Page 34 of Bronx

I laughed dryly. "Are you trying to protect her or control her? Cuz, she's a smart, independent woman. I'm pretty sure she can handle things without some big blockheaded asshole keeping tabs on her life. It's just a spit of above stalking if you ask me."

"That's it, Bronx. It's you and me." Helix moved to jump out of his chair just as the door opened and the operations manager walked inside. Helix relaxed his offensive stance. Chuck handed Mystic the pamphlets to pass out, then he put his hands on his hips and surveyed the room.

"Shit, I can cut the tension in this room with a knife. What the hell is going on?"

Silence and a lot of diverted gazes followed.

"Well, who wants to spill the beans?" Chuck prodded again. "I ain't got all day." Chuck was not a big man, but he had a big presence. You knew he was in charge without question. The fact that he was a badass smokejumper back in his day helped solidify the respect we had for him. But in this case, even his furrowed brow and crossed arms weren't working. The room was stuck in a tense, awkward silence for another minute while Chuck waited with stern brow and posture for someone to explain what was going on.

Chuck uncrossed his arms and clapped once. "Fine, we were going to do some training after the meeting. Everyone, get on your running shoes and meet me outside. It's a great morning for a five mile run."

The silence was broken by a series of complaining moans. Plenty of daggers were being shot my direction along with the angry grumbles. People reluctantly rose from the chairs and left behind their donuts and coffee to head to the lockers and change.

"And, Bronx," Chuck said before I could get clear of the room. "Since all the angry scowls seem to be pointed your direction, you can do an extra mile."

"Yes, sir," I said as I walked out.

"Fucking great," Kingston said as he opened his locker. "Shouldn't have eaten two donuts. I'm going to puke them right back up." He shivered. "Phew frosty as the Arctic in here. Reminds me of a high school locker room. I'd say you should be ready to get some jock straps fired your way."

"Yep, ignoring the assholes." I pulled out my running shoes and sat on the bench to put them on."

"This is all your fault, Bronx," Sunshine growled.

"Yeah, well, you look like you could use a run," I said. "Or are you trying out for a Santa position at the mall?" I got dressed faster than if we were heading out to a fire. A run suddenly sounded like just the thing I needed to cool my head.

27

"Here's where the rest of us turn around," Helix chided at the top of the trail. His elbow shot out. It torpedoed full force into my gut. I was already breathing hard from the uphill run. I instantly bent over at the waist to catch my breath.

"You're fucking done with this crap," King said. He swung his arm around. "All of you are fucking done with this."

"Ahh, how cute," Helix said, "Got your big buddy standing up for you."

"You know what? An especially big fuck off to you, Helix." King and Helix were both big, and about matched in weight and height. They headed toward each other, fists clenched and jaws set. They came toe to toe and stopped just short of throwing punches. The heavy breathing and groans from running uphill for two miles fell to a hushed quiet where the only sounds were the birds and squirrels shuffling through the dead leaves and forest debris.

I finally caught the breath Helix had knocked out of me. "Don't, King," my voice was still strained. "He's not worth a mark on your record." I looked straight at Helix. "Whatever you think it takes to make you feel better, Helix. You lost your best friend. I get it. I'd feel the same way if I'd lost King. But I'm not going to fucking fight you because I worked hard to get this job, and I'm not giving it up just because you can't get that stick out of your ass."

A few chuckles rolled up the trail. Helix and Kingston stepped back from each other. Helix swung around and started back down the trail. Others followed.

"Hey, buddy, I'd do that last mile with you—" King had already shifted back to his usually light demeanor. He pressed his arm against his stomach. "But those donuts aren't happy."

I'd retrieved my breath, but Helix had left a good sharp pain in my gut. I waved to King. "Go ahead. Actually looking forward to the solitude on this last mile."

With that, Kingston spun around and followed the others down the hill. I continued up the trail, feeling Helix's fucking gut elbow with each step. I reached the turnaround point for six miles and took a second just to enjoy the peaceful sounds of nature. We were heading into winter soon, and most of the critters were getting ready for hibernation or migration. The arrival of winter, even a dry winter, signaled that there would be a break from fires. There wouldn't be much happening at the base camp until after the holidays. After this morning, I was glad as fuck that this was our last week of training and equipment repair. I would spend the next few months working as a paramedic with a local fire station. I looked forward to the change. I was planning to take on extra shifts to make some money and keep myself busy. Being busy would help keep my mind off Layla.

The second I thought about keeping my mind off her, my phone rang. It was Layla. I answered it quickly. "Hey, everything all right?" I asked. My pulse was still pounding from the run and now it had gone into overdrive, merely at the thought that Layla was on the other end of the phone call.

She didn't speak right away. I pulled the phone from my ear to make sure I had service. Three bars. "Layla?"

"I'm so mad I can hardly speak." In the background I could hear the usual sounds of a hospital, gurneys and machines being moved, intercoms calling for a certain doctor and the voices of staff and patients.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Do you know that Helix sent that video not just to me but to everyone in Adam's social orbit. Then, he let everyone know that I was seeing the guy that Adam asked me not to see. And oh boy," she laughed, but there was an upset edge to it. "Oh boy, all of a sudden everyone has decided that Adam was a perfect husband. I was the bitch. I'm hearing opinions from people I haven't heard from in years, and they're letting me have it. Had to go dark on my social media accounts, which probably wasn't such a bad thing anyhow." Her voice was shaky, not the usual bright confident tone coming from the other end.

"I know all about it. I'm at base camp. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they're plotting my demise right now. I'm going to take care of this for you, Layla. I started this and I'm the perceived villain in this story, so I'm going to put an ending on this shit show right now."

"No don't get into trouble. I know you already have a mark on your record after the fight with Adam. I'm just going to ignore everyone in my social circle. At least I still have my parents and sister."

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