by A. J. Downey
What did he do? I wondered.
I dressed quickly in a pair of comfortable leggings and an oversized boat neck tee, forgoing a bra for the time being. I didn’t really have any intention of leaving the house. Veronica and I had some things to go over to get me back on track with the book I was working on. I was beginning to worry I wouldn’t meet my deadline, but only because I had belted out a novel different from the one I was supposed to be writing first.
When a story demanded your attention that badly and tore out of you and onto the page like the side project had, well, any writer knew that it couldn’t and wouldn’t be denied, no matter what any publisher said. I’d gotten it done and pushed off to the side but still had at least three-quarters of the one I was supposed to be working on left to do.
I was thinking I would need a carrot on a stick to get any kind of decent word count down. Maybe instead of chocolate, I could get Backdraft to deny me sex until I met a certain word goal. That would certainly motivate me to get my ass in gear.
“Oh, my god,” I said and choked on a laugh at the long, flat boxes that Backdraft and Veronica were bringing into my bedroom. “What is this?”
“His idea, I just executed it. You can thank me later,” Veronica said flatly.
I laughed and they set it down at the bottom of the steps up to my bed.
“Grab the other one?” she asked.
“Yep.”
I went over to the box, frowning, and ran my eyes over it trying to see if there was anything identifying what was inside. The words ‘canopy’ and ‘frame’ stood out and I straightened.
“No!” I cried, delighted. “You guys!” I was suddenly very excited to get the boxes open.
“You and Ronnie go,” Backdraft said. “Go do whatever work it is you need to do. I’m going to get this unwrapped and figure out what tools I need, and run home.”
I felt happy tears spring to my eyes, and went over to him and wrapped my arms around him. He laughed and folded his arms around me, kissing the top of my head.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “No crying.”
I sniffed and managed to rein them in without any spilling over.
“You’re too good to me,” I said. “The both of you.”
Veronica looked at her nails and said, “Oh, trust me, I know.”
I laughed and she jerked her head out toward the rest of my apartment.
“Now, to the office, we have shit to do.”
I turned my face up to Backdraft’s and he kissed me soundly, saying, “Go to it, babe.”
The rest of the day was both the most productive and harmonious I’d had since moving to the Echelon. It was certainly the best day I’d had all week. I found myself smiling more and laughing. We ordered takeout for lunch and listened to Backdraft’s power tools and cursing from the bedroom while we kept working at the dining room table. The true highlight, though? When Backdraft came out and put his hands over my eyes and whispered in my ear, “It’s time.”
“Oh, yay!” I cried enthusiastically, and tried to pull his hands away.
“Nope, uh-uh, come on, now.”
Laughing, I awkwardly got up from the table and, his arm around me, one hand over my eyes and the other across my chest, cradling me in his body protectively and doing this awkward gait to keep me safe, we moved up the hall.
“Oh, wow,” Veronica said, and his hand moved from over my eyes.
I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust and had to agree.
“It’s beautiful,” I murmured and drank the sight in.
It was a brushed-aluminum frame, simple in design and matching the simple modern feel of the rest of the room. What made it, though, were the sheer cream curtains, matching the cream comforter and light peach sheets on the bed. Over the cream sheer drapes, gathered at the corners to keep the view intact, were deeply off-white lace curtains to further obscure things. A bar rested atop the framework, material draping down at the head of the bed artfully. Slide the bar to the foot of the bed, that material created an instant roof, let down the curtains and there were four walls. Privacy restored. It was perfect.
“I love it,” I said, turning in Backdraft’s arms. He smiled down at me, hazel eyes alight with love, and bent to kiss me. I kissed him back with everything I felt in that moment and more and he sighed against my mouth, a happy and contented sound.
“Stay tonight,” I urged and he sighed again, a very different sound from the one before.
“I can’t.”
I groaned, whining a little. He smiled and pecked me on the nose, stepping back just a bit and I knew there was no convincing him.
“Why not?” I asked, pouting out my bottom lip.
“Can’t tell you; plausible deniability, babe.” I nodded, and he said, “In fact, I need to go now.”
I wrinkled my nose and asked, “When will I see you again?”
“Soon, I promise.”
I nodded again and reluctantly let him go.
“Take care of my girl, Ronnie,” he said and she winked.
“Like it was my job,” she said and he and I laughed.
He packed up his tools, kissed me one more time and left. I confess, I stood at the door and watched the Indigo Knights logo splashed across his broad back float up the hall with every stride he took. He gave me that cheeky little salute of his before he stepped on the elevator and I gave a little wave, heaving a big sigh once he was gone.
“You are totally sprung,” Veronica said from the kitchen, working open a bottle of wine.
“Can you blame me?” I asked and she scoffed a laugh.
“Not at all, honey. Not. At. All.”
27
Backdraft…
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Ackley said and I shook my head.
“Suck it up, buddy. You walk on me now, you can kiss your ass goodbye as a fireman.”
“I know, I know, it’s just when I agreed to this, I knew it would suck, but now we’re here and staring at the cameras and shit, I’m well aware I’m about to go on national TV and tell the world what a fucking dickhead I was.”
