King of the Friend Zone (Power of the Matchmaker)

by Pratt, Sheralyn

  “Are you kidding?” she said, trying for a lightheartedness she didn’t feel. “I can’t let what happened at the vineyard be how we end.”

  “Why not?” he asked, and it was bizarre to her that he sounded sincere.

  “Hunter…we’ve been best friends for twenty-seven years.”

  He shrugged. “So? If we’re done, we’re done. Jon’s right about that. Why drag it out?”

  “No,” Esme said, shaking her head. “It’s not like that, Hunter.”

  “Really? Because it seems like it’s exactly like that.”

  That sparked her temper. “And you’d be okay with it if we left things how they are?”

  “It’s the same for me either way,” he said, his eyes looking at anything but her. “I swear I didn’t want it to be like this.”

  “I know,” she said. “Jon…”

  Hunter shook his head. “I mean, I get how he’s sucked you in, but…” He shook his head again.

  “But?” she prompted.

  “But it’s none of my business,” he said quickly. “Not anymore. You’ll figure it out. I guess the lucky thing in all this is that I won’t have to be sitting there talking you through all the spats like I think the guy is worth the headache. At least now I can remind you that you have options. Lots of options. Just because that guy got a ring on you in record time doesn’t mean you have to keep him.”

  “Yeah, I’m not going there with you,” Esme said, ignoring the first part of what he’d said entirely.

  “You’re not going anywhere with me. That’s kind of the point.” He spared her a quick glance. “Because even though you weren’t the one who pulled me to the side and laid down the law tonight, you have Jon’s back in all of this. I don’t forgive you for that, Esme. I don’t forgive you for tossing me out like last year’s shoes. It doesn’t matter if you’re sad to see me go or if you reminisce about the good times before you toss me. You’re still tossing me, and I really thought we were more to each other than that.”

  “We are.”

  He stood and brushed himself off. “Your actions say otherwise, so you know what? I’m not going to end this conversation by asking you to choose me, because honestly, I deserve better. I deserve a woman who will fight for me. But I will say that I love you and that I wish that woman was you.” He looked off in the direction of the rotunda and shook his head. “But it’s not. So go home to Jon and have a good life.”

  Panicking, Esme stood up and tried to grab his hand. He moved out of her reach.

  “What’s done is done, Ez,” he said, backing away. “And yes, you broke my heart. But the truth is you’ve been breaking it for years, so maybe all this is a good thing. Maybe I can finally let you go and find someone who doesn’t want to break me anymore.”

  If he’d punched her in the chest, Esme would have understood the feeling crushing her ribs. As it was, the sudden inability to breathe had her panicking a bit and stole her voice as Hunter covered the short distance to his truck.

  “Have a good life,” he said as he walked around to the driver’s side. “And don’t worry. I won’t try to kiss you the next time I see you. I threw that in there in the heat of the moment because some part of me hoped you felt the same way, but…yeah. Don’t worry about that, okay? If we meet again, I’ll behave.”

  “Hunter,” she choked out, but he ignored her and got into his truck.

  Five seconds later he was pulling away, and all Esme could think was, That wasn’t how things were supposed to go. At all.

  Then she got back to trying to remember how to breathe.

  Chapter 30

  One of the perks of being a fireman: sometimes you got to start the fire in the name of training exercises. Sure, the fires were always controlled burns done for training purposes only, but that didn’t mean Hunter couldn’t get creative with the fuel he provided.

  And, oh, did Hunter have some fuel.

  First into the burn pile were a dozen or so pictures Hunter had been stupid enough to print out over the years. Esme and him on a cruise. Esme and him bungee jumping in South Africa. A stupid tourist picture with a dolphin down in Mexico and a shot on a rollercoaster at Six Flags. Another picture from the summer when he’d actually got her to try rock climbing, followed by about seven other pictures he didn’t take the time to look at.

