Logan very slowly raises his hand. “There was a flyer. It was free, and I was starving.”
My rage is lava-hot, but I force myself to take a breath because he’s a rookie and doesn’t know better yet. “You know what, since you’re new, eat that pizza.”
He looks too afraid to move.
When he doesn’t, I square my shoulders. “I’m serious. You have to learn the hard way, just like the rest of us. You eat that pizza, and when you come to me and prove you understand why we don’t rush dinner—especially while I’m in the shower, washing off shit and vomit—and order from this garbage place, I will let you have my carbonara.”
Logan’s normally tanned face goes a bit pale, and he swallows thickly. “Um…”
Easton drops a hand on his shoulder. “Better do what he says.”
Logan lets out a breath, then pulls the boxes closer to him.
“Good. Now, I’m finishing my shower, and I will know if anyone else ate it. And if you do, I will blacklist you from my kitchen for a month.”
I can see the war on Lex’s face, but Easton has immediately given up and walked out of the room. The rookies still seem unsure, though Ozzie is definitely not moving from the sofa.
I don’t wait around to see if they’re going to listen. I turn and march back to the bathroom and finish my shower quicker than I intended. I planned on double-scrubbing inside all my cracks to make sure I got all that kid’s stink off me, but a once-over will have to do.
I don’t dry off well enough, so my T-shirt is still sticking to my skin as I pull it over my head, and I give my hair barely a cursory towel-dry before throwing my cap on and marching into the kitchen with bare feet.
Easton’s sitting on the counter, holding a cup of coffee between his hands and having an eye-contact standoff with Rune, who must have just gotten here.
He’s our IT wizard—a term he hates but Easton has gotten everyone calling him, and Easton always wins these things. Easton has raging ADHD, and while he can hyperfocus on a lot of things, making eye contact with Rune isn’t one of them.
Easton blinks, then scoffs and hops off the counter. “It’s just a keyboard, dude. No need to be such a fucking dick about it.”
Rune says nothing, watching as Easton storms out of the room, and then he turns to face me. “Tell me I’m not crazy.”
“You’re not crazy,” I say immediately.
A smile plays at his lips. I’ve always liked Rune. He’s been at the station longer than I have. He started off as a firefighter, but something happened, and he went MIA for a while before coming back to work as our sole IT guy.
He’s a little terrifying and quite massive for a computer nerd. And I swear to god, sometimes he can see straight into my soulwith his giant eyes. He’s got such a pretty-boy look too, with his long dark hair kept in a bun and his five-o’clock shadow that never seems to get longer or shorter, even when he shaves.
He’s also perpetually pissed off, but mostly because Easton keeps spilling coffee on his keyboards and doing random shit to his iMac that requires a lot of Rune’s time and attention.
“I’m seriously ready to take that fucker over my knee and spank the shit out of him,” Rune says as I reach into the cupboard and pull out a huge pot to start the noodles boiling. I fall into a coughing fit, my cheeks heating, but I don’t think Rune realizes what he said—or how he said it. “This is the third keyboard he’s ruined in the last ten days. I know he’s kind of a spoiled shit who doesn’t understand the concept of money, but he has to know these things are expensive.”
I grimace. I love Easton, I really do. We were rookies together and bonded for life, but he’s got privilege a lot of the guys around here don’t. Not just with money, but he’s also really fucking pretty, and he rarely gets told no.
It’s probably why he’s so obsessed with keeping Rune’s attention. Rune is the only one in the station who won’t give in to whatever Easton’s pouting about.
“I’ll talk to him if you want,” I say. I lean into the fridge and grab the parm I had pre-grated for pasta and garlic bread, the pancetta, and the eggs. “Are you staying for dinner?”
He sighs. “No. I have an appointment in a little bit, so I’m taking off. Will you save me some?”
I wink at him. “I’ll box it up all nice for you.”
He grins, and his cheeks pink. I don’t think he’s used to people being kind to him. He acts like basic shit is going out of my way, and I hate that for him.
He rocks back on his heels. “By the way, was it a bad call?”
“Mm? Why do you ask?”
He bites his lip, then says, “Easton seemed a little more on edge than usual. And Ozzie said you yelled at the new rookie.”
I feel a little bad about that. “Uh…let’s just say it was a little hairy there for a second. Kid got his head stuck in between slats on his staircase, and the dad was more worried about how much money the repairs were going to cost than his kid, who was literally shitting himself.”
