Summer Heat (Cruel Summer #1)(5)

I rolled my eyes as Jen kept passing the bucket. When the last cell phone was confiscated, I rubbed my hands together. “Our welcome barbecue starts in two hours. Get settled in your bunks.” I walked to the center of the room. “Oh, also there’s this thing called nature.” Kids snickered. “Trees. Grass.” I grinned as most the angry expressions left their faces. “And I know this one is really shocking, but there’s, like, this thing called… talking to another human, you know, face to face. We adults like to call it a conversation. Try to have at least one without shitting yourself and you win a prize!”

“A prize?” some random person shouted. “What kind of prize?”

“Oh, we feed you.” I grinned. “At the BBQ. Show up and isolate yourself, and we’ll see how long you last without a hot dog.”

“I’m a burger guy!” He shouted then stepped forward. I shook my head as Jackson, another staff member did a little dance and then winked over at Ray. “But I’ll try to make new friends. I can be very friendly.”

“Wasn’t talking about you.” I rolled my eyes. “All right guys, two hours. If you need help, find a staff member with a black shirt. Dismissed.”

Jackson had the most incredible ability to swagger across a room, really it was an art form. And he did just that, all the way to Ray.

I clenched my fists. Partially out of anger that he would waste any breath on her, and well, another part that I completely denied and would deny until the day I died.

Was jealous.

“Jackson,” I barked the minute he opened his mouth. “We need to get you a shirt.”

“What about Ray?” Brax just had to ask.

“Yeah what about Ray?” Jackson grinned.

Bastard.

“Both of you, follow me.” I crooked my fingers and marched toward the back room. I grabbed Jackson a large and then grinned menacingly as I grabbed Ray a large as well. “Here you go, your new uniforms for the day.”

“Um, do they have any smalls or mediums?” Ray asked in a quiet voice. “It’s totally fine if…” She gulped. Damn it she needed to stop being so pretty and annoying all at once.

I shrugged and crossed my arms. “This is all we have. We can’t cater specifically to everyone’s tastes. Next, you’ll be asking for a track suit or a Starbucks run every morning. It’s camping, not glamping, not spring break. We’re here to make the best damn productions we can. Hopefully, the kids walk away knowing how to navigate the industry. We don’t have time to play dress up.”

Her face fell and then lit up. “No problem. Like I said, just a question.”

Jackson let out a low whistle. “And on that note, Marlo, you need a cold beer? A shot of whiskey? Something to bring that blood pressure down?”

I jerked away from him. “I’m fine.”

“Marlo?” Ray repeated. “Marlo?”

She looked horrified.

“Surprise,” I whispered hoarsely as our eyes locked.

She didn’t look away.

I didn’t either.

I would win this war one way or another.

And then she did the strangest thing, she lowered her head in defeat turned around and walked out of the room, rubbing her cheek as if she had a tear.

But I knew the truth.

Princesses rarely cry.

It’s the paupers that drown in tears.

That drown in hope.

She cried out of not getting her own way.

Guys like me? Cry out of devastation.





I ADJUSTED MY black Staff shirt as best I could and finally just gave up and tied the bottom part of the material in a little knot so that it fit bitter.

“Looks nice.” Jackson crossed his bulky arms over his chest and winked at me like we were sharing some secret between us. I narrowed my eyes and then turned around. I knew guys like that. I’d known them all my life. He oozed narcissism like a whore sweating in a church pew.

I wanted no part of that.

I had no room for repeat relationships where I’m told I’m lucky that a guy like that’s with a girl who doesn’t wear a double D.

God, my ex was a douche.

“Listen up!” Marlo blew a whistle loud enough to cause a ringing to hit my ears. I winced and waited.

At least Jackson wasn’t talking to me anymore. Though he was still smirking like our conversation wasn’t done. He had short buzzed hair and probably one brain cell that was so lonely it talked to itself at night.

I smiled to myself.

Bad timing.

Since that was when Marlon set his eyes on me.

I still couldn’t believe he was the same guy who used to mow my lawn. The same guy one of my boyfriends from high school used to shove in the lockers. That guy had been so lanky he’d actually fit on multiple occasions and needed the principal to rescue him.

It was never funny.

Guys like that survived high school.

While girls like me thrived.

Though I’d hated every fake minute of it, it had been so important to me to find acceptance, an identity outside the life my parents gave me, the fake love they tried to shower me with.

So my friends had been my love.

It caused me to turn a blind eye to all the injustice to guys like Marlo. I wasn’t that same person. Didn’t matter though. He clearly still wanted to poison me as much as ever.