Authors: Dani Jace
“What ’cha thinking so hard about?” He sank onto the chair beside her.
“Huh?” Her eyes rounded. “Sorry, I was just contemplating the next few months.”
“Firefighting? Bobby and Sarah?”
“All of the above.” She offered him a partial smile. “Cali made me apprehensive. Things are going so smoothly now. I guess I’m waiting for that other shoe to drop.”
Her words stabbed his gut. “Are you talking about us, too?”
Her slim fingers grazed his bare chest. “I swear you gotta have some Mediterranean or Native American in you. You’re already turning brown.”
“Then where’d I get blue eyes?” Her physical distraction didn’t erase his concern.
“Maybe your dad?”
She’d never seen a picture of his dad, and he couldn’t even remember the color of his father’s eyes. He came home from school one day and found his mother crying hysterically. He never saw him again. They moved to OBX months later.
He stood and faced her with a frown. “I don’t really care what he had, Jo. He didn’t give a shit about Mom or me.”
She recoiled at his words as if they were cold ocean spray. Fine lines etched her forehead.
“We were talking about you.” He softened his tone. “What are you really concerned about? Us?”
“I don’t know.” She fussed with her hair.
They never mentioned their deserting parents and he wondered why she brought it up now. “You think I’ll disappear like he did, don’t you?” Cappy had probably thought the same.
“I know you love me, but what happens if you grow bored? You’re used to variety.”
The truth smacked him harder than a hand to his face. Since he loved her, and had never wanted a serious relationship, he was considered noncommittal. “Only because I couldn’t be with you. I’m living with you, now.” Sort of.
“Really, you have a toothbrush and some clothes here.” She twisted her mouth and studied the deck boards.
Anger stirred in his belly at being blamed. “I don’t recall being formally asked.”
“Didn’t think you wanted to,” she mumbled.
“I think you’re afraid to ask me.”
She paled. “You said you’d never even slept over with any woman until me.”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Shouldn’t that say something?” Lord, he loved falling asleep with her in his arms. And waking up with her snuggled against him.
She ran her fingers through her hair. “What’s the longest you dated someone besides me?”
His record before her was the doctor. The doc asked him to stay every time, but he’d refused. “A few weeks. I don’t know. Am I trying to pass a test here?” He wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of being like his father or being hurt like his mother.
“No test. Just wondering.” Her mouth tightened.
She accepted that he loved her, but she didn’t believe in him. “You don’t think I can commit.”
She flinched. “More like that you suffer quick burnout or don’t want to risk it.”
“Isn’t it the same thing, Jo?” He tossed the rest of his coffee over the railing into the sea oats below. His father had been a pussy hound and his mother continued to make the same bad choices. Jo figured him for somewhere in the middle.
* * * *
Life needed a rewind button. How in the hell had they had wound up in an argument? She rose from her chair. “Can we back up?”
He crossed his arms. Anger reflected off the hard planes of his face. Pain fueled his stormy eyes. “You don’t trust me.”
She did, but… “You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“If things are good, why put us under a microscope?”
“Whoa.” She stepped back. “You asked for my thoughts. You were the one analyzing us.” Her phone vibrated and a nine-one-one alert displayed. Every damned time.
“Fuck.” Ray stood motionless as she read the message. “You going?”
“You know I need to.”
“It’s always been you, Jo. I never stayed with anyone for long because my heart has always belonged to you.” He yanked her to him, hugged her and finished with a long, heady kiss that curled her toes. “Be careful.”
* * * *
Leaving his warm lips and the security of his arms left her vulnerable. He’d said after their first night together that they would never part in anger if one was leaving on a call or go on shift. Firefighter rules.
“I’ll just be here, hanging here, planning an addition for the kids’ rooms.” He winked. “When you get back, we can argue over how many.”
She held up her index finger.
“Four.” He followed with a twisted grin.
“Two.” She opened the door.
“Deal, as long as we can practice like we’re making more.”
“We’ll start when I get back.” She blew him a kiss.
Adrenaline flooded Jo as she arrived at the smoking laundry mat in the middle of a strip mall. She’d left one heated scene for another. At the moment, she preferred literal fire over a pissed-off Hemanus.
