The Other Man (The Other Man Series Book 1) (3 page)

June 2015 – Present day

“Congratulations, Blake!”

I grinned at Matt’s outburst and swept the streams of paper off my shoulders from the party poppers they’d thrown at me, they must have known before I did.

I’d just been promoted to station manager and I couldn’t have been more proud, or relieved. At thirty-five, I’d already been a firefighter for sixteen years and I was starting to feel it. I hated to admit it, but I just didn’t have the energy, or stamina, to fight along with the younger lads anymore. I loved my job though, so being promoted, getting to still be a part of the team, albeit behind a desk, I was ecstatic.

“Thanks,” I sighed.

Dave scoffed, “Don’t act so relieved, we all knew that job was yours from the second Ian announced his retirement.”

His words were true, there really wasn’t anyone else suitable for the job but that didn’t mean it was a guarantee. I just shrugged at him, ignored their playful jeers and pulled out my phone.

“Did you get it?” Carlie answered.

My wife. My love. My heart. We’d been married ten years and I still had to smile every time I heard her voice.

“Just call me ‘boss man’, baby,” I joked.

I moved my phone away from my ear and her high-pitched squeal came through the line, “Congratulations! I knew you’d get it! I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you. I’ll probably be home late because I’m going to start getting my head around all the new duties, but I’ll see you later ok?”

She was silent for a few beats, then she sighed deeply, “Yeah ok, I’ll put dinner in the microwave so you can just reheat it when you get home.”

“Love you,” I called before she hung-up. She returned the sentiment and ended the call.

Twenty minutes later, I sat behind my new desk and stared out the window. I’d hadn’t been able to go on call-outs with the rest of the guys for over a month anyway because of a lingering shoulder injury, but watching them all suit up as the alarms rang around the station…

It hurt.

I already missed the action, the adrenaline.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” Ian’s voice sounded from the doorway.

I shook my head, no, it really didn’t feel good.

“It’ll pass. You know as well as I do that there’ll be times they still need you out in the field. The first time they do, it’ll hit you like a ton of bricks. You have to be able to stand by their side and know that you can fight just as hard as the next man. You’re still young enough to do that, but old enough to be better at your job from right here. That shoulder injury should have healed by now. It would’ve been too, if you were ten years younger and that’s the point. Try not to linger on those thoughts of being left behind, because those guys still need you, just not in the same way anymore.”

“Did it feel the same for you?” I asked, curious if it was just me.

“Yes, and no. I was well into my forties before I took the station manager role. I knew it was my time to call it a day. Frankly, I hung-on longer than I should have. There were a couple of times right at the end of my days in the field, when the team was dragging me along with them. I’m lucky I didn’t cause any incidents,” this surprised me. Ian was always the guy who played by the rules and didn’t take any chances. “No one wants to admit when their time is up, Blake. It’s painful and some people just can’t take the feeling of not being needed in the same way anymore. You’re doing the right thing though and you’re still a huge role-model for the rest of the team. Every single one of those guys out there looks up to you, even the older ones. Don’t let them down by sulking about what you can’t do anymore.”

I nodded, “I won’t let them down. It’ll just take some time to get used to it, I guess.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by loud whistling from the six guys still left in the station. I stood from my chair and strode around my desk.

“What the…?”

Ian’s smiling eyes came to mine, “Fuck you for moaning about stupid shit! You really are a lucky son of a bitch, Blake.”

He shook his head and opened the door wider, stepping outside. My eyes swept the station, following the guys’ line of vision, I had to do a double-take when I spotted Carlie making her way towards me. My eyes dropped to her lips where she was smiling, her shoulders, her slender waist and finally, her long, tanned, toned legs. Damn right, I was a lucky son of a bitch, but I didn’t understand what she was doing there.

She was stunning. She always had been. She wore her long blonde hair in a twist at the base of her neck and she was wearing heavy make-up, the kind she wore for a night out.

Her feet were dressed in the highest pair of strappy heels I’d ever seen her wear and I swear I could see a glimpse of lace under the edge of her thigh-length coat. Eating up the distance between us in seconds, she slid her hands up my chest and linked them behind my neck. In heels, she was almost at eye-level with me, so she wasted no time in pulling me to her for a kiss.

In shock, I didn’t open my mouth. I felt her tongue touch my lips but she froze when she realised I wasn’t moving. Ignoring the catcalls from the guys, I put my hand to the small of her back, pushed her inside the office and lowered the blinds.

“That was quite the show out there! What are you doing here?” I asked.

Her face fell and I instantly felt guilty, “I’m sorry. I’m happy to see you, obviously. But I thought you were working today.”

“I was, but I finished early because I knew you were waiting to hear about this job and I wanted to come here and surprise you no matter the outcome. Celebrations or commiserations, your wife should be there, Blake! I know it was a tough decision for you to apply for this job but I’m so proud of you. I didn’t want to wait for hours for you to get home, so I thought I’d come give you my congratulations in person,” her fingers ran lightly along my arms as she spoke, almost soothing. “Are you saying that I should not have bothered?”

One of her perfectly-shaped eyebrows raised and I found myself stuck. Truth was, her being there was a distraction that I didn’t have time for, as bad as that sounds. I knew she’d clearly made an effort though, so I cleared my throat and smiled. I hoped she couldn’t tell that it wasn’t entirely real.

