Colin #4
His face was twisting and contorting, and I realized he was trying hard not to let loose his tears. I wanted to reach out and take hold of him, but I stood opposite him instead. He stood there for almost three whole minutes before he sucked in a breath and nodded. “Eat shit.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I know.”
“No, really, fuck you.”
“Yeah, I know that too.”
He snorted, shaking his head, and we both jumped when he heard a bang outside in the hall and a demand to know what was going on.
Carter’s head snapped up, and I winced when I saw he had a black eye, which paired beautifully with my split lip and aching jaw.
Xander’s voice grew closer, and he probably wasn’t running, but he was sure as hell taking long strides quickly.
Xander would have burst into the room if there was anything but an empty doorway to burst through, his eyes sweeping between the two of us. “What the fuck is going on in here?”
“Well, before you came bursting in here like you were ready to go Rambo on everyone’s ass, we were talking,” I said lightly, and I could feel Carter’s eyes slide to me. Either not willing or not daring to say whatever was on his mind. “A good, productive one.”
“One that required Cait to screech at me to get my ass here ASAP before someone killed someone?” he growled at me.
“Not sure she appreciates hearing you call it ‘screeching’ but you know, you’re the one who has to live with her after this,” I told him with a snort. “So…are you going to fight someone or scream at us or…stand there?”
He was livid as he glared at me. “You’re going to tell me nothing happened? That you were just…talking?”
“Seems to be what we were doing,” I said, glancing at Carter, who had a blank, almost scared look on his face.
“And your split lip? His black eye that looks like it’s about five minutes old?”
“We had a rough time tonight. I’m sure you know we went out on a call. It wasn’t the easiest thing, weather was shit, we got banged up,” I said, reaching down to pull up my jeans and show my bleeding leg. “I got banged up just walking around out there, is that part of your evidence?”
His jaw was iron-tight, his lips thinning and then reappearing as he glared at me, and then at Carter, who kept his silence.
After almost a minute, he gave a low growl of frustration before pointing at Carter.
“Get your ass in the shower. And then I want a full write-up, sitting on this counter before you take your ass back to the outer bunks and you stay there until I fucking call you back, you understand?”
“Yes,” Carter said, his shoulders hunching. He didn’t glance at me and left the room, somehow managing not to brush against Xander despite how much space near the door he was taking up.
“You, my office, cabin, whatever, now,” he told me and spun to leave.
“Xander,” Cait began, but Xander cut her off with a wave of his hand as he kept walking.
Well, stomping, but I suppose that detail wasn’t important.
Sighing, I drained the rest of my bottle and set it in the sink, sure I was going to have to come back here later anyway.
I’d clean it up then. I walked into the hallway, leaning against the doorway and finding Cait and Jake staring back at me.
Jake looked like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to give me a hug or start yelling and carrying on about what had happened with Carter.
“So, my ass,” I began wryly. “Would you say it’s grass or just in hot water?”
“Not quite grass, but that water sure is boiling,” Cait said softly, glancing up at Jake. “And you, you big lug, I wanted your help, not for you to beat ass.”
He frowned. “I didn’t realize that. I was trying to—”
Cait scowled. “You were doing your best; it just so happens your best involved making a bigger mess.”
“Thanks, all you need to do is call me an idiot, and you’d sound just like Big Boss,” Jake muttered, and to my amusement, I could see she had hurt his feelings.
She saw it too and sighed. “Oh, God, yank at my heartstrings, why don’t you? Grab a couple of mops from the cleaning closet and we’ll get all this water and mud cleaned up, alright? And if you’re an extra good boy, I might even share something I have stored away in my desk.”
I actually did laugh when he forgot all about his hurt feelings and brightened up immediately. “The good stuff?”
“The good stuff,” she said, then eyed me. “I think you should get your ass moving. You really do not want him coming back to find you still standing here, I can promise you that.”
I sighed. “And here I was hoping for a nice quiet end to my night, a shower to soak in for a few minutes, and a reasonably comfortable bed to curl up in. Woe is me; my life is full of trials and tribulations that no man or woman has ever had to endure.”
“Spare me,” she said with a wave of her hand. “If there're any pieces left when he’s done with you, maybe I’ll have something warm to drink when you get back.”
“Best news I’ve heard all night,” I said as I left them behind to what was undoubtedly going to be a better night than I was going to have and headed toward the back doors and outside into the petering storm and my fate.
Perhaps this one would be a kinder one than some people had suffered tonight, but I was ready to accept whatever happened.
Not as if I had any other choice.