Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

" A re you going to share that with me?" Nathan asked, still pouting.

"No," Joe said, sighing heavily as she took a big bite out of her fried dough. She didn't really want it, but she needed something to do in order to distract herself from the colossal mess she'd made of her life.

"Cheap," Nathan mumbled, making sure to look pathetic.

"You can have some of mine, Nathan," Caitlyn said, smiling sweetly up at him.

"Thank you," Nathan said, looking a little uncomfortable as he accepted a bite of her fried dough. Caitlyn must have noticed it, too, because her smile slipped a little.

Joe just barely stopped herself from slapping him upside his head. What the hell was wrong with him? Caitlyn was smart, funny, sweet, and kind and he was pushing her away. He did this so often that she knew the signs by heart now.

Right now, he was distancing himself from Caitlyn and in a week, she'd be out of the picture. In another month or two, he'd find another woman that was just as perfect for him and he'd be happy until whatever stupid notion he allowed to take over had him pushing that one away, too. She wanted to scream at him and slap some sense into him, but she honestly didn't know where to start.

"I-I'm going to get a drink. Does anyone else want one?" Caitlyn asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"No, thank you," Joe said, throwing Caitlyn what she hoped was a warm smile.

"I'm all set," Nathan said absently as he watched the teams of firefighters run a relay race with rolled-up hoses.

"Okay," Caitlyn mumbled softly as she turned around and walked away.

"Do we need to send you to therapy?" Joe asked as soon as Caitlyn was out of hearing distance.

He frowned down at her. "No. Why?"

Joe rolled her eyes as she gestured towards Caitlyn's retreating back. Nathan followed her gesture and sighed.

"It's just not working out," Nathan said, shrugging it off.

"Then, tell her that instead of dragging this out. It's not fair to her."

"I will," was all he said and she had to curl her hands into fists to stop herself from beating some sense into him. What the hell was wrong with him that he couldn't even see what was right in front of him? How the hell could he push someone who was obviously perfect for him away like that?

The man needed his ass kicked.

"What's going on with you two?" Nathan asked, gesturing towards the row of ambulances lined up for the EMS competition. She spotted Eric leaning against the ambulance, shirtless, and talking to an equally shirtless Dave, the EMT that had taken her spot but the sight of Dave didn't send her heart racing or leave her feeling lost.

After their momentary lapse in sanity, he'd stepped away from her and went to her bedroom to get dressed, leaving her sitting on the table, confused, aching, and furious. Of course, the milkshake Nathan brought for her helped her calm down. It really was too bad they weren't selling them here because she could really use one right about now.

By the time Eric reappeared, he was dressed and wouldn't make eye contact with her, for which she'd been immensely grateful. She'd never been more embarrassed in her life than she'd been at that moment. He'd kissed her and what had she done? She'd practically swallowed his tongue and all but demanded that he fuck her against the wall.

She still couldn't believe it happened and if there was any doubt in her mind, then the way her nipples tightened every time she thought of him was proof enough. It didn't help that she couldn't stop thinking about him and what almost happened. It didn't matter that she'd always been attracted to him because she'd never intended to act on it. He was her best friend and she didn't want to lose that.

When he'd kissed her, she should have put a stop to it and pulled away, laughing it off like she had when they were fourteen. But had she done that? Oh, no, not her. For some reason, she'd decided that it had been a great day to ruin everything.

Now, they weren't talking. They'd never gone a day without talking before, but he hadn't said anything to her in the past three days. Then again, she hadn't exactly gone out of her way to talk to him either. For the past three days, she'd been screening all her calls and avoiding all his usual haunts. If Nathan and Caitlyn hadn't showed up and dragged her here, she'd probably still be avoiding him.

"You're not still mad at him, are you?" Nathan asked, thankfully drawing her attention back to him before Eric saw that she was watching him. The last thing that she needed was for Eric to think that she thought that kiss meant something when it clearly didn't.

It didn't mean anything.

She also wasn't curious about what would have happened if Nathan hadn't showed up or wondered if it would have been as good as she'd always imagined it would be.

"Everything's fine," Joe said, shrugging it off.

"Really? Is that why he won't even look this way? Or why you haven't gone over there to kick his ass for getting you kicked out of the competition?" Nathan asked, throwing his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle pull until she was walking with him towards the food vendors.

"It's just a simple misunderstanding," Joe explained as they stepped in line, hoping he'd let it go. Thankfully, by some miracle, he did.

"I'm starving. What are you buying me?" Nathan asked as he gestured towards the two-man team working the grills.

"Nothing," Joe said, frowning before she pointed out, "You kidnapped me. That means you feed me."

"I guess I'm not up to date on my kidnapping etiquette," Nathan said with a teasing smile.

"Guess not," Joe said, feeling her lips twitch. "You'll have to work on that."

"I guess so."