“It’s a great surprise, babe. You look amazing too,” she did. She looked incredible and if we’d have been anywhere but my place of work, I’d have been looking for the closest private place to get her naked.

Her grin lit up her face.

“Usted no ha visto la mejor broca todavía...” she muttered as she slid the belt on her coat open and slowly started undoing the buttons.
You haven’t seen the best bit yet.

I swallowed. As each button popped open, revealing what was underneath. Or more importantly, what
wasn’t
underneath. My cock stirred behind my slacks and my eyebrows shot up. She stood before me in a see-through, lacy, white corset, sheer white g-string and matching suspender belt. The coat landed in a heap at her feet but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her hips. The way the whole ensemble showcased her amazing figure, I could hardly breathe.

“You look…” I broke off, not able to finish my sentence.

Her eyes flashed with wickedness and she swayed her hips slightly, running her fingers along the top of the corset, “You like?”

“I…”

Alarms blared throughout the station and I heard Ian barking orders at the firefighters. I shook my head.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, what the fuck was she thinking? “
Jesus Christ!
Get your coat on, Carlie. You need to go, I have a job to do.”

She flinched at my tone, but bent to retrieve her coat. I bit back my groan as she flashed me her smooth, rounded ass.

“Why? It’s not like you have to go out with them,” she sulked.

I snapped. It was uncalled for and out of line, but it annoyed me that she didn’t understand and she clearly hadn’t thought it through at all.

“You look hot, babe. Gorgeous. But I’m at work for fuck sake! What did you think was going to happen?” She opened her mouth but I talked over her. “What? You’d come in here looking like every guys fucking wet dream and I’d fuck you over my new office desk? Fucking hell, Carlie! Thanks, but you’ve gotta go. I don’t have time for this.”

Hurt filled her eyes and I winced. I’d never been great at thinking before I spoke.

“Fuck you, Blake. I was
trying
to do something nice, something
fun
for a change,” she explained.

The door handle rattled and her face lost all colour as she scrambled to do her coat up.

Ian popped his head around the door, I couldn’t miss the flash of shock in his eyes as he noticed Carlie doing up the last of her buttons, “Team’s already moving out. Head-on smash on Windward Place, one of the cars is on fire and there’s a man trapped in the front seat of the other car.”

I nodded but barely glanced in his direction.

“I’m just going to go,” Carlie murmured. “I’ll see you later at home.”

Scrubbing my hands down my face, I let out breathe of air, “Babe,” I grabbed her hand before she could leave. “I’ll try not to be too late home, ok? I’m sorry this didn’t work out. I love you though.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head, looking somewhere between upset and disappointed. I hated that look on her face, knowing I’d put it there, made me feel worse.

She left without another word and I felt like the worst husband in the world. I made a mental note to grab a bunch of flowers at some point.

The house was silent when I arrived home at eight, causing me to frown. I was only an hour late, Carlie wasn’t usually in bed that early.

I changed into a t-shirt and loose pair of joggers, turned the microwave on to heat my dinner and leant back against the kitchen counter. The rest of my day at work had flown by but that annoying voice in my head kept whispering that I was doing the wrong thing; that I should have been at home with my wife. When you’ve spent your whole life trying to be the best you can in your career, it’s easy to forget what’s really important. Part of me knew I was failing at being a good husband, the rest of me thought that Carlie should be more understanding.

Life was about compromise. Yet, we were both terrible at it. I wanted to be perfect in my career, she wanted to portray the perfect marriage. I truly didn’t know if we could a find a way to have both. Realistically, I knew there was no such thing as ‘perfection’. But doesn’t everyone have dreams? Aspirations?

I shouldn’t have to give up on mine because my wife was easily bored.

I wolfed down my dinner, barely tasting a thing due to my disconcerting thoughts. With my eye-lids feeling heavy, I made my way to the bedroom, sliding into bed in silence. Carlie lay next to me, head propped up on the pillows, book in her hands. Call me a coward, but I just didn’t know what to say to her.

I heard her loud sigh and tensed, “This isn’t working anymore, is it?”

“What’s not working anymore?” I asked, my pulse raging in my ears as I waited for her to explain.

“This! Us,” she cried. “We’re just
existing
together. We don’t date anymore, we hardly talk anymore and for god sake we haven’t had sex in over two months! I get it, we’ve been together more than twelve years so we’re not going to be screwing like bunnies anymore but damn it, Blake! You made me look a complete fool today. I’m still a woman and I think you’re forgetting that.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed. She was obviously just overthinking things, I loved her just as much as the day we got married and I told her that every day. She turned to me, her eyes were wet with unshed tears but her face was set with determination.

“Is it, Blake? Is it ridiculous? I can already see that you don’t understand. Let me guess, you tell me you love me every day, so I’m just overthinking things. Am I right?”

It should be surprising that she knew exactly what I was thinking, but it wasn’t. From day one, she’d always been great at reading my face. She usually knew what I was going to say before I said it.

Shrugging, I replied, “I may be thinking that, but I also know I’m right, Carlie. There’s nothing wrong with our marriage really. Sure, things have changed but that’s life, darling. We grow and we adapt. Why don’t you have a look online, see if there’s any new classes going on down at the community centre, you could start a new hobby or something?”