Page 89 of Sweet Hate
“I was happy to see you guys. Jesus. Whatisthis? Twenty questions?”
I don’t like lying to my best friend, but if I tell him, Max will get wind of it, and it’ll be all over town before I even manage to get my girl to agree in the first place. It’s a miracle that the news of the other night hasn’t spread like wildfire already. I don’t need to chance my luck a second time. This could easily blow up in my face if she gets spooked and runs for the hills.
Beckett grabs his and Max’s drinks from the bar and walks away, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Something about lying to Dr. Fox if I’m not mistaken. Jesus fuck, this guy.
I should have taken a chill pill before I walked in tonight. Apparently, I can’t hide anything for shit when it comes to my girl.
Not my girl yet.
Burying those thoughts deep down as far as they can go, I take a deep breath and walk back to the guys. This is supposed to be a distraction from the potential ticking time bomb Haven holds in her hands right now.
The guys have moved to a round table, the girl Max was chatting to nowhere to be seen.
Max looks up as I approach, his dark curly hair wild and unruly and his blue eyes dancing with mischief.
My ass is barely on the chair before he knocks his bottle into mine and crows out, “Thank fuck you finally got laid.”
Beckett roars with laughter as I sputter out the swig of beer, I’d made a grave error in taking before sitting down.
Beckett stops laughing long enough to swipe a hand across his chest.
“Jesus, Verona, we signed up for the news, not the weather.”
Glaring at them, I realize maybe I’d be better off staring at the walls at home. As far as distractions go, this is beyond an epic fail.
Was my mood that shitty that even the guys noticed? No way. I’m great at masking my feelings. I’ve had years of damn practice.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Max.”
“Boss, you’ve been walking around with a face like thunder for the last few weeks. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you look so murderous. I might have even peed my pants a little when you screamed at us to run drills. The rookie definitely did.”
“Very funny, Maximilian.”
“He’s not lying,” Beckett chimes in.
I shoot a glare his way before staring at the beer in my hand, the ingredients written on the side looking mighty interesting.
Max, not one to take a hint, keeps going. “So, who’s the lucky lady this week? Did you meet her in town? I won’t bother asking if you’re planning on seeing her again, though.” He leans back, roaring with laughter at his own shitty joke before continuing to make me regret my life choices. “I was starting to worry for a minute there, Bossman. It was really weird coming out without you. It’s been tough out here, man, without your pretty boy looks bringing all the girls our way.”
He wiggles his eyebrows drawing a laugh out of me. He’s an idiot. Both he and the self-proclaimedDr. Foxyhave zero trouble getting ladies. They certainly don’t need me around to do it.
“You’re full of shit, Max, you know that?”
He looks pointedly over my shoulder, a grin splitting his face. “If I'm so full of shit explain what this is in three, two, one…”
A hand circles my neck, a second curling around my thigh. For a minute, my heart jumps, thinking maybe Haven decided to surprise me, but my girl’s home with a bad ankle, and there’s no way she’d be wearing the stripper heels I can now see. Plus, the smell is all wrong. My nose wrinkles at the stench of strong perfume surrounding us.
I bristle under the touch, my entire body stiffening.
“Heyyyyyyy lieutenant. I was hoping you’d come in tonight.”
The hand is creeping slowly up my thigh, and I slam my palm on top of it to stop her from going any further.
Hockey players have puck bunnies, the police have badge bunnies, and us?
Well, we call them bunker bunnies.
We’ve gained a bit of a reputation around town. Well, and the neighboring towns, if I’m being honest. We are a relatively young team of firefighters, all single guys, except for Cap. We didn’t really give a shit since we got to enjoy female attention whenever we wanted it.
