Reggie spent Tuesday, the first day off in his two-set cycle, exercising at the station. He had two days off, one on again, then four days off before the cycle restarted. His crew of four had decided to join him at the station.
Though they all worked together, they liked to play together as well. He and his buddies found time at the gym both therapeutic and needful. Besides, nowhere could Reggie get better equipment and a decent facility with showers forfree.
Mack grinned while Reggie deadlifted, embellishing yesterday’s class at the library to anyone who would listen. The dick. “So Reggie’s got that nervous sweat going on, his bald head dripping with nerves, when—”
“I’m not bald. It’s a close cut, but I’ve got hair.” He ran his hand over his head, pleased with his barber.
“—the kids were brutal.” Mack hooted, and Brad and Tex hung on his every word.
Like Reggie, the rest of his team had bonded over shared prior military experiences in addition to being Seattle firefighters. While Reggie had served in the Navy, the best of the armed services, Brad and Tex had been Marines and Mack, Air Force. They still liked to razz one another, but in a good, brotherly way. Having grown up with two older sisters a rabid bear would know better than to mess with, Reggie knew the difference between brotherly teasing and being plain mean.
At the thought of a “rabid bear,” memories of the adorable kid from the previous day came back.
Mack was saying, “They kept asking Reggie about blood and guts since he made the mistake of trying to explain basic life support and advanced life support to them.”
Feeling the need to defend himself, Reggie spoke up. “I only told them that if someone got knifed or shot, they would need paramedics, not an EMT.”
Tex nodded and, in his slow, drawly Texan accent, said, “Probably not the smartest thing to say to little kids. Might scare ’em, hoss.”
“Everyone’s a critic.”
Mack continued to give the team the rundown, ending with, “Then the girl tells Reggie she wishes she was brown and pretty like him and her bear. It was adorable.”
“Well, heispretty,” Brad said with a large smile. “So, so pretty.”
“Like a beauty queen,” Tex agreed.
Reggie glared at Mack, imagining the ribbing in his future once everyone knew what had happened. “I hate you.”
“Who, me?” Mac tossed a small, stuffed bear at him with anI’m Prettysash across its chest.
The guys cracked up.
Damn. Part and parcel of being a firefighter—being able to dish it out and take it. The ribbing, teasing, and the laughter. They’d been making fun of Brad forever. The guy looked like a buffer version of a Ken doll, and Ken had been fooling around with a bunch of Barbies and other toys all over the station, doing perverted things to poor Barbie.
Tex had seen his life upended when he’d started dating the battalion chief’s daughter. Now cowboy figures and blond dolls were up to no good all over the place. And since the other lieutenant in the station, who worked with B and D shifts, resembled the cartoon character Dora the Explorer, she’d been finding Dora stickers on her notebooks and tons of action figures on or near her desk.
Reggie used to find their situations funny as hell. But he had a feeling life was about to get a lot less funny if fuzzy brown bears started humping My Little Pony.
“Look, it wasn’t that funny.”
Tex wore a large grin. “No, it really was. And is.” He high-fived Mack. “Reg, you have a real way with words.”
Mack grinned. “Funny, but little kids understand him no problem. Grown folks? Not so much. I’m thinking he’s at a social level of about first grade. Maybe second.”
Brad snickered. “Come on, Mack. Reggie’s at least as smart at a third grader.”
“Shut up, all of you.” Reggie lifted to muscle fatigue, trying to ignore Brad’s grin as the big guy spotted for him. “So what’s up with tonight? You guys busy with your girls or are we on for bowling?”
Brad nodded. “Avery and Bree are hanging out for a girls’ night. So I’m free.”
Mack smirked. “He means he’sallowedto go out.” He shot Tex a look. “And since Bree has allowed Tex some alone time, I guess that means he can play with the other kids too.”
“Got you by the nads, eh, Tex?” Hernandez laughed as he entered with the other four members of C shift, the guys of thesecond-bestcrew.
Tex flipped Mack, Hernandez, and the rest of their shift off, to much laughter.
The others returned hand gestures and started teasing Reggie about his drama at the library. Reggie threw the stuffed bear at them, which caused no end of entertainment.
