Heat Wave: A Summer Loving Anthology

by Anthology

  Having a support system like this is amazing, but it’s kind of uncomfortable in a way because I’m not used to having this many people around. I had no siblings and not much family nearby when I was growing up. It was really just my parents and me. So, to be honest, I spent a lot of time up in my room alone. I think that’s what made me want to start writing. When you’re all alone you use your imagination more, my imaginary friends then became my characters. The first book I wrote was so fluid. Now, it feels forced, like I have to push it out.

  The couch dips beside me and I look over my shoulder to see Jacob next to me. “Hey, how is everything, Jacob?”

  He looks over at me and nods. Really? That’s all I get?

  “That good, huh?” He looks over at me again and gives me a confused look. “No, really, you’re sharing too much detail, slow down.” Jacob gets up and joins the guys standing in the middle of the room. What the hell?

  Can you say awkward? I mean the guy never talks to anyone, and I barely ever shut up. I don’t know what the hell crawled up his ass. Usually he is anti-social, but it’s on super hyperdrive today. I wonder if it has anything to do with the deployment? I would love to ask him, but that’s as pointless as Cam trying to talk to me about his fantasy football league.

  Screw this acting like a lady etiquette. If I’m gonna be stuck here I need a drink. I walk over to the fridge and grab a beer. When I turn around, Carrie is standing there looking at me as if I’m an alien.

  “A.J. just got a round for the guys.” She is staring at the beer in my hand as if it’s about to explode. The first time we came to one of these gatherings, I learned that none of the wives drink, especially not here. On a really special night they all might share a bottle of wine, but drinking and being wild is not the way they wanted to be viewed.

  “This isn’t for Cam, it’s for me.” I try to keep my tone even and reign in the bitch that wants to jump out. I grab the bottle opener from the counter and pop the top off, containing my laughter as is hits her leg. I am so over living by the rules that were set forth before I even showed up. I raise the beer to my lips, taking a few long gulps before lowering it. Carrie looks like she might actually burst. Now that Cam and I are married, I need to stop trying to fit in and start being me, not that having a beer should be that big of an offense.

  As I walk past the rest of the mafia, I can hear the audible gasps at my blatant disregard of the wife code. I think back to the day they introduced it to me when I almost fell off my chair. The wife code consists of the way that they feel good wives should act. No drinking, no suggestive clothing, and no cursing or as they like to call it cussing. If I want to show up in a v-neck t-shirt and get trashed I should be able to, not that I would.

  I walk back into the living room and all the guys are once again sitting on the couches since another game has started. I get routing for your home team, but why the heck do they care about every game in the league? My eyes find Cam and luckily there is an open spot next to him, although on the other side of that spot is my talkative friend Jacob. I plop down in between them and Cam wraps his arm around my shoulder.

  “Hey, gorgeous, since when do you come and watch the game?” His eyes are still focused on the TV as he talks to me in the way only men can master.

  “Since today, I’m also drinking beer.” I raise my bottle and relax against him. Aside from the occasional yelling and screaming about “BS penalties” hanging out with the guys is much better than playing the role of the little woman in the kitchen.

  I catch Jacob looking at me and return his gaze with a smile. He quickly turns away from me and takes another swig of his beer. I can’t help but think I have done something to piss him off in some way, but considering we have never gotten past “hi” I don’t know what the hell it could be. The game finally ends and Cam looks over at me.

  “You ready, babe?”

  I nod and stretch before I get off of the couch. We say our obligatory goodbyes to everyone and even after my numerous indiscretions today I still get hugs and salutations from the mafia. We walk out of the house and I take a deep breath as the cool air hits me. Cam grabs my hand and we start the short trek home.

  “Hey, what is up with Jacob?”

  Cam looks over at me. “Clark? What do you mean?”

  I shrug my shoulders trying to hide how curious I am. “He always shows up late, and barely ever talks to anyone. I tried to talk to him today and it was like pulling teeth.”