"Hey, Joe!"

She looked past Nathan to see Johnny, an EMT from the 505, waving to get her attention. "We need a patient. You interested?"

Was she? Yes, yes, she was. The fact that she'd be helping the competition beat Eric didn't hurt. She was still pretty pissed about being kicked out of the Muster and after they were both able to pretend that kiss never happened, she fully planned on kicking his ass for screwing her over.

"I'll take a raincheck on that double-rack of ribs," Joe said, pulling away from Nathan to go help kick Eric's ass.

"Wait. When did I promise to buy you a double-rack?" Nathan asked, sounding adorably confused.

"About ten seconds before you promised to buy me a double fudge brownie sundae," she said, throwing him a wink when he released a gasp of outrage.

"Gold digger!"

"What the hell is she doing?" Dave asked as he gestured behind him.

Eric looked back and had to bite back a curse as he watched Johnny Powers sweep Joe off her feet and place her on his stretcher. His eyes narrowed when the bastard ran his fingers through her hair as he moved it out of her face.

What the hell was she doing?

Was she really that pissed at him that she was willing to help the competition? Or was it something else, Eric wondered. Everyone knew that Johnny wanted her. Although whenever anyone told her that she'd just laugh it off. She thought Johnny was just being friendly. She was so fucking naive sometimes.

"That reminds me. We're going to need a patient, too. Should I go get my sister?" Dave asked, moving to do just that.

"Nah, I got it covered," Eric said, tossing the straps back on the stretcher.

He ran his fingers through his hair, questioning his motives even as he weaved his way through the other teams getting their equipment together.

"Maybe after this, we can go get a drink," Johnny said, sounding really fucking eager.

Joe opened her mouth, probably to say yes since the damn woman probably thought it was just the guys hanging out together. He really had no idea why she thought that she was one of the guys. She wasn't. Not even fucking close, but she refused to listen to him. All the guys hit on her, asked her out, and fucking drooled over her and she was too fucking oblivious to see it.

"She's busy," Eric said, cutting her off before she could lead the poor bastard on. He shoved past Johnny and scooped her up into his arms. He ignored her sputtered protests as he carried her back to his ambulance.

"Where the hell are you going with my patient?" Johnny called after them.

"She's mine, dipshit," Eric yelled over his shoulder, wishing like hell that he didn't like the sound of that.

He dumped her ass on his stretcher, and before she could make a run for it, he clipped her in. She moved to unclip the safety restraints, but he simply readjusted them so that the belt at her waist covered her forearms and tightened it so that she couldn't move. He did the same with her legs.

"Comfy?" Eric asked brightly as she glared up at him with a look that promised all sorts of pain and misery in his future. As long as she didn't go for his balls, she could do whatever she wanted because he wasn't letting her go.

"What is wrong with you?" Joe demanded. "Let me go!"

"Sorry, can't," Eric said with a bored sigh. "The patients are expected to be on the stretcher at the start of the race."

"I'm not your patient!" Joe snapped.

"Of course you are," Eric said, leaning back against the back door and forcing her to tilt her head back so that she could glare at him.

"No, I'm not," Joe said, struggling against the restraints.

"If you're not my patient, then what are you doing on my stretcher?" Eric drawled as he slowly took in the teams setting up around them.

"Because you're an ass?" Joe suggested as she managed to get her left arm free.

"Is everything okay?" Dave asked as he walked towards them, carrying a couple bottles of water.

"No!" Joe snapped, making Dave frown.

"She's just really excited about being strapped to a longboard," Eric explained with a careless shrug.

" You betraying bastard !" Joe hissed, and he knew the second the competition ended that she was going for that nut shot, which meant that he was going to have to leave her strapped to a backboard for a while.

"Flip the backboard!"

Joe took a deep breath, but it didn't quite prepare her for being flipped over until she was glaring at the ground. She wished she could turn her head to glare at the bastard, but thanks to the neck collar, tape, and the fact that she was secured from head to toe on a plastic backboard, she couldn't move an inch.

As one of the refs checked each restraint, she was forced to clench her teeth together as she seethed with anger. She couldn't believe him. First, he screws her over at work, then he screws with her head, and ignores her only to piss her off by doing this . She couldn't wait for this damn competition to end. The second, the very second, he released her, she was going to beat the shit out of him with this backboard.

When she was flipped back over again and placed on the stretcher, anticipation coursed through her veins. He thought she was weak? She'd show him. She'd also show him that he couldn't push her around and screw with her head. He might be her best friend, but that didn't mean that she had to put up with this bullshit.

He would learn.

Oh, would he learn...

"What the hell are you doing?" Joe demanded when she suddenly found herself being placed in the back of the ambulance.

"Enjoy the ride," Eric said before the backdoors slammed shut and the roar of the ambulance vibrated all around her.

He wouldn't dare...

He did.