Reading Time: 102 Minutes

Title: It’s The Way You Say My Name
Series: Like Stars Aligned
Series Order: 2
Author: Bythia
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Slash
Relationship(s): Evan Buckley/Tommy Kinard
Content Rating: PG-13
Warnings: *No Mandatory Warnings Apply. character bashing, not Chimney friendly, discussion of canon content: sexual assault (Dr. Wells), brief discussion of homophobia and related hate crimes
Author Note: The whole backstory of Tommy knowing Abby and even being engaged to her for some time does not exist in this story. They don’t know each other. SERIES NOTE: This series has been a little different to what I did in the past. In some places, the two stories are running parallel, with scenes referred in one story that are happening in the other story. But I think with the help of the wonderful starlitenite I managed to create two stories that can be read separately or even just as a stand alone if one or the other isn’t your cup of tea.
Beta: starlitenite
Alpha: FaerlyGraceful
Word Count: 52,644
Summary: Buck came to LA following the promises of a TV show about finding true camaraderie and friendship by becoming a firefighter. Despite his life so far teaching him differently, he finds exactly that — surprisingly, especially in Hen’s wife Karen, who is a steady rock at his side when life keeps throwing rocks at him. And who introduces him to a friend who might change his life in many ways he’d have never anticipated.
Artist: penumbria
Artist Appreciation: I love the art you created for my stories. I have gone back to look at it pretty often over the past couple of weeks, just to feel a little bit better about life.

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Chapter 07

It was far too early after a long, busy shift that was thankfully nearly over, but Buck was already up. Throughout the day, they’d had a lot of calls keeping them busy, but the night had been exceptionally slow. Despite that Buck had awoken at half past four and not been able to go back to sleep. Eventually, he decided to stop tossing and turning around five in the morning and left the bunk room.

Five in the morning was late enough at least for it to be acceptable to start preparing breakfast so it would be ready when everyone else got up around six to prepare for their shift to end at eight. Buck stopped on the stairs just before reaching the loft when he saw Hen sitting at one of the tables, slumped over with her head resting on her arms.

“Hen?” Buck asked softly and sat down opposite her.

Hen flinched and sat up. “What?”

“Are you alright?” Buck asked worriedly.

Hen opened her mouth and then closed it with a huff. She shook her head and rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t think I’ll be alright for a little while.”

Buck bit his lip. The week before, Bobby and he had been with the Wilsons when Athena Grant had shown up there to tell Hen about her ex dying of an overdose. Buck still didn’t know how to deal with the grief he had seen in Hen since that day. She had been there for their shift the next day but had been very withdrawn from everyone. She had seemed to do better this shift, and Buck had tried to be there for her without outright bothering her with questions.

“I’m really sorry that it ended like it did,” Buck whispered.

“The worst thing is how fucking relieved I am,” Hen admitted quietly. “I was so angry at her at first. But now I’ve started wondering if this is the best outcome we could get. She wouldn’t have given up. She was on her way back to prison, I’m sure of that. But that would’ve only meant she’d return in a couple of years when she was out for good. When it might have been harder to keep her away from Denny because he’d be older and doing a lot of things on his own.”

“I don’t think it’s horrible to be relieved that a threat to your family is gone,” Buck said. “You wouldn’t be so sad if you were relieved about her death just for the sake of it.”

Hen smiled sadly. “Thank you.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Buck asked.

Hen shrugged. “I don’t know. Her funeral was yesterday. Karen and I were the only ones who were there. That was really crushing.”

“See?” Buck shook his head. “Who’d do that if they didn’t care for the person?”

Hen rolled her eyes. “Not talking about her might be what I need. I’ve been thinking too much about her as is. Do you have anything to distract me?”

Buck smiled slowly. “Maybe.”

He was an expert at distracting people, and he had been burning to talk about Tommy with Hen, but after learning about Eva’s death, there’d just never seemed to be a good moment for it. But even if she didn’t want to hear about Tommy, he could easily find something else to distract her with.

Hen pointed a finger at him. “Spill! Don’t think I missed how much you’re on your phone lately, or how you’re practically glowing every time you get a text.”

Buck grinned widely, but still ducked his head in embarrassment. He hadn’t thought he was spending so much time on his phone that others would have noticed. Tommy and he thankfully worked the same shift schedule, and during the last few shifts they’d had since Tommy had kissed him for the first time they had been texting regularly when they weren’t on a call, mostly complaining or laughing about their calls.

“Tommy and I went bouldering after the party at your place,” Buck said.

Hen raised her brows. “That was nearly two weeks ago. I knew you were planning to do that.”

“Tommy kissed me,” Buck said. “And then we went on a date. And a second date two days ago.” He tilted his head. “Three days ago now, I guess.”

“Oh, really?” Hen said with a sly grin.

Buck lowered his gaze. “You already knew!”

Hen chuckled. “Not really. But Tommy mentioned to Karen something about going on a date. Which incidentally happened the same day you told me you were meeting Tommy. Though, I have to admit I thought the bouldering was supposed to be a date.”

Buck blushed. “No. I didn’t even … Wait, was that why you were needling me about hanging out with Tommy?”

Hen just shrugged with a grin.

Buck bit his lip. “Until Tommy kissed me, I never really thought about it much when I found a guy attractive.” He couldn’t say he hadn’t thought about other men being attractive, had even sometimes talked with people about that. But it had never registered to him that maybe there was more to it than he had recognized.

“Oh,” Hen’s smug grin turned into a soft smile. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Buck leaned back with a confused frown. “What does that even mean?”

Hen sighed. “I don’t make a habit of speculating about other people’s sexuality with anyone. I learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago. But that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder in the privacy of my own mind. Or that I don’t notice things.”

Buck cocked his head and watched her thoughtfully. “And you noticed things about me?”

“You flirt very indiscriminately,” Hen explained. “You always do it when we’re on a call and someone needs to be distracted. I don’t know many straight guys who’re that comfortable flirting with other guys.”

Buck felt his face heat. “I really do that?” He huffed. “I’ve been accused of that before, but I really don’t notice it.”

Hen frowned and leaned over the table, crossing her arms on it. “That wasn’t an accusation, Buck.”

Buck shrugged. “It was in the past.”

Hen sighed deeply. “Okay. But that’s not what I meant. And I think whoever said that to you is full of bullshit and needs to learn to differentiate between when someone flirts to be nice and lighten the mood and when they do it with the goal of that flirting leading to more.”

“He told me I had led him on,” Buck muttered darkly. “We were just hanging around with the same group of people and I enjoyed my time with them. I was friendly with all of them. And then he asked me out and I told him I wasn’t interested. Next thing I knew, everyone there seemed to hate me. So, I moved on.”

It was a memory that still stung because it had been a harsh lesson about the difference between getting along with people and being able to truly trust them. That had been something Buck had never thought about when he had still lived with his parents, because back then he had had very different things to worry about.

Hen stared at him. “Sounds as if you met a group of assholes if they couldn’t take you telling someone politely you weren’t interested.”

“I met a lot of people over the years,” Buck said. “And you’re right, they were assholes. But back then I was nineteen and had just started out on my road trip. I didn’t have much experience yet with seeing what kind of people I was dealing with.”

“One day you’ll have to tell me all about your travels!” Hen demanded. “But now I want to know about Tommy!”

“Is my flirting really that bad?” Buck asked.

He had never really thought about it in the past when people had pointed it out to him. Most of the time he had just assumed they had read too much into him being friendly and shrugged it off. And the couple of times the accusation had stuck in his head, he had mostly pushed it away because everything else about those situations had been uncomfortable and he had just moved on from it.

Hen sighed and shook her head. “I wouldn’t call it bad. Though, I think there are a couple people here who aren’t really great at recognizing that you don’t mean anything with it other than distracting the people we’re working with on calls.”

Buck huffed. “So, that’s a yes after all.”

“No,” Hen rolled her eyes. “It means some people here need to learn that not everyone is like them. Bobby came to me after the full moon shift. Because — apparently — you had been flirting with a guy while pulling a tapeworm out of his ass, right in front of the guy’s partner.”

Buck shook his head, startled. “That wasn’t … what? No! He mentioned something I knew a lot about, and he clearly needed to be distracted from his pain.”

Hen hummed. “I asked Bobby if the partner of the guy had seemed disturbed. And Bobby had to admit, that no, he wasn’t. So, it took me some time, but he eventually agreed that your method of distracting your patient worked.”

Buck sighed deeply.

“Don’t change on behalf of others, Buck,” Hen said softly. “You know when to back off when a patient doesn’t react to your flirting by calming down. That’s the important thing, okay?”

“Why did Bobby even talk about that with you?” Buck asked with a frown.

Hen chuckled. “I think he is struggling a little with that promise he gave you not to judge you by the rules he grew up with. I’m glad he came to me instead of arguing with you about it.”

Buck just stared at her, unsure about what to think.

Hen patted his hand, and then her grin returned. “So, enough of this avoidance. You wanted to tell me about Tommy!”

Buck laughed quietly. “You’ve known Tommy for years. I’m sure you could tell me much more about him than the other way around.”

“Ah, and take away the joy of you discovering that all by yourself on your dates?” Hen shook her head. “And you know very well that’s not what I want to know anyway! He just kissed you while you were bouldering?”

Buck grinned widely despite the blush he felt spreading over his face again. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Buck wet his lip, getting lost in the memory of that first kiss for a moment. When Tommy had pulled him to his feet, Buck’s mood had shifted abruptly from adrenalin-driven excitement to anticipation in a heartbeat. Buck was half convinced that if Tommy hadn’t asked so softly for permission to kiss him, Buck might just have kissed him anyway.

“And then we went for coffee and had a great afternoon just talking about everything and nothing.” Buck huffed. “I mean, after I got over being nervous for some stupid reason.”

Hen chuckled. “I don’t know. Being nervous over going on an unexpected date with a hot guy doesn’t sound stupid.”

Buck ducked his head. “I didn’t want to screw it up. I mean, we’ve just become friends. And I enjoy that friendship. I don’t want to lose that.”

“I understand,” Hen said with a smile. “And I’m sure Tommy does, too.”

Buck nodded. “I told him if this dating thing doesn’t go anywhere, I still want to hold onto the friendship we’ve been building. I think he was pretty pleased about that.”

The only reason why Buck had brought that up right away was Tommy’s advice when Buck had struggled to sort out the mess with Abby. It might not have worked out like he had hoped for with Abby, but it had made things very clear and told them both where they stood.

There was this tiny voice of doubt in the back of Buck’s mind about ruining yet another promising friendship, and he really tried not to let that doubt grab hold of him. So Buck had followed Tommy’s advice again and had been utterly relieved at seeing that Tommy had been open to the suggestion and somehow even pleased about it.

“He would be,” Hen agreed. “But for now you are concentrating on ‘that dating thing’, right?”

Buck grinned and felt himself blush. “Yeah, very much so! We’re meeting for breakfast later.”

“So, your first date was coffee after bouldering. What did you do for your second date?” Hen asked, watching Buck curiously.

Buck chuckled. “The classic dinner and a movie. It was great.” Buck inhaled deeply and launched into a detailed monologue about everything concerning Tommy that came to mind, completely forgetting that he had come up here to prepare breakfast for the rest of his shift.

***

Tommy groaned as he got out of his truck. He’d had a hell of a shift and while he hadn’t been injured, everything hurt just from the exertion doing his job had put his body through. Usually, he didn’t mind shifts like this but he’d had plans for the morning, and he hated the idea of canceling those.

He had texted Evan an hour before the end of the shift when his crew had come back from their last call. Tommy knew he wouldn’t be any kind of good company, especially for a breakfast date at whatever place Evan had chosen. Evan had surprised him when he had texted back offering to come over to Tommy’s place to make breakfast for them here instead. He didn’t know exactly what to think about the offer, but he had texted back his address without thinking much about it.

Evan was already there waiting, sitting on the two steps leading up to the front porch, and jumped up with a wide but worried grin as soon as Tommy turned from his car to walk over.

“Hey,” Evan said. His gaze wandered over Tommy’s whole body once and a worried frown settled on his face. “You look awful.”

Tommy raised his brows. “That’s exactly what a guy wants to hear when he comes home.”

Evan’s deep blush was adorable. “I’m sorry, I mean … I can see you clearly had a couple of horrible calls and didn’t get to shower at the station.”

“Just one of those days where all I want is my own shower.”

“Right,” Evan nodded. “If you show me your kitchen I can start on breakfast while you get that shower. Do you want a real breakfast or something small and then a nap?”

“I’m starving,” Tommy admitted. “And too wound up for a nap probably for a couple of hours. I’ll push through till the evening so I won’t mess up my sleep schedule.”

Evan smiled. “Sounds good.”

Tommy nodded and unlocked the door. He usually didn’t bring many people to his house because — as he had told Chimney recently — it was still one big building site, even if it did look much better than four years ago when he had bought it. He directed Evan to the kitchen and turned to his bedroom with its ensuite bathroom.

Tommy took his time to shower, not only to clean up but also to chase away some of the exhaustion of the night. Even knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep because two of the calls were bound to keep him awake, he was still tired, but he wanted to be as good company for Evan as he could muster.

A little over half an hour after coming home Tommy entered his kitchen to find the table set and Evan managing three pans at the stove — two with pancakes and one with bacon and tomatoes. There was a bowl with fruit salad on the table and a jar of fresh yogurt beside it. A stack of steaming pancakes was already on the table and the bowl of batter was nearly empty.

“My shower wasn’t that long,” Tommy said skeptically.

Evan turned around to look at him with a grin. “No. I prepared the salad and batter at the station. I wasn’t sure if you’d be up for waiting for anything after your text.” He gestured to the table without putting the spatula down. “Sit down. I forgot to ask if you wanted coffee or something else, so that’s not ready yet.”

“There is tea in the cabinet beside the fridge,” Tommy said. “Coffee after a night like this would just make me crash.”

“Got it,” Evan nodded and flipped the pancakes in the pan before turning to the cabinet with the tea.

“You didn’t need to do any of this, Evan,” Tommy murmured as he sat down.

“I know.” Evan sent him a look but then he looked at Tommy’s collection of neatly labeled cans of loose tea with a confused frown. “Doesn’t tea usually come in bags?”

Tommy laughed. “For lazy people who don’t know what quality is, sure.”

Evan huffed. “It’s convenient, not lazy!”

When Tommy tried to stand, Evan glared at him. So instead, he said, “There is an infuser on the right. Get the can on the left in the second row. The instructions are on the label.”

Evan hummed and studied the instructions thoroughly before turning on the kettle and preparing the infuser. “So, you’re a tea snob.”

“If that term makes you happy, I’ll accept it,” Tommy said. “Though, there is really nothing snobbish about enjoying a higher quality version of something you like.”

“I know if I’d tried to handle this kind of tea while I was traveling, I’d have ended up spilling it all through my Jeep more than once!” Evan complained. “Boiling water practically anywhere was easy and instant coffee sucks, so I drank a lot of tea. But only ever the kind that comes in bags!”

