The thought of losing her gutted me, but I didn’t want her to get caught between us either. “I want what you want. Whatever the best thing is for her.”
“Listen, Ian. We can share her or fight for her all day long, but it’s up to her. I have no idea if she’d consider a deeper commitment between all of us. Especially after the showdown with her brothers last night.”
I nodded in silent agreement. The future of our relationship rested entirely in her hands. “Then we let her decide.”
“We’ll give her a little time to work through everything, and then we’ll talk to her. Together.”
“She needs more than words, Will. She needs to know we mean it.”
He was quiet a moment. “I know. I plan to show her exactly how we feel.”
I hung up and returned to the station. I hadn’t been on shift very long, but seeing Darren was inevitable. Any minute we could be thrust into an emergency that required us to work together. I found him in the kitchen making dinner. His expression was grim. I knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t his usual jovial self.
It was probably too soon to try to make peace, but giving the standoff any energy was going to make working together a living hell.
I walked into the kitchen, stopping a few paces away from him. “Need any help?”
He didn’t reply. To say the atmosphere was tense would have been an understatement.
“Fine,” I muttered, turning away.
“I’m putting in a bid for a different station.”
I turned back, shocked that he’d make such a rash decision. “Why would you do that? You’ve been here forever.”
“Why the fuck do you think?” He slammed down the spatula he was using and squared his body with mine.
I tensed, preparing for the fight that he wasn’t ready to give up. “You’re making this worse than it needs to be. Do you realize that?”
His lips curled into a grimace. He took a step that brought his face too close to mine. “It’s going to get a lot worse if you don’t get the fuck away from me right now.”
I held my ground, my fury rising with his. “You need to back down. Right now.”
“You’re the one who needs to back down. If I weren’t happily married, I’d go fuck one of your sisters just to make a point.”
The fury that simmered in my veins before had come to a full boil. He was so fucking out of line. I wound up to slug him, but he ducked out of the way just in time. He shoved me back hard into the counter. I was ready to go at him again when Ray, one of the guys from the engine, rushed between us.
“Boys, whoa, whoa. Calm down. Let’s talk about this.”
Darren squirmed away, his eyes wild with rage. “I already tried talking. He didn’t understand when I said stay the fuck away from my sister.”
Ray patted him on the chest, shooting a sideways glance at me. “All right. Listen, this kind of stuff happens on the department. You’re not the first one to get all riled up about family ties. I mean, Greeley knocked my sister up. Twice.”
Greeley hollered from a nearby recliner. “She’s my wife, you dumb fuck.”
Darren ignored them, fully committed to his anger. “Yeah, well, I’m not you, and Ian’s not looking for a wife. How many women have you fucked?”
“If I had to make a guess, I’d say about as many as you have. You think because you’re married now that you’re on some moral high ground? I’m pretty sure you weren’t husband material when you started seeing Vanessa. I hate to break it to you, but Liv’s a grown woman. She can make decisions for herself.”
“Yeah, and I have to see your face every day and think about the two of you…” He shoved his hand through his hair violently.
Ray glanced back at me, his expression betraying his concern. I’d never seen Darren this way. Except when he almost lost Vanessa. He’d gotten reckless and violent, but that rage was focused on himself. Not me.
I drew in a series of steeling breaths, willing my adrenaline down. He wasn’t capable of being the bigger person, and Liv didn’t want to hear about us coming to blows over this situation.
“Darren, I know you’re angry, but we need to figure this out. Can we talk about this…privately? Without you trying to bust my face?”
Ray nodded and gave Darren a little more space. “Good idea. Let’s take this down a notch. You guys are friends.”
Darren straightened his posture and returned to the stove, ignoring me. He wasn’t ready now, but hopefully he would be soon.
“I’m ready to talk when you are,” I said, before leaving him and Ray alone.
I sat in a folding chair outside the station, watching the sunset melt into the horizon of buildings. Oranges and pinks and purples cascaded into each other on the canvas of the sky.
I wondered where Liv was and what she was thinking, if she was sharing the view. Not knowing was killing me. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture before the sky lost its bright colors.