Jack Who?

CHAPTER 1

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     "TFH!" The letters gasped out. Verbal acronyms were something she rarely used, but hours under the scorching sun had Marissa Duplei's skimpy shirt plastered to her skin and the strength sapped from even her voice. Being in the midst of a crowd of equally hot bodies intensified the suffocation. Her closest friend, Olivia, habitually voiced text abbreviations and had no trouble interpreting 'Too Fucking Hot'.

     "You're such a vampire! When did you stop having fun?" Olivia complained as they wove through the throngs of scantily clad partiers. "We used to be on all day beach patrol."

     Her friend referenced their younger years in their Mississippi coastal town and their non-stop troll for guys who could stop a girl dead in her sandy tracks. Back then, Spring Breaks and summer months brought vacation flings, and temperature had never once been a complaint.

     A refreshment trailer was an oasis just off the sand, and Olivia passed her plastic through the tiny window. Feeling the cool blast of air escaping in the transaction, Marissa moved closer as more interesting plastic was pushed to their side along with the return of Olivia's credit card.

     Curving her fingers around the base of the cold cup, she wiped at beads of sweat forming near her hairline. Idly, she wondered how the newest drugstore clearance mascara currently coating her lashes was holding up.

     Olivia closed glossy, red lips around the straw of her super-sized hurricane drink. Marissa had no doubt that Liv's lipstick, as well as anything else painting her face, was a department store brand priced in, or near, triple digits, assuring a worry free day from smearing or disappearing. Taking a pull from her own straw, she eyed the surrounding crowd as the cool alcoholic slush trickled soothingly down her throat.

     "Better?" Olivia sweetly inquired.

     "Much!" Marissa sighed the assurance and shoved the cheap sunglasses higher on her nose. Curving a smile, she made an effort to seem thrilled to stroll the 'Hang Fest,' a yearly festival of live bands, rides, and vendors.

     "Good," Olivia grinned. "Proceeding with Phase One."

     "Ugh..." This time her sigh was one of annoyance.

     Up until now, the mission had been momentarily abandoned, not aborted, and she mentally cursed Kel for the thousandth and one time.

     Walking in last week on her fiancé, Kel, with some tramp straddling him had been devastating. Worse, there was a twisted irony of forever knowing this faceless bitch's name due to it being a permanent stamp above her slim butt. The image was branded in Marissa's brain just as permanently.

     Hibernating, she had moped in misery around her apartment binge eating granola bars and yogurt. Olivia became the only person she spoke to, wailing to her face, whining into her calls, and texting chapters of Kel hatred.

     When she quit sending Kel's pleading and apologetic calls straight to voicemail, Olivia charged to the rescue heading up 'Operation Save Rissa From Herself.'

     Since Olivia's answer to breakups was hook ups, the given mission today was to pick herself up, dust Kel off, and get dirty with someone else.

     Just thinking about a random hook up was terrifying. When it came to men, Marissa was out of practice. A local casino was her place of employment, and the sexy smiles rehearsed in the mirror were for better tips from blackjack players, not real live flesh and bone players.