King leans into me and whispers, “Be good,fresa.”
And then he’s gone, the door closing softly behind him.
“It’ll be all right,” Manny says gently, and I turn to look at him.
There’s a lot of things I should be concerned with right now, but the one thought that flits through my head over and over is the word that King calls me. I have no idea what it means, but I can’t help but feel like it’s important. So I open my mouth and ask.
“Manny?” I call out softly.
“Yes?”
“Can I ask you a… umm… question?”
“Yeah,” he replies gently, but the laugh lines around his eyes tighten and he looks watchful, almost wary.
“Umm… what doesfresamean?”
“Literally, it means strawberry,” he says.
That’s not bad at all. I was right; it’s a term of endearment. Maybe I’m beginning to mean something to King too. I mean, why else would he have asked me to call him by his first name the other night?
“But it’s also slang for spoiled bitch.”
“Oh,” I reply, and it comes out in a rush of my breath. Wow. That hurt more than I thought it would.
“I’m sure—” he starts, but I stop him.
“It’s fine,” I say with a smile that we both know I don’t really mean.
“Listen—”
“No, really, it’s fine.”
“But—” he tries again, but then the door opens, and King prowls in.
“Time to go.”
“I… uhh… need to change really quick.”
“Do it,” he commands, and I look around, and both men spin to walk out of the small room and back to the garage. Manny turns back and looks at me. It seems like he wants to say something to me, so I smile brightly at him to show him that I’m fine when I’m anything but.
As soon as the door clicks behind him, I change back into my travel sweats and tuck my phone into my pocket. I quickly and efficiently pack up my fire suit and my gear for transport. The crew will load it up and take it with the car and anything else that needs to be loaded on the trailer.
When I walk out of the little room, I hear King and Manny arguing quietly.
“It’s fine,” King bites out. “Just leave it.”
“Do you know what you’re doing with her?” Manny asks.
“I said to leave it.”
“You can do that if you want,” Manny says. “But I can’t promise there won’t be blowback if you do.”
“There won’t be anything,” King snaps.
“As you say,hermano.”
“I… uhh… I’m ready to go.”
