I folded the paper and shoved it in my pocket. “No, ma’am. There won’t be any issues and we appreciate the opportunity to serve the community.” I stood. “Thank you.”
Gritting his teeth, Khi stood as well. “Thank you,” he said. I doubted Julia recognized the irritation in his voice, but I heard it.
We left the station and headed toward Khi’s car.
“Would you rather I walk home?” I asked. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever explosion was brewing.
“Don’t be fucking ridiculous.” Khi waved the folded paper in the air. “Might as well get used to riding together since she just fucked us over.” He growled. “I can’t fucking believe your ass is going to be driving me around. Fuck!”
I gritted my teeth. Not only was the change in shifts going to be an adjustment, riding with Khi was going to be…interesting. The fact that we’d be on the same schedule while sharing a tiny room—both at home and now at the station—was going to be…ugh, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Maybe we should…”
“No. We aren’t doing anything. We’ll go to work, do our jobs, and avoid each other as much as possible. I don’t want to talk about anything, I don’t want to make the best of a bad situation. I’m going for a run and to the gym. When I get back, I’ll eat dinner with the crew and go to bed. I’ll go to work, save some lives between ridiculous call-outs, live up to my five-star reputation, and do it all again the next shift.” Khi tossed a glare my way. “You and I aren’t friends, we’ll never be friends. We may have to be partners, but that’s all it is.”
“You think partners should maybe try to work through issues so it doesn’t affect their performance on the job?” I mean, damn, we were often dealing with life and death, seemed like the amount of animosity between us would possibly set us up for less-than-stellar working conditions.
“No. We’re both good at what we do. We don’t need to hold hands and sing around a campfire. We just do our jobs.”
The words threw me for a loop, I hadn’t ever realized Khi thought I was good at what I did. Honestly, I’d always felt he looked down on me because I was only an EMT and not a paramedic like him.
“We don’t have to be friends to do our jobs well.” Khi whipped his car into park at Remington Place. “Nothing has to change. We’ve never liked each other, we never will. You keep to your side of the room and don’t speak to me, I’ll keep to my side and not speak to you. I doubt either of us plans to live in Bev’s tiny room forever; this is temporary—at least, for me—and now I have even more reason to get my shit together so I can get the fuck out of this situation.” Khi climbed from the car and grabbed his bag before taking angry strides toward the house.
Well, then. Okay.
I took a deep breath and reached for my own bag. By the time I made it to the house and stopped in the kitchen to talk to Aunt Bev, Khi was pounding down the stairs in gym clothes.
“Going for a run,” he told Bev, completely ignoring me.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said. I may not have liked the guy, but I wasn’t going to be rude.
Khi grunted and made for the door.
Bev’s eyes studied the door for a moment before turning my way. “I’d ask how the weekend went, but it appears the answer is fairly obvious.”
I snorted. “The weekend itself was good. Logan had a great birthday party. We met some fun people and had a really good time.”
“How is it you and Khi ended up back here before everyone else?” Bev pursed her lips as she watched me with a gleam in her eye.
My phone buzzed and I glanced at the screen. It was Cruz asking me if we’d made it back okay. I typed out a quick message to let him know we were home.
“I’ll tell you about it after a walk to clear my head, a shower, and some time with my sketchbooks, if that’s okay?”
Bev nodded. “Of course. There are croissants and fruit if you need breakfast. I’ll be here all day.”
A few hours later, I’d finally given up on a walk clearing my head. I contemplated a nap after a quick shower, but knew it would fuck with my sleep that night. I spent a while trying to sketch some designs, but my head was way too messed up.
Khi had come into our bedroom, huffed and rolled his eyes, and left to shower. I had a feeling the two of us just peacefully hanging out in our room—together—was something we wouldn’t be doing a lot of. The idea of never really escaping his dislike—here at home, in the rig, in the tiny station bunk room we’d share—was eating at me and we hadn’t even had our first shift together.
Well, fuck him.
A knock sounded at the door and Cooper popped his head in. “Everything turn out okay with your boss?”
I laughed humorlessly. “Not exactly.”
Cooper made face. “Bev and I were going to have tea, you want to join and tell us about it?”
I glanced toward Khi’s side of the room. “Is Khi around?”
“I think he and Logan are over in the shop.”
My nose wrinkled. “Khi and Logan in the shop? Why?”
Cooper laughed. “I think Logan was trying to distract Khi—he looked antsy and angry. Cruz and Jesse are working on a couple cars so Logan asked Khi to come hang out.” He gestured for me to come with him. “Bev and I figured if Khi was needing a distraction,
