Chapter Four #3
He relaxed when he recognized the back of West’s head.
He’d seen enough of it when he’d caught Jonathan and West making out at the tattoo shop.
The thought made him roll his eyes, but he frowned when he realized that West was huddled with Austin and Liam.
Liam was talking quickly and gesturing, and they kept glancing at two firefighters standing nearby.
Ethan didn’t immediately recognize Taylor, but when the man turned, he did, and he wondered what was going on.
Liam seemed almost panicked, which didn’t make sense.
His captain was a good man. Ethan had talked to him several times, and he was sure of that.
“Something’s happening,” Jonathan murmured.
His body was almost vibrating with the need to be with his boyfriend, but thankfully, he didn’t cause a scene and try to push past the police officers keeping the crowd back.
He looked like he was about to snap, but he didn’t even try to catch West’s attention.
Clearly, now that he could see that West was okay, he felt better.
“What do you think it is?” Ethan asked in a whisper.
“Maybe something happened. Maybe now we know it’s arson.”
That could be it, but it could also be a dozen other things.
Ethan had no idea what fighting a fire entailed.
Maybe something had happened with Taylor.
He might be a good person, but Ethan couldn’t be one hundred percent sure of that, and he’d only met the man a few times.
Maybe he was different on the job than he was when he wasn’t working.
Or maybe it had nothing to do with Taylor and Liam was freaking out for a different reason. Ethan didn’t know, but he was sure Liam was freaking out. He could see it in his expression. He wanted to know what was going on, but he couldn’t. He didn’t belong there. Neither he nor Jonathan did.
Ethan looked around. Trying to get Liam’s attention was definitely a bad idea, but he couldn’t help it.
He didn’t think Jonathan would mind, so he grabbed his best friend’s arm and pulled him to the side.
They couldn’t get very close with the police officers watching them, but they could hopefully get close enough to catch Liam or West’s attention.
By the time they were as close as they were going to get, Taylor was done talking with the other firefighter.
He turned towards the three, and something changed in his expression.
He looked slightly bewildered, which didn’t make a lot of sense.
He didn’t hesitate to walk towards Liam and the others, and when Liam noticed him, his entire body tensed.
He was so tense that Ethan was pretty sure he’d snap if there was a strong breeze.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ethan heard Taylor say. “At the station. In my office.” He glanced at West and Austin. West was steady, but Austin looked like he was thinking about making a run for it. Knowing him, maybe he was.
It would be kind of funny if the situation didn’t look as dire as it did.
It was clear that something was seriously wrong, though.
Ethan wanted to do something, but what? He wanted to protect Liam and the other two from whatever was going on.
He shouldn’t have a reason to protect them from Taylor, but it looked like he might need to, and he didn’t know what to think about that. He didn’t have a plan, though.
“We will talk about this,” Taylor said, his tone hard and uncompromising.
Liam turned even paler. He looked like he was about to faint, and every single one of Ethan’s protective instincts rose up as one. He might not have a plan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do something.
“Captain?” he called out.
He was loud enough that Taylor looked over. Jonathan said something and elbowed Ethan in the ribs, but Ethan ignored him. Taylor was frowning now and moving toward him, and Ethan had no idea what was about to happen.
“What are you doing?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t know. I was trying to get him away from them,” Ethan whispered back.
“Well, it worked, and now he’s coming toward us.”
“What do we say?”
“You caused the problem. You solve it.”
Ethan plastered a smile on his lips when Taylor reached them. Taylor looked from him to Jonathan, then back to him, probably because he’d been the one to call him over.
“Ethan, right?” Taylor asked.
“Yep, that’s me. You look good in your turnouts.”
Taylor blinked. He stared at Ethan as if he wasn’t quite sure he’d heard that right, something Ethan agreed with.
What the fuck was he thinking? It sounded like he was flirting with Taylor, which definitely wasn’t the case.
No offense to Taylor, who was a very handsome man, but Ethan only had eyes for Liam.
Who, at the moment, was staring at him with wide eyes instead of slipping away from Taylor.
Ethan tilted his head, trying to get Liam to understand that he needed to leave. At the same time, he didn’t want Taylor to realize that something was up, so he gave him a wide smile.
