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Ben Solutions for Relationships
Danny had been talking about his graduation week and Ben was being weirdly interested. That was never a good sign.
“So your mom and dad are driving in the day before,” Ben said.
“Yeah. Dad’s already calling it my ‘first day of real life.’”
“It’s not real life if you’re not paying rent.”
“He pays in labor,” Matt said.
“Took me all morning cleaning the guest room because Lucy inspected it twice.”
“Good,” Ben said. “I need you to do something.”
“Are we going to hurt someone?”
“If anyone asks, Josh is your friend.”
“But Josh is my friend?”
“Exactly. You know Josh, you’re still at Matt’s—you’re practically on staff.”
“Since when am I on your payroll?”
“I’m asking you to do one thing.”
“Yeah, and the thing is pretending you don’t know your own boyfriend.”
“Poor Josh,” Matt said. “He thinks it’s real.”
“I just need a cleaner explanation for how we know each other,” Ben said. “That’s it.”
Danny grinned at him. Captain Benjamin Ralston was recruiting his best friend’s little brother as operational cover for his love life. Too bad Lucy wasn’t here.
“Because me knowing Josh makes sense. You knowing Josh makes people suspicious.”
“Are you in or not?”
“Depends.”
“You’re extorting me?”
“I’m not the one who needs a cover.”
“Make it count, Danny,” Matt said.
“You know what, now that I’ve got the job lined up, I’m going to need to actually get around—”
“You’re not borrowing my truck.”
“—and your truck half lives in our driveway anyway.”
“You refused to ride in the old one.”
“Smart kid. The old one could’ve killed me,” Matt said.
Danny laughed. Ben sighed.
“Fine. Occasionally.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
They shook hands.
The drill was over and Josh went to refill his water bottle. The others from Central General had drifted toward the shaded tables. Rescue 3 was still on the field breaking down equipment.
“Hey, rookie.”
Ben was talking to him. That almost never happened at work.
“Captain Ralston.”
Not what he called Ben in private.
“So? How’d I look out there?”
“You want a review?”
“I want to know if I impressed the medics.”
Two of Ben’s crew walked up.
“Making friends, Ralston?” Wood said.
“He’s a friend of my cousin Danny,” Ben said.
“Hey guys,” Josh said. There was so much wrong in that sentence he didn’t even know where to start.
“Wait, isn’t Danny Matt’s cousin?” Jackson said.
“Yeah?” Ben said.
Wood nodded. “Oh, okay. That makes sense.”
What?
“So… Matt’s cousin is your cousin now?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah, that’s how it works.”
“Yeah. Firehouse rules. Checks out.” Wood again.
“That’s not—”
“It’s Matt and Ben. If Ben says Matt’s cousin is his cousin, then Matt’s cousin is his cousin. Case closed.”
“Hmm. Okay. That actually does track.”
Somehow Jackson was convinced, and they wandered off.
“What the fuck just happened,” Josh said.
“Relax. It worked.”
“Since when did Danny become your cousin.”
“Since Wood just made it official.”
The worst part was that it did work. He was standing inside a cover story held together by questionable math and firehouse mythology, and he didn’t hate it.
“I’m dating a compulsive liar,” Josh said.
“And you love him.”
He almost threw the bottle at his friend’s cousin’s head.
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