Burned (32 page)

Anthony was equally frustrated. “I feel the same about you. Because I did let this shit get to me, I don’t know how my family will survive if I’m sent to jail. I’m just getting to know my son, and soon I might lose him and my wife.”

“Ant, are you trying to play the sympathy card?  You went after Lincoln knowing she is pregnant. You didn’t care if she lost the baby or how that loss would affect her or me. It was all about you and what you wanted. So, I don’t feel sorry for you and I am not letting her drop the charges against you,” Nick snarled.

Anthony closed the flaps of the box. “I don’t expect her to drop the charges against me. What I expect is for you to take care of her and not do her like you did Dana. Lincoln is special. I fucked up…I can admit that now. Nick, be there for her. Take care of your babies and be the man I couldn’t be for her.”

Orlando watched the exchange between his two friends. Anthony made a heartfelt request and Nick seemed to be listening somewhat. The ball was in Nick’s court.

Nick leaned back on the sink. “I will take care of my wife and kids. Don’t waste years of your life worry about us.”

Anthony picked up his box and got ready to leave. Nick thought for a moment that he saw a sliver of the real Anthony peek through the hate he now harbored for him. They used to be good friends, and now they were mortal enemies. The laughs, the fun-filled parties, and rebel-rousing days were over. The four of them would no longer hang together and watch football or team up at the fireman’s picnic to challenge other houses.

Nick felt a weak spot open in his heart. He wanted to forgive Anthony and offer to start over, but it wasn’t possible. Too much had happened to forgive and forget. He might be able to forgive him one day in the future, but he would never forget the horror that Lincoln went through that day. That will forever be etched in his memory.

Orlando didn’t offer Anthony a friendly goodbye. His voice was however soft and laced with hurt, but not enough for him to be kind. “This is not how we are supposed to be. This shit is a dream, and God I wish we could wake up and everything would be right again. You were my best friend, my right hand, my sidekick. I would take a bullet for you. But then you do me like this. I wasn’t shit to you all these years.”

Anthony let a tear slide down his face. “This is real, man. I should have listened to you and Jon. It was jealousy and resentment over Nick that put me in this position, and I have to pay the price for my decisions. I know I don’t have the right to ask you a favor, but I’m going to. I just ask that the new guy that will replace me, make sure you bring him into the fold. We can’t let the fantastic four fade away forever.”

“I’ll take that into consideration, but as you stated before, that will be up to Murad and Jon,” Orlando said.

Anthony balanced the box under his arm. “Well, I want to tell the guys in the break room goodbye.”

Anthony didn’t look in Nick’s direction and left the locker room without any parting words for him. The silence, the reality of what was happening slammed the wind out of both men. Nick stood at the sink, looking at the floor. He felt emotional and wished some parts of this were a dream too. The part he wanted to stay real was Lincoln coming into his life. Anthony’s losing her was definitely his gain.

Orlando threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know what to say. All this over a damn code we made up. Starting today…no, this minute, that damn code is no longer in effect! I refuse to have my firehouse torn apart because of dumb shit. Women don’t work here, and they will not be the cause of us turning on each other ever again!  Whoever you’re sleeping with is your business and not mine or the business of the guy sitting next to you. I don’t give a damn anymore about what’s going in your personal lives!  We’re grown ass men and what we do behind closed doors ain’t nobody’s fucking business!”

Nick kept a healthy distance from Orlando as the man released his rage. He got the message loud and clear it was directed at him as well as Anthony. His involvement in the triangle that broke the unity of Station 30 was just as much his fault as Anthony’s. Anthony was well-liked at the firehouse, and now he was gone. He couldn’t help but take a corner of the blame for the man losing his career. All he had to do was back away from Lincoln when she asked for help, but he couldn’t tear himself away from her because of a lingering desire he had to be with her.

Nick straightened his body after Orlando finished his rant, and began to pace. “Orlando, I…”

Orlando shot him a look, and he backed down. “Not now, Nick. Just do what you’re doing, and leave me alone.”

