“Yes.” There’d be no more lies. “His name is Percy, we’re in a committed relationship, and he's pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Janice’s voice was a screech level 10. “How long has this been going on?”
This information would be harder for them to swallow. “Since the kickoff barbecue.”
Colin looked up. “That was six weeks ago. You've been lying to us all that time.”
Janice muttered that six weeks was short for a person to commit to someone else, but she didn’t know or understand about shifter dynamics.
I nodded.
“You brought us donuts.” Colin shook his head. “I thought you were being nice. Turns out you were guilt-eating.”
“Guilt-buying, technically.”
Nobody laughed. I wasn’t as suave as my mate at telling jokes.
Ken climbed out of the engine. “Did you share our event strategy with him?”
“Never. I wouldn’t do that. Percy won those events because he's good, not because I gave him an advantage.”
“How are we supposed to believe that?” The pain and hurt in Janice’s voice was worse than anger. “You're our lieutenant. We follow you into buildings and trust your judgment with our lives. And you couldn't trust us with this?”
I’d messed up badly. Trust in a fire crew wasn't a nice-to-have. It was the foundation, and I’d taken a hammer to it and smashed it.
“I was wrong, and I should have told you. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn't make it all better,” Colin muttered.
Arnold opened his door. He’d obviously been listening because my disagreement with the crew wasn’t subtle.
“Lieutenant. A word.”
He closed the door behind me and sat on the edge of his desk instead of behind it, suggesting this was a conversation and not a disciplinary meeting.
“I’m not going to lecture you. You already know what you did wrong because your crew just told you.”
It was more like they’d thrown it in my face, but I deserved it and had to take the hits.
“The cup final is this weekend. Can you show up and focus on your team and not on your opponents?”
“I can.”
Percy wouldn’t be participating, but that was irrelevant.
“Excellent. I've met Station 9's Captain Reynolds. If his firefighter is anything like him, you picked well.”
He hadn’t cursed me out, so that was a plus.
The days before the cup final were uncomfortable. My crew did what was expected of them, but the easy banter was gone. Colin spoke only when necessary, and Janice was cool. Ken ignored me.
I'd earned everything they sent my way. At night, I should have taken comfort that Percy and I could now be together and he was beside me. But I couldn’t sleep, thinking of how I had a personal relationship I treasured but I’d damaged the one with my crew.
“They'll come around,” Percy whispered in the dark. He was dealing with his own version of the cold shoulder with polite but distant texts from Briggs and silence from Hallie. “We broke their trust.”
“They might not.” I prided myself on doing the right thing, and I’d fucked up so badly.
“We have each other and a baby who's going to need parents who aren't going over their mistakes and wondering what they could have done differently.” He poked my ribs. “We're not bad people, but we handled a complicated situation badly.”
