Page 43 of Silver Fox Firefighters Next Door

As soon as I heard a truck pull up next door, I decided to take the plunge. I stopped in the bathroom long enough to put on lip gloss then then slipped out and hurried over to their cabin.

Their door wasn’t shut all the way and before I could pull it open farther, I heard Nash’s raised voice. He sounded pissed and it froze me in place. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation but I did. I’d never heard Nash sound like that before.

“We need to leave soon. We can’t keep doing this.”

Tate’s raised voice came next. “The longer this goes on, the worse it’ll be. The town never really needed us. We could leave tomorrow and everything would be fine.”

“And Eve? What about her?” Aiden sounded even angrier than Nash or Tate.

“She’ll be fine.”

Nash agreed with Tate. “She’s fine. We can’t stay out of worry for her. It would just do more damage in the end. We need to go.”

“She’ll move on. She’ll find some nice guy and she’ll settle down and get all the shit she wants.” Tate’s words cut deep. “We need to make a decision before she comes over here. We can’t keep pretending like there’s something here.”

I couldn’t listen to another word. I stepped backward to leave but I bumped into an ax leaning against the side of the house and knocked it over. The sound was loud enough I knew it would get their attention. Panicking, I pretended like I’d just come up. I didn’t know what else to do. If I ran away, they would come after me to see what was up and I couldn’t face them again, not after hearing their feelings.

I pulled open the door and stepped inside, stopping just inside the door. “Hey, guys. Sorry, I knocked over your ax.”

Aiden forced a smile and shrugged. “It’s fine, Eve.”

“I can’t stay. I was just stopping by to tell you the battle went well today. There’s one more day of it tomorrow, if you guys wanted to stop by and check it out.” What was I saying? My brain was on the fritz and I was just spewing whatever had been in my head before hearing them talking.

“I don’t think—”

“Sorry! I have to go.” I backed into the door and cleared my throat. “I can’t come by tonight. I’m just really tired from the battles. And I have another day of them tomorrow. A full day of helping other people come together. It’s great!”

Nash stepped forward. “Are you okay, Eve?”

Nope. I was far from it. “Oh, I’m fine! Just fine. Don’t worry about me. Honestly, I’m…fine.”

I turned around and hurried away from their cabin. I was already at my own front door when Tate called to me from their porch. “Eve?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my forehead into the door. I was so close to losing it. “I get it, Tate. You don’t have to say anything. Just…let me keep some dignity now. Please.”

“Eve, I just—”

I turned to face him and I watched him recoil at the pain he must’ve seen on my face. “It’s fine, Tate! You were right. I’ll be fine. I’ll find a nice guy eventually and things will be just…fine. You can leave without worrying about me.”

Aiden pushed past Tate and moved towards me. He stopped when I held up my hand. “Talk to us—”

“You know what?” I forced a laugh and swiped away a stray tear. “I think you should leave. This place has to have lost its newness by now. There are probably countless small towns and lonely women waiting on you guys. Thanks for the orgasms and for helping me realize I was over Mark.”

I slipped into the cabin and locked the door behind me. I walked stiffly to my bedroom and shut and locked that door, too. Then, I pulled out my phone as I sank to the floor. I was already emotionally rocked and it seemed like I wasn’t done looking for lashings.

Mark answered the call on the first ring. “Evie?”

I fought back a sob and hung up. The only thing I wanted from him was for him to tell me why I hadn’t been enough. I wanted to know why I wasn’t enough for Tate, Aiden, and Nash. I wanted to know why I wasn’t loveable. Mark didn’t have those answers for me, though.

He called back immediately and I turned my phone off. I crawled into bed and tugged the blanket over my head. I wasn’t okay. I wasn’t fine.

CHAPTER 35

Nash

The sound of a car pulling up outside the cabin didn’t rouse the three of us. We were sitting on the couch, each of us lost in our own thoughts about what had just happened with Eve. It wasn’t what any of us wanted. I was searching my brain for a way to make it better but I kept coming up empty. We’d hurt Eve, despite trying not to. Our intentions hadn’t mattered once I saw her face twisted in pain.

A knock sounded on the door and I jerked around to see if it was Eve. It wasn’t. Instead, Margaret James stood on the other side of the open door, a curious expression on her face. When none of us jumped up, she just walked in.

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