Page 40 of Burning Escape

He sat on the bench and pushed the bars up. He didn’t wince, but he did press his lips together tightly. She watched his well-defined muscles contract and release.

As a professional, she had no excuse for the warmth pooling in her middle as she continued studying Orion’s physique. She pulled her hair back off her neck and threw it in a messy bun with her hair tie. “It’s warm in here.”

“Is that why you look flushed?” Orion looked concerned.

Which only made her cheeks heat even more. Time to redirect. “So why does this job mean so much to you?”

“It’s my legacy. My grandfather was a smokejumper back in the day.”

“It’s nice that you want to make him proud.”

“I never had the chance to meet him. He died fighting a wildfire when my mom was young. But where I grew up, everyone knew about him. Told me stories of his courage and bravery. Until last year, I didn’t know who my father was, so I grew up wanting to be like my granddad.”

“I get that, not knowing your dad, but why this way? Why being a smokejumper?”

Orion did a few more reps before responding. He dropped his arms and shook them out. “Because when it counted, Iwasn’tbrave.”

“What do you mean?” She led him over to a different machine to work on lateral raises. He didn’t say anything for a while.

“Come on, Ry. I shared my shameful past. Nothing you say can top that.”

He glanced at her and sighed. “In junior high I had some not-so-great friends. I justified it by thinking I could be a good influence on them, but that wasn’t the case.” He used his forearms to push the levers up.

“Got into a bit of trouble?” Tori’s eyes caught on his biceps and lateral deltoids showing off their perfection thanks to the fitted athletic shirt he wore.

“Yeah.” He did a few more reps on the lowest weight setting. “Cutting class and doing dumb pranks. But the worst of it was the time we rode our bikes to an old barn. Bobby stole cigarettes and a lighter from his dad. I knew smoking was wrong. I grew up at a camp dedicated to fighting forest fires. I knew how flammable that barn was. There was dry, old hay in the loft and all over the ground. I should’ve said something. But I didn’t. I was too chicken.”

“Did it catch fire?”

Orion allowed the weighted bar to drop. “Burned to the ground and almost killed a firefighter who was trying to put it out. All because I was too scared to do the right thing.”

“I might know a little about that. I think I was so worried about being left out or left alone that I got caught up in all sorts of situations. Were you caught?”

Orion slowly nodded. “I’ve never seen my mother so disappointed.” He looked up at Tori, so much shame and sorrow in his gaze. “She made me go to the hospital to see the firefighter who was injured and apologize. He had burns over half his body. I’ve never seen someone in that much pain. And it was my fault.”

“Aw, Ry, you were a dumb kid. We all do dumb stuff. It’s not like you meant for the fire to happen or for that man to be hurt.”

But Orion didn’t look her in the eye. He stared out the window. “I haven’t been able to get his words out of my head though. He said, ‘I thought Jack Price’s grandson would’ve known better. Think about what kind of man you want to be before it’s too late. Your mother deserves better.’”

“So you’ve been trying to make up for it since?”

“Something like that. And of course, my mom blamedherselffor my stupid choice and the fire. Which made it so much worse. I was the one responsible. Not her. So I want to prove to my mother that I can be a man she can be proud of, like my granddad. This is how I can do that.”

“That’s a lot of pressure to live up to. I’m sure your mother and your grandfather, if he were alive, would be proud of you, even if you weren’t a smokejumper. They’d be proud of you because of the kind of man you are, not because of the rescue work you do.”

He was one of the kindest, hardest-working men she’d met. A real hero. Couldn’t he see that?

“What about you? Why areyouso adamant about being a smokejumper? Aren’t you trying to prove something to your sisters? To all those people who said you were bad or weak?”

Was that what she was doing?

“I only want to prove something to myself. That I can do hard things on my own. Because I’ve been there. I’ve been on my own and scared out of my mind. Every fire is a battleground, and I want to fight to win. To help others so they won’t have to fight alone.”

“Seems like you help a lot of people here too though. What about that work?”

She loved working here, but it wasn’t hard. And she needed to stay strong. Challenged. But rather than answer his questions, she moved him on to do delt flies. Orion sat on the bench and grabbed the bars in front of him.

“Keep your elbows straight and swing your arms out to the side.” She watched him do a full set.

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