“Let’s see if you’ll want to go back to those bags once you’ve tried real tea,” Tommy teased.

“Maybe I’ll just not drink your fancy tea if you’re so convinced it will corrupt me!”

Tommy laughed, and the little bit of doubt he’d had about spending the morning with Evan after all despite his bone-deep exhaustion vanished. This kind of banter was exactly what he needed after a shift like this. The banter continued on just as easily for the next couple of minutes until the last pancakes were cooked and their plates were piled high with food.

“Thank you for suggesting coming here when I tried to cancel,” Tommy said.

Evan shrugged. “I’ve not been on the job long, but I’ve had my share of grueling nights. I don’t need any fancy places or someone else to cook our breakfast, I just want to spend time with you.”

“Even when I might not be good company because I’m exhausted?”

“Even then,” Evan said and knocked their knees together under the table. “That’s alright, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is,” Tommy smiled. “I really appreciate you being here.” He wet his lip and turned to his plate to take the first bite of his pancake. “Not used to people offering to take care of me.”

Evan hummed. “I think the only person who ever took care of me was my sister. I hope the food is okay. I’ve been learning from Bobby, but that’s still a work in progress. I think I’ve gotten pretty good with the pancakes at least.”

“It’s great,” Tommy said honestly. “Too much probably, but I don’t mind reheating the rest in a couple of hours for lunch or something.”

“They’re good cold, too,” Evan promised. “I took some with me for a hike a while ago. Not the best snack, but it was what I had. My roommates are vultures. I’ve been contemplating putting a fridge in my room because at least they respect a locked door.”

Tommy nodded. “Any progress with finding an apartment?”

Evan shrugged. “Maybe. I’m considering settling for the first apartment I can stand just to get out of that room share. I could still look for something better after that. How’d you get a house like this?”

“Ah,” Tommy sighed. “I was in a really bad place. And throwing myself into fixing up a house that’s way too big for me but comes with a garage large enough for the cars I like to work on seemed like a good idea to distract myself.”

“Distract yourself from what?” Evan asked. Then his eyes widened, and he bit his lip. “I mean, only if you want to talk about it. Otherwise, I’m sorry I asked.”

Tommy concentrated on his food for a little while, chewing slowly while he contemplated how much and exactly what he wanted to share about his decision to buy this house.

Eventually, he said quietly and without looking at Evan, “I wasn’t out back then. I thought I could deal with pretending to be straight at work and with most of my friends while still having a relationship with the man I loved. And I was pretty madly in love with Noah when we moved in together. But then something bad and very traumatic happened to Noah while I was on shift and he was out with friends. Four weeks after we moved into an apartment together, he moved back to his parents’ house without any warning. I needed to get out of the apartment after that because I couldn’t stand going there and being reminded of what had been taken from me, what had been taken from Noah. Then I stumbled over this place and impulsively bought it much to the consternation of practically every single one of my friends.”

Evan lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“You couldn’t know,” Tommy said. “And I’ve fallen in love with this place since then. There is something rewarding about making it my own. Even though I’ve only gotten one room done for each year I’ve owned this place. If you don’t count the garage.”

“I haven’t seen the garage, but I think it counts if you put any work into it,” Evan said.

“I fixed the bathroom first,” Tommy admitted. “And then the garage. Because being able to work on my cars seemed to be more important than having a working kitchen or a finished bedroom.”

Most of his friends had often told him his priorities were messed up over that decision. Evan just nodded, and maybe he did understand better with his own experiences of mostly living in his Jeep for so many years.

“What kind of cars do you work on?” Evan asked.

“All kinds of old cars. I buy them for cheap because they’re practically a wreck, restore them, and then sell them for four or five times the money I put into it. My LAFD paycheck wouldn’t pay for the upkeep of a helicopter, even a shared one.”

“I know how to keep my Jeep running,” Evan said slowly. “But the work I did in a car shop was one of the most boring jobs I ever had. The only reason I wouldn’t call it the most horrible job is because my boss there taught me how to take care of my Jeep, and that came in handy a couple of times over the years.”

Tommy chuckled. “Good thing I don’t like anyone touching my cars while I work on them then.”

“But I could watch you work on them, right?” Evan asked with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Tommy grinned and hummed thoughtfully. “As long as you can keep your hands to yourself while watching me. Getting distracted might be dangerous.”

Evan blushed and his pupils dilated visibly. “I can be good.”

Tommy chuckled. “We’ll see. I have a question.”

Evan nodded encouragingly.

“I’ve been told I’m the only one who calls you Evan,” Tommy said and raised his brows when Evan blushed even deeper. “I assumed at first that Buck was reserved for friends.”

“I liked leaving behind who I was before coming to LA,” Evan said quietly. “It just seemed like a good opportunity when I got that nickname at the academy. Joining the fire academy was a pretty big change, a big step for me. Because it meant I had to settle down in one place now.”

Tommy nodded, though he couldn’t quite follow that train of thought.

“But when we met, I thought it would be nice to hear you say my name,” Evan continued bashfully. “And I was right about that.”

“Good to know,” Tommy said. “Evan.”

Evan laughed. “This is great, you know? Thanks for letting me come over despite your grueling shift.”

“You’re the first one who’s ever offered to just spend time with me after I told them I was too exhausted to do anything but sit at home and let the day pass by.”

Evan frowned. “Really? I think the people you dated in the past sucked.”

“Some did,” Tommy agreed.

“So, you’re planning to sit on the couch for the rest of the day and do nothing?”

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Depends on how much some of the calls from last night decide to haunt me. It’s … We lost a child last night when we were called to a multi-car pile-up.”

Evan gasped. “I’m sorry.”

Tommy shrugged. Losing anyone always sucked, but especially if it was a child. “Sometimes those calls haunt me enough that I need something to do no matter how exhausted I am.”

“I can stay,” Evan murmured. “I mean, I’d like to stay. I don’t have any other plans today. If that’s something you’d want. I don’t want to take over your day if you don’t want me here…”

Tommy reached over to grab Evan’s hand and Evan trailed off with a forlorn frown. “I’d very much enjoy it if you stayed for however long you want.”

Evan smiled widely.

 

Chapter 08

Tommy’s hand rested on the small of Buck’s back as he led him through the crowded bar toward a booth in the back. Buck leaned into the touch as much as he could. They had been out for dinner before coming here, and now they were meeting Sal and Tanika for trivia night.

This part of the evening would just be a couple of friends hanging out with each other, and Buck was very much on board with that. Ever since he had joined the 118 his dating life had been something of a commodity among his colleagues. It had started to feel uncomfortable when he had been talking with Abby and people had insisted he was dating her even when he had corrected them. It felt nice for once to have no one asking about his latest date or teasing him about whatever he had to say about it.

Apparently, Tommy met up with Tanika and Sal for trivia nights at least once a month but more often than not every other week, and they needed a fourth since the guy who had originally been on their team had moved away a year ago. Buck was looking forward to trivia night and to spending the evening with Tommy and Tanika. He wasn’t so sure if Sal would appreciate his inclusion in the evening, but Tommy didn’t seem to be worried about that.

“Buck!” Tanika shouted as soon as she saw him. She jumped up and hugged him tightly. “With you here, we’ve practically already won! What are you doing here?”

“Tommy invited me,” Buck said as if that wasn’t obvious with them arriving together.

“Really?” Sal eyed him skeptically. “I’m not sure I want you on my team for anything ever again.”

Buck grinned. “Still afraid to lose?”

Tanika huffed and sat down again. “Behave, Sal. Buck will be great at trivia night.”

“And with Tanika and Tommy on our team, I promise not to lose on purpose. Wouldn’t want to do that to my friends.”

Tommy laughed and prodded Buck to sit down. “You really need to learn not to hold a grudge, Sal.”

“You could’ve warned us you were bringing him!” Sal muttered under his breath, but still loud enough that Buck could hear it.

Tanika slapped Sal’s shoulder. “Be nice, Sal. Buck’s a great guy.”

Sal huffed and rolled his eyes before taking a big gulp of his beer, probably to avoid answering. He kept glaring at Buck, who tried to ignore him, while Tanika and Tommy mostly led the conversation at the table until the noise in the bar abruptly died down when the start of the first round of questions was announced.

The first round was local history and Sal’s sour look turned a little more neutral with every correct answer Buck could provide without having to think much about it. It went pretty much the same for the second round about music and the third with a bird theme. But the fourth round was about movies, and Buck raised his hands in defeat before the first question had even been read aloud. Tanika laughed the whole round.

“I don’t get it!” Sal said with a deep frown. “How can you know the name of some obscure cat that has a memorial at the Aquarium of the Pacific but you don’t know who Chewbacca is?”

Buck shrugged.

“Buck doesn’t know movies,” Tanika said. “It’s a whole thing. Drives Chimney crazy.”

Buck grinned. That was so very true, and he had even started pretending ignorance the few times he actually recognized one of Chimney’s movie references just to drive him a little crazy.

Tommy laughed. “I can imagine that! Would love to see Chimney’s reaction myself.”

“I just never watched movies when I was younger,” Buck said defensively. “And then I spent the last couple of years mostly traveling. There just wasn’t any time to watch movies.”

“One day we’ll have to sit you down and show you all the classics,” Tanika said.

“Starting with Star Wars,” Sal said with a glare. “You can’t go around not knowing those movies. Honestly, your parents should have sat you down and showed them to you!”

“My parents didn’t want me in the living room if it could be avoided,” Buck said with raised brows and ignored how all three of them stared at him in shock. It wasn’t the first time he’d gotten that kind of reaction, even though for Buck it really wasn’t that much of a big deal. “I didn’t care for most of their rules, but I was never interested enough in anything on the TV to bother breaking that one when they weren’t home.”

“Your parents sound like assholes,” Sal said.

Buck shrugged. He knew he could’ve had it much worse, so he tried not to complain. At least he’d had a roof over his head and a fridge and pantry that were always full, even if his favorite things had never been stocked once Maddie had left for college.

Thankfully, the next round was announced before anyone could pry about Buck’s childhood, and this time it was mostly on Tommy to show off his knowledge when the questions for the fifth round were all about cars and the sixth round the history of aviation. It was fun working through the rounds of questions, especially after Sal finally overcame his resentment of Buck.

The sixth round was the last of the night. They didn’t win, but they came a very close second place. Buck just laughed at his teammates’ cheers. He was happy about the outcome, but he had no real stakes in the game.

“We haven’t done so well for ages!” Tanika said.

Sal pointed at Buck with his beer. “I guess you can join us more often, Buck. Even if you are Nash’s probie.”

“He’s Hen’s probie,” Tommy and Tanika corrected at the same time.

“Not sure Hen would agree with you,” Buck protested.

“Oh no, she’s claimed you,” Tanika said. “She claimed me, too, back when I joined. It’s a thing. But it’s a good thing. A probie who doesn’t gel with Hen doesn’t stay on our shift after they complete their probationary year.”

Buck frowned but didn’t know what to say to that.

Tommy pressed his shoulder against Buck’s. “Would you like to join us again next time?”

Buck grinned widely and nodded, moving past his confusion at the comment about Hen. “Yeah. This was fun.”

“How did you two meet anyway?” Tanika asked. “You already knew each other when we had the party at Hen’s place.” She turned to Sal. “I’m hosting next time, by the way. And I’m not accepting any of your excuses, mister. You’re going to come, and if you can’t be civil with Bobby, you can just ignore him.”

Sal rolled his eyes and hid once more behind taking a drink of his beer.

“We ran into each other when I had an appointment at headquarters,” Buck answered Tanika’s question, in part to relieve Sal of her glare. “And then we had a shift at the 133 together.”

Tanika cocked her head to the side. “Why’d you have an appointment at HQ?”

Tommy rested his hand on Buck’s knee under the table when Buck sighed deeply. “Nothing important. I just saw something, and once Bobby reported it, there were a couple more questions to answer. Though, I talked to some guy with a major grudge against the 118 first and then had to go over it all a second time after Tommy told me I shouldn’t even have met the first guy.”

Sal glowered. “There is only one person at HQ with that type of a grudge against the 118.”

“Not anymore,” Tommy said, sounding smug. “Him ignoring the order to stay away from anyone at the 118 was finally enough of a reason to fire him.”

Sal huffed. “Good riddance. Should’ve happened years ago.”

Tanika blinked in confusion. “Should I know who you’re talking about?”

“No,” Tommy shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about some asshole who couldn’t keep up with the change of times.”

“See what happens when you hold a grudge against people?” Tanika asked and turned back to Sal again. “Do you really want to become that kind of guy?”

Tommy cleared his throat and laughed. “Okay, we’ll just leave you and Sal to that argument and head on out.”

“Coward!” Tanika called out.

Buck laughed. “No, Tommy is right. This was fun, but that sounds like an old argument you don’t need us for. I’ll see you on shift, Tanika.” He nodded at Sal. “And I guess I’ll see you at Tanika’s party.”

Sal made a face, and Tommy laughed all the way out of the bar.

“I think it went better than last time,” Buck said.

“Let’s hope Tanika gets through Sal’s thick head finally,” Tommy murmured. “He’s going to ruin his own career if he doesn’t get his head out of his ass concerning Bobby’s place at the 118.”

Buck shrugged. There wasn’t much he could say to that; he didn’t know enough about Sal or the situation that Tommy was worried about. “It looked like Tanika has a plan to deal with that.”

Tommy chuckled. “True.”

As they rounded a corner, Buck took Tommy’s hand. “This was fun, and I’m looking forward to a repeat of trivia night. But I really hope the night isn’t over for us.”

Tommy stopped and pulled Buck close. “It’s not,” he promised, followed by a quick kiss. “Want to go for a walk? The ocean isn’t that far away.”

“Sounds great,” Buck agreed.

“Can I ask about that comment about your parents?” Tommy asked quietly as he took the lead to direct them through the streets and to the ocean.

Buck huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Though there’s nothing much to say about it.”

Tommy shook his head. “My father and his wife were — probably still are — horrible people. And they didn’t make it a secret that the only reason they took me in after my mother’s death was because they didn’t want the neighbors to talk.”

Buck inhaled sharply and squeezed Tommy’s hand.

“I hated living with them for so many different reasons and left as soon as I could,” Tommy continued. “Despite that, I don’t think they contemplated even for a moment telling me any of the common areas of the house were off limits.”

Buck frowned. “It’s not … they were never violent with me. They just really didn’t want me. And couldn’t be bothered to notice me. Being in the living room would’ve forced them to notice me, so they told me to stay out.”

“You realize how horrible that sounds, right?” Tommy asked worriedly.

“I think people often assume my childhood was worse than it actually was,” Buck said. “I had my sister when I wasn’t old enough to take care of myself. And after she left for college, I got a hang of that part pretty fast. Which doesn’t mean I ever want to see my parents again. I’m pretty sure they hated me for existing alone, and I could never figure out why they didn’t get an abortion or just leave me in front of a church or something. But I never had a reason to fear them.”

