Branded(16)
I probably could have warned the guy last night before he went to bed since it was his first time sleeping here at the station, but it’s much more fun to wake up before everyone else and watch the newbie freak the fuck out.
I send Brad out to the ambulance bay to have him get started checking into what supplies and equipment were used during the last shift so he can restock and make sure all the equipment is charged and in working order. Going through the mental checklist in my head while I finish my coffee, I figure I have about forty-five minutes before our captain shows up. I need to meet with him and find out if we’re doing any special activities or training today and then take possession of the controlled substances carried by the ambulance from the last shift, inspect the narcotics and sign the narcotics log. I head down the hall past the sleeping quarters, listening to the men from last night’s shift go through their morning routines, joking and laughing about how they encouraged Brad to move his ass because the morning alarm page clearly meant a full-scale emergency.
Taking a seat in the common room at the desk, I check my email and print off a few updates to SOPs and guidelines that will require some meetings with the staff. Hopefully, today is a quiet day in the county so I can get all this shit done. An email at the bottom of my inbox from an address I don’t recognize catches my eye. The subject line simply states ‘Emergency.’ I click on the email and huff in confusion and disbelief at what I’m reading.
Did you have fun passing that whore around with your friend? Enjoy it while you can. Your time is almost up.
I read the email three more times before I whip my head around and search the room, expecting to find some of the guys standing there, laughing their asses off at the prank they pulled on me. Obviously, that’s an asinine thought since I never breathed a word about what happened between me, Phina and Dax to anyone. Who in the fuck would send an email like this to me? Did Phina tell someone? Did Dax?
Slamming my fist down on the desk, I pay no attention to the cup of pens that spills or the stack of papers on the edge that flutter to the floor. I’m so pissed off I want to pick something up and throw it across the room, but I don’t need the guys coming in here asking me what the hell is wrong. “Oh, no big deal. I had sort of a threesome the other night and now it seems like someone found out about it and sent me a fucked up email. So, who wants to make breakfast?”
“Jesus, you’re a hard man to get ahold of.”
Turning in my chair, I see Dax lounging casually against the doorframe. Fuck. First Collin sneaks up on me in the gym and now Dax. Why is everyone insisting on getting on my last fucking nerve lately?
“Not if I actually want someone to get ahold of me. Go away. I’ve got work to do,” I tell him, turning back around to the computer to see if I can figure out who the email came from.
“You don’t call, you don’t write…are you breaking up with me?” Dax asks.
“Fuck off, dickhead,” I mutter, clicking angrily at the keys on the computer.
I hear him move into the room and I growl deep in my throat.
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I will have you know that I’ve taken your threat from the other night very seriously. I haven’t touched Phina at all,” he tells me, flopping down into the chair next to the desk.
I glare at him, and then the door, hoping he’ll get the hint and leave.
“It’s not my fault she came to see me and I had to talk to her. And look at her. It would have been rude to close my eyes and pretend I was mute,” Dax explains, picking up a piece of paper from the floor and reading it over.
I snatch it out of his hand and slam it on top of the desk with a little more force than I meant to.
She went to see him? She talked to him? Goddammit all to hell!
Dax picks up a pen to examine and I grab that out of his hand, as well. “Stop touching my shit!”
He laughs and shakes his head at me. “Yeah, I already got that message, buddy. Loud and clear.”
Pushing myself away from the desk, I get up out of the chair and stalk to the other side of the room. If I don’t move away from Dax and his smirk I’m going to shove my fist through his face. This is an ambulance transport unit, though. Any damage I inflict could be easily fixed. While I think about the merits of messing up his pretty face and whether we have enough gauze in the supply room to clean up the mess, I hear the squeak of Dax’s chair as he swivels it around to face me.
“She found a note taped to her front door yesterday. You wouldn’t by any chance know anything about that, would you?” he questions with a raise of his eyebrows.