All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,51
said after she disengaged from the pulleys. “Dark and tight down there.”
“Long way down, too,” Kal said as he was folding up his rope.
“No kidding. Caleb was lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries.”
Phil walked by, then paused. “Your rope was slack on the withdrawal. You could have banged that kid against the wall. Do better next time.”
Kal just stared after him as he walked away, then turned to Meg. “My rope was fine. Taut. Fucking perfect.”
She shrugged. “Ignore him.”
“Kind of hard to when he rides my ass every chance he gets.”
They packed up their gear and headed back to the station. Since it was late afternoon and they’d worked through lunch, Irish put together some bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches and tomato soup for them to eat. Simple, but it tasted great.
“Heard you fucked up handling the rope today,” Dean said to Kal after everyone else had left the table. It was only Kal, Dean and Phil.
“No, I handled my rope duties just fine.”
Dean looked over at Phil and smiled, then sent a smirk back at Kal. “Not what I heard.”
There was so much he wanted to say, but what was the point? All it would do was cause more animosity with two of his teammates, so he let it go.
Then again, he was tired of having to take it almost every day.
“What’s your issue with me?”
“We worked our asses off to land a position on the TRT, kid,” Dean said. “While you just waltzed in and were given the job by your daddy, the battalion chief with connections.”
That’s what they thought? “Look. I applied, I tested, I trained and I got in, just like everyone else. My father had zero influence in my getting in here.”
Phil let out a laugh. “Yeah, right. Everyone knows how you got here, and it wasn’t your skills.”
Now he was pissed. He stood up. “Bullshit. Talk to the lieutenant if you don’t believe me. Talk to anyone else.”
Phil leaned back in the chair. “No need to. Everyone knows the truth, and the truth is you didn’t earn your way here, Donovan. You got in through family connections.”
“You believe that, then prove it. Otherwise, shut your fucking mouth.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Kal snapped to attention when his lieutenant walked in. “No, sir.”
Phil and Dean went back to relaxed mode.
“Nothing going on here, Lieutenant,” Dean said. “Just having lunch.”
Lieutenant Anderson gave them all the once-over as if he didn’t believe what they told him.
“Donovan.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is there a problem I need to know about?”
“No, Lieutenant. No problem.”
He stared at all of them for a few more seconds, enough to make Kal really uncomfortable. And judging from the squeamish looks on Dean’s and Phil’s faces, they weren’t comfortable, either. The lieutenant finally left the room. Kal glared at Phil and Dean, then he left the room, so wound up he needed to punch something. And since he couldn’t punch Dean or Phil, he headed to the workout room, deciding to take it out on the weight equipment.
He might not be able to beat the shit out of the guys who irritated him, but he could burn some of the rage off in there.
This time, anyway.
But one of these days, they were going to push him too far, and he was going to knock them both on their asses.
And that was going to feel really damn satisfying.
CHAPTER 17
“OLIVER, IF YOU AREN’T READY IN FIVE MINUTES, I’M GOING to call Kal and tell him we’re not going.”
“Mommmm. I’m in the shower now.”
Hannah rolled her eyes and took in a deep breath. “You are not. Get in there right away.”
There were days when being a parent took every ounce of energy she had. Today was one of those days. Oliver had woken up cranky and obstinate, fighting her on every single thing. Even though he was excited about going to the festival, he was doing everything he could to not take a shower, like lying around on the sofa all morning and playing in his room.
But she did finally hear the bathroom door close, and when she walked down the hall, the shower was running.
Progress.
She pivoted and headed toward her room, running into her mother. “Kids, huh? Pain in the ass. Wonder where he gets it from,” her mother said with a knowing smile.
“His father, probably.”
“You’d like to think that, but I had to light a fire under your butt to get you moving all the time. So the hard-to-get-moving part? That’s on you, honey.”