Payback: The Men of Firehouse 69 (7 page)

“Oh, you poor child.”
Her mother beamed as she scooped extra meat onto his plate. “You can have an
extra helping, my dear, and I’ll pack you a helping of leftovers to take home.”

“That would be
wonderful. Mr. Brentley, can you pass the green beans?”

Mel glanced down at the
plate near her arm that her father picked up and handed to Brian. It would have
been easier for her to hand it to Andre but he wouldn’t look her direction.

Obviously being with
her at her parents’ house for Christmas made him so uncomfortable that he could
barely stand to be around her, and she felt sick. If only she could excuse
herself like she did as a teenager and hide out until Andre left.

“Can someone pass the
salt?”

The shaker sat in front
of her and she started at it for a second before picking it up. She held it out
and for the first time that day, he met her gaze. His beautiful blue eyes shone
like stars and she lost herself in them.

His fingers touched
hers when he reached for the salt. A spark of desire coursed down her arm and
straight into her heart. She didn’t care anymore that they had fought. Whatever
it was, they could work it out. All that mattered was she wanted to be with
him.

“Well, thank God you
two have gotten over your royal snit.” Ronnie said, having magically appeared
while she was having her private moment with Andre for her whole family to see.
“Now, are you two going to kiss and make up?”

Mel dropped the salt
but Andre caught it with his lightning reflexes. She whirled toward Ronnie.
“Shut up,” Mel hissed. Ronnie raised her eyebrows but said nothing and took her
seat.

Brian frowned. “What
are you talking about, Ronnie?” he asked.

Andre closed his eyes
but opened them to look at her. There was no accusation or anger, only longing
for her. They could lie but she said she didn’t want to lie. Going back now
wasn’t an option. It was only forward now.

Mel licked her lips.
“Andre and I have been seeing each other.”

There was one second of
silence, and then one more. Melanie hoped for it to continue and peace would
reign on this cold but beautiful Christmas day. But her prayers were for naught
because all hell broke loose.

Chapter Seven

Andre sensed the hurt
radiating off Melanie from the moment he stepped into the dining room and he
hated himself for it. He shouldn’t have left during their fight. They should
have agreed to disagree and stayed together for the night.

He hadn’t slept well
when he went home and all he could think about was the argument. He should have
called, but this was a talk he needed to have with her in person, to tell her
that he hoped this would be the first of many Christmases together.

He wanted to corner her
as soon as he got to her parents’ house but they were already seated for
dinner. He could barely stomach talking to Brian, not when all he could think
about was kissing Melanie.

Brian curled his hand
into Andre’s shirt and dragged him away from the table. “Come outside and
explain this to me.”

Mrs. Brentley shrieked.
“Ben! Do something.”

Ronnie and Melanie
stared at them like they were crazy as Andre allowed his friend to drag him out
the back door and onto the grass.

Once they were out in
the backyard, Brian shoved him. Andre immediately rounded on his friend,
keeping up his guard. They had been in a couple fights, but they hadn’t fought
each other since they were very young and Andre couldn’t even remember what
that had been about. Probably something stupid.

This wasn’t a stupid
reason, not in the least. This was over Brian’s sister and Andre couldn’t blame
his friend for wanting to defend her honor. No one knew Andre better than
Brian, especially about the broken hearts they left littered throughout the
years.

“What the hell were you
thinking? Why did you pick Mel? Are you insane?”

Andre groaned and
rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand in an attempt to relieve the
stress. Three days of not enough sleep and the fight with Mel served to be a
perfect breeding ground for a stress headache of epic proportions.

“Your sister is hot.”
Andre winced after he said that. That might have been stupid to say, especially
with how pissed Brian was.

“Wow, I don’t know
whether to say ‘ew’ or to punch you in the face for perving over my sister.”

Andre let out a breath.
“You might as well punch me and get it over with. You’re not going to be happy
until you do.”

“Give me one good
reason I shouldn’t.”

“You’re my closest
friend. We grew up together. I got your bike back from those middle-school guys
when you were ten.”

“I said a good reason,
asshole. That’s my sister you’re messing with.”

Andre thought about it
long and hard. “How about this? You break my face. You’ll feel better and that
will show Mel I was right about you losing your shit over us dating. Then I’ll
do my best puppy dog face and she’ll comfort me but she’ll never talk to you
again.”

Andre grinned when
Brian snarled but he continued on. “But listen, Bri, I get where you’re coming
from so no hard feelings about knocking my lights out. Mel is your sister and
you have to protect her. So punch me and I promise you I’ll still have beers
with you. But she’s watching us from the kitchen, so make sure you aim for my
eye. She can nurse me all night long.”

“You fucking bastard,”
Brian roared and charged at him.

Andre laughed, knowing
his friend needed to let off this steam. If they didn’t fight, the resentment
between them would boil over eventually and if they didn’t resolve this, they
might never speak to each other again.

Brian punched him in
the gut but even though it knocked the wind from Andre, it didn’t hold the same
power he had seen Brian dole out in the past. “Jeez, Bri, are you getting weak
after becoming a prosecutor? Did you quit working out once you left college and
football behind?”

Another punch left
Andre wondering if provoking Brian had been such a great idea. Andre stood
taller than his friend by a couple inches and outweighed him by at least thirty
pounds now that Brian wore a suit and tie instead of a football helmet, but
Brian had anger on his side.

Finally after a few
more knocks, Brian shoved Andre away. Andre coughed, covering his abs and
wincing. “Feel better?”

Brian shrugged. “Not
really.” He pointed at the house. “Where did Mel go?”

Andre looked over his
shoulder at the empty kitchen window. “She’s probably gone to your mom and dad,
flipping out about you punching me.”

