“Angela, I know I didn’t hear you’re cooking this fool pancakes!” Corey’s voice intruded on our little moment.
“From scratch. With real buttermilk and everything,” she answered proudly, popping another forkful of her vegetable omelet into her mouth.
“You think you co?”
“No! Hell no!” I pointed the knife I was using to cut my pancakes at Don.
“What? I was gonna ask if she could pass the recipe along to one of my lady friends. And throw in some cooking tips while she was at it.”
“I’m sure.” I gave him a disbelieving look. “You want your lady friend to learn to cook, pay for some cooking classes your own fucking self.”
The table went up in laughter.
“Don’t be like that, Harvard. Tabitha just needs a little bit of TLC when it comes to matters of the kitchen.”
“Tabitha?” I questioned.
“Yeah. I’ve mentioned her, unlike you.” His dark eyes shifted between Angela and I.
“Is it serious between this Tabitha and you?” Angela innocently asked. All of the men, except for Don, laughed loudly at that question.
“Oh no, doll. Donnie over here doesn’tdoserious,” Corey added.
“Watch it with the terms of endearment,” I supplied, glaring in his direction. He smirked but held his hands up in a surrendering manner. I heard Carter and Don snicker but ignored them.
“Why don’t you do serious?” Angela asked.
“Don’t listen to these schmucks, swee—” Don paused, looking at my stern face, before turning back to Angela. “Angela. I can do serious. I just like to have my pick of the litter. And anyway, Tabitha has the potential to be something serious. She isseriouslystacked.” He sat back and held his hands out in front of his chest, indicating the largeness of this Tabitha’s breasts.
I rolled my eyes. “Fucking seriously?”
Don gave me an innocent, questioning look.
“We’re in the presence of a woman. Not at the fire station. Tone it down a little, Don,” Carter spoke up.
“I’m sorry, Angela.”
She waved her hand around. “No offense taken. Who doesn’t appreciate a good stack?” She quickly reached over me, forked some of my pancakes, and popped them into her mouth. “Right?” she mumbled.
The tabled erupted into laughter and agreement. I threw my arm around her, laughing myself. She might be the only woman I’d let eat off my plate with zero complaints.
“Anyway,” she began after swallowing the pancakes, “if your Tabitha is interested in cooking, I wouldn’t mind helping her out a little.”
“Oh no, you don’t want to meet his Tabitha or any of his ladies.”
She turned to me, a wrinkled in her forehead. “Why not?”
“Just trust me. The women he entertains are a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal.”
“That’s fucked up, Harvard.”
“No,you’refucked up,” I countered.
“Oh shit!” Carter and Corey interjected at the same time.
“Is that any way for a lieutenant to talk to one of his subordinates?”
Angela inhaled loudly. “You made lieutenant?”
