Page 7 of Burning Escape

Right. Orion tried to shake off the memory of the mysterious and captivating Victoria from last night. A memory that tangled up in his head way more than he liked.

“You okay? You look awful.” Logan glanced over from behind the wheel of his car.

He wasn’t thrilled to have Logan following him to the Midnight Sun crew, but the guy had his own reasons for coming up here, and maybe it wouldn’t be horrible to have a friend around. As long as Orion was seen as his own person.

“I’m fine. Didn’t sleep great.”

“Nervous?”

Sure, let Logan think that was it. “Maybe.”

“You got back pretty late last night, but you’re a good firefighter, Price. You’ve got this.”

“Thanks.”

Orion sipped his coffee. Ugh. Lukewarm.

So different from Victoria. She was fire and heat. And boy, had he been burned all right.

What was his problem anyway? It had been one dance. One kiss.

But it had hooked him like an expert fisherman catching a king salmon, snagging on his heart and pulling relentlessly. No other woman had done that before.

But what did it say that she’d felt no qualms about kissing him and leaving? Obviously the moment hadn’t unraveled her as it had him. Maybe her job reallywasimportant. Or he’d simply been a distraction for her.

Whatever.

He needed his head on straight. This was his time to show everyone that he had what it took. He’d left his home, his family, everything he knew in Ember for this. He was ready to step into his legacy. And maybe redeem himself, at least a little.

They pulled into the base camp. Quonset huts, a few log-sided cabins, and a long building labeled as a mess hall all surrounded the small runway crossing through the middle of the camp. A couple of helipads and a small lot of RVs sat off to the side. The base was tucked up against foothills, out in the middle of nowhere. The crisp morning air smelled like new beginnings. Orion and Logan parked and walked into one of the open plane hangars. People milled around chatting. A small group off to the side of the room caught his eye. What in the world?—

“Hey, the Trouble Boys and Sanchez are here?” Orion asked Logan.

“Guess so.” Logan walked up and gave a fist bump to Hammer. “What are you guys doing here? Get too hot in Montana?”

“Something like that.” Hammer grinned. “We’ve been here all winter. I thought you were staying with Jude County.”

“Plans changed.” Logan pointed his thumb at Orion. “Thought I’d keep an eye on the rookie here. Thinks he wants to jump out of planes this year.”

Orion clenched his jaw tight.

Funny. Logan didn’t bring up the fact that he was here because of a woman named Jamie Winters withtheseguys. It was bad enough he thought he needed to watch over Orion. Now more of the Jude County crew were here? Who else had come up from Montana for the summer?

This was supposed to be his fresh start, a chance to work with people that didn’t know him. He was supposed to do this on his own.

“You wanna be a smokejumper?” Kane asked Orion. “Between the locals and the smokejumpers from Montana, I heard there aren’t many spots. We’ll be joining the hotshots.” The look on his face said he wouldn’t have minded trying out but something had stopped him.

“Guess we’ll see who gets them.” Because Orion was going to nab one of the open spots no matter what. He had to. After all he’d gone through to get his mother on board with this career—which had been no easy feat, since her own father had lost his life smokejumping—he wasn’t going to turn back now. At least he wasn’t competing with Kane, Hammer, and the others.

A sharp whistle stopped all conversation. Everyone turned to the front of the room, where a man with a clipboard and—wait. Was that Jade Ransom? Another Jude County transplant. Seriously, had the whole crew decided to follow him here?

“I’m Tucker Newman. I’m the commander this season. This is Jade Ransom. She’s jump boss, and she’s running the show if you’re here to train for smokejumping. If that’s you, head out with her. The rest of you stick here with Mitch Bronson, who will be running the hotshot crew.”

Orion and Logan and about fifteen others followed Jade out to a bay garage, doors wide open, letting the cool morning breeze in.

“Orion, good to see you.” JoJo Butcher walked over to them. She ruffled Orion’s hair. “You’re not gonna get your pretty hair messed up jumping out of planes, are ya?”

Like he needed one more person here treating him like a little kid when he was trying to prove he was his own man. He swatted her hand away. “What are you doing here?”

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