Tom’s face screws up in shock. “That’snotmy dick.”
“Uh-huh. Sure it isn’t, Tiny Tom.”
With a huff of determination, he bends over, grabs the phone from under his foot and shoves it in my face. “It's a black dick, Mila! I’m white. What the fuck makes you think it’s mine?”
I squint through the cracked screen trying to make out a resemblance to Tom and this black dick. But I’ve never seen Tom’s dick, so I wouldn’t know if it was or not. It is in fact from a black man though. “Well, I didn’t know that. I thought maybe you were tan.”
“No. I’m not.Bigwhite cock.” He grabs it on the outside of his pants. And I fucking look, like a dummy.
How did this conversation go this way? And why am I still staring at the black dick on Tom’s phone?
Chuckling, he rips the phone away. “You owe me a phone.”
“You’re going to owe me a fucking job if you don’t knock it off.”
Tucking his phone in his pocket, he moves past me to lean into the valet stand outside the booth. “Will it make you feel better if I tell you I pissed on Nixon’s Maserati yesterday?”
“Actually, yes, a little.” As I’m walking away, I stop, the frigid air around me sends a shiver through my body and I wrap my arms around my waist. “Tom?”
He lifts his head. “Yeah?”
“Why the fuck to you have another man’s dick on your phone?”
By the look on his face, I don't think I want to know the answer.
And then he smirks, and I shake my head and question my own sanity for asking. “That’s difficult to explain.” I turn toward him, one hand on my hip. I need to hear the story behind this or I’m always going to wonder which way Tom swings. “I asked this chick to send me a picture of her tits and she sent me her boyfriend’s cock.” He shakes his head, a frown set on his lips. “I feel bad for her. She really needs to leave his ass and suck my dick.”
Laughing, I shake my head and step inside the hotel. Like I said, I know Tom didn’t tell my father about my performance. He never would but the fact that everyone’s so concerned with who I’m sleeping with irritates me just as much as them thinking I can’t do my job.
I feel like I can’t trust anyone here anymore. My mom used to tell me: Don’t trust everyone. Even salt looks like sugar.
Ain’t that the fucking truth.
“Mila.” Izzy’s voice comes from beside me, frantic, rushing across the lobby toward me. “Have you seen this?” She points at the televisions in the bar. “What station is Caleb at?”
“Why?” I turn to face the television in the bar, my eyes widening with what’s being displayed. A dozen or so firetrucks and police surrounding an apartment building smoldering with flames and thick black smoke.
Izzy follows me into the bar, my hands gripping the edge so tight my fingers burn. “There was an apartment fire. Apparently a firefighter has been killed from station 25.”
My heart drops, my focus onKing 5 Newspainting a picture of my worst fear.
An apartment fire. One firefighter dead, three others injured.
Is it Caleb?That’s my first immediate thought.
Izzy’s voice trembles when she asks, “Have you heard from Caleb yet?”
Fear grips me. I shake my head, numbness moving through my body. “No.”
I want to call him right now and tell him everything I hadn’t said during our last conversation. The things he wouldn’t let me say. And I don’t care if he won’t listen. I’ll still tell him.
Dread seizes my chest, my heart in my throat, the anxiety building with every second my eyes are on the television. Anxiety blinds me and my motions slow. I raise my hand to my chest. “Oh my God.”
“Breaking news . . .” A red ribbon flashes at the bottom of the screen. “It’s been reported a firefighter has been killed.” My heart drops directly in my stomach. “There’s been no word on the name of the firefighter from Station 25, but it’s been reported he was part of a search and rescue team when an explosion happened.” They cut to a clip of the fire, a fully engulfed apartment building.
Caleb’s search and rescue. My mind reels at the information. What if it’s him? What if I never get the chance to tell him how I feel or how sorry I am?
I need to go to the station. Ihaveto. I’m not sure what it’s going to offer me but maybe then I’ll know if it’s him.