Page 54 of A Sudden Response

“You have a woman who is beyond perfect for you, who loves you, and who would walk on glass for you and you don’t even fucking see it!” Nathan bit out.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eric said evenly.

“Bullshit!” Nathan snapped, getting in his face. “You love her. I know you do and she loves you. I’ve seen the way you look at her. I know that the two of you have a connection that most people dream about,” he said before muttering, “I would kill to have a woman who made me feel the way Joe makes you feel.”

“How exactly do you think she makes me feel?” Eric demanded, wondering how they’d ended up here. He didn’t want to have this conversation and was more than willing to go back to trading punches to avoid it.

“Whole,” Nathan said, making him swallow hard because that was exactly the way she made him feel. When she was around, he felt complete, happy, and at peace and when she wasn’t near him, he felt so fucking lost that it nearly tore him apart.

“I want what you’re refusing to see,” Nathan explained. “I want a woman that makes me feel complete, makes me happy and someone I couldn’t imagine living without.”

“We’re just friends,” Eric said hollowly as he tried to ignore the ache in his chest. He missed her, wanted her and-

“Bullshit! She’s everything to you and you damn well know it. While I would kill to have someone like her, you’re throwing her aside like she’s fucking nothing. What the hell are you going to do when she finds someone else? You don’t think that will kill you to watch her with another man, knowing that it could have been you?”

“Yes!” Eric roared. “It will fucking kill me to watch her with another man. Are you fucking happy?” he demanded, ignoring the look of pity on his brother’s face as he scrubbed his hands down his face. “I’m not good enough for her. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to do this without breaking her heart.”

“What the hell are you talking about? No one will ever love her more than you do.”

Eric released a humorless chuckle at that. “Really? What exactly are you basing this on? I sure as hell hope you’re not basing this on how I treated all my ex-girlfriends because we both know that I’ll grow bored and end up losing her.”

“You’re avoiding being with her because of your past?” Nathan asked, looking at a loss for words when Eric nodded firmly. “You really are a fucking idiot.”

CHAPTER 23

That bastard, Joe thought as she forced herself not to check her phone. She refused to be that woman. There was no way in hell that she was going to sit around waiting for a text message or a phone call from a guy, even if that guy was Eric.

He’d made it more than clear that he had no intentions of calling her this weekend, so she wasn’t going to worry. She was going to force herself to stay awake during this mind-numbingly boring slideshow presentation. After that, she was going to her hotel, grabbing a shower, hitting a bar and getting drunk. Then, she would come back to this beige classroom that smelled like alcohol wipes and do it all over again.

She-

Really wished Eric was here, Joe thought with a sigh. Normally, they took all of their refresher courses and continuing education courses together. He kept her entertained while they sat through things like this, but he wasn’t coming. He also might get his wish after all because she couldn’t do this.

After what happened, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to work with him again, not when she knew that he’d eventually start dating again. She didn’t want to see him with someone elseor have to pretend that he wasn’t breaking her heart every time he touched another woman, knowing that it should be her. She just…

She wanted more, but he didn’t.

She needed to move on, which would be hard to do if she had to see him every day. She knew that she would still see him when she went home and that was fine with her. No matter what happened between them, she wasn’t willing to give up Nathan or Alice for anything. They were her family and she loved them. For them, she’d pretend that her heart wasn’t breaking.

“You can call the office Tuesday to find out if you passed,” Brian, the instructor from hell, said, grabbing her attention.

It was over? Finally, Joe thought as she got to her feet and grabbed the notebook she’d filled with doodles. That reminded her that she’d have to swing by the store and pick up two more if she had any hopes of surviving this class. Of course, if Eric had been here, she would have just drawn on his arm to keep herself entertained, but he wasn’t, so she’d have to learn how to deal without him.

She headed for the door only to move her ass when she spotted Alex, a brand new EMT that decided to take the class, following her. Normally, she was patient with new EMTs. Well, she tried to be anyway, but she really didn’t think she could handle this today.

During their breaks, when she just wanted to pout in peace, he’d decided that he had to share every single detail of every single call he’d ever been on. He’d been an EMT for all of six months and was sure that he’d seen it all. She had to laugh at that. She’d been on the job for twelve years and knew damn well that she hadn’t seen everything. No two days were alike and that’s what she loved about the job.

When she made the mistake of encouraging him after he told her that he was already growing bored with the job andwas looking into doing something else, mostly hoping to end the conversation, he’d listed all the reasons why he should be a fireman. Her only escape had been the women’s room, but it had been a short-lived reprieve. He’d waited for her outside the restroom and picked up where he’d left off as soon as he saw her. He did the same thing during their lunch break, making it impossible for her to get a bite to eat.

Now, she was hungry, cranky, and desperate to get the hell out of here before it was too late. Two minutes later, Joe was groaning when she spotted his beat-up green pickup truck pulling into the hotel parking lot right behind her. Would this day never end? Joe wondered. She turned off her car, grabbed her bag and headed for the hotel lobby, hoping it would be a quick check-in so that she could escape to her room. Then again, with the way her luck was going, he’d probably end up in the room right next to hers. She sent up a silent prayer that wasn’t the case as she opened the hotel lobby door and couldn’t help but wonder if she was hallucinating.

Nathan and Eric were sitting in dainty chairs that looked really uncomfortable as they were forced to watch some daytime talk show. She ran her eyes over their faces and noted a few bruises and cuts and was just about to ask what happened only to wince when Alex yelled, “Hey, Joe! Wait up,” drawing Nathan and Eric’s attention.

Nathan looked relieved to see her and Eric looked pissed as his eyes shifted from her to the guy trying to get her attention. She was just about to ask them what they were doing here when Nathan walked over and threw his arm around her and led her to the front desk.

“Let’s check in, shall we?” Nathan asked cheerfully.

“What’s going on?” Joe asked as she pulled out her license and the credit card she’d used to hold the room.

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