Chapter 3Luke
CHAPTER 3
LUKE
Fresh out of the shower in the middle of my second shift at this firehouse, I’m questioning my sanity. For moving to Santa Rosé, for being a firefighter, and heck, maybe even life in general.
The latter two I always question after a med call, one of my least favorites, especially when I end up covered in… something. At our last call, assisting Quinn and she-who-I’m-forbidden-to-think-about, I ended up covered in things I don’t care to contemplate now that they’re washed off.
Disgusting.
Rubbing a hand over my short hair, thankful it’s quickly growing in, I walk into the kitchen where everyone besides Nate and the Captain are sitting around the table. Cutlery clinks against plates, and the laughter that filled the room prior to my entry dies down. It doesn’t shock me, but my hands clench in annoyance. This was the reception I got last shift, and it hasn’t changed with this one.
There’s a loud sniff from the group before Quinn says, “Well, you certainly smell better. Delicious even. Like cedar and citrus.”
“Quinn,” Hailey hisses from her place beside her.
My eyes dart to her, but don’t linger. Despite taking the hard road most days, I’ve heeded her warning from last shift as best I can. Then again, it hasn’t been easy to do that. Not with all the calls we’ve gone on with her and Quinn. Or the fact that we share space in the fire station, with bunks, and the kitchen, and rec areas. I’ve done my best to stay out of her way, but when we do end up in the same space, my eyes naturally tend to gravitate towards her, and it’s a concentrated effort not to drink her in.
That’s how it always was.
“Thank fuck. Sitting in the truck with him afterwards almost made me lose my lunch,” Liam quips, sitting back in his chair, pushing his empty plate away from himself. “It’s just too bad the shower couldn’t help your face, Pookie.”
Brody, the giant, sitting at the head of the table snickers. “You mean pukey.”
Laughter erupts around the table and the two men fist bump, but Hailey groans. “I’m trying to eat. Can we please not reminisce?”
I head towards the kitchen island, past the table, where there’s a pan of lasagna waiting for me. Not even Hailey speaking in my presence can keep me from this meal. “I don’t care what was all over me, I’m frickin’ starvin’.”
It’s not just any lasagna, either. It’s homemade, from scratch, and I’d pulled it out of the oven just in time for us to get called out on scene. They threw me to the wolves this morning, putting me in charge of cooking dinner for everyone this shift. I think it was to try and screw with me, to see what I was made of in the kitchen, but to their chagrin, I handled it like a boss. One thing I love, besides women and adrenaline, is cooking.
“It’s fucking weird you don’t swear,” Liam mutters, and I hear him shift in his seat, like he’s turning to watch something. Then he adds, louder, “We saved you some.”
Half a second later, I realize he moved to watch me.
The pan of lasagna I’ve been looking forward to all day has a two by two inch square left in it. The rest is gone.
If I did swear, which I don’t, thanks to my father’s guidance growing up, I’d be cussing these jerks up one side and down the other. They ate it all. Well, not all of it. They left me a bite. Two, if I cut it in half.
“You can make that anytime, dude,” Liam says, pulling my eyes up from the pan to look at him. Wearing a shameless grin, he pats his stomach. “It was so good, Brody and I had seconds.”
Another test. How will I react when they leave nothing for me? I’d love to wipe that smug look off his face, but I’m better than that. They’re treating me like some kind of rookie who does the bare minimum to skate by, but I’d be willing to bet this has more to do with Hailey than me being the new guy. This is about loyalty to their family. I can respect that.
“Glad you enjoyed it,” I say after a moment’s pause, giving him a nod. Then I scoop the two-bite lasagna onto a clean plate, and head to the table, feeling every set of eyes on me as I move. Watching and waiting to see if I’ll do something.
When I pull out the chair beside Liam, I half expect him to put his feet up on it. He thinks about it, if the narrowed eyes darting down to the chair and then back to me are any indication, but he leaves it alone. Thank goodness for small miracles. I just want to eat in peace, even if it isn’t a lot. I’ll find something else to snack on later.
The tension around the table is palpable. The cheeriness that sounded abundant before I walked through the door has disappeared, and no one says a thing. Brody, Liam, and the other guy, Shawn, who is sitting next to Quinn, across from me, are all finished their meals, leaving only Hailey pushing some of her lasagna around. As though she can’t bring herself to take another bite.
“So, Hails,” Quinn says, cutting through the edginess, “Have you given that blind date any thought?”
I can’t help it, my head snaps up, my attention focusing on Hailey. I catch the way her head whips in her friend’s direction, her eyes widening in what I perceive as horror. Or embarrassment. But maybe that’s my imagination.