  What was the point? They were parts of the past that didn’t belong in the present—just like the stupid race t-shirts they’d acquired over the years. Was there anything more obnoxious than Ragnar shirts and stickers? Hunter couldn’t think of anything in that particular moment, and yet he had six shirts and six years of self-important stickers he’d let Esme talk into putting onto his truck.

  Well, they were doused in gasoline now, along with about a hundred other things that made him think about Esme.

  “Hey, Chase,” Andy said, coming up behind him. “Is the dummy wearing an Armani suit?”

  “Is that what the tag says?”

  The guy hesitated, as if wondering whether it was a trick question. “Yeah.”

  “Then I guess it is.”

  Andy’s brow furrowed. “Anything wrong with it?”

  “No. I just hate it.”

  “Um, we’re almost the same height…”

  Hunter pretended to review the checklist in his hand even though his eyes couldn’t focus on a single letter. “Save the dummy’s life and it’s all yours.”

  “It’ll smell like smoke.”

  “Sounds like you might have to find out why dry cleaners are a thing.”

  Andy shifted nervously. “Can’t we skip all that and take the suit off him now?”

  Hunter finally turned and looked at his friend. “I want it to burn, and you want to keep it. You want it? Save the dummy and don’t let it burn.”

  “Got it,” Andy said and stepped off.

  Hunter doubled-checked the bags he’d carted all of Esme’s stuff over in to make sure they were empty. Then he threw them in the car’s trunk just to be sure. It was only then that he noticed he’d missed one thing—the stupid FitBit on his wrist.

  How could he have missed that? He might as well wear a pink rhinestone collar around all day instead of the dainty little bracelet that reported his steps to Esme.

  He ripped it off and tossed it in the back seat.

  Many things were uncertain any given day, but one thing that was definitely not was the fact that this car was about to become a literal torch. By the time his men put it out, there wouldn’t be a single salvageable thing inside. Hunter would make sure of that.

  Maybe Andy would get the suit. Maybe. If so, good for him. But the rest of it was totally going to burn.

  “All right, men!” Hunter called out to his team. “Let’s save a fake life.”

  Then he lit the lead and let the fire go to work.

  Chapter 31

  Hunter finished stowing his gear from their most recent call and headed to the break room. The calls were rolling in one after another today. No actual fires yet, but plenty to keep the day interesting. Hunter was glad. The last thing he needed was down time.

  He had no desire to be alone with his thoughts.

  “Nah,” Andy was saying as Hunter walked into the break room. Everyone seemed to have headed for a bunk to rest up besides Andy, Daryl, and Dave. “If that call would have been a TV show, somehow the gas line would have been cut when the car hit the telephone pole. Then the downed line would have landed in it and started a fire.”

  “Only if it was near the end of the episode,” Daryl argued. “If it were the beginning of the episode, it would be a hot woman driving the car and we’d control the wire without incident. Then she’d bring us a Thank You cake for saving her life after the first commercial break and confess her crush on one of us.”

  “Obviously me,” Dave said, plopping down on the couch with a magazine.

  Hunter laughed. “We all know who she’d have a crush on.”

  Daryl nodded. “Me.”

  “Dream on, Mr. Ma
y,” Hunter said. “Mr. July is on the cover of the Fireman Fund Raiser calendar for a reason.”

  “Because he can’t sell anything with his personality?” Daryl asked.

  “Correct,” Hunter said. “My job is to be pretty, which is why all love interests will always crush on me first.”

  “Until the woman gets to know you,” Andy jabbed.

  Hunter shrugged. “That’s long enough for me to have a three-episode arc with her. You’d need a five-episode arc of pining to just get to the awkward first date.”

  “Unfortunately true,” Daryl agreed with a nod.

  Andy grabbed a coffee mug and filled it. “Yeah? Well, some of us don’t need six packs to get the girl.”

  “Some of us don’t use the excuse of having a personality to avoid putting in the work to have a six pack,” Hunter retorted.

