Wrecked

by Jeannine Colette

  “So, yeah…break time.” Toby says, his hands in his pockets, as he backs away from the room. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  When he’s gone, I drop my roller and make my way out of the room.

  “Looks like someone’s hungry,” Adam calls out to me.

  “Famished!” I shout, my ass halfway down the stairs.

  “Mind if I sit here?”

  Adam is standing over me, his face covered in the shadow of the tree I am sitting beneath.

  “Only because you’re bringing me food.” I grab the bag from his hand.

  Out of his pocket, he produces a peach Snapple. I shake it and slap the bottom. When I twist the cap, it makes a popping sound.

  He takes a seat beside me, his long legs stretched out alongside mine. Our thighs brush against each other.

  “I want to apologize,” he says.

  “For what?”

  “That was inappropriate of me. I’m supposed to be watching you, not corrupting you.”

  I let out a loud, obnoxious laugh. “I’m quite corrupted already.” Taking a swig of my tea, I give him the side eye and see he’s not smiling. “Through literature. Not in real life. I read juicy stuff all the time.”

  His interest is piqued. “You do?”

  Looking inside my bag, I pull out the sandwich and tangerine he packed for me.

  And then I frown.

  “Looking for this?” He’s holding up a mini Snickers.

  I grab it from him, unwrap it, and pop it into my mouth. I close my eyes and salivate.

  “James Joyce.” My words are barely audible.

  “Huh?” he grunts.

  I turn to him, my mouth full of Snickers. “My dad is a huge James Joyce fan. He even has a first edition of Dubliners, which probably cost more than our house. He didn’t buy it. It was passed down from his grandfather. Anyway, we have all his books in our house, and one of them is a book of letters he wrote to his wife. They’re pretty dirty.”

  He puts his bag down, bends his knee, and twists his body toward mine. “I find it hard to believe that James Joyce wrote anything remotely close to what we just listened to.”

  With a tilt of my head, I answer, “He and his wife were apart for a year. They promised to write erotic love letters. He called her his sweet little whore and wrote in graphic detail what he would do to himself when he thought of her.”

  He settles back against the tree and smirks at me. His voice says in disbelief, “Graphic?”

  “Explicit. He recalls the first time she put her hand down his pants. They were out, maybe at a party, and she slid her hand under the table and…you know…”

  He shifts his knee to the side. His hand fingers the collar of his shirt. “No more audio books and no more James Joyce,” he says, turning his body away from me.

  A gust of wind rustles through the tree, the heat slamming me in the face. I lean down and grab my tangerine. Quickly peeling it back, I throw a slice in my mouth, causing the juice to dribble down my chin and onto my shirt. I look down at where the juice landed on my tee and see I have a severe case of nipplitis.

  “Good idea,” I answer.

  It’s the worst idea he’s had all day.

  chapter SIXTEEN

  “You want a half-off chaser with that?” I ask the customer in front of me.

  The Bucking Bronco is packed, and it’s a good thing because last night was slow.

  Suzanne is sitting on a stool, sipping rum and Coke and waiting for me to take a break so that we can talk. What she doesn’t know is that my break was a half hour ago, and I worked right through it.

  I ring the cowbell. “Attention, party people. Last call on tonight’s drink specials. Prices go back in ten minutes, so order up!”

  The mob moves to the bar, and I fill every order I can until the clock is up. The music is blaring, the crowd is having a great time, and Suzanne is still sipping her drink.

  Moving about the bar, I’m shaking up a Long Island iced tea when the door swings open, and Jessica walks in. I wait for Adam to follow, but the door closes behind her. She walks to the bar, and with a smile, she sits down next to Suzanne.

  The bouncers have been on high alert, double-checking IDs and making sure anyone on our banned list stays away.

  I stopped in every club and bar in town and told them about the two recent incidents we’d had. Turns out, The Bronco wasn’t the only place drugs have been circulating. It wasn’t until I got to Velocity and struck up a conversation with the owner that I realized we needed to start a council. We might be competition, but no one will be in business if people start getting hurt in our establishments.