  “I don’t know, babe. I know he had a rough start in life. None of us really know what happened to him just that he is really closed off.” Cam looks straight ahead the entire time he speaks.

  “Doesn’t that bother you guys though? I mean you’re on a team and you’re supposed to trust each other. How can you trust him if you don’t—“

  Cam stops walking and looks me in the eye. “I don’t give a shit about his past, none of it matters. What matters is that I know when push comes to shove that he has saved my ass more than once. He is loyal, trustworthy, and everything that I could want in a leader. That is what matters, Shay.”

  He lets go of my hand and begins walking. I guess I hit a nerve. I mean I knew the guys were all close but I didn’t know he would react like that. I feel like a child that has just gotten in trouble. Cam rarely ever gets mad at me, and I hate feeling like I disappointed him.

  At least I know for next time that the team is off limits.

  Chapter Five

  CAM DIDN’T TALK TO me after we got home last night. He went into the living room turned on another game and didn’t move the rest of the night. After an hour of uncomfortable silence, I went upstairs to bed. I don’t understand why my question set him off last night. I was just trying to understand the dynamic of everyone. If I thought someone had secrets, there is no way I could trust them, especially not with my life. I guess it’s different for Cam. I would love to ask him why but I’m definitely not opening that can of worms again.

  Cam had to work today so he was already gone when I woke up. After I clean a little I fire up my laptop and open the manuscript I’ve been working on. I know a lot of people will go to Starbucks to write, but I can’t. I’m honestly too nosey to be sitting in a room full of people and actually get anything done. I throw on my general writing playlist and get to work. For the first time in as long as I can remember the words are flowing and not having to be dragged out of my head. My characters are talking to me and the story is actually progressing. Maybe because I’m at a tense point in the book and Cam and I are having a rough time I can relate to them.

  I fly through almost four hours of writing with only a few cups of coffee. When Cam comes home at five, I am still typing away and have almost finished. I finally cracked the writer’s block and it feels amazing. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing what you want to say but not being able to get it out. I feel hands rest on my shoulders, and jump from being pulled out of the zone I was in.

  “Sorry, I was just coming to see how you were. I’m glad to see you’re writing again.” I turn in my chair to look at him, at the same time removing his hands from me. The air between us is tense and I hate it. I just want things to be okay especially since he is leaving soon.

  “I’m sorry about yesterday. I was just trying to understand but I get that I over stepped my boundaries. I promise I won’t push the issue again.”

  Cam doesn’t answer me. He is just looking down at me, and I start to squirm under his gaze. His hands grab mine and he leads me over to the couch. Once we both sit down he is quiet again and it is really making me crazy. “Listen, babe, I know that I overreacted. You just have to understand that these guys are my family too. If one of us is hurting and not ready to share something I don’t see the need to push it. Jacob has had my back more times than you want to know. I swear, I might not have made it home without him a couple of times.” I gasp at this admission. Anytime I have talked to Cam while he is deployed we don’t talk about the battles, or the casualties. I think he knows
it would only make me more crazy and paranoid to hear about them. I’ll never forget the first time he was deployed and we were on the phone.

  “I miss you, babe.” I say trying to steady my shaky voice. I don’t want to cause him more stress by having him worry about me, but I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since he left last week. There is only one phone at the camp and only so much time available to use it, so I told him before he left to let the guys with families use it first.

  “I miss you too, Shay.” He sounds so far away, and it only reflects the actual distance between us.

  “How is everything?” I ask this not sure if I actually want to know the answer.

  “It’s as good as it can be.” I can hear this constant popping in the background almost like popcorn in a microwave.

  “What’s that sound?” Cam doesn’t answer me and the popping continues, getting louder. My heart starts to race. “I’ll have to call you back, babe.”

