I had fucking finally found my second chance. Jamie was my other half, and she was fast healing the part of my heart that was torn and shattered when Prue died. My bug would always be the love of my life, there was no way I could or would replace her, but loving someone fiercely again was something I had been looking for all these years. My time for just going through the motions of living was over. It was time to let my heart take over once again.
“Carson, I’m taking my tea break. I’ll be back soon,” I called out as I made my way past the day room, not bothering to stop. I had purposely waited to have my break later than usual. Lake’s café was just about to close, and Jason was meeting Jamie and me there.
When we called Jay earlier this morning before I left for work and listened to him yell and insult me for waking him up so early for five minutes, he agreed to my suggestion that Jamie would feel more at ease at the café instead of the cop shop. This was going to be hard enough on her without adding the stress of being in a station filled with law enforcement officers.
“Lake’s closing in a few minutes, mate,” Carson said from behind me, no longer in the day room but standing in the hall, giving me a strange look.
Jamie admitted that Lake had suspicions that she was hiding something. She told me about the first day she arrived in town and how she fudged her contact information for Lake and on the rental agreement for old man Masters. I had to admit I was impressed with Lake’s attention to detail and observation, although I shouldn’t have been. With three teenagers and a toddler, she had to be on the ball. Otherwise, the kids, not to mention Hoges, would run rings around her.
Without stopping, I reached the door then looked back at him again. “Jason is meeting Jamie and me there. Lake said it was okay.”
Carson nodded. “You have Jamie’s back?” The tone he used sounded more like a demand.
He didn’t need to worry. I was aware that Lake had a soft spot for her new friend and employee. Therefore, so did Carson.
“For as long as she will have me,” I answered simply.
“Righto, mate. See you later. We can talk about it then,” Carson said then turned around and went back to the day room, not giving me an option.
Carson and Hoove were my best mates. We shared good times and hard ones, so they had a right to know what was going on, but not until Jamie was ready to tell them.
I strode across the road, eyeballing the familiar unmarked car that Jason drove, which was already parked outside the café. Picking up my pace, I hurried the rest of the way. Worry and fury stabbed at me. Jason was a hard man where women were concerned. Other than his beloved niece, Shiloh, who owned his heart and soul, he tended to be too blunt and too suspicious of them. His sister-in-law, Charlotte, and the women of the Wounded Souls, who called themselves the flock, were really the only grown women he treated with respect.
“Just as well I left my axe back at the station,” I grumbled aloud, looking again at Jason’s car. If I found that he’d scared Jamie in any way while waiting for me, I just might live up to the nickname Jason bestowed on me years ago and fuck up his car.
17
I could hear Lake clattering around in the kitchen at the back of the café and wished she would come and sit with me while I waited for Chase to arrive.
She had been kind to let this meeting happen here instead of me going down to the police station. Doing that seemed too much like admitting to doing something horribly wrong, which I suppose I did. Hitting a man with a chunk of porcelain on the side of the head, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious, and then running off wasn’t the ideal situation to be in granted. However, sitting here in front of a huge man with what looked like a permanent scowl on his incredibly handsome face, wasn’t either.
I was slightly confused by his appearance, though. I knew he was a police officer, and he was off duty, according to his earlier comment when he walked in and saw that Chase was still to arrive.
“Got fucking shit to do, and the prick isn’t even here yet. Fucking perfect,” he had growled, but Lake just laughed and put a steaming cup of black coffee and a coffee scroll in front of him, then told him to behave and stop growling. Then she took off for the kitchen. I had to admit he did stop growling, but his scowl remained.
I felt the sweat pool on my back, wondering if I should start a conversation with the man and ask him why he was wearing a motorcycle club jacket if he was a policeman. Didn’t cops and bikers work on opposite sides of the law? Maybe he was a plant, working undercover to infiltrate the— Looking at his leather jacket, I saw the insignia of the Wounded Souls. Oh, that was cool as were the skull and rifles. Officer was stitched on his upper right pocket area and under it was the name Prick. That wasn’t nice. Who on earth would want to be known as Prick?
