by Kay Gordon
“I definitely would let you if we had one.” Simon chuckled and straightened up. “I have a niece about a year older than Grace. The two of them would get along great. Let’s go see if we can find Jones.”
He led us out of the office and I clutched Gracie’s hand so tightly that I had to be careful not to hurt her. We made it to the staircase when Simon stopped. Two people were coming down the stairs and I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of her.
She was talking to the same man from the hospital with a smile on her face and her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, although it was so short that several strands had escaped and framed her face. She was wearing a navy blue shirt that looked to be a size or two too big and a pair of matching pants that seemed a little baggy.
Looking at her brought back so many memories but surprisingly, the first thought that ran through my mind was how beautiful she was.
“Yeah, right. He set Kendra loose on me so I had no choice to agree.” She looked up at Simon and gave him a pointed stare. “I have nothing in common with a bunch of seven-year-olds.”
“You’ll be fine but speaking of little girls, someone is here and she’d like to thank you.” He turned to gesture to Gracie and me and Victoria followed his gaze.
She smiled at my niece before meeting my eyes. Something, a spark of interest or attraction, passed between us instantly and she ran her gaze down my body before meeting my eyes again.
Suddenly, the smile faltered and she took a step back, stumbling on the stairs and forcing the guy next to her to catch her. All interest was wiped from her face and was replaced with a stoic wall.
“Evan Coleman.”
I cleared my throat and forced a small smile to my face. “Hi Victoria. I, uh, we wanted to thank you for getting Gracie out of the house that night.”
She stared at me, her face incredibly pale, and the man next to her frowned before glancing over at me. He then met Simon’s eyes, who had a worried look of his own on his face.
“You okay, Jones?”
Victoria finally ripped her gaze from mine to look at her lieutenant and she straightened herself up with a nod.
“Fine. Just fine.” She looked at the ground and visibly inhaled a deep breath before pasting a smile on her face and moving to where we were. She crouched in front of the little girl until they were eye level.
“Hi there. I’m Tori.”
Grace grinned at her. “Uncle Evan says your name is Victoria. Mine’s Gracie and I’m seven. I’m starting second grade next month. Do you like being a firefighter? I want to be a firefighter when I grow up but my neighbor, Marcus, says girls can’t be firefighters. They can be, right?”
When my niece stopped to take a breath, Victoria’s eyes darted up for a moment so she was looking at me before meeting Grace’s again. “My name’s really Victoria Jones but my friends all call me Tori or Jones. It’s very good to meet you, Gracie, and guess what? Your neighbor is wrong. Girls can do anything boys can do. I’m sure your uncle is teaching you how important empowerment is to females these days.”
Direct hit. Shame flooded through me and I looked at the floor.
“Why don’t you take them to see the engines, Jones?” Simon suggested with a smile. Victoria straightened up and nodded her head.
“Want to see the firetrucks, Grace? I’ll even let you turn on the sirens.”
Gracie let out a happy squeal and dropped my hand so she could grab Victoria’s. Victoria just smiled and led my niece off in another direction. Before I could follow them, the second man finally spoke.
“How do you and Tori know each other?”
Simon stood next to him silently, obviously wanting to know the answer, too. I wanted to fidget but my years of being an interrogator kept me still and stone-faced on the outside.
“We met years ago in Las Vegas but we don’t really know each other.”
The man, whose name I didn’t know, stiffened when I mentioned the city, telling me he knew some of her history. Simon didn’t look fazed, though.
“Jones can be kind of prickly but her bark is worse than her bite. Don’t let her get to you. She’ll treat that little girl well, too. I’ll be in my office if you need anything.” He turned his eyes on the other guy. “Can you help Trujillo finish up inventory?”
“Yeah.” The quiet guy nodded. “I can do that.”
Simon slapped his back as he walked back down the hallway. “Thanks, Lennox.”
Lennox watched him walk away before turning his gaze back on me. “I don’t know who you are or how she knows you but judging by the look on her face when she saw you, it’s not good. You fuck with Tori and I’ll kick your ass.”
Without waiting for me to reply, he turned around and walked down a different hallway. I stood there, watching him until he was gone, and then finally shook out of it enough to head out to the garage area.
I made it just in time for the siren to blare, followed by the loud air horn, and when both noises stopped, I heard angelic giggling.
“That was so loud!”
A feminine chuckle followed behind. “It was. It has to be loud so people can hear us inside of their cars. We need them to move over for us so we can get to emergencies faster.”
“Like the emergency at my grammy’s house?” Grace asked innocently and when Victoria answered, her voice was soft.
“Like the emergency at your grammy’s house.”
“Uncle Evan says that you ran into the fire and saved me.” Grace paused. “I’m glad you saved me.”
It took Victoria a long moment to answer. “I’m glad I saved you, too.”
I walked up to the truck and found Victoria standing on the ledge to the driver’s side while Grace sat behind the steering wheel with a large headset over her ears. When she caught sight of me, a grin lit up her precious face.
“Look at me, Uncle Ev! I’m driving the fire truck!”