“That’s a horribly low bar,” Tommy muttered darkly. “And I’m saying that as someone who had every reason to fear my father. You deserved better and I hope you know that.”

Buck chuckled sadly. “I do know. But I probably need to learn to be a little more careful about how I bring up my childhood.” He watched Tommy from the side and bit his lip. “What do you … I mean … Why did you fear your father?”

Tommy was silent for a long while and Buck wondered if he had crossed a line. But he also didn’t know how to walk it back so he waited for Tommy to just change the topic. When Tommy spoke again, Buck was a little thrown for a loop by his question.

“Do you remember Matthew Shepard?”

Buck inhaled sharply. “Yeah. I was young, but I remember. I think it was the first time I learned how cruel everyone around me could be.”

Tommy nodded. “I had just turned seventeen, was in my last year of high school. I was counting down the weeks until I could enlist so I could get out of my father’s house. I knew I wasn’t attracted to girls, but I was pretty good at convincing myself I wasn’t attracted to boys either.”

Buck bit his lip. Tommy had mentioned before how long he had denied his preferences even to himself, but it was something else entirely to hear the raw pain and even an echo of fear in his words now.

“My father was very loud in his opinion that the two murderers shouldn’t be put on trial but should get an award,” Tommy said quietly. “The last ten months in his house were the worst time in my life.”

“You don’t have contact with him anymore, do you?” Buck asked darkly.

Tommy huffed. “No. I heard they moved to San Diego, so thankfully the odds are pretty slim that I’ll ever cross paths with him again. I missed LA when I was in the Army, but I was on the fence about coming back after my discharge until I learned he had moved away.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Buck whispered, his gaze fixed on the ground. “And I’m glad you got out of there as soon as you could.”

“Yeah,” Tommy blew out a breath and then he straightened his back. “That’s quite enough emotional bloodletting for one night!”

“Agreed,” Buck said. “So, do you surf?”

Tommy lowered his gaze at him. “I grew up with the beach practically in my backyard.”

Buck raised his brows. “That’s not an answer. Do you know how many people I’ve met since moving here who’ve told me they’ve never even been to the beach?”

***

Chimney thumped his empty glass back on the table with a bang. “This was great, guys. But for me, it’s time to move on to the even better part of the night!”

Tommy laughed while Hen rolled her eyes in exasperation as Chimney stood and left them alone in their booth. It was still fairly early in the evening, but Hen and Tommy wouldn’t stay much longer either as they’d have to be on shift in the morning. They both watched as Chimney approached a woman who had been sitting at the bar for some time. It didn’t take him long at all to engage her in an animated discussion.

“You know, I had hoped he’d learn a different lesson from the thing with Tatiana blowing up in his face,” Hen said with a deep sigh. “I know deep down he’s looking for a permanent connection with someone. This behavior won’t get him that.”

“I think he just enjoys being alive at the moment,” Tommy said. “He knows just as well as everyone else how much luck he had with his injuries.”

“Shouldn’t a near-death experience make him focus more on the things he really wants in life?” Hen asked. She leaned over and kept watching Chimney.

Tommy shook his head. “You know that’s not how it works, Hen. We all react differently to traumatic events. Maybe Chimney just needs some time to get over Tatiana breaking his heart.”

Hen huffed. “Chimney wasn’t in love with her.”

“True,” Tommy agreed. “But that doesn’t mean she still didn’t break his heart.”

Hen lowered her gaze and Tommy looked back at the bar, where Chimney and the woman were just turning away to leave together. Sometimes Tommy wondered how Chimney always seemed to know exactly who to talk to when he was looking for a hookup, especially since he also always complained women overlooked him.

“How are you doing?” Tommy asked.

Hen glared at him. “Not very subtle.”

Tommy shrugged. “Chimney tried to be subtle earlier and you just glossed over it. So, I thought a more direct approach might get me an actual answer.”

“I know you shared some pretty expensive whiskey with Karen about that whole mess.”

“I did.” Instead of Tommy going to the Wilsons’ house for their usual wine night, Karen had come to him a couple of days after they had learned about Eva’s death. Karen had spent the whole evening going through a detailed list of every single little thing she hated about Eva, and he had mostly just listened to her vent.

Tommy watched Hen with raised brows. “We had one serving each, so we were nowhere near drunk. I assume you got some not-so-expensive tequila from Chimney. And you did get drunk with it.”

“Chimney’s favorite drink,” Hen said petulantly. “But he didn’t even let me have any of it and cut me off after my third beer because I had a shift the next day. I want my share of that whiskey!”

Tommy chuckled. He knew Hen had spent another evening with Chimney and got wasted a couple of days later, but if she wanted to pretend that hadn’t happened, he’d let her. “Sure. I have the bottle safely tucked away at home. Not today, though.”

Hen looked mournfully at her nearly empty beer. “No. I’ve already had one beer too many for having to work tomorrow.”

“So, being direct won’t get me an answer either, huh?” Tommy asked with raised brows.

“Maybe once I get that whiskey.”

Tommy nodded. He figured that was fair, and it would also relocate the conversation to his house. He realized that maybe Hen just didn’t want to talk about Eva or anything to do with her here at the bar.

“But I hear you have a story to share,” Hen said, her eyes gleaming.

Tommy lowered his gaze.

“Oh come on,” Hen said. “It’s not that often two of my friends are dating each other and I get to hear the juicy details from both sides!”

“Maybe I’ll have a conversation with Evan and you won’t get the juicy details from either side going forward.”

Hen laughed. “Yeah, because that’s gonna work out for you. How was your latest date?”

“We went to trivia night together,” Tommy said, because Hen was right. She and Karen were pretty much the only people he trusted to talk to about new relationships. “Sal and Tanika don’t know we were on a date, though. And I think Tanika is handling Sal’s avoidance of the 118 parties.”

“Don’t try to distract me!” Hen said. “Trivia night sounds right up Buck’s alley.”

“It was. And the dinner before and the walk on the beach after were, too.”

Hen grinned. “Oh, a romantic stroll along the shore?”

Tommy raised his brows and watched her silently. Evan had also come home with him afterwards and they had once again shared breakfast. Hen wouldn’t learn about that though, because some things weren’t her business at all.

“I’m happy for the two of you,” Hen said softly. “I think you’ll be great together. Buck is someone you can trust with your heart.”

Tommy swallowed and lowered his gaze. “We’ll see where it goes.”

He’d gone through too many bad experiences to get his hopes up after merely four successful dates. Though, Evan showing up to make him breakfast and generally take care of him after a horrible shift had made it very difficult to hold onto that resolve.

“I heard you promised each other to hold onto your friendship even if dating doesn’t work out.”

Tommy grinned. “I was surprised by that request. But … You know, I think this could turn out pretty good, too. We’ve got a lot of things in common and even those we don’t, don’t seem to be a hurdle.”

Hen kicked his shin under the table. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging! Usually, you’re all over the place oversharing everything!”

“Usually, I’m not dating someone who is also your friend,” Tommy pointed out. “What did Evan tell you?”

A soft smile spread across Hen’s face. “Oh, you know. Mostly he was gushing over practically everything. You’ve very much swept him off his feet.”

Tommy wet his lip and tried to control the blush he felt rising.

“When you texted to cancel your breakfast date, his whole face fell. Though, that lasted all of twenty seconds before he decided he’d just bring breakfast to your place. He prepared half of it at the station.”

“Because he didn’t want me to have to wait too long once I got home,” Tommy nodded. “He told me.”

“So, good breakfast?” Hen asked leadingly.

Tommy laughed. “Good breakfast and a wonderfully relaxed day.”

Evan had stayed the whole day and there hadn’t been a single complaint about them not doing anything noteworthy at all. It had been a very domestic day — one Tommy had enjoyed every moment of.

“Dating a fellow first responder comes with some advantages,” Tommy said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had someone who just understood that after some shifts, I want to do nothing besides sit at home and let the day pass by.”

Hen nodded slowly. “Took Karen a while to understand that kind of rhythm. Honestly, it took me nearly a year before I could deal with that kind of day myself. In the beginning, those days always felt like lost time. And then, of course, once we had Denny at home I needed to learn how to deal differently with that exhaustion. There is no taking a break from being a parent.”

“At least for those who’re good parents,” Tommy said. “Denny is really lucky to have you and Karen.”

“We’re doing the best we can,” Hen said, smiling. “Speaking of parents. The curse of the 118 in attracting people with less-than-ideal childhoods holds. Just as a warning that topic might not be easy with Buck.”

Tommy huffed. “Too late. Evan and I already had a short conversation about that pretty unwelcome topic. We didn’t delve deep into it, but we’ve established that we both have absolutely no interest in our parents being part of our lives.”

Hen tapped her fingers against the table and stared at her glass with a dark frown. “He said he spent his whole childhood living with people who only tolerated him out of obligation. Makes me want to hunt his parents down.”

Tommy hummed. That fit with what Evan had shared the previous night. Tommy was still mostly worried about how nonchalant Evan had been about it. But if there was anyone he’d ever discuss that with, it was Evan alone.

Hen smiled warmly. “Alright, I understand. I’ll stop poking at you.”

“I want Evan to learn to trust me,” Tommy said. “He is important.”

 

Chapter 09

The vehicle bay of the 118 was buzzing with activity. All the apparatuses had been moved outside, ready to go if they got a call, while the inside of the station had been turned into a blood donation center. By the time Buck had arrived twenty minutes before his shift started, everything had already been set up.

Half of the cots had been filled with people from C-shift and the rest with other volunteers whose faces were vaguely familiar. Most people on B-shift had stayed to donate blood when A-shift had taken over from them. Station 118 would be hosting a blood drive for the next six hours and again the next morning. That way everyone from A-shift who wanted to donate could do so right after their own shift since they weren’t allowed to donate while on shift.

The whole set-up had been organized by Chimney, who was running around either thanking everyone who showed up to donate or lecturing everyone who was there and tried to leave without donating. It was highly entertaining to watch, especially as Chimney’s tale about his injuries changed every single time he told it.

Because of the blood drive, the 118 had only been sent out to calls that morning when there had been no other stations available. They had one call for a car accident and one medical call where only the ambulance responded, but other than that their job had mostly been answering the curious questions of the people who had come in to donate blood. It was a relatively relaxed morning, even if having so many strangers in the fire station was a little nerve-wracking.

“This was a great idea, Chimney,” Bobby said with a proud smile as they all gathered in the loft for lunch.

“Without other people donating blood, I’d not be here today,” Chimney reminded everyone, and Buck had lost count of how often he’d heard that today already. “You’re all going to donate, too, tomorrow, right?”

There was a chorus of “Yes” and “Of course” from all directions, but Bobby ducked his head and was surprisingly quiet. Chimney honed in on that right away. He turned to Bobby and fixed him with a suspicious glare.

“Bobby?”

Bobby sighed. “Some people have their reasons not to donate blood.”

“And what is yours?” Chimney asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Chim!” Hen chided and ran a hand down her face.

“I’m not letting anyone with a needle come anywhere near me,” Bobby said matter-of-factly.

Chimney blinked. “What?”

Bobby sighed and shrugged. “I have an irrational fear of needles! I know it’s irrational, but knowing that has never helped me to push through it. It’s actually made it worse.”

“You can’t be serious, Bobby!” Chimney said loudly. “It’s for a good cause! Fear of needles can be overcome. You know, there is therapy for that!”

“Like there is therapy for working through nearly dying?” Hen whispered and Buck had to bite his lip to suppress a snort of laughter.

He was still on the fence about giving therapy another shot, but he had been very seriously investigating places that offered therapy through video calls. Taking the next step was much more difficult than he had expected, though. The casual needling of each other about therapy, even if it wasn’t directed at him, made Buck feel a little uncomfortable.

Bobby glared at Chimney. “Don’t you think I’ve already done that? We’re in a high-risk job and I’m well aware that I can’t evade getting poked by those spawns of the devil. That does not mean I have to volunteer for it!”

Chimney huffed and continued his argument, clearly not willing to listen to Bobby’s reasoning and dismissing all of it. It went on throughout the whole meal and Buck knew he wouldn’t have been as patient about it as Bobby was. Eventually, Buck left the table to escape the argument, and he wasn’t the only one who cut their lunch short.

Most of the shift had already moved on to take care of their different tasks when Bobby turned to cleaning the kitchen with Chimney still hanging around and trying to convince him that he needed to donate blood. Buck exchanged a look with Hen, who looked back rolling her eyes and shaking her head in defeat. But she stayed at Bobby’s side and tried to rein Chimney in.

That whole scene was only interrupted when an angry voice rang out through the loft. “Evan Buckley!”

Buck turned toward to the woman storming up the stairs to the loft. He didn’t recognize her. “That’s me,” Buck said confused.

“Oh yeah, I’m very well aware of that!” she spat and stopped right in front of where Buck was sitting. “You lead me on for six weeks and then think you can just ghost me?”

Buck frowned. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, sure. I’m not one of those women so easily led around, Buckley! Is this your sick game? Convince a girl to reveal everything to you, her fears and hopes and dreams, and then to laugh about it with your friends?” She threw her hand out in a wide gesture to wave at the loft.

Buck leaned back. “I’m sorry, I have no idea who you are. Or why you think you know me.”

She glared at him. “Is that the game you want to play, really? Slowly seducing me and playing at being some great and sensitive and understanding man a girl can really only dream about, but as soon as it gets real you stand me up and pretend I don’t exist?”

“Excuse me,” Bobby said. “Are you sure you have the right Evan Buckley?”

Buck hadn’t even noticed that Bobby and nearly everyone still in the loft had come over and gathered around the table he was sitting at.

The woman kept glaring at Buck without so much as glancing at anyone else. “Oh yeah. The Evan Buckley working A-shift at fire station 118 and climbing roller coasters and giving interviews on TV.”

Buck flinched. Somehow, he had known that interview would come back to bite him in the ass. For a second time, if he counted that whole debacle with Abby who had only called him because she had seen him in that interview and decided he would be able to provide a meaningless distraction for her.

“Okay, yeah, that is me,” Buck said slowly. “But I have never talked to you before. I’m not the guy who you’re looking—”

The slap came out of nowhere. It stung and came with enough force to nearly push Buck out of his chair. Several people called out outraged protests, but by the time Buck turned his head back the woman whose name he didn’t even know was already storming down the stairs. Tanika was following her, but Hen pulling over a chair to sit down in front of Buck distracted him.

“You alright?” Hen said softly. She cradled his face and carefully turned his head to look at his cheek.

Buck huffed and pushed her hands away. “I’m fine. But I have no idea what that was.”

Chimney chuckled, and Buck couldn’t help the feeling that it had a mean edge to it. “It’s pretty clear what that was, Buckaroo. Your sleeping around without even bothering to remember your conquests’ names is coming to bite you in the ass.”

“I’ve never even seen that woman before!” Buck protested.

“So, you’re not just forgetting their names, you don’t even remember their faces?” Chimney asked.

