Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(76)

“It’s easier to park at Memphis’ house and walk,” Wyatt said.

“Memphis?”

Wyatt nodded. “His grandmother gave it to him. His daddy left him enough money to buy a house, but he wanted one that was right by the fire station, by everything. None were for sale around here then.”

“What do you mean his dad left him money?” Harley asked.

She felt the mood in the cab of the truck dim instantly.

“He passed; accident on the track.”

“When?”

“Few years back,” Wyatt said just as he stepped out and walked around.

Memphis walked out of his front door on his cell phone and took one look at Harley and said, “Mercy, you could kill a man with those legs,” getting a playful slug from Wyatt, simply because it was clear from his tone that even though he was complimenting Harley, he was only playing around at the same time.

“No, I’m not checking out girls,” Memphis said into his phone. “I was telling Wyatt’s woman that she looked beautiful tonight.” He paused. “Yes, Wyatt has a girl. I told you Station 32 had more than bachelors—” Another pause. “Okay, so Wyatt is only, like, the second one after the chief. Stop trying to change the subject. It sounds like you’re in a lull with work. That means you’re coming home to me, right?”

Wyatt had laced his fingers through Harley’s, held her back from the others as they walked down the sidewalk simply because he felt like he hadn’t had a moment alone with her in two days.

“Is he talking to his girlfriend?” Harley asked, half-amused at the banter that Memphis was enduring.

“Memphis? Ha! In high school, he traveled with his dad too much to keep up with a solid relationship. Now, he works too much. That’s his sister.”

“He has a sister? How did I not know that?” It seemed like every kid within a five-year range had hung out at Willowhaven Farms when they were all growing up.

Wyatt nodded. “Georgia. She stayed with her mother back then, travels a lot now. He calls her every day, they’re tight. Way closer than Ava and me.”

Harley lifted her brow at that. She was pretty sure Wyatt was close with all of his family. “Bachelor fire house, huh?” Harley teased as she squeezed his fingers with hers.

He shook his head, trying to hide a shy smile, the kind of smile that he only gave her when he was trying to hide guilt, meaning he was well aware of how some in this town saw his house.

“Willowhaven had grown so much that there had to be more stations. Most of the guys with families wanted to be on the side of town with all the neighborhoods. When it was shuffled out, almost everyone at Station 32 was young, single. We get taunted about that a lot. It worked out, though. Because of the moves, Memphis was one of the youngest this county has ever promoted. He keeps us in line, runs a tight house. Chief loves him. He thinks because we all grew up together that we had an instant brotherhood, that because of that we will always keep each other safe on and off shift.”

She leaned into him and tried to keep her mind off dark thoughts, the ones that worried about him when he was on shift. Weeks back, she asked him to send her a text when he was going out and coming back in. She told him that was so she wouldn’t call when he was busy, when really she wanted to know just so she could hold her breath a little tighter.

“Is Easton meeting us tonight?” she asked, knowing without a doubt he was part of the brotherhood on and off shift in Wyatt’s life.

“If he does, it will be later on. He’s always a homebody right after a shift.”

Feeling way behind on where everyone was now, she started to ask him about his cousins, their friends she could remember. It was a good thing she did; as soon as they walked in the pub, she heard his and her name hollered from every direction.

After wayward hugs from those she knew, she followed Wyatt and Memphis back to a corner booth. All the while, Harley’s eyes were wide, looking from one flat screen TV to the next, taking in the randomness on the walls, the music in the background, the band that was setting up on stage. Stimulation. Overload.

“You all right?” Wyatt whispered near her ear. The sensation of his warm breath sliding down her neck was only building the excitement she felt pulsing inside of her.

Her entire life, she had either been at functions, school, or barns. That and the random cookouts at the Dorans’. She had never once been in a place like this. She could just feel the energy soaring through the room. Everyone was there because they wanted to be, not because they had to be. None of them was walking as if they might shatter at any moment or damage their dress or make up. They were all in their own world with one goal in mind: to have fun.

“This is… I’ve never been anywhere like this.”

“Not even in school?” Wyatt asked, somewhat surprised. Her mother might have been a tight ass, but her father wasn’t. Wyatt had seen him settle right in at his father’s barn with a long neck in hand. And honestly, what college kid would not make their way to a bar now and again?

“Sheltered,” Harley said so quietly that he barely heard her. And that was the truth. At her all girls high school, she’d heard more than a few friends talk about going out; at college, too. Not being in a place like this before had nothing to do with the class of her family, but how insane her mother was. She kept Harley so close and so pure that you’d swear she was planning for her to run for office one day, either that or be married to someone who would.