7. Lochlan
CHAPTER 7
Lochlan
It’s quiet in the house.
Or rather, it’s been a slow shift so far. The One-Thirteen is never quiet.
“You’re a cheat!” Sawyer yells for the seventh or eighth time.
Anton rolls his eyes, gesturing to the board laid out between them. “How do you even cheat at Chutes and Ladders?”
“Then how come you keep winning?” Sawyer demands.
Anton flashes a grin made up of movie-star perfect teeth at him. “I’m just that talented.”
Lili huffs and turns the volume up on the British baking show she’s put on the TV. “It’s literally a game of chance. You can’t cheat and there’s no skill to it. That’s why it’s a kids’ game.”
Anton and Sawyer frown at her until Sawyer snaps his head back to the board. “Another round?”
“Hell, yeah!” Anton cries as they reset the board.
I chuckle from one of the sofas. I’m not really paying attention to Lili’s TV show, but it seemed safer to sit here rather than anywhere near the dining table where Sawyer and Anton are duking it out.
They make unlikely best friends. Sawyer has a different man, woman, or person-in-between in his bed almost every week, and Anton’s a single dad who I don’t think has even dated since he finally admitted he was gay and amicably divorced his lovely ex-wife. But the two of them just go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Kinda like me and Dario, I guess.
We’re so different, but he’s quickly becoming my favorite person to hang out with. We had such a blast the other night, making pizzas and geeking out over old sci-fi movies. We watched Starship Troopers and talked non-stop about all our favorite characters in various franchises. I only went home because he had to get up early for work the next day, but honestly, I could have stayed all night.
Luckily, I only had to wait a few days to see him again, when we met on Sunday so he could help me catch up on what I missed at the doggy training class. Speaking of which, Rocky’s currently asleep at my feet, behaving like an angel. But we had to go out for several hours during our last shift, and this time was at night, so Nancy wasn’t here to keep an eye on him. I was worried sick for the whole call that he might get himself in trouble and I wouldn’t be there to help him.
As if reading my mind, Captain Valentine chooses that moment to come down from his office. Great. I can catch him and run my idea by him. “Something smells good,” he says in the direction of the kitchen.
Del, one of our paramedics, looks up and gives him a little salute. “I’m making tagine. Lamb and veggie.”
It’s always tricky cooking for the house. We could get called at any second, so you want something that can be covered and reheated or shoved in the fridge. Most of us have favorite dishes we make when it’s our turn, not to mention how Mrs. Bloom likes to surprise us. She always says, ‘An army can’t march on an empty stomach’ and I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.
Speaking of being called out at any second, I better not miss my chance for a chat. So I wave my hand, not wanting to move my feet and disturb Rocky. “Cap! You got a sec?”
He nods and wanders over. “Where’s everyone else?” he asks before I can get a word in.
“Rico and Teddy are in the gym,” Lili supplies, not taking her eyes off the pear tarts the contestants are making on the TV.
Yara, our other paramedic, looks up from the coloring book she was working on. It’s the kind that has lots of flowers and butterflies around slogans like ‘Fuck the Patriarchy’ and ‘Eat the Rich.’
“I think Gene’s in his bunk, doing his French lessons,” she says sweetly.
I’m not the only one who chuckles. Our grumpy driver has been promising to take his wife to Paris their entire marriage. Little does she know, he’s actually booked it for their anniversary this year. We’ve been giving him shit about his terrible attempts to learn the language, but I secretly I think it’s super cute he’s putting in all this effort for her.
“Cap?” I say, calling his attention back to me.
He raises his eyebrows. “Yes, Bell?”
Suddenly, I’m aware of everyone watching me. Fine. They all know I’m an annoying dog daddy by now. I’ve got no reason to be embarrassed.
“I was thinking how I’d like to keep an eye on Rocky when we go on calls when Nancy’s not around,” I explain.
Cap folds his arms and arches an eyebrow at me. “Go on.”
“Well, my friend said he could fix a camera for me that I can check on my phone. If we set Rocky up in the meeting room with his bed and puppy pads and stuff like we did last time, that wouldn’t bother anyone else, would it? Then if I get a down moment during the call, I can check him in seconds.”
I didn’t want Cap to think I was intending on slacking off. But at the same time, I’d work better and harder if I wasn’t distracted worrying that Rocky was okay.
Okay, I was also worried about him getting up to mischief, which Cap would probably care about more. But as his dad, first and foremost I wanted a damn baby monitor on my son.
