Page 80 of What Hurts Us

Cal scoffed in feigned disgust. “Excuse me?”

I giggled and swatted his chest.

Beth laughed. “Hell no. No way I’deverdate a firefighter. Not with Austin being one. I’ve been around stations too much. I don’t even have a modicum of interest in those boys.”

“Good thing I’m not a firefighter, then,” Shane said as he dropped into the chair beside Beth. He craned over and gave Cal and me a chin tip.

Beth blushed and clicked the button on the side of her phone, hiding the string of messages from the mysterious professor she had been flirting with over text. “Pretty sure I can lump paramedics in with firefighters since y’all share the same station.”

Shane clutched his heart. “You wound me, Hale. Good thing I’m pretty handy at patching people up. Isn’t that right, Dubs?”

I laughed. “Are you trying to make me your wing-woman?”

“Well, I’m sure not asking Grumpy Gus over there,” Shane said, pointing to Cal.

Callum frowned. “I’m a great wingman.”

“Now that you’re tied down, you are. Before Layla, you were the worst to hit up a bar with.”

Cal stretched out his long legs, smirking. “That’s because ladies love a man in uniform.”

“Hey,” Shane clipped. “I did my time in uniform. Now, I get to kick back in my t-shirts and polos. Sure as hell beats finding sand in your pockets every day.”

“What do you mean?” Beth asked.

Cal nodded toward Shane. “Hutch used to be military.”

When Beth and Shane peeled off into their own conversation, I tipped my head onto Cal’s shoulder. The auction was winding down, just a few candidates left.

“Whatcha thinking about, honey?”

There was no use lying. “Just thinking about what tomorrow’s gonna be like.”

A sigh escaped him. His fingers stroked my shoulder with reassuring repetition. “You’ve done more for me than I should have ever asked.”

His phone, perched on his thigh, lit up with a notification. At that moment, the worst pain I’d ever felt slammed into my chest. Callum had set one of our totally fake engagement photos as the background of his phone.

“You made it easy to trust you,” he said quietly as he reached down and grabbed my hand. It was such a simple gesture to have him lace our fingers together and squeeze. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

* * *

The house wassilent except for the repetitivechinkevery time I pulled a coat hanger off the metal pole in the closet. Cal was at work, leaving me to overthink what was next.

I was used to moving. Back when I was travel nursing, I’d taken assignments shorter than the time I spent pretending to be the future Mrs. Fletcher. I wasn’t leaving Falls Creek. Hell, I was preparing to move back to my own space. Still, it felt like I was leaving home.

The ruby ring sparkled on my left hand. I hadn’t taken it off after we got home last night. Usually, I would have slipped it off when I took a quick shower after we got busy between the sheets. But we didn’t have sex when we returned from the fundraiser.

There was a shift in the atmosphere. A change in the tide.

He stood behind me at the bathroom vanity, hands caressing my hips as I scrubbed off my makeup. He kissed up my neck, murmuring about holding me in bed. Then we did just that. Tattooed arms held me tight against his chest until dawn broke. When I awoke, his hands were cradling my head beneath his chin. He was asleep, but he wasn’t relaxed. Cal’s body was rigid as if preparing for attack.

I started with his temples, gently stroking the dark hairs that were buzzed down to his skin. I massaged the back of his head and his biceps. When I wrapped an arm around him, gliding my hand up and down in listless directions, only then did he relax.

The feel of him shifting and resting his head on my stomach would be burned in my memory forever. The man who held the town on his shoulders needed a soft place to land, to hide and rest.

Tears burned my eyes as I looked at the coat hanger in my hand. The lump in my throat nearly cut off my air supply. I dropped to the floor, heavy sobs gutting me from the inside out.

I loved him.

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