Page 47 of Just for Fun
“Who is Owen?”
I’m not sure if I am asking these guys the question or his woman. I shouldn’t care this much that she’s taken, but I am very surprised. She didn’t strike me as that type of person. She got all in a tizzy because I was three minutes late. Who would’ve thunk it she was cheating on her man with me?
“Owen?” Her eyes snap open, but she is still not yet aware of her surroundings.
“Over here,” one of the guys standing to the side replies. “This is the last thing I thought I’d see this morning,” he says. “Or in my life, period.”
To her credit, Zara finally catches on and jumps back. But the damage is done. Owen here has seen everything there was to be seen.
“Oh my god, Owen!” She takes a couple of steps back in an effort to put some distance between me and her. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
He stares at her in disbelief. “My twenty-four-hour shift starts at eight. And I work next door.”
Zara’s eyes widen in shock. She has this horrified look on her face, like this is the worst thing in the world. I lean back to see what’s next door to the restaurant, only to find the fire department. I immediately start connecting some dots with the information she gave me last night. I’m pretty sure she mentioned her brother being a firefighter.
“Which one of you is Zara’s brother?”
All three of them eye me like they don’t know what to make of me. They’re not sure if they are surprised or mad about finding one of their own making out with a random guy in the public parking lot next to their station.
“That’d be me.” The one in the middle steps forward and stretches his arm out. We shake hands, with him squeezing just a tad tighter than I’m comfortable with.
“Quite the grip you got there,” I chuckle when he lets go.
He sizes me up before turning to look at Zara. She looks absolutely horrified by this entire incident.
“Who’s your friend, sis?”
She jumps into action.
“Uh, this… is…” She rushes to stand next to me and I swear I can feel her shaking like leaf.
“I’m Kyle,” I respond in her place.
Owens frowns at me. “Kyle who? And where did she find you?”
“Kyle Kelly,” I formally introduce myself. “And funny story about how she found me…”
“He’s my boyfriend,” Zara blurts out, cutting me off. “And he needs to walk me to my office now. Owen, I’ll see you at lunch. Have a great day everyone.”
She grabs me by the arm and marches me to her car.
“What are we doing?” I let out a laugh. I’m not sure if I’m really tired or if this is that funny.
“You are going to drive me to work, like a gentleman,” she hisses.
I try to turn around. “My truck…”
“Shh, be quiet,” she instructs.
We walk like this all the way across the parking lot. I look around, hoping to locate her car, but there’s no one parked back here.
“Where’s your car?” I ask.
Zara now pulls me out onto the sidewalk, and we continue walking.
“We are not going back there. You’re walking me to work now.”
I sure hope it’s not far.