  I ring the bell to signal the drink specials are over. Suzanne and Jessica are still chatting it up at the bar, and I see that Rory has joined them.

  “Let’s turn it up!” I call out.

  Paulie turns on the disco ball, and the lights spin around the room. Glowing, sparkly squares dance on the walls.

  Hands are in the air, and people are grinding close to one another. Happy drunks and sloppy sippers are breaking it down in the bar. The ones who aren’t dancing are at least having a good time.

  I move back behind the bar and take more orders, helping the bartenders get through the final rush. Sometime around midnight, the bar settles down to a manageable pace. There are still customers, but the pre-clubbing crowd has left and moved on to Velocity.

  “You’re kicking ass,” Suzanne boasts. Her rum and Coke is long gone, replaced by a draft.

  “Thanks.” I grab my water from beneath the bar and drink. “We’ve been increasing our social media presence—posting more on Instagram and Facebook and also creating a special Snapchat filter.”

  Jessica’s mouth falls. “That’s an amazing idea. What is it going to be?”

  It’s already designed, but it puts a McConaughey’s banner across the bottom, so I can’t show her yet.

  “You’re just going to have to wait until it’s finished, like everyone else.”

  Jessica leans forward and practically shouts in my ear, “I was telling Suzanne about Adam.”

  “Yes, for the last two hours.” Suzanne looks none too pleased with her bar conversation.

  I stifle a giggle.

  “Leave the girl alone. She’s excited,” I say as I take a rag to wipe down the sticky bar.

  Jessica is practically swooning. “Seriously, Leah, Adam is like—” She pauses, unable to come up with the right words to describe him.

  Honorable, loyal, dedicated, the most real person you’ll ever meet.

  She looks up to the ceiling and makes a fainting face complete with a lip bite. “He’s such a gentleman. He drove me home, walked me to my door, kissed me good-bye, and everything,” she gushes.

  I stop mid motion.

  “He kissed you?” I ask.

  “On the cheek. So chivalrous.” She’s practically melting into the stool with how bad she’s crushing on him right now.

  I drop my head to the side in confusion. “If he brought you home, then why are you here?”

  “Oh, no, not tonight. This was last week when we went bowling,” she says.

  “You haven’t seen him since?”

  “He works a lot.” She grabs her glass with her pretty manicured hands, all soft and dainty. “I need advice. I want to do something special. Something to let him know that I’m the girl for him. You’re really good with this sort of thing, and you’ve been spending a lot of time together. What does he like? What should I do? Please, Leah, I need you!”

  I look over at Suzanne and Rory. They’re about three stools down, making out.

  “He loves camping,” I say. “Take him to the lake for the weekend. It’s his favorite place in the world.”

  Jessica scrunches her nose. “Camping? I’ve never been camping.”

  She thinks about the idea for a minute, and I take an order from someone.

  “Let’s make it a group thing!” she announces.

  I spin around. “What?”


  She practically falls off her seat. She runs up behind Suzanne and pulls on her shoulders.

  Suzanne’s lips are stuck to Rory’s, but she gets pulled back by an ecstatic, bouncing brunette.

  “Double date! The four of us are going camping!”

  Rory looks at the four of us. His finger makes a circle, pointing to the four people standing here.

  Jessica shakes her head. “No, silly. The three of us and Adam. It’ll be fun, and it won’t look super desperate that I’m asking him to go away since it’s a group thing. We will have our own tent though,” she adds with a wink.

  Suzanne looks up at me in confusion.

  I know, I know. She left me alone with the girl for five minutes, and now, Suzanne’s being dropped into a camping trip. I’m sure I’ll get the fifth degree later.

  She eyes Jessica and asks, “How do you know he’ll even want to go camping with us?”

  “We’ll ask him,” she replies. Her fingers do a dance as they tap together when she adds, “Right now. Adam, over here!” She’s waving her hand in the air.