“There are probably too many to keep track of something like that,” Johnson called out from the back.

“That’s enough,” Bobby snapped.

Chimney laughed. “Come on, Cap. This is pretty funny.”

“It’s not,” Bobby said and glared at Chimney. “I believe Buck when he says he has no idea who that woman was. Especially as she didn’t bring up anything that made it sound like she knew anything real about him.”

“Your age is showing, Cap,” Johnson said. “No one tells a hookup anything meaningful, and if they pretend to it’s some made-up bullshit.”

Buck glared at him. “I don’t know her! And I have no idea why she thought she knew me!”

“She’s gone.” Tanika came back up the stairs with an angry frown. “Got in her car and drove away without talking to me. But I got her license plate if you want to make any kind of report about her, Buck.”

“Report?” Chimney asked incredulously.

“Technically, she just assaulted an on-duty firefighter,” Tanika said and gave Chimney a pointed look.

Johnson laughed. “That’s really far-reaching, Tanika. As if a little slap deserves that much attention.”

Bobby cleared his throat. “You all have work to do. You better start doing it!”

He glared at everyone hanging around and, eventually, only Hen, Tanika, and Chimney stayed gathered around Buck. When Buck tried to get up to find something to do, Bobby’s glare made him sit back down faster than Hen’s hands on his shoulders.

“You’ll need to leave, too, Chimney, if you don’t want to be late for your classes,” Bobby said.

Chimney rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

A moment later, he was gone, too. Buck sank further down into his chair with a deep sigh. “I’m so sorry, Cap.”

“The way I see it, you don’t have anything to apologize for,” Bobby said. “You didn’t answer Hen’s question.”

Buck shook his head. “I’m not hurt. Just completely confused.”

“She mentioned the interview,” Tanika said. “Sometimes people latch onto someone they see on TV and fixate on them.”

“It’s been months since Devon,” Buck murmured. “Why’d she show up now and not right after the interview?”

Hen shrugged. “Who knows.”

“Tanika is right about making a report,” Bobby said. “I’ll pull the security feed and make a copy of the last few minutes. It doesn’t have sound, but what she said isn’t half as important as what she did.”

“There is no reason…” Buck trailed off when he was met with three nearly identical glares. “I mean. Let’s just wait, okay? If she never shows up again, we can just forget about it?”

“Do you remember what you told me about Eva when I didn’t want to tell anyone here about her?” Hen asked with raised brows.

“Yeah, but Eva had been bothering you for weeks by that point. Years, if you look at the whole picture even,” Buck protested. “This is not the same!”

“It could become the same,” Tanika said.

Buck made a face and shook his head. He really didn’t think it was that serious, but he recognized that the others wouldn’t just let it go. “Yeah, okay. Let’s put together a report about me being slapped by a random woman. Because that’s not embarrassing.”

“Don’t let Chimney and Johnson get in your head,” Hen said softly.

“You aren’t the one in the wrong here,” Bobby agreed. “Even if you had been involved with her and then ignored her, that’s no reason for her to show up at your place of work or assault you.”

Buck looked at Bobby, feeling vulnerable in a way he hadn’t since he had brought up Dr. Wells for the first time. “I really don’t know her, Bobby.”

Bobby smiled sadly. “I believe you, kid.”

Buck swallowed against the lump in his throat. He knew a couple of months ago Bobby would have reacted differently. A couple of months ago a moment like this might have convinced Buck that he needed to move on as soon as possible from this place. For a moment Buck didn’t know how to deal with the trust and security he had found here that he was suddenly confronted with.

***

“You should’ve seen Chimney’s antics!” Evan said, laughing and holding onto the table after recounting how Chimney had watched over his blood drive like a hawk, and how often he had changed the story about his own injury whenever new people had shown up.

They sat in a café halfway between the 217 and the 118 for breakfast. Tommy was glad they’d both had a relatively easy shift so they didn’t have to cancel their breakfast plans again. Meeting for breakfast after their shifts was something Tommy felt he could get used to very fast.

Then Evan sighed and rolled his eyes. “I mean, it’s a great thing he is doing there with organizing the blood drive. But he is a little bit too focused on it. He spent all of yesterday morning trying to convince Bobby he had to donate no matter his fear of needles. And then he was back this morning bright and early just continuing on with it!”

Tommy nodded slowly. “Did Bobby donate in the end?”

Evan huffed. “Yeah. And I don’t know why Chimney doesn’t feel ashamed of himself. It’s clear Bobby’s learned how to push past his fear, but that whole thing was still a fight for him.”

“Howie can be very single-mindedly focused on things,” Tommy said. “This set-up at the 118 the last two days was a trial run, did he tell you that?”

Evan nodded. “They’ll do it at other stations, too, over the next couple of months if the turnout from this blood drive is successful. I think it will be. We had a lot of people show up yesterday, and it seemed to be going that direction today, too.”

“Sal’s been complaining that they’ve already scheduled one for the 122 next week,” Tommy said. “And I don’t know what he has to complain about, because Howie won’t bother him about donating. He’s only been hanging around for this event because the 118 is his house. Chimney does have other obligations. And they’ll only be doing it one day at the other stations, so if Sal is lucky, he’ll be on duty anyway.”

“Chimney wanted everyone at the 118 to donate,” Evan said. “Hen had loud opinions about Chimney thinking it would be a good idea for the on-duty firefighters to donate blood. And Chimney had to admit that she was right in the end.”

Tommy grinned. “As I said, a very single-minded focus. And Howie knows that’s not always a good thing.”

“I just hope he won’t be so enthusiastic and insistent about everyone donating blood every couple of months or so,” Evan murmured. “That would get old fast.”

Tommy laughed. He didn’t think Evan had anything to worry about there. Chimney’s focus would shift to something else soon enough. It might have been Chimney’s idea to turn their fire stations into temporary blood donation centers, but others had taken over the organization of it and would keep it running going forward.

“So, what was the most exciting thing that happened during your shift?” Evan asked.

“More annoying than exciting, but we got a medical call from a boat a couple of miles off the coast,” Tommy said. “Flying the helicopter out over the ocean is always irritating. But we got our patient and safely brought him to the hospital.”

Evan cocked his head. “Why is it irritating?”

“Those boats never stay where they are when they call in!” Tommy said. “Or they aren’t able to give us their exact location for some reason. And I’m much more comfortable having landmarks to orientate myself instead of relying solely on the instruments in the helicopter.”

Evan frowned. “What do you mean the boats don’t stay where they are?”

Tommy shrugged. “People are stupid. This group turned their boat around after the mayday and tried to get back to the coast instead of waiting for us. Because sailing away from the place they told others was where they needed help makes so much sense.”

“Sounds like the guys who get injured on hikes, call in for help, and then try to walk back despite their injuries instead of waiting for the help they called,” Evan muttered.

“Yes, exactly.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “But a still functioning boat is much faster than a hiker with a sprained ankle who is making his injury worse by being stupid.”

Evan shook his head. “That’s the reason why I don’t hike with random people anymore. I told you about that guy who nearly dragged me into a ravine, right? He was exactly that kind of guy, and I spent a whole hour trying to talk him down from trying to climb out by himself with a broken leg that he insisted was only a sprain until the SAR team arrived.”

“Hey, asshole!”

Tommy’s head snapped around to the woman who stopped beside their table. She glared at Evan in open anger, holding her cup of iced coffee so tightly her knuckles were white. Tommy exchanged a confused look with Evan.

“I think you are at the wrong table,” Tommy said flatly.

She rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored him.

“Can we help you?” Evan asked hesitantly.

“You could tell me why you stood me up and then ghosted me.”

Tommy raised his brows.

Evan blinked and then frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The woman huffed. “Should’ve known not to trust someone like you. In the end, guys like you are all the same!”

“I’m sorry,” Evan said. “Do I know you?”

“You spent weeks prying my deepest and darkest secrets out of me!” the woman spat. “Don’t pretend you don’t recognize me! My profile pic doesn’t lie!”

“Profile pic?” Evan asked and Tommy thought he looked just as lost as Tommy felt himself.

“So, you’ll really just pretend none of the last couple months, happened, yeah?” she snapped. “God, I should’ve really known better. Don’t ever trust a guy with a pretty face. Especially not one so eager to get on TV and call it his most exciting experience!” She turned her glare to Tommy. “Are you having fun laughing with your friend about the women he is fooling, whose hearts he’s breaking just for fun? I’m probably not even the only one!”

Evan shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Instead of an answer, the woman huffed and raised her chin. Evan gasped when she poured her coffee over his head before walking away.

“Hey!” Tommy called out, shocked. For a moment he was torn between following her and staying with Evan to help him deal with the mess the woman had created. Before he could make a decision, she had already left the café and was out of sight.

“What the hell is going on?” Evan asked and tugged on his wet button-down with a disgusted face. “That’s the second woman in as many days who claims I somehow ghosted her when I’ve never seen her before.”

“The second woman?” Tommy asked with a frown.

Evan bit his lip and shook his head. “Yeah. Yesterday one showed up at the 118 just after lunch. Claimed I had ghosted her, too.”

Tommy exhaled slowly as his confusion turned into worry.

“This is disgusting,” Evan murmured, still pulling on his shirt.

“At least it wasn’t hot coffee,” Tommy said. “I’ve got a spare shirt in my car.”

“I’d love to borrow that!” Evan said immediately.

Tommy got up to get the shirt and shortly later had ordered fresh coffee when Evan came back from the bathroom with wet hair and wearing Tommy’s shirt.

“I’m so sorry,” Evan murmured. His gaze was fixed on his coffee, but Tommy could still see his deep and worried frown. “I have no idea who that woman was! Or why she thinks she knows me.”

“What happened yesterday?” Tommy asked.

Evan shrugged and related in a low voice about a woman showing up at the fire station accusing him of ghosting her and then slapping him before rushing off. “Tanika and Bobby insisted that we file a report. They think she saw me in the interview and fixated on me or something.”

Tommy hummed.

“I really don’t know them!” Evan repeated, nearly pleading. “I have no idea why they think they know me! I haven’t been texting or flirting or anything with anyone!”

Tommy’s eyes grew wide. “I know. I believe you, Evan.” He reached over the table to grab Evan’s hands, cursing himself for not reassuring Evan about that earlier. “I don’t doubt you.”

Evan exhaled slowly and sent him a shaky smile. “Thank you. I just feel so … There were a couple of guys yesterday who practically fell over themselves laughing about me.”

Tommy could see that kind of reaction from a lot of the guys he knew. “I’m not the kind of shallow person to believe a stranger over the person I know. Especially a person I care very deeply about.”

Evan’s smile grew a little more secure.

“She said something about a profile pic,” Tommy said.

Evan frowned. “I don’t have social media. I mean, I have Facebook, but that’s only there so my sister has a way to reach me if she ever wants to do that again. I deleted my Tinder account months ago, but I didn’t have my real name on there or anything connected to what I do anyway. The woman from yesterday only really mentioned the interview.”

“They might not be connected.”

Evan huffed and looked at him incredulously. “Two women showing up out of nowhere in less than twenty-four hours, both accusing me of leading them on and then ghosting them? And you really think they aren’t connected?”

Tommy inclined his head. “I see your point.”

“What am I gonna do with this?” Evan asked.

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know. They weren’t very clear on why they think you had any contact with them. I don’t know where we could start looking for clues.”

“Maybe it’s a fluke and nothing else will happen,” Evan murmured.

Tommy hummed. If the two women weren’t connected and the similarities in their accusations were just a fluke, that might be true. But if they were connected somehow — and Tommy had to agree with Evan’s argument that the similarities would be a huge coincidence — there could easily be more.

“I’m more worried about the woman from yesterday than the one from today,” Tommy said. “The one from today just took the opportunity presented to her when she saw you.”

Evan sighed deeply. “But the one from yesterday deliberately sought out my place of work. And somehow knew I would be on shift.”

“That speaks of determination and planning,” Tommy said.

“I was working when I gave the interview,” Evan said with a thoughtful frown. “And our schedules are public. It’s not difficult to figure out with those things that I’m on A-shift and when I’m working.”

“She still has to have looked all of it up,” Tommy said. “And I saw the interview. It wasn’t live. I think it aired a day after you gave it, right?”

Evan dragged his fingers through his hair. “We put together a report about that thing yesterday. But we just filed it away and hoped we wouldn’t have to kick it up the chain of command or over to the LAPD. Honestly, I really don’t want to have to deal with being involved in another investigation.”

Tommy smiled reassuringly and squeezed Evan’s hand. He could understand that sentiment very much. He knew he’d felt the same during the criminal investigation into Gerrard, and even for years after that.

“If something else happens again, I don’t think you’ll have a choice,” Tommy said.

“But for now I can hope it won’t, right?”

Tommy sighed. “Yeah, of course.”

Evan sighed deeply.

Tommy tugged on his hand and Evan looked up to meet his gaze. “No matter what’s going on, you aren’t dealing with it alone!”

That brought a smile to Evan’s face, and he turned his hands to lace their fingers together.

 

Chapter 10

Buck noticed Hen watching him with a deep, worried frown, and wondered if maybe there was something to Tanika and Tommy claiming that he was Hen’s probie. He tried very hard to hide his discomfort, but it seemed that Hen had clocked it right away. Buck hoped she wouldn’t question him about it and just let it go.

It wasn’t even unusual for Athena Grant to show up to join them for lunch or dinner if she was on shift at the same time as they were. Buck knew she had been friends with Hen and several other people on his shift for a long time and that she had started joining them for meals after Bobby had started cooking for the shift. Buck and Athena had overcome their initial animosity months ago by now, so Buck knew he shouldn’t feel as anxious as he was about her sitting at the other side of the table between Hen and Bobby, joking with them while they all enjoyed the food.

It had been a week since that woman had stormed into the fire station full of anger aimed at Buck, and no one had forgotten about it yet, so he hadn’t added fuel to the fire by telling a single person here that there had been another woman with the same kind of complaints the next morning. Tommy had accepted it when Buck had asked him that maybe they could just forget about it if it remained the last incident. But no one on his shift had done the same.

Some, like Hen and Tanika, weren’t quiet about their worry for Buck and their opinion that they should have kicked that report up the chain of command instead of just quietly filing it away in case it was needed later on. Others, like Johnson, hadn’t gotten a clue at all and were still making fun of Buck for it even two shifts later. Buck really didn’t want to hear any of their comments if they learned that there had been another similar incident.

Now Buck was sitting at the table, avoiding any conversation, and nervously waiting for someone to mention the incident to Athena — most likely one of Johnson’s crowd while cracking a joke about it again. The thing was, Buck had no idea how Athena would react, nor did he even know how he wanted her to react. He told himself that he shouldn’t worry about it and that it wouldn’t matter, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. Or maybe from waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Buck’s musings and everyone else’s easy conversation were interrupted by a loud metallic bang that reverberated throughout the whole station. They all froze and stared. Buck had no idea where the noise came from, but a second bang rang through the station and this time it was clearly coming from the closed bay doors downstairs.