  The phone disconnects before I can respond to him, or at least say “I love you.” I pace my tiny apartment trying to hold back the hysterics that are threatening to break out. My mind plays out all of the possible scenarios I can think of, and all of them are bad. I can’t lose him. I need him. He said he would come back. The phone in my hand rings again and I scream at the shock of it.

  “Hello!” I say so loudly and with such urgency I can envision Cam pulling the phone away from his ear.

  “Hey, I’m sorry.” He sounds out of breath.

  “What happened? What was that noise?” I’m still so panicked even though he is obviously still alive and well.

  “Nothing, everything is fine now.”

  “Cameron Wilson, you need to tell me what happened because it can’t be worse then what I’m imagining in my head.” I know I sound like his mother but I really don’t care.

  “The camp got attacked. It was just one guy though and he was taken care of quickly.” That was just as bad as what I was imaging in my head. I make an audible gasp and swallow the tears. “Baby, I’ll come back, I’ll always come back.”

  “Babe?”

  I shake my head. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I just need you to understand that some people aren’t open books, but I know Jacob and there is no reason for you to be suspicious of him.” He leans over and kisses me. I open my mouth to him, inviting him inside, and he slides his tongue into my mouth. My arms wrap around his neck and I climb onto his lap. Within minutes our simple, gentle kiss has caught fire. I’m grinding myself against him trying to get any amount of friction I can to help feed the ache that has developed.

  Cam’s hands grip the hem of my t-shirt, pulling it over my head, then I do the same thing to him. We continue to rip every article of clothing off of each other until there is nothing left. “Kneel on the couch and hold onto the back of it.” I follow his instructions my body humming with the knowledge of what is about to come. “Stick your ass up more, baby.”

  I arch my back and while I move into position, Cam gently caresses my butt before placing a soft gentle kiss on it. As he situates himself behind me, I find myself just wanting to thrust backward not wanting to waste another second without him inside of me.

  “I want you so bad right now, babe, I don’t know how long I’ll last.” He slams into me and I moan at the feeling. At this angle he is so deep inside me that it’s almost hard to hold myself up. “God, you feel like heaven.” Cam starts to move faster and I can barely handle the sensation. When he reaches around to play with my clit I let out a groan. “Tell me how good it feels, baby.”

  I am horrible at the dirty talk. I respond with my moans of pleasure as his pace picks up even more.

  “I want to hear you when you come, babe. I want to hear you scream.” His fingers pinch my clit and I come apart, screaming so loud that I’m grateful it’s cold out and our windows are closed, if not our neighbors would definitely have gotten a show. When Cam finishes he leans forward bracing himself on the couch in the same way that I am. Before getting up he trails kisses down my back and runs his hands down my sides.

  “We need to fight more often.” He says before heading upstairs.

  Amen to that.

  Chapter Six

  CAM HAS BEEN GOING in early and coming home late. It’s always like this before he deploys. There are always extra meetings, training, and everything else. I have been spending my days writing and with the past two days of sudden inspiration, I’m almost done with the book. I need to write a few more scenes today then it’s off to the editor. I have been drowning under this deadline and I literally have less than a week to edit and publish the stupid thing. That’s the life of a writer though. You spend months saying you’ll write when all that really means is that you’ll spend a few hours on Facebook and only write one chapter. Don’t even get me started on Pinterest. That is where days go to die. Once you go onto that site you get sucked into their blackhole and don’t resurface for hours.

  The deployment is looming over me though. The guys leave Friday afternoon, and today is Tuesday. I am going to barely see Cam this week, if yesterday is any indication of the rest of the schedule for the week. I can’t imagine how the other girls do it with the kids. I think that’s half of the reason that I avoid the pregnancy topic like the plague. I can barely hold myself together when Cam is away, I don’t think I could take care of kids too. We were just married anyway and as much as people are forcing the topic in our faces we are young and I’m not trying to rush anything. I love Cam and eventually I would love to have kids but it’s definitely not something I see happening in the near future.