  Adam is in his uniform, doing his usual surveillance of the crowd. His hands are clasped to his belt as he scours the room. Jessica’s waving arm catches his attention. He walks toward her, his brows curved in. He’s so tall and commanding. Even in a roomful of people, he’s easy to spot. I watch as he struts across the room. When he sees me at the bar, his face relaxes, and he stares my way as he draws closer.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask, eyeing his attire.

  He’s thrown off by my question. I don’t know why. Every time he comes in here while he’s on duty, it’s to play detective. It usually makes me boiling mad. Tonight, I’m more concerned than anything.

  “Yeah. I just thought I’d come in and say hi.”

  Jessica is melting into his uniform. “We have the best idea.”

  As if he’s just remembered she’s next to him, he looks down at her.

  She’s practically clawing him as she says, “We’re going camping!”

  His eyes light up when she says the word camping.

  “You, me, Suzanne, and Rory. It’s going to be so much fun!”

  He juts that masculine jaw my way. “You coming, too?”

  I take a long pause before responding, “No. I wouldn’t even know what to wear.”

  “I’m not going unless you go.” It’s a promise.

  Jessica must sense the seriousness to his words because she adds, “Oh my God, Leah, you have to come. You always know how to break the ice and show everyone a good time.” She leans over the bar with her hands and pulls me in for an awkward hug. With her mouth close to my ear, she whispers, “Please, please, please. I need you.”

  Her body is flung over the countertop, arms clung around my neck, and while my hand pats her back, my eyes are staring at Adam, who is waiting for an answer.

  “Yeah, sure. It’ll be fun.”

  She squeezes me again, and Suzanne helps her right herself on the other side of the bar. Jessica has definitely had more to drink than I expected she would tonight.

  “You are the bestest friend ever!”

  I offer her a smile as Suzanne gives me a look that says, This is all going to end badly.

  And Adam’s gaze is saying…

  God, I have no idea.

  Looks like we’re going camping.

  “You are so screwed.” Luke is standing by our open refrigerator, wearing last night’s clothes and drinking orange juice straight from the carton.

  “There’s this invention called the glass. You might want to try it.” I’m packing our red cooler, placing ice packs in between the Ziploc containers that Dad and I prepared last night.

  He releases his mouth from the carton and makes a lip-smacking sound. He puts the juice back in the fridge, closes the door and grins. “Camping with Adam?”

  My eyes ignite in annoyance. “What did Emma tell you?”

  I point a box of aluminum foil at him like it’s a sword. He just stands there and smiles, a devilish redheaded smile.

  “Are there no secrets in this house?”

  “You should have helped me get that motorcycle. Mom told me if I got one, she’d cut off my tuition payments.”

  “You drive too fast as it is. A bike is the last thing you need.” I wrap a loaf of bread in the foil and put it in a tote bag. “S’mores!” I say out loud, just reminding myself that I wanted to pack the graham crackers and chocolate.

  I go through my mental checklist of all the things I need to bring.

  A car horn honks, and Luke leaves the room to head to the front door.

  “Leah, the good officer’s here!” he shouts from the front door.

  “Shit.” I scurry through the cooler and bags.

  I need to hurry up before Luke says something stupid to Adam. I’m so frazzled that I drop a container of blueberries on the floor. Falling to my knees, I try to catch the ones that are rolling away, scattering across the tiled floor.

  “You need help with that?” Adam slides his sunglasses onto his head and joins me on the floor. He’s wearing cargo shorts and a white T-shirt and smells like spice and suntan lotion.

  We collect the berries, and when they’re all secure in their plastic container, we rise. With a slack mouth, he stares at the massive cooler and three tote bags I have packed for the trip.

  “You volunteered to pack dinner, not all three meals.”

  “When you see what Bob and I have prepared, you’ll be wishing you put me in charge of breakfast, too!” I grab the tote bags off the counter. “Come on, Muscles, carry the cooler.”

  He lifts the cooler from the counter and walks it out of the kitchen. “You know, I thought taking the day off of working at the houses meant I wouldn’t have to do manual labor.”