Valentine sighs. “You want to put cameras in the station?” he clarifies wearily.
I shake my head. “Just one. Okay, maybe two. But just in the meeting room, and I’d only turn them on when we go out at night. I could deactivate them the rest of the time, at least that’s what Dario says.”
“Oooh, Dario,” Lili says, actually pausing her show to flutter her eyelashes at me. “The mysterious new friend.”
I roll my eyes at her. “There’s nothing mysterious about him. I told you—we met at the dog training class.”
“Sure, buddy,” Anton says with a scoff.
“But…we did meet there?” I say in confusion.
“Dario, Dario, Dario,” Sawyer adds in a high-pitched dreamy voice.
“Oh fuck off, all of you,” I grumble without any heat. All right, there’s maybe a little heat. “I’m allowed to make friends outside of this house.”
“Frieeeeends,” Lili says, nodding with wide eyes.
I frown at her. “Yeah, friends. I can have a friend that’s smart and stuff.”
She softens and reaches out to squeeze my knee. “Dude. That was so not my point.”
“Good,” I say, still bristling. “I’m not some dumb meathead, you know.”
“That’s not what I was getting at, babe.” She huffs. “I don’t doubt that if he’s spending all this time with you and helping you out like you say, that he likes you just as much as you like him.”
“Yeah, likes,” Sawyer says and punches Anton’s shoulder.
I’m still confused. “Why don’t you think I’m good enough to be Dario’s friend?” To be honest, I’m a little hurt by the way they’re acting.
“Bell,” Captain says in his ‘patient’ tone. But when I glance at him, his expression is sympathetic. “I don’t think that’s what they’re implying.”
“Then what?”
Lili smacks my thigh and laughs. “You like this guy, Beast! Like… like like him.”
Oh, is that what they think? I laugh in relief. “Huh? No, guys, you know I’m straight. I can have a new friend and it just be that, okay? I mean, I think he’s gay, but he might not be. And that’s not here nor there anyway. Don’t make it weird.”
“The only thing weird here is you, bro,” Sawyer says, shaking his head.
I feel myself getting hot under the collar. “No, it’s not like that! You know I support all of you. I’m just not…that’s not…he’s my friend, all right? Please don’t be dicks.”
Rocky’s woken up and is pawing at me, clearly sensing my distress. I’ve learned dogs are pretty amazing at stuff like that. Way more empathetic than my so-called buddies.
Lili sighs and reaches over to pet him. “We’re not trying to be dicks,” she says fondly.
“Sawyer is,” Anton quips.
Lili hums and nods. “True.”
“Don’t listen to any of them,” Del says in his calm, melodic voice. I look over to see he’s moving food to the dining table. Suddenly there’s a scramble for everyone to grab a seat. Chutes and Ladders gets hastily shoved back in its box, winning apparently not as important as eating.
“Thanks, man,” I say sincerely to Del for sticking up for me.
He shrugs as people start attacking the bowls of tagine and the buttered rolls. “I’m sure we’d all be excited if you met someone special. But sometimes toxic masculinity makes us forget that men are allowed to have close friendships they’re enthralled by.”
“Enthralled,” Sawyer says with a snort. Lili smacks the back of his head.
“Ahh, dude,” she says sounding genuinely sorry. “My bad if we made you feel shit. I’m happy you met someone cool.”
“He is cool,” I agree, poking at my chickpeas. “So, Cap, is it okay if he does his tech thing? He’s got the same set up for his dog as his house when he’s working from his office.”
Luckily, he gets to work from home a fair bit. But I like that he still wanted to make sure Queenie was okay when he’s out. His office is close to his place, so he can even walk her in his lunch breaks. He’s such a responsible dog daddy.
Valentine sighs and considers me a moment. “We can give it a trial run. But!” he holds up his fork before I can say anything. “I reserve the right to pull the plug if it gets weird of freaky or whatever. I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re being spied on.”
I shake my head. “No, absolutely not,” I agree. “Thanks, Cap! I’ll work it out with Nancy when he can come over and install it.”
Judging by how the rest of the team are grinning at me like hyenas about to attack, I have a feeling that the best time for Dario to come over will be when the second or third watch are on shift.
Cap hums like he’s still not convinced, but he said yes, and for now, that’s good enough for me.
As usual, Rocky is sitting expectantly at my feet, so I sneak him some lamb. I think about how I can’t wait to tell Dario about this.
Because yeah, these guys can suck it. He is a great friend.
They’re just jealous, I’m sure.