I’d crashed hard the night before, sleeping until the sunlight streamed through the windows. My body aches, exhausted from the hard work the day before. We’re not firefighters, but the park needed us to do as much as we could to evacuate guests, and keep the fire contained.
Now, I’m starving, and I know the guys will be too when they get up. The last thing Sierra needs to do when she gets up is feed us like a bunch of kids.
We’re not kids.
I hear footsteps coming from the back of the house. Smith and Holden both walk into the kitchen in T-shirts and shorts. Smith burst into the house yesterday, shouting for us to get up and grab some things. We scrambled, half-awake, smelling the smoke already in the air and the helicopters overhead. We did all manage to toss a few pieces of clothing in a bag along wit
h a few personal items. The truth is that we all live pretty minimally, but big stuff like our camping gear and hiking stuff…it wasn’t possible to get it. Fortunately, it’s all replaceable.
“Coffee is in the pot,” I say, pointing to the maker. “These eggs will be ready in a minute.”
Holden rubs his face and stumbles over to the coffee. He pours two cups and takes one back to Smith.
“I’ve been thinking,” I say in a quiet voice, “We need to make sure we chip in around here. Groceries, laundry, cooking, and cleaning.”
“Right,” Holden agrees. “I figure we can help with some of the work she needs help with on the house.”
I nod, pushing the spatula through the eggs.
The guys are quiet, and I look over. They’re watching me carefully.
“What?” I ask, turning off the stove.
“We’ve been talking,” Holden says, glancing at Smith. “Sierra’s going out of her way to provide a place of us to stay. You’re right, we need to chip in, but we need to get a few other things straight, too.”
“Like what?” I ask, trying to figure out where this is going.
“You can’t put the hard press on her,” Smith says.
“Hard press?”
Holden rolls his eyes. “Yes, dude! You know how you are.”
“No,” I say, leaning against the counter. “How am I?”
“You have your eyes on Sierra. Which we get, seriously, we get it. But now that we’re homeless, and staying here, we can’t get kicked out because you want in her pants.”
“Is this rule just for me or for all of us?” Because I know they both want her, too.
“All of us,” Holden says, although he sounds like he’s trying to convince himself as much as me. “She’s doing us an amazing favor, and we can’t be dicks.”
“Or put our dicks in front of our necessity,” Smith adds.
“Okay,” I say, looking at the two of them. “I can handle it, but can you stop being an asshole to her? Whatever it is that went on between the two of you ends. Today.”
Smith’s eyes are stormy, but he nods. “Fine.”
“And you,” I say to Holden. “You have to maintain some boundaries. I know you think I’m a flirt, but you’re worse with all the helping and do-gooding.”
“What?” he says, frowning. “I’m just being nice.”
Smith and I both laugh. “Whatever. It’s your long-game, and we all know it.”
His lips twist into a smile. He’s so busted. Holden is a nice guy. He is genuinely helpful. He also uses it to win over girls way out of his league. Girls like Sierra.
“I can’t help it if a girl likes me as a friend before she sleeps with me.”
I stretch my arm out, hand balled in a fist. “We’re not here to seduce, Sierra, okay? We’re here to live, and help out, and get our lives back on track.”