“Thank you?” Taylor said, making it sound like a question.
“You’re welcome. I was just wondering if Margaret was okay. I know her, and I noticed her store.”
Taylor’s expression turned serious again. “She’s going to the hospital right now. My paramedics think she’ll be okay, but we can’t make promises. If you know her, you should reach out to her family.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you, and sorry for disturbing you.”
“It’s fine.” Taylor started to turn, then hesitated and looked back at Ethan. “Are you all right?”
Ethan definitely wasn’t, but he wasn’t about to tell Taylor that. He was afraid the man would call the paramedics over or something. “I’m fine, just a little bit in shock. I’ve known Margaret for years. I really hope she’s going to be okay.”
“Well, she’s alive. It could have been much worse.”
That much was true. Considering the state of the building, the fact that Margaret was alive was a small miracle.
Taylor turned again and walked away, but thankfully, Liam and the other two seemed to have gotten the hint, and they were nowhere to be seen.
Ethan allowed himself to relax. He was pretty sure that Taylor thought he was a weirdo now, but that was fine.
He’d take the man thinking that about him if it meant that, for now, Liam had stopped freaking out.
Unfortunately for Liam, there was little Ethan could do about the rest of the day.
If Taylor wanted to talk to him, he would, no matter how Liam felt about it.
* * * *
LIAM PANICKED THE ENTIRE way back to the station.
How could he not? Taylor had been clear that they needed to talk, and it was obvious that he’d seen what Liam had done.
He knew Liam wasn’t human, and he would want an explanation.
Liam wasn’t sure he could give him one. What was he supposed to say?
Hey, Captain, thanks for taking a chance on me, and by the way, I can turn into a gigantic dragon.
Just the thought made Liam want to hide.
How long would Taylor wait to fire him? Would he even wait?
Or would he do so as soon as the words were out of Liam’s mouth?
Would it be better for Liam to try to come up with an excuse or deny everything?
He was tempted to do just that, but if Taylor had seen him, it wouldn’t be easy.
Liam didn’t like the thought of gaslighting his captain, but he just might have to.
The problem was that he wasn’t sure that Taylor would let himself be gaslit.
Liam was out of the truck as soon as it stopped in the station.
Taylor always had stuff to do when they first came back, and Liam hoped that today wouldn’t be any different, even though Taylor knew something was up.
Maybe he would have time to grab his bag and find an excuse to leave.
He could tell Taylor that he’d started vomiting or something.
“Hey,” Austin said before Liam could disappear into the locker room.
Liam didn’t have time to deal with Austin, but he still sucked in a breath and turned to him. “Yes?”
“West and I just wanted to tell you that we support you, whatever happens. If you want, we can be with you when you talk to Taylor.”
Liam blinked. He knew that Austin and West supported him, but he hadn’t expected the offer.
Going with him to Taylor’s office would put them in Taylor’s sights.
It would reveal to Taylor that they knew something was up with Liam, and since their captain was a smart man, he’d start wondering if maybe they weren’t as human as they seemed, too.
Liam didn’t know how much Taylor had noticed West and Austin using their dragon abilities on the job, but knowing them and the job, he was sure that Taylor had noticed odd things happening around them before.
He might have chalked them up to something else, but if they openly supported Liam, Taylor might start to rethink that.
It wasn’t something that Liam wanted to happen.
“You don’t have to,” he told Austin as West joined them. “I don’t regret doing what I did. I saved that woman’s life. I just hope he’s not going to be too harsh on me.”
“It’s Taylor. He won’t be.”
“I wish I could have as much faith in that as you do.”
“You should. I know you’re scared, and I get it.
I’m kind of terrified by this entire situation.
” Austin smiled ruefully. “Honestly, better you than me, but West and I had been talking about telling Taylor and the rest of the team soon. Between one thing and another, we haven’t been able to sit down and truly discuss how we want to do that. ”
“Well, it’s good that you won’t have to make any kind of decision about that anymore.
I outed myself.” Liam rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“Only me, right? The two of you have been working here forever, and no one knows what you are. I got here a few weeks ago, and now our captain knows something’s going on. ”