15. The Bet
The Bet
KNOX
Wyatt was sitting on the bumper of the engine with his phone, laughing to himself.
"What?" I said.
He turned the screen toward me. Andy had sent a video of Birdie on the living room floor with their cat.
The cat was batting at a piece of string Birdie dragged across the carpet.
Every time it pounced, Birdie shrieked and pulled the string away.
The cat skidded on the hardwood, tumbled sideways, righted itself.
Birdie put the string back. The cat fell for it every time.
"That's adorable," I said.
Wyatt looked up from his phone.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just never heard you call anything adorable before." He pocketed his phone. "Nora's rubbing off on you."
I shrugged.
Wyatt smiled but let it go. He pulled his clipboard off the bumper and made a note on the pump check sheet.
Thompson leaned out of his office. "Sullivan. Got a minute."
I crossed the bay and stepped inside. He was behind his desk with a folder open, and he closed it when I sat down.
"Eligibility list went active July first. Your name's on it."
I didn't move.
"You passed the written. You passed the assessment. When a vacancy opens, you'll be in the pull." He leaned back. "That's the good news."
I waited for the rest.
"The bad news is that everything between now and that vacancy is a window for someone to give me a reason to take you off the list. And you and I have had enough conversations about your conduct on calls that I shouldn't need to spell out what I mean." He looked at me. "So I won't."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't make me regret putting you forward, Sullivan."
Nora and I had fallen into a routine since that night. On my shifts off, I drove her to CCMC in the morning and picked her up when she got out. Whatever was left of the evening was ours. If she had the next day off too, that was ours as well.
I pulled into the CCMC lot and saw the black Mercedes in the doctors' row.
Great.
I got out of the truck, locked it, and walked up to the ER entrance. Cliff Sullivan stepped out just as I got there.
"Knox."
"Dad."
"Are you injured? What are you doing here?"
"Picking up my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
The ER doors opened. Nora came out with her bag over her shoulder, already smiling when she saw me.
"Knox? You're here early." She reached for my hand. Her fingers laced through mine, and she turned and saw Cliff standing there.
My father looked at our hands, then back at me.
"Your mother's been asking about you. You haven't been taking her calls." He straightened his coat. "Please call her back when you find the time."
"I will."
"Good." He turned to Nora. "Avery."
"Dr. Sullivan."
He walked across the lot to the Mercedes. We watched him go.
"I've been meaning to ask." Nora looked up at me and squeezed my hand. "Why don't you ever talk about him?"
"It's complicated."
I kissed her before she could ask the next question.
"Let's go?" she said.
The crew was already at The Lantern when we walked in. They were packed around a table near the bar, loud enough that Selena had stopped pretending to mind. They were all leaned in, cheering, and Greene was in the middle of it with a plate in front of him and sweat on his forehead.
"I'm out!" Greene shoved the plate away and grabbed his water. He drained half of it in one go.
The table groaned. Travis threw his hands up. Wyatt leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.
"What's going on here?" I said.
Carl turned around. "Selena added chicken tenders to the menu. They ordered the spiciest ones. You have to sign a waiver." He nodded at the stack of papers on the table. "Whoever eats a whole tender without tapping out is exempt from bathroom cleaning duty for a month."
"Sullivan." Travis pointed at me. "You're late. Wyatt's out. Greene's out. Carl never started. You're up."
"No."
"Come on."
"I don't mind bathroom cleaning duty."
Nora sat down next to Andy. "What do I win if I eat a whole one?"
Travis looked at her. Then at me. Then back at her.
"Sullivan," he said.
"I already have him. That's not much of a prize."
I looked at her. She laughed.
Travis grinned. "Your girl's got bigger balls than you, Sullivan.
" He rubbed his hands together. "All right, Nora.
Let's make this interesting. You and me.
Whoever finishes more tenders wins. You beat me, Sullivan's exempt from bathroom duty for a month.
" He pointed at me. "I beat you, Sullivan takes my bathroom rotation for a month. "
"Why am I in this?" I said.
"Because it's funnier," Travis said.
Nora smiled at me, then turned back to Travis. "Deal."
Travis turned in his chair. "Selena! Can we have two more orders of the Five-Alarms, please?"
Selena looked at him from behind the bar. "Two?"
"Two."
I looked at Nora. What are you doing?
She mouthed back. I got this.
