Feels Like Summertime (Lake Fisher 1)

“Shoot him, Katie,” Jake whispers. “Pull the trigger.”

I can’t, though. Not with Jake halfway between Cole and me. Jake would take Cole’s bullet. I can’t risk that.

Jake raises his hands a little higher in the air. “Put the gun down and we’ll all walk out of here,” he says softly.

“All I ever wanted was to love you, Katie,” Cole says quietly. This is the quiet before the storm. I’ve seen it all before. This is how it starts. Then the anger comes.

“This isn’t love,” I tell Cole. “You don’t pull guns on people you love.”

His hand shakes. “You do if they won’t listen to you!” he shouts.

Suddenly, Freddy calls out from the doorway. “Drop the weapon!”

Cole spins to face Freddy and fires off a shot, just as Jake lunges at Cole, knocking him from his feet onto the floor. Jake punches him and Cole drops his gun. It skitters across the floor. The room fills with police, and they force Jake to step back.

Freddy lies in the doorway.

I rush over to him and drop to my knees. There’s a red stain growing on his shirt front. “Freddy! Speak to me!”

“That hurts like a motherfucker,” Freddy says with a small laugh.

Jake comes to kneel beside me. “Fred, you’re going to be all right.” The EMTs are already rolling a gurney into the room. “You hear me, Fred? You’re going to be just fine.”

Freddy grunts as they shift him onto the gurney then straighten its legs. “Hey, Jake,” he says.

“What, buddy?” Jake says, grabbing his hand as they rush him toward the ambulance.

“I took a bullet for you,” Freddy says. And he grins.

Jake smiles and wipes his face. “Yeah, you did.”

“You know what this means?”

“What?”

“It means that you never get to hold it over my head again. The thing with me and Laura, you can’t hold it against me anymore.” Freddy grunts as the EMTs make Jake let go of his hand. “Did you hear me, Jake?” Freddy calls. “I took a bullet for you!”

“I heard you!” Jake yells back. They’re already closing the doors of the ambulance, and they put Laura and the baby in a police car to follow. She’s too much of a mess to drive herself.

“Is he going to be okay?” Jake asks the EMT.

“Looked like it went straight through the shoulder, but we won’t know anything for sure until we get to the hospital.”

Jake finally takes a deep breath.

Cole struggles as they load him into the police car. He curses and calls out to me, pleading for help.

“Katie!” Cole screams. He fights against the officer’s hold, and out of the corne

r of my eye, I see him break free.

Time slows in my head as I watch Cole struggle with the officer. Cole grabs the handle of the officer’s gun and pulls it from the holster. He lifts it, pointing the barrel directly at me. His face contorts as he pulls the trigger. His shot goes wild and fury fills his eyes.

Jake throws me to the ground and covers me with his body. I look up at Cole and watch as the first bullet, shot by a nearby officer, hits him. His body jerks. Then the second bullet slams into his chest. He falls back against the squad car and slowly sinks to the ground, his hands grasping to hold on to something. Anything.

Cole says my name as a gurgle of blood rushes from his mouth.

The officer who fired the fatal shots holsters his weapon and swears.