Chapter 30
Rhett
“No,” Garrett said in a definite tone to whoever decided to call him at this stupid hour on a Saturday morning. “No, I can’t…”
“Who’s that?” I whispered as I poured myself a coffee.
I’ll say one thing about having a housemate that was obsessed with getting good quality ingredients. There was always amazing coffee brewed and ready to drink. I took a sip, the bitterness of the black coffee the perfect approximation of my mood.
“Work,” he mouthed back.
No. No fucking way.
If I thought firies had difficulty getting enough staff to cover shifts, we had nothing on nurses. Turns out being around sick people had medical professionals getting ill at record levels. I settled my butt against the counter and watched this shit show play out.
“I’ve got… Yes, I know… I need…” Garrett’s hand scrubbed at his forehead. “I know.”
That note of resignation had me shaking my head, because I knew how this was going to go. He had Katie agreeing to go on a date with him and he was gonna blow her off for work? Honestly, I wouldn’t even have answered my phone if I was the one taking her out. Garrett looked completely defeated when he ended the call.
“I can’t?—”
“Take Katie out on that date?” I finished his sentence for him.
“Fuck… Fuck!”
He turned around, gripping the counter tightly as every muscle tensed.
“Why are we yelling fuck?” Rhys came in with Bronson and then bent down to cover the dog’s ears. “You’re scaring the baby.”
The pup was starting to settle in, as evidenced by the fact Rhys had just taken him around the block for a run. We’d reasoned that all that adrenaline coursing through him on the regular needed to be used more productively than getting anxious all the time. Bronson seemed considerably more balanced and calm. He even walked over to me, tail wagging, obviously wanting a pat. I couldn’t help but crouch down to indulge him. The way he pressed into you, staring up as he made clear how much he loved this, was pretty damn cute. That’s just not something I admitted too often.
“I have to cancel the date.” Garrett didn’t need to explain. We all knew what that meant. Bronson and I watched him pace back and forth. “I can’t. She wasn’t going to say yes and then she did, and now she’s gonna think I’m some dick who’s breadcrumbing her and?—”
“I’ll take her instead.” Rhys looked totally pumped by the idea. “I’ll explain that something happened at work and I’ll… shit.”
“Shit? What’s shit?” Garrett asked.
“Drew’s still sick and I don’t think I’ve got anyone that can cover me at the gym.” Rhys looked down at his phone. “I’ll make some calls.”
“I can go.” Why the hell had everyone turned to stare at me? Oh, because I said that. Shit. “I mean, if Katie’s OK with that.” Did she even want to go on a date with me? And how the hell was I supposed to be someone’s stand in when it was obvious to anyone looking on how into her I was. “Would she be OK with that?”
My voice trailed away.
“So we’re doing this?” Rhys shot the lot of us a triumphant grin. “We’re dating Katie as a team.”
“I mean, I guess…” Garrett was not entirely on board, I could see that plainly, but faced with his options, he quickly recovered.
Rhys punched me in the arm.
“So, you’re going on a date with our girl. Don’t fuck this up, because you’re doing this for all of us.” I had a stinging retort ready to deliver, but Rhys transferred his attention to the dog. “And you’re coming with me.” That high, excitable squeak had Bronson’s tail thumping on the floor. “Yes, you are! Yes, you are!”
Which is how I came to be standing outside Katie’s door an hour or two later.
I’d scrubbed and shaved, then carefully combed my hair back and found a nice shirt and some jeans. Garrett vetoed the nice shirt and found me another, better one and I got dressed and then sped over to her place, making a pit stop at a florist to pick up some flowers. Taking the steps two at a time, I raced all the way up to her door and then… stood there. She was going to open it and see me, not Garrett. He was the one she agreed to go out with. I should’ve called her, explained and?—
“Oh.” Mandie opened the door and took me in, one eyebrow jerking up when she saw the flowers. “You’re not the murse.”
“Murse?” I asked.
“Male nurse.”
“Stop calling him that!” a muffled voice said from deeper in the apartment. “I’m nearly ready.” Katie’s voice grew louder, clearer, and my grip on the flowers tightened. Mandie’s eyes widened as she heard the cellophane crackle, then smiled. “I just need…”
Finish that sentence, babe , I thought as Katie appeared in the doorway. Just lemme know what you need and I’ll do it.
“Rhett?”
She was confused. Of course, she was. She thought she was going on a date with Pretty Boy, but I turned up instead. Should’ve texted her first, I told myself over and over, right before I cleared my throat, ready to explain.
“Garrett got called into work, Katie. He tried really hard to avoid cancelling, but they’re so short staffed in the emergency department, he didn’t have a choice. He’s going to text you about it. We… I…” Mandie nodded in encouragement. “I figured rather than cancel on you, I could take you to the brewery instead.”
Mandie turned to see what Katie thought about the matter, but I barely noticed what she was doing. It was Katie’s mouth falling open, her blink, that had my attention. She was gonna say no, thanks, that she was only interested in one of us, so her smile took me by surprise.
“Sure. Who can say no to cute Samoyed dogs?”
