Chapter Fourteen

 

 

 

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

 

“Dude, you might want to fuck her somewhere else,” Hughes said into the headset as we zoomed through the city.

My head snapped back to where he was sitting in the backseat and I glared at him. “What did you say?”

“Shut up, Hughes,” Jones murmured quietly through the speakers on my ears.

Hughes just shrugged and I felt the others watch our interaction attentively. “I’m just giving friendly advice. We were watching a loud baseball game and we could still hear every moan and pant she let out. She’s loud, which is hot, but I wouldn’t want everyone hearing the girl I’m fucking scream like that.” He looked around for support but Christos and Jones glanced away and pretended like their headsets were broken and Barthe kept his eyes glued to the road.

My eyes narrowed and I decided I was going to kick his ass. In the past few months, I’d never heard so much of a peep from upstairs so Megan had definitely surprised me with how loud she was. She was so responsive during sex and it was beyond hot, but the fact that my co-workers heard noises that were meant only for my ears irritated me.

“Next time you assholes better turn up the TV.”

The look on my face must have been murderous because no one else would meet my eyes for the rest of the trip.

We made it to a single story garage fire and it took us about three hours to get it out and the scene cleared. By the time we made it back to the station, I just wanted to go back to sleep. I’d only managed to get in about forty-five minutes before Megan showed up, and that was the first sleep I’d had in over thirty hours. I grabbed the paperwork I needed to do and stuffed it in my backpack before walking out to my truck. I was itching to call Megan. I needed to know where we were at with things.

Dialing her number, I sat with my head against my seat and waited.

“Hey, you’ve reached Megan. I must be unavailable so leave a message and I’ll probably call you back.”

I sighed at the sound of her voice and waited for the beep to sound. “Megan, it’s me. Call me when you get this, okay? I’m going to go home to sleep, but I want to talk to you about what happened. Just… call me, okay?”

I ended the call and tossed my phone onto the seat before heading home. It was a little after six when I trudged up the porch slowly.

I unlocked the door and before I’d stepped all the way in, Kendra was in my arms.

“Uncle Simon!” she squealed as I hugged her to me and tickled her ribs.

“Hey, pretty. Where’re your brother and your daddy?”

She pointed to the back door. “Outside cooking chicken with Megan.”

My heart stopped. I hadn’t seen her car out front but I also hadn’t been looking. “Megan is here?” Kendra nodded and took my hand when I put her down.

“Are you hungry? Daddy says we’re making a lot.”

I didn’t answer but allowed the fifty-pound child to pull me towards the door. I stepped out onto the patio and Megan was tossing a baseball with Hudson while Alex manned the grill.

“I want to play ball, too, Megan!” Kendra yelled, running to where they were playing and Megan laughed as she turned to say something to Kendra, but her gaze collided with mine instead. Guilt instantly clouded her face and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. I knew she hadn’t promised me anything, but I didn’t expect her to go running back into Alex’s arms just hours after we’d had sex.

“Megan, heads up!” Hudson looked impatient and Megan finally broke our stare down to pay attention to my nephew.

Alex smiled at me. “You look tired, bro. Long day at work?”

I nodded and ran my fingers through hair. “Thirty-six hour shift.”

“Ouch,” Alex replied and gestured towards the food. “I made plenty. Wanna sit out here and eat with us?”

I looked away from him and back to Megan. She glanced over her shoulder at me again with a pleading expression on her face. I shook my head but I wasn’t sure if it was directed towards Alex or Megan.

“Nah. I’m going to go to bed. I’ll leave you with your happy little family gathering. Thanks, though.”

I turned and walked back inside, heading straight to my bedroom in the basement. I stripped my clothes off and immediately went into the shower. The water was ice cold since I didn’t let it heat up, but I barely felt it. Questions ran through my mind at a million miles an hour. Was Megan going to stay with Alex? I wasn’t sure I could handle that. I was in love with her, and even though I hadn’t told her outright, she had to know. I would have to leave if she stayed with him. They wouldn’t need me anyway, and I couldn’t watch her and my brother play house.

My shower was quick, just long enough to get the soot, grime, and Megan off of me, and I pulled on a pair of boxers before dropping onto my bed. I was so drained mentally and physically that it wasn’t long before I was asleep.

“Simon.” The soft voice infiltrated my sleep and I was automatically drawn to it.

I cracked open an eye and saw Megan sitting on the bed next to me, chewing on her lip nervously. Half of me wanted to pull her in my arms and the other half wanted to turn away from her. I didn’t do either and instead just stared at her beautiful face.

“I’m sorry. I saw the look on your face, and I’m so sorry. I just don’t know what to do. I’d already committed to coming over tonight before…” She looked like she was holding back tears and it took everything I had to keep from comforting her.

“Where do we go from here?” I asked, my voice hoarse from sleep.

“I don’t know,” she whispered sadly.

I sighed because that was not the answer I wanted to hear. “You need to figure it out, Megan. If you love him and want to be with him, I’ll respect that, but don’t expect me to sit around and watch anymore. I can’t.”

She nodded quickly and reached out to lace her fingers through mine. I squeezed them tightly before bringing our conjoined hands up so I could press my lips to her knuckles. I let go of her hand and pushed it back into her lap.

“Figure it out, Megan.”

She nodded again and used her hand to wipe a tear that had fallen down her cheek before standing up. She stared at me for a moment and then turned to leave the room. I sighed and rolled over, desperate for sleep to overcome me again.

I felt a lot better when I woke up again. The clock told me I’d slept over twelve hours and my stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in a while. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and climbed the stairs, rubbing my eyes as I opened the door to the basement.

The kitchen was deserted and even though it wasn’t even eight in the morning yet, I pulled out the leftover chicken breasts to heat up two of them. I grabbed some macaroni salad and sat at the table eating chicken for breakfast. I had just finished when my phone rang from the pocket of my sweatpants and I rolled my eyes when I saw it was my captain.

“What?”

“Good morning to you, too, asshole. They’re calling out additional units for the Clarita fire in Southern California. Are you in?”

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. Wildfires sucked but the pay was amazing and after what I had seen on the news, they definitely needed the help. They had to be desperate if they were calling in city fighters and our company was one of the few in the area that actually could be involved with the wildfires.

“Yeah, I’m in. Flying or driving?”

“Flying. We leave in three hours and you should pack for probably a week. It’s only at five percent containment right now.” The captain sounded stressed and I moved back to the basement.

“Okay. See ya there, Cap.” I hung up the phone and threw some of my stuff into my bag before calling Alex. He didn’t answer so I just left a quick message.

“Hey, dickhead. I’m heading to California to help out with that fire there. Captain says to expect about a week, but I know you’ll be fine since Clarissa is picking the kids up tomorrow. Call you later.” I ended the call and sighed at the thought of him being alone with Megan for a whole week. I thought about calling or texting her, but instead I just tucked my phone in my pocket as I walked up the stairs with my bag.

I drove my truck to the station house and groaned when I realized I’d only left less than fifteen hours before. I parked and hopped out, walking to where the captain was talking to a group of men in the bay. Looking around, I saw almost everyone that belonged to our station house, and I knew we’d all be working a lot as other guys covered the shifts of those of us that went to California.

I attempted to listen to the captain’s speech but I ended up zoning most of it out and before I knew it, we were climbing into a van to head to the airport. I tried to get a bit more sleep on the plane, and six hours later I was suiting up to go up the mountain. I suddenly wished I’d told Megan I was leaving, but it was too late.