*****

Nick let himself into the apartment and dropped his duffel bag on the floor. He went to the sofa and flopped down. He was glad to be home after doing the worse shift ever, and it wasn’t fires or any other emergency that made the shift unbearable. It was the deafening silence. No one was talking, and those that were, whispered together in corners. He knew a lot of the gossip was aimed at him, but he didn’t care about that. What bothered him was that Orlando had shut the door in his face.

Lincoln came from the bedroom dressed in a pencil-styled skirt with a loose-fitting blouse and wearing sensible shoes. She was getting ready to leave for work. “Good morning, sweetheart. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I just got in,” he said leaning his head back on the sofa. “Nick, what’s wrong?  Did you have a long night?” she asked, putting on her blazer.

“Extremely,” he replied, not clarifying on the events of the evening.

“Well, baby, go to bed. Isadora ran into an old friend at the supermarket, and they’re out to breakfast together and then visiting flea markets afterwards. It’s no telling what she will bring home, thinking we can use it for the babies. Your mom means well, but this isn’t the 1940s; some of that stuff isn’t useful today.”

“Yeah, she does look for bargains,” he said dryly.

She rushed around the apartment. “You’ll have the apartment to yourself for most of the day.”

 “Okay.”  As Lincoln leaned down to kiss him goodbye, he held onto her wrist. “Am I a monster, Lincoln?”

Her shoulders slumped. “I knew something was wrong. What happened at work?”

“Anthony quit the fire department. He came by to clear out his stuff yesterday.”

She sat on the end of the coffee table. “Did you get into it with him?”

He shook his head. “He actually apologized in a way. It was Orlando that went off on me in a roundabout way.”

She frowned. “Why did he do that, and what did he say?”

“That damn code, Lincoln. I broke the code with you, and the domino effect happened from that. It’s my fault that shit is screwed up at the firehouse, and friendships have ended. Had I not gotten involved with you, none of this would have happened, according to Orlando.”

Lincoln huffed. “Orlando said that to you?  Anthony holds no blame in any of this?  How dare he say that to you!  I will have a talk with him.”

“Baby, let it go. He’s part of your family, and I don’t want you falling out with Regan. You have a great bond, and I don’t want to come between that.”

“Nick, you’re my husband. I have your back just like you have mine. Plus my beef is not with Regan but with Orlando. I cannot believe he doesn’t hold any contempt for Anthony but is mad at you.”

He looked at her.  His heart was heavy. “Please, Lincoln, don’t say anything to Orlando. He has a right to be upset with the both of us. Ant was his friend too. I just need to lay low and stay out of his way until he calms down.”

“We’re supposed to have dinner with them tomorrow night. Oh God, Nick. I hate seeing you this way. Your smile and the enthusiasm you have about us being together is what makes me believe we’ll be okay.”

He rubbed her stomach gently. “Everything is okay between us. I wouldn’t trade what we have for all the money in the universe. And, I want you to go to dinner with them. I’ll have dinner with my mom and talk to her,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Lincoln cupped his face with her hands. “I’m sorry I got you involved in my mess with Anthony. But I am not going to apologize that I fell in love with you or that we are married. Nick, I love you, and that will never change.”

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her deeply. The feel of her lips against his erased the negativity that filled his mind with doubt about their future. With his forehead pressed tightly with hers, he said softly, “Hurry with your day at work. I want to hold you. I need to have you in my arms.”

“I have no plans to stop anywhere after work. Get some sleep, okay?”

Chapter Thirty Five

Lincoln kept the dinner date with Regan and Orlando.  She would make up an excuse for Nick not being with her. She entered Ja’Nell’s, and the hostess escorted her to the table where Regan sat. She was alone and sipped on a glass of white wine and appeared upset.

Lincoln sat down and asked. “Regan, where is Orlando tonight?”

Regan slurped the wine from the glass unladylike. “At home sitting on his ass, pouting like a big baby.”

“Um, are you two having a disagreement?”

“You could say that. I thought he should come with me tonight, and he vehemently disagreed with me. Where is Nick?”

