Page 6 of Revived (Lucky Ones #1)

Chapter three

Sullivan Byrne

B yrne Family Group Chat:

Kieran: Good luck tonight, Flynn.

Jakob: Got the game on at the bar.

Clara: We’re cheering for you Uncle Flynn.

Clara: *picture of Rhett and Maeve in Flynn’s jersey*

Mac: Thinking of coming down for a game soon.

Rowan: Same. You got this, Flynn.

Declan: I want to come too. Brothers trip?

Kieran: I’m in.

Sullivan: He plays in Jersey soon. Just go to that game.

Phoenix: Damn, so subtle Sul.

Lee: Ooookayyyy. Maybe you guys don’t go…

Rowan: No, we’re coming. Sullivan can pick up an extra shift if he’s so hellbent on not seeing us.

Flynn: Thanks. About to go out now. Love you all. Sul we’ll talk about it tonight. I’ll come over after.

The heels of my hands dig into my eyes until stars burst behind my lids.

They stress me the fuck out on a good day, and having the Jersey Byrnes in Temple Valley can lead to nothing good.

But I push all that aside as we lounge on Knox’s couch watching as Flynn crashes into a player on the opposite team and steals the puck.

Xavier got home a couple of days ago, and I go back on shift in the morning.

We’ve all decided to spend our last night hanging out watching the game together before I go back to work, and Knox goes to Georgia for spring training.

Knox pitches for the Virginia Reapers, and he’s going for his second World Series win in a row.

We have a little bit until the actual season starts, but his plane takes off at ten tomorrow morning to ship him down to Georgia for the next month.

He’s one of the best in the league at what he does, but that’s not what gets him in front of the cameras more often than not.

No, supposedly it’s his pretty face. I wouldn’t know because he looks like an ugly mug to me, but girls throw themselves at him as soon as he pushes his blonde hair out of his medium blue eyes and gives them that all American smile.

So we’ll be split up for the next month, and group facetime, texts, and calls will have to hold us over.

Elle’s curled up between Knox and Dom, her eyes fighting to stay open as she watches Flynn shoot the puck to his right winger so he can take it in for a potential goal.

She’s tucked herself into a little ball between two of our best friends, and I watch her blinks become heavier as the seconds pass.

She was gone pretty early today and dragged herself in here ten minutes before the game started in a pair of spandex shorts and someone’s old hoodie from high school or college.

The television steals my attention as Flynn gets checked into the boards… hard. His body crumbles to the ground in a heap, and I push to my feet. I’m pretty sure I stop breathing altogether, just waiting for him to get up.

“Come on… get up… get the hell up, Flynn…”

I’m murmuring to myself, but you couldn’t pay me to care right now.

Flynn’s linemate skates over, and a few seconds later, he’s helping to pull him up.

He skates gingerly to the bench, but he doesn’t go out, and he’s up.

I empty all the oxygen in my lungs in relief, and everyone seems to collectively let out a noisy sigh.

I feel her hand rubbing the side of my arm in comfort. “He’s fine, Sul. Look, he looks like he’s even going out next shift. He’s good.”

I shake off the panic that was gripping my heart in a vise and smile down at her. She’s right. He’s okay.

I sit back down to continue watching the game, and Elle sits to my left.

She’s not touching me. Not crossing any friends’ only boundaries, but the comfort is there, and the fire licks through my veins all the same.

My phone rings out throughout the space as we all watch Flynn skate back out for his next shift, seemingly unharmed.

I answer the phone with dread because I know most of them will be together by now, but I’ll never ignore this number .

“Yes, Mom.” I answer my oldest sister-in-law’s call.

“Drop the sass, Sullivan.” She has her mom voice on full display, and I can tell by the way her voice comes through the line that I am in fact on speakerphone, which further proves my point that she isn’t alone.

“Sorry. What’s up?” I try for indifference as I watch my brother play while listening to her.

“Did anyone call you? That was a hard hit. Do you think he’s okay? Should he drive home by himself? What if he hit his head?” A small smile pulls at the corners of my lips. She’s such a mama bear.

“No one called me. They won’t unless he has to be pulled into the back.

He’s playing fine now, so I think he’s good.

