Sudden Response (EMS #1)(58)

Minutes later as she struggled to catch her breath he slid out of her and got to his feet. When she could only lay there watching him, he let out a long suffering sigh and reached down and pulled her up onto her feet.

"You might want to get ready. We're going to be late for work," he said, giving her bare bottom a little pat and squeeze before he headed for the door, whistling, she noted.

"I was ready twenty minutes ago," she pointed out, even as she struggled to pull up her panties.

"Uh huh, sure you were," he said, tucking himself back in and zipping up and just like that he was ready for work and she needed to head back to the bathroom to get ready again. Sometimes it really sucked to be a woman, she decided as she stumbled thanks to the pants around her ankles.

********

"Is it true?" Jeff asked the second Eric stepped into the station.

"Is what true?" he asked, noticing that every conversation had stopped and all eyes were on him.

"About you and Joe? Mark's sister claims that she saw the two of you making out at the movies Sunday night," Jeff said, looking a little too interested for his comfort.

After ditching his mother and brother at a chick flick they'd gone to see an action flick and the moment the lights went out his mouth was on hers until some kid with too much acne and a flashlight asked them to leave. Before he could bitch the kid out Joe was dragging him out of the theatre and to his car and demanding that he move his ass. He would have argued with her, but she chose the moment he started driving to reach between his legs and caress his aching erection.

"Yeah, so?" he asked, wondering what the big deal was.

Jeff grinned hugely at that little announcement. He turned to the group of men playing pool. "Pay up," he said, holding his hand out as several men slapped money in his hand.

"I didn't think Joe was that desperate," one of the men grumbled.

"I'm not," Joe said, walking past him. "I lost a bet," she said with a helpless shrug that earned a laugh from the men and admiration from him. He didn't think he could love a woman more than he loved her.

"Is our third rider here yet?" he asked as he stepped behind Joe to punch in.

That quickly ended whatever amusement the men felt. "Yeah, the cocky little bastard is out in the garage hanging out with Teddy," Jeff said.

"Bill really f**ked up when he had him do a third ride with that ass**le," another man grumbled.

"Did he ride along this weekend?" Joe asked as she walked over to the open kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Uh huh," Dan, a firefighter of fifteen years said. "Teddy volunteered to work with him and guess what? The little shit got his first write up for talking shit to a nurse."

"And he's still here?" Eric asked, shocked that he hadn't been given his walking papers then and there. The man wasn't union and Bill usually didn't put up with that type of bullshit.

"Bill tried to give him the boot, but his uncle called in another favor. They're hoping the two of you will get the little shit to mellow the f**k out," Bret, an EMT, said as he walked into the room. "Personally I'd love to bitch slap the little bastard, but Bill already asked me not to do that."

He shared a look with Joe and knew that she was considering killing Bill for forcing them to put up with him. Two weeks they had to put up with him, he thought with a groan as he took Joe's water from her and took a sip before returning it to her. With one look at her face he knew they were both on the same page.

As long as Greg did what he was told, watched his mouth and didn't pull any bullshit they'd deal with him, but the second the little shit stepped out of line he'd yank him back and if that didn't work he'd drop his ass back at the station. He didn't give a flying f**k if the city council had a problem with that. As a trainer that was his right. It was also his right to refuse to sign him off, which he'd already done and wouldn't hesitate to do again. He didn't give a damn who the kid's uncle was. If he wasn't fit to work on a truck then he needed to find another job.

He was fine with giving the kid a second chance. Working on an ambulance was a stressful job and he knew there was nothing out there to prepare a person for what to expect. Greg was a nervous wreck and he could work around that. What he couldn't deal with was too much attitude, which the man apparently had in spades.

Every time Greg f**ked up he got even cockier to hide his nerves and now that he thought his job was protected by his uncle it was only going to get worse. It was the same problem everyone had with Teddy. He didn't belong on a rig, but his training officer, from another station he'd like to add, had let him slide by and signed him off. They'd paired him with a senior EMT who was more than happy to run the show and by the time everyone realized what an ass**le he was it was too late. He'd made it past his probationary period and made it into the union.

That wouldn't be happening with Greg. If the man couldn't get his act together and accept some help with learning this job then he'd be out of here. Let his uncle push him off onto another station because he sure as hell wasn't going to sign the kid off and have some patient's death on his conscience.

Without a word, Joe grabbed a shift checklist and headed for the garage. He followed after her, chuckling as the guys' smart ass remarks followed. They walked over to the pegboard and found the slot for ambulance seventeen's keys empty. Hoping the crew from last night simply left the keys in the truck they walked over to the van style ambulances and found Greg and Teddy leaning against the ambulance, trading bullshit stories about women they'd f**ked.