Chapter 65

Knox

“Dave’s here.”

I’d had a lot of conversations with Gareth over the years, but there was nothing else he could’ve said that would get my attention faster. I dropped the sponge I was using into the bucket of soapy water, Charlie and Henry doing the same as they clustered closer.

“Here?” I knew that wild grin of Charlie’s, and for the first time felt no compunction to tell him to rein himself in. “Well, well, that’s a way to make the day a lot more interesting.” He looked at me. “Don’t try and stop me from belting that prick into next week.”

“You’ll have to get in line.”

Henry’s growl took us all by surprise, but I guess it made sense. Firefighters could be gossipy pricks, so I felt the best strategy was to get in front of that and tell people the real story. Millie left the office job because Dave went through her private emails, reading one from her obstetrician about the genetic profile of her baby.

And one of us was the bio dad.

There were some grumblings when I first delivered the news, but when I made clear all three of us would do right by Millie and the baby, the animosity was redirected towards the real villain: Dave.

“Behind me,” I assured them all. “He must be here for his disciplinary hearing, so that means we’re needed.”

“That’s what I came to tell you,” Gareth said. “I was a witness, so were a bunch of the others. Noah’s gonna give his side of the story via video link, and then we’re booting that prick from the service, once and for all.”

By the time we walked inside the station, pretty much every person that worked there lined the halls. Blokes nodded to us as we passed, but I knew Dave had entered the building. Seeing the men around me stiffen, their eyes trained further down the hall had me turning around.

I didn’t hate many people, but fuck, I hated Dave. Wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire, the need to do something far worse burning inside me. I was glad Noah was at home, because Charlie came to stand beside me, letting out an animalistic growl.

“Just give me ten minutes alone with this prick…” he muttered.

“I could get the job done in five,” I replied, my head filled with murderous fantasies.

But instead of walking up to us, the stupid arsehole turned to his so-called mates, Brian and Mick.

“How’s it going, fellas?” He sauntered over in their direction, but both guys took a step backwards, ignoring his outstretched hand. “Must be pretty boring without me around.”

“You’re not here to catch up.” Brent appeared, looking Dave up and down with an expression of thinly veiled disgust. “You’ve been stood down on full pay until the disciplinary hearing could take place. Go to the conference room so we can get this over and done with.”

“And I can get back to the business of saving people’s lives?” Dave smirked, my hands forming fists at the sight of it. “Looking forward to it.”

Because that’s how stupid he was.

“Where’s your union representative?” The bloke from the department who was conducting the hearing said to Dave.

“Figured I’d represent myself,” Dave said, taking a seat.

The lawyer representing the service snorted, shaking his head as he shuffled his papers.

“You won’t get any complaints from me,” he said with a shark-like smile.

“Well then, let's get started,” the chief officer said, taking a seat and starting the process.

“So, if I have this straight.” The chief officer looked stunned by what he was reading, and that was gratifying. I wanted, needed, someone else to be just as fucking pissed by this idiot’s bullshit. “You attempted to sexually assault a colleague.”

“There’s no evidence of that,” Dave spluttered. “The little bitch is lying.”

“The signed statements by your team members say otherwise,” the officer said, rolling his eyes. “Then there’s the breach of the same woman’s privacy when you went through her emails?—”

“Personal emails,” Brent corrected.

“Personal emails,” the officer conceded. “To find further fuel to harass your fellow firefighters as an act of retribution. You went straight from the station admin office to verbally abuse Mr. Taylor, making deeply offensive statements about Ms. McDonald. Do I have that right?”

Dave looked around, searching for someone to step in, back him up, but none were forthcoming, so he had to speak up for himself. Of course, that just put him further into the shit.

“Well, if she wasn’t such a little slut, banging three dudes?—”

“That’s enough.” The department lawyer had gone to interject, but before he could say a word, the chief officer shut him down. “There is nothing in my job description that empowers me to make moral judgements about what does or does not go on in the homes of the men that work here, unless it is criminal in nature.”

“And banging three dudes at the same time isn’t?” Dave snapped.

“No.” The lawyer shook his head. “I did a deep dive into the laws surrounding this in Australia, and while polygamist marriage is illegal, all other activities between consenting adults are of no interest to the government or the department.”

“Then I only have one decision to make,” the chief officer said. Dave began to splutter, seeming to know what was coming, but he was silenced with a dark look. “You’ve had a track record of sexual harassment, something that the fire service takes a very dim view of indeed. The fact you were given two chances to change your ways confounds me, but here we are.”

The man shoved a set of papers towards Dave.

“These are your severance papers. You are not fit to be a member of our organisation, and I think you’ll find that the other states take a very dim view of employing men who’ve been removed from the service. It’s time to think about a new career.” The officer shot him a tight smile. “Around your upcoming court appearance.”

This wasn’t the only hearing Dave would attend. I’d quizzed Brent, wanting to make sure that the police were informed of Dave’s breach of Millie’s privacy, but he’d talked to them the same day it happened. Apparently, he was taken from the station in cuffs, his nose still bleeding from Noah’s punch.

