Heat Wave: A Summer Loving Anthology

by Anthology

  Trace nodded his head when I finished speaking and glanced around the reception and waiting area. He pulled faces at certain parts that needed fixing or a touch up of some paint. "Looks like a good set up you've got going on here."

  I wanted to be mad that he clearly thought the place looked like crap, but I couldn't. I put it down to the fact that I was very aware of the man I was conversing with was too beautiful for words, and it made me feel sick.

  "Thank you, we try to help as many animals as we can."

  Trace kept eye contact with me as I spoke, and I found I couldn't hold his gaze.

  It was unnerving.

  "Thank you for coming by to check on Hazel, it is very nice of you."

  He snorted. "Is that my cue to leave? Am I being dismissed?"

  Oh, shite.

  "Of course not, I didn't mean-"

  "I'm fucking with you, Shay," he cut me off, snickering.

  Oh.

  I gnawed on my lower lip. "I knew that."

  Trace locked his gaze on my lip, licked his own then flicked his eyes up to mine. "I'll get going. I really did just want to stop in and check on how the dog – I mean on how Hazel was doing."

  I pushed loose strands of hair from my face and said, "Thanks, I'm sure she appreciates it."

  I winced after the words left my mouth.

  I was such an idiot.

  Trace put his hands in the pockets of the black shorts he wore and said, "Yeah... well... nice seeing you again."

  "You too."

  Oh, God.

  I could feel the awkwardness in the room.

  "Bye."

  "See ya."

  Trace chuckled at me, shook his head, then turned and walked in the direction of the door that lead out to the car park. Without turning around, or even looking over his shoulder, he lifted his hand in the air and said, "Nice meeting you, Terri."

  "You too!" my mother's voice suddenly shouted.

  I jumped with fright and looked to my right, surprised to see my mother stood next to her chair behind the reception counter.

  I blinked. "I didn't hear you walk up."

  "I was being quiet," she said then looked from the doorway to me. "He is very handsome, Shay."

  Oh, my God.

  "So? Why are you tell me? I don't care if he is handsome... Not that I think he is."

  "Why are you being so defensive?"

  I tensed up. "I'm not. I'm not being like anything."

  My mother smiled at me, but said nothing.

  It irked me.

  "What?" I asked.

  She waved her hand at me. "Nothing."

  "Ma," I growled.

  She laughed. "All I said was Trace was handsome."

  "Why are you on first name basis with him?"

  She shrugged. "I told him to call me Terri, and he offered his name up when he came in here. End of story."

  I eyed her, then shook my head. "Okay, I believe-"

  "I don't buy it."

  What?

  "What are you talking about?" I asked. "What don't you buy?"

  My mother rolled her perfectly black lined eyes and said, "I don't buy that he came all the way up here to see how the new dog was doing."

  I blinked. "He knocked her down with his car, Ma, of course he came up here to see–"

  "Your father already told him last night that she was going to be okay. He came up her for something else. Or for someone else."

  I rolled my eyes. "You're so full of it, Ma."

  "I'm full of wisdom, you cheeky little shite and I'm telling you that man came here to see you again."

  I shook my head. "He saw me for a few minutes last night, oh wise one. He just wanted a status update on Hazel."

  "You're in denial, or you can't see that his objective was seeing you."

  "Who's objective was seeing Shay?" my auntie Tina asked from behind me.

  Oh, Jesus.

  I threw my hands up in the air. "No one-"

  "A man came here to see Shay," my mother cut me off and clapped her hands together.

  "Shut the fuck up!" Tina gasped. "A real man?"

  I glared at my auntie as she rounded the reception counter and took the seat next to my mother.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped.

  Tina looked me dead in the eye and said, "It means males, young or old, never come here looking for you. Your father, uncles, and cousin don't count."

  I grunted. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm very busy with work... I don't have time for boys."

  "Trace isn't a boy though, he is a man. If only I was a few decades younger."

  I put my face in my hands. "Please stop talking."

  "One a scale to one to ten, what was he?" Tina asked my mother.

  "Tina!" I cried and dropped my hands.

  "A solid fifty," my mother replied to my auntie without missing a beat.

  "Shut. Up!" Tina squealed.

  I placed my hands on the counter and glared at them. "You two are unbelievable."

  They continued to ignore me.

  "He is on the CCTV feed if you want to see what he looks like," my mother suggested.

  Before I could even call them creeps they were on their feet and headed to the security room to check Trace out on the CCTV monitors.

  "I'm telling Da and Tom!" I shouted, hoping my threat to tell my father and uncle would stop them.

  It didn’t though.

  Both women cackled in response.

  "Bloody bitches," I grunted.

  I folded my arms across my chest, but found I was ansty after my encounter with Trace and conversation with my mother. I needed to get out of the shelter and into the forest. I needed space. I needed to walk.

  I turned and headed out back to the second lot of kennels where the calmer dogs were. We had to section the shelter off and separate all the animals who found it harder to get along with other animals.

  I brought all the dogs on walks, but for this evening, I decided on taking two dogs out who I knew wouldn't give me any problems on the trail.

