by K. C. Crowne
“Not all of us almost cost a kid his life, Wes,” I said.
Luke had remained quiet through all of this, and I noticed he was studying his phone pretty intently. Typically, when someone ignored you in favor of their phone, it was a reason to be insulted. It was somehow different with Luke though. He stared at it, his brow furrowed in concentration, and I knew that look in his dark brown eyes. Something had grabbed his attention – something important.
His black hair was also wet and slicked back as best as it could be, and a light stubble lined his chiseled face. He was completely oblivious to everything around him, focused on whatever it was he was reading.
“Earth to Luke,” I said. “You playing or not?”
“I'm sitting out, sorry,” he muttered, scrolling down.
Wes cocked an eyebrow and I shrugged. I had no clue what Luke was researching, or what had grabbed his attention. The guy was practically a genius and usually operated on an intellectual plane that far exceeded our own.
Luke had gone to a prestigious engineering school for a while before dropping out. He'd quit, not because he couldn't keep his grades up, but because he’d found it too easy, and was bored. He had straight A's and a full ride academic scholarship. His life was set, and he was going to be making money hand over fist when he graduated.
Yet, he'd given that all up to work with the likes of us, doing grimy, shitty, thankless work, for which we weren't paid all that well, and put our lives on the line every single day. Though it took some time for us to get to know him, Luke and Austin had grown up together. They were best friends through and through, and Luke had eventually followed him into the field.
I put my cards face down on the table. My hand was shitty, and I was going to lose, so any excuse not to play it was one I was willing to grab hold of and run with.
“What's going on?” I asked.
“Another wildfire,” he said. “This one's in Escondido.”
“Getting closer,” I said. “Think we'll get called in?”
Technically, wildfire season had passed. Fall and winter meant that we were supposed to have a few months to relax, to not worry about fires destroying entire towns and cities and endangering the lives of thousands. The past few years though, the wildfires had been getting worse and worse. The season was getting longer and longer, with less rain every year, and so much dry brush to burn out there.
As bad as it was getting though, this still seemed to be even worse than usual – even for Southern California.
“Nah,” Luke said. “They have this one under control.”
“Good,” Wes said, eyeing his cards, and looking over at me as if trying to encourage me to play.
“So what has your interest, Luke?” I asked. “You seem pretty focused on whatever it is you're reading there.”
“Just that – well – I need to talk to Austin first,” he said.
As if on cue, we heard Austin's raised voice from the other side of the door – and this time his words were clear as day.
“You could have fucking killed that kid,” he shouted. “What in the fuck were you thinking, Owen?”
I muttered, “I think he's going to be in there awhile. Owen is kind of dense at times, Austin’s gonna have to repeat himself.”
The look on Luke's face piqued my interest. He knew something he wasn't sharing with us, and that irked me a little bit. Sometimes, it felt like he thought less of us, simply because he was the brains of the operation. There was no question he was the smartest one in our house, and it seemed like sometimes he didn’t think we’d get what he was thinking.
Hell, maybe I was just being overly sensitive, and assuming things about him. He'd never been rude to us, or overtly condescending, or anything – but he mostly talked to Austin. Don't get me wrong, he was a good team member. He was always reliable, and we'd had some laughs over the years, but he was always a little distant. Always seemed to keep us at an arm's length.
Luke continued scrolling, falling silent and tuning us out again.
“You gonna play your hand or not, Spencer?” Wes asked.
He only used my last name when he was egging me on or trying to get under my skin. It used to be a joke, because he'd struggled with working alongside a woman, and Spencer sounded more masculine than my first name – Sarah – obviously. It made working with a woman on the rig more palatable to him. He was a bit of a typical dude at first, but things had changed over time. As he got to know me and learned that I could handle my own out there, he grew to respect me. Now, he used my last name as a way to annoy me.
“It's a shame we're not playing strip poker,” I teased, trying to talk up my hand. “Because you'd be naked as a jaybird here in a second.”