This answers one of the questions I’ve been mulling over, and not just since I got here and found Hailey in my new station. A question I’ve thought of more times than I’ll ever admit out loud. Whether or not Hailey is single.
“Seriously?” Hailey whisper-yells at Quinn. “Can we not right now?”
“What?” Quinn says, shrugging, completely oblivious to Hailey’s discomfort. Or she just doesn’t care. Interesting. “Inquiring minds want to know, Hails.”
Before Hailey can answer her, Liam pipes up from beside me, charm oozing from his words, “The offer still stands to use me and abuse me, baby.”
I smother a snort of derision, but with my mouth half full of food, it sounds more like I’m choking. Hailey and this guy? He’s got to be joking. I know it’s been a while, and I don’t know Liam besides the shift and a half that I’ve spent with him, but Hailey had reservations saying yes to me back in the day, and I know it was only because of her friend, and a pact she’d made with herself, that convinced her to do it. I can’t imagine she’d say yes to this guy with more knowledge and wisdom under her belt.
Granted, I charmed her with my smooth pickup line when I literally fell to her feet in the sand. Liam strikes me as the type of guy who would be able to do the same thing, especially if the few comments that have been made about him are true.
“You got a problem?” Liam asks, turning in his chair to face me.
Lifting a tiny morsel of the lasagna to my mouth, I eat it as slowly as possible, making a show of chewing and then swallowing before I finally cast my gaze in his direction. “Nope.”
Liam’s eyes narrow at me. “It sounds like you do.”
Shocker. He doesn’t believe me when I tell him no. For some reason, I thought Santa Rosé would be different from Waco. A fresh start. I should have known better. No one ever believes me, and I’m so tired of having to defend myself.
“Liam,” Brody murmurs in warning.
“No,” Liam waves a hand at him. “I want to know what Luke’s problem is. Tell us about yourself, man. What about Hailey and me is so funny?”
“He probably doesn’t think I could get a guy like you,” Hailey says in irritation, causing me to look at her as she pushes her plate away with a hard shove it doesn’t deserve.
I didn’t plan on saying a word to Liam. Not indulging him seemed like the best course of action, but Hailey couldn’t be further from the truth, and my need to set her straight overrides my better judgement.
“The opposite, actually,” I tell her, and there’s more bite in my tone than I intend. “I don’t think he could get a girl like you.”
Liam is out of his chair before any of us can blink. The thing makes an ungodly noise as it scuffs across the kitchen floor, but it’s the collective intake of breath that really gets my attention as he slams a hand down on the table beside my plate. Though I can’t see it, the sudden heat at my back tells me his other hand is on my chair as he crowds me. Close enough that if I turned my head we’d probably be kissing. Which is the point. He’s doing it so I won’t move. A show of who is in control, and the understanding that it isn’t me.
“Listen to me carefully,” he snarls, the sound low and menacing, filled with barely contained rage. “Hailey is one of us. You are not. So, whatever she wants here, she gets. And if memory serves me correctly, which it does, she told you not to talk to her. So do not talk to her. Are we clear?”
I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I’m also not going to take this alpha male bullshit from some guy I hardly know. Even if he’s doing it for Hailey. If Liam’s hand on the table flexing is any indication, he’s not expecting me to take it lying down. Hell, maybe he even wants me to get back in his face. It would have potential for me to get kicked out of this station, which might be the best thing for everyone, but I’m not about to jeopardize my position here. Not for him.
Slowly, so he has the time to move, I turn my head towards him. Liam doesn’t back down, even though my movement brings us nose to nose. Close enough I can feel his breath on my lips. It smells garlicky, courtesy of the two pieces of lasagna he had.
“Hailey is a big girl,” I say loud enough that everyone at the table can hear me, Hailey included. “Her feisty ass doesn’t need you fighting her battles for her. She’s more than capable.”
Liam growls, shoving his forehead into mine. “Do not talk about her ass.”
“Or what?” I retort, taunting him. “It’s an ass worthy of being talked about.”
“Gentlemen,” a voice comes from the doorway, and I don’t need to look to know it’s Nate. “There a problem here?”
There’s a pause in the entire room, like time has stopped, a moment where Liam and I just stare at each other, daring the other to do something stupid now that our lieutenant is present. Then Liam straightens, and a collective breath is either inhaled, or exhaled, at the table, the tension easing a fraction.
We’re still watching each other when Liam says, “Nope. Just letting Luke know what’s up.”
When I don’t respond, Nate speaks again, “Luke? Problem?”