  Andy’s eyes narrowed at the challenge. “I could have a six pack if I wanted to.”

  Even Dave laughed at that one. “Tell that to the donut you’re about to pick up and eat.”

  “I need my fuel,” Andy said, reaching for a chocolate cake donut. “The shift’s not even half over and we’ve been on eight calls. A donut is warranted.”

  “Uh-huh,” Hunter drawled. “How many is that today? Five?”

  Andy shook his head. “Dude, if I wanted someone to monitor my food intake, I’d have a girlfriend.”

  “But you’d rather have donuts,” Daryl said sagely.

  “They’ve got you there,” Dave said, not looking up from his magazine.

  “Whatever,” Andy challenged. “I can do more pull ups than all of you.”

  Everyone grew still at the challenge.

  “I hope you’re ready to eat those words, donut boy,” Daryl said, walking over to the pull-up bar in the doorway. “Loser buys donuts for the rest of the month.”

  Andy took a big bite of the donut before setting it down on the table with his coffee. “You’re on, man.”

  Without another word, they all started emptying their pockets of excess weight. Keys, phones, pocket knives…they all went on the table as they gathered on-by-one at the pull-up bar.

  “The count stops when you let go of the bar,” Daryl said, and all the guys nodded. “Good. I’ll start.”

  Wasting no time, Daryl gripped the bar and started pumping out pull ups. Andy immediately started counting them off.

  “One, two, three…”

  Hunter let the other guys worry about keeping count while he stretched his arms in preparation for his turn. He’d end up going second. He and Daryl always went first or second to set the bar for the other guys to beat. It was an unspoken rule. Andy liked to talk big, but he didn’t stand a chance. It would be a battle for last place between Dave and Andy, and if it had been six months ago Hunter would have put his money on Dave losing. The guy had been upping his game, though, so it could go either way.

  When the count hit twenty, Hunter heard his phone buzz with a text on the table. He ignored it. Only one person texted him at work, and he wasn’t responding to her texts anymore.

  Daryl started gassing out at twenty-four pull ups but managed to muscle through to twenty-eight before dropping off the bar. He turned to face Hunter.

  “Let’s see you beat that, Mr. July.”

  “In my sleep, bro,” Hunter said, gripping the bar as his phone buzzed with another text.

  Hunter bent his knees to let himself hang, then started his reps. One, two, three, four—his phone buzzed—five, six, seven…

  He kept going, ignoring his phone when it buzzed yet again. But Andy didn’t.

  “Someone named, uh, NOT TODAY SATAN is blowing up your phone, Hunter.”

  “Leave it,” Hunter said, still going strong.

  “Another psycho?” Andy guessed, clearly trying to distract him.

  “Basically,” Hunter said, earning an arched looked from Daryl in his peripheral vision. He ignored it as he powered past thirty pull-ups. No way he was buying donuts for the rest of the month.

  At thirty-five his arms started fading, but yet another text to his phone gave him a second wind.

  Who did Esme think she was? He was giving her everything she wanted. She said no calls? He wasn’t calling. She said no texts? He wasn’t texting. He was leaving her alone like her precious Jon demanded. Why couldn’t she do the same?

  In his fume, he’d stopped counting his pull ups. All he knew was that his arms were on fire and that pure anger had fueled the last three. He tried for one more and heard Daryl call out, “Forty-seven!”

  Forty-seven? That was almost a personal best. Knowing he didn’t have any more in the tank, Hunter dropped off the bar and eyed Andy. “Let’s see you beat that, dough boy.”

  “Not yet,” Andy said, feigning confidence. “Dave’s next.”

  Hunter shrugged. It didn’t matter to him who went next, only that he didn’t have to waste money on donuts.

  When Dave walked up to the bar for his turn, Daryl stepped up next to him.

  “C’mon, Dave,” Hunter said as the man gripped the bar. When Andy started counting the pull-ups off, Daryl decided it was time for a conversation.

  “So,” Daryl said softly. “How are things going with Esme?”

