Chapter 2 Tyler
Tyler
“Is that a maybe on the smutty books?” Malloy looks at me while I finish my last few minutes on the treadmill.
It’s an unusually muggy day in Boston for spring. We had originally planned on meeting up at my house. I had a whole day of filming laid out for my social media page, but scrapped those plans and we’re now at the gym.
“Dude, you know I don’t care to read that stuff.” I stop the machine and towel off.
“You’re missing out. Baylee and I try the kinkiest shit. Especially when it’s Kennedy’s book choice for the month.” He smirks and I respond with a look of disapproval.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, man.” He shrugs as we walk to the weights.
“Why are you trying to get me to join your book club? I thought this was sort of your thing with the girls.”
Malloy is one of my closest friends. On top of that, we work together at the firehouse. I’m the newest to join the crew—the probie, short for probationary, as they say in the firehouse—but he’s taken me in. We formed a solid friendship early on.
This book club he’s trying to get me to join was started with his close friend Abby and their mutual friend Kennedy. Both of whom are engaged to identical twin brothers, River and Clay, who happen to be firefighters at our station as well.
River, Kennedy’s fiancé, is probably the most energetic and ridiculous character I’ve ever met.
Clay is more reserved than his twin, but when they’re both together, the two can get into some pretty heated arguments.
Who am I kidding? They exhaust me when I have to be around them.
Recently, their disagreements center around Clay’s infant daughter, Gabriella, who we call Ella.
River lives for three passions in this world—Ella, Kennedy, and Lola; the last of which is his dog. I’m still not sure in what order.
“I think it would be fun for you to hang out with us,” Malloy continues, grabbing a set of weights.
I stare at his reflection in the mirror, not buying it.
After a few seconds, he gives up whatever internal struggle he’s having and confesses, “Fine. They’re ganging up on me, okay?
Since Baylee joined book club, the three of them are fucking coming after me.
I’m outnumbered and I can’t take it.” He starts his reps, but I don’t miss the look of desperation he gives me in the mirror.
Baylee is Malloy’s wife; they just got hitched a few months back and the guy is smitten. His complaints don’t fool me. He is one hundred percent infatuated with his wife, despite the hard road they had getting to this point.
“What do you mean they’re teaming up against you?” I ask him, grabbing weights of my own.
“It’s exactly how it sounds. The three of them have started some sisterhood of their own; and now, I’m some outsider.
When we discuss the book, and the guy in the story does something dumb, I get these looks from them like I’m part of it.
They call me out and start acting like I represent all of the male population.
They’ll be all like, ‘Malloy, why are you guys like this?’ Or they’ll simply state, ‘Why can’t all of you be more like Frankie from the book?
He buys flowers every week.’ It’s exhausting, Hunter. I can’t take it.”
“So, you want to torture me in the process? No thanks,” I tell him.
“Well, the books are great. I wasn’t lying about that.” He’s whining now.
“Malloy, you’re borderline pathetic,” I say as I look around, hoping people can’t hear him. It’s embarrassing.
“I’m seriously at my wit’s end with it. This week, we talked about a book Baylee chose and after the discussion, all of them were so heated over it, Baylee gave me the silent treatment. She wouldn’t even have sex with me.”
“Okay, I don’t think I need to know about your antics in the bedroom. Honestly, I don’t care,” I tell him, wiping the sweat off my forehead.
“Oh, so I have to hear about River’s shit, but you can’t hear about mine?” he continues.
“I promise you, hearing anything about River’s personal life with Kennedy behind closed doors is never a desire of mine either,” I say, grabbing some water. “But, speaking of River, why don’t you ask him to join?”
“Absolutely not. Could you imagine him in book club? Then imagine him with Kennedy. I just got a visual and my head already hurts,” he says as we begin walking to the bench to start another round of exercises.
“Yeah, you make a fair point. Would Clay work?” I ask him.
“No, he’s not interested. I started hinting at it, but he’s not into these kinds of books. He tried reading one for fun with Abby a few months back, but he started calling it soft porn and she got fucking pissed at him. It didn’t end well.” He makes an uneasy face.
“I have no solution for you then. Sorry friend.” I smack him on the shoulder.
