Page 31 of Hot Doggin'
NINE
STILES
I rolldown the window and McCormick leans over me and yells, “Get in, Bitches. I’m starving.”
Brandt and West climb in the back, scrunching in beside Mandy. Nash honks his horn behind us and Jax and Nacho flip us off. I can see Rhett in my sideview mirror, laughing his ass off.
West leans forward between our seats. “So, who was too cool to come with?”
“Riggs, Brewer, and Pharo.”
“Figures.” He leans back. “Where’s your man?” he asks Mandy.
“Tex isn’t my man, dickwad. And he’s working. Said he didn’t want to miss out on the fat tips from closeted gay vets today.”
“Respect,” Brandt murmurs.
West snickers. “Speaking of… who’s got the list?”
I hold it up. “We’re riding point, so I’m navigating.”
“Dude, you realize this used to be my job. I’m point man. I navigate, Reaper drives.”
I turn in my seat and wink at him. “Well then next time, don’t oversleep and we can waste your gas instead.”
He grumbles under his breath and leans back. “Where to first?”
“First stop is 7 Eleven for a free coffee.”
“I just had coffee,” West complains.
Jeez. “Then sit your ass in the truck and wait.”
Mac adds, “Next stop is Denny’s for breakfast. Then we move onto Cracker Barrel for second breakfast. They got that pancake special. After that is Golden Corral. We gotta time it just right so we hit them thirty minutes before they put the lunch buffet out, and then, BAM, two meals!”
“Sweet,” West shouts, shoulder bumping Brandt and Mandy. A small scuffle ensues in the cramped backseat. “We’re doing this every year. It’s tradition now.”
“It’s a sacred tradition,” McCormick says in all seriousness. “If you aren’t taking advantage of free meals to vets on Veteran’s Day, why even bother serving at all.”
Mandy holds up his fist to bump against Mac’s. “One hundred percent.”
“Brandt and I used to hit up places around Bragg, but then they scaled back cause they got hit too hard.”
Brandt laughs. “It’s a shame what we did to that Asian buffet. They closed for two weeks after that.”
Thankfully, no one gets us thrown out of Denny’sorCrackerBarrel,though it’s a close call when Jax and Rhett go head-to-head over a game of checkers.
My stomach’s about to burst when we call for a food break and hit up the barbershop for free haircuts and beard trims. They’ve got my beard looking just right and I glance over at Mac to see how he’s doing.
My gut twists.
When I was enlisted, they let this guy in my unit drive a Humvee even though he never held a driver’s license. He drove it into a tree and me and my buddy saw it coming but were helpless to stop it from happening. We just sat and watched the collision with our mouths hanging open.
That’s a lot like how I feel right now. Mac is heading toward a collision and I’m frozen, unable to warn him.
The stylist cutting his hair got carried away and trimmed off too much. Wayyyyyy too much. It looks like a…
“Check out McCormick,” West shouts, pointing to my best buddy.