“I’m a member of an MC that isn’t an outlaw club. We operate within the parameters of the law. In fact, the club owns many businesses in town that earn honest money, and some of us have outside jobs—like me. We also give back to the town with charity functions and regular club rides,” Jason said all of a sudden, startling me out of my musings about his unusual nickname.
“If you are a good club, why are you called… that?” I asked, waving my hand at the name.
“My brother is an arsehole,” he growled.
I stared at him in shock. What a weird thing to say. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I replied stupidly, which earned me a gruff grunt that sort of resembled a laugh.
I was about to ask him to elaborate, now compelled to know more, when his phone started to ring from the inside of his jacket. I watched him scowl even harder as he fished it out only to see his face soften when he looked at the screen. He swiped it open and pressed it to his ear.
“Hey there, Shy-shy. I will be there soon, baby girl.” He stopped and listened for a minute. The kind and indulgent smile that replaced the scowl made him ten times more handsome. “I promise I will be there soon. You did what? Shiloh Zoe, what were you thinking, young lady.”
I sat there, unashamedly and listened to the one-sided conversation. Was this his daughter?
“I am sure your father grounded you. I would, too.”
Okay, so not his daughter. Maybe a niece.
“That was very silly, Shiloh. Something bad could have happened to you and Meagan, going off without letting your parents know where you were. Last week’s shenanigans with Zander and the rope was bad enough.” Jason pinched the bridge of his nose, and I could hear a high-pitched voice come through loudly from the other end of the phone. I couldn’t make out what the little girl was saying, but she did sound annoyed.
“Yes, baby girl, I know Darth was there with you, but he can’t keep you safe the way he used to. Okay, Shy-shy, I will read you a story and play C.O.D with you after I get done in the war room.”
Completely transfixed with this conversation, I didn’t hear Chase enter the café until a noise of someone clearing his throat made me jump.
Spinning my head around, I saw Chase standing behind me with his eyes narrowed, not looking very happy.
What did I do? “What?” I asked quickly.
“You wanna stare at Jason any harder, legs?” he growled at me, and I had to laugh.
Chase is jealous, I thought delightfully. I told him I loved him last night during our beautiful night of making love and becoming a couple. I wasn’t worried we were moving fast. In fact, it thrilled me that I had a boyfriend. Some of the female players on the circuit called their significant others their partners, but I didn’t like that term. I liked boyfriend. And one day, I hoped to call him my fiancé then, fingers crossed, husband.
I wanted to tell Chase that I much preferred his gorgeous smiling face to Jason’s scowling angry one. Jason might be handsome and quite a large, built man, but something told me he didn’t smile that much, and that gave him a formidable aura.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Jason’s booming voice spoke instead.
“Glad you could join us, Axe. Some people have things to do, you
know.”
Chase flipped Jason his middle finger and took a seat beside me. He shuffled his chair close to mine and pulled one of my legs over the leg closest to me.
I squeaked in surprise, but I secretly liked that he was showing his friend that I was his and his alone.
“Sorry, mate. Had to clean the tanker for the funeral. We’re hoping we won’t need to use it until the funeral the day after tomorrow,” Chase explained, lacing his fingers through mine and bringing my hand to his lips where he kissed each of my knuckles softly. Chase, I was quickly learning, was a public display of affection man, and it wasn’t something he did just to show off for his friends. Actually, both Carson and Dylan were the same with their wives.
I liked that, too, and I was just the same with Chase. The other day, I’d kissed him as he was leaving the café before we’d really cemented that we were together.
“Sounds like Shiloh is living up to her reputation as a daredevil if the part of your call I overheard is anything to go by.”
