Page 39 of Heat Wave
“I checked her out when she gave you shit. I didn’t like the way she made you feel or the way she made you question what we have together, so I had some of the guys look into her. Turns out Lucy Jennings is not Lucy Jennings.”
“She’s not?” What the hell? This is like some movie shit.
“She’s not twenty either.”
“Wait! What?”
“She’s twenty-eight. And her fingerprints from a stalking case up north match the ones found on the tape that was used to stick the picture of us to our door.”
“She…? Did she break into my apartment too?”
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe a woman can be mad enough to flip out and destroy my stuff.
He shakes his head. “No, sweetheart. That was a man.”
“How do you know?”
“Just trust me. It was male DNA.”
“Oh.”
“Come on. You can come to the station with me and watch as she’s questioned. They’ve already picked her up.”
He helps me dress before we walk out of the door and down the stairs. Tires squealing stop both of us as we look over at Tommy’s truck pulling up in front of the house. He drove up on the sidewalk; he was in such a hurry. Waylon turns to me and presses the keys into my hand.
“Go inside, sweetheart.”
Tommy gets out of the truck, half falling out. He stumbles to the little white gate and starts yelling.
“You ruined my life, you faithless bitch! You destroyed my life!”
I grab onto Waylon to keep him from going after him.
“He keeps a knife on him.”
“You cheating whore! I could have given you everything you could need! I could have been the one who broke you in, but no! You wanted him!”
Waylon bends down in front of me, and I see the glint of metal as he takes out his backup gun.
“And then that stupid cow…she’s a god damned fruit loop and got herself caught. It isn’t going to take too long before she gives me up.”
“Lucy?” Why is he talking about Lucy?
“Yeah, Lucy!” The way he says the name, it might as well be poison dripping out of his mouth. “She was a horrible lay. I thought crazy chicks were supposed to be firecrackers in bed, but she just laid there and talked about him.”
“Waylon?”
He nods and almost throws himself off balance.
“You slept with Lucy?”
“We thought it would make the two of you jealous. Thought it would bring you back once you realized what you were missing out on, but you never even knew, did you? You never even fucking cared to find out who I was fucking! I destroyed your fucking home, and you didn’t even slow down. You just moved in with him!”
“You!”
“I even burned your stupid bear!”
No, he didn’t. Waylon brought Bumble back to me two days ago. He had it cleaned so it didn’t smell like smoke. I’d had the bear since I was two. It was one of the only things I had left of my dad. When he brought it back to me, I gave him a big kiss and kept hugging him. It was the day he told me I didn't have to worry about going through the apartment because he called my mom and had her do it for me.
