Hansen
Paisley came to dinner fully dressed and smiling, but the white paste I noticed clinging to different sections of her wet hair tipped me off at once. A hush fell over the table as she entered the room, and I looked from man to man, wondering who the culprit was. Silence weighed heavy as Paisley dished herself a plate of food and headed to the table. I just noticed nobody had put out a chair for her. As I started to stand, she waved me off, took a seat on the floor, and crossed her legs, dinner plate in one hand.
“This is probably part of the initiation, right?” she asked. “God forbid I sit at the table with the housemen.”
At those words, a few of my men looked away from her. One or two snickered, and the others rolled their eyes.
“It’s not a dick, don’t take it so hard,” Nick said finally, and I felt my fists clench. He smirked as he looked down at Paisley on the floor. “Everyone gets the bag of flour initiation. It’s how we welcome you.”
“I didn’t,” Jake said, and a hush fell over the table. Realizing his mistake too little too late, he looked away from Nick, his face flushing with embarrassment.
“It’s fine,” Paisley said. She jutted her chin out, but her lip quivered, and I was sure she would cry. That angered me. Nobody in my firehouse should be mistreated. “I knew something like that would be coming.” She looked down at her plate and grabbed a French fry, rolling it between her fingers. She didn’t eat it.
“Hill,” I started to say, wishing I could say anything to pull her out of her funk. I wanted to reprimand my men in front of her because did they have it coming, but I couldn’t. I had to keep my emotions in check, at least while she was there.
“Hey,” Jake said suddenly. “You’re bleeding.” He stood from the table and crossed the room, reaching for Paisley. Before he could touch her, she slapped one hand to the back of her head, flushing.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Don’t, Jake.” She pushed his hand away and got to her feet, setting the untouched plate onto the counter.
“Paisley—” I started to say, but she cut me off.
“It’s nothing,” she insisted again. When she pulled her hand away, blood coated her fingertips. “Shit.”
My gaze swung from Paisley to Nick, who sniggered next to Tanner, then to Korbin. He was staring at her, his expression emotionless, one I couldn’t read. When he finally looked at me, he shrugged, and I knew his so-called harmless prank had done that to her.
“I’m going to bed,” Paisley said softly. She rose from the floor, meeting the eyes of every single man in the room. Despite Jake begging her to stay, we could not stop her as Paisley walked out, her back to all of us and her head held high.
Silence settled again over the room, but it was thicker this time. Tenser. I looked around the table, a heavy ball of disappointment in my chest. I looked at each of my men, wondering what their mothers, fathers, and everyone else they knew would think of this behavior.
“You were out of bounds,” I said finally. I looked between Korbin and Nick and then around at my crew. “All of you were. I’m disappointed.”
“Sorry, Captain, we meant no harm,” Tanner said, but the lightness in his voice gave him away, and my fist curled once again.
“It was just a joke…sir,” Korbin said. He met my gaze and held it, smirking a little. I knew damn well that mine and Korbin’s friendship would fade fast as soon as I’d been promoted to Captain. Once rookies together, I knew Korbin’s idea of fun did not involve taking orders from me. While I couldn’t blame him—I was still trying to figure out this whole leader thing myself—I had to stand up for my entire crew, even Paisley.EspeciallyPaisley. I had to lead them and not allow them to drag her or anyone else through the dirt.
“It’s not a joke when someone gets hurt,” I said. At this, a few of my men finally looked up from their dinner plates, meeting my eyes. “Being new here is challenging enough without adding pranks. Hill already feels like she doesn’t belong here. Don’t enforce it.”
“Yes, sir,” Nick and Tanner said under their breath.
I stood to leave, taking my dishes to the sink. As I walked out the door, I heard Korbin whisper, “It’s because shedoesn’tbelong here.”
Anger swelled in my chest, threatening to spill over. His blatant disrespect towards Paisley and me felt personal, but I couldn’t muster up the energy to fight him. I glanced over my shoulder, scowling, and shot Korbin a look that I hoped would put him in his place. Our gazes met briefly, and Korbin looked away first, but he didn’t try to take it back. I could have hit him.
Chapter9
Paisley
I slid down against the wall of the basement gym. It was the only private, quiet place in the building, and I wanted nothing more than to get away from everyone for a moment, just to catch my breath. Tears pressed against my eyelids, threatening to spill over and never stop. I rested my head in my hands and took a cleansing breath, trying to pull myself together to ease the shame I felt burning like a hot iron in my stomach.
My desire to run for the door a few moments earlier was gnawing at me. All my legs wanted to do was take me on the run; run a straight line out of the station, home, where I could crawl into bed, scream into my pillow, and never have to face these idiotic, sexist men again. But no matter how much I ached to leave, a more significant part of me refused. I couldn’t do it. Not after all this time, not after how hard I’d fought to be here. I wasn’t going to be that person who fought so hard for something in her life, only to abandon it when things got tough. Fuck those guys. I wasn’t going anywhere.
A light rap on the door made me look up, startling me from my self-pity. I started to stand, refusing to cry in front of the guys, but Erik Hansen appeared before I was all the way up, closing the door behind him. I wiped frantically at my eyes, humiliated that out of everyone in the station, it was Hansen to find me bawling my eyes out.
“Don’t stand,” he said gently. “I need to check out your head.”
“I’m fine, Captain Hansen, but thanks for your concern.”
“Call me Hansen.”