Andy slid one of the waivers across the table to Nora. "You have to sign this first."
Nora read it, laughed, and signed her name.
Selena came back with two plates and set one in front of Nora and the other in front of Travis. She put two glasses of milk down between them without being asked.
"First one to tap out loses," Carl said.
Travis cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this."
"On my count," Carl said. He held up three fingers. "Three. Two. One. Go."
Nora bit into the first tender. Her eyes watered. She chewed, swallowed, and reached for the next one.
Travis grabbed a tender and matched her. He made it through the first one talking. He made it through the second one quieter. Halfway through the third, he stopped talking entirely.
Nora finished her third and picked up her fourth.
"You good, Travis?" Wyatt said.
Travis held up a finger. His face was the color of the engine. "One more. I can do this." He picked up the fourth tender, stared at it, brought it halfway to his mouth. His whole face twisted. He set it back down and reached for the milk.
The table erupted.
Nora finished her fourth tender and wiped her hands on a napkin. Her plate was empty.
"Look at that," Andy said. "She didn't even break a sweat."
Travis set down the milk. "Damn it. Should have seen that coming." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Never challenge the girlfriends. Now I have Sullivan's bathroom duty for a month."
Wyatt put a hand on Travis's shoulder and nodded.
"You challenge us to things we're good at," Andy said. "Why not choose something we're equally bad at?"
Travis pointed at her. "That's an idea. What are we all equally bad at?"
"Poker," I said.
Travis nodded, rubbing his chin. Then he slammed both hands on the table.
"All right. I'm a man of my word. I'm taking Sullivan's bathroom duty for a month." He held up a finger. "But I want to play for something else."
"What's this about, Travis?" Andy said.
"I win, Sullivan has to tell us when his birthday is."
Nora looked up at me. I put my hand over my face and dragged it down.
"I don't know about that," Nora said. "It's Knox's secret. Not mine."
Travis looked at me. "Well?"
I sighed. "You know what? Give it a go."
Travis turned to Nora. "You in?"
She looked at me. I nodded.
"Okay," she said.
The guys cleared the table. Wyatt stacked the empty plates and passed them to Selena. Travis pulled a deck from behind the bar and shuffled while Nora moved her chair across from him. I sat down beside her. Andy settled into the chair behind Travis. Wyatt stood behind Nora with his arms crossed.
Travis pointed at me. "No cheating."
I held both hands up.
Nora leaned in close. "Are you sure about this?" she whispered.
"Yeah. It's just my birthday. I could tell them right now without the bet." I looked at Travis, who was shuffling with way too much confidence. "But watching Travis lose makes it so much more fun."
"How do you know I'm not going to lose?"
I kissed her forehead. "Because Travis is that bad at poker."
Travis cracked his neck. "All right. Best of five. Let's go."
He dealt the first hand. Nora picked her cards up one at a time and held them close to her face. Travis fanned his out in one hand and leaned back in his chair like he'd been playing cards his whole life.
"How many?" Travis said.
Nora stared at her hand. She chewed her bottom lip. "Two."
Travis took one. He looked at his new card and nodded slowly, like he'd just been dealt exactly what he needed.
Nora rearranged her cards. Then she straightened up.
Travis pushed his peanuts forward. "I'm in."
"Me too," Nora said.
Travis flipped his cards. Pair of eights. Nora turned hers over. Pair of queens.
"Beginner's luck," Travis said.
Second hand. Travis dealt again. This time he drew three cards and liked what he saw. Nora kept all five. Travis grinned.
"You're keeping all five?"
"I like these ones."
Travis flipped a straight. Nora had nothing. He slapped the table.
"That's what I'm talking about!" He looked around the table. "One-one. We're just getting started."
Third hand. Nora traded one card. She looked at her new hand and didn't react. Travis took two and leaned forward like he could already taste victory.
They both pushed their peanuts in. Travis flipped three sevens.
"Read them and weep," he said.
Nora laid down a flush. Five hearts.
Greene whistled. The table started buzzing. Travis sat back in his chair with his mouth open.
Nora was looking straight past Travis. I followed her gaze to Andy, sitting behind Travis's shoulder with a drink in one hand and his whole hand of cards in her line of sight. She saw me see it and held my look.
I looked at Wyatt. He was standing behind Nora with his arms still crossed, a perfect view of her cards. He gave Andy the faintest glance.
