Catching Summer (Second Chances, #6)(23)

I got out of bed and marched up to him. There was no smile on his face. “You better not have pissed her off and made her leave,” I growled.

“If only it were that simple. We actually talked last night and kind of worked things out. She looks so much like Lara, but they’re completely different.”

“She told me what you did to Lara. It was a dick move, my friend.”

Sighing, he nodded and backed toward the door. “I know. Maybe one day she’ll forgive me. Now take a shower and meet me in the kitchen.”

I took a shower as fast as I could and dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a gray T-shirt before strolling into the kitchen. Luke poured me a cup of coffee and had a couple of pills already laid out on the counter for my headache. It was then I noticed that Luke was wearing my clothes.

“Raiding my closet, I see,” I joked.

“Well, if I was planning on us having a slumber party, I would’ve brought my own. Your sorry ass needed to be babysat last night.”

“What the f*ck are you talking about?” I grabbed the pills and swallowed them down with a swig of coffee.

Luke took a seat across from me and huffed. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in a shit ton of trouble right now.”

“How is that? I was with Summer for most of it until I passed out.”

“Exactly. Which brings me to the hours that you weren’t. Did you know that Lindsey came by last night?”

I took another gulp of the black liquid and prayed it would work fast. I hated coffee, but I knew I needed it. “What the f*ck did she want?”

He snorted. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe to f*ck you? To sabotage you? Take your pick. Apparently, she wanted to make you think you f*cked her last night.”

“And how did she plan on doing that? I wouldn’t have let her anywhere near my room.”

“Oh, but she got in and was fully naked by the time I got here.”

I shot out of my chair and glared at him. “What the hell are you saying? Drunk or not, I wouldn’t have touched her even if it was with someone else’s dick. Was Summer here?”

When he nodded, I started for the door, but he stepped in front of me. “Relax, Townsend, it’s not what you think. Summer’s smart enough to know you wouldn’t f*ck that bitch. I guess Lindsey and Jaxon were hoping she wouldn’t be.”

“Jaxon?” I growled. “What does he have to do with this?”

Luke took a deep breath and blew it out. “He wanted you out of the way so he could go after Summer. They believed that if she thought you f*cked Lindsey, it would be over between you two. That’s why they set this whole thing up, so you’d think you slept with her. He used a set of lock picks to get Lindsey inside.”

“Fuck,” I hissed, running my hands over my face. “What the hell is wrong with them?”

Luke shrugged and sat back down. “I don’t know, and in addition to breaking into your house, Lindsey even planted a used condom in your bathroom.” Eyes wide, I turned to him, my stomach clenched in knots. I was so pissed all I could see was red. I wanted to see red, preferably Jaxon’s blood on my fists. “But don’t worry,” Luke said quickly. “I threw it away before you woke up.” My keys were on the counter, so I snatched them up and stormed to the door. This time Luke didn’t stop me.

“Summer’s not mad, if that makes this any easier. I wish you could’ve seen the way she bitched at Lindsey. The girl has fire.”

The last thing Summer needed was to have to deal with my ex and the douchebag players on my team. I was going to make damn sure nothing like this ever happened again. Luke’s baseball cap was on the counter so I tossed it to him and grinned. “Wanna watch me kick some ass?”

Luke caught the hat and slid it on, chuckling. “You’re damn right I do. Let’s go.”

—

Jaxon lived only ten minutes from my house, but it was the longest ten minutes of my life. If he wasn’t there, I was going to hunt his sorry ass down. “Now don’t kill him,” Luke joked.

“Can’t promise that,” I stormed, clenching the steering wheel tight. “I’m just so goddamned sick of him trying to steal everything from me.” If it wasn’t girls, it was fame and attention. He’d made a big mistake going after Summer.

It just so happened that when I pulled down his street, I could see him in his driveway, washing one of his sports cars. I slammed on the brakes, and my truck came to a screeching halt. His back stiffened, but he turned around and grinned as if nothing was wrong while he rinsed off his car. That pissed me off even more. Luke and I both got out of the truck, but I held out a hand, stopping him.

“I knew you would find out sometime today,” Jaxon said. Those were the only words he had time to speak before I reared back and punched him as hard as I could on his right cheek. His head snapped to the side, but he corrected quickly and dropped the hose, ready to fight. Before he could swing, I punched him again. Only this time it was on the left side. It wasn’t until he fell to the ground with a busted lip and a bleeding nose that I felt satisfaction.

“If you ever try to mess with me or break into my house again, I’m going to snap both of your f*cking legs. And if you so much as attempt to breathe near Summer, I’ll make sure you can’t walk for the rest of your life. It’s your choice, cocksucker.”