“Yeah, yeah, you are,” I said and I have to say I felt zero sympathy.
“Most guys get to step off a situation like that and pretend it didn’t happen,” he muttered.
I snorted. “Yeah, rich guys, maybe, but guys like us? Not so much, man. Not so much. As much as I still want to punch you in the nuts for what you did, you’re still one of us. You’re still one of the good guys, and for some reason the good guys always face the music.”
He stared me in the face for a few heartbeats as we sat across from the hostess in the old school canvas-and-wood director’s chairs, which were uncomfortable as fuck. She had a whole pit crew fussing with her hair and makeup, doing last minute touches.
I gave Ackley a nod as the guy behind the camera started counting down and he let out a slow breath and nodded back. We faced the hostess and she smiled bright, the lights intensified and she said, “Welcome, gentlemen.”
I gave a curt nod and Ackley murmured a thanks. She turned her attention to me.
“For those in our audience that don’t know, you’re Emmet Calder, renowned author Timber Philips’ new flame, right?”
I cleared my throat. “If she wants to keep me around,” I said.
“There has been quite the scandal surrounding your relationship after Celebrity Beat’s scorching interview with your girlfriend, Victoria Russo.”
“Ex-girlfriend. That’s why I’m here, to set the record straight.”
“Please, do tell,” she leaned forward, all ears.
“I broke up with Tori over four months or so ago. You see, she cheated on me, and I took her back, but then she cheated on me again.”
“With me,” Ackley said, owning his shit.
“Wow,” the hostess said. “And who are you?”
“I’m Cameron Ackley, and I met Victoria through Calder here.”
“You use his last name.”
“We’re fire
men, it’s just something we do. You get enough Johns, Daves, and Franks in a house, it can get complicated real fast, so we just use last names.”
“I see. How did you meet Timber?” she asked me.
I cleared my throat and shifted, this was the part that was hit or miss on if Lil would ever forgive me.
“I was at a bar and grill hanging with some buddies and I saw her and that Mark Schumer guy at a table. I was shamelessly eavesdropping and figured out pretty quick he was breaking it off with her. He was telling her about how she wasn’t the first girl he’d been with. That she was, in fact, the other woman. She had no idea. I heard him tell her that being with her made him realize how much he loved his wife or girlfriend and that it was over. She was humiliated and I couldn’t deal, so I went over and stepped in. Asked if she needed a ride home.”
“Oh, wow, my hero,” she said with a light fake laugh and I gave a nod.
The interview went on for around ten minutes more and I was sweating bullets under the lights. By the time we wrapped it up, I could see a spark of something in Mindy, the lady interviewing us. She was pissed. The revelation that the drone footage wasn’t taken through a hotel but Lil’s bedroom window struck a chord with her somehow, although, why it made a damn bit of difference, hotel room or not, was beyond me.
The camera man yelled cut, and I started pulling microphone wires right away. Mindy came up to me and said, “I had no idea this went as far as it did.”
“Well, now you know,” I stated.
“I’ll make sure they don’t edit too much out,” she assured me. “This needs aired.”
“No offense intended, ma’am, but I really just wish the lot of you would stop airing a whole bunch of shit. Namely, I wish you’d all just leave us alone. Lil’s a good woman, she just wants to write her stories and make people feel good and in return? You all tear her the fuck down.”
She rocked back on her heels a bit, and her expression went from nonplussed to not-surprised as she processed what I said. She gave a nod and asked, “Is there anything we can do for you to make your stay in New York tonight more comfortable?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Get me on the very next flight out of it and back to BWI. I don’t want to be here. I want to be with Lil.”
She gave me a sharp look and barked out, “Hal!” and one of the studio hands came scurrying over.
“Get Mr. Calder on the next available flight out if you please?” She looked at Ackley. “You too?”
He gave a sad grin. “If you don’t mind, no. I’d like to try and get one last shot at getting laid before that airs and I can never get a woman again.”
I laughed, and she gave him a slightly dirty look but nodded.
I guess I was going home a little early. I might even be able to catch Lil at the 10-13 with the girls.
28
Lilli…
I was glad to see no paparazzi when we arrived at the 10-13. Veronica wrinkled her nose and said, “I thought we were going someplace called the 10-13.”
“That’s just what Backdraft and his club calls it, something about a radio call-sign, and it’s the address, too.”
“Weird.”
“It’s actually a nice place and has really good food.”
Antonio, our driver, opened the back door to the towncar and I got out first. Veronica and I both said thank you and I tipped him generously. He smiled and nodded and told us to just holler when we wanted to be picked up.
I pushed open the door and we went inside. Aly squealed excitedly and I laughed. Veronica was somehow included in Aly’s enthusiastic hug and Christina laughed from behind her.
Dawnie said, “Down, girl! Jesus,” from somewhere off to our right.
I heard a male voice say, “Mm, that’s her? I expected her to be taller.”
“Don’t be salty, Pasquale,” Chrissy admonished.
