn
'
t tell him to do anything!
"

I hurled a plastic container full of cotton swabs.
"
Then why
'
d he go? Why
'
d he do it?
"