Sudden Response (25 page)

first write up for talking shit to a nurse."

"A nd 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 fuck 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.

A s 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 fuck if the city council had a problem with that. A s 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 fucked 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 asshole 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 fucked.

He cleared his throat and thankfully they got the message. They sent Joe a look before changing the conversation. Teddy was a

pig, but he knew better than treat any of the females that worked at the station like shit. Every man here would be all over him if

he made any of them uncomfortable, well on purpose anyway. The guy seemed to make everyone uncomfortable.

Joe tried to open the driver's side door, but it was locked. When she groaned in annoyance after peaking through the window he

knew the keys weren't locked inside. Great. They were going to be down a truck until whoever worked the truck last night

hauled their ass back here with the keys or Bill came in and unlocked the backups.

"Guess we have to call dispatch to see if they can track down a set of keys for us," Joe said resignedly, shifting her backpack

over her shoulder.

Greg shook his head as he held up the keys for the ambulance. "There's no need. I got them right here."

"Did you check the truck out?" Joe asked, holding her hand out for the keys, but Greg either didn't see her or ignored her as he

put them back in his pocket.

"That's the crew's job to do at night. It's a waste of time to check it out in the beginning of the shift," he said with a shrug, moving to turn his back on Joe.

"It's part of the job, Greg. We need to check the truck out before we go into service. Hand me the keys, please," she said tightly

and he knew she was just barely reigning in her temper.

He simply shook his head. "The truck's all set," he said dismissively.

Before Joe could take another calming breath he was in the little bastard's face. "She's your training officer. When she asks you

to do something you better fucking do it. I don't give a flying fuck who your uncle is. If you don't pass our standards you will

not be working in this station. Understand?" he asked as he held his hand out for the keys.

Grounding his jaw, Greg reached into his pocket and handed the keys over. He shot a look to Teddy who of course kept his

mouth shut. If he thought that Teddy was going to put himself out for him he was mistaken.

He tossed Joe the keys as he gestured to the ambulance. "Get in there and start checking out the truck."

With a glare in his direction Greg moved his ass and he knew he was going to have to double check everything afterwards. The

man hadn't been here a month and he was already adopting Teddy's work ethic. A s Joe walked past him she muttered a few

unkind words about his ego, but he let it go since he knew she was just pissed off that he had to handle the prick for her.

By the time he bought her breakfast, and apparently since it was his fault that she couldn't grab a bite to eat before they left for

work this morning he was treating, she'd forgive him. He supposed since he loved her that he could spoil her a little.

O'Malley's bakery ran a two for one deal on coffee rolls every Tuesday so he supposed he'd get her one.

"Is it true what I heard about you and Joe?" Teddy asked.

"Depends on what you heard," he said, climbing in the back of the ambulance and double checking the oxygen levels.

"I heard lots of things, but I was referring to you finally manning up and going for it."

"We're together. Is there a problem with that?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Nah, I'm just shocked that Joe became that desperate that's all," Teddy said, sounding amused and he had to wonder how many

times today he was going to hear that.

"I'm not desperate!" Joe yelled from the front of the truck. The admission pleased him until she added, "I was drunk."

"I'm not buying you breakfast for that, smart ass!"

"You really are a cheap bastard," he thought he heard her say, but decided to ignore it and the bastard laughing at him.

Chapter 26

"Let me get that for you, Joe," Greg said, reaching past her to pay the cashier when Eric stepped in front of him, forcing the man

back and making Joe wish that she banged out today.

Their shift only began two hours ago but already she wanted to bitch slap them both. Not a good sign when she still had

fourteen more hours to go before her shift ended. She really wasn't sure she'd be able to tolerate this little pissing contest for

that long.

In Eric's defense, Greg really did seem to be going out of his way to piss him off. It was pretty obvious to her at least that Greg

hadn't appreciated being put in his place and was trying to use her to piss Eric off. Every five minutes he seemed to be hitting

on her, but only when Eric was around. The only thing it was accomplishing was giving her a headache.

She really didn't need this. A ll she wanted to do was work. If he wanted to be trained then she'd do that too, but his attitude

clearly stated that he wasn't here to learn. He was too damn cocky to realize that he didn't have what it took to do this job and

instead of admitting that and asking for help he was too busy pretending that he knew what he was doing.

Eric handed over the money for their order and grabbed the bakery bag and cardboard tray with their drinks and gestured

towards the door.