“Mate, she is going to be the death of Deck and me. The other day, she and Zander played Mission Impossible with a length of rope and a swing set. Today, she and Meagan, Steel and Mia’s little girl, went off to the park alone without detail or letting anyone at the club know they were going. I will not even go into the shed roof she got up on.” Jason muttered tiredly.
It sounded like the little girl with the cool name of Shiloh was quite the ratbag. Why she needed detail was another intriguing question I wanted to ask but didn’t.
Instead, I sat there and played with the edge of the tablecloth while Chase and Jason made some small talk. They had history, going by the things they talked about and the people in common they knew. I suddenly felt like an outsider, not that Chase had forgotten I was there. As he chatted, the hand that wasn’t holding mine was making lazy patterns on my jean-covered thigh, making me all kinds of hot.
My friendships with Lake and Tate were growing every day and agreeing to help Lake’s sister, Brooke, and her tennis team was a good start at making my own history in my new home as was my job here.
It takes time, Jamie. Soon Jinxed Jamie will be a part of your past. Now you are legs, and the man that gave you that nickname loves you. The pep talk I gave myself worked, and suddenly, the melancholy lifted.
“So tell me why am I here and not with my club and niece,” Jason said, all of a sudden gruff again, making my sweating start back up.
Even though this was the last thing I wanted to be doing right now, I owed it to myself and my future to come clean.
“Legs, you ready, baby?” Chase asked me gently, his eyes holding me captive.
I saw the love in their depths, and it gave me the courage I needed to do this. Shifting in my seat, I gave Chase a soft kiss then turned and faced Jason with a newfound resolve. My future with Chase depended on it.
“My real name is Jamie Lawrence. Up until a month ago, I was a professional tennis player,” I started and saw the recognition of my correct name on Jason’s face. “My coach liked to hit me, smack me around, and belittle me. On the last day, the one when my career ended for good, Colin told me I was broke, and he was giving up on me. My game had been suffering lately, and I wasn’t making enough money for his addiction to the stock exchange. He grabbed me roughly by the wrist and pulled me into the men’s toilets at the tennis park I trained at in Sydney. He hit me, pushed me into a sink, and the impact broke the sink, causing me to fall. When he came at me with his fists ready to do some more damage, I managed to pick up a chunk of the broken sink and smash him in the side of the head with it.” Stopping, I sucked in a lung full of cleansing air and finished my story. Chase’s comforting touches helped me keep the tears that were waiting to fall at bay, but I had to tell Jason one last thing.
“When Colin fell to the ground, I saw a large gash and blood. I left him laying on the floor of the toilets, not moving, and ran away. I am not sure if I killed him or not and was hoping you could find out for me.”
18
Light rain fell as the men of our unit walked in front of the slow-moving tanker with Knox’s coffin sitting on top, an Australian flag draped over it, his helmet sitting in pride of place at the head of the coffin. Behind the truck marched at least sixty firefighters from other stations, from in town and neighbouring ones.
Most of us just wore our usual dark-navy slacks and shirts with our ranks on our shoulders. Carson was the only one out of the active fighters that had on the dress uniform reserved for special occasions.
And funerals.
Beside me, Hoove marched in time with the rest of our line. He had the same sombre but pissed off expression I was sure I had. Losing a coworker in a fire was unfathomable, but losing him because of pure stupidity just so that he could prove himself had me fuming. It felt like I couldn’t grieve Knox because I was still so mad at him.
Guilt nagged at me for giving him hell at work about being the recruit and the fact he was made to repeat his first year. But he knew the score. Every recruit copped bagging from the firefighters. Damn, it was expected, for Christ’s sake. God knew I took my fair share of ribbing during my recruit years, but not once did I storm into a dangerous situation so that I didn’t have to man the friggin’ hose. And I certainly didn’t put anyone in danger as Knox did.
Now his mother had to bury her son and always wonder about what kind of woman he would have married and lost future grandchildren. She would never hug her son again.
“You good, Chase?” Hoove murmured nudging me with his elbow, bringing me back to where my focus ought to be.