  Hunter kept his eyes on Dave. “She and Jon are doing great.”

  Daryl nodded, taking his time with the next question. “And you and Esme?”

  Hunter sent his friend a hard look. “Jon asked Esme to never see me again, and Esme didn’t argue. That’s where we are.”

  “…nine, ten…” Andy counted off.

  “Esme wouldn’t agree to that,” Daryl said with confidence

  “…eleven, twelve…”

  “Well, Esme did agree to it, so we’re done.”

  Daryl frowned, looking like he wanted to argue. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “Thirteen. C’mon, Dave,” Andy was taunting. “You know you want to give up!”

  By the looks of it, Dave wasn’t ready to give up and neither was Daryl. The man kept talking.

  “So if I look at that text you just got, is it going to be from Esme?” he said.

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  Hunter shook his head. “She doesn’t want to fight Jon for me and I don’t want to fight to stay in the friend zone, so this is the end of the road.”

  Daryl’s eyebrows shot up at that. “You told her you want to be with her?”

  “Yep.”

  “And she chose Jon?”

  “…fourrrrteeeeeeen…”

  Hunter fought to keep the sting of the answer out of his voice. “Yep.”

  “Are you sure?”

  For the first time, Hunter turned and looked at his friend. “I have a room full of about forty witnesses who will testify that is indeed the case.”

  “Whoa,” Daryl said. “Definitely wouldn’t have called that one.”

  “I did, but I made a fool out of myself anyway.”

  “…fiffffteeeeeen. C’mon, dude,” Andy taunted. “You know that’s your last one.”

  “I’m sorry, man,” Daryl said softly.

  “Yeah, but whatever, right?”

  “I guess,” Daryl said, not sounding convinced. “But you should talk to her.”

  “About what?”

  “About everything. You and Esme are like two halves of the same person to me. I can’t imagine the two of you quitting each other cold turkey.”

  “Well, there really isn’t another way,” Hunter said as Dave hit sixteen. “And Jon insists.”

  “Yet she’s texting you.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “I’m just saying…you should talk to her. Hash things out.”

  “Or I should move on with my life,” Hunter bit out. “She has Jon to hash things out with now. Whatever it is she wants to say to me, she can say to Jon.”

  Daryl shook his head. “That’s messed up.”

  “That’s marriage.”

  “
They’re not married yet.”

  Hunter shrugged. “Might as well be. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”

  “…sevennnnteeeeeen,” Andy called out. “C’mon, man! You’re getting weak!”

  Daryl was quiet for a minute as Dave psyched himself up for pull-up number eighteen. “So no more inviting her around the station?”

  “Nope.”

  “But you’re cool if I stay friends with her on social media and stuff?”

  “Jon’s the one who likes to control who she talks to,” Hunter said dismissively. “Ask him.”

  “But you’re cool if I stay friends with her?”

  “Asked and answered, man.”

  “Just checking.”

  Dave dropped from the bar and looked at Andy. “Eighteen. Beat that.”

  Smiling, Andy brushed his hands off on his pants and reached for the bar. Daryl waited until Andy was doing his reps and Dave was counting him off to speak again.

  “I want to meet this Jon guy.”

  “He’s a peach.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be the judge of that.”

  “Judge away, but I’m done talking about it.”

  “Okay.”

  Then they both watched in silence as Andy gassed out after fourteen pull-ups.

  Chapter 32

  NOT TODAY SATAN

  NOT TODAY SATAN:

  FYI- I don’t like how

  we left things.

  Really? No response?

  We both know you saw

  that last text. Call me,

  Hunter.

  We need to talk about

  Saturday night.

  C-a-l-l m-e.

  Are you seriously stone-

  walling me? We’re

  better than that.

  Hunter, call me or I’m

  going to show up at

  your work. It’s not like

  I don’t know where

  to find you.

  Wow. You got the whole

  fire station to ignore me

  when I rang the bell? Real