“This is bullshit!”

Dave sent his severance papers flying, but as we all rose to our feet, he knew. He could argue with the department lawyer all he liked, but he didn’t have a leg to stand on, which probably explained the lack of legal support.

“Off you go, Davey boy,” Charlie said, all of the contempt we both felt in his voice. He flicked his hand in the prick’s direction when Dave looked our way. “Time to go wee, wee, wee all the way home.”

“Yeah? Least I don’t have to go home to some tunnel cunt bitch.” Dave didn’t seem to register the aggressive sounds of every other man in the room, staring at us all, rebellion in his eyes. “After she has that kid, it’d be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway.”

“You seem really focussed on what and who Millie is banging,” Charlie said, his grin growing wider. That flash of his teeth was almost lupine. “Is that because you can’t find a girl to touch you in your special place? Or because you’ll probably end up giving hand jobs to some dude called Bubba if you end up in jail?”

Dave lunged at Charlie, Brent and the chief officer shouting for everyone to stand down, but Charlie? He was completely in control. If he could just get Dave to swing first, he’d be in the clear to give the prick the beating he deserved.

And I prayed Dave would.

There was a violence in me that I kept tamped down, but right now, it was a feral animal, fighting to get free. I sucked in one breath, then another, waiting for Dave to make his move. Instead, he jerked himself away, the snorts around the room making clear that people saw him for what he was. A small man, a pathetic one, and now, one without a career. He wasn’t worth my anger, my attention, anything. He was defanged, and now he’d be sent on his way.

“Get the fuck out of my station,” Brent snapped and that had my eyebrows rising. He almost never swore. “Only firefighters belong in this room, and I don’t know what the hell you are, but you have no place here.”

Dave thought someone would stand up for him, I saw that in his eyes as he scanned the room, but when no one did, not even his team. That was when the light inside him died. Never had I been gladder to see it. Let him slope off, rejected from every job he applied for when he was forced to explain what he had done.

“He’s not worth it,” I said, smacking my hand into Charlie’s chest.

“But it’d feel so damn good to punch his teeth down his throat,” he growled.

“Better than going home to Millie?” I asked. “Better than telling her the news?”

That was the thing about Charlie. He moved on quickly, and this was the moment when he grinned at me.

“Nothing’s better than being with my girl.”

“So, it's’ done?”

The four of us were walking along the beach, Buster roaming off ahead, looking for sticks. Well, we were walking, Noah was hobbling along as best he could. His physiotherapist had approved a gentle exercise program.

“It’s done.” I pulled Millie closer, unable to describe the feeling of satisfaction I felt, but I’d try. “They kicked him out of the fire service, so that’s pretty much a death sentence for his career. Then there’s the fact he’ll have a criminal conviction against his name once he has his day in court.”

“Maybe he’ll represent himself again, the muppet.” Charlie shook his head. “I half hope he does, just so the judge can throw the bloody book at him.”

“He’s not likely to see jail time.” Noah winced then came to a stop. We all took that as a sign the walk was over. I whistled to Buster who came running back, a massive stick in his mouth. “I haven’t had much to do, so I’ve been looking things up. He’ll probably get a fine, maybe a good behaviour bond.”

“And a criminal record.” Millie seemed to take some kind of dark satisfaction in that. “Everyone who does a background search on him will know what he did, what a prick he is, but…” None of us had brought this up with her, scared of how she’d react. “He told you who the father is.”

“Who the father isn’t.” We all watched Noah as he sidled up to her, cradling her body close. “I know I’m not the bio dad, but…” Millie was well and truly showing now, able to wear these stretchy, belly revealing items now that she no longer had to hide her state. “It doesn’t change anything.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her face. “It was never going to. If being a good dad was tied to a bloke jizzing in a woman, then the world would be a better place than it is. Women get the choice to have a child or not, and men? We choose to step up and be the kind of dad our child needs, or just be another deadbeat.” She looked up at him then, the glow of the sunset turning her face red-gold. “I’m no deadbeat, Millie. Nothing Dave or a piece of paper says is gonna change that.”

“What about you guys?”

I wanted to be all noble and shit and say the same thing, but really, I wanted to know. It wouldn’t change anything, I knew that, and yet it was like an aching tooth, my tongue coming back to it over and over, unable to leave it alone. It would hurt her though, if I asked, so I just shook my head.

“What he said. Noah speaks for all of us, right?”

Charlie was conspicuously quiet, something that should’ve had my Spidey senses tingling, but he defused that with a smile.

“As long as you are the mother, that’s my kid,” he told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

People stopped to stare as they walked past, but I didn’t care. About them, about Dave, even about the test results when I moved closer, giving her my own kiss. I wouldn’t hide what we were, what we had, not anymore, because who knew how long we’d have together? My own parents had barely managed to keep it together for a few years before separating to implode. We’d do better than that, I swore, as I held Millie close, because I’d do whatever the hell it took to ensure we did.