Page 29 of Striking the Match (Redwood Bay Fire #3)

Cassius

“It’s getting worse,” Bryan whispers frantically as he paces my private hospital room, his thumbs angrily jabbing at his phone. “How? How can it keep getting worse?”

“Bryan,” I say wearily, sharing a look with my mom who’s sitting beside my bed. I’m not ashamed to admit she’s holding my hand, and I really fucking appreciate it right now.

“It’s been less than six hours since the livestream,” Bryan continues to hiss as he goes back and forth, glaring at the screen like it’s the one who personally wronged me.

“Six! And the internet has not only worked out that Teddy was the same guy that rescued the viral river cat, but that you adopted that same cat. Yet again, I ask: HOW? I knew I should have made the shelter staff sign NDAs. And the veterinarians.”

“Is it really that bad, hon?” my mom asks, finally making Bryan rip his gaze up to look at us.

“Think about it,” she continues firmly. “Rescuing a cat and having a boyfriend are good things.” She turns her head back to smile at me and kiss the backs of my fingers.

“I’m so happy for you, sweetie! When do I get to meet him? ”

Bryan sighs and drags himself over to slump in the other visitor’s chair by her side, putting his phone away.

We’re just waiting on the MRI results to check what I’m certain I already know.

It’s just a light sprain on my ankle. It’s already feeling a million times better after all the things I said I needed.

Decent painkillers, a cold compress, elevation and rest.

My head and my heart aren’t so easily soothed. Teddy rode with me in the helicopter, he and his colleagues eerily quiet as we flew to the hospital. But everyone agreed it would be better if only the paramedics escorted me in.

He looked so pale and worried as they unloaded me and closed the door between us.

Has our relationship ended before it’s even begun?

Bryan rubs his forehead then looks kindly at my mom.

“Of course those are wonderful things, Rosie,” he says sincerely.

“The slightly mind-blowing connection between Teddy, Kiki, and Cassius is making people rabid in their thirst for more information. It’s not that we lost control of the narrative.

It’s that we never had it to begin with.

Internet pundits are running away with the story and spinning it all kinds of ways, digging up whatever they can on Teddy before I’ve had even one minute to prepare him for what’s to come.

It’s only a matter of time before they sniff out his former classmates from high school and the academy, looking for anything juicy they can find. ”

“I promised I’d protect him,” I say ruefully, grinding my teeth.

“No,” Bryan snaps at me with a frown, like I’m a bad puppy. “This is not your fault.”

“Which part?” I ask with a rueful laugh, not really wanting to listen to logic right now.

“When nature tried to kill us just as Teddy and I talked about dating? Or when my ankle decided to sabotage our attempt to leave the forest before dark? Or when those girls filmed us without our consent and outed our relationship to the whole world less than an hour after we used the B-word for the first time?”

“Which B-word?” my mom asks innocently.

“I can think of a B-word to call those morally-challenged proto-humans,” Bryan says darkly, scowling at the hospital bed before shifting his sparkly eyes back to me. “None of those things are your fault and you know it, so stop being a drama llama. You’re far too ruggedly handsome for that.”

My mom pinches my cheek with a grin. “Now ain’t that the truth?”

I sigh at both of them. “Yeah, okay, maybe I know I’m not to blame for those things. But the outcome is the same—a total mess.”

Bryan puffs out his cheeks and shakes his head. “I might be livid, however, that will pass. And then I will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and do what I do best. Which is?”

He cups his hand behind his ear and raises an eyebrow at me.

“Damage control,” I fill in dutifully.

“Damn right, damage control,” he says with conviction. “Your lovely mom is absolutely correct that there isn’t actually any kind of scandal here.”

She preens, making me chuckle. He presses his splayed digits together, touching his thumbs to his chin and his index fingers to the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. After taking a long, deep breath in and releasing it, he lowers his hands and looks at me once more.

“Are you guys serious about pursuing a relationship?” he asks.

I lick my lips and glance out of the window. It’s still drizzling, which suits my mood just fine. “I mean, we were, but?—”

“Nuh!” he interrupts. “No buts. Before the livestream, what had you both decided?”

