“Why would I be mad at you?” she asked mockingly.
He could easily think of five things that he did to piss her off in the last week alone. There was getting her pulled out of the Muster games, getting her ass on light duty, sending her on a bumpy joy ride, but the thing that probably pissed her off the most was when he convinced Bill to deny her request to switch shifts. As long as she was safe, and he made damn sure that she was, he really didn’t care if she was pissed at him.
In fact, it would probably be for the best if she didn’t talk to him for a few weeks. That should be more than enough time for them to forget their moment of insanity and get over it. Therewas no doubt in his mind that in a couple of months they’d be laughing their asses off about what almost happened. That moment couldn’t come fast enough for him.
He missed her.
Christ, he felt so damn lost without her. This was hell and he would do whatever it took to get them back to where they needed to be, whereheneeded them to be. He needed to talk to her, touch her, and he really needed to hold her.
For the past week, he hadn’t been allowed to do any of those things. This past week had also been the first time since they were kids that they’d spent any time apart and he hated it. Every day, the ache in his chest intensified until he didn’t think he’d survive another moment without her.
He’d tried calling her, but he only got her voicemail. The few times he swung by to see her hadn’t ended well. After the third time she slammed the door shut in his face, he got a little desperate and bought one of those milkshakes that she was addicted to only to have the little brat snatch it out of his hand before slamming the door shut in his face. She just needed time and he’d give it to her if it meant that things went back to the way they used to be.
Joe tossed her bag on her freshly made bed, grabbed a book, and threw him a killing glare as she walked past him. He should probably give her some space, Eric thought, but then again, she’d already had a week without him. He followed her, knowing that she’d probably kick his ass, but what the hell, it would be worth it just to see her smile.
CHAPTER 18
“Let me up,” Joe bit out as she struggled to get up, but the big jerk simply tightened his arm around her waist and held her on his lap.
“Hold you tighter?” Eric asked with a heavy sigh as though that was the last thing that he wanted to do. “Fine. I suppose I could do that.”
Not laughing was one of the hardest things she’d done in a while, but somehow, she managed it. She couldn’t believe that he had the nerve to act like nothing was wrong. But this was Eric and they both knew that she couldn’t stay mad at him for long, no matter how hard she tried.
After what the bastard did, she really should be pissed at him, but she just couldn’t stay mad at him. She hated the fact that she’d pretty much forgiven him. He cared about her even if he was going about it the wrong way. Instead of talking to her, he’d gone the asshole route, but that was Eric and he wasn’t going to change, and to be honest, she didn’t want him to.
That didn’t mean that she was going to let him control her life. He may think that he had a say in her life, but he didn’t. As much as she appreciated him, Nathan, and Alice for everything that they did for her, she was still on her own. She loved themmore than anything, but she wasn’t their responsibility and she sure as hell didn’t want them to see her as the burden they got stuck with.
Eric might want to take care of her, but she wasn’t his responsibility. That was the reason why they’d never moved in together even when they were first starting out and sharing an apartment would have made sense. It was the same reason why she’d worked two mind-numbingly boring jobs to pay for EMT training even though Alice and Nathan both offered to pay for it and why she refused to let anyone co-sign the loan when she’d bought her house even though she probably would have gotten a better rate if she had.
Her mother might have been comfortable with letting everyone else take care of her, but she was nothing like her mother. She liked taking care of herself and knowing that she would never have to depend on another person again for anything as long as she lived.
It was because she could take care of herself that she would never have to worry about coming home to find everything she owned thrown into the street because someone forgot to pay the rent. She would never have to worry about going hungry again. She paid her bills, had a great job that she loved, and had money in the bank and last week that had been more than enough to allow her to sleep at night.
Now, she was starting to wonder.
After that close call, she had to admit that Eric had a point. Not that she would ever admit that to him since that would only encourage him, but she realized now that she needed a backup plan in case something ever happened that prevented her from working on the truck. Her savings were decent and could probably hold her over for eight months, but that wasn’t good enough. She never wanted to struggle to pay her bills and she sure as hell didn’t want to rely on handouts. If it ever cameto that, she would split town because she just couldn’t become someone’s charity case.
Over the past few days, she’d thought about what she should do and decided that she should use part of her savings to get more training. She was going to keep her focus on emergency medical services, but she was going to make sure that if anything ever happened again that she’d have something else to fall back on.
“I wasn’t done reading that page,” Eric said, gesturing for her to go back.
“You can read it after I’m done,” Joe pointed out even as she turned the page back so that the big baby could read it.
He snorted at that. “I don’t read romance novels.”
She snuggled closer to him, laying her head back on his shoulder so that he could see the book. “Um, you’re reading a romance novel now.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then, what do you call it?”
“Killing time,” Eric said, shrugging it off.
“You could just as easily kill time by watching the game with the guys,” Joe pointed out, nodding towards the flatscreen that had everyone else’s attention.
“Why would I do that when we’re getting to the sex scene? Would you turn the page already?” Eric demanded, making her roll her eyes.
“Sex?” one of the guys said, and just like that, she had ten guys standing behind her as they shoved each other out of the way to get a better look at her book.