Everyone seemed to jump up at once, Bobby and Athena leading the charge down the stairs. The third bang was much louder since they had nearly reached the bay doors and Buck flinched. Bobby headed for the side door instead of enabling the mechanism to open the bay doors, and as soon as he opened it a woman’s shouts could be heard.

“Evan Buckley!” she shouted, and Buck froze in his steps. “Get out here you coward!”

“Do not pick up that rock, lady!” Athena’s voice was hard and authoritative.

“Where is Evan?” the woman asked, sounding just as angry as the other two had.

“Not another one,” Buck muttered and stopped a good ten feet away from the door. “This can’t be happening!”

Hen stopped beside him and grabbed his shoulder, but Buck stared at the open door warily. Maybe Bobby would deal with her without ever bringing her inside, thus helping Buck avoid having to deal with her.

Johnson stopped at the door, laughing, and turned to Buck. “You’re really off your game, huh, Buckley? Leading all these women on? That’s the second one this week, how many more will we have to deal with?”

“Hey!” Bobby said loudly at the same moment the woman screeched, “What?”

The next moment, she was pushing through the door past Johnson, who stepped away with his hands raised defensively and a smug smirk in Buck’s direction.

Buck backed away several steps. “I have no idea who you are!” he said hastily. “I have no idea why you think you know me! Or why either of the others thought they knew me!”

She stopped far enough away Buck at least didn’t have to fear she’d slap him, and he noticed with relief she wasn’t holding any rocks. “You’re a liar, Evan Buckley! You stood me up twice! Left me waiting for hours at the bar where you told me we would meet! Why’d you do that?”

Buck shook his head. “I didn’t tell you anything. I’ve never talked to you. I still have no idea who you are!”

“I look exactly like the picture on my profile!” she spat.

“What profile?” Buck asked, feeling desperate and confused.

“You know exactly what profile!” she shouted. “Is it true what your friend said? You’ve been leading me on all along and done the same to others, too?”

Buck rubbed his fingers over his eyes and sighed in frustration. “I haven’t been leading anyone on. I haven’t been talking to any women! You’re the third woman this week to accuse me of this, and I promise you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t have any kind of online presence where I could’ve seen your profile picture or talked to you!”

Athena cleared her throat. “Maybe we should move this upstairs.”

The woman crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not here to stay. I just want some answers.”

“I think we all want some answers,” Athena said coldly. “If you don’t want to stay, I’ll arrest you for the attempted damage of city property.”

The woman turned to Athena, her mouth hanging open, and Johnson laughed. “Oh come on, Grant. That’s a little harsh.”

“You’re lucky, young lady, that you didn’t hit one of the windows and do actual damage. And you’re also very lucky that you didn’t hit any of the firefighters working here.” Athena turned her glare to Johnson for a moment. “Though, apparently some are volunteering to be targets for any rocks thrown in the future because they need to learn a lesson.”

Hen huffed in amusement and softly grabbed Buck’s arm to pull him back to the stairs. “Let’s go upstairs.”

“Everyone aside from Hen and Buck will find something to do downstairs,” Bobby ordered darkly. “You all have better things to do than eavesdrop. There will be no gossiping about any of this, am I clear?”

Some of the others laughed under their breath in a way that told Buck that order would be flagrantly ignored. Buck hoped they’d at least confine whatever they talked about to places where he didn’t need to deal with it, though he didn’t have much hope of that.

Hen didn’t let go of Buck’s arm until she had pushed him into one of the chairs upstairs. Tanika had quietly ignored Bobby’s order and come upstairs with them. Now she and Hen were taking the chairs on each side of Buck, but thankfully neither said nor asked anything.

Buck crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the woman who had argued with Athena about her choice to throw rocks at the closed bay door all the way up the stairs.

“What’s your name?” Athena asked in a harsh tone while pointing at a chair opposite Buck at the table.

“Ask him,” she said and glared at Buck.

Buck sighed. “I have no idea. I don’t know the names of the other two either.”

The woman kept glaring at him, but eventually, she said, “Brandy Porter.”

“Thank you, Miss Porter,” Athena said, in a tone that told Buck she was already fed up with the whole situation. “Now, tell me how you think you know Firefighter Buckley.”

Porter turned to glare at Athena now. “Are you really going to believe him over me?”

Athena raised her brows. “Right now I don’t even have enough information to know what it is I’m supposed to believe or not believe. And the kind of report I’ll write later on about you vandalizing LAFD property will very much depend on your level of cooperation right now.”

Porter huffed. “Wouldn’t you be angry if you talked to a guy for weeks, then spent two nights waiting for him, only for him to never show up?”

“Not angry enough to throw rocks,” Athena said. “Especially at something that wasn’t actually his property. Where did you talk to the person you assume to be Firefighter Buckley?”

Buck exhaled slowly because it seemed as if Athena believed him about having no idea what was going on.

“MySpace,” Parker said.

Buck frowned. “Who the hell still has MySpace?”

“You!” Porter snapped.

“I assure you, I don’t have MySpace. I don’t have any social media accounts aside from Facebook, and I only have that one so my sister can reach out to me.” Buck shook his head. “I even deleted all my dating app profiles months ago.”

Porter rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Let me guess, you aren’t man enough to come through on all those promises you made in your DMs.”

Buck couldn’t help himself; he started laughing. “I’m sorry, but if I want a casual hook-up, I can just go down to the coffee shop around the corner, and it will take no time to be invited home by someone. And no one has ever had any kind of complaint ever since I figured out how to get my first girlfriend off when I was 15.”

Hen cleared her throat beside him, but Buck saw how much she had to hold herself back not to laugh as well.

“Buck,” Bobby muttered and ran a hand down his face.

Buck shrugged. “Just telling it how it is. I never had a MySpace account to begin with. I was too young to have one when it was actually popular, and then never bothered to make one since there was no point. So whoever you’ve been talking to, it’s not me.”

“Yeah, sure,” Porter said with a sneer.

“Show me this MySpace page,” Athena asked.

Porter pulled out her phone and stabbed at the screen angrily before shoving it in Athena’s face. Athena sent her an annoyed look and took the phone. After inspecting it for a while, she turned it around to show it to Buck, his picture filing the screen.

“That’s the photo I have up on Facebook,” Buck said confused. “But I didn’t make that.”

“What do you get out of leading on women who’re just looking for a good guy?” Porter asked.

“Nothing,” Buck said through gritted teeth. “Because I don’t do that!”

“You said there were other women over the past week?” Athena asked while scribbling down something in her notebook.

Buck sighed and carded his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. One showed here up last week. Bobby insisted on creating a report about it.”

“She slapped you,” Bobby said. “And we should’ve informed HR right away. We will be doing that today because something is clearly going on here.”

Buck made a face, but he figured he couldn’t argue against that anymore. “And then, the next day when I was out for breakfast, another woman showed up and poured her iced coffee over my head when I told her I didn’t recognize her.”

“Serves you right!” Porter muttered.

“Were you alone for breakfast?” Athena asked.

“I was with Tommy,” Buck said. “He was worried when I told him it was the second time, but I convinced him to let it go. I really hoped it wouldn’t happen again. The one with the coffee mentioned some online profile, too, but she didn’t stay long enough to ask any questions.”

“And the one who came here last week talked about the interview Buck gave,” Hen said. “I honestly assumed she was some kind of groupie. Because no one can deny that Buck is the kind of hot guy who attracts those kinds of fans.”

Porter glared at Hen as if that was a personal attack.

“I got the license plate of the woman from last week,” Tanika said. “So it should be easy enough for you to track her down.”

Athena nodded. “I’ll take a copy of that report with me. And you’re right Bobby, you should contact HR. Better to be safe than sorry in case this escalates any further.”

Porter huffed in outrage. “Do you really believe a single word this guy says? I’m telling you, it’s him I’ve been talking to on MySpace.”

“Do you have any proof it was him that couldn’t be faked? Anyone can create a profile online, copy public photos, and pretend to be someone else,” Athena said. “Of everyone sitting at this table, you’re the one who has no idea who Evan Buckley is. He’s a lot of things that don’t make me his biggest fan, but he isn’t a liar. He wears his thoughts and his heart right on his sleeve. So yes, I do believe him. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe you, too.”

Porter lowered her gaze.

“Your reaction and anger at someone not meeting your expectations still seems very much out of proportion given that you have been talking to someone for less than two months,” Athena continued. She exchanged a quick look with Bobby. “But I figure we can overlook any kind of legal consequences for your actions earlier if you cooperate with the investigation into the person impersonating an LAFD firefighter.”

“What?” Porter asked confused.

“As I see it, both you and Firefighter Buckley are victims in this situation,” Athena said. “If you help us find this other person by giving one of my colleagues access to the messages you exchanged with the impersonator, I will overlook your violent actions from earlier.”

“And why should I help?” Porter asked, making a face.

“Because it will also give you the satisfaction that the impersonator will get found and punished,” Athena said. “You said you waited at a bar for two nights.”

Porter nodded. “Evan told me we’d meet there and see if we clicked in person just as well as in our messages.”

Buck rolled his eyes but Tanika’s hand on his arm kept him quiet.

“I’m worried about that for several reasons,” Athena said. “What if the goal of the real person you chatted with was to pick you up by using your disappointment about the man you expected to meet not showing up to lower your guard?”

Porter’s eyes grew wide, and the defensive and angry way she was holding herself shifted visibly. Her shoulders sank down, and she clenched her suddenly shaking hands. “You mean like…”

Buck felt nauseous himself at the possibility Athena was hinting at. Suddenly, his decision to ignore the incidents a week ago seemed like the worst decision he could’ve made.

Athena hummed. “I can’t say. Did you notice anyone suspicious at the bar? Anyone who talked to you and didn’t quite leave when you told them you were waiting for someone and weren’t interested in a conversation?”

Porter shook her head slowly. “No. A couple of guys talked to me, of course. But nobody put off a bad vibe or ignored me sending them away for longer than guys usually do. Plus, it was a badge and ladder bar. Not exactly the place for creeps to hang out at.”

“I’d like you to come to the station with me,” Athena said, and then she looked at Buck. “And you should come by tomorrow morning after your shift.”

“I’ll be there,” Buck promised quietly.

Athena nodded and Porter followed her without protest or another word in Buck’s direction. Buck felt as if a bucket of ice had been dumped over him. He exhaled slowly and looked at Bobby, desperately searching for someone who could give him the solution to a problem that he hadn’t even fully grasped yet.

“I’ll call HR right away,” Bobby said. “They might want to talk to you.”

“I have no idea what is going on, Bobby, I promise!” Buck said.

Bobby sighed and smiled reassuringly. “I know. But they’ll still want to talk to you. Maybe you know this person and aren’t aware of it. Impersonating a LAFD firefighter is no trivial matter.”

Buck nodded and rubbed a hand over his mouth. “This sucks.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Tanika said. “But let’s talk about something a little more exciting for the moment.” She turned to Buck with gleaming eyes.

Bobby shook his head with a little laugh. “I’ll just go and make that phone call. If you want, I’ll go to the precinct with you, Buck. Or any meeting they might want to have with you at HR.”

Buck smiled shakily. “Thanks, Bobby.”

Tanika barely waited until Bobby reached the stairs before she asked, “So, this ‘Tommy’ you had breakfast with. Was that our Tommy Kinard?”

Buck lowered his gaze. “Yeah, so?”

“So, was you showing up to trivia night with Tommy a date?” Tanika asked, and Hen on Buck’s other side laughed loudly.

“The trivia night part technically wasn’t part of the date,” Buck said with raised brows. “That was just a couple of friends hanging out and having fun.”

“The dinner before and the stroll along the beach after were part of the date, though,” Hen said, chuckling.

“And why is it that Hen knows about this, but I don’t?” Tanika asked with a put-upon frown.

Buck pursed his lips but decided that indulging Tanika’s curiosity about his dates with Tommy was a much better conversation than having to wonder about his identity being stolen.

***

“Thank you for being here,” Buck whispered without looking at Tommy.

They sat in a small office in Athena’s precinct and were waiting for Detective Romero to come talk to them. Hours after Brandy Porter had shown up at the 118, Buck had called Tommy to tell him about her and that he would need to go talk to the police in the morning. He had just wanted to warn Tommy in case the police or HR reached out to him as a witness, but instead, Tommy had already been waiting in front of the precinct when Buck had arrived.

“Of course,” Tommy said with a soft smile.

Buck sighed. “I hate this. And I don’t know how to deal with it. Knowing someone is out there using my name and photo to seduce women and who knows what else makes me feel so uncomfortable. I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin!”

Tommy reached over to grab his hand. “Someone will find out what’s going on.”

“Let’s hope they do before something worse happens than some women getting angry over being ghosted,” Buck murmured.

Tommy nodded, but the conversation was interrupted by a man with graying hair entering the room. Buck expected Tommy to pull his hand back. Most of the time Tommy seemed to be so confident, but Buck had soon learned that there were moments when he didn’t feel quite as comfortable in his skin or his sexuality as he projected most of the time. It wasn’t difficult for Buck to accept those boundaries, especially as Tommy was very open about his journey.

Instead of pulling away, Tommy held on tighter, interlacing their fingers, and Buck was grateful for the support. He wasn’t used to being comforted through difficult moments, but he latched onto it with everything he had.

“I’m Detective Rick Romero,” the man introduced himself. “Which of you is Firefighter Buckley.”

Buck raised his free hand. “I’m Evan Buckley.”

Romero nodded and turned his gaze to Tommy, brows raised in a silent question.

“Tommy Kinard. I’m here as moral support and because I was there when the second woman showed up last Monday.”

Romero nodded again and scribbled down Tommy’s name. “That’s good. Sergeant Grant has already filed a thorough report with everything she learned from you and Miss Porter yesterday, Mr. Buckley. So I only have some follow-up questions.”

“Alright,” Buck said.

“You told Sergeant Grant the only online profile you have is on Facebook,” Romero said.

Buck nodded. “I had some profiles up on dating apps until recently. But I didn’t post photos of my face on there or my real name. I’m also not really active on Facebook. It’s a way to give my sister a chance to contact me, but I only check that profile once or twice a week at most.”

“That’s pretty unusual for a man your age.”

Buck shrugged. “I don’t know. I traveled a lot until a little more than a year ago. I could spend weeks without being online at all.”

Romero smiled. “That wasn’t any kind of accusation.”

Buck exhaled slowly. “I’ve had a lot of people over the last week not believe me when I told them I had no idea what was going on.”

“Assholes,” Tommy muttered under his breath.

Romero sent him a slightly scolding look, but he didn’t quite manage to keep a quick grin off his face. “I’m sorry to hear that, though I’m not surprised. This kind of identity theft is dismissed by a lot of people. I felt Miss Porter still doesn’t quite believe she wasn’t talking to you, either.”

“But you believe me?” Buck asked.

