Page 42 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
Carlos gives Olivia a conflicted look. He’s tempted to believe me, and that’s why he’s not really saying no to my request. “I can give you a few days tops before I file the arrest report. But it will go through the wire eventually. And once word gets back from Devon, we’ll have no choice but to?—”
“I know. I know, Carlos.”
“Beck, you can’t do this!” Jocelyn insists. “You’re putting your life, your freedom, your career on the line for this…”
She keeps looking at Olivia, searching for what I assume is yet another insult, and that makes my blood boil. I know this is a fragile and dangerous line I’m treading, but my honor demands it.
“Innocent until proven guilty,” I remind Jocelyn. “Pretty sure that’s still a thing.”
“Beck—”
“Enough, Jocelyn. I’m tired of these stupid games. And you know damn well how quickly public opinion can shift around election day for you.”
Jocelyn’s jaw drops. “Wait, you can’t?—”
“I can’t what? Tell the public what you did?”
“And torch your reputation along with mine? Dax’s, too? Leo’s? For her? Are you fucking serious, Beck?”
“As a heart attack,” I reply, then give Carlos a nod. “Thank you, friend. Just a few days. It’s all we need.”
To my astonishment, Dax and Leo are outside in the hallway, waiting for us as we come out of the interview room. Oliviais just as surprised, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I–I don’t know what to say,” she mumbles. “Thank you.”
Behind us, I hear Jocelyn and Carlos arguing. He’ll talk some sense into her eventually. The guilt trip is always unpleasant, but it gets results. And given how our lives were suddenly upended when Carlos showed up with that arrest warrant in the first place, well, I’ll use every tool we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask Dax and Leo.
“Figured you could use the backup,” Leo says, then gives Olivia a hard look. “How are you feeling?”
We argued about how to approach this situation before I came to the station. Dax and Leo were tempted to go into a complete defense. I understand their instinct all too well—Olivia’s criminal activities could end up blowing up in our faces, if we don’t know what we’re dealing with.
And Leo has Luke to worry about.
The way we choose to love a woman isn’t easily understood by everyone, which is why few people actually know about it.
“I’m okay,” Olivia says.
We head out of the station and to my car. She keeps looking around, nervously searching for something or someone, and I feel compelled to dig deeper into that.
“What is going on with you, Olivia?” I ask. “Why are we here? Why areyouhere?”
“It’s a long story,” she says, staring at her shoes.
“We’ve got time,” Dax states firmly. “You owe us that much.”
“I owe you a lot more than that,” she says and sighs. “But I’m afraid for your safety and mine. The people I’m running from are powerful. They have influence.”
“And you still don’t trust us enough to protect you,” Leo concludes.
She’s on the verge of tears again, and I can see that it’s tearing her apart on the inside. So I go back to my original strategy, what I suggested shortly after Carlos took her to the station.
“I’m taking her home for now,” I tell the guys. “She needs some rest, some peace and quiet. And when she’s ready, Olivia will tell us everything we need to know. Right, Olivia?”
I look directly at her. She knows this is a courtesy she doesn’t really deserve, and I’m still angry that she’s been keeping secrets from us, but I can’t deny what’s in my heart either. Neither can Dax or Leo, since they’re here, mustering every ounce of patience they have left.
“Right,” she says with a nimble nod. “I need some semblance of normal.”