“You sure are, noodle,” I replied with a small laugh as I dug into my pocket for my phone. “Let me get a picture for Mommy and Daddy.”
Victoria stepped down so she wasn’t in the way but I didn’t miss how she kept her arm up slightly, ready to grab Grace if she started to topple from the seat.
Once Grace had her fill in the cab, I followed behind both girls while Victoria showed her everything else the engine had to offer, including hoses, axes, traffic equipment, saws, and so many other things that were all very neatly arranged.
She had just finished explaining what the Jaws of Life did when she crouched in front of Gracie.
“What do you saw we try on some gear?”
“Like a fire hat?” Grace asked excitedly and the woman in front of her nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.” She straightened up and caught my eye, her own face going cold almost immediately. “I have a sanitized set she can try on, if that’s okay.”
I nodded my head quickly. “Yeah, of course. Thank you for this.”
The loathing this woman had for me was written all over her face but it disappeared the second she looked back at Grace. They linked hands again and I followed behind as they walked to where the gear was hung up.
Grace looked ridiculous in Victoria’s oversized coat and pants that only stayed up because of the suspenders, but she also made ridiculous look so adorable. Once she had the helmet and the boots on, I snapped photo after photo and laughed along with the two of them.
“Okay,” Victoria said once the gear was all hung back up. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you where we eat, sleep, and hang out when we have some free time.”
The two of them joined hands again, like old friends, and we headed up the stairs.
Victoria showed us the common areas and introduced Grace to all of the men who were crowded around the TV. One of the men I recognized, Nick Christos, stood to come over and shake my hand. He also got down on one knee and listened as Grace told him everything she had been shown so far.
“There’re a lot of boys in here,” Gr
ace commented as we headed down another hallway. Victoria nodded and turned the knob on one of the doors.
“I’m the only girl with my group. There’s one other girl who’s here when I’m not.” She pushed open the door and led my daughter inside. “This is the room she and I use.”
“Do you get the top bunkbed or the bottom?” Grace asked, immediately climbing the ladder to the top. “Uncle Ev, I want a bunkbed!”
Yeah, that would go over well with her parents. I could just see her falling and breaking her arm. As if Victoria could read my mind, she chuckled quietly.
“I sleep on the bottom so I don’t fall and hurt myself.”
Gracie nodded seriously. “I’m going to sleep on the bottom when I’m a firefighter. Just like you.”
Someone knocked on the open door and Nick appeared with a smile. “So, have you got a new partner yet, Jones?”
“Almost,” Victoria replied with a chuckle. “Grace is going to be pretty awesome. I think she needs to get a bit taller, though.”
“I think so, too.” Nick nodded seriously. “I guess that means she just needs to eat her vegetables, right?”
Grace scrunched up her nose in the most adorable way. “Do you guys eat your vegetables?”
“We do,” Victoria said at the same time Nick mumbled, “My wife’s a vegetarian. Vegetables are all we eat.”
The little girl didn’t miss a beat. Her eyes widened and she looked him up and down. “Is that why you’re so tall?”
“Exactly.” He grinned at her and then fixed his eyes on me. “What’s your stance on sweets?”
“Oh, I’m the fun uncle so my stance is completely non-existent.”
“That’s going to be me as soon as my little guy is old enough.” He looked at Grace, who was still on the top bunk. “My sister-in-law just dropped off some brownies. Want to come check them out?”
She was off of the bed quicker than I could blink. “Yes!”
“Whoa, let’s at least wash your hands, Gracie,” I said quietly and she released a sigh before nodding.
“Okay.”
Victoria gestured for us to follow her. “The women’s bathroom is this way.”
Nick went the other way while we followed the woman down the hallway. I couldn’t help but admire her from behind. It wasn’t even her ass I was admiring, although it still managed to look fantastic in her unshapely clothing, but the way she held herself. Her gait was sure, her shoulders back, and she held an air of confidence that I was glad hadn’t been stripped from her completely.
The three of us came to a stop in front of the women’s bathroom and Victoria gestured for us to go ahead of her.
“I’ll wait out here.”
“I don’t need help,” Grace insisted when I started to follow her through the door. “You stay out here, Uncle Evan.”
The door shut and I shook my head before looking at Victoria. “Seven going on eighteen.”
“She’s adorable,” she replied quietly. “I hope that you’ve found some morals in the past seven years. Especially if you’re a role model in that impressionable young girl’s life.”
The amount of venom she managed to inject in her voice while still keeping it soft was kind of impressive. Her ire wasn’t unexpected and it wasn’t unwarranted. If she screamed in my face, kicked me in the balls, and then shoved me to the ground, I would deserve that and more.
“Victoria…”
“Oh, no,” she interrupted, her green eyes blazing as she stared me down. “You don’t get to offer me some half-assed apology seven years later. The things your family said about me still echo in my mind at night, Coleman. They shaped me into a completely different person. So, thank you for that.”
“I know.” My voice was barely a whisper. “The things they said still haunt me, too. You don’t want to hear it and maybe I don’t deserve the chance to say it, but I’m sorrier than you can ever know. You don’t know the whole story, though.”
