Page 43 of The Problem with Fire
“Monroe-”
Still ignoring Sayer, I grabbed Leta by the hand. “How about we go make ourselves a plate of food?”
My daughter was far more perceptive than people gave her credit for. She knew something was going on between me and Sayer, but she chose having my back over her curiosity. “Sounds great, Mom.”
Hand-in-hand, we walked away from the foursome and made our way to mingle and eat some barbecue. My macaroni salad, spinach dip, and fried chicken had been brought out and set up earlier with the rest of the food, and the macaroni salad was Leta’s first go-to. It was one of her favorites out of all the dishes I made. With Leta already piling food on her plate, I reached for mine, but a strong, male hand latched onto my wrist before I could grab it.
I looked up and Sayer was scowling down at me. “We need to talk,” he bit out.
“No, we don’t,” I whisper-yelled. “Leave me alone, Sayer.”
“Monroe, it wasn’t what it looked like-”
“Do I look stupid?” I spat, before reining in my tone. “I’m not doing this in front of Leta.”
“Yeah, we are,” he disagreed.
A few people gathered around, and half-ass greetings were made. But having Sayer near was proving to be too much. I really did care for him, and even without that other woman, I was finding that I just didn’t have the patience for more bullshit in my life.
I didn’t want to be in a relationship where my boyfriend had to explain why another woman was in his arms.
No thanks.
I followed behind Leta in the food line, and was practically walking on top of her, when I felt Sayer’s heat on my back. “We need to talk,” he repeated, his words rushed out through clenched teeth.
“I’ve already told you to leave me alone, Sayer.”
Before he could reply, Leta’s voice joined in. “My mother would like you to leave her alone, Mr. Sayer,” she said. “I think you should respect that.”
My heart broke in two.
As if her father hadn’t been enough, she was witnessing another man break her mother’s heart.
Chapter 22
Sayer~
You have got to be kidding me.
Talk about underestimating just how fucked-up things could get. First Thomas, then me, then Daria, then Thomas, then Kerry and her fucking matchmaking, then Reggie being decent, then Thomas being an asshole, then Monroe, and now Leta.
Mother.
Fucker.
And I didn’t want to rush over a fifteen-year-old girl who was just trying to protect her mother from another asshole, but the odds were against me right now. I was the jerk who let Thomas get inside my head. I was the dick who had insulted and hurt Monroe. I was the idiot who hadn’t turned in a formal complaint against Daria from the beginning. I was the fool who hadn’t stalked Monroe thoroughly enough to know where Karma lived, because when I had left the firehouse yesterday, I’d had my face glue to my window for hours-fucking hours-before it had dawned on me that Leta was with Thomas this week, and so, Monroe wasn’t obligated to come home at all. I had ended up going back to the firehouse, and that had been another clusterfuck.
When I had gotten back to the station, I had marched right into Chief’s office and had requested transfer papers. After calling me a stupid sonofabitch-and he had thrown an ‘ignorant jackass’ in there, too-he had demanded I sit down and tell him everything that’s been going on. So, I had.
After I’d told him everything, starting from the day of the inspection, he had informed me he had been interrogating all the guys while I’d been gone, leaving Daria for last, and that he had relieved her of her duties permanently. He had also made it clear that he was not about to lose one of his best firefighters over an administrative assistant.
He had also demanded an invitation to my wedding.
Jake was going to fucking kill me if I didn’t make this right.
I looked at Leta, and knew I had to make myself worthy in this girl’s eyes, or else I had absolutely no chance with Monroe. “Leta, I can’t do that,” I told her truthfully. “While I respect her greatly, I can’t just let her push me away without a fight.”
She paid me a small mercy and allowed us to walk away from the serving table and away from the crowd. Once we got clear of enough people, Leta said, “She wouldn’t be pushing you away if you hadn’t done something bad to her.” Talk about a jab to the nuts. “She’s had enough crap from men without you adding to it, don’t you think?”
