"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 she needed was for Eric to think that she thought that kiss meant something when it clearly didn't.
Not at all.
She barely even thought about it or how good it felt to be in his arms. It was the furthest thing from her mind. Of course she also wasn't curious about what would have happened if Nathan hadn't showed up or wondered if it would have been good. She didn't, because that would be counterproductive when she was trying to forget it ever happened and figure out a way to act like it never happened.
"Everything's fine, Nathan," she said with a shrug.
"Really? Is that why he won't even look this way and you haven't gone over there to kick his ass for getting you kicked out of the competition?" he 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. It's nothing," she 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?" he demanded as he gestured towards the two man team working the grills.
"Nothing. You kidnapped me. That means you feed me."
"I guess I'm not up to date on my kidnapping etiquette."
"Guess not," she said, feeling her lips twitch in amusement. "You'll have to work on that."
"I guess so."
"Hey, Joe!" a familiar voice suddenly yelled.
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 all this weirdness was behind them she fully planned on kicking his ass for screwing her over like this.
"I'll take a rain check on that double rack of ribs," she 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.
"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 or two as he watched Johnny Powers sweep Joe off her feet and place her on his stretcher. His eyes narrowed to slits 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 his competition? Or was it something else, he wondered. Everyone knew that Johnny had the hots for Joe. Although whenever anyone told her that she'd just laugh it off. She thought Johnny was just a buddy and being friendly. She was so f**king naive sometimes.
"That reminds me. We're going to need a patient too. Should I go get my sister?" Dave asked, moving to go do just that.
"Nah, I got it covered," he 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 asked, sounding eager.
Joe opened her mouth, probably to say yes since the damn woman no doubt thought it was just the guys hanging out together. He really had no idea why the hell she couldn't figure out that she was pretty much the only one that saw her as one of the guys. All the other guys as far as he knew looked her at her as a hot piece of ass and she was too damn oblivious to see that, which was pretty f**ked up since she wasn't like this with guys from outside of work.
"She's busy," he said, cutting her off before she could inadvertently lead the poor bastard on as he shoved past Johnny and scooped her up. He ignored her sputtered protests as he carried her back towards his ambulance.
"Where the hell are you going with my patient?" Johnny called after them.
"She's mine, dipshit," he 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. Of course 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 of course.
"Comfy?" he asked brightly as she glared up at him with all sorts of promises of pain and misery in his future. As long as she didn't go for his balls she could have her little revenge.
"What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Let me go!"
"Sorry, can't," he said with a bored shrug. "The patients are expected to be on the stretcher at the start of the competition."
"I'm not your patient!" she snapped.
"Of course you are," he said, leaning against the open back door of the ambulance, forcing her to tilt her head back to glare at him.
"No, I'm not," she said, struggling against the restraints.
"If you're not my patient then what are you doing on my stretcher?" he demanded, cocking a brow.
"Because you're an ass?" she suggested, struggling and getting her left arm free.
"Is everything okay?" Dave asked as he walked towards them, carrying a couple of bottles of water.
"No!" Joe of course said, making Dave frown and look a little uncomfortable.
"Ignore her. It's just her time of the month," Eric explained with a careless shrug.
"You betraying bastard!" Joe hissed out and he knew the second that the competition ended that she was going for that nut shot, which of course meant that he was going to have to leave her strapped to a backboard to protect his boys.
*******
"Flip the backboard!" the announcer ordered over the bullhorn.
Joe took a deep breath, but it didn't quite prepare her for being turned over until she was facing 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 long hard plastic backboard she couldn't move an inch.
As one of the refs checked each restraint she was forced to ground her teeth as she seethed with anger. She couldn't believe the nerve. First he screws her over at work and then he screws with her head and body and then ignores her only to piss her off by manhandling her. She couldn't wait for this damn contest to end. The second, the very second he let her out, she was going to beat the shit out of him and then tell him off.
When she was flipped back over and placed on a 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 or screw with her head. He might be her best friend, but that didn't mean that she had to put up with archaic bullshit.
He would learn......oh, would he learn........
"What the hell are you doing?" she 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.
Chapter 17
"Where's Joe?" Nathan asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down while scanning the bar.
"She's out enjoying a joy ride," he said, feeling his lips twitch. He idly wondered how she was enjoying her scenic drive down Old Man Mason's road, a ten mile stretch of country road that hadn't seen so much as a tar patch job in twenty years. It was one of those obscure roads that everyone forgot about, except for the kids who liked to race on the potholed, cracked mess for a challenge.
Nathan threw him a curious look, but shrugged it off as his continued to look around the bar.