I almost spit my drink.
"That's two-one, Nora," Carl said.
Travis loosened his shoulders. "It's fine. I've come back from worse."
Fourth hand. Travis dealt with too much force and one of Nora's cards slid off the table. She picked it up, looked at her hand, and kept a straight face.
Andy looked down at Travis's cards, up at Nora, and tapped her thumb against her glass.
"I'm in," Nora said.
Travis shoved his peanuts to the center. "All in."
"All in," Nora said.
Travis flipped two pair. Jacks and fours.
Nora set her cards down one at a time. Three tens.
The table erupted. Nora covered her mouth with both hands. Travis stared at the cards like they'd betrayed him.
"This is rigged," he said. "This is absolutely rigged."
"It's poker, Travis," Wyatt said.
Travis pointed at Nora. "Rematch."
"A deal's a deal," Andy said. She took a sip of her drink.
My birthday was still mine.
Nora kicked her shoes off at the door. I locked it behind us and pulled my shirt over my head walking toward the bedroom. She was already at the dresser, opening the second drawer where she kept some clothes for when she was staying over, and pulling out a pair of shorts and one of my T-shirts.
"That was fun," she said.
"It's always fun to watch Travis lose."
"He's a funny guy, isn't he?" She pulled her scrub top off and reached for my shirt.
"He is. Big personality, but he makes the firehouse more interesting. You can feel it when he's not there."
She turned around in my shirt. It hung past her thighs. She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"So what's my prize?" she said.
"For what?"
"For letting you keep your secret."
"I can think of a few things."
She kissed me. Slow, soft, her fingers sliding into the hair at the back of my neck. I pulled her closer by the waist and she smiled against my mouth.
"I should also thank Wyatt and Andy," I said.
She pulled back. "What?"
"For helping you play."
She laughed. "How did you notice that?"
"Because you weren't very good at hiding it. Good thing Travis didn't notice."
She laughed again, and I caught it with my mouth.
Her hands slid up my chest. I walked her backward until her shoulders hit the wall, and she pulled me closer by the waistband of my jeans. The kiss changed. Slower. Her fingers curled into the fabric and her breathing shifted.
I braced one hand against the wall beside her head. The other found the hem of my shirt she was wearing and slipped underneath, trailing up her ribs. She arched into me.
"Knox."
I kissed her neck. She tilted her head to give me more room, and I took it. My hand moved down her stomach, past the waistband of her shorts, and found her.
She sucked in a breath and grabbed my forearm.
I kept my mouth on her neck and my hand between her thighs, working slow until she softened against the wall. Her grip on my arm loosened. Her hips moved with me.
"More," she whispered.
I gave her more. Her head fell back against the wall. One hand gripped my shoulder and the other pressed flat against the plaster behind her, bracing herself. I watched her face — her lips parting, her eyes closing, her brow drawn tight.
Her breathing came faster. She was close. Her whole body tensed against mine. I pressed my forehead to hers and stayed with her.
She came with her hand tight on my shoulder and my name caught somewhere in her throat. I held her through it, my hand still moving, slower now, until she exhaled and went soft against me.
She opened her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest was heaving, and she looked at me like she wanted to ruin me.
"Don't move," she said.
She unbuckled my belt. I pulled her shorts down the rest of the way and she kicked them off. Her hands pushed my jeans low enough, and then she lifted one leg and wrapped it around my hip.
I gripped the back of her thigh and held her there. My other hand stayed on the wall.
"You good?" I said.
She pulled me in by the back of my neck. "Yeah."
I pressed into her, slow, and felt her breath hitch against my jaw. She tightened her leg around me and I held her steady, pinned between me and the wall.
We found a rhythm. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck. My hand slid from the wall to her hip, pulling her closer with every movement. She made a sound low in her throat that I felt in my chest.
I dropped my mouth to her ear. "Nora."
She tightened around me and I pressed deeper. Her back arched off the wall. I held her there, right at the edge, until she broke, and when she did, I followed, my face buried in her neck and her fingers gripping my hair so hard it hurt.
We stayed against the wall, breathing hard, her leg still hooked around me. I kept my hand on her thigh because I didn't trust my legs yet.
She laughed, quiet, into my shoulder.
"What?" I said.
"We should play poker more often."
I lifted her chin and kissed her, slow, with her back still against the wall and her laugh still warm on my lips.