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He was as pissed off as his parts.
He wondered if Luke had kept his part of the bargain and gone over to apologize to Summer. Maybe he’d be hanging out with her tonight until nice and late? If the house was empty he could text Chris and invite her over. Or if Luke was asleep, they could creep into Zac’s bedroom and...
Nah. He needed a plan B. Maybe they could pitch a tent somewhere? That was scraping the bottom of the idea barrel, but it was a possibility. First, though, he’d cross his fingers that Luke was at Summer’s house. With all his clothes on.
Ten minutes later that hope died a quick merciless death. Luke was sprawled on the couch in front of the TV, which was making relentless exploding sounds.
So it was either sneak Chris in or sneak a tent out. He wasn’t sure how she’d feel about either, but the way she’d responded to him, and the way her face froze when she saw her sister, he had a feeling she’d wanted this as much as he did, and might settle for less than ideal conditions to make it happen.
“How’s it going?” Zac was determined to come across as normal and calm, though he felt as if he was shooting electricity from every nerve. “You apologize to Summer yet?”
“Nah.”
“Why not?”
Luke shrugged, not looking away from the TV. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“Dude, you chickened out.”
“No, honest. I thought it over and decided I’d give her more time to cool down, bring her breakfast tomorrow morning or something. She was seriously pissed. Why, did you apologize to Chris?”
“Yeah.” He tried not to look smug, but he was probably not very successful. Luckily Luke’s eyeballs were frozen to the set. “It went well.”
Understatement of the year. Though if Eva hadn’t shown up, it would have gone even better.
“Good. I’ll try it tomorrow. Maybe she won’t kill me.”
“That’s all we can ask.” He gave a fake yawn. “So, um, I might be going back out in a while.”
“Yeah?” Luke smirked, still not turning away from the set. “Oh, wait, you can’t.”
Ha! Try and stop me. “Why not?”
“That chick came by. Jackie. She’s asleep in my room. Said you should wake her when you got in. And by the way, you were totally right.” He nodded solemnly, eyes wide. “In-cen-diary.”
No way. No freaking way. Tonight? “She said she was coming Saturday. That’s tomorrow.”
“She came a day early. Said if it was a problem she could crash at a hotel. I said it was cool.” He finally managed to tear his eyes from the TV to peer curiously at his brother. “Why, are you going back out with Chris?”
“Who’s Chris?” Jackie emerged from the guest bedroom, dark hair rumpled, big eyes sleepy, her clingy T-shirt ending midthigh, nipples poking out from the thin pink fabric.
Luke’s eyes popped out of their sockets. Zac didn’t blame his brother. Jackie was unfairly hot. She was also incredibly smart and dedicated and sweet—unless you got on her bad side. Then watch out.
“Hey, Jackie.” He strode over and gave her a hug, gathering her tight, smelling her familiar smell, incredibly glad to see her and also wishing she was anywhere else. “It’s great to see you.”
“You, too, Zac. Who’s Chris?” She gave him a look he knew well: dark eyes narrowed, one eyebrow up. The look of a police interrogator.
“A woman. A friend.”
“He’s totally hot for her.” Luke’s tongue was still hanging out—figuratively, thank goodness. He’d better not get any ideas. Jackie would eat him for lunch.
“Hmm.” Jackie’s hands went to her hips. “And you’re supposed to meet her tonight?”
“Well, I thought maybe. You know, just to hang out. Talk. For a while. On the beach.”
“Just talk?” Again the interrogator look.
“Yeah, talk.” He had a feeling he wasn’t convincing her. “We’re friends.”
“Well, then, why not invite her here?” Her voice was uncharacteristically high and musical. “I’d love to meet her.”
“Oh.” He tried to fake enthusiasm, he really did. “Well, yeah, I could do that.”
