When Summer Comes

“I don’t want any trouble.” She had to lower her gun to grab hold of her dog. She wished she could toss her weapon to Levi. Maybe it only shot pellets, but she couldn’t imagine him taking on two men without some kind of defense, especially these men. He had too many stitches, for starters.

To her dismay, he didn’t allow her the chance to give him the gun. He answered her, but he didn’t even look over.

“There won’t be trouble, provided these two get back in their truck and drive away.”

Denny seemed so surprised that this “vagrant” would stand up to him he didn’t react immediately. He glanced at Powell as if confirming that this was just the invitation they’d been waiting for, and Powell seemed to interpret that as a signal to take charge.

“Look, if you want to get your ass kicked, we’ll be happy to take care of it,” he said.

“Is that what you came here for?” Levi responded. “A fight?”

“A fight?” Powell laughed out loud. “I’m talking about teaching you a lesson, loser, about trespassing on other people’s property. Because it looks to me like Sauron and Spike didn’t do half what they should have.”

The porch railing creaked under his weight as he swung his body over it, but before Callie could even process the threat and let go of Rifle, Powell was lying in the dirt. It all happened so fast she couldn’t tell how Levi had accomplished such a feat. It’d looked as if he’d landed only one punch, but the big guy wasn’t getting up.

Denny, who’d started down the steps, was now backing away from Levi instead of heading toward him. “What’s wrong with you, man? Are you crazy?”

“I’m sure there are psychologists out there who would say I am,” Levi replied.

“Now I know what happened to my dogs, why they got the worst of it.”

He had no idea what his dogs had done. Levi’s clothing covered the stitches, but Callie kept her mouth shut because Levi was already talking.

“Your dogs attacked me, and I did what I had to in order to survive.”

Powell was coming around. “What the hell...what’d he hit me with?” He blinked, shaking his head.

“Just get up,” Denny told him. “Get up right now.”

Powell managed to find his feet, but he staggered before he could begin making his way to the truck. Denny waited for him, then hurried around to the driver’s side.

“This isn’t finished,” he called back to Levi as he climbed in. “I hope you know that. I won’t let some piece-of-shit drifter destroy my dogs. And you’ll pay for what you just did to my friend, too.”

“You want more, we could finish it right here,” Levi said, but he sounded more tired than threatening. Maybe that was because he knew Denny wouldn’t take him up on the offer.

The door slamming shut was his only answer. Then Denny threw the truck in Reverse, swung around and charged down Callie’s driveway.

As his tires churned up the dust, Callie gaped at Levi, who was shaking the pain from his hand. “Did you break it?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Would you know if you had?”

“I’m pretty sure I would. I’ve broken it before.”

Rifle whined and sat down, letting Callie know there was no need to continue restraining him. She sighed as she straightened, feeling weaker than ever now that the excitement was over. “What’d you do to him?”

He stared after their red taillights. “You saw it.”

“But it happened so fast.”

“Just because a guy can lift weights doesn’t mean he can fight,” Levi said with a shrug.

“Where did you learn to fight?” She put the pellet gun aside. “In the military?”

“There’s no need for martial arts when you have a lethal weapon.”

She thought of Kyle and how rude he’d been earlier—and was glad he hadn’t pushed Levi too far. “You had to learn somewhere.”

He didn’t explain. “If you want me to leave instead of painting the barn, I’ll understand.”

“There’s no need for you to leave. They were the ones who got out of line, not you.”

“But as long as I’m here, they could come back.”

“They could come back, anyway. And it looks like I’ll be safer if you stay,” she added with a grin. “I doubt my pellet gun could’ve done what you just did.”

“Rifle could’ve handled them.”

She watched her dog lick Levi’s injured hand and wag his tail as if he’d just found a new hero. “I’d prefer he not have to.”

A dark spot was growing on Levi’s sleeve. “You’ve torn out some of your stitches.”

He glanced down. “It’ll be okay.”

“We can’t leave it like that.” She waved him forward. “Come on in.”

She applied a couple of butterfly Band-Aids to act in place of the torn stitches. Then she changed the dressing and got a blanket out of the linen closet.

“What are you doing?” he asked when she made a bed on the couch.

She was providing them with a little insurance that Denny and Powell wouldn’t be able to jump him while he was sleeping. “I think it’s better if you stay inside tonight.”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I won’t if you’ll do me this favor,” she said.

* * *

It was late when Levi woke up. He could tell by the color of light streaming through the windows. The exhaustion of the past few days had caught up with him, but where was Callie? Was she still in bed?

He lay without moving, enjoying the peace and quiet while listening for her. At first, he heard nothing. But after several minutes, she whistled to her dog outside.

Yawning, he scratched his head, then winced at the pain caused by such a small action. Thanks to the miles he’d had to push his bike, the dogfight, the stitches, the lack of sleep and the confrontation with the two bodybuilders, he was banged up. Every muscle was sore. But it wasn’t the first time he’d ever woken up like this. When he’d lived at home, feeling as if he’d been hit by a truck had been a common occurrence.