Payback: The Men of Firehouse 69 by Lori Toland Read Free Book Online Page A

hips. “Then stop treating me like that’s all I am to you.”
    He grabbed his pants
and put them on. “Look, we both need to cool down now and I need sleep before
work tomorrow. I’m going to my place and we’ll talk after Christmas dinner,
okay?”
    “Fine.” She got under
the covers and faced away from him.
    Feeling like a total
jerk, he couldn’t leave her like this. Reaching out, he ran his hand down her
back. “Melanie—”
    She rolled over and
glared at him. “I said ‘fine’ so just go home, Andre.”
    He turned and left, his
gut burning all the way to his car. They had really screwed up this evening,
his last chance to see her before Christmas. Maybe she was right, but she
wouldn’t even discuss keeping their relationship under wraps.
    Staying quiet to her
family was about protecting her, couldn’t she see that? He gritted his teeth as
he left her complex and drove home. He wasn’t even sure he had a toothbrush
there. Most of his stuff was either at Mel’s or the station.
    She was here to stay
and admitting it wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be. If only he hadn’t
picked a fight tonight of all nights. Wasn’t there supposed to be peace on
earth and all that?
    Hopefully on Christmas
she would talk to him or he might find himself out on his ass, banned from the
Brentley household for good. He needed to make this right, for too many
reasons, none the least, for his the good of his heart.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Melanie let out a huge
sigh and took a sip of wine. Andre still wasn’t here and her mother wouldn’t
wait much longer to serve dinner. Great, she had driven a man off who didn’t
have any other family in town to share Christmas with. As far as she knew, all
of his family had moved away. Now she had ruined Christmas for him. Great.
Wasn’t life grand?
    “Smile,” Ronnie said,
nudging her with an elbow to the ribs. “Or they’ll think something’s up.”
    “Well, we wouldn’t want
that, would we?” She downed the rest of her wine, coughing as the fumes burned
her nose.
    After her fight with
Andre, she had cried on Ronnie’s shoulder as she wallowed in the weird
non-breakup fight angst. She didn’t even know where they stood. Were they still
dating? Did he consider them fuck-buddies?
    She was in way too
deep. Her resolve to stay uninvolved was shattered. What if Andre only wanted a
good time from her? She tried to swallow around the knot in her throat. She
thought he had fallen for her but maybe she was wrong.
    Her mother, Candace,
walked in the kitchen. “The turkey’s done and I thought Brian told me Andre
would be here at six. Did Brian mention Andre was running late?”
    Mel frowned. Andre had
told her his shift on Christmas ended at six so unless he had an airplane, he
couldn’t even get to her parents house until six-thirty at the earliest, which
was a few minutes from right now. But she shrugged, not wanting to let on she
knew more than Brian.
    It drove her crazy,
having to watch every last word she spoke about Andre. Would she give away her
feelings? Did it show on her face how much she cared for him?
    Brian walked in the
kitchen. “Let’s just sit down and Andre can join us when he gets here. You never
know with his schedule. He might be a few hours if he’s out on a call.”
    “Oh, that’s right,” her
mother said as she shoved a dish at Brian. “Ben. It’s time to cut the turkey.”
    Ronnie helped too as
they each carried a dish out to the table perfectly set for six. After a couple
trips, they managed to get all the food out on the table.
    Her dad carried out the
platter of sliced turkey and her mother oohed and aahed over it. Normally, Mel
would too but her mood was so dark, she couldn’t see daylight.
    “Mel, sweetheart, are
you okay?” Her dad put his arm around her shoulders.
    She managed to drag a
smile out of her nasty mood. “I’m okay, Daddy.”
    “Boy troubles?”
    She pursed her lips.
“Unfortunately, yeah.”
    “Well, if he