Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

" L et me up," Joe bit out as she struggled to get up, but the big jerk simply tightened his arm around her waist and held her on his lap.

"Hold you tighter?" Eric asked with a heavy sigh as though that was the last thing that he wanted to do. "Fine. I suppose I could do that."

Not laughing was one of the hardest things she'd done in a while, but somehow, she managed it. She couldn't believe that he had the nerve to act like nothing was wrong. But this was Eric and they both knew that she couldn't stay mad at him for long, no matter how hard she tried.

After what the bastard did, she really should be pissed at him, but she just couldn't stay mad at him. She hated the fact that she'd pretty much forgiven him. He cared about her even if he was going about it the wrong way. Instead of talking to her, he'd gone the asshole route, but that was Eric and he wasn't going to change, and to be honest, she didn't want him to.

That didn't mean that she was going to let him control her life. He may think that he had a say in her life, but he didn't. As much as she appreciated him, Nathan, and Alice for everything that they did for her, she was still on her own. She loved them more than anything, but she wasn't their responsibility and she sure as hell didn't want them to see her as the burden they got stuck with.

Eric might want to take care of her, but she wasn't his responsibility. That was the reason why they'd never moved in together even when they were first starting out and sharing an apartment would have made sense. It was the same reason why she'd worked two mind-numbingly boring jobs to pay for EMT training even though Alice and Nathan both offered to pay for it and why she refused to let anyone co-sign the loan when she'd bought her house even though she probably would have gotten a better rate if she had.

Her mother might have been comfortable with letting everyone else take care of her, but she was nothing like her mother. She liked taking care of herself and knowing that she would never have to depend on another person again for anything as long as she lived.

It was because she could take care of herself that she would never have to worry about coming home to find everything she owned thrown into the street because someone forgot to pay the rent. She would never have to worry about going hungry again. She paid her bills, had a great job that she loved, and had money in the bank and last week that had been more than enough to allow her to sleep at night.

Now, she was starting to wonder.

After that close call, she had to admit that Eric had a point. Not that she would ever admit that to him since that would only encourage him, but she realized now that she needed a backup plan in case something ever happened that prevented her from working on the truck. Her savings were decent and could probably hold her over for eight months, but that wasn't good enough. She never wanted to struggle to pay her bills and she sure as hell didn't want to rely on handouts. If it ever came to that, she would split town because she just couldn't become someone's charity case.

Over the past few days, she'd thought about what she should do and decided that she should use part of her savings to get more training. She was going to keep her focus on emergency medical services, but she was going to make sure that if anything ever happened again that she'd have something else to fall back on.

"I wasn't done reading that page," Eric said, gesturing for her to go back.

"You can read it after I'm done," Joe pointed out even as she turned the page back so that the big baby could read it.

He snorted at that. "I don't read romance novels."

She snuggled closer to him, laying her head back on his shoulder so that he could see the book. "Um, you're reading a romance novel now."

"No, I'm not."

"Then, what do you call it?"

"Killing time," Eric said, shrugging it off.

"You could just as easily kill time by watching the game with the guys," Joe pointed out, nodding towards the flatscreen that had everyone else's attention.

"Why would I do that when we're getting to the sex scene? Would you turn the page already?" Eric demanded, making her roll her eyes.

"Sex?" one of the guys said, and just like that, she had ten guys standing behind her as they shoved each other out of the way to get a better look at her book.

This was why she didn't normally read when she was at work, Joe thought with a heartfelt sigh as she got to her feet, trying not to laugh when the guys groaned in disapproval. When she caught them pouting, she said, "Here," as she tossed the book to Jim. "Just toss it on my bunk when you're done."

"Why the hell did you do that? We were just getting to the good part!" Eric bitched, moving to grab the book back only to find the men gathered tightly around it.

"Are you coming or not?" Joe asked, not bothering to look back as she made her way to the ambulance bay.

"Where are we going?" Eric asked as he quickly caught up with her.

"You're buying me breakfast," she informed him.

"No, I'm really not, though," Eric said, opening the garage door for her.

She turned to glare up at him. "After the bullshit that you put me through, you're buying me breakfast and that's final."

"Yeah, good luck with that, sweetheart," Eric said, lazily throwing his arm over her shoulders and she couldn't help but sigh in relief. Whatever insanity had taken over them last week was clearly over. They hadn't talked about what happened, but then again, they really didn't need to.

They'd been friends for over twenty years, and at this point, some things didn't need to be said. That incident in her kitchen had been a mistake, one that made her ache, but a mistake, nonetheless. It was just one of those things that was better left alone.

"Thanks for dinner," Joe said, smiling as she nibbled on a fry drenched in ketchup.

"You're welcome," Eric grumbled, wondering how she'd tricked him into paying for breakfast, lunch, an ice cream, and dinner.