  My walking buddies today would be Zeus and Rain. Two German Shepherds pups who were abandoned over six months ago. They were up for adoption for the first time since they arrived at the shelter, as they have only now got the all clear on their health.

  I got both dogs leashed up and headed out back and chose my usual trail for dog walking. It was a straight path so the dogs could see everything ahead. These two were still a little nervous of their surroundings so letting them have a clear view of where we were going was a must.

  We walked in peace for about ten minutes until Zeus suddenly whined and came to a halt. Rain quickly joined in whining and even growled. I looked down at the both of them and tried to jerk them back into a walk but they were rooted to the spot and were staring up at the tree line to our right.

  Zeus lowered his head and began to fiercely growl at the trees, Rain quickly joined her brother. I looked up and squinted my eyes in hopes I could see what they saw, but I couldn't. My human eyes were no match against the canines.

  "It's okay, lovelies, you don't have to be–"

  I cut myself off when a loud noise burst from the trees. I was frozen with fright. I blankly stared and wondered what made the noise. It was a machine. I knew that much, but I had no idea what kind, or why the hell it would be up on our property in the first place.

  The loud sound was constant now, and it hurt my ears so I can only imagine how annoying it was for the dogs.

  "Come on, let's go–"

  I screamed when a space suddenly formed in the tree line as a tree was suddenly uprooted from the ground. I immediately stumbled backwards, jerking hard on the leads that were attached to the dog's collars. When I pulled on the leads, the dogs yelped and wheezed because of the pressure against their throats. I felt horrible but I had to yank them hard in order to pull them back with me.

  The large branches of the falling tree would have crushed us otherwise.

  What the fuck?

&
nbsp; "Hey!" I screamed.

  I stared wide-eyed as a large backhoe appeared as it cut through the trees, scooping them out of the ground by the roots as if they were dirty weeds.

  I was instantly furious.

  "Excuse me?" I shouted over the deafening noise of the machine trying to gain the driver's attention. "Sir!"

  The noise continued to blare from the massive machine, and it wore on my already thin patience. I balled my hand into fists and set my jaw.

  Shit was about to get real.

  I looked down and scanned the ground for something I could use to get the driver's attention. I spotted a rock that looked like it would do the trick. I placed both dog leads in one hand, bent down and picked it up, then with all my might I hurled it at the driver's side window. When the rock made contact, the glass cracked. It didn't shatter, but it was rendered useless and would need replacing.

  "What the fuck?" a voice inside the backhoe shouted when the engine to the machine was shut down.

  Finally.

  "Hey!" I bellowed. "Down here you fucker!"

  The door of the backhoe opened, and out stepped an older gentleman with a heavy build. He glanced around the area, then looked down and narrowed his eyes at me.

  "You little shite. Did you throw a rock at my window?"

  I gasped at his name-calling.

  "Don't speak to me like that when you almost killed me and my dogs!" I roared, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

  "What are you talking about?" the man snapped.

  I pointed to the pathway before me that was blocked with branches and bits of tree bark. "You uprooted that tree and all that debris nearly fell on me while I was walking my dogs!"

  The man looked down to the mess in front of me and slightly paled. "Well... you shouldn't be up here. This is private property."

  I reeled back at his accusation.

  "It's you who shouldn't be up here! This land belongs to my family!"

  The man blinked, reached up and removed his hard hat so he could rub his head with his free hand.

  "Look, kid, I have no idea what's going on, but I'm working."

  Working at what?

  "What the hell type of work are you doing? You're destroying the forest! You have no right to do this. I'm calling the guards."

  The man held up both of his hands. "This is a legit job, darling. I'm not setting out to ruin anything. If you have a problem with the area I was assigned to then take it up with my boss."

  I bloody well would!

  "I will, where is he?" I shouted.

  The man pointed behind his shoulder. "If you go back in the direction you came from, go up the road and take the next left turn after you see a sign for a veterinary clinic and shelter. It's about ten minutes up the road."

  I frowned my eyebrows in confusion. The area where the man told me to go was just empty fields and forest land. There was no business or buildings up this end of the mountains except for ours.

  "Are you sure?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows.

  He nodded his head. "Yeah, kid, I'm sure."

  I blinked. "Okay... and I'm sorry about the window, but I needed to get your attention. I work at the shelter and vet that you mentioned and we frequently walk our animals along these trails."

  The man frowned. "I'll inform my co-workers who will be working along the property line to be careful."

  I swallowed. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

  The nodded his head and looked to his window with a shake of his head then unclipped a walkie talkie from his belt and brought it to his mouth. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I had no doubt he was reporting what just happened to this boss of his.

  I was going to eat that motherfucker alive.

  I jerked on the leads for the dogs and tugged them along behind me as I turned and jogged all the way back to the shelter. I gave Zeus and Rain some water then put them back in their kennels.

  I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was just after four. I would have to be quick to find this boss of the backhoe man and get back to the shelter before six. The viewing for adoptions was extremely important, we needed to have at least ten animals placed into good home in order to take a bit of strain off our backs.

