Page 57 of Flashback

“What are you going to do, Dakota?” Booth asked.

He popped open his can. “Not sure.”

The conversation switched to baseball. Dakota slipped away without notice and looked out over the mountains. It was hard to distinguish the clouds from the smoke and haze.

What am I supposed to do? The sheriff says stay out of it. Allie doesn’t want to be a part of anything. So, God, why did You bring her back into my life if I was just going to screw it up?

She wasn’t wrong. He was trying to hide his past too, afraid of what this team would think. It was part of his story. But if he was adamant that she should get her own past out in the open, he should probably be more forthcoming about his own.

Miles Dafoe came out of the building. “Troops, let’s round up. We’ve got a callout.”

“Aw, it’s our day off, Commander. I thought that team from California was on call today,” someone around the grill said. Probably Orion.

“Fire doesn’t care. The wind picked up, and they need our help to push it east toward the river. Let’s head out.”

Dakota ran inside with the others to change and grab his gear.

As they scrambled to load the truck and vans with the necessary equipment, Dafoe called out orders. “Masterson, you’ll be working with Kane on the dig crew this time.”

Probably, he didn’t trust him with a chain saw, and he’d be better off avoiding any falling timber. Dakota gingerly felt his bandage through his shirt. Tried not to think of Allie nursing his wounds. This wasn’t the time to worry about her.

“Saw Allie left before the barbecue ended.” Kane nudged Dakota as they piled their water jugs into the back of the van.

“Yeah, so?”

“Everything okay? She seemed upset.”

Dakota slammed the van door shut. “You wanna go comfort her? Go right ahead. But don’t get too close unless you wanna get burned.”

Kane lifted his hands in surrender fashion. “Whoa. Easy there. Not trying to move in on your girl.”

“She’s made her decision when it comes to me.” Dakota grabbed his pack.

Houston looked over at them as he walked to the front passenger seat. “Really? So you’re just going to give up?”

“Allie made her choice.”

“And what choice was that?” Houston asked.

“To walk away. And believe me, I gave her plenty of chances to stay.” Dakota moved to get in the van.

Kane stopped him with a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know why you’re letting a woman like Allie get away. You fight for everything else. Why not her?”

“She doesn’t want me. Or at least, she’s not willing to stay and try to figure something out. What more do you want me to do? Beg?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes.” Kane looked at him like the answer was obvious. Houston just shrugged.

“She knows about my past. About me.” And maybe, like his mother, what she saw wasn’t enough. Goodness knows she’d seen enough instances of him acting exactly like his father.

“What are you talkin’ about?” Orion asked as he walked up.

“I have a temper. It can cause a lot of trouble. And?—” He might as well tell them. “I’m an addict. Got kicked off my last team for good reason. I put them at risk. So maybe she’s the smart one to walk away.”

“You really believe that? ’Cause if you’re talking about taking down that drunk who beat up his wife, I don’t think anyone here would fault you for it.” Kane looked around at the others gathered by the van as he said it. Sax shook his head a little. Houston simply shrugged. Charlie almost looked bored.

Nobody seemed particularly upset or horrified about his admission.

Maybe they didn’t understand. “That’s part of it. But…it’s also bad genetics too. My old man…well, let’s just say he didn’t particularly need a reason for a good beatdown.”

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