The waiter asked Lincoln if she’d like to order a cocktail. She would have loved a rum and coke only her babies wouldn’t allow her to have that. Instead, she ordered a cranberry juice with a lemon twist. “He is at home having dinner with Isadora. Regan, what are we going to do to get them to patch things up?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to drink and not give a damn about them tonight. I’m tired of this whole mess. For once I want to have an evening where that issue is not the topic of our conversation.”

Lincoln remained silent. It was easy for her to fly off the deep end with her hormones running on full blast. “I understand. I should probably leave since I am the reason behind all this.”  She started to get up and grabbed her stomach.

Regan put down her wine glass and asked. “Lincoln, what’s the matter?”

“The babies are playing tag. When they start that, it’s a little uncomfortable for me. It feels like they are playing kickball with my liver. She eased back in the chair. “I’ll give them a minute to finish playing and then leave.”

“Twins, Nick must be ecstatic at the possibility of having two male children.”

“He is. He’s just worried about the financial aspect of raising two babies instead of one.  Plus his mother is still living with us. We hadn’t planned for her to stay this long. We need that bedroom.”

“It will be cramped with five people in an apartment. Have you gone house hunting yet?”

“We have looked at some houses in our price range. He wants to put in a bid on a house he’s helping to rehab. It won’t be ready for months, but it’s a big house and has enough room for all of us.”

“I hear a
but
in your voice. What is wrong with the place?”

“It’s not in a part of town I want to live. The area is under development, but there is still a lot of rift-raft hanging around there. Regan, I make good money and work for the government and have perks at my disposal. I should be able to find a reasonably priced house in a good neighborhood.”

“Have you looked into those perks?”

Lincoln nodded. “I have. The properties the IRS has reclaimed due to delinquent taxes are either out of our price range or not where I want to live.”

Regan refilled her glass with wine. “The process takes time. When buying a home you want to make sure you love it and plan on living in it for years if not forever.”

Lincoln agreed. “The house we grew up in I loved. It was in the perfect neighborhood, and we had plenty of room to spread out. Remember when we turned the basement into a haunted house for one Halloween?”

“Yes, that was fun. We have a lot of memories stored in that place.”

Lincoln got up from the table to leave. “Okay, I’m going home. Regan, you’ve had two glasses of wine in the short time I’ve been here. Are you going to stop there or call a taxi to drive you home?”

“Lincoln, stop the dramatics and sit down. When I said I didn’t want to discuss that mess, I wasn’t talking about you. It pisses me off because this has caused a divide between us. We’re sisters and shouldn’t allow what is going on at the firehouse come between us.”

“I agree. Orlando is not wrong to be upset. Nick is taking the stance that since he was the cause of the problem, he should stay away to keep the peace. I don’t know where Jon stands, and Anthony will continue to hail himself the victim when his cheating butt started it all.”

Regan leaned her elbows on the table. “No, Lincoln; you’re wrong. You should not have gone to Anthony’s friends for help. I’m your sister, and I love you to death, but as a reporter, you have to know where to get your information and how to use it.”

Lincoln folded her arms across her chest. “So you believe I’m the reason for the conflict?”

“These guys were close friends. They depended on each other at work. When you think back to our childhood, we didn’t tattle on each other. When Mom asked us to come forward with the truth, we stuck together and didn’t squeal. Lincoln, you point blank asked Nick to turn on one of his brothers, and he did to help you. Look how it escalated. None of them is speaking to each other, and Anthony may go to jail, as he should. However, the bond between them has been broken.  I don’t see that ever being repaired.”

Lincoln sniffed as her nose began to drip as tears formed in her eyes. She was crying because he sister was the only one brave enough to tell her the truth. She was the cause of the divide at Station 30. “Why didn’t you stop me, Regan?  If you hadn’t turned your back on me when I complained about Anthony, I wouldn’t have asked Nick for help.”

“Oh no, this is not going to fall on my shoulders. If you recall, you wanted me to ask Orlando, and I said no. When I suspected Mark was cheating on me, I watched his routines and then I had his ass followed. I never went to his friends or colleagues for help. You had the hunch that Anthony was cheating, but you didn’t want to believe it. I understand that entirely. However, you should have been the one to nail Anthony to wall and not Nick. You should have protected Nick as your source.”