  Without a word to anyone, I snuck out through the side entrance of the shelter and jogged around to the car park. I hopped into my car and pulled out of my spot and quickly got on the road and headed in the direction the man told me to go.

  For almost five minutes I saw the usual mass of trees and bushes that would be expected up the mountains, but when a clearing suddenly appeared to the left of the road and 'caution' and 'road works' signs hung everywhere a knot in my stomach formed.

  "What the hell is going on?" I mumbled.

  I pulled up to a barrier that was in front what appeared to me some sort of construction site. A little hut was outside the site and when I came to a stop in front of the barrier a tall man exited the hut and walked over to my car. I lowered my window down so I could speak to him.

  "Can I help you, miss?" the black haired man asked.

  I nodded my head. "I need to speak to the person in charge. I had run in with a worker of this site on my family's land."

  The man lifted his hand. He held a walkie talkie and brought it to his mouth. "Sir, you got a minute?"

  There was some static from the walkie talkie for a few seconds then a voice replied, "Yeah, what's up?"

  "I've got a woman out front who wants to speak to you. A problem with one of the crew and her land or something."

  A sigh came from the walkie talkie then the voice said, "Send her on in."

  Without a word to me, the man walked back into his little security hut and then the barrier in front of me lifted. He walked out to the doorway of the hut and shouted over to me, "Drive straight up until you come to a prefab, that's where you need to go." He disappeared after he finished speaking and I shook my head at the now empty doorway.

  "Nice talking to you, too," I mumbled and put my car in gear.

  I did what the man told me to do – I drove up the makeshift driveway of the site that used to be beautiful a forest. I tightened my hand around my steering wheel and kept my speed slow as I drove. Eventually I came up to the prefab the man told me about. There were a few cars parked to the side of the prefab, so I lined up next to them. I parked my car, got out, and locked it up.

  I walked around to the front of the prefab and stared at it for a moment then walked up to the door, but a call from my right halted my steps.

  "Can I help you, gorgeous?"

  I looked to the man who spoke to me and froze. He was really tall, muscular... and he his hair was dyed blood red. He had multiple piercings on his face and tattoos running up both of his arms.

  He looked... dangerous.

  "Um, I need to see the person in charge."

  The man came to a stop a few inches away from me and it caused me to break out into a sweat. I took a step back and looked up at the man's stunning face.

  "I'm in charge." He grinned.

  His looks and body forgotten, I got to the point of why I was here.

  I cleared my throat. "My name is Shay Logan, and I want to make a complaint about one of your workers."

  The man's bright smile dropped from his face. "On second thought," he said, "go into the office there and present your complaint to my partner. He is the one who deals with complaints. He lives for that kind of stuff."

  My heart instantly hurt when he said the word 'partner'.

  Did that mean he was gay?

  I was too embarrassed to ask so I simply said, "Okay."

  He winked at me and watched as I turned and walked forward to the door of the prefab. I knocked on the door when I was close enough to do so. A few seconds passed by then suddenly the door before me opened wide.

  I blinked when I saw who the red haired man's partner was.

  "Trace?"

  Chapter Three

  "SHAY?" TRACE QUESTIONED when he saw I was stood in f
ront of him. He looked and sounded just as confused as me. "What are you doing here?"

  He backed up into the prefab and gestured me to follow him. I did but only because I wanted to know what was going on.

  Trace cursed to the laughing red haired man then slammed the prefab door in his face. While he did that I glanced around the room filled with unopened boxes before looking back to him. "I could ask you the same question."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to ask me why I'm here?"

  I was so confused.

  "Because I need to speak to the owner of this land and the man with bright red hair outside told me to come in here and speak to you about it."

  Trace folded his arms across his chest. "I co-own this land. The man who directed you in here is Teller, a friend and partner who didn't want to deal with work, as usual."

  I didn't know why I was so surprised, but I was. Trace co-owned the land next to the shelter with a man who had hair so red and bright it required sunglasses to be worn just to look at it.

  Did that mean he wasn't gay after all?

  "What is this place?" I inquisitively asked Trace as I shifted from foot to foot.

  Trace glanced around the prefab we were standing inside and shrugged his shoulders. "It's a temporary office."

  "No," I said, shaking my head. "I meant what is the business you're running?"

  "Oh," Trace chuckled. "It's a construction site. Like this land, I co-own a construction business with my three friends. We're setting up our headquarters here."

  A construction business?

  I tired to process the information, but couldn't wrap my head around it.

  "You do realise that your property borders with my parent's land, right?"

  Trace bobbed his head up and down. "Yes, we checked out the surrounding areas to the land before we bought it."

  That angered me.

  "So you're perfectly okay with disrupting a shelter that cares for injured and ill treated animals? Do you have any idea what the noise a construction site could do to a previously abused animal?"

  Trace looked surprised at my sudden anger, but instead of addressing it, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "No, I don’t, but I don’t see how our business could disrupt your shelter. We left space to avoid problems for the owners of the land. There won’t be much noise, I assure you."