"You'd better watch yourself, Connor," he said, narrowing his eyes. "My sources are solid and I'm in a position to release your financial records to the papers. Then what would people say, huh? The poor firefighter who they donate money to every year is one of the richest men in the city. How would that play out, eh?"
"That money goes to charity and you know it," I said, rising to the bait. "Why would you want to ruin that?"
"I'm sick of seeing you being lauded as a hero after what you did," he said, standing up so that we were face to face. Victor's mouth was twisted into an ugly grin as he spoke. "You destroyed her. She was a good girl from a good family and you destroyed her. You moved her into a house that was unsafe, and she died because of your selfish negligence! If it hadn’t been for your stubborn insistence, she never would have been working at that clinic."
"You son of a bitch," I seethed as he spoke. "I loved her. I would have never in a million years put her in danger, and you know it, so fuck off."
"That's it, just shrug off responsibility like you've always done," Victor said, shaking his head. "God, you live such a golden life, Connor. Nothing can tarnish your saintly halo, can it?"
"What's your beef, Vangel?" I said through clenched teeth. "Why the hell are you so concerned with what happened in my life?"
"Don't play stupid with me and act like you don't know," he spat.
"I'm not, I seriously have no idea what your damn beef is, Vangel," I countered.
We'd known each other in high school, but then most of us had gone to the same school. Victor and I had played on the football team together, along with Mike Kelly and Danny Newsome, but other than the fact that we hadn't run in the same crowd, I had no idea why Victor was so angry with me.
"Never mind," he said. "It doesn't matter, but what does matter is that you need to support my bid for Lieutenant at this house or else I'll release the information I've got about your security firm, and then everyone will know that you're a deep-pocketed billionaire who's stealing money from the donors who fund your charity."
"I'm not bilking anyone!" I growled. "You can't do that!"
"I can do anything I like," he said, smiling as he narrowed his eyes again. "I'm the one with the information and the connections to the higher ups in the department."
"You're a son-of-a-bitch, Vangel," I shot back. "Mind your own damn business!"
"Well, your business is integral to me minding my own." He grinned. "So, minding your business is rather like minding my own. Can I count on your support? Then again, if I can earn the support of the Chief, I might not need you and the other guys."
"Asshole," I said as I turned and walked toward the door to the bunkroom.
"I'll take that as a yes," he said before sinking back down on his bed and picking up his magazine.
I ran down the stairs and burst into the common room muttering curse words under my breath.
"Something wrong, Cam?" Newsome asked as he played tug of war with Tesla.
"Fucking Vangel," I cursed as I walked out to the bay where I spent the next hour checking equipment and hoping for a call.
Chapter Ten
Alex
It was three days before I talked with Cam again. Between his schedule at the firehouse and my school and work schedules, we had trouble finding time when our free time coincided. He wasn't very good about texting, but then neither was I, so we contented ourselves with the odd phone call here and there and joked about our old school dating style.
"We're taking this back a couple of decades, you know?" I laughed as I walked over to Liz's apartment to pick her up for class. It was a cold morning and I could see my breath as I chatted with Cam.
"Yeah, but what was so bad about the nineties?" he asked. "I mean, all that hair and synth pop, it was cool."
"You're weird." I laughed harder. "Were you into that stuff?"
"Nah, I'm a classic rock guy myself," he said as I heard the overhead speaker announce a call. "Sorry, gotta run! Talk to you later!"
"Be careful!" I called as the line went dead. I quickly covered the block to Liz's apartment and pressed on her buzzer. When there was no answer, I dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
"Wha…what?" Liz said in a sleepy voice that told me she was nowhere near ready to leave for class.
"Liz, it's Alex! Get up, you're going to be late for class!" I yelled into the phone. Two seconds later, the door buzzed. I yanked it open and ran up the flight of stairs to Liz's apartment where the door stood ajar. Liz was fumbling with her clothes in the bedroom as she tried to get ready as fast as she could. I stepped into the kitchen and was dismayed to find dishes piled high in the sink and nothing but beer, sparkling water, and a couple of chunks of moldy cheese in the fridge.
"Liz, when was the last time you shopped for food?" I called out.