Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

T hat bastard, Joe thought as she forced herself not to check her phone. She refused to be that woman. There was no way in hell that she was going to sit around waiting for a text message or a phone call from a guy, even if that guy was Eric.

He'd made it more than clear that he had no intentions of calling her this weekend, so she wasn't going to worry. She was going to force herself to stay awake during this mind-numbingly boring slideshow presentation. After that, she was going to her hotel, grabbing a shower, hitting a bar and getting drunk. Then, she would come back to this beige classroom that smelled like alcohol wipes and do it all over again.

She-

Really wished Eric was here, Joe thought with a sigh. Normally, they took all of their refresher courses and continuing education courses together. He kept her entertained while they sat through things like this, but he wasn't coming. He also might get his wish after all because she couldn't do this.

After what happened, she knew that she wouldn't be able to work with him again, not when she knew that he'd eventually start dating again. She didn't want to see him with someone else or have to pretend that he wasn't breaking her heart every time he touched another woman, knowing that it should be her. She just…

She wanted more, but he didn't.

She needed to move on, which would be hard to do if she had to see him every day. She knew that she would still see him when she went home and that was fine with her. No matter what happened between them, she wasn't willing to give up Nathan or Alice for anything. They were her family and she loved them. For them, she'd pretend that her heart wasn't breaking.

"You can call the office Tuesday to find out if you passed," Brian, the instructor from hell, said, grabbing her attention.

It was over? Finally, Joe thought as she got to her feet and grabbed the notebook she'd filled with doodles. That reminded her that she'd have to swing by the store and pick up two more if she had any hopes of surviving this class. Of course, if Eric had been here, she would have just drawn on his arm to keep herself entertained, but he wasn't, so she'd have to learn how to deal without him.

She headed for the door only to move her ass when she spotted Alex, a brand new EMT that decided to take the class, following her. Normally, she was patient with new EMTs. Well, she tried to be anyway, but she really didn't think she could handle this today.

During their breaks, when she just wanted to pout in peace, he'd decided that he had to share every single detail of every single call he'd ever been on. He'd been an EMT for all of six months and was sure that he'd seen it all. She had to laugh at that. She'd been on the job for twelve years and knew damn well that she hadn't seen everything. No two days were alike and that's what she loved about the job.

When she made the mistake of encouraging him after he told her that he was already growing bored with the job and was looking into doing something else, mostly hoping to end the conversation, he'd listed all the reasons why he should be a fireman. Her only escape had been the women's room, but it had been a short-lived reprieve. He'd waited for her outside the restroom and picked up where he'd left off as soon as he saw her. He did the same thing during their lunch break, making it impossible for her to get a bite to eat.

Now, she was hungry, cranky, and desperate to get the hell out of here before it was too late. Two minutes later, Joe was groaning when she spotted his beat-up green pickup truck pulling into the hotel parking lot right behind her. Would this day never end? Joe wondered. She turned off her car, grabbed her bag and headed for the hotel lobby, hoping it would be a quick check-in so that she could escape to her room. Then again, with the way her luck was going, he'd probably end up in the room right next to hers. She sent up a silent prayer that wasn't the case as she opened the hotel lobby door and couldn't help but wonder if she was hallucinating.

Nathan and Eric were sitting in dainty chairs that looked really uncomfortable as they were forced to watch some daytime talk show. She ran her eyes over their faces and noted a few bruises and cuts and was just about to ask what happened only to wince when Alex yelled, "Hey, Joe! Wait up," drawing Nathan and Eric's attention.

Nathan looked relieved to see her and Eric looked pissed as his eyes shifted from her to the guy trying to get her attention. She was just about to ask them what they were doing here when Nathan walked over and threw his arm around her and led her to the front desk.

"Let's check in, shall we?" Nathan asked cheerfully.

"What's going on?" Joe asked as she pulled out her license and the credit card she'd used to hold the room.

"Nothing much," Nathan said, shrugging it off. "We thought we'd come up and see how the fish were biting."

"Okay," Joe said slowly as she glanced over her shoulder to find Eric leaning back against the wall near the elevators as he glared at something behind her. Frowning, she looked back to find Alex standing behind her and looking eager to continue where they'd left off.

Silently groaning, Joe signed the slip, bit her lip when Nathan asked for two key cards to her room and once again wondered when this nightmare would end. She didn't think Eric would bring Nathan up here if he wanted to be with her, which meant that he brought Nathan up here for moral support...for her .

That kind of pissed her off since she'd already figured things out for herself. She didn't need him coming up here and wrecking her already boring weekend with this. He didn't want her? That was fine with her. He could tell her and then go on his merry way and she'd work him out of her system starting tonight.

"Let me carry that for you, Joe," Alex said smoothly as he picked up her bag and gestured towards the elevator. He either didn't notice that Nathan was standing next to her or was cocky enough to have already dismissed Nathan, probably the latter.

"No need. I've got it," Eric said coldly as he grabbed the bag from Alex.

"Who the hell are you?" Alex demanded, crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to glare up at Eric.

"Her boyfriend, asshole, so move along," Eric said, shocking the hell out of her.

Alex turned an accusing glare on her. "You didn't say anything about a boyfriend."