“Nah, boss,” I say, finally breaking the staring match between Liam and me to turn and look at the doorway where Nate is. “We’re good.”
“Great,” Nate says, but he’s still assessing the situation before him. From what I’ve gathered, he and Liam are close. The same with Brody. It makes me wonder how things would have worked out if things had gone any farther with Liam and me. “Anyone not eating, get out.”
I glance down at my plate and refrain from frowning. While it was only two bites, I was eating them as slow as possible for the show. Now I regret that decision.
“You know, it’s really too bad,” Quinn comments as she gets up from the table. “I thought the two of you were going to kiss, and I was so here for it.” She hums her approval as I look over at her, finding her eyes moving up and down the length of me that’s not covered by the table. “Missed opportunity. It would have been hot.”
“Quinn,” Hailey hisses again, knocking her with an elbow. “Stop.”
She ignores Hailey, meeting my stare. “You’ve got potential, new guy. I’ll give you that.”
I’m not entirely sure why, but my gaze darts to Hailey to find her watching me. There’s a curiosity in her expression, but when our eyes meet, it disappears, and every wall she’s erected comes slamming down between us.
A couple of minutes later, the room is empty except for Nate and me. I’d rather not get into what just happened, so I shove a forkful of cold lasagna into my mouth. Not that it leaves me much if he tries to talk after this, but the quicker I eat, the quicker I can make myself scarce.
Nate surprises me when he doesn’t say a word, though. He just walks further into the room, heading to the island with everyone’s dirty dishes and the empty pan. It dawns on me then that he didn’t bring an empty plate back with him. I’d just assumed when he wasn’t in here with the others that he’d taken a plate back to his office, but on second thought, I don’t think he’s eaten.
Those jerks.
His head shakes, and he exhales on a loud sigh. Then he turns towards the oven, grabbing the mitts on the counter, and opens the door. I can’t see what he’s doing as he leans over, but a second later he pops up with a second pan. Steaming with lasagna.
I’ll be darned. The thought didn’t even occur to me that they’d hide half of it. Another frickin’ prank. Just like the dang coffee. I should have seen it coming.
“They’re assholes, but they aren’t cruel,” he says, setting the pan down beside the other. “I’m guessing you’re still hungry.”
Shoving my chair back, I get up and walk to the island. “Was trying not to be pissed about it, but man, I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”
“You and me both. I didn’t know what you were going to pull together when you got dinner duty, but I’m impressed,” Nate says, scooping a helping of lasagna onto the spatula before offering it to me. “They all were too. It’s all they talked about today when you were busy cooking.”
“Even when Hailey was around?” The question comes out before I have a chance to stop it, and I regret it the moment it’s past my lips.
But if Nate notices my feet shifting in discomfort, he doesn’t let on. “No, I suppose if I think about it, she wasn’t there.”
No matter our history, and even though I know she can take care of herself, I’m glad that they’re watching out for Hailey. It eases a weight from my shoulders that I’ve been carrying around all these years, to know that she’s surrounded by people who love her and take care of her. Ten years ago she had her mom, and her best friend who was leaving for NYU at the end of the summer. That was it.
“Wanna explain the deal between you two?” Nate asks with a casual indifference I know is only for show. He’s curious like the rest of them, but possibly for different reasons. Hailey and I knowing each other is a complication he didn’t anticipate prior to me being hired.
Shaking my head as he dishes up a piece of lasagna for himself, I say, “Rather let Hailey tell you what she wants you to know, if that’s alright.”
I could easily tell him our history, but why bother? He probably won’t believe me anyway. It’s better coming from Hailey. She’s been working with Nate a lot longer than I have, and I’d rather not do anything to make her even more upset with me. Something that still puzzles the heck out of me.
After a moment of contemplation, Nate nods. “I’ll respect that. For now.” He pauses for a second, putting the spatula down before meeting my eyes. “But whatever that shit was between you and Liam? It needs to end.” He lifts a hand, like he expects me to protest, but I wasn’t going to say a word. “I have no doubt that it was him, not you.”
“I didn’t help matters,” I confess, willing to take the responsibility on my part.
Nate’s eyes narrow a fraction, and for a moment, I’m not sure he trusts me. Then he nods. “They’re good people. All of them, Liam included. And I still believe that you’re a good addition here, and that you’ll fit in.”
Picking up my plate, I break eye contact with the man, heading towards the table, unsure I can trust his judgement.
Behind me, Nate picks up his plate to follow. “Give them time.”
What choice do I have? I sure as heck ain’t going back to Waco and the debacle there. Santa Rosé is just going to have to put up with me. Much like Liam and Hailey.