“To try dating,” I say, shifting in the slightly scratchy cotton sheets. Compared to the dirt we slept on last night, this single bed is heavenly. That doesn’t mean I’m not desperate to get home to my own rainfall shower and memory foam mattress, though.

Christ. Am I ever going to bring Teddy home to that bed?

Bryan is waiting for me to elaborate with an arched eyebrow. So I clear my throat and make an effort not to think about sex again while my own mother is sitting beside me.

“We talked at length about what it would mean if we started a relationship,” I say.

“He understood it would almost certainly compromise his personal life and privacy, and he was worried about the effect it might have on his friends and family. But…” I bite my lip and try and hold onto the fleeting moment of joy that flutters through my chest like a hummingbird.

“We have real feelings for each other. He thought about the risks overnight and was absolutely sure he wanted to…” Words fail me for a moment and I’m not quite sure how to capture how we felt this morning.

“He wanted to be my boyfriend,” I finish softly.

My very first boyfriend.

“Oh, pumpkin,” my mom says, patting my hand.

Bryan rolls his eyes and huffs. “First rule: stop using the past tense. You’ve graduated from letting him know that you were already damn well dating to labelling it.

Well done, you get an A-plus in boyfriending.

Now I’ve had my tantrum, it’s time for you to stop moping.

I am…” His fingers twitch and his jaw clicks.

“Disappointed I wasn’t allowed to control the how and when that knowledge was made public.

However, it’s time to turn lemons into lemon drop martinis. ”

He cracks his knuckles.

“What do you have in mind?” I ask, a flicker of hope igniting in my heart.

I’ve been telling myself ever since we got on that helicopter that if Teddy was nervous before about committing to a relationship, he was almost certainly going to run for the hills after TikTok blew up.

But there’s a fire in Bryan’s eyes that makes me think the ref hasn’t called the final whistle on this game just yet.

“Surely they should just be honest,” my mom says earnestly, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Hold a press conference and tell the world they’re in love.”

“Whoa, there, Mom,” I say with a laugh. “Not to rain on your parade, but it’s way too early to use that word just yet.”

She narrows her eyes at me and hums. “If you say so, sweetie.”

“Hmm, yes, honesty,” Bryan says thoughtfully, nodding as he pulls his phone from his pocket once again, tapping it on his knee. “That works a treat for manipulating people’s heartstrings.”

“Manipulating—?” my poor mom cries in horror, but Bryan is right. This is what he’s great at. Why I hired him. I know he’ll never make me lie to the public.

But there are ways to…channel emotion into ways that work to your advantage.

Suddenly, Bryan snaps his fingers, flicking his slightly manic gaze toward me. “We’re not going to change the narrative,” he says, one side of his mouth curling into a grin. “We’re going to build on it.”

“Okay,” I say tentatively.

He stands up and starts pacing again, but the energy is different now from earlier.

“Teddy saved your cat, then saved you…so now…you’re going to save him right back.”

I frown, not sure I’m following. “Are you talking about staging an emergency, because?—”

“Oh, hell, no,” Bryan cries, wrinkling his nose like his waiter just bought him burned soufflé. “Honesty, remember? No, no, nothing like that. I’m talking about charity. People will soon be charmed by the filthy rich football player?—”

“Ex-football player,” I remind him.

“Shh,” he says with a wave of his hand, like he barely heard me anyway.

“They’ll be charmed by the rich football player dating the humble firefighter if we throw a fundraiser for the department.

You said they borrowed that helicopter from a neighboring town’s station, right?

So what if they had their own chopper? I’m sure the coastguard would appreciate that as well, right?

Oh, and what about the clean-up from this recent flooding, the landslide you got caught in, the wildfires from over the summer? So much money we can throw around.”

I kind of love that he’s too busy scheming to ask if I’m okay with him arbitrarily tossing my fortune around.

But that sounds fine to me, so I just let him keep rolling.

After all, I’ve made so many investments, but I still have hundreds of thousands just sitting in the bank, waiting for me to do something with it.

He snaps his fingers on both hands in quick succession, dancing his feet over the linoleum floor to music only he can hear.

“We host it at your new place, so it has that intimate, humble vibe. Teddy and his crew are the guests of honor. We encourage everyone to get their glad rags out.” He suddenly fixes his gaze on my mom. “You’ll be there, won’t you, Rosie?”

