Page 24 of One Little Spark

There was a half-eaten bowl of chili on the table with the blueberry grunt. The chili pot was still on the stove. His T-shirt was on the floor, and there was still that large branch on his back deck. His friend had come up looking for him because he thought Aiden was in trouble. But, instead, he found his best friend in bed with his sister.

His gut roiled at the thought of what he’d just done to his friend. He leaned into his hands on the back of the chair and hung his head. Knowing Jory, he would never forgive Aiden. Family and loyalty were everything. Aiden’s shoulders sagged under the weight of his guilt.

He straightened and started the mindless task of cleaning up the kitchen.

Forty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot at the back of the firehouse. He parked and sat in the truck for a few moments, trying to get his brain to function. He had to go apologize to his best friend, but he also had to admit some hard truths to himself. One, he fucked up big time. Two, Hazel wasn’t his. Three, he didn’t regret one fucking minute of the time he’d spent with Hazel. Not one second. He was just going to have to live with the consequences.

Aiden walked into the firehouse and immediately went to the locker room. He dropped his stuff inside and then turned tofind Jory standing next to him. “Jory, I want to apologize—"

Jory leaned in and snarled, “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear one word from you about my sister or anything else. If you tell anyone what happened between you two, I will kill you. I swear it.”

He frowned. “I would never say anything to anyone about it. You know that, man.”

“I used to think I knew you, but I guess I got it all wrong. I want to make sure you don’t damage Hazel’s reputation. She deserves better.” He poked a finger into Aiden’s chest. "I don’t want you anywhere near her!”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Your sister doesn’t want to see me anymore either. I guess I made a mistake with her.”

“You’re goddamn right you did!” Jory struggled to keep his voice down. “You shouldn’t have been anywhere near her.” Jory pushed him again.

Aiden knew he was getting dangerously close to losing his temper. He didn’t want to continue to fight with Jory. The last twenty-four hours had been a roller-coaster of emotions. He was running on little sleep and no food. “Like I said, she doesn’t want to see me. She’s at your mother’s. I’ll take her stuff over to her tomorrow after we’re done with the shift.”

“No! I’ll come get it. You won’t be anywhere near her.”

“Whatever,” Aiden said.

“You asshole. I still can’t believe you would betray me like this. My own sister!”

Aiden snapped. “I told you it was a bad idea. I told you her moving in wasn’t gonna work, but you didn’t listen. I’ve given you enough hints over the last few years that I wanted to date your sister, but you just ignored them all. I wasn’t the only one involved. Your sister wanted to be with me, right up until you screamed at her about it.” He leaned into Jory’s face andlowered his voice. “I’m sorry. I should have told you flat-out that I wanted to date your sister, but I knew you’d freak out. You don’t want her to have a life. You don’t trust her. I know all this because she came to me to complain about you all the time.” He pointed to his own chest. “Me. She came to me, Jory, to get help with you, to be able to relax and just hang out like a normal human without you watching her every move. She spent time withme.”

Jory took a swing, but Aiden stepped back and caught Jory’s arm. “You can hit me all you want, but you drove your sister towards me, and I held out as long as I could but, goddammit, Jory, I’m only human. I think your sister is amazing, and I’m half in love with her. I don’t regret being with her, not for one second, but I regret that I didn’t tell you first. For that, I’m deeply sorry. But get this through your head—that’s all I’m sorry for. That’s it. Hazel is an amazing woman, and any man who has her in his life is damn lucky, including you, so stop fucking it up. Stop being overprotective of her and let her run her own life.”

He let Jory’s arm go and stepped back. Jory looked like he was about to take another swing when the station alarm went off. They were being called to a fire. Jory backed up and walked out of the locker room. Aiden took a breath to settle himself and then headed out as well.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of activity. Aiden made sure he stayed busy and out of Jory’s way. He cleaned all the equipment on the rig and then started cleaning the rig itself. The guys all gave him a wide berth, but he knew they were aware there was a problem between him and Jory.

“A genie isn’t going to pop out if you keep rubbing that bumper, son,” Captain Hastings said as he came over to stand next to Aiden.

Aiden straightened. “Yes, sir.”

“Look, son, as a rule, I stay out of people’s lives, but you two are making us all uncomfortable. I’m guessing it has to do with Jory’s sister, Hazel.”

Aiden gave a curt nod.

“I figured her living with you was gonna go south sooner or later.” He shook his head. “Two weeks was quicker than I thought. You owe me the fifty bucks that I had in the pool. I figured at least a month.”

“I’m sorry what? There’s a pool?”

The captain nodded. “Every one of us knew this was gonna go bad. We figured we might as well take bets on it.”

Aiden was shocked.Fucking assholes. He blinked and then the reality of it hit him. If it had been anyone else, he would have been the first to bet in the pool. He let out a long breath. “Assholes,” he muttered.

“Uh-huh. Now, what are you gonna do to rectify the situation?”

He shrugged and then glared at his boss. “Is this a pool, too? Are you trying to get the inside line, Cap?”

Hastings tried to look hurt but failed. Then he grinned. “I didn’t think of it, but that’s not a bad idea.”

“Funny.”

---