“Right.” I’m not sure if I knew what one of those was, but all I knew was they were now my favourites, because Katie liked them. “Well, these are for you.”
I handed over a bunch of tulips. They were a fiery orange-red, just like her hair, and it felt like her freckles popped as her cheeks flushed pink. With a nudge from Mandie, Katie stepped forward and took them from me.
“Oh, well, thanks. I’ll just put them in some water.”
“You better come in, not murse,” Mandie said, looking me over closely. “So which one are you?”
“Rhett.” I held out a hand, and she just looked at it before taking it eventually. “I’m a firefighter and?—”
“You want to make a triple decker sandwich from my sister with those guys you live with.” I stopped mid-stride and stared, catching Mandie’s smug expression. “Don’t worry, I’m not adverse to Katie getting all the peen, as long as you’re all just giving her your dicks, not being one.”
My feet shifted restlessly as I felt not so little Rhett perk up at that idea.
“I’ve liked your sister for ages,” I told her. Katie was in the kitchen opening cupboards and looking for a vase, so she was missing this. “Before all the others.”
“You’re the one that let her waste her time with that arsehole you work with.”
Mandie’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m the one that had to force myself not to punch Dave’s teeth down his throat every time he opened his mouth because I was worried that it would hurt Katie,” I replied, crossing my arms.
“OK.” She nodded. “Ignore those noble instincts next time. That guy was a fucking bastard. He tried to crack onto me more than once.” My hands formed fists, something she noted. “Don’t you dare tell Katie. She has this stupid idea that guys aren’t into her.” I wasn’t staring at her anymore, my gaze instinctively finding Katie and watching her closely as she removed the flowers from their wrapping and then arranged them in the jug. “But you are.”
I met Mandie’s gaze reluctantly.
“I am, and you have to know I’d never hurt her. None of us will. No offence, because you seem nice and all, but I really, really like your sister.”
“Good.” She turned to Katie as she rejoined us. “You can go out with this one. He seems cool.”
“Thanks for your approval.” Katie rolled her eyes and then smiled at me. “So, shall we? Cute puppies await.”
I moved forward, placing my hand on her lower back as we walked towards the door.
“Want to jump in my truck?”
So there was a reason why I would never have chosen a road trip as a first date. It was over an hour’s drive and that meant I had a problem. I could break down a door, carry someone almost twice my bodyweight out of a burning building, but a conversationalist I was not. I looked over at Katie for the tenth time since we got into the car and knew I needed to say something.
“So how was your…”
We both broke off and she flushed prettily, because we’d said almost the same thing simultaneously.
“You first,” I said.
“How was your week?” she asked. “Save any damsels from distress?”
For once I wished we’d had a big fire to attend. Not due to the death and destruction, but then I’d have a suitably manly story to tell.
“Not really. Well, if you count getting Millie some lollies to help with her nausea, then maybe.” Katie stared in incomprehension. “She’s pregnant and…” I wasn’t sure how this was going to go over, but it had to be said. “Noah, Charlie, and Knox are the dads.”
“A baby?” Her voice got all squeaky as she bounced in her seat. “Oh my god, Charlie will be the most amazing dad, and Knox has been dying to settle down. Millie’s the girl that Noah was pining over for ages, right?”
Pining. I knew a thing or two about that. Noah had me beat, though, holding a candle for his girl for over ten years.
“Yep. It looked like it could get a little awkward there for a bit because all three guys were into Millie…” I shot Katie a sidelong look, trying to get a read on her response. “But they figured that all three of them working together would be better for the baby, and so they’re all together now.”
“Right.”
Katie went quiet, studying the road ahead.
“But what about you?”
“What about me?”
I saw that she had misunderstood me because Katie’s eyes went wide, her cheeks burning bright red as she stared at me. She thought I was asking about how she felt about a polyam relationship. I couldn’t help but smile as I turned back to the road. The thought of sharing her with the guys I counted as brothers was delicious, but right now I needed to work out if I could talk to the girl, let alone have group sex with her.
“How did your week go?”
Her sigh of relief was music to my ears, right before it was ripped away again.
“Pretty boring. Difficult clients, sick dogs and cats. Oh!” My hands tightened instinctively around the steering wheel, because some part of me knew I wouldn’t like this. “You’ll never guess who walked into the clinic.”
Not him, I thought furiously. Not fucking Dave.
“Dave.” Her word was like the whistle of an axe, right as it came down on the back of your neck. “He’s got some girl now.” Of course he fucking did. That was one of life’s little mysteries. Guys like that seemed to get the girl with shocking ease, whereas I struggled to make even small talk. “Didn’t stop him from coming over and getting stuck into me.”
“He did what?”
That came out as a harsh bark and the car veered sideways as I turned to stare at her. Forced to take my foot off the accelerator, I slowed the car down and then came to a stop on the shoulder of the road. I was too angry, too fired up, and in no state to be talking to a girl, but I couldn’t help but twist in my seat to face Katie. She smiled then, a little wistful thing.
“It wasn’t enough that he walked into my workplace with a dog called Fifi,” she said and I saw the pain disguised by a smile. “Harsh words were exchanged and he… made clear how pathetic he thought I was, helping out with Bronson.”