“I do,” Romero assured. “We had a technician look at the profile on MySpace and at the messages Miss Porter could provide. The person behind the profile is using a VPN, which isn’t that difficult to come by anymore, so we couldn’t track their location. We have reached out to MySpace, but I don’t expect we’ll have much luck with them cooperating at the moment.”

“So, what can we do?” Buck asked.

“Good old-fashioned detective work,” Romero said. “We did learn from the messages Miss Porter received that our suspect has a lot of knowledge about firefighting and how the LAFD works. Is there anyone you can think of with that knowledge who holds a grudge against you or would want to harm you?”

“No,” Buck said with a frown.

“I can think of two people,” Tommy said.

Buck turned to him. “What?”

“Wells and Turner.”

Buck blinked. The situation with Dr. Wells had been lingering in the background for him, but he hadn’t heard much from the DA’s office lately. He didn’t expect to hear from them anytime soon either, except if Dr. Wells caved and agreed to a plea deal. And Buck hadn’t thought about Turner at all since the day he had the unfortunate experience of talking to him.

“Who are they?” Romero asked.

Buck swallowed and lowered his gaze. “Dr. Wells is a therapist who was contracted by the LAFD to treat firefighters after traumatic calls. She is being investigated by the DA’s office for sexual misconduct regarding several of her patients.”

Romero sighed. “And you’re one of them.”

“Buck’s report is what kicked the investigation off,” Tommy said. “As far as I know, and I might add I don’t know much, Aaron Turner dismissed all previous reports out of hand because he believes a man can’t be sexually assaulted by a woman.”

Romero made a face.

“When I reported Dr. Wells, I talked to him at first, too,” Buck said. “When I came out of that meeting I learned he should’ve never met me because he was prohibited from talking to anyone at my station. So, I had that whole very uncomfortable conversation a second time with someone else.”

Romero leaned back and watched Buck for a moment before he turned his gaze to Tommy. “You seem to have some more background knowledge, Mr. Kinard.”

“I had to deal with Turner in the past,” Tommy said. “I’m part of the reason he wasn’t allowed to deal with anything to do with the 118. There was a time when I made a hobby out of pointing out his prejudices. I’m sure there are some people now who wish they had listened to me years ago and fired him instead of putting a trivial restriction on him.”

Romero chuckled. “Probably.”

“I made sure Evan talked to someone else when I learned he had been sent to talk to Turner,” Tommy explained. “And I know he was fired the evening of that same day. I wouldn’t put it past him to target Evan, though I’m not sure he knows anything about social media or online dating. He must have been only two or maybe three years away from retirement. But he could’ve let Dr. Wells know who kicked off the investigation against her, and she might have the technical and psychological knowledge to pull it off.”

“Is there any connection between Turner and Wells?” Romero asked.

“I don’t know,” Tommy said. “You’ll have to ask the DA’s office about that.”

“I will,” Romero said. “So, what do you think would be the goal of either of them impersonating Firefighter Buckley this way?”

“Destroy his credibility as a witness,” Tommy said. “Damage his career as a firefighter.”

Buck flinched. “I learned this morning that an anonymous report was already made to HR about me using my uniform to mistreat women. I don’t know any details yet, but I have a meeting with someone from HR this afternoon.”

“Anonymous means it’s probably not one of the women who’ve fallen victim to this catfisher,” Romero said. “It would help if you gave us permission to access anything the LAFD has about that complaint.”

Buck nodded. “I’ll tell them to send you a copy of the complaint and to share whatever they find out.”

“You should call a union rep to be there with you for the meeting,” Tommy said with a deep frown.

“I don’t think they want to accuse me of anything,” Buck said, confused. “I had an appointment scheduled anyway because Bobby called them yesterday and forwarded the report about the first woman from last week.”

“Still,” Tommy said. “Having representation with you when discussing a potential accusation is always a good idea.”

“Listen to your partner,” Romero said, and Buck blushed at Tommy being called that. It felt good, no matter how new it was. “Someone is targeting you and seems to be escalating. I’ll look into Wells and Turner. Can you think of anyone else?”

Buck shook his head, and this time Tommy didn’t bring up anyone either. Romero continued asking some more questions about the three women who had shown up so far, especially about the one who had disturbed their breakfast date and they had the least information about.

Soon after, Romero sent them on their way and Tommy held tightly onto Buck’s hand all the way out to their cars. There, he pulled Buck into a hug and Buck fell into it with a grateful sigh.

“I’d like to come to that HR meeting with you, too,” Tommy murmured into Buck’s hair. “And you should call the union soon, so your rep has at least a little time to prepare.”

Warmth spread through Buck and he pressed his forehead against Tommy’s neck. “You don’t have to.”

Tommy chuckled. “Evan, I want to be there. I want to support you. I don’t want you to go through any of this alone.”

“I feel like that’s all you’re doing. Feels a little unbalanced.”

Tommy shook his head and rubbed a hand over Buck’s back. “It will even out over time. And it doesn’t feel unbalanced to me at all.”

“I liked it when Romero called us partners,” Buck whispered.

Tommy hummed. “Yeah, same. So, please, let me be your partner.”

“I think it would be great if you were there for that appointment later,” Buck admitted. “Do you really think Dr. Wells has something to do with this?”

“I have no idea,” Tommy said. “But she would have a reason to target you this way. I don’t think we can really do anything but wait and see what happens.”

“I’m really bad at waiting.”

Tommy laughed. “Okay. So, let’s drop your car off at your place and then find somewhere we can eat. I’m sure we can find something enjoyable to do before that appointment with HR. Something that will make you forget about all of this for a little while.”

 

Chapter 11

“Thanks for staying to help with all the chaos,” Chimney said, waving his arm to indicate his living room and kitchen. “You guys always leave such a mess!”

Tommy chuckled and watched Chimney from his place in the kitchen where he was loading the dishwasher. It was the second time Chimney had organized game night again since his accident, and everyone who typically showed up had done so.

“You know, if you’d opened your mouth just once, someone would’ve stayed to help clean up all along. You aren’t usually this quiet about complaining.”

Game nights at Chimney’s place had been a tradition for many years now. It had first started with just Sal and Tommy somewhere around the time Gerrard had been convicted. Then it had evolved, pulling in more and more of the new people who joined the 118 over time.

Chimney just shrugged. “Don’t know. Didn’t feel like so much work before…” He gestured to his head.

Tommy nodded, staring at the scar for a moment. He had seen a lot of horrible injuries friends had suffered, both in the Army and as a firefighter, but Chimney’s accident made him shudder the most. He still couldn’t believe that Chimney had survived being impaled through the head.

Tommy had seen the plans Hen was making for Chimney’s ‘welcome back’ cake once he returned to the 118 in a few weeks, and he was glad he would be at his own station and not have to see the cake in person. He knew Chimney would get a kick out of it, though.

“How’s your blood drive campaign going?” Tommy asked.

Chimney laughed as he grabbed a garbage bag and started picking up the trash lying around. “It’s going great. Did anyone tell you what a big baby Bobby was about donating blood?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I heard you pressured him into ignoring his phobia without any regard for his comfort, yes.”

“He did fine,” Chimney said with a shrug. “Anyway, turns out he has some kind of special blood that can help treat children with some disorder right after they’re born. There is just one other known guy out there whose blood can help with that.”

“Howie.” Tommy stopped and turned to Chimney, aghast. “That’s private medical information. You shouldn’t go around telling just anyone that!”

Chimney rolled his eyes.

“How’d you know about it anyway?”

“Bobby asked me to come with him when he was asked to come in for an appointment,” Chimney said. “I think he thought there would be some horrible news and didn’t want to be alone. And somehow, because I had been the one to make him donate blood, he asked me to be there with him.”

Tommy exhaled slowly. “Yeah. I’d be worried if I was asked to come in after donating blood, too.”

“Yeah.” Chimney huffed. “Would’ve sucked if I had been the reason for him to learn he had cancer or something like that. On the other hand, knowing means you can get treated, right? But anyway, it wasn’t anything horrible.”

“Except, of course, if you consider Bobby’s needle phobia he’ll now feel forced to overcome,” Tommy said. “He is the kind of guy who’ll feel responsible for donating as often as he can if his blood is that special.”

Chimney nodded, and for a moment it looked as if he wanted to say something else, but then he just turned around and continued picking up empty bottles and used paper plates.

“It’s great that we are back to having game nights,” Tommy said as the silence grew uncomfortable. “This has clearly been a lesson that you can’t get hurt like that again, Chim. And you can’t brag about not having any scars anymore.”

“My scar is much superior to anyone else’s scar,” Chimney said, chin raised high. He nearly ruined the image with how hard he was trying to hold back his laughter. “And I have the best story behind it.”

“Sure,” Tommy said. “If that’s what you need to believe to feel better.”

“You know what the worst part of being away from the station for this long is?” Chimney asked.

Tommy snorted. “Being cut off from all the gossip?”

“Yes!” Chimney shouted. “You know that our probie is being stalked by some crazy women he ghosted? I was there for the first one showing up, but there was another one at the station since, and I’m missing out on all the fun!”

Tommy frowned. “It’s not much fun.”

Chimney turned to look at him with a frown. “And what do you know about it?”

Tommy shrugged. “Only what I’ve heard. Though, what I’ve heard isn’t that he ghosted anyone but that someone online is pretending to be Evan.”

Chimney huffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course Buck’s saying that. Can’t very well admit he doesn’t have as much game as he pretended to and even failed to seduce some gullible women online. I bet when he took out the ladder truck twice and said he got laid, he was lying about that, too.”

Tommy frowned. He didn’t know where that vitriol had come from, but he wasn’t very interested in hearing it. He hadn’t been very interested in hearing about it the first time he had talked about Evan with Chimney, but now he had to forcibly hold himself back from defending Evan. It would only make Chimney question his interest in Evan, and the last thing Tommy wanted to do was to talk with Chimney about his dating life — even when it wasn’t abundantly clear that Chimney had so little regard for the man Tommy was dating.

“You don’t think much of him,” Tommy said.

Chimney laughed. “You wouldn’t either if you knew him through more than just meeting him at Hen’s party. Buck might have the looks of a B movie star and try to play on that with women, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he doesn’t actually know how to deliver on that. He pretended to be this huge playboy picking up a new girl every day, but that clearly was a lie. Do you know he fucked his therapist so he wouldn’t be benched after his first loss on the job? And then he turned around and accused her of some wrongdoing, and now that poor woman is facing some bullshit investigation.”

Tommy frowned “How’d you know that?”

“Sal went snooping a little,” Chimney said, still laughing. “He heard Buck had met Turner at HQ. I mean, good riddance that that guy is finally gone, but it happening after all these years was a little strange right?”

Tommy shrugged. He’d need to call Sal and rip him a new one for spreading that kind of rumor. Sal really should know better.

“So, turns out Turner was only booted because Buck made some kind of big fuss about the guy rightfully pointing out he’d have hardly gotten it up if he hadn’t wanted to fuck the therapist,” Chimney continued, and Tommy bit his tongue.

“Stop it,” he still snapped. “There is nothing funny about that situation, Chim. Last I heard, that woman blackmailed a dozen men for sexual favors by threatening their jobs. Men who went to her to have a safe place to deal with trauma they experienced on the job.”

Chimney grinned. “I wish I’d have been sent to her! Sounds a hell of a lot better than having to talk about all that bullshit.”

“It’s not a joke, Howie,” Tommy said darkly.

“Wow,” Chimney looked at him confused. “What bug crawled up your ass?”

“You making jokes about someone getting sexually assaulted,” Tommy said through gritted teeth. “You shouldn’t even know about it in the first place. They’re trying to keep this investigation very quiet for the moment. The last thing any of those men need is you and Sal going around and gossiping about it with anyone who’ll listen.”

Chimney rolled his eyes. “Who’d have thought you’d be so sensitive about a little joke.”

“It’s not a joke,” Tommy repeated harshly. “And the fact that you think so is disgusting.”

Chimney raised his hands. “Okay, we’ll just stop talking about it, yeah?”

Tommy was seething with anger. Right now, he just wanted to leave because he couldn’t bear even looking at Chimney, but the guilt about his promise to help clean up made him stay.

After a moment of silence, Chimney asked, “So, you really think Buck isn’t leading those poor women on himself, that someone else is using his name?”

Tommy didn’t know why Chimney tried to use that topic to move on from the argument about Dr. Wells. Evan’s struggle with his identity being stolen couldn’t be the most exciting gossip at the LAFD and, at least for Tommy, it was just as sensitive of a topic. Of course, Chimney couldn’t know that.

“Why are you so interested?” Tommy asked.

“Because I’m missing all the fun!” Chimney repeated, chuckling. “Johnson said the second woman who showed at the station was throwing rocks and nearly got arrested by Athena. And Buck apparently admitted there was another one between those two incidents at the 118.”

Tommy rubbed his hand over his face and shook his head. “I really don’t understand your sense of humor, Howie. I think you need to get your priorities straight.”

There had been jokes Chimney, Sal and a couple of others at the old 118 had regularly shared that Tommy had never found funny at all. He had been the butt of some jokes even before anyone had known he was gay, but at least at the time, he had known that everyone had been targeted with those ‘jokes’ regularly. He had thought in the years after Hen had joined that everyone had moved past those kinds of jokes at the expense of others, but clearly, he had been mistaken.

Chimney laughed. “Oh come on! Someone is doing all the boring legwork for Buck, and he doesn’t even appreciate that? I mean, if it’s true it’s not Buck himself doing all that and not him lying about it because it got him in trouble with HR.”

“In trouble with HR?” Tommy asked, narrowing his gaze.

“Yeah, Johnson said Buck was called to HR about a complaint. That he was somehow using his position as a firefighter to trick women or something.” Chimney shrugged.

Tommy watched Chimney carefully. He knew for a fact that Johnson knew nothing about that, that Evan hadn’t talked about that at all at the 118. Bobby knew, but they only talked about it at Bobby’s place where no one could’ve overheard. And Johnson wasn’t the kind of guy who had contacts at headquarters, so Tommy thought it very unlikely he would have heard it from the few people who knew about it there.

“Really?” Tommy asked, trying to sound curious instead of suspicious.

Chimney laughed. “Oh, so now you’re interested in gossip, huh?”

“That kind of complaint can ruin careers,” Tommy said.

“Buck should’ve thought about that before using his job to lure in those women,” Chimney said. “HR seems to be worried about him either trying to cheat them out of their money or luring them into dangerous situations. I hear he was going on and on in those messages he exchanged with them about his so-called heroics on the job.”

Tommy felt nauseous at the level of detail Chimney knew concerning the complaint HR had received. “As if you don’t do the exact same thing when you pick up someone at a badge and ladder bar.”

Chimney laughed. “Yeah, true. But those chicks are there for exactly those types of stories as part of the foreplay. They dig it! But these women online are all looking for the real deal, right? Otherwise, they’d be on dating apps instead of MySpace of all places.”

Tommy hummed. Something about Chimney knowing all those details seemed off to him.

