Bull instantly jumps into action, and I follow suit. I go and help with decorations and table settings, making sure I keep to light duties as the last thing I want is for Bull to be worrying about me.
Two hours pass, and as a group, we get this fundraiser underway. The place looks incredible and I have no doubt that Fire Rescue One is going to get all the donations they need for the two new fire trucks, their upgraded equipment, and to take on a few extra staff members.
We’re out by Avalon Lake, right in the heart of our town. Easy listening music flows from the giant speakers they've set up as the first of the guests arrive—hopefully with their checkbooks ready. I fill a few glasses of champagne and take them around like some kind of hostess. Even though we have hired waitstaff, I offer them to everyone I pass anyway.
I walk around to all the wives in their designer outfits and do my job to get them happy on champagne. I listen to them brag about their over-the-top, lavish lifestyles with a polite smile. After all, a happy wife means that hubby is going to be more willing to leave a generous donation to a good cause.
The fundraiser gets started, and everybody mingles happily, as I feel the heat of Bull’s eyes on me. It’s been months that we’ve been doing this little dance, and I still haven’t gotten used to it. I have to pinch myself to remind me that this is really happening, though the little baby inside my guts who bounces off my bladder all day long does a pretty good job of it.
Unable to help myself, I give Bull a cheesy grin before he holds up his glass and raises a brow, asking if I need a refill. I shake my head, wondering how it’s possible that I was able to find such an incredible guy. Even during one of the most important events he’ll ever attend, he’s able to find a second to look out for me.
I’ve had to be strong over the past couple of years being on my own, so having a guy constantly checking on my well-being seemed like something I’d hate, but it’s really not. Every day I find another reason why I love it so much, and for the first time since my dad passed, I finally feel content with who I am and where I’m going. Bull supports me in ways I’ve never imagined and goes above and beyond to make sure that I feel secure in our relationship. He’s simply one of the best things to ever happen to me.
All the boys and the rest of the team make their way around the guests, talking themselves up and being sure to detail all the lives they’ve saved over the years. I hear the story of how both the community hall and library were saved last Christmas at least a hundred times before the guys launch into their personal favorite rescues, and to be honest, some of them are downright terrifying. These guys are the heroes of our community. They put their lives at risk every time they go to work, and they’ll go to extraordinary lengths to save someone’s life.
The afternoon is a huge hit, but it’s far from over. By the time the guests are being ushered to their seats, all the wives are tipsy on champagne and have spent the past hour huddled in a group, most likely comparing plastic surgery stories while all the husbands are chuffed that they don’t have to deal with them.
We get through our meals before the boys’ captain makes his way up to the small stage. He positions himself behind a podium with Fire Rescue One’s emblem shining proudly on it as he launches into a speech to thank everyone who has donated to the cause so far. Though from the sound of it, we’re quickly reaching a quarter of a million dollars.
The captain is in the middle of thanking his team for all their efforts during the day and for their hard work and dedication to their jobs when a sharp laugh cuts through the evening, drawing everyone’s attention away from the podium.
Bull’s hand tightens on my thigh as his heavily pregnant baby momma steps out in a dress that doesn’t fit and a pair of stilettos that look like they were stolen from the strip club down behind the bikers’ bar near Zoey’s store.
Jessa walks between the tables, stumbling as she makes her way through the grass with a champagne flute in her hand. Upon seeing it, rage clouds Bull, and I have to remove his hand from my thigh to avoid him cutting off my circulation.
Jessa snorts an ugly laugh as she points out Bull. “What a joke,” she snaps, wobbling on her heels and prompting Jet to fly up out of his seat and grab hold of her elbow while the guests gasp in horror, outrage, and shock.