He took a harder hit than that when we were eight and Mac convinced him to jump off the trampoline into the pool…

He missed the pool…” I’m trying my hardest to convince her that he’s fine, because if I don’t, I’ll have them all beating down our doors in the next few hours for sure.

Mac laughs loudly in the background, proving my suspicions that they’re all listening in. “It would have been cool before he went splat on the concrete. He was so accident prone… You both were.”

“Accident prone? No, I think our older brothers were just dicks who thought it would be funny to talk us into dangerous shit.” I answer in disbelief. Accident prone my ass.

“Well… Yes… But you could have said no, or you know, just not have gotten hurt.” He’s laughing so hard I’m sure tears are forming in his eyes.

Mac is the closest in age to Flynn and me at twenty-nine.

He heads up anything tech with my brothers’ businesses with the help of his wife, Lee.

I actually still talk to Mac frequently, although that’s not something that my other brothers are privy to.

Annie was his sister-in-law. So while I had to hold Flynn together, he was holding his wife together.

We’ve bonded over that and worked through how to grieve while also helping them through theirs together.

“Fuck off, Macaroni. I answered the phone to talk to Mama Bear, not you. Clara, he’s okay. The game is almost over, and I promise I’ll wait for him and check him out myself. I’m no Declan, but I do know enough to diagnose a concussion.”

“Okay, you’ll text me right after?” She frets.

“I promise.” I reassure her.

Before she can answer, I hear the sound of the phone changing hands and being pulled off of speakerphone. The shuffle of feet tells me he’s moving out of whatever room they’re in before his voice rings down the line.

“So, you don’t want us to come watch Flynn play?” Rowan asks in way of greeting.

I huff out an annoyed sigh, “That’s not it, and you know it. Come watch Flynn play. Stay for multiple games for all I care.”

“You just don’t want us in Temple Valley.” He finishes for me. What sounds like defeat is evident in his voice.

“No, I don’t. I won’t interfere with what Flynn wants.

This trip would be about him, and I won’t avoid coming to DC to see you guys.

But no, I don’t want to be caught on camera, and I don’t want you guys in Temple Valley.

This is my town – mine, Flynn’s, and the rest of the luckys.

You guys already ran us out of Corey Heights.

So if it’s all the same, I’d rather not be run out of a town that I actually love. ”

I’m being harsh, and I’m sure I’m hurting him in the process, but it doesn’t click for them that their presence alone brings trouble to wherever they are.

We chose not to be a part of that life, and even though they try to respect that, every time we’re together it brings it right back to our front door.

The memories and heartache of the years of bullshit we’ve had to go through come rushing back .

“A compromise then?” Rowan fights to make his voice sound as normal as possible, but I can hear the undertone of hurt. We’re his kids by his logic, and we don’t want him to come visit us.

“A compromise?”

“We’ll come to D.C. We’ll stay in D.C. Hell, we won’t step a toe outside of the city limits, but in exchange you have to come to at least one game with us.

We’ll get a suite, and you can stay out of sight when inevitably we’re broadcasted, but we’ll all be together.

Hell, you may just find that you actually do miss us. ”

“That’s not fair. You know I miss you guys. You know it’s not that–”

“Not important right now. Do we have a deal?” Rowan cuts in.

“Yeah, we have a deal.” I concede on a defeated sigh.

“Good. We’ll send over the dates in the group chat. I love you, Sullivan.”

“I love you too, Rowan.”

Rowan hangs up before I have a chance to.

I ignore the eyes burning into the side of my head from my friends as I focus on the last forty seconds of this game.

The Declaration is up by two, but I still watch with the intensity that I would if it was a tied playoff game.

Anything to not have to look at my friends while tears burn the back of my eyelids right now.

I do miss my brothers. I want so badly to have a close relationship with them again, but we can’t.

We live entirely different lives, and what’s best for my and Flynn’s peace of mind is to keep them multiple state lines away.

So I’ll continue to have a close relationship with their spouses via text and calls and pretend like that’s enough.

** *

“Hey, Lieu. Got a minute?” Sadie asks while knocking on the open door of my office to announce her arrival.

Sadie Wilson started at Firehouse thirty-two when I did and worked her ass off to transfer from truck to rescue.

She’s one of, if not the best, firefighters that I’ve ever met.

Her attention to detail is next to none, and her smaller stature means that she’s able to get in places we can’t reach when needed.

