Page 9 of Memories with Fire

“So, Hails,” Quinn says, cutting through the edginess, “Have you given that blind date any thought?”

I can’t help it, my head snaps up, my attention focusing on Hailey. I catch the way her head whips in her friend’s direction, her eyes widening in what I perceive as horror. Or embarrassment. But maybe that’s my imagination.

This answers one of the questions I’ve been mulling over, and not just since I got here and found Hailey in my new station. A question I’ve thought of more times than I’ll ever admit out loud. Whether or not Hailey is single.

“Seriously?” Hailey whisper-yells at Quinn. “Can we not right now?”

“What?” Quinn says, shrugging, completely oblivious to Hailey’s discomfort. Or she just doesn’t care. Interesting. “Inquiring minds want to know, Hails.”

Before Hailey can answer her, Liam pipes up from beside me, charm oozing from his words, “The offer still stands to use me and abuse me, baby.”

I smother a snort of derision, but with my mouth half full of food, it sounds more like I’m choking. Hailey and this guy? He’s got to be joking. I know it’s been a while, and I don’t know Liam besides the shift and a half that I’ve spent with him, but Hailey had reservations saying yes to me back in the day, and I know it was only because of her friend, and a pact she’d made with herself, that convinced her to do it. I can’t imagine she’d say yes to this guy with more knowledge and wisdom under her belt.

Granted, I charmed her with my smooth pickup line when I literally fell to her feet in the sand. Liam strikes me as the type of guy who would be able to do the same thing, especially if the few comments that have been made about him are true.

“You got a problem?” Liam asks, turning in his chair to face me.

Lifting a tiny morsel of the lasagna to my mouth, I eat it as slowly as possible, making a show of chewing and then swallowing before I finally cast my gaze in his direction. “Nope.”

Liam’s eyes narrow at me. “It sounds like you do.”

Shocker. He doesn’t believe me when I tell him no. For some reason, I thought Santa Rosé would be different from Waco. A fresh start. I should have known better. No one ever believes me, and I’m so tired of having to defend myself.

“Liam,” Brody murmurs in warning.

“No,” Liam waves a hand at him. “I want to know what Luke’s problem is. Tell us about yourself, man. What about Hailey and me is so funny?”

“He probably doesn’t think I could get a guy like you,” Hailey says in irritation, causing me to look at her as she pushes her plate away with a hard shove it doesn’t deserve.

I didn’t plan on saying a word to Liam. Not indulging him seemed like the best course of action, but Hailey couldn’t be further from the truth, and my need to set her straight overrides my better judgement.

“The opposite, actually,” I tell her, and there’s more bite in my tone than I intend. “I don’t think he could get a girl like you.”

Liam is out of his chair before any of us can blink. The thing makes an ungodly noise as it scuffs across the kitchen floor, but it’s the collective intake of breath that really gets my attention as he slams a hand down on the table beside my plate. Though I can’t see it, the sudden heat at my back tells me his other hand is on my chair as he crowds me. Close enough that if I turned my head we’d probably be kissing. Which is the point. He’s doing it so I won’t move. A show of who is in control, and the understanding that it isn’t me.

“Listen to me carefully,” he snarls, the sound low and menacing, filled with barely contained rage. “Hailey is one of us. You are not. So, whatever she wants here, she gets. And if memory serves me correctly, which it does, she told you not to talk to her. So do not talk to her. Are we clear?”

I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I’m also not going to take this alpha male bullshit from some guy I hardly know. Even if he’s doing it for Hailey. If Liam’s hand on the table flexing is any indication, he’s not expecting me to take it lying down. Hell, maybe he even wants me to get back in his face. It would have potential for me to get kicked out of this station, which might be the best thing for everyone, but I’m not about to jeopardize my position here. Not for him.

Slowly, so he has the time to move, I turn my head towards him. Liam doesn’t back down, even though my movement brings us nose to nose. Close enough I can feel his breath on my lips. It smells garlicky, courtesy of the two pieces of lasagna he had.

“Hailey is a big girl,” I say loud enough that everyone at the table can hear me, Hailey included. “Her feisty ass doesn’t need you fighting her battles for her. She’s more than capable.”

Liam growls, shoving his forehead into mine. “Do not talk about her ass.”

“Or what?” I retort, taunting him. “It’s an ass worthy of being talked about.”

“Gentlemen,” a voice comes from the doorway, and I don’t need to look to know it’s Nate. “There a problem here?”

There’s a pause in the entire room, like time has stopped, a moment where Liam and I just stare at each other, daring the other to do something stupid now that our lieutenant is present. Then Liam straightens, and a collective breath is either inhaled, or exhaled, at the table, the tension easing a fraction.

We’re still watching each other when Liam says, “Nope. Just letting Luke know what’s up.”

When I don’t respond, Nate speaks again, “Luke? Problem?”

“Nah, boss,” I say, finally breaking the staring match between Liam and me to turn and look at the doorway where Nate is. “We’re good.”

“Great,” Nate says, but he’s still assessing the situation before him. From what I’ve gathered, he and Liam are close. The same with Brody. It makes me wonder how things would have worked out if things had gone any farther with Liam and me. “Anyone not eating, get out.”

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