Page 41 of Mister Fireman

“I-I thought I was helping. You told me how much it meant to win this in your grandmother’s honor. Plus, I wanted you to win for the station. You know we had bets going for this. When your brother told me her chili was better than yours, I waited until she was distracted and poured the salt from the other table in her pot.”

Shoving him back down, I had to keep myself from punching him in his fucking mouth. Though I appreciated the gesture, it was a bit extreme.

“I’d rather lose than win unfairly,” I told him as Malay and their parents headed in Enjell’s direction. “I appreciate you looking out for me, but I have too much integrity to ever be okay with something like this. That was foul, Ian. This was the final round, and she has no way to fix what you messed up. Enjell was going to win this fair and square, and I was completely okay with that.”

“Damn, I didn’t realize…” Ian groaned. “I’m sorry!” he yelled as I walked away.

By the time I made it back to Enjell, the judges were announcing the top three.

“I’m so sorry about this, baby,” I said, pulling her into my arms. “He thought he was helping me win. I swear I didn’t ask him to do this.”

She gave me a bitter smile. “I know you wouldn’t do something so low.”

“Ah!” Mama bear hugged me from behind. “You won, baby!”

I was so focused on Enjell I hadn’t bothered to pay attention to the results. Everything happened in a blur. One minute I was holding Enjell while Mama held me, and the next, I was being handed a check and trophy while a crown was put on my head. I looked around for Enjell, and she and her family were gone. It seemed the picture taking process took forever, but as soon as it was done, I told my family and friends thanks for coming, then headed to my girl.

22

Enjell

My family had gone to great lengths to cheer me up. They all knew I would have won if my chili hadn’t been tampered with. That wasn’t fair, but it was life. Besides, if I had to lose to anyone, I didn’t mind it being Dejvi.

We all went out for dinner and dancing then stopped by Grandma’s house. Daddy was seemingly getting through to Auntie. Crazy thing was, it took Grandma almost stabbing Auntie for her to realize how serious her condition was. I think Daddy was right about Auntie wanting to be in control of Grandma’s money. When she realized she couldn’t just withdraw money from her account freely, even with her power of attorney, she cared less about having that control.

Now, they were working together to get Grandma the help she needed, which we all were grateful for. After we checked in on her and Auntie, I decided to call it a day so I could recharge my social battery. It didn’t surprise me to find Dejvi waiting for me at my home. I figured he felt guilty about the competition, even though it truly wasn’t his fault. It was cute that he had someone in his life willing to go to such an extreme for him, but I hoped Ian never did something so crazy again.

When I pulled into my garage, I motioned for Dejvi to do the same.

“Congratulations, baby,” I said, giving him a hug and kiss. “I don’t think I said that before I left the carnival.”

“That’s understandable. You were robbed. Congratulations isn’t needed.”

“It is, because you won.”

He didn’t respond as he released me, and we headed inside. It wasn’t until we were walking through the kitchen and down the hall that I noticed the black bag in his hand.

“What is that?” I asked, pulling my shirt over my head.

“Your money.”

“What money?”

He waited until we were in my room, in my closet, to respond. “The one hundred thousand dollars for winning the contest.”

As I tossed my shirt into the hamper, I looked at him. “Dejvi, you won.”

“Yeah, but if Ian hadn’t pulled that stunt, you would have. There is no doubt about that.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I said as I pulled my pants down. “But still…”

“No but. You lost because that idiot thought he had to cheat to get me to win. I don’t condone that.” He handed me the bag. “You won this fair and square, and I want you to have this money so you can get your own building and do whatever else it is you want to do. Congratulations, love.”

My eyes watered, causing me to blink back tears. “There’s no way you were able to cash that check this fast. The competition wasn’t over until after six.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. Just know this is yours.”

“I won’t allow my pride to ruin this for me. If you really don’t need the money…”

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