Summer Heat (Cruel Summer #1)(8)

He caught them with a wink then gave me a middle finger salute.

Some of the senior teens started making their way toward us. Everything felt like it was spiraling out of control. It was my last year directing before moving out West. I loved my job. I loved the teens. The camp. Teaching. I loved what it stood for. Why the hell was my last year going to be tainted with visions of the only girl I’d kissed in high school?

Was this some sort of punishment? And what had I ever done to piss off the universe that much?

I wiped my face with my hands and then threw my hat on the ground.

“Marlon?” One of the senior girls sashayed over to me, hands on hips, short as hell shorts and a wide come-hither grin that I was sure worked with every single boy in her class. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her smile promised secrets and heated kisses, I knew her type. I stayed far, far away. Besides, girls like that were trouble, and we had a very strict policy at camp. “Can we eat your hot dog now?”

People around her gasped. Oh, good. A blunt one.

“Oh, my gosh!” She covered her mouth with her hands. “I’m so sorry. I meant can we eat the hot dogs now?”

My ass.

I forced a smile, I didn’t feel. And so it begins! “Sure thing…” I waited for her to offer me her name, which she would.

“Erika.” She bit down on her lower lip. Yeah it was going to be a long two months.

“Great,” I said with warmth and false affection. “Erika, why don’t you grab some food? Jackson?”

I always made Jackson take on the flirty ones. He loved the attention and had no qualms about bluntly putting the girls in their place when they tried to flirt with me or any of the staff members. As much as he survived off sex and air, he knew what our rules were and found pleasure in making the girls think he wanted them when he was too busy with, in his words, a grown ass woman back at his cabin.

Basically, he was a creep.

But he handled it with more finesse, so I let him and stayed out of the way.

“Yeah?” He looked up glanced between us and grinned. “Hey there, sweetheart, need help with the hot dogs?”

She nodded.

He jumped to his feet and trailed after her.

“Don’t forget our rules,” I whispered under my breath.

He rolled his eyes and gave me a thumbs-up then trailed after her.

“He’s going to be screwing her sideways by Friday,” Brax’s voice said behind me.

“Then he’s going to get fired.”

One could only hope. He was already sniffing around Ray more than I would like. Not that it was my problem; she could spread her legs for whoever she wanted.

Damn, when had I turned into such a prick?

“You should do something before he takes it too far and her rich family tries to sue the camp.” Brax elbowed me.

“Her body her choice, besides, this is a safe place, maybe she’ll learn that flirting with men is a hell of a lot more painful than sleeping with the boys in her class. I’ll pull her aside after she comes to the lodge begging me to fire him for flirting with her, and I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

“Shit.” Brax shook his head at me. “When did you turn into such a dick?”

Hah, it was like he read my mind. Fantastic. I looked up at him and saw Ray make her way toward us. She’d changed into tight skinny jeans, converse, and put a black beanie over her golden princess hair.

“Ah!” Brax snapped his fingers and whistled. “I see.”

I grunted and threw a stick into the fire.

“Ex-girlfriend?”

“Hah.” I felt the heaviness on my chest; it pressed down, it laughed just like she used to laugh at me with her friends and the entire fucking school. “Not in this lifetime.”

“Revenge sex,” Brax said under his breath.

“What?” I jerked my head to his so fast my neck almost cracked. “Explain?”

“Revenge sex is the best sex, or so I’ve heard. Play nice…” Brax lowered his voice. “Fuck her out of your system, then leave her. You’re left satisfied, with the upper hand, and you prove to yourself and to her that it’s nothing.”

“I thought about it,” I said, feeling like the lowest human being on the planet for even admitting it out loud. “But the thought of even pretending that she’s anything other than a spoiled bitch really puts me in a bad mood.”

“No. Shocker. You don’t say?” Brax rolled his eyes just as Jen strolled up.

“What are we talking about?” Jen was way too cheerful. I didn’t want her cheer. Or her smiles. At least she seemed to be over our little altercation.

“Nothing.” I flashed a grin and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Have I ever told you I appreciate you?”

“Um, are you feeling okay?” Jen pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. “Because two hours ago I was afraid you were going to run someone over with the camp truck.”

“Ah, that’s still a very real possibility,” I joked.

She and Brax burst out laughing while Ray grabbed a hot dog and sat next to a few girls who looked so lost it was almost laughable. They had no phone, ergo they had no direction.

Conversation?

Humans?

Holy shit.