Chimney shook his head, grinning. “Really, they are all looking for true love and this big, romantic love story online as if that’s the place to find it. Every single one of them is so gullible.”

Tommy swallowed against a sudden lump in his throat. Suddenly, he was overcome with an awful suspicion, but he didn’t dare to outright confront Chimney with it. The whole situation was already so volatile for Evan, accusing Chimney of being the one who had stolen his identity could backfire so spectacularly even if it turned out to be true in the end.

“Sounds like you know a lot about chatting up women online,” Tommy said.

Chimney chuckled. “Nah, I prefer to pick them up at bars. To see if they are what their profile pics promised, right? I gave up on online dating years ago. But the women you find there don’t change. Including the tendency to get really angry when they’re stood up. You should’ve seen Buck’s face when that woman slapped him. It was gold!”

Tommy decided not to comment on that at all. Instead, he changed the topic by asking about Chimney’s classes, and Chimney thankfully accepted that without any kind of protest. It was difficult to keep his thoughts to himself for the next half hour until Chimney’s apartment was back in an acceptable state.

Tommy declined Chimney’s invitation for another beer and felt as if he was fleeing from his friend’s apartment. He felt utterly disappointed in Chimney, but there was also a little voice in the back of his mind telling him that he had to be mistaken. There had to be another explanation — Tommy just had to find it.

When he started the car, Tommy turned in the direction of the Wilsons’ house. It was late and they would probably curse him out, but Tommy had no idea who to talk to about this other than Karen and Hen. No one knew Chimney better than Hen, so she would surely be a voice of reason.

***

“You’re crazy!” Hen hissed agitatedly and glared at Tommy.

Tommy dragged both hands through his hair, pressing his nails painfully against his scalp. “That’s what I’d like to think, too! But … you should have heard him, Hen!”

Hen shook her head. “No. Chimney wouldn’t do that!”

Karen put a hand on her wife’s arm. “And Tommy wouldn’t just pull such an accusation out of thin air for no reason at all, Hen.”

Hen blinked. “No, I know. But…” She looked at Tommy and bit her lip. “You have to have misunderstood him!”

“Or maybe he got all that information from somewhere,” Tommy said. That was what he was still hoping, even though he didn’t know yet where Chimney could’ve learned the things he had been talking about. He had been so angry at Chimney about his comments about Dr. Wells when the conversation had started, and on his drive over to Hen and Karen Tommy had started to wonder if that had somehow influenced his perception of everything after that.

“And managed to lie about his source?” Karen asked. “Chimney?”

“He can be a pretty good liar,” Tommy pointed out. “Tatiana’s not the first relationship that blew up in his face because of that.”

“Point,” Karen agreed with a sigh.

Hen waved her hand in front of her face. “Okay, start from the beginning. I promise to try to listen more carefully this time! What set you off about your conversation with Chimney?”

“His interest in it in the first place,” Tommy said. “I can understand Chimney feeling he’s missing out on what’s going on at the 118 and maybe talking about those two women showing up. But why talk about it so much? And with someone he has to believe could barely know anything? The things I know, I’m only aware of because Evan’s my boyfriend. Which Chimney has no idea about.”

Tommy was sure none of the conversations tonight would’ve taken place if Chimney knew about Tommy dating Evan. Chimney might often be callous, but he still had some tact.

“He was there for the first one,” Hen said. “Found the whole thing pretty funny, too. He was right there with Johnson teasing Buck about it.”

“I’d rather call it making fun of Evan instead of teasing him,” Tommy muttered darkly. “Teasing implies some kind of good nature behind it, and I don’t think there is anything good natured in laughing about a friend who just got slapped in the face!”

Hen winced. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

“The thing is, Chimney didn’t ask about the scene either of those women had made. He asked if I really thought Evan wasn’t the one behind that MySpace profile,” Tommy said. “And he knew it was MySpace. Evan said everyone but you, Tanika, and Bobby were already downstairs when he had that conversation with Athena and Miss Porter.”

Hen sighed. “Yes.”

“So, there is no way anyone could have overheard the conversation from the loft,” Tommy said. “And I don’t think any of you three went around gossiping about that shit.”

Hen nodded.

“So, Johnson probably doesn’t know about MySpace,” Tommy concluded. “That means Chimney had to get that information somewhere else. Despite claiming Johnson told him everything.”

Hen massaged the bridge of her nose with two fingers. “There is a whole police investigation going on about it. And an investigation at the LAFD. There are probably any number of officers and people at headquarters who know those details by now.”

“And how many contacts does Chimney have there?” Karen asked quietly.

Hen made a face. “Not many.”

“He might have picked up a woman who was stood up by the catfisher,” Karen suggested. “He’s been going out and picking up a lot of women lately, right?”

“Why didn’t he talk about that, then?” Tommy asked. “We all know Chimney likes to brag about his conquests. And with the way he’s been very clear about not liking Evan much, I can’t see how he wouldn’t brag about picking up a woman who was ostensibly waiting for Evan.”

Hen groaned and lowered her head. “He would. He’d go up to Buck and ask him about the hookup he forgot the night before, and then share all the details about how he picked up Buck’s slack.”

Karen frowned. “Really?”

“Happened to Sal once,” Tommy said. “Though, Sal was supposed to meet a woman and then got stuck helping in a multi-vehicle accident that happened right in front of him. I think Chimney spent a whole month telling Sal all about what he’d missed out on. He dated that woman for a couple of weeks, so he had a new story every other shift or so.”

Back then it had been kind of hilarious, especially since Sal had been really put out about it. But the situation now was very different from the one in the past.

Karen huffed. “I guess I’m glad I don’t get every detail of your station’s gossip after all.”

Tommy sighed. “Though, there might still be some truth to that idea. If he is the one pretending to be Evan online, then he might still pick those women up when they think they’ve been stood up. He did mention something about not doing online dating anymore because he can’t be sure the women will be what they advertise on their profiles.”

Hen huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I still think this is all bullshit and that you misunderstood something.”

“What tipped you off first?” Karen asked, watching Tommy carefully.

“He knew something that I’m sure only five people know about outside of the team at HR looking into it,” Tommy said. “And those people are Evan, Bobby, Detective Romero, me, and the person who filed the report.”

Hen frowned. “Report?”

“HR received an anonymous report about this situation insinuating Evan was misusing his position as a firefighter,” Tommy said. “Chimney knew some details about that complaint that made me stop and wonder.”

Hen shook her head. “No. Just no. Chimney wouldn’t do that.”

“What if he’s picked up more than one of these catfished women?” Karen asked thoughtfully. “He started to see the pattern, and instead of talking to Buck he decided to be petty and went right to HR. But now he’s worried that he did the wrong thing there.”

Tommy paused. Chimney had been awfully worried when he had asked if he really believed someone else was pretending to be Evan. Karen’s explanation made so much more sense than the conclusion Tommy had come to in his shock about Chimney knowing anything about it.

“That would make sense,” Hen agreed. “And he wouldn’t just admit that he might have dropped the ball by going right to HR instead of to Bobby first, or something.”

Tommy nodded. “Howie would never freely admit making a mistake like that. And, I mean, looking at it from his possible perspective, I can see how going to HR might seem like the right choice.”

Hen sighed, looking just as relieved as Tommy felt. She nodded slowly. “Chimney was there when the first woman showed up in the middle of our shift. Maybe that’s what set off his worry after picking up someone who had the same story. He might have felt he couldn’t go to Bobby or me after that. Because Chimney clearly didn’t believe Buck, but Bobby and I did.”

Karen sighed and leaned back in her chair. “So, either Chimney might have a piece of the puzzle needed to solve this problem for Buck because he knows at least one of the victims of the catfisher. Or he might be the actual catfisher.”

“He is not!” Hen snapped.

Karen didn’t react at all to that. “No matter which it is, Chimney won’t just admit anything. If he made that report to HR and is now worried it was a false alarm, he wouldn’t feel comfortable admitting it. So, how do we get him to admit it?”

Tommy and Hen shared a look. He wasn’t quite as convinced that Karen’s suggestion about Chimney making the report to HR out of misguided worry was all there was to it, even though he desperately wanted to believe that. Tommy dreaded a little finding out what was really going on but, in the end, finding out the truth for Evan was much more important than anything else in his mind.

“Maybe Chimney hasn’t bragged about picking up a woman waiting to meet Buck because he hasn’t really spent much time with Buck lately,” Hen said finally. “If we put them together alone Chimney might say something more about all of that.”

Tommy made a face. “I don’t like that.”

“It’s something to talk about with Buck at least,” Karen said. “I mean, we should tell him about this anyway.”

Tommy nodded. He fully agreed with that. He felt the last thing Evan needed was to be kept in the dark about any new information. But he had witnessed twice now how harsh Chimney could be about his opinion concerning Evan, and he hated possibly subjecting Evan to that directly.

Karen turned to look at her wife. “So, are you suggesting we set up a meeting between Buck and Chimney and listen in on it? Because I’m pretty sure Chimney will deny anything only Buck hears if he feels it puts him in a bad light.”

“I hate this,” Hen muttered. “But yes. I know for a fact Chimney won’t talk with me about this if he feels guilty about going to HR instead of talking to me in the first place. He is too stubborn to own up to that kind of mistake.”

“And if he’d be honest with me about it, he’d have done so earlier tonight,” Tommy said.

Karen nodded. “Then we’re going to have to talk with Buck about this tomorrow and make a plan.”

 

Chapter 12

Buck stared moodily at the clipboard in his hands, unable to concentrate on a single item listed on the sheet. He was supposed to be taking inventory of their medical supplies while everyone else was out on a call and he was man behind. Instead, he stared at the list uncomprehendingly and waited for Chimney to show up.

Because somehow Tommy had gotten it into his head that Chimney of all people had something to do with the whole fake online profile. Buck didn’t believe it for a moment, and he was glad that Hen had argued on his side the whole time.

Buck might not get along well with Chimney, and that had always gone both ways, but clashing personalities were far and away from pulling the kind of stunt Tommy suspected here. Buck really didn’t want to believe any of it and was still convinced the DA’s office would eventually call to tell him that Dr. Wells had indeed set all of this up to damage Buck’s credibility as a witness against her. That made way more sense than Chimney doing it for some stupid reason.

Tommy was clearly torn about his idea, but also convinced they needed to find out more from Chimney. Buck knew Tommy and Chimney had been friends for a long time, and it was pretty clear that even the suspicion alone was painful for Tommy, let alone having to explain it to other people. So, Buck had agreed to lure Chimney into a conversation, ostensibly just between the two of them, to hopefully find out how he knew so much about what was going on with Buck being impersonated online.

Somehow, Bobby had managed to have their shift called out shortly before lunch. Buck had already made a mental note to ask about that in detail later on. Now he was pretending to be alone while Karen, Athena, and Tommy — who had somehow managed to join the 118 for this shift — were hanging out hidden somewhere near enough to the supply closet Buck was stationed at so they could hear any kind of conversation when Chimney showed up to have lunch with them. Buck wasn’t quite sure how they would manage to get up to the loft once he had stalled as long as he could standing in front of the supplies without actually doing anything.

“Who dared to give you a clipboard, Buck?”

Buck nearly flinched at Chimney’s laughing voice. Chimney had been explicitly invited to join them for lunch today, but somehow Buck had still expected he wouldn’t show up. He knew it was a stupid thought, but somehow he had wondered if Chimney wouldn’t just immediately realize that this whole setup was a trap for him.

“Hen,” Buck answered with a deep sigh. “I don’t know what I did to her to be punished with having to take inventory while everyone else is out at a multi-vehicle crash. I’m not sure how long you’ll have to wait to get that lunch Bobby promised you.”

Chimney chuckled. “Not that I have much to do besides wait around at the moment.”

Buck frowned. “I thought you’re preparing to requalify. And I heard teaching requires preparing lessons from a teacher I dated once.”

“All true,” Chimney huffed. “But I can only do so much PT every day before my physical therapist gets angry at me. And teaching the whole course a second time means most of the lessons are already prepped and only need a little tweaking here and there. So, I don’t really have much to do.”

“How much longer until you can come back?” Buck asked, honestly curious.

“Five weeks,” Chimney groaned and sat down on the bench nearest to the supply closet. “Feels like the longest five weeks of my life!”

“You’ll get through it,” Buck said with a grin. “You already did the hardest part of that work, Chim. Five weeks is nothing compared to the past few months.”

“When did the rest roll out?” Chimney asked.

Buck shrugged. “Half an hour ago, or so.”

Chimney hummed. “And what did you do to be man behind?”

Buck threw his arms in the air and groaned. “I have no idea! Hey! Now that you’re here, you could help me with the inventory!”

Chimney laughed and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “No way. I already hate that shit when I’m actually getting paid for it. I’m here to enjoy Bobby’s cooking and catch up with you guys. I’m not gonna do your work, Probie!”

Buck sighed and turned back to the closet with hanging shoulders. “Fine. I’ll just die in misery here alone then.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Chimney laughed. “Though, I hear there is a lot of drama going on for you right now!”

Buck bit his lip, glad his back was turned to Chimney so he didn’t have to hide his reactions. He had hoped Chimney just wouldn’t bring that up at all. He might have joked with Johnson about the whole situation when the first woman had shown up, but somehow Buck had expected Chimney’s reaction to shift and mirror Hen’s once it was clear there was more going on.

“How many have shown up to complain about you ghosting them now?” Chimney asked, chuckling. “I heard from Johnson that one was throwing rocks at the bay doors last week.”

“The count is up to five now,” Buck said darkly. “It’s really not funny anymore.”

Chimney laughed. “I think it’s pretty funny. I mean, someone needs to profit from your B movie star looks. Just because you lost your game when you started mooning over that dispatcher only to be dumped doesn’t mean the groupies don’t still notice you.”

Buck frowned and turned his head to look at Chimney. “What?”

Chimney shrugged and grinned.

“Do you know anything about this?” Buck asked outright.

Chimney rolled his eyes. “Why would I? I just think it’s funny. Someone is doing all the boring legwork making those girls fall for you, and you don’t even get to pick them up.”

“Getting to know someone you want to date is boring legwork?” Buck asked, rolling his eyes. “You know, I think that might have been the biggest problem with you and Tatiana. Neither of you bothered to get to know the other. I mean, you didn’t even bother to really show her who you were, right?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Chimney snapped.

Buck shrugged. “True, I only heard your side of that whole clusterfuck you called a relationship. Who knows how truthful you were about any of that with us.”

“You’re one to talk,” Chimney said through gritted teeth. “You’ve never had any kind of serious relationship to begin with.”

Buck laughed. “What, because I didn’t share any stories about that with you? I’ve had plenty of serious relationships in the past, even if they didn’t last.” Most of the time they had known it wouldn’t last from the very beginning because Buck had been driven to keep traveling. But that hadn’t made those relationships any less real or important. “I’ve recently been seeing someone very seriously.”

Chimney laughed. “Sure. Did she run away as soon as other women started following you around like lost ducklings?”