"Where's Caitlyn?" Eric asked, looking around the bar for the cute little brunette.
"We broke up."
He really shouldn't be surprised by this point, but he really was. He'd only met the woman a handful of times, but she seemed sweet and perfect for his brother. Then again he hadn't met any of Nathan's girlfriends that he didn't think was perfect for him.
"Why?" he asked, taking a sip of his beer while his brother continued to scan the bar.
"It was just time," he said with a shrug, never ceasing in his perusal of the busy bar.
"You're a f**king idiot." Had he said that out loud? Based on his brother's sudden glare he would have to go with a yes on that one.
"What?" Nathan demanded, turning his attention on him.
He could apologize, but this bullshit had gone on for far too long.
"You heard me. You're a f**king idiot. You had a great girl, another great girl I might add who from what I could see adored you and was perfect for you and what do you do? You toss her aside on a whim. What the hell is your problem?"
"Stay out of it," Nathan bit out tightly.
"Sorry. Not going to happen. I want to know what the hell your problem is. You keep meeting these great women that seem to make you happy, but for some f**ked up reason you keep letting them go. I don't understand what the hell your problem is."
"Look who's talking," Nathan spat out.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Eric demanded.
"Joe," Nathan said, making Eric turn quickly in his seat to look for her. "Yeah, that's what I thought," Nathan said coldly, drawing his attention, but not before he scanned the bar once again for her.
"What are you talking about?" he asked distractedly as he turned to see if she was standing next to the jukebox since that's the first thing she always did before ordering a beer was to see if there were any new songs added to the playlist.
"That you have a lot of balls to talk."
"Meaning?" Eric asked, taking a sip of his beer as he kept his eyes leveled on his brother, not entirely sure he liked where this was going.
"You think I don't know?" Nathan demanded with a harsh laugh. "Everyone f**king knows."
"Then maybe you should clue me in," he said, placing his beer down on the small table.
"You're in love with Joe," Nathan said with a smug smile that had Eric chuckling.
"That's bullshit and you know it," Eric said, taking another sip of beer with a casualness that he didn't feel.
"Is that why you watch her like a hawk and warn off any man dumb enough to get within touching distance of her?"
"I protect her, the same as you," Eric said, slamming his beer down on the small table hard enough to make the small wooden bowl filled with empty peanut shells bounce.
Nathan snorted at that. "I protect her because she's my sister. You protect her because you don't want anyone else touching her."
"You're full of shit and you know it," Eric said, hating like hell that they were even talking about this. It was something he didn't want to think about never mind discuss.
For years he'd done his damndest to ignore the way Joe made him feel, like he would go out of his mind if he didn't touch her and now that he had it was a constant battle not to go after her and pull her right back into his arms. She was his best friend, the only person he could go to for absolutely anything or nothing. He loved being with her and just talking to her over the phone eased his soul and that's exactly why he shouldn't be feeling this way.
If they ever took it to the next step he knew it wouldn't be long before it ended badly. They both sucked at relationships. None of his previous girlfriends could hold his attention longer than it took to get them into bed and that usually didn't take long at all. After sex being with them felt like a chore, one he despised.
The same could be said for Joe. None of the guys that she dated could hold her attention for very long. For the most part they seemed to irritate the living hell out of her. She didn't do long term relationships, a month for her was too much. Hell, two weeks was too long for him and that's exactly why he knew this would never work.
She was forbidden fruit and the moment he had her he knew he'd tire of her too. Then they'd be left with an awkward situation that even their relationship wouldn't be able to recover from. Then what? Did he continue with her, pretending that he still wanted her because of their friendship? For her he would try, but he knew he'd come to resent their relationship and push her away like he'd done with so many women before her.
Then what? If they managed to go back to being friends there would always be an awkwardness between them. They might continue being friends, but their relationship would never be what it once was and he'd miss that. He'd miss their easy conversations, her companionship, her smiles, the way she busted his balls, but most of all he'd miss her. She might be the woman that he lusted after twenty-four seven, but she was also his best friend, his world and no amount of sex was worth risking that.
"So, it wouldn't bother you if she was in the arms of another man right now?" Nathan asked, sounding amused.
Yes. "No," he gritted out.
"Good," Nathan said, nodding. "Then it probably shouldn't bother you that Dave and Johnny have their hands all over her right now."
"What?" The word practically exploded from his mouth as he surged to his feet, sending his chair flying back in the process. He turned around ready to kill someone only to come to an abrupt halt when his eyes landed on the trio near the door. He felt his brows clear his hairline and he doubted that he was the only one at the moment.