Page 80 of Them Bones

Jenna’s heart started to pound.It’s Shane. He’s come to check on me. He’s going to apologize for leaving me last night…Laura eyed her, judgement heavy on her face, but Jenna didn’t care – she’d take him back. She already knew she’d take him back.

“Coming!” Jenna shouted, hauling her ass up and scurrying to the door. She threw it open, and her face fell. “Oh. Hi,” she said, deflated.

“Hi,” Cody said, stepping inside. “Sorry to disappoint. Geez.”

“She was hoping you were Shane,” Laura called from the couch, laying the bean bag back over her eyes.

“He’s not here?” Cody asked. “He told me he was doing theravething with you lovely ladies. I brought you all sustenance.” He tossed a bag of McDonald’s on the kitchen table and Laura slid the bean bag off one eye.

“There was a bit of a kerfuffle,” Jenna said, plonking down at the table and reaching for a Big Mac.

Cody’s brows knitted together. “Kerfuffle?”

Laura joined them at the table.

“He punched some guy in the face.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “That sounds like a Tuesday, for Shane. Not akerfuffle.”

“And he took off with his date,” Jenna said.

Cody leaned back in the chair, the front legs lifting off the ground, a strange expression on his face. “Are you sure? Because,thatreally doesn’t sound like Shane.”

“Oh, she’s sure,” Laura said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I think he’d have set the guy on fire if he weren’t so concerned with getting that girl out of there.”

Cody’s face darkened, and he bit his lip. “Was she blonde?” he asked quietly.

Laura’s eyes narrowed, and Jenna sat up a little straighter. Cody put the chair legs down and rubbed his eyes with his fists. “Fuck,” he muttered.

He didn’t elaborate, just pulled out a baggy of coke, sprinkled it on the table, and snorted it unceremoniously with a McDonald’s straw. He offered Jenna a hit.

“No, thanks, not my jam,” she said.

He shrugged, sniffing a few times. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, Jenna, but you probably won’t hear from him for a while.”

She slumped in her seat, and Laura patted her knee kindly, her other hand full of a quarter pounder.

“Who is she?” Jenna asked.

“Honestly? I have no idea,” Cody said. “He doesn’t talk about any other girls, doesn’t talk about her. But I saw him with this tiny blonde chick once, at new year. And I gotta tell ya, Jenna, I’ve never seen him like that. I’ve known Shane since elementary school and there’s not much that gets under his skin. He likes to fight, that’s for sure, but I’ve never seen him bebotheredby… well, anything, really. But that girl… He looked wrecked.”

“Isn’t that when you met him?” Laura asked Jenna. “New year?”

“I’m really sorry, Jenna,” Cody said.

Jenna felt like a fucking chump.

SHANE

Shane’s hands were shaking and it wasn’t all about Laney. He’d left his supply at Jenna’s and hadn’t taken anything since the acid the night before, which was all fun and no business. Normally he’d have taken some codeine, maybe an oxy or at least some valium by this point in the day.

But there had been no answer at Cody’s house, and Shane wasn’t willing to leave to try to find him. Not until Jerry got home, and he knew what was going on.

He paced the gravel drive of the scrap yard, chain smoking Jerry’s good hash and waiting for the sound of crunching tires pulling in.

He was a mess.

That guy –Nick –had wrapped his hands around Laney’s waist like… like…like he’s seen her naked.Dustin’s voice was on repeat in his head, scratching at his mind.

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