We just stared at each other and I felt something, I don’t know exactly what, pass between us. Her brows furrowed slightly, telling me she felt it, too, but she quickly schooled her face.
“I don’t care about the whole story. Not anymore. Do right by your niece. Be her champion. Protect her from the sharks. That’s the best way to redeem yourself.”
Before I could reply, the door swung open and Grace walked out with a smile.
“I went potty, too. Can we get brownies now?”
“Yeah, noodle.” I held out my hand to her, which she took immediately before reaching out to grab Victoria’s, too.
We sat down at a large table while Grace gorged herself on sweets and I listened as the group of people told her stories. None of them were horrific, of course, but they seemed to love telling her the warm-hearted ones. She was looking at Simon Owens in awe when he finished telling her about how they’d saved five puppies from a sewer drain they were stuck in.
“Did you keep them?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No, but I heard they all went to great homes.”
Victoria offered Grace the barest of smiles but she was completely shut down after our talk earlier. She hung out with us for about thirty minutes before turning her eyes on my niece.
“I have to get back to work, Gracie, but it was really good to meet you.”
Grace frowned and put down the hundredth brownie she’d been eating. “Can I come back and see you sometime?”
“Of course.” Victoria ruffled the little girl’s hair and I watched her throat move when she swallowed. “Keep eating your vegetables and work hard so you can be a firefighter one day, okay?”
With that, she turned and headed down the hallway. I watched her go, wanting to say something but not knowing what. When I turned back to the table, I noticed several sets of eyes on me. I cleared my throat and stood from my chair.
“Thank you for letting us visit today. Grace wanted to thank Victoria and I think you guys made her dreams come true by letting her into this part of your worlds.” I glanced to my niece. “What do you say, Gracie?”
She grinned at those still at the table. “Thank you. I had fun.”
“I’m glad.” Nick smiled at her and gave me another cursory glance. “If there’s ever anything any of us can do for her, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”
I shook both Nick and Simon’s hands while the Lennox guy glared at me. Gracie and I walked down the stairs hand-in-hand and I blew out a long breath once we were back in the car.
Well, that sucked.
Chapter Nine
Tori
“Spill.”
I looked up from where I was sitting on the weight bench and met Tyson’s brown eyes. I shrugged my shoulders and pushed up on the bar again. “What?”
“Who was that guy? And don’t say nobody, Tor, because you almost fell down the stairs when you saw him.” His voice was gentle and I felt an unfamiliar burning sensation behind my eyes.
Pushing it back, I let go of the bar I had been pulling down and glanced around the room to ensure we were alone. We were, which I should have known because Tyson wasn’t a big talker around the others.
Well, he didn’t use to be.
In the weeks since Tyson had casually dropped the bomb regarding his sexual orientation, not a lot had changed with the guys. Ty himself was different, though. He was more outgoing with them, friendlier, and our company mates reciprocated completely. It was like they’d been waiting for Tyson to come out of his shell, to be social. They didn’t care if he was gay or straight, just that he was friendly.
It gave me hope.
“He’s Tristan Dunsworth’s brother. The detective,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible and my face indifferent. Ty’s eyes went wide and I saw his fists clench at his sides.
“Please tell me that you’re kidding.”
I shook my head and moved to my feet. “That would be a strange joke.”
He moved until we
were toe-to-toe and his eyes searched my face for a second before he spoke again. “Are you okay?”
“I won’t let that asshole occupy any space in my head,” I reassured him softly. “He doesn’t deserve any emotions from me, negative or positive.”
“Good girl.” Ty wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace and neither of us moved until the PA chimed. He waited while I wiped down my equipment and then the two of us headed towards the stairs together.
The dining area was crowded as everyone grabbed drinks and took their seats. I fell into my usual chair next to Christos and Lennox took the one on the other side of me. Two huge platters of spaghetti were placed in the middle along with a tray of garlic bread and I groaned loudly.
“What is your obsession with carbs, Hughes?”
The man in question grinned at me as he took his seat and began loading up his plate. “Carbs are life. Don’t pretend like you don’t love them.”
“I love them too much,” I muttered as I dished up my own plate. “That’s the problem.”
The dining area was noisy with several conversations going on at once and I was lost in my own little world, spending too much time thinking about Evan Coleman, when I caught tidbits of the conversation between Simpson and Barthe.
“…It was like an amateur porno. I didn’t know whether to be amused, ashamed, or aroused.”
My whole body went stiff. As far as I knew, the captain was the only one in the company who was aware of what had happened seven years ago. I worried every day that the rest would find out, though.
It wasn’t because I was ashamed. Years of therapy had helped me understand that I had nothing to be ashamed of. I was involved in an intimate, private, and very normal act. It was Tristan who should be ashamed. Not me.
Despite the non-reaction to Ty’s news, I was still afraid. Afraid that my co-workers would treat me like my former company had if they found out. I was afraid that my life would fall apart again.
A few times over the years, the video randomly resurfaced. I had a private investigation firm on speed dial that worked hard to get them taken down as soon as they popped up. It was true what they said, though. Once it was on the internet, it was there forever.