Oh, that's right, Eric thought, she stole his wallet and refused to give it back. Since he'd caught the little gold-digger eying the Hungry Man's Breakfast menu at Rick's Dinner earlier when they'd grabbed lunch, he knew that he was going to have to steal his wallet back while she slept or he'd be forced to buy the little gold digger breakfast in the morning.

Normally, he wouldn't mind buying her whatever she wanted. He tormented her about it, but this was his Joe and he made damn sure that she was taken care of, but today everything she did was pissing him off. She'd obviously forgiven him since she was talking to him again and acting like nothing happened and for some reason, that pissed him off. Any other woman would have brought up what happened in the kitchen at least a hundred times by now. At the very least, she should have asked how he felt about it, but had she?

Not Joe.

She acted like it was over and done with. Did she really want to pretend that she hadn't sucked on his tongue and moaned his name as he'd ground the hardest erection that he'd ever had against her?

He knew he was being an idiot, but he couldn't help it. His pride was taking a beating on this one. Was he really that forgettable? The thought pissed him off. It pissed him off to think that the woman he'd been fantasizing about for years thought he was that forgettable. Every time she came near him, he had to curl his hands into fists to stop himself from grabbing her and showing her just how unforgettable he really was.

"I think we should talk about what happened," Eric said before he realized what he was doing, but once the words were out of his mouth, he decided that they were damn well going to have this talk.

Joe shrugged it off as she finished off her last fry. "The nurse was an idiot," she simply said, referring to an earlier call they had where a nurse decided to light up a cigarette next to their patient while they were stuck outside of a nursing home waiting to be buzzed in. They'd both gotten into it with the nurse and were expecting a call from Bill, but he wasn't worried.

"That's not what I was talking about. I think we should talk about what happened last week," Eric said, only to add, "in your kitchen," when she frowned in confusion.

"Well, I gave that some thought," Joe said, collecting their trash before she jumped out of the ambulance and walked off, leaving him sitting there, trying not to lose his fucking mind.

"And?" Eric asked when she climbed back in and pulled her hair back into a lazy ponytail.

"And I made a few calls. I'm going up to New Hampshire on Friday for three days of training so that I can get certified," she explained, shrugging it off.

Since that wasn't what he was talking about and was the last goddamn thing on his mind at the moment, it took him a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about.

"You're going for certification?" Eric asked. "For what?"

"Dispatch and teaching First-Aid and CPR," she said, taking him by surprise.

Well, that had been easy. Maybe a little too easy, Eric realized as he narrowed his eyes on her.

"Are you taking a job in dispatch?" Eric asked, already deciding that would probably be the perfect job for her and, most importantly, it would get her off the truck.

The stubborn pain in the ass shook her head. "No, I want the certification. I talked to Bill and after I finish training, they're going to hire me in dispatch as per-diem to cover shifts and keep my skills up."

"Then, you're planning on teaching First-Aid and CPR full-time?" Eric asked, wondering how she expected to make enough money to support herself doing that, but if that's what she wanted, he'd do whatever it took to make it happen.

Again, she shook her head. "No, I talked to Bill and he said that after I passed, he'd give me the contract for the city if I wanted it. I think I'm going to take him up on it."

"Wait," Eric said, trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Then, what are you planning to do for work?"

Frowning, Joe said, "What I'm doing now."

He stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was kidding. Judging by the way she met his glare head-on, he realized that she was serious. That was going to be a problem for him because he needed her off the truck as soon as possible.

"Why the hell would you keep working on the truck when dispatchers get paid more?" Eric demanded, trying to stay calm.

"Because I love what I do," Joe said with a shrug. "But you had a good point the other day, so I decided that I needed to have something to fall back on in case anything ever happened."

She was kidding.

She had to be.

"You don't need something to fall back on, Joe, because I'll always take care of you!" Eric bit out, feeling his patience snap. "What you need to do is find a safer job so that I don't have to worry about you every fucking minute of the day!"

"We've been over this, Eric. That's not your job," Joe said tightly as she buckled her seatbelt with clipped motions.

"The hell it isn't," Eric said, snatching the mic, realizing they needed to put a little distance between them right now or they were going to kill each other, or at the very least, he was going to spank some sense into her ass.

"Dispatch, this is Echo seventeen. Are we clear to return to base?" Eric asked, ignoring the glare Joe was sending his way.

" Echo seventeen, you're clear ," dispatch answered.

He threw the ambulance in drive and headed back to base. The entire time neither one of them spoke or so much as looked at the other. By the time they reached the firehouse, his chest was tight and he felt like he was going to be sick.

How the hell did they get back to this point? He didn't want her pissed. He wanted her safe and happy and he kept pissing her off, but then again, she was pissing him off too.

"Asshole," Joe muttered as she climbed out of the ambulance and slammed the door shut before she stormed inside, leaving him sitting there feeling like the biggest asshole alive and wondering why it hurt so damn much when she was unhappy.