  I hear the door open and look down at the clock, 8:00pm. Cam walks into the living room and looks like he’s been hit by a truck. “Hey, babe, you okay?”

  He nods as he plops down onto the couch. “I’m just exhausted. It’s been non-stop meetings and strategic training since we found out we were deploying. I swear I barely had time to choke down my lunch today. The good thing is that I’m thinking it will be a short trip.”

  I breathe out a sigh of relief before joining him on the couch. “Can I do anything for you?”

  He looks over at me and smirks.

  I shove him and laugh. “Is that all you ever think about?”

  “Yea.”

  That’s all he says. Well, at least he’s honest. I have to say that it’s definitely an ego boost that he can’t keep his hands off of me. I love knowing that he always wants me, that he is always ready. “How about we start with something like food to build up your energy?”

  I head into the kitchen searching through the cabinets for something quick to make. With Cam’s unpredictable schedule, I didn’t make anything ahead of time. I preheat the oven and pull out some stuffed chicken breasts. I picked these up just for nights like this because they are quick and easy. I grab a few beers from the fridge and then leave the kitchen to allow time for dinner to cook.

  I walk back into the living room and sit next to Cam who is watching ESPN, I know shocker. “Babe, just so you know, I volunteered to host the farewell dinner on Thursday night.”

  He says this so nonchalantly and without looking away from the TV that I think for a minute I heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “The usual dinner, I volunteered to have it here.”

  “Seriously!” He looks over at me completely confused by my reaction. “You just volunteered to have a big dinner here without even letting me know?”

  “It’s really not a big deal, babe.” He takes a swig of his beer.

  I swear to God he is so damn clueless. Having to cook for nine people is bad enough with little notice, but having to cook for those women is my nightmare. They always host the dinners and everything is perfect down to the damn color scheme. I am in no way, shape, or form prepared to have them all here, we aren’t even all the way unpacked yet. Not to mention I have my deadline coming up and I’m supposed to publish on Monday. I grab a pillow next to me and chuck it at his head before walki
ng out of the room. The amount of self-control it is taking me not to kill him right now is huge.

  I grab my laptop and start googling dinner parties, and themes. For a normal dinner I could just make pasta or burgers, but not for this one. I remember keeping Chrissy’s invitation that she sent out a week before the last dinner. I flip through papers before finally finding it.

  You are invited to a farewell dinner at the Hudson’s

  Menu

  Sparkling Cranberry Cocktails

  Mini Manchego-Tomato Chutney Tartlets

  Chestnut Soup

  Wild Rice Soup

  Cornish Game Hens with Butternut Croutons

  Individual Pear Tartlets

  I am so royally screwed it isn’t even funny. Last time I cooked dinner I screwed up the Rice-a-Roni because I couldn’t follow directions. There is no way I can compete with the five-star standard that has been set by these women. I’m mac and cheese and they are surf and turf.

  Cam walks into my office and I turn away. “Get out!

  “But, babe, I—“

  “Get out!”

  “Do you need me to—“

  I turn in my chair the expression on my face enough to stop him mid-sentence. “If I am going to pull off this Susie homemaker shit by Thursday, you need to leave or baked Cam will be the main course!” He slowly backs away from me like I’m a rabid animal and I hear the TV turn on once more.

  I love him but he can be so dumb sometimes. Okay, back to planning the menu that I can barely pronounce.

  As I look at the screen, all of the tarts, filets, and stuffing begin to run together.

  I may end up cooking him in the damn oven after all.

  Chapter Seven

  I HAVE SUCH A STRONG urge to bang my head on my desk until I pass out. Not only is tomorrow the stupid dinner party for the military mafia, but I’m neck deep in notes from my editor. She knows that I don’t respect deadlines so she was prepared to spend all day yesterday with my hot mess of pages. While she loved the story, my prejudice with commas and run-on sentences has officially screwed me over. Why can’t I have a little person in my head who knows all the grammar rules and can just take over my body as I write?