Chapter 4
NATE
We responded to a call for a woman who fell down the stairs at the casino and now we’re back at the station as it all sets in. I didn’t even have a single moment to process what happened with Hailey earlier.
I scrub my face in the locker room as Sterling approaches me from behind, a hand at my hip.
“So are we going to talk about the fact you still smell like fucking cherries?” he asks, pushing his hips against my ass, grinding his cock against me.
“It was Erin’s fucking daughter,” I say, and he pulls back and I turn around.
His brows furrow as I stare into his handsome face. He’s the one who helped me get out of that situation and I couldn’t be more grateful for the man. It doesn’t hurt that he’s beautiful and kind.
I’m pretty sure Sterling saved my life, and now a part of me feels like I need to do that for Hailey too.
Her mother kicked her out because of me.
Because I was the one who found her crying on the bathroom floor when she perfumed for the first time and realized she wasn’t a Beta after all.
Her scent possessed me then, and it seems like it still has the same hold on me.
Sterling searches my face with his inquisitive amber gaze as he grabs my shoulder.
“You like her?” he asks. I shrug and he cups my neck. “I’m not Erin or her group of hierarchical Alphas, Nate. You can always be honest with me.”
I sigh, knowing he’s right. He started out as a mentor at the station, then as an Alpha to emulate, and it just naturally progressed as more. A small pack fell into my lap effortlessly, minus an Omega, which is that last missing piece.
“She needs someone to take care of her, real bad,” I reply and Sterling shakes his head.
“Didn’t ask that, and you know it.”
“She’d never be interested, anyway,” I reply.
It’s true, she seemed completely horrified that I had to touch her. Her scent, and arousal weren’t something she could control, not in the situation she was in.
“You kept the gloves in your pocket, Nate.”
I sigh, but I don’t take them out. I’m not going to throw them out here at the station where anyone would be able to scent her.
“Don’t you have someone else to micromanage?” I say to him and he fists my uniform, planting a rough kiss on my lips, before heading to the dorms to get some sleep.
I sit on the locker room bench, knowing it’s fucked up what I’m about to do. But I do it anyway. I pull out the gloves I used from earlier, drenched in her slick and scent, bringing them up to my nose before undoing my pants and freeing my cock.
I stroke myself to the forbidden scent of sweet cherry and shove the feeling of being a perverted piece of shit deep down into my conscience.
Instead, I think of pretty gray eyes and sultry burgundy hair.
I lick my lips, throwing my head back as I move my fist up and down my length, remembering all the slick that poured out of her cunt.
Wrong.
So fucking wrong.
But I come anyway.
Release covers my fist and length. I use the glove to clean myself off, knowing it’s the only time our releases will ever mix.
I take my fucked-up ass to the showers and wash away my sins, wondering what the fuck I was even thinking? I should’ve let someone else handle that call, but the idea of anyone else touching her makes my stomach churn.
She’s off limits. She wouldn’t be interested anyway.
But if I could convince her, if she were mine?
I’d have her out of that apartment so fucking fast her head would spin.
It wasn’t in the worst part of town, but still not where a single Omega should live.
Her place was clean, and fully furnished…
Actually now that I think of it, where the hell did she get all the money for the furniture?
I rest my head on the cool tile as the shower pours down my back. I should have checked on her sooner; I was too worried about myself and getting out of that bad situation. A good Alpha, a selfless one, would have made sure that she was okay after Erin kicked her out.
My fist balls up and I rest it against the shower tile. She’s not my responsibility, but why do I want her to be?
It’s hour thirty-two of our forty-eight-hour shift and Sterling, myself, and a few other guys are eating sandwiches on the rear step of the rig. Joey and Raymond are laughing over some dumb joke as a soft voice clears her throat.
When I glance up, it’s none other than Hailey.
Her cheeks are flaming pink, no doubt reliving every embarrassing moment of last night. I do my best to keep my cool and not give her a bigger complex.
“Well, hello there, are you in need of assistance?” Joey says, and I put my sandwich down and smack his chest.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Can I talk to you for a second?” she asks, her neck is now twinged with pink as well.
