Page 74 of Burn

I smile. “I met Finn’s girl.”

As with most firefighters, we play jokes daily. When you’re with each other as much as we are, it’s like a game to see who you can piss off the most. We’ve all been the brunt of them on more than one occasion, and we fuck with anything we can, from their bed to their lockers and even their cars.

The only thing that’s off limits?

Gear, for safety reasons. We all have different ways of organizing our gear, sizing it, setting it up for quickly donning it for a call. So don’t fuck with it. That’s the general rule for us.

Beds?

Oh, yeah. Fuck with that. Salt or sugar, or sand for Finn’s. He’s OCD, and the dude spends so much time washing himself he’s an easy target for sure.

“Come on, boys, time to get to work,” Cap says, taking a walk through the apparatus bay. We’re standing next to the engine and truck parked in our six-bay station.

As the day starts around nine, we’d usually move on to doing our daily checks of the trucks. We make sure they’re ready to go and full of water, that all the radios are working and the apparatus all have their equipment.

Today we’re cleaning the windows on the firehouse. You’d think we’d have maintenance people for this. We do. They’re called firefighters.

Beside me cleaning a window is Owen, in scuba gear. He’d do anything for a laugh, and the way people look at him wearing scuba gear to clean a window gets a laugh out of the city.

He’s been known to wear complete turnout gear and a mask when he cleans the bathroom.

“Hey,” Owen hollers, grabbing my attention. “Did you get that chicks phone number yet?”

Owen’s relentlessly lately. “I don’t want her number. I just want to fuck her.”

Leaning to the side, he tosses a towel at my face. “Bullshit. How long did it take before you gave Gemma your number?”

I shrug. “I didn’t. She stole it when I told the cashier at Safeway my number so I could get condoms on sale.”

Owen throws his head back, laughing. I’m not amused and go back to cleaning my window.

No sooner have I finished washing my window, I hear the laughter from beside me as Evan asks, “You need some water?”

And there went my clean window.

He’s such an asshole. I have no idea what Jacey sees in him. But then again, as a brother, if I ever want someone to have my back, it’s him. And despite what’s going on between us, in a fire, he’s got mine and I’ve got his. Never any doubt about that.

Sometimes I hate we’re assigned to the same house. Mostly because he’s always giving me shit. He thinks I need an attitude adjustment, and I think he’s a hypocritical hard-ass.

Thankfully, I wasn’t a probie at this house, or I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive. Another guy I went through the academy with did his probation with Evan, and he’s a janitor now. Tells you how easily Evan can get inside your head.

Beep Beep. Two tones.

The alarms go off throughout the building and the apparatus bay where most of us are standing. “Ladder 10, Engine 25 . . . 764 Denny Way . . . structural fire. Battalion 2. Aide 25.”

We all stop what we’re doing and head for the truck. Everyone except Finn who’s eating a cupcake. A fucking cupcake.

“What the hell, kid!” Evan rouses Finn by throwing his helmet at his feet. “Come on!”

“Where?” He takes another bite of his cupcake.

“It’s a fire, Sparkles.” Owen slaps the back of his head, excitement and anticipation in his tone. He loves this. “We’re all invited.”

Within thirty seconds, our ladder and engine pull out onto Pine Street.

“Are you scared?” Owen asks Finn when we reach the apartment complex, command giving orders to Cap as he relays them to us. They let us know there are six floors in the apartment complex and most have been evacuated, except for a woman on the third floor.

Finn’s nervous. I can see it in the dilation to his eyes and the way he taps his foot the entire way here. “Yeah. I mean, maybe a little bit but I’m totally ready for this.”

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