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“Seriously?” Jace looks at me. “That’s awesome, man. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It’s not for sure,” I mutter.
“You been here, what, two weeks, and all of a sudden you’re getting promoted?” Levi says, in a tone that sounds like we’re facing off in the schoolyard. “Guess that’s what special treatment gets you nowadays, huh?” He chuckles like he’s just said something funny.
Beside me, Jace tenses.
The muscles in my body flare as I try to hold back saying what I’m actually thinking. I look at Levi, seeing him more clearly than before.
I slowly turn back to face the bar.
“Nothing to say? Nothing?” He raises his voice. “I’ve been here four years, and not so much as a glance from the captain. You waltz in here, save some hot chick, and now you’re the freaking golden boy of the station?”
My hand squeezes tighter around my bottle.
He turns to Turner. “Heck, maybe I should pay her a visit, throw her over my shoulder, see where that gets me,” he laughs.
I slam the bottle down on the counter, and beer shoots out, spilling down the sides over my hand.
I don’t even feel it.
Without turning around, I say, “I think you better walk away.”
Levi cracks a taunting laugh that tells me he’s not going anywhere. “Come on, buddy,” he says. “There’s no shame in taking the easy way out.” He leans toward me. “Gotta do what we can to move up in this world, right?”
Jace puts a hand on Levi’s arm. “Hey, that’s enough, Lawrence, come on.”
I try to breathe. I try to relax.
But all I see is red.
I turn. “I said. . .walk. Away.”
“Or what? You gonna come at me like you did your last captain?”
I glare.
“Oh yeah. I know all about that, everyone does. The way I figure it, the only possibility is that you called in some kind of favor to get a job back here—or you’re claiming you’re stupid so they’ll take pity on you.”
His expression shifts, and he takes a step closer.
“Either way, it ain’t fair.”
“Come on, Owen, let’s get out of here.” Jace grabs my arm, but I shrug him off.
My pulse quickens. I’m back in my old firehouse with Baker in my face. I’m back in grade school and some faceless bully is calling me stupid.
Levi needs to learn a lesson. And I’m happy to be the one to teach him.
I size him up, keeping my hands at my sides—which takes every ounce of my willpower. He’s not a small guy, but I’ve got a good twenty pounds and three inches on him.
He looks at Turner, then back at me. “Not sure I want to be taking orders from someone who’s too dumb to read the test.”
Levi laughs again, his self-righteous, I’m better than you attitude showing through, and something inside me snaps.
My left hand is no longer at my side, it’s grabbing the front of his shirt. My other hand, now a fist, is cocked back and ready to swing.
I hold it there, twitching, not sure what’s stopping me, so I shove both hands so hard into Levi’s chest that he stumbles back into the pool table, bending in half and falling to the floor. He scrambles, then pulls himself back up.
