The Good and the Bad

Defcon 1

Chapter Nineteen

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A smile filled Scout's lips as she stood outside the firehouse before shift, spotting Jay's familiar car coming down the street. Her smile only grew when he climbed out of the car, her purse in hand-- having forgotten it in his car Friday night.

"Where was it?" She asked.

"Right where you said. In the console," he handed the purse over.

"Thank you so much for driving it over," she thanked him. "Thank you."

"No worries," he assured her as she started to turn to head inside. "Are you rushing to get away from me again?"

"Uh..." she caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she stopped to look back at him. "Honestly? I was kinda trying to give you an out."

"An out?" He raised a brow at her confession. "Why would I need an out?"

"Well I kinda dumped a lot on you the other night," she pointed out. "I mean, it went from us going to a scotch tasting together to me unloading a decade worth of drama onto you. Probably not what you were expecting when you agreed to go out with me. So..."

"So I guess this is goodbye forever?" He frowned slightly as he caught onto her train of thought, holding his hand out in front of him. Scout couldn't help but roll her eyes, slapping his hand away while he chuckled.

"I've gotta get to work," she shook her head. "But I owe you one."

"A marker. I like that," he grinned, watching as she started heading towards the side door of the firehouse. "What's it good for?"

"Come to Molly's tomorrow night and find out," she challenged.

"I'll be there," he promised.

"I'll have a drink waiting." She told him as he got back into his car and she reached the door to find Gaby there waiting for her.

"That's the mystery guy from the bar?" Gaby raised a brow at her friend as they both headed inside. "He's cute."

"He is," Scout didn't hesitate to nod in agreement. "Seems to have a level head too."

"Oh?" Gaby questioned as they headed towards the locker room to get changed into their uniforms.

"Well, he didn't go running after I told him about Isaac and the boys the other night," Scout shared, earning a look of surprise from the other woman.

"What all did you tell him?" Gaby questioned.

"Pretty much everything. I was a little buzzed from the tasting," Scout admitted as she rubbed the back of her neck. "He asked me about my jaw and made a comment about how he didn't think we'd get hurt as much as cops. So, of course, I said something about being on patrol before and he asked why I made the change. Things kinda just spilled out from there."

"Wow," Gaby let out a low whistle. "You were either more than buzzed or you really like this guy, telling him about all of that."

"He's easy to talk to," Scout shrugged before a thought popped into her mind, causing her smile to dampen. "Anything new with Antonio?"

"Not that I know," Gaby shook her head. A frown tugged at the corners of her lips as she thought about her brother's troubled marriage at the moment. "Laura's still staying with her sister. Though I think he's more worried about the kids than her after the shit she pulled."

"Gaby," Scout started to the shake her own head, more than prepared to defend her friend's sister-in-law.

"Don't even think about it." Gaby warned, recognizing the look in the other woman's eyes. "I don't wanna hear one word of defense for that woman come out of your mouth. Antonio showed me the texts."