Page 1 of Heat Wave
Chapter One
Waylon
My phone rings, and for a split second, I think about not answering it. It’s my day off and a much-deserved rest time, I might add. The station has its own ringtone, and this isn’t it. The one buzzing through my room now belongs to my sister’s, and typically, I would just call her back, but I seem to remember her saying something about going out with her two friends.
The three of them have been friends for years, and typically, they are good kids. I call them the three musketeers, much to Terry’s shame. But for some reason, this time the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and in my line of work, you always listen to that feeling. So I reach for my phone.
“What’s up, Terry?”
“Waylon, um,” she’s not exactly whispering but she is talking a lot quieter than she normally speaks, “I realize it’s your day off and I’m super sorry to bother you but…,”
“Terry, just spit it out. What’s going on?” Something is definitely up. Of that I have no doubts.
“Okay, but don’t be mad.” Well, that’s never good. “Me, Oakley, and Lucy all went out to make Oakley feel better because she got dumped by the barfbag Tommy.”
So far, so good.
“We kind of blackmailed Landry to serve us because we saw him watering the beer down last Saturday night. We didn’t really, but I figured we had a fifty/fifty chance of it being true because we all know how cheap Landry is.”
Sweet son of a bitch!
“Sis, are you hurt? In an unsafe place? Spit it out so I can help.”
“Well, not exactly.” Then why is she calling me? “It’s not me. It’s Oakley.”
Silence falls between the two of us, and I wait her out. People don’t like silence. They typically do anything to fill it -including implicating themselves or giving you the info you need. Terry is no different.
“She drank too much and keeps trying to leave. She’s really drunk, and I’m super worried about her, Waylon. I didn’t know who else to call. I know Dad would kill us, and I can’t just leave her, Waylon. I can’t.”
A picture of Oakley forms in my mind. Sweet, small, and on her own for the most part since her mom works as a nurse in the next town over. Out of all of Terry’s friends, she was the one who was over the most, always hanging around with her big, solemn eyes and wide mouth that seemed somehow too big for her face.
“I’m on my way, Terry. Stay where you are. I’m coming.”
It doesn’t take me long to reach Landry’s bar, Land’s End, but it seems I got here just in time as Oakley comes out the front door and then promptly to a flowerpot near the sidewalk and vomits. Terry is right behind her, but struggling to really help. I come over and take her bright red hair in one of my hands as I help hold her up with the other one.
I forget how…shocking Oakley’s hair is when you first see it. Shocking might not be the right word. Stunning. Maybe that’s a better description for the bright orange color that seems to hold so much life in it. Like looking into a bright orange sunset. I never realized how fucking soft it was until now, though.
She must sense that someone other than Terry is holding her because she looks up at me, and her bright green eyes swirl with so much emotion that it must be hard to hold it all in. And she doesn’t. She leans back over and wretches some more until finally straightening and using the back of her hand to wipe her mouth.
“Terry, damn it, you called your brother! What the hell?! He’s going to arrest us all!”
She says it way too loud as she pulls away from me and stumbles. I catch her by the arm and pull her closer to me - and further away from the road.
“He’s going to arrest us and put us in, um, the…what do you call it? The thingy? He’s gonna slam us. Nail us to him.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Terry try to cover up a laugh as Oakley spews more drunk talk.
She huffs and blows out a breath that moves her bangs. “He’s going to put us in the pound.”
Terry does laugh out loud now, but Oakley looks like I am going to kick her cat.
“We’re all going to be put to sleep. Especially me! No one wants me!”
I doubt that.
“I’ll never be adopted. I’ll be in the pound forever! Stuck behind bars.”
“Okay. Time to go!”