Another crew from Ray’s station were already working the call. Hoses ran from a hydrant to the engine before snaking into the building. She rolled out of the Broncosaurus, donned her gear, shoved her feet into the yellow clunkers then charged for command central.
“Hey.” Tami punched Jo on the shoulder.
Tami’s hard-edged, no bullshit friendship suited Jo. They were alike. “What’s up, girl?”
“Same old, same old.”
They stood near the captain, waiting for instructions as a crowd of bystanders multiplied in the parking lot. “You vollys go knock on doors. Check to see if anyone’s left in the other units. If there’s smoke inside, don’t go in unless I give you the okay.”
She answered in unison with Tami, “Yes, Captain.”
While her friend trekked north, Jo headed to the south. She banged on the first door and then yanked it open. “Fire Department! Anyone in here?” She did a quick inspection and moved to the next. The smell of smoke increased every unit closer to the laundry. As she opened the next door a gray cloud billowed out. From her knees, she called out but didn’t enter.
Tami’s scream pierced the hum of the engines of the trucks and chatter on the radio.
Jo popped to her feet and charged along the sidewalk. The captain followed at her heels. All of the other firefighters were busy.
At the door, the captain dropped to a crawl and led the way. Smoke pumped through the adjoining wall. Tami knelt on the floor, her face frozen in horror. A few feet away, a lifeless man lay on the floor.
“Get the EMTs!” He ordered Tami.
She ran out while Jo followed him to the victim.
Stifling a gag, she covered her nose with her arm, unable to ignore the horrendous sight of what was left of his head. A gun lay a few inches away. Blood, brain, and scull decorated the wall in a grotesque mural. Her stomach lurched and she swallowed bile.
Better get used to it.
“It’s smoking pretty bad in here and you don’t have a mask, Mercer. Get some fresh air.”
“I’m fine, sir,” she lied. “Do you think he caused the fire?”
A bullet hole decorated the wall adjoining the laundry mat next door.
“Bullet must have hit one of the dryers and started the fire. Let’s get him to the door where they can load him in the ambulance.”
With the possibility of the fire coming through the wall, they quickly dragged the victim to the entryway.
“Good job Mercer. Go get some water and get that smoke out of your throat.”
“Yes sir.” Feeling better with some fresh air and better scenery, she relaxed as her heart rate slowed.
Perched on the back bumper of an ambulance, Tami sipped from a water bottle. Her face was as pale as her disheveled hair.
Bobby roared into the lot with siren blaring and another unit behind him. Both officers approached the captain.
“Come on, Mercer,” Lieutenant Bond from Ray’s station called to her. “Let’s see if you’re afraid of heights.” He grabbed a SCBA tank, harness, and mask from one of the compartments. A couple of clicks and he had her suited up.
At his nod, she followed him to the truck. She’d only been on an engine thus far. In the academy, they hadn’t been trained on the huge ladder truck yet. She trailed behind the lieutenant up to the sky-high bucket. Beneath her feet, the diesel engine vibrated through the aluminum. If she hadn’t been focusing on not hyperventilating inside her air mask, she might’ve been frightened, as the truck grew small beneath her. Practice drills hadn’t prepared her for such exertion or of extreme heights. Reality check.
Once in the bucket, the lieutenant had her stand beside him. He planted his feet and opened the hose nozzle. Water shot nearly thirty feet before raining on the roof below.
Her heart thumped furiously as she hovered nearly sixty feet off the ground. The power of the water amazed her as it drowned stubborn licks of orange and yellow flames.
“Hold on. I’m taking her right.” He toggled the switch.
The engine whined as the ladder shifted, slowly angling them over a different portion of the roof. Being tutored in old man fire helped get the dead guy out of her brain.
“Here.” He sidestepped and put her in front of the controls, guiding her on what to do.
The high was like riding a huge wave. Before long, the flames died leaving the roof an open cavity of smoke. “Awesome.”
“You’re a natural.” He tipped his helmet.
When it was time to descend, Jo hesitated. Climbing up seemed easier. Going down had her hands sweating.
“I’ll go first,” he said. “Look at the ladder, not the ground.”
Once on the pavement, she thanked the lieutenant and found Bobby leaning against the hood of his car.