I nod, and Sterling watches the entire encounter with rapt attention. I walk her to the side of the firehouse, even though I can tell all those assholes are staring over here now.
She hands me a Tupperware container and wraps her arms around her middle.
“I just wanted to bring you muffins to thank you for, you know,” she says, looking like she wants to melt into the floor.
“I also wanted to ask that we keep this between us. I really don’t think my mom would handle it well if she knew you touched me.
I mean, we both know it was an emergency, but I don’t think she’d see it that way. ”
My brows furrow. “Has she threatened you?” I ask, ready to drive over there and tell Erin and her stuck-up Alphas to leave her the fuck alone.
She tilts her head at me. “I haven’t heard from any of them since I moved out.”
“Me either,” I say with a small smile.
“What?”
“I left just about right after she kicked you out. I knew it wasn’t right, along with some other shit. But I’m far away from Erin and those assholes.”
She smiles, but quickly makes it disappear.
“So, I came all the way down here just to embarrass myself even more, huh?”
“You shouldn’t feel embarrassed.” She glares at me and I smile. “What if we act like it never happened?”
“I like that idea.”
“Do you want a tour of the station?” I ask.
She glances over at the building and then over her shoulder.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Nate.”
“It’s just a tour, Hailey.”
She nibbles on her bottom lip and looks over at the guys and starts laughing. When I look over my shoulder they’re all using prayer hands and urging her to come to the station.
“Okay, fine. A quick tour.”
I toss an arm over her shoulder; she tenses under my touch, but quickly relaxes. Her hair smells heavily of her cherry scent as I walk her back over to where we were eating lunch.
“Everyone, this is Hailey. Be fucking nice. I’m going to give her a tour.”
“Oh, trust me, you don’t want a tour from this jackass. If you want a tour from a real firefighter, it should be with me,” Raymond jokes.
“Yeah? What makes you a better firefighter?” Hailey asks.
Raymond puts his hands over his heart like she just shot him.
“Look at me. I’m a prime Alpha specimen.”
Hailey looks him up and down, clicks her tongue and scrunches her nose.
“It appears she isn’t convinced,” Sterling says, giving Hailey a smile and holding out his hand. “Hey, I’m Sterling.” Hailey shakes his hand, which comically engulfs hers. “If anyone should be giving you a tour, it should be me. I’m the highest rank out of these assholes.”
“Oh, big shot fucking driver engineer, get over yourself,” Joey says.
Hailey smiles, watching the interaction.
“Well, if you’re the one in charge it only makes sense,” Hailey says.
Joey and Raymond act like complete idiots, acting like they just got rejected as Sterling gets up and starts showing her the firetruck.
I grab one of the plastic hats we give to kids when they come for tours and place it on her head. She laughs, but still every time she glances at me her cheeks turn a bright pink.
“Do you want to go inside?” Sterling asks, opening the driver's side door and helping her up. “Go ahead, turn on the siren for a sec.”
She flips the switch, smiling while she does so, before turning it off.
“So, you drive this thing?” she asks, sitting high up in the seat as she talks to Sterling.
“Yup.”
“Do you ever hit stuff?” she asks, holding on to the wheel, having to extend her neck and back to see out the front windshield.
I laugh into my fist and Sterling slaps my chest.
“No, I’m an excellent driver.”
“Except—”
“Don’t listen to this asshole, Hailey,” Sterling says and she smiles even wider.
As soon as Sterling helps her down, an alarm blares and it’s time to go. Fuck.
Sterling and I are already running to get dressed. Hailey backs away toward the wall and watches all the commotion. Joey and Raymond are ready to go as I get in the passenger side and Sterling in the drivers side.
There’s no time to get her number, or apologize, so like a complete jackass, I wave at her. She gives me a small one back as we pull out of the firehouse and head toward the call.
“You’re so fucked,” Raymond chirps over the headset and it takes everything in me to not unbuckle and punch him in his nose.
Sterling’s eyes are focused on the road and I wonder if I ever saw Hailey smile prior to today.
The answer is an astounding no.
I decide right then and there, I don’t really care that she’s my ex’s daughter. I think I want the little Omega to be mine.