“He didn’t run away,” Buck said. He had feared as much several times, especially when the second woman had interrupted their breakfast date, but Tommy was a steady pillar of support at his side, and Buck was slowly learning to trust that he wouldn’t just vanish at the next sign of trouble. “He’s been very supportive and trying to help me figure out what’s going on.”

“He?” Chimney asked surprised. “You hid you were gay from us, really? So, all those stories about picking up girls were really nothing but lies?”

“It’s called bisexual,” Buck said. “And there was really no reason to sit everyone down and announce my sexuality to them, Chimney.” He wasn’t about to share with Chimney that he hadn’t known there was anything to share until recently.

Chimney huffed. “Don’t know, feels pretty disingenuous of you.”

“Oh yeah? Do you have anything to share about your sexual preferences?”

“I’m very happy with women,” Chimney said smugly. “Go to any badge and ladder bar and there’ll be a handful just ripe for the picking.” He chuckled and added under his breath just loud enough for Buck to hear, “Especially those who think they’ve been stood up.”

“You picking up a lot of those?” Buck asked, pulling a face. He really, truly couldn’t understand why Chimney would want to sleep with someone who so obviously was only using him as a distraction.

“There have been a lot of them hanging around in bars waiting for someone who never shows recently,” Chimney said, sounding too smug about it for Buck’s liking. “Really, you should try it when that guy gets bored and dumps you.”

“No, thank you,” Buck said. “I prefer people who actually want me, not just a distraction or a front I’m forcefully putting up for them.”

Chimney huffed. “You really need someone to knock that arrogance out of you.”

Buck shifted uncomfortably. “You mean like someone pretending to be me and sending some pretty unhinged women after me after stringing them along online for weeks?”

Chimney just grinned, but didn’t say anything.

“Or do you mean reporting me to HR for something I haven’t done?”

Chimney chuckled. “I think that was a pretty great idea. I mean, come on, they’ll drop it eventually.”

“So, you filed that complaint?” Buck asked incredulously.

“Don’t look so angry, Buck,” Chimney said, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I didn’t expect Lara to show up here and confront you. Though, it was great that she did while I was here.”

Buck froze, his breath caught in his throat. He had nearly had his first fight with Tommy because he hadn’t believed him, and now he felt like he had been punched in the gut.

Chimney didn’t notice anything and continued, “I know those chicks looking for their ‘one true love’ online are all a little crazy, but that was something else. Pretty funny, though, especially your face.”

“How long did you talk with Lara online?” Buck asked. His voice was shaking, and he knew he wasn’t projecting as much calm as he tried, but Chimney didn’t seem to care.

Chimney shrugged. “A few weeks. Some of them just expect something deep really fast.”

Buck took a deep breath to calm himself, curling his fingers tighter around the clipboard. “When did you start? How many have you talked to?”

“As if I’d keep track! Come on, Buck!” Chimney chuckled. “I was so fucking bored in the hospital. It was just a little bit of fun. I really don’t care for that whole ‘getting-to-know-you’ bullshit usually, but stringing these women along turned out to be really fun. It really was the best cure for boredom I could’ve found!”

Buck wet his lip and watched Chimney, who didn’t seem to have a single worry in the world. Buck was startled by how easily Chimney was admitting it, but maybe he really believed none of this was any kind of big deal. He’d have a rough wake-up call soon if that was the case.

“Why me?” Buck asked quietly, feeling heartbroken at the betrayal Chimney was so blithely unconcerned by. “You could’ve just created any kind of firefighter who doesn’t exist.”

“But you were on the news,” Chimney said. “That meant there were already plenty of women out there who’d fall over themselves to have a chance to get to know you! Come on, Buck. You did exactly the same on your dating apps.”

“I didn’t,” Buck said through gritted teeth. “I never lied to a single person I was intimate with. I feel so disgusted that you used my name and my picture to lead women on. How many of them did you pick up at bars after you made them believe I had stood them up?”

Chimney shrugged. “I already told you, I didn’t keep track. I tried to set one up whenever I had plans to be out at a bar. Don’t be such a sour loser just because I got some of the action you’ve been hoarding for yourself ever since you came on the job.”

Buck stared. He didn’t understand what Chimney was talking about, and he had no interest in even trying to understand it. “You know both the police and the LAFD are separately looking into who’s stolen my identity, right?”

Chimney rolled his eyes. “No one has stolen anything, Buck, don’t be so melodramatic. The whole thing will blow over, and in a couple of months all that will remain is a running gag on shift about your pretty face getting you in trouble with all the women who can’t have you.”

“It won’t be that easy, Chimney,” Athena said from somewhere to the side.

Buck watched Chimney pale and then turn red in anger. Buck turned on his heels and stalked off before Chimney said anything, ignoring the shouting that followed him as he rushed up the stairs to hide from whatever confrontation everyone else would have with Chimney now. He didn’t want or need to hear any of Chimney’s excuses or attempts to explain anything.

He also didn’t want to hear the demands that would surely follow about Buck putting in a good word with the investigators for Chimney. Buck had already decided hours ago he wouldn’t do that if Tommy’s suspicions turn out to be true.

Buck sank onto one of the couches, feeling numb and exhausted.

“Hey.” Karen sat down beside Buck, her shoulder pressing against his.

“What did I ever do to him?” Buck asked, staring at his hands with a deep frown.

Karen sighed. “Nothing. He’s always had his own hang-ups, but none of that has anything to do with you.”

“I mean he clearly has some problem with me,” Buck murmured. “He was so nonchalant about something that could’ve very well cost me my job. If they’d all thought I was lying about not knowing those women. If Bobby and the rest hadn’t supported me when HR got that complaint, I might be sitting home suspended right now. That complaint included some pretty harsh and ugly accusations, and Chim just thinks it would’ve blown over, really?”

Karen shrugged and put her arm around Buck’s shoulders. “I have no idea what to tell you. I don’t understand it either. I don’t know how he can be so unconcerned about any of it.”

Buck leaned into the hug silently. He didn’t expect her to have any answers. He wasn’t even sure if Chimney would have any answers to Buck’s questions, and he wasn’t going to try to find out either. Chimney was still shouting downstairs, but nothing he said was discernable up here.

Buck was grateful that Karen just kept sitting with him in silence. Somehow that steady, silent comfort was exactly what he needed. Bobby came back alone a little while later, and the shouting downstairs got a little louder for a while. Then everything fell silent and, shortly after that, Tommy sat down on his other side.

“I’m sorry,” Buck whispered.

Tommy inhaled sharply and kissed Buck’s temple. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I didn’t believe you,” Buck murmured. “I didn’t want to believe you.”

“I didn’t want to believe me either,” Tommy admitted quietly. “I tried very, very hard to find any other kind of explanation for Chimney’s knowledge other than him being the catfisher. But I also couldn’t ignore it. Chimney has pulled some bullshit in the past, but this … I don’t know how he ever thought this might be a good idea.”

Buck turned away from Karen’s hug and leaned against Tommy. It was no relief at all to know that he wasn’t the only one hurt and heartbroken over Chimney’s behavior.

***

Tommy pulled Evan a little tighter against his chest and curled his fingers into the shirt where his hand rested on Evan’s stomach. Hen and Karen were sitting on the opposite couch in their living room, Hen leaning into Karen’s hug looking lost and sad.

Nearly a week had gone by since Chimney had admitted with barely any prodding that he had been using Buck’s name and picture to catfish women since January. It still felt surreal, and the disappointment felt like a deep thorn right in the middle of his chest. Tommy knew that it had to feel so much worse for Hen.

“They’re going to be pretty lenient with Chimney,” Hen reported quietly. “He doesn’t realize that, of course, and is pretty angry at the moment. I just hope he’ll come around.”

“Do you know anything about the results of the psych eval the LAFD demanded he go through?” Evan asked.

They hadn’t heard much about what was going on with Chimney, but Evan and Tommy had been at headquarters for another appointment to answer some more questions. They had been told then that there was some speculation that Chimney’s brain injury might be at least partly responsible for his behavior.

Hen shrugged. “Not yet. It will be a more lengthy process to monitor him for any change there. I don’t know what to think about any of it right now. I didn’t notice any kind of change in his behavior. But I wasn’t exactly paying much attention, was I?”

“We’ve had a lot of our own things going on,” Karen said and rubbed her hand over Hen’s back.

Hen shrugged.

“So, they aren’t going to fire him,” Evan said.

“No,” Hen sighed. “Between what he went through with Gerrard and his recent injury, the LAFD is treating the situation very carefully. He’s suspended for eight weeks. Then they’ll put him on some desk and give him a job where he won’t have any influence on other people’s jobs. He is a really good paramedic, so they’ve made it clear the end goal is to get him back on active duty eventually. But there has been no mention of a timeline for that.”

“I expect they’ll put him through a very extensive psychological evaluation,” Tommy said softly. “Probably more than once if there is any hint that his brain injury caused ongoing changes.”

Hen nodded. “Yeah, exactly that. And the two times I talked with Chimney over the past few days he was bitching up a storm about it. But no matter what happens, he won’t come back to the 118.”

“He probably hates that,” Evan whispered.

“He does,” Karen agreed. “But none of this is your fault, Buck. Don’t take on any guilt for what Chimney has done. Injury or not, he decided to do these things and escalate them eventually. He’ll have to bear the consequences of that decision now.”

“If he lets me, I’ll try to help him as much as I can,” Hen said and eyed Buck warily.

“It’s good that he has such a great friend in you,” Evan said. “I really hope he gets whatever help he needs and that this hasn’t completely ruined his career.”

“I’m so angry at him,” Tommy said. “Even ignoring that I’m personally invested in the target he chose, I just can’t and don’t want to understand why he did this. Or how he can try to play it off as a joke.”

Hen made a face. “He told me to tell you that he doesn’t want to see you, Tommy. Somehow he learned that you and Buck are dating, and I think right now he sees that as a personal betrayal. I’m very careful myself not to tell him anything about my friendship with you, Buck.”

“Why, though?” Evan asked.

That had been a question that had come up repeatedly, and no one had an answer for it. Tommy had never seen Chimney fixate so much on his dislike of anyone, not even the guys who had been all too happy with Gerrard’s style of leadership and had left the 118 soon after Gerrard had been fired. The only explanation he could see was the brain injury, and if that was the case Chimney might just never overcome this.

“Maybe someday I’ll get an answer from him,” Hen said. “Right now, I think he has a long road of recovery in front of him. But he can’t see that yet, so it will be an uphill battle for some time.”

“We’ll support Chimney with whatever he needs whatever way we can,” Karen said. “And we’ll keep you two up to date as much as you want.”

“While pretending with Chimney that you aren’t our friends?” Evan asked skeptically.

Karen shrugged. “Chimney can’t dictate who we can and can’t be friends with. Not talking about you with him doesn’t mean we will pretend we aren’t your friends. It just means we won’t rub his face in it.”

“That sounds like a sensible plan,” Tommy said. “Though, if you want to have him over for any kind of party or event, at least for the time being, it will probably be better if you don’t invite also Evan and me.”

Hen made a face. “Yeah. We’ll figure out how to deal with it. For now, I wouldn’t want to invite Chimney to anything anyway. He is so angry all the time, he isn’t really fit for company. I’ve already told him he won’t see Denny as long as he can’t get a grip on his anger. And that’s at least something that got through to him and made him pause.”

“Good,” Tommy said.

Chimney was an important person in Denny’s life, one who had always had a special role. Tommy understood Hen and Karen’s worry for their son, and it was a relief to know that Chimney wanted to hold onto the relationship he had there no matter what else was going on in his head right now.

Evan fisted his hand where it was lying on Tommy’s thigh. “So, this really doesn’t change anything between us?”

“Oh, honey,” Karen said with a soft smile. “Of course not. We still expect you and Bobby to come over regularly to have dinner with us. You’re welcome on those evenings, too, Tommy.”

Tommy chuckled. “I’ll join sometimes.”

“I’m very capable of being friends with different people who can’t stand each other,” Hen said and watched Evan with raised brows. “Don’t get any ideas about falling on your sword for Chimney, either by trying to pull back from our friendship or by trying to leave the 118.”

“The 118 is kind of Chimney’s house, though,” Evan said.

Hen shook her head. “He won’t come back to the 118, even if you choose to change stations because it benefits your career goals. The LAFD will also make sure that you and Chimney will never be put in the same station if Chimney manages to get back to active duty. And at this point, it’s not sure if that’s going to happen.”

Evan ducked his head. “I’ll remember that.”

“Good. Bobby will remind you, too, if you ever get any strange ideas,” Hen said.

Evan chuckled. “Duly noted.”

Tommy sighed. “If Howie ever changes his mind about seeing me, please let me know. Right now, I’m too angry to talk to him, but maybe one day we’ll be able to salvage something of our friendship.”

It would take some time for him to reach that point, but the thought of letting go of his connection to Chimney completely hurt too much not to hold onto that hope a little longer. Maybe Chimney’s simmering anger would make him never want to talk to Tommy again, but Tommy couldn’t be the one to close that door completely.

“I’ll do that,” Hen promised.

“Thank you,” Tommy said. “And I think we’ve taken up enough of your Sunday now. Evan and I have some other plans for the afternoon.”

Evan huffed, but the smile he sent Tommy was fond. “You won’t believe it, but I was convinced to go to a Lakers game.”

Karen laughed. “The things you do for the people you care about. I’m sure Tommy will find a way to thank you later for enduring that boredom.”

“Or maybe you’ll learn to enjoy watching basketball,” Tommy said.

Evan turned to him with a smile and shining eyes, nearly all the worry of the previous conversation gone from his face. “Maybe I will. Though, I’ll still take any kind of reward you can think of just for giving the game a chance.”

Tommy chuckled and pressed a short kiss against Evan’s lips. “I might have plans for after the game already. Plans I’m sure you’ll enjoy.”

“Oh, really?” Evan whispered with a wide grin.

Tommy hummed. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Hen said, laughing loudly. “Get out of here. That’s really more than I want to know about you two.”

“Or you can go and let me watch them in peace,” Karen teased.

Evan burst into laughter and stood. “Sorry, Karen. I’m not taking on that kind of fight with Hen. I do still have to work with her, and you heard her earlier, that will probably be true for several years since I’m not allowed to leave the 118.”

Karen huffed and waved them off. “Fine. Go enjoy your date and whatever other plans Tommy has.”

Tommy grinned widely as he followed Evan out of the house and to his Jeep. The last few weeks had been a roller coaster, and Tommy knew Evan had expected more than once for Tommy to turn his back on him and their relationship. They were both struggling with different kinds of insecurities, but Tommy hoped that if they had learned anything from the struggles of the past weeks it was to push through those insecurities and rely on each other.

Tommy hadn’t ever been as hopeful for what a new relationship could turn into as he was now. He would savor every moment of getting to know Evan. And maybe for once falling in love would fulfill all the promises the future seemed to hold right at this moment.

 

 

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