He gave her a hug and then snickered. “Another virgin status lost.”
“Yeah, only one other has been that exciting.” She rubbed her gloved hands together.
“TMI.” He rolled his eyes.
“Then don’t start the game, brother.” She winked as she removed her gloves and lightly slapped him on the arm, leaving a soot mark. Then she twirled and headed back to help with rolling hose.
“Did we miss when they took the dead guy?” Tami frowned as they finished laying hose on the top of the engine.
“I guess. Didn’t expect to see a suicide.”
“Yeah, well I hope I don’t run across any more dead bodies for a while.” She tipped her helmet back, wiped her brow then climbed down.
Jo swung down and stepped off the back bumper. “I’m thinking it’s probably not the worse scene we’ll encounter.”
“Kids. I’d probably puke right on the spot and then ball my eyes out.”
“Okay, let’s talk about something else. Have you got a new guy?” Jo didn’t want to face her own real fear, vehicle fatalities. Thus far, she’d been lucky. The kid on the bike only suffered a broken leg.
“This guy the other night. Well, I checked his goods before sealing the deal, you know. We were in his truck getting busy―”
Chewing her lip to keep from grinning, Jo mumbled. “Ahh, huh.”
“Huge dick. He’s got a lot in common with this.” Tami grabbed a three-inch hose coupler from an open bin. “But it was crooked. Like a banana going sideways. ”
Jo took her helmet off. “No shit. He should see a doctor.”
“He probably has to angle for the toilet to a take piss.” She grinned.
Jo’s jeans vibrated. In a fit of giggles, she fished beneath her bunker pants for her cell. “Hey, how’s the blueprint coming?”
“I’ve got it all worked out in my head, but I really think we should concentrate on the finer points of conception when you get back,” Ray said in a smooth tone.
“Sounds good to me.” His finer points always got her going and she needed a diversion after the seeing a dead body.
“So what’s cooking?”
“The laundry mat. Courtesy of a head trauma.”
“Accident?”
“Bullet to the brain.”
“Murder?”
“Suicide.”
“Yikes. You’ll need a massage.”
Her throat closed.
“Jo?”
“Yeah, I’ll fill you in when I get home. Gotta get done here.”
She joined Tami and the other firefighters beside the truck.
“Who would’ve thought taking yourself with a single shot would cause a two alarm blaze?” A tall, rangy firefighter held an unlit cigarette.
“No, but I could definitely think of more fun ways to die,” another said.
“In the sack sounds more fun to me.” Jo sipped her water.
“Coming and going at the same time.” Tami laughed, and ran her hands along her suspenders.
With a cig dangling, the smoker said, “Figured you chicks would rather die in a mall maxing out a credit card.”
“No fun in that when there’s no time to enjoy the stuff.” Tami put a hand on her hip. “I’d rather ride a stallion as my last act.”
All eyes then turned to Jo.
“Way wait, I got one waiting for me at home right now.” She grinned and turned for her truck.
Down the road, her rein of control lapsed. Tears stained her T-shirt. Suicide bothered her. Accidental death was bad enough for a family to deal with. She’d been on the receiving end of that door knock.
Joking with the firefighters after the call in an attempt to lighten her mood had felt like old times on the surfing circuit. Getting experience on the extension ladder would definitely help her when the time came at the academy.
By the time she rolled onto the driveway, she’d quelled her dark thoughts by imagining stripping her Hemanus to his perfectly straight, long and thick fire hose. He’d chase her demons away and soar her into oblivion. Little death. Yeah, that was the way to go.
Kicking himself for being such a dick, Ray met her at the kitchen door. Determined to make up, he drew her close and trailed tender kisses from her temple to smudged cheek. Even covered in soot, she exuded sexy. “I’m sorry about this morning. I didn’t mean to get defensive.” He held up a brew in truce.
She swept an arm around his neck and nibbled his earlobe. “I know.”
Her searching tongue lit a fire in his groin. Firefighting must heat her blood. He was a lucky son of a bitch. He stepped back and ran a hand along her red suspenders. Hot in bunker pants too. “After your beer, I’ll show you the rest of my apology.”
She drank the beer in two long swallows and set the bottle on the counter.