Some men scoff at me having a woman in my crew, but I implore those same men to find me a single person with more drive, heart, and grit than the woman standing in front of me.

“Yeah, come on in. What’cha got?” I lean back in my desk chair and give her my full attention. She pushes off the doorframe and wanders inside to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

“So, I really hate to be this person…” She twines her fingers together. A nervous tick that she has. Not that I need to notice such things anymore, but some things are just ingrained in your psyche.

“Spit it out, Wilson.” She’s acting strange, and the change in her normally relaxed demeanor throws me for a loop.

“You know the new guy on truck? Sampson? He transferred over from forty-six?”

“Yeah, this is his first shift. What about him?”

“His brother’s my ex. I know that’s not something you technically need to know, but the guy harassed me for months after we split, and I had to get a restraining order on him.”

My hackles rise. “Sampson said anything to you today?”

“No sir, but his brother can’t be up here while I’m here because of the order. I just wanted to make you aware.” She keeps her spine straight and her chin up, but I catch the slight wobble. He must have really scared her .

“I’ll take care of it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.” She nods while she stands. “Are you cool if the rest of the crew knows? Just so we can all watch your back? I won’t say anything without your permission.”

She thinks it over for a few seconds before conceding, “Yeah, that might be smart. Thanks, Lieu.”

“Anytime. How’s the baby doing?” Sadie and her wife just had a baby a few months ago, and she’s one of the prettiest babies I’ve ever seen. Sans my nephews and niece.

“Sleeping through the night, finally.” She allows a small, albeit tired, smile to shine through. “Kate never wants to go back to work, and honestly I can’t imagine sending our tiny baby to a babysitter anyway.”

“I’m glad to hear she’s sleeping well. I’ll talk to the guys, and if Sampson tries to talk to you out of an official work capacity, you let me know. Deal?”

“Deal. Thanks Sul.” She shuts the door behind her, leaving me to my own devices and trying to figure out how the hell the guy was even allowed to transfer here.

A few moments later there’s a knock on the glass door, which pulls my attention back to the door.

Will it ever stop today?

The Lieutenant for the truck crew pushes through the door as soon as I wave him in.

“Yo, Byrne. You got a minute?”

“If you must. What’s up, Ward?”

“I just got out of a meeting with Sampson.” That grabs my attention.

“Yeah? What about it?” I narrow my eyes.

Ward has been here longer than I have been, but we’re the same age.

He came straight from the academy. As where I went to college and worked in Corey Heights for six months before making my way down here.

He’s a fine guy, decent I guess, but I’m always ready to throw down for my four, so I sit a little taller as the adrenaline pumps through my body, preparing for a fight.

“He just brought to my attention that Wilson may be a problem for him. I guess she and his brother had a nasty breakup a few years ago that ended up with a restraining order.”

“Watch it, Ward.” I narrow my eyes but otherwise stay quiet. A trick I learned from my Da and Rowan. Silence makes people uncomfortable. They’ll ramble just to fill it if you wait long enough.

“I’m just telling you exactly what I was told. I’ve got to protect my crew. I’m sure you understand that.”

I take a moment to gather myself before I go full ‘Byrne’ on him. Taking a calming breath, I lean forward in my chair and steeple my fingers on top of my desk.

“And I’ve got to protect mine. What I know is that this is Sampson’s first shift at this firehouse.

I know that Wilson brought this situation to my attention just before you walked in here.

She dated Sampson’s brother and then was harassed by him for months until she was forced to get a restraining order to make him stop.

Now she has a new baby with her wife. Their family is thriving, and less than two weeks after she comes back from maternity leave, Sampson is here to shake things up.

I’m not going to tell you what to do with your crew, Ward.

But I would advise you to let Sampson know to leave Sadie the hell alone unless it’s a working matter, and even then he leaves her alone unless there are witnesses.

The first time his brother sets foot here, I’m escalating this to the Chief. ”

Ward looks at me dumbfounded. I’m typically the laugh it off guy in the station. He’s never had to see me defend my own before .

“I– Uh– I didn’t know all of that. Obviously I was left in the dark with some of the facts.”

“I’d suggest you update yourself on the facts and then handle your crew member. I’ve got my team under control.”

Without another word, Ward rises and leaves my office. Good, don’t come after mine before you know all there is to know about yours.