"Get your food and meet us in the truck," he said, not bothering to look Greg's way as they headed towards the door.

She held the door open for Eric and caught a glimpse of Greg glaring at Eric's back. Yup, this was just getting better and better.

A fter twelve years she really should be used to this testosterone charged environment and for the most part she was. She just

wasn't in the mood for it today.

"A re you okay?" Eric asked as they climbed into the ambulance and shut his door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, forcing a smile as she accepted her hot chocolate and chocolate frosted coffee roll from him. She

took a sip of her hot chocolate before placing it in the cup holder above the control unit located between their seats. She shifted

until her back was against the door and used the steering wheel to rest her elbow as she nibbled on her coffee roll.

"I think Nathan's still pissed at me," Eric said, sounding pleased.

"Can you blame him?" she asked, inwardly wincing on Nathan's behalf.

A fter A mber stormed off Sunday evening Eric decided to make his brother's life a living hell by taking A lice aside and

explaining that Nathan felt left out and would really like her to help him find someone special, but he was too embarrassed to

ask. Unfortunately for Nathan, A lice jumped on board with that plan and if she wasn't afraid to draw A lice's attention to their

relationship and any type of future she would have said something.

Maybe......

The whole thing did promise to be rather entertaining and she did love a good laugh at family dinners so maybe she'd just sit

back and enjoy it for a while. She had a feeling that Nathan wouldn't be able to sidestep his mother's efforts as easily as Eric

had. He was a pushover so he'd probably end up taking at least a few of them out to please his mother. Of course she'd have to

tag along and she'd bet every last cent she had that Eric would be more than happy to join them.

"You know that Teddy tried signing Greg out of third riding this weekend?" Eric asked, drawing her attention.

She frowned at that little announcement. "He can't sign him out. He's not a trainer," she said, wondering what the hell was

wrong with Teddy.

Even he should realize that Greg didn't belong on a truck.

"Bill already chewed him a new one," Eric said, opening his bakery bag and grabbing his coffee roll.

"Why the hell would Teddy do something so stupid? There's no way he did it to get Greg as a partner. If he worked with Greg

he'd have to do all the work and there's no way in hell Teddy would willingly screw himself over."

"I think he was hoping that Greg's uncle would put a good word in for him to get him the supervisor job over at the 603," he

said with a shrug as if he hadn't just said something truly frightening.

Teddy as a supervisor? She prayed that never happened. Bill wouldn't allow that and thankfully the city council didn't have a

say when it came to promotions. She knew that Teddy wanted a supervisor position to get the hell off the truck and sooner or

later he'd realize that that wouldn't happen as long as he worked for the city.

A private ambulance company was a different story all together. She'd heard horror stories about assholes being promoted who

didn't deserve it. A s much as she hated to admit this she'd seen incompetent supervisors from private ambulance companies

show up at the scene of an accident and screw everything up.

A s much as she loved her job she wasn't sure she could ever go the private route. From what she'd seen there was too much

drama and backstabbing. A few years ago when overtime became tight Eric looked into working part time for a mom and pop

ambulance company. The guy had been an asshole with a chip on his shoulder against Bill and spent the majority of the time

trying to convince Eric that Bill was an asshole who had no business being a supervisor. Halfway through the interview Eric

got up and walked out. It wasn't too hard to find out that the man used to work for the city and had been fired for stealing

equipment.

"Never going to happen," she said, shaking her head as she popped another bite of coffee roll into her mouth. She looked

towards the coffee shop and saw Greg leaning against the counter, talking up one of the servers through the large storefront

window.

Eric cleared his throat and she couldn't help but look over at him. He looked suddenly nervous as he toyed with his coffee roll.

"What do you want to do tonight?" he asked, throwing her a nervous glance.

"What I do every Tuesday night after our shift," she said slowly, wondering what the hell was going on with him. He was never

like this around her. Then again the dynamics of their relationship had changed so maybe she should give him a little slack, she

thought as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"A nd, ah," he cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable, "what are your plans tomorrow?"

"Unless I get overtime I thought I'd clean up the house and relax a little. Why?"

He cleared his throat again. "I was thinking that maybe we could-"

"Echo seventeen?" dispatch chimed in over the radio, cutting off whatever he was about to say.

Shooting Eric a sideways glance she grabbed the mike. "Echo seventeen."