Shooter (Burnout) (18 page)

Hawk’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Hayley. “For what?”

“Dessert,” she replied.

Chris watched Hawk consider this. The large sioux didn’t even ask what kind of dessert required such a thing. All he asked was, “Have you ever used a blowtorch before?”

Hayley shook her head. “No, but I read about it in a cook book and I can totally do it. I read it so many times I have mad blowtorch skills now.”

“Mad blowtorch skills,” Hawk repeated. “Without ever having actually touched a blowtorch?”

“Totally,” she declared.

Tex came in and snagged a sandwich. “What’s up, Slick? What’s this? Ham and Cheese?”

“Slick wants a blowtorch,” Hawk told him.

Tex looked at Hayley. “Need some welding done?”

She shook her head. “Making dessert. For you guys. And dinner, too. For poker night. It’s special.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Tex announced. “Give her one of the small ones,” he said to Chris.

“Wait a minute!” Chris argued. “She doesn’t even know how to use one!”

“Sure she does,” Hawk interjected. “Read a book and everything.”

“Oh, well, if she read the book, sure,” Tex agreed, nodding enthusiastically. “Even better.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chris cried. “You two are on board with this?”

“Well, we’re gonna
supervise
her,” Tex said, as though this was obvious. “Duh. Come on. Give the little woman a blowtorch. This could be good.”

“Definitely entertaining,” added Hawk.

Chris rubbed his face with a free hand. “I…” Three pairs of eyes were pinning him down. “I will
bring you
a blowtorch,” he acquiesced. Hayley squealed. “You will be supervised!” he informed her. “Do not make me regret this!”

“Mad skills!” she insisted, headed toward the door, trying to escape before he changed his mind he figured. Which was probably a good idea. Because the whole blowtorch thing sounded like a very bad idea and he couldn’t believe he’d agreed to it.

“Uh huh. If you hurt yourself….”

“I won’t. Promise! Thanks!” she called out. “See you guys tonight!”

Chris glared at his friends. “If she hurts herself…”

“Supervised!” Tex reminded him, taking a bite of a sandwich. “Oh,
God
these are good,” he nearly shouted. “We have to give her the blowtorch. These sandwiches are too good
not
to give her a blowtorch.”

********************

The guys must have hustled through their showers double time because they invaded his house almost an hour earlier than they usually arrived. They organized themselves into a recon unit and headed over to Hayley’s place next door to check on the status of dinner. Hayley handed out casserole dishes, covered serving bowls, and a covered cake stand and led them back to Chris’s place where she made them wash up for dinner and set the table as she took the aluminum foil off the casserole dish. The men gathered around expectantly.

“What is it?” Hawk asked, straining to see.

Hayley peeled the cover off. “Mac and cheese.”

Hawk frowned. “That’s it? I can make that at home.” Tex elbowed him.

Hayley glared at him. “But do you make it with five kinds of cheese, plus fresh Alaskan king crab boiled in beer, and then bake it for an hour so it has a golden parmesan crust?”

Hawk grinned. “You’re like a rock star, you know that, Slick?”

Hayley made plates for everyone that included the Mac and Cheese plus garlic and bacon green beans. She’d made a ton of both. Doc tried to lift the lid of the cake stand to see what was inside, but Hayley slapped his hand and ordered him away. Chris ordered her out of the kitchen as well and set himself to getting beers for everyone so she could relax and enjoy the dinner she’d made. Hawk and Tex fought over the last bit of Mac and Cheese. Doc used the distraction to wolf down the remaining green beans.

Everyone looked at Hayley expectantly. She grinned. “So you guys ready?”

Chris set the blowtorch and the striker down on the island and saw Hayley’s eyes widen in fascination and a tiny bit of fear. “Maybe we should do whatever it is you’re gonna do outside,” he told her.

She licked her lips nervously and nodded, still starting that the hardware. “Okay.” She picked up the cake stand and carried it to the deck, placing in on the wrought iron table. The guys filed out behind her. “Okay,” she repeated and grasped the handle on the top of the lid. “Ta da!” she said, pulling it up to reveal….what, Chris didn’t know. It looked like the world’s largest marshmallow all swirled into spikes all over it. It was a dome of marshmallow-y goodness.

“You’re gonna toast a giant marshmallow?” Doc asked.

“No!” Hayley said. “It’s Baked Alaska! ‘Cause we had crab. I was going for a theme.”

“Ohhh!” said Tex and Hawk, discretely eyeing each other to see if the other had heard of such a thing. They shook their heads at each other. “Is there crab in it?” Hawk asked.

Hayley scoffed at him. “Of course not. It’s….you never heard of Baked Alaska? I mean, I know it’s old fashioned, but I’d have thought you’d at least have
heard
of it before.” The men continued to shake their heads. “Well, prepare yourselves,” Hayley told them, “for awesomeness.” She picked up the torch and the striker, examining it. “Um, how do I….”

Hawk reached over and tweaked the valve. “Point it at the…giant marshmallow first,” he advised.

“Got it, no problem,” Hayley said and maneuvered the cylinder so the nozzle was aimed at the dessert.

