Evan shakes his head at him. “Trent, if it’s just a first offense—”
“It’s hardly a first offense for me, dude. You’ll be fine, of course, which is good, because this station can spare a rookie, but not an EMT as good as you.”
“Man, you’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t know if Branson will—”
“Enough,” Hale interrupts. Evan and Noah halt immediately, turning their attention back to their captain. “There will be no need for me to inform the Hawk of these indiscretions.”
All the while, I sit there and helplessly watch the consequences of all my stupid choices unravel before me.
“No hard feelings either, Reyes,” Noah adds, nodding at Evan.
“Oh, likewise,” Evan responds with a shrug.
Wait… what?
Hale catches my eye again. His throat bobs with a swallow.
“I suppose I would be an unsuitable leader if I continued to be dishonest about my own infractions.”
For fuck’s sake. “Guys, can we maybe just circle back around to the campaign? We could discuss this later? When we’re all off the clock? Because I should definitely also apologize.”
Hale ignores me. They all do.
“I’ve also taken liberties with Lila,” Hale informs them. “Two infractions, the first being the night of the gala and the second being at Lila’s apartment.”
“He was just helping me with my carbon monoxide detector!” I quickly add, because he totally just made it sound like I invited him over for some classicNetflix and chill.
“Oh, that’s nice of you, Cap,” Noah says. “Low battery, I assume?”
Hale shrugs. “Yes, these landlords really do need to be more diligent about it.”
“Maybe we can pitch a PSA?” Evan suggests.
Noah snaps his fingers. “Genius.”
“It’d certainly be useful information to spread to the public,” Hale muses.
I gape at them. “What the fuck is happening right now?”
All three heads swivel toward me. Hale, a cold dawn. Noah, a sunny afternoon. Evan, a peaceful evening.
They all have the audacity to look at me likeI’mthe crazy one.
“You all just learned that you’ve unintentionally been passing me around and all you can think to discuss is the importance of having a functioning CO2 alarm?”
“It’s just CO,” Evan corrects me politely. “Monoxide versus dioxide. Linguistically, it makes sense, but it’s common for people to get confused…”
I sink lower in the chair and close my eyes. “Please kill me.”
Hale makes a sound. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s a laugh. Just a huff of amusement, but when I open my eyes, there’s a smirk tugging on his lips.
“How would you prefer us to respond to this situation, Lila?” he asks.
“Angrily?” I throw my hands up in exasperation. “With a pissing contest? A brawl? Or maybe you’ll fire me and find a PRconsultant who can keep it in her pants? I broke the rule, too. More times than all of you combined, in fact.”
Noah snorts. “I’m not a jealous guy, Blondie. It’s not like I can really fault Cap and Reyes for liking you. You’re a very likable person.”
Evan nods in agreement. “I’m not angry. I can’t even think of a reason why I should be angry. If anything, I’m flattered that you’d bother to kiss me back when Hargrove and Trent are your other options.”
