Fireful Love (ManxMan)

Chapter 13

Darryls POV

I starred up at the ceiling, I was laying in bed at the firehall. I had been there for six hours and I had six more hours to go. I just wanted to go home and see my cowboy. I gave a sigh as I heard the whispers in the hall.

"She really said that?" Carl whispered.

"Yes, that's what Marie told me," Toni answered.

"and you believe her?" Carl asked.

It felt like they were talking about me. I gave a sigh and closed my eyes.

"Why wouldn't I believe Marie?" Toni questioned.

"So Marie talked to her?" Carl spoke.

"Yeah, they had coffee last night. And that's what she came home and told me."

"I can't see that. Can see them split up, but not because of that," Carl whispered.

"I can't see that either, but that's what Marie said."

"Should we talk with him?" Carl asked.

"Yeah, see how he's doing, and what's going on," Toni agreed.

I opened my eyes and pulled my phone out of my pocket 'Miss you wish I was home and I have a feeling it's going to be a long afternoon.' I pushed the send button sending the text off to my lover. I looked over as I heard someone come into the room. "Hey Toni," I greeted.

"Hey Darryl," he replied moving to sit on the bed beside mine.

I sat up and looked at him, "what's up?"

He gave a gentle shrug, "Not much. Marie and I are having a barbeque this weekend."

"Fun," I nod.

"You and Kali really should come," Toni suggested.

I gave a sigh, he already knew we weren't together. I held back from rolling my eyes as I answered him, "Not going to happen." He just gave me the 'why?' look so I elaborated, "Kali and I split up," I stated.

"Oh no, what happened?" Toni asked.

I shrugged, "I met someone else," I stated.

"Oh! Who is she? Do I know her? How is she?" He asked his eyes lightening up.

"No you don't, names Austin. And awesome," I smiled at the thought of my cowboy. And to be fair Austin can be a girl's name, and it wasn't Toni's business that this Austin happened to be male. I resisted the urge to pull my phone out and look at the picture I had taken of him the other morning when he was making breakfast.

"Oh," he said quietly. He wanted more information, it was painfully obvious. He perked up again, "You should bring her to the barbeque!" he suggested.

I shook my head, "I'm not sure what her plans are this weekend, sorry," I said.

He gave a little frown, "You should ask her and let me know," he said softly.

I reluctantly nodded, "Yeah, okay I will," I said gently. I wasn't going to.

"So where are you staying?" he asked me gently.

I looked away from him, "I'm starting at her place." I said quietly.

"Wait, you're living with her?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nodded easily. Man, what would Austin do if he knew he was being referred to as 'she'? If anything I wore the skirt in the relationship.

"How long has that been?"

"Since Kali and I split," I stated. I wasn't telling him that I had been seeing Austin before Kali and I had split.

"So you knew her before that?" He asked. God his questions were getting annoying.

"Yes, we meet at a bar some time before that," I shrugged –yep that wasn't a lie at all.

The loud ring of my cell phone made me jump, I could of sworn I had it on vibrate. I pulled it out and smiled as I seen it was Austin. Knowing Toni's eyes were on me I answered the phone, "Hey babe," I smiled.

There was a pause, "Hey, I got your message," he was smiling.

"That's good," I smiled. Toni was staring at me, I could tell he was trying to hear the words coming from the other end. "What are you doing?" I asked gently.

"Just got in from doing some work in the barn," Austin answered.

"Fun, fun."

"Ask her about coming to the barbeque!" Toni told me.

"Who was that?" Austin questioned.

"It's Toni, he wants to know if we want to go to the barbeque he and his wife are having," I explained to Austin.

"Do you want to go?" Austin asked.

"I don't know," I answered quietly –see the one who wears the skirt here, yep that'd be me!

"If you want to we can," he said gently.

"We can talk about it tonight," I dismissed it.

"Alright," he sighed.

The bell went off signalling we had a call. I gave a little sigh, "I gotta go babe, we have a call. I'll talk to you tonight." I said quickly.

"Alright, bye Dar, be careful!"

"Always am!" And with that I hung up leaving my phone on my bed as I went ahead and headed down to get my gear on.