Chris jerked his head, indicating silently that Tex should join him. Tex moved over and leaned in. “Mission Accomplished,” he told his lieutenant. While Hayley and Chris were gathering things from her house, Tex was discretely sent to the garage to retrieve a fire extinguisher.

Hayley lit the torch with the striker and let out a tiny shriek as the gas caught fire. Chris rubbed his face nervously.

“It’s totally fine,” she announced, with fake bravado.

“It’s totally fine,” Tex repeated, trying to reign in his laughter.

Hayley brought the torch down to the white dome….and there was a soft whoosh as she set the fucking thing on fire!

“Oh, shit,” Chris said, lunging forward.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Doc asked, backing away from the flaming cake-thing.

Hawk took the torch from Hayley and shut it off.

“Wow,” said Hayley.

“Tex?!” Chris shouted.

“Um, under the bottom step,” Tex told him, staring at the blue flames.

“What?” Hayley asked and turned to see Chris running down the steps. She saw him bend over and pull the fire extenguisher from underneath the wooden step. Hayley saw red and then she saw red. “No!” she shouted, sprinting toward him. She jumped off the top step and tackled him. Because he was bent over, he was an easy mark and they both tumbled to the ground. Chris dropped the cylinder and grabbed Hayley, twisting to get himself underneath her and cushion her fall. “It’s supposed to be like that!” she yelled.

“Hayley it’s
on fire!
” Chris protested.

“Because I sprayed it with rum!” she argued, kicking the fire extinguisher as Chris reached for it. “It’s supposed to catch on fire!”

“Actually,” Tex spoke up, “it’s not on fire anymore. The rum must’ve burned itself out,” he guessed.

Doc swiped his finger through the meringue and tasted it. “It’s all gooey and toasted,” he declared. “It’s delicious.”

Hayley gasped and then turned the full force of her glare on Chris. “I can’t believe you!” she shouted.

Chris’s mouth dropped open. “I- Slick- There was fire, and a blowtorch, and-”

She stood up. “You made me miss the big finish!” She stomped off toward her own house.

As Chris watched her go from his position on the ground, the guys began laughing. “I bet women say that to him all the time,” Hawk mused. Chris flipped him off and got to his feet. “With Slick around, you don’t even need cable anymore,” Hawk declared. “This is way more entertaining.”

Chris knocked on Hayley’s sliding glass door and tried to arrange his features to look as apologetic as possible. Hayley came the door and glared at him, debating whether or not to open it. She finally did and he stepped inside her kitchen. “I come in peace,” he told her, setting the plate of dessert down on the island. “And I thought you might want some, considering how hard you worked on it and all.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I did,” she insisted. “I worked hard on it. All day. And then you ruined the ending.”

“Honey, women with flamethrowers is not high on my list of things I’m comfortable with.”

“I had everything under control.”

“I was wrong and I’m sorry. Please accept my humble apologies. And this slice of cake. Which was really good by the way. I don’t know how you got ice cream on top of a cake underneath marshmallow topping that you set on fire, but it’s like magic. The guys loved it.”

Slick continued to scowl at him. “I really am sorry,” he told her.

She sighed. “Alright, fine. Go on.”

“Just so I know? Are you gonna get over being mad at me before lunch on Sunday?”

“Out!” Hayley yelled, pointing at the door.

Chris slunk away in the night, already scheming about how to get back in Slick’s good graces before Sunday.

****************

The next day, just before she had to leave to start the Friday night shift she’d been given at Maria’s, Hayley was doing dishes when there was a knock on the door. She checked the peephole and then opened it to see Chris holding a large stereo box. “Scoot your ass out of the way, Slick. This box is awkward to carry,” he demanded.

Hayley stepped off to the side as he strode into the living room. “What are you doing? What’s that?”

“I forgot the stereo,” he told her, setting it down on the couch. “When I re-did the paint and the carpet, I took everything out and stuck it in the garage and when I put everything back, I forgot the radio.”

She frowned at the box. “It has tape on it.”

He glanced back at her. “Huh?”

“Tape,” she said, nodding at the box. “It’s taped.”

Chris looked at the box. “Well, of course it has tape on it. I didn’t want anything like dust or spiders or whatnot to get into it,” he said in a slightly irritated tone. He took out a pocket knife and slit the tape on the top. He opened the flaps and lifted out the packing.

“It’s in Styrofoam,” she pointed out, smiling.

“Damn it, Slick. Yes. It’s in Styrofoam. That shit is not biodegradable and I happen to be very Eco-conscious, okay? So I just put it back in the box.”

Hayley nodded. “Also so it wouldn’t get damaged.
Sitting in your garage
.”

“Exactly,” he snapped. He picked up the stereo and walked into the kitchen. Hayley followed him and watched as he set the radio on the counter and leaned down underneath the cabinet to plug it in next to the coffee maker.

“There’s tape on the stereo, too,” she pointed out.

“What?”

He looked as she pointed to the red manufacturer’s tape holding the CD door closed. He growled. “Slick, are you gonna bust my god damn balls every time I-” He didn’t finish his thought because she hugged him. An honest to God hug. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, breathing in her delicate scent.