Brian huffed. “I doubt
it. We’ve punched each other before and she didn’t care then.”

“Yeah but that was over
stupid shit. This fight is about Mel and she would hate to come between us.”

“Who said anything
about her coming between us? I was just giving you a little taste of what I’ll
do to you if you hurt her.” Brian adjusted his Christmas tie.

“I’ll never hurt her.”

Brian shook his head.
“You can’t know that, man. You can’t know what the future holds. None of us
do.”

“Yeah, but I can do my
best to try to do right by her.”

Brian bowed his head
and sighed. “What happened to us? A couple months ago we were checking out
babes at the sports bar and knocking back beers. Now you’re dating my baby
sister.”

“I guess we’re getting
older. We’re not a couple college studs anymore. And we can still go out to
sports bars if you want. I’ll have a couple beers with you, but you’ll be the
only one looking for company.”

“I’ll be watching you,
buddy. I’ll tell them all you’re a married man.”

Andre froze. Marriage.
He hadn’t really thought about anything that far down the road but the thought
of putting a ring on Mel’s finger didn’t make his knees knock. Sharing a home
with her sounded pretty good actually.

“Oh God. You do have it
bad,” Brian said, frowning. “I can see you thinking about what ring to buy her.
How long have you liked her? You know what, don’t answer that.”

A couple months ago
getting married would have been a fate worse than death. Mel had changed his
life and he wasn’t as scared as he thought he would have been. Andre smiled at
his best friend. “At least I know who to ask to be my best man.”

* * * * *

“What are they saying
out there?”

Ronnie shrugged. “I
don’t know how to read lips.”

“What good are you?”
Mel groused.

“We’re probably making
them nervous,” Ronnie said, dragging Mel away from the window. “Come on, have
another glass of wine. I’m driving you home, since I’m on call.”

Mel obeyed, forcing
herself to sip the wine when she wanted to guzzle it. For over twenty years,
Brian and Andre had built their friendship and one indiscretion was going to
ruin it all.

The French doors off
the family room opened and Brian walked in, his chin tilted up. Andre walked in
behind him and Mel immediately went over to him. She hugged him, although he
shied away slightly from her, wincing from the pain.

She glared at her
brother, who whistled innocently and walked into the kitchen. “Mom, we can go
back to Christmas dinner,” Brian yelled.

After a few seconds,
her mother came walking out to see her and Andre. “So I see you boys haven’t
ruined—Oh!” Her hand flew to her mouth when she entered the family room.

Melanie sighed and let
go of Andre, grabbing for his hand. It was time to face the rest of the family
as her father joined them too.

Her father beamed at
her. “So it’s true. You and Andre are dating.” He held out his hand. “Welcome
to the family, son. You’ve been a part of it for a long time anyway.”

Andre smiled and shook
with her father. “Yes, Mr. Brentley.”

“I guess you’d better
start calling me Ben, although I’ve tried to get you to do that for years.”

Andre frowned. “I’ll
try but it’ll be hard. Listen, we wanted to tell you but it was all so new and
we didn’t want to get your hopes up….” Andre trailed off and looked down at
her. “The fact is I’ve liked Melanie a long time but I never knew she felt the
same way.”

Mel’s knees felt like
rubber and held onto Andre a little tighter to keep standing upright. Tears
pricked her eyes and she licked her lips as she laughed.

“I’m going to throw up—Ow!”
Brian rubbed his side where Ronnie had elbowed him hard.

“You’re not too old to
spank, young man,” her mother warned. “Don’t ruin your sister’s Christmas like
the time you broke her bike.”

Brian grimaced but kept
quiet as her mom sniffled. “You can have my china if you want when you get
married.”

Mel hung her head
before glancing at Brian, knowing it was coming. “Oh God.”

Andre bit his lip but
it still twitched. “I’m really holding back here.”

“You can say it,” she
said, although she narrowed her eyes, which should have told him to proceed at
his own risk.

The words burned in his
mouth and finally they came tumbling out of him. “I told you so.”

Mel glared at him.
“Those are fighting words.”

He tapped her nose with
his finger and grinned as he leaned in to whisper words meant for only her
ears. “It’s fine to fight as long as we can make up later.” He kissed the shell
of her ear, which sent a shiver running through her whole body.

“Yes, we can. I have
your gift at the house. I couldn’t give it to you here. It wouldn’t be
appropriate.” After she whispered that, she pulled back to watch his reaction.

He didn’t disappoint.
First his pupils sprang open and then he licked his lips. “I can’t wait until
we get home. I’m going to spend all night making up with you.” He kissed the
tip of her nose before lowering his lips to hers.

“Oh God, they don’t
even have mistletoe around and they’re already sucking each other’s faces.”

Mel pulled back and
shot her brother a death glare. “Brian, bite me,” she said. “I guess you’ll
just have to learn how to deal with Andre and I being together.”

Andre smiled at her.
“If I didn’t know you better, I would think dating me is payback to Brian for
all those years of pranking you.”

“Wait until we back to
my place and I’ll show you how much it isn’t.”

Epilogue

“Open yours first.”

Mel hesitated for a
second and then grinned. “Okay.” She sat up in bed and ripped off the paper,
revealing a gray felt jewelry box. “Ooh.”

He had felt trite
getting Mel jewelry, especially since she rarely wore it but when she opened it
and her face lit up, he breathed a sigh of relief. “How did you know I wanted
this bracelet?”

He took it out of the
box and put the bracelet on her. It was made of little heart links all the way
around. “You saw it on TV a couple times when I was over here and I could tell
you liked it. You make this cute little noise when you really like something.”