“Oh, I’d love to!” she cries excitedly, and my heart pangs with happiness that I was blessed with such a good woman as my mother.

Never mind how great the optics will be painting me as a doting mama’s boy. That’s just a nice bonus that she never needs to consider. But I know what’s on Bryan’s mind.

He’s still dancing at the same time as his thumbs animatedly tap on his phone screen.

“Yes, we’ll invite the firefighters, as well as the animal shelter staff and the vets—even if someone there has loose lips.

Because that’s what we want this time. We’re not doing a press conference or even looking like we’re trying to control the narrative at all.

We’ll just let our guests do that organically.

There’ll be a mix of local heroes and community leaders as well as some glittering stars whose wallets we intend on gently encouraging them to empty for a good cause or three. ”

He spins and clutches his phone to his chest as he grins devilishly at me.

“Thoughts?”

I rub my chin and turn it over in my mind. “So you want mine and Teddy’s first official event as a couple to essentially be a party at my house with no press, just our guests’ social media posts, and we’ll be asking people to donate?”

Bryan taps his finger against his jugular.

“Hmm…not quite. We’ll be…encouraging the rich and famous to bid on…

oh my fucking god! Bid on fucking puppies and kittens at the shelter where Kiki came from!

” he punches the air and shimmies his shoulders.

“We’ll just have photos of the critters so the place doesn’t get, you know, messy.

Our affluent guests will bid to sponsor—adopt?

No, sponsor, less pressure. But there will be the option to adopt as well!

They’ll sponsor each adorable fur baby’s room and board for a year, and any excess just goes to the shelter itself for renovations or whatever they need it for.

Oh! Veterinarian bills…they have debt, right?

Maybe that’s what people pledge towards.

Hmm… Then for the fire department, if they want that helicopter…

something separate…something more dramatic… let me brainstorm…”

“Bryan,” I say in disbelief. “You’re willing to make all this effort and raise all this cash for charity in our name? To launch our relationship?”

Finally, he stops his fancy footwork and lowers his phone, looking seriously between me and my mom.

“Cassius,” he says seriously. “You’ve put love on hold your whole life because this world told you that men who play football—who play any sport professionally—aren’t allowed to be like you.

Aren’t allowed to be authentic and follow their hearts.

And yes, yes …it’s probably too early to use the L-word for your B-word.

But it’s the possibility of love we’re fighting for right now.

” He flares his nostrils, his eyes oddly glassy as he waves his hands like he’s trying to get rid of that burned soufflé smell.

“You deserve this, Big Man. You are owed this. And I am going to make sure I do everything I can to make it a success or die trying.”

He takes a long breath in, his knuckles going white around the grip he has on his phone. Then his shoulders twitch, he nods once, then he clears his throat.

“Um, if you’ll excuse me for one second,” he says with a sniff. He marches out of the room, presumably to collect himself after his passionate outburst, leaving my heart thudding in my chest and my mom squeezing my hand with a triumphant grin on her face.

“You heard what the man said,” she informs me. “You deserve this, sweetie. You’ve spent so much time making sure me and your pops and your brother and sister never wanted for nothing. It’s time for you to let something amazing happen to you.”

I allow myself a few shaky breaths, not really believing that to be true, but trusting my mom knows best pretty much all of the time.

“He is amazing, Mom,” I say thickly. “I don’t want to blow it. Do you think we’re onto something with this fundraiser idea?”

She shrugs and smiles. “Like Bryan said. Those are all good things. Raising money for charity and stepping out into the world with your fella? If you do it from the heart.” She leans forward and pats over mine. “What could go wrong?”

If I’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s the old saying that if something can go wrong, it will. But…I’m also willing to put my faith in a power a little greater than myself. My mom is right. Our intentions are noble and good. Yes, yes, I remember what the road to hell is paved with.

But I also think I finally believe what Bryan was saying.

I sacrificed a really important part of myself for my career, and now it’s time for the universe to pay its dues.

If I can’t carve out some happiness with Teddy Foster, then who? He’s the first person in my life who’s truly stolen my heart.

Time to see if he’s open to a stupidly big gesture to prove that.