“Yes, you’re just being difficult. You could join and help me even things out a little bit,” he tells me.
“My evenings are booked.” I shrug.
“Every evening?” he asks me, unconvinced.
“Yes, every single evening,” I lie.
“You’re such a fuckface.” He laughs as he spots me. “And for your information, the books are good. That part wasn’t an exaggeration. It’s just the harassment is getting to be a bit much. I’m a sensitive soul, Hunter.”
“Mmhmm,” I grunt.
Once I’m done, I sit up and wipe my face. “I know, Malloy. I was just telling the guys, I caught you wiping a tear from your face when we were watching an ad with those puppies trying to get adopted.”
“Hey, they were cute. And I thought we were taking that to the grave.”
I put my hands up in surrender. “Chill, I’m kidding. I was getting choked up too. Seriously though, I’ll consider book club. But I’ll admit, Kennedy sort of scares me still. She’s a bit intimidating.”
Kennedy is the CEO of the Boston Gaels and she turns heads the minute she walks into any room. If anyone is going to handle River’s antics, it’s Kennedy Sparen. Her strong personality can handle anyone in a boardroom, but most importantly, she can put her fiancé in his place any time of the day.
“Kenny’s harmless. I promise, she’s a total softie.” He waves me off as we switch places.
“Really? So, you never felt like she was a bit terrifying?” I look down at him with a questioning expression.
“Well, yeah, of course I did. She’s a badass, but she grows on you.
And I definitely don’t call her Kenny to her face…
anymore. But she’s loyal and handles River better than anyone I’ve ever seen; better than Clay, which is pretty impressive.
Also, don’t tell her I called her a softie.
I don’t think she’ll consider that a compliment. ”
He begins his set while I chuckle. “Malloy, you’re proving my point right now.” I honestly don’t know how I ended up with this interesting mix of friends, but in such a short amount of time, they’ve pulled me into their blended family, and I’ve never felt so seen.
“How are things going in Boston?” Jerry asks while sipping a mojito on the beach on our FaceTime call.
I was stationed with Jerry and Scarlet’s son George, who was soon dubbed Georgie, while in the Army. Georgie was four years my junior, and I took him under my wing when he was put in my unit.
Although I ranked higher than him, we formed a friendship the moment we met.
Georgie had a quick wit about him and we bonded over our love of motorcycles.
He told me about his closeness with his parents and I envied that, as I had grown up in a household that was the complete opposite.
I could tell he truly loved spending time with Jerry and Scarlet, his calls with them sparked emotion from him that provoked a deep respect for them.
It was something I envied amongst the three of them.
When I confided in Georgie about my upbringing, he invited me to his hometown to spend a long weekend with his family.
I thought I’d feel like the oddball out, but the moment I crossed that threshold, his parents welcomed me as one of their own.
I never felt more loved than I did amongst them.
Jerry and Scarlet embraced me with the kind of love a parent should from the beginning and I’ve allowed it to blanket me ever since.
Georgie’s kindhearted nature was what I think my dark personality needed and craved.
I don’t think I ever longed for a sibling before, but around him, he felt like someone I could confide in.
He was a brother I never thought I needed, yet I was gifted with nonetheless.
Whenever we took time off-base for a weekend or could travel back to the States, we’d travel together to visit his parents.
Sometimes we’d meet up with them somewhere to see them if they were traveling around Europe.
I felt a connection to their family, and they never made me feel like I wasn’t part of the bond they had formed.
Georgie was my brother for all intents and purposes.
While stationed overseas, we were on patrol one day when our squad came under fire.
The chaos was loud and uncontrollable in that moment.
Georgie was shot and killed in front of me.
I had moved from where I was standing for just a second, leaving him in my spot.
He took the bullet that was intended for me, and that’s something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.
I never thought we would leave the compound as a unit and return missing one of our own.
The aftermath of that day impacts me in ways that I spent a long time denying.
That single bullet catapulted my life in a whole new trajectory.
Nothing ever felt the same after that. My world crumbled from that moment on. It took years for me to see the world with the same light, but I suffered for a long time; the survivor’s guilt nearly crippling me.