“All good, mate. All good,” I told him honestly.
And that was part of the reason for the guilt. Because I was good, fucking ecstatic. For the first time in years, I was not only happy and content but I was also head over heels in love.
Jamie opened up the part of my heart that had shut down the day Prue’s tiny coffin was lowered on the platform and sent off to the crematorium. When Prue died, I argued with Melly’s parents that she and Prue were to be cremated. I fucking hated the idea that my little bug would spend eternity under the cold ground. Some would argue being burnt didn’t sound any more ideal, but I liked the idea of her ashes and those of her mother’s in my garden, facing the horse paddocks. Prue would have agreed with me, that much I knew deep in my heart. She loved my job, loved that her daddy was a big, strong fireman who helped people. There was a sense of irony that I chose cremation over burial.
Jamie had taken to being part of my life better than I dreamed. She still lived over at her place even though I asked her to move in with me. I owned my house, and it didn’t make sense for her to be paying rent when I wanted her with me every night that I wasn’t on the night shift. Jamie, of course, refused to take any further steps until Jason did some digging and found out if that fucker Colin was alive or dead.
Jason listened to Jamie’s story without interrupting her once, then sat there, looking detached as Jason usually did. The only hint that it affected him was the tick of his jaw. Jamie didn’t think Jason liked her, and she told me he scared the crap out of her, those exact words. He did have a pissed off way to him, but with good reasons, I thought. Jason Johnston was like an opinion—everyone had one, but not everyone had to like it. It just turned out I liked him, and the Wounded Souls.
That was two days ago, and we were still waiting to hear from him, but he’d warned us it would likely take him a few days. With the worrying arson, Knox’s death, and other jobs Jason had going on, we just had to wait.
Which didn’t suit me, I wanted her in my house, so I suggested we do our own google search and get her to make a few calls to her agent or solicitor. Hell, call a fellow tennis player and ask them about Colin. The mere mention of it sent Jamie into a panic attack. She thought if she reached out, someone would find her. It scared the crap out of me when she burst into uncontrollable sobs right there in the café.
Jason agreed with her and said he was going to pass the job on to For
d, one of his club brothers and a computer genius. If anyone could find out something about Colin without raising flags in Jamie’s direction, it was Ford.
Jamie calmed down after that promise from Jason, and seeing her relieved made me relieved, so here I was doing the waiting game. Her over the fence at her place, and me at mine. The only compromise she agreed to was when I wasn’t on night shifts, she was at my home, and when I was, the dogs were at her place. Thankfully, she said yes, and for at least a few nights a week, she slept under me, beside me, over me. I didn’t care as long as she was with me.
Today, she was at the café, working so Lake could attend the funeral. Jamie only met Knox briefly and thought it wrong to make Lake close for the day. And though she wanted to be here for me, the television coverage of the funeral worried her. Local news stations were covering the tragic death and the suspected arson because it was a big story in our town and rightly so. Jamie was high profile, and now that I had seen pictures of her with her natural hair. The new colour did little to hide who she really was. She couldn’t disguise her beauty, no matter what she did. She was just that stunning, alluring, fucking incredible, and most importantly, mine.
As the procession made its way towards the station, I looked to my left and saw my girlfriend standing on the footpath with some of the café regulars, old man Masters next to her.
And yes, I did say girlfriend. Jamie missed out on so much in her life, things her childhood friends got to experience she didn’t, and one of them was calling someone her boyfriend. She didn’t like the term partner, said it lacked romance—boyfriend, fiancé, husband, in that order. And by hell, I was going to give her all the firsts I could manage.
She would get no argument from me just as long I got the husband title and soon. Once all this bullshit with Colin was taken care of, Jamie would have my ring on her finger. She can enjoy the fiancée title for a month or so, and then on our wedding night as her husband, I was knocking her up and getting ready for the title of daddy.
From The Inferno (Firemen Do It Better Book 3) Page 16