“Girl, you know I have to have some salt in with all this smooth caramel.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Dawnie said, but she was standing from her perch on the tall bar stool and had her arms open for a hug of her own. I went to her and gave her one and got a look at the man with them, Pasquale.
‘Outrageous’ didn’t even begin to cover it. He was slender and wore shiny black vinyl pants held up by a black punk rock belt, the kind with rows and rows of those square silver pyramid studs. The tee shirt had been cropped to show his flat stomach and the neck cut away so it hung artfully off his shoulders. I kid you not, it was a white Lisa Frank tee shirt with a white kitten on it surrounded by a pink halo to make it stand out. His hair was sprayed or waxed into a faux-hawk with equally pink product, and his makeup was just as ostentatious. Big, pouty, matte-pink lips, pink eyeshadow fading to white at the brow bone and black liquid liner making the smoothest cat’s eye I’d ever seen. He looked completely outlandish but carried himself with such a confidence he worked it into the next century.
Martine has nothing on this guy, was my first thought upon seeing him and I realized we were standing there measuring each other up.
“So you’re the one to steal my man, Backdraft, hm?”
Chrissy rolled her eyes and said, “Pasquale thinks all the men of the Indigo Knights are his.”
“Oh honey, they so are, they just don’t know it yet.”
Veronica laughed and he leaned back and gave her such a look. Waving his hand up and down in front of her he said flatly, “You look like the help,” and even though it was rude as hell, Veronica and I couldn’t help but exchange a look and laugh. He just had such a way about him.
“All right, ladies! Oh, and Pasquale.” The bartender had come around the bar and had a pad and pen.
“Oh, nuh-uh, Skids! You don’t get to do me like that. I am a lady and you are gonna hurt my feelings!” Pasquale was looking at him and if looks could kill! I tried valiantly not to giggle.
“All right, all right, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m sorry,” Skids said, smiling. “What are you ladies drinkin’?”
Pasquale harrumphed and stuck his straw between his lips, sucking down the last of what looked like a mojito out of his pint glass.
“Another mojito, por favor, baby.”
“Right, and counselor?” he asked Chrissy, and she held up her drink, which was half full.
“I’m good right now, thanks.”
“Aly Cat?”
“Um, I don’t know, ask me in a sec.”
“Okay,”
“I’ll have a beer,” Dawnie said and he wrote it down.
“The usual?”
“Yeah.”
“Righty-o, one Blue Moon, extra orange,” he said, and turned to Veronica.
“I’ll have a glass of wine.”
“White or red?”
“Red, a Merlot if you’ve got it.”
“What about you, Lil? Riesling?”
“Actually, I’ll do a Cosmo, if it’s all right with you.”
“You want it I’ll make it,” he said. “Be right back with these. You gonna want food?”
“Yes, please,” Veronica said, and he gave a nod and wandered off.
“Oh! Skids!” Aly bounded off after him, walking with him to the bar.
I loved it. The only thing I would have loved more was if Backdraft were here. I slid up onto a stool next to Dawnie, Veronica took up my other side, and Pasquale sat across from her and Chrissy across from me, leaving the empty seat for Aly across from her blind best friend.
“Oh, did you get the audio books, Dawnie?”
“I did! Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“You really write porn?” Pasquale asked and I laughed.
“Some people think so.”
“Pretty good, huh?”
“A lot of people think so,” Veronica supplied and I laughed.
The conversation flowed back and forth naturally in the crowded restaurant and bar. We sat at one of two tall bar tables set side by side as you came in the door. Beyond them were two dart boards and beyond t
hem, a pool table. There was a raised, glassed-in room with a gentle ramp that swept back and forth leading up to it for wheelchair access.
There were several Indigo Knights watching the fights in the glassed-in room while a local station played football silently above the bar, the black closed-captioning boxes rolling underneath. I found myself really enjoying the company and not doing what I usually did, which was hide in my phone or in the closed captioning. Reading had always been my refuge; even if it were only a cereal box that were handy, it would suddenly become the most engrossing piece of literature ever written to my eyes.
I was dying to know what Backdraft was doing, but was surprised that I wasn’t worried at all. I really did trust him. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I had said it but didn’t mean it, but with him, I really did.
“Well, fuck me!” Pasquale said, his voice clipped. “I’m not getting that one back.” He let out a dramatic sigh and took a drink of his mojito through its straw.
“What?” I asked, frowning, and turned around, following his gaze.
Backdraft was coming through the door, a cab pulling away from the curb. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and a bouquet of flowers in his other hand, white lilies, which were not only my namesake but my favorite. I’m not going to lie, I lit up from the inside out.
“I thought you weren’t coming!” I cried, slipping off my stool and going to him. I folded myself against his chest, slipping my arms beneath his jacket and around his waist. He was so warm. He hugged me, smiling and kissed the top of my head.
“You meet the guys yet?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“Not yet, the girls and I have mostly just been out here doing our thing.”
“Hmm, ’k. Come on, I’ll introduce you. Ronnie, you coming?”
“Naw, I’m good,” she said, laughing at something Chrissy had said.
I laid my flowers on the table really quick and Veronica gave me a nod to indicate she’d watch them and my purse.