She opened her mouth to inform him that he'd never asked. Hell, he'd never let her get a word in. Not that she would have told him that Eric was her boyfriend when he'd made it clear that there would never be anything more between them. But before she could say anything, Nathan smoothly stepped in.

"She doesn't talk about him because she's ashamed of him."

Joe couldn't help but nod in agreement. "It's true. I am."

Eric snorted at that as he gave her hand a gentle tug towards the elevator. She couldn't help but feel a little awkward when Nathan and a pouting Alex joined them and Eric still didn't let her hand go. She sneaked a glance at Nathan to see how he was taking all of this only to find him grinning hugely.

She didn't know what was going on, but right now, she didn't care. As soon as she got to her room, she was taking a hot bath and then, she was going out. Whatever brought Eric and Nathan up here could damn well wait until tomorrow, Joe decided as the elevator doors slid open and Alex stormed off.

Biting back a sigh, Joe pulled her hand away from Eric, grabbed her bag and followed the signs to her room, hoping the guys got the hint and left her alone. That was followed by groaning pathetically a few minutes later when they followed her into her room.

"Get out," Joe said, not bothering to look at them as she tossed her bag on one of the double beds and began to dig out everything that she was going to need for a bath.

"No can do," Nathan said with a satisfied sigh as he walked past her to drop down on the other bed.

She turned her glare on Eric who was glaring right back at her like she did something to piss him off. She wasn't the one who gave him the brush-off after the most incredible night of her life. No, that was all him. Did he really think that she'd be happy to have him come all the way up here to give her the bad news? Was she receiving special treatment because of their history? Knowing him, probably.

"You didn't have to come up here to do this. I got the hint this morning," Joe said, hoping he got the hint and got out of here. She really didn't want to talk about this in front of Nathan.

"Yeah, I saw," he said tightly. "Who was the asshole?"

When she could only frown, he added, "The asshole sniffing around you downstairs."

"Just a whacker from class," Joe said, sighing. "Now that you know that, both of you can get the hell out of my room."

Eric stubbornly shook his head. "Sorry, like Nathan said, we can't do that."

"And why's that?"

"Because there are no other hotel rooms available. Looks like we're sharing."

"You know, you're right," Nathan mused as he lounged back on the bed. "You really suck at this."

Eric flipped him off before following Joe into the bathroom. When she tried to slam the door shut in his face, he shoved it open just wide enough so that he could step inside before locking the door behind him.

"Get out," Joe said, sounding pissed when she sure as hell didn't have the right to be.

The entire ride up here, he'd been a nervous wreck. He couldn't wait to see her and tell her that he wanted to give this a shot. Nathan had tagged along to watch. Nosey bastard, but he was glad that he came along. At least having him around would give him an ally, something he needed at the moment.

"No, you and I need to talk," Eric said, expecting her to yell at him or throw something at him like most of his ex-girlfriends did when he said those magical words, but instead, Joe gestured for him to get on with it.

"I got the message loud and clear this morning, Eric. There really was no need for you to come all the way up here," Joe said, turning her back on him to start a bath.

"I'm sorry about that," Eric said quietly.

"It's fine," Joe said, shrugging it off like it didn't matter as she started pulling her clothes off.

It was a bit distracting and he really wished she would stop doing that, but he kept his mouth shut since the last thing he needed was to piss her off again.

"I love you, Joe," Eric told her, wishing like hell that he knew what he was supposed to say to convince her to give him a chance.

Joe sighed as she settled into the bathtub. "I know," she said softly. "I love you too, Eric, which is why I'm not going to push you into anything that you don't want. I'd rather be your friend than lose you."

"And I'd rather have you, Joe. I'm in love with you and I want to be with you, Joe," Eric said, praying that she gave him another chance. He'd already fucked up so badly and he didn't know what he would do if she told him to fuck off.

He knelt down next to the tub and barely resisted the urge to take her into his arms. "I know that I don't have the best track record for dating, but you have to know that I would never treat you that way."

"How can you be so sure?" Joe murmured, drawing her knees up so that she could hug them against her chest.

"Because they weren't you, Joe. I didn't want them the way that I want you and I sure as hell didn't love them. I love you, Joe, and I want to be with you," Eric said, unable to resist the urge to run his fingertips along her jaw.

When she didn't say anything, Eric shifted nervously, racking his brain for a way to get out of this hole that he'd dug himself into. Just when he'd decided to start begging, Joe released a long-drawn-out sigh.

"I'm willing to give this a chance, but you should probably know that if you treat me like crap again that I'll have no choice but to kick your ass."

He nodded solemnly even as he murmured, "That sounds fair."

"I thought so," Joe agreed even as she reached for him. Not that she had to since he was already moving to pull her into his arms. He leaned in to kiss her when the banging on the door started.

"I'm hungry!" Nathan bitched.

"So? Go get something and leave us the hell alone!" Eric snapped as he leaned in to kiss her.

"You promised to buy me a steak dinner if I came up here with you," Nathan pointed out.

"I lied!"

He ignored the gasp of outrage and nearly groaned when his lips met hers.

"You lying bastard!"

"You know that you're buying me a steak dinner, don't you?" Joe whispered against his lips.

Eric couldn't help but chuckle as he said, "I knew you were a little gold digger."