Page 47 of Burning Up

Matt didn’t respond. Bryce ran his hands over Matt’s body, checking for serious injuries. A beam lay across his ankle. He couldn’t wait for the Rapid Intervention Team. More of the ceiling would come down any second. He shifted Matt into a position so he could drag him to where he hoped they would have a clear path to the exit. “Firefighter Ladder Six has been located. Bringing him out now. A beam had trapped his leg, and he’s unconscious.”

Getting over the debris wasn’t easy, but Bryce managed it. His air wasn’t going to last much longer at this temperature with him working so hard. He prayed the path to the door was still open. “Chief, can we get out the way we came?”

“Yes, the RIT is almost to you. Follow them out.”

More beams crashed down behind him, but Bryce kept moving steadily, crawling with Matt balanced over his back. Finally, he was where he could stand and he put Matt over his shoulder. The Rapid Intervention Team, Ryan and Gina, two firefighters he’d worked with a few times, found them a few seconds later.

Once they were far enough from the building to be safe, Bryce sank to his knees and laid Matt on the ground. Ryan and Gina took over, checking Matt’s vitals and his injured foot. Gina turned to him, ready to examine him as well, but he waved her off. “I’m fine.” Now that the immediate crisis was over, his shoulder ached like hell, but he ignored it. Toby ran toward them and sank to the ground beside Matt. “Is he okay? What happened?”

“He’s going to be fine,” Bryce assured him, hoping to God he was right.

Ryan patted Toby’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. His ankle is injured, probably fractured, and he’s likely got a concussion, but he’ll recover.”

Matt moaned and opened his eyes. “What happened?” he asked, his words slurred.

“The ceiling came down on us,” Bryce answered.

Matt tried to sit up, but the paramedics pushed him back down and fitted an oxygen mask over his face.

Toby leaned closer to Matt, but Bryce laid a hand on Toby’s arm, afraid Toby had forgotten where he was. This wasn’t the time for them to out themselves. “It’s okay. We were lucky.”

“You saved him.” The emotion in Toby’s eyes made Bryce’s chest ache.

“I just did my job. You would’ve done the same thing if you’d been there.”

“I panicked. I couldn’t think straight knowing he was in there.”

Bryce wrapped an arm around Toby. Nobody would think anything of it after a scare like they’d had. “That’s natural, but you kept yourself together, and if you’d been inside, you would have focused and gotten him out, just like I did.”

“Did everyone else get out uninjured?” Bryce asked.

Toby nodded, and both men looked at the building. Flames rose toward the sky now, shooting through holes in the ceiling. Bryce shuddered, realizing how close they’d come to being trapped.

Matt pulled the oxygen away from his face. “I’m fine. I want?—”

Bryce put a hand on his chest to keep him from trying to sit up again. “You need to go to the hospital.”

Matt shook his head. “No, I’m?—”

Gina interrupted. “Yes, you do. Even if you want to argue that you’re fine otherwise, you need an x-ray for your ankle.”

“I’ll come with you,” Toby volunteered, then looked at Bryce. “If I can, that is.”

“Chief, this is Officer Ladder Six, I’d like to send one of my men to the hospital with the injured firefighter.”

“Permission granted, Ladder Six.”

Bryce laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “Go with him. Make sure he’s okay.”

Toby nodded, his eyes glistening.

17

Bryce’s hands shook as he drove home the next morning. He was glad they hadn’t gotten another call after returning from the warehouse fire. He wasn’t scheduled to work at Nathan’s that day, and he didn’t want to spend all day and night by himself. He needed a friend, someone who might understand the tangled feelings inside him, those that said he wanted Matt and Toby back and those that were still terrified of what that would mean. He’d rebuffed every attempt of Mason’s to talk about what had happened and put up with censorious looks from Jack and Gray. Now it was time to eat crow and call on them for advice, because no way in hell could he see Matt and Toby again and pretend he didn’t care about them.

He pulled out his phone and typed a message to Mason.

You guys free tonight?

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