Page 53 of Burn
“Now?”
“Yeah.” I laugh, pulling her up onto her feet, straightening out her dress. “It’s my job.”
“What do I do?” She asks, watching me stomp into my shoes and finger comb my hair.
“Come with. Just stay in the truck so I don’t have to worry about you.”
“I can do that?”
“Sure why not?” I say, taking her hand and leading her to the pole in the middle of the room that goes through the floor and into the garage below, looking at her with a sly smile. “Hmmm you on a pole…nice.”
“Ass.”
“Yep.” I laugh, grabbing the slick metal and sliding down it, looking up at her, admiring the view as she follows suit and wraps those sexy thighs around it. “Loosen your grip and let your body fall baby.” I say to her, reaching up and giving her ankle a little tug. “You’ve got it.”
She clumsily slides down, and wraps her arms around my neck, allowing me to pull her from the pole on a shrieking laugh. Her cheeks are bright red in her embarrassment on the not so gracious slide.
“Zeph!” She laughs as I wrap her legs around my waist and carry her to the ladder truck, opening the side door.
“In baby.” I say tossing her inside. She falls on her back into the seat right next to Marcus, who ogles her a little too much. I can see his eyes immediately go to her thighs where her dress rides up just a bit. “If you touch her, it’ll be the last thing you do.” I warn him, pointing to my eyes and then to him, showing him I’m watching even though I’ll be on the back of the truck where I belong.
I always ride on the back next to the captain. Not only has he been a father figure for me, and I get a little extra special treatment over the other guys, but I also need to be able to be the first one off the truck and into the fire. My brothers rely on my ability to find where they’re needed most.
Your crazy comes with a gift.
“Ugh. One I wish it didn’t.” I grumble as I slam closed the cabin door and grab my gear from the captain’s hands.
He stands there shuffling his feet, waiting for me to step into my britches then sling my jacket on over my shoulders. The wince of pain when I shrug my upper half doesn’t go unnoticed, and I just shake my head at him to tell him to ignore it.
With my suspenders up and my coat on he helps me put on my tank and helmet, and in under two minutes I’m hanging off the back of the truck next to him, watching my woman through the sideview mirror.
We roll out of the garage with lights and sirens blazing, and two other trucks following behind us, another ladder truck, and the tanker that just an h our ago I watched my angel stroke with her dainty little fingers.
You’re never gonna look at that truck the same way.
“Nope.” I say, popping the “P” seeing my captain shake his head at me. He knows. He has to.
“Ready to do your thing?” He asks, setting his hand on my shoulder, again seeing me grimace. “Nothing’s gonna hold you back?”
“Nah. I’m good.” I shout back to him over the wail of the siren and the deep honking of the horn.
“We rely on you, you know. You’d better not let this woman fuck with your head.”
“I’m already fucked in the head.” I laugh, leaning against him, smiling a huge, real, genuine smile at the only man I have ever actually cared for.
“Well, yeah. Just don’t get MORE fucked up.”
“Yes Sir!” I say, giving him a ridiculously crooked salute.
The fire is a raging inferno when we get to the scene. It’s a single house on a narrow street. Lined way to close with the other residences. Another company is already there with their hoses blasting, and their lights bouncing off all the homes flanking us on both sides. Cars on the street block the hydrants, as always, and make it difficult for us to maneuver down between them.
“Tuck it in!” I call out to the captain as his leg comes precariously close to a pickup truck’s bumper.
He laughs and kicks the truck as we pass by, pointing his finger at it. “Remind me to smash its windows when we’re done.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
The heat from the blaze can be felt from half a block away, and it’s a scorcher, burning hotter than a regular residential fire.