  I stop and turn around. “Are you okay with taking the day off? Every man who doesn’t show up is another day a family doesn’t get to go home.”

  He takes a satisfied deep breath, and with a warm voice, he answers, “We all deserve a day off. Even the sinners.”

  I drop the bags to my sides and tap my foot. “Am I the sinner in this situation?”

  “You’re the saint. Now, let’s get in the truck. Our entourage awaits.”

  I follow him out to the car. Jessica has already taken the front passenger seat. Rory and Suzanne are canoodling in the backseat.

  On the sidewalk, I lean into Adam and ask, “Why are we taking one car again?”

  He opens the trunk. “Rory won’t drive his car on the pebbled back roads. He doesn’t want to make a dent.”

  “Says the guy whose family owns a body shop,” I say sarcastically, handing him the tote bags.

  “That’s what I said,” Adam jokes back. “Jessica’s Wrangler has a tear in the canvas, so if it rained, we’d be screwed. Suzanne doesn’t drive, and someone still hasn’t gotten her car fixed.” He taps me on the nose and closes the trunk.

  He walks to the front door, and I hop in the back with the lovebirds.

  “Any requests?” Adam asks everyone.

  I pull my brows in. “Are we allowed to listen to music?”

  “Just no country music, and we’re good.” He turns the radio on, and a ballad is playing.

  “I hate country music, so anything rock works for me,” I say.

  “Same here,” chimes Rory.

  “No way. Top forty only,” Jessica chimes in.

  “I’m good with whatever,” adds Suzanne.

  “You hate country music?” Adam looks at me through the rearview mirror.

  “Surprising, isn’t it?” Suzanne says.

  Adam shakes his head, turns on a rock station, and pulls away from the curb. “You think you know a person,” he murmurs.

  Jessica is fixing her makeup in the visor, applying cherry-red lip gloss to her perfect pout. Her hair is in an adorable ponytail that she curled at the ends.

  Suzanne is leaning into Rory. Their legs are set diagonally toward me. I inch as close to my door as possible and
look out the window. Every once in a while, I catch Adam’s glance in the rearview. When he does, I also catch Suzanne’s knowing glare headed my way. I kick her foot and go back to looking out the window.

  The car next to me has the license plate F8H 56GY.

  “Fight Fifty-Six Guys,” I say to myself.

  “Who’s fighting who?” Jessica asks.

  Suzanne waves a hand at her. “Ignore her. It’s this game she likes to play. She makes sayings out of license plates. I’ve never met anyone else who—”

  “Fate Gypsies,” Adam says.

  I nod. “Mine was better.”

  “It was. Best of five?” he challenges.

  “You’re on.” I plaster my nose to the glass of my window and ignore Suzanne’s light foot kick.

  chapter SEVENTEEN

  “Hold on to the handles!” Jessica yells.

  “Rory, whip it to the right!” I command.

  “Why does she refuse to—woman overboard!” Jessica rushes to the side of the boat.

  We all laugh as Suzanne goes flying off the inner tube. For some crazy reason, the girl will not hold on as the speedboat Rory rented whips across the lake. She’s an excellent swimmer, so no one is worried as she flies in the air and lands on her back in the lake.

  With a grin on his face, Rory stops the boat and dives into the water to swim toward Suzanne, who is on her way toward us. When he gets to her, the two make out in the middle of the vast body of water.

  “Get a room!” I shout from my place on the boat, my hands coned around my mouth. My hair is slicked back from our day of water fun. I’ve got my red one-piece on that is high on the hips and makes me look like a Baywatch babe.

  When I was talking to Suzanne about what I was packing, she dismissed my little string bikini. Apparently, it was going to fall off during the activities Rory had planned, and she was right. I wiped out on that tube and definitely would have lost my bottoms in the process.

  Jessica and I make catcalls to the two lovebirds in the water while Adam pulls the tube in.

  “Who’s next?” he asks.

  “Me!” Jessica’s double Ds bounce out of her life vest as she hops up and down, a hand raised in the air. “I want you to go extra fast,” she says to Adam with a sexy shimmy.