“Ooh, I'm shaking in my boots,” Wes teased. “Now show me what ya got, Spencer. Unless you know you're going to lose.”
I couldn't let him get away with it. Even though my hand was total shit, I had to keep up appearances. The minute Wes thought he had the advantage, he was unbearable about it, so I found it best to never show weakness in front of him.
Picking my cards up off the table, I smirked as I stared at my random assortment of suits. I was just about to make a move – a stupid move that probably would have cost me a lot had we been betting anything of value – when the door to Austin's office swung open, crashing into the wall behind it.
Owen rushed out, a grim look on his face, and caught us all staring at him.
“Fuck off,” he muttered as he stalked past us.
“Merry Christmas to you too,” Wes chuckled.
Owen hurried toward the showers, leaving the rest of us in a stunned silence waiting for Austin to join us at the table and fill us in. I never liked drama, and usually did my best to avoid confrontation. I just wasn't into yelling, screaming, and general hysterics. Never was, never would be. It seemed like a childish way to handle things, but when it came to Owen, Austin often had little choice.
A few moments later, Austin waltzed out of his office, an amused little smirk on his face, looking pleased as punch. He wasn't even mad anymore, which was a shocker to me given how pissed off he'd sounded behind closed doors. Then again, he was the type of guy who let things roll off his back pretty easily. Owen was the reason for his bad mood, so he ripped Owen a new one and now it was over and done with. He was ready to move on.
There was a reason Austin was the chief. He could be stern when need be but was typically calm and collected most of the time. He never held grudges and always acted on behalf of the team first.
My heart fluttered just a bit when he stepped over to the table and stood beside me. I felt my cheeks flare with a little heat, and I had to look away from him. I'd always had a little bit of a crush on my boss – ever since the first day I saw him step out of the showers in nothing but a towel. His chestnut brown hair was cut neat and trim, and his body was a marvel. The tight, corded muscle and ripped, washboard abs that rippled underneath his tight shirts, taunted me. My imagination often got the best of me and it was all I could do most days to keep from drooling all over myself.
All the men I worked with were hot as hell. I mean, they were firefighters after all. Yet, Austin was something else. He was a cut above the norm, in my opinion. Maybe it was the broad shoulders and chiseled facial features, but I thought it was more than that. His very nature was attractive too. He was always in charge, and he handled it well. A leadership role seemed natural and suited him well. If you needed anything, you knew Austin would be able to help.
He was the type who'd always roll up his sleeves and pitch in – no task was beneath him – and I respected the hell out of him for that. As corny as it sounded, I felt privileged to be working underneath him. I did my best to keep my crush under control, but when those brownish green eyes turned down at me, my heart raced and I melted. Without fail, whenever he'd look at me, I'd turn to a pile of goo on the floor. This time was no different.
I'd been so lost in those vibrant, dancing eyes of his, I'd tuned the conversati
on out for at least the first few minutes. What caught my attention though, was Luke. He was talking about the wildfires now, and there was a strange note in his voice.
“Arson?” Austin said, scratching his dimpled chin. “Interesting. I don't think anyone has considered that yet,” he said. “At least, not that I've heard.”
“Wait, you think the wildfires are arson Luke?” I asked.
He nodded and sighed. “Yes, as I just explained to Austin, the signs are there. We haven't had any storms recently, nothing else that would cause a natural wildfire,” he said. “And while accidents do happen, these are breaking out far too close to one another – and too often. To me, that makes it seem more like a purposeful act, rather than a random accident or natural occurrence.”
“Huh,” I said, leaning back into my chair, and putting my cards down again. This seemed like the perfect reason to forget all about our card game altogether. This was some serious shit.
“My sister works at a horse ranch near Escondido. Just outside of it,” I said. “Think I should reach out to her and warn her?”
“Couldn't hurt,” Luke said. “Just in case there's another one. This is the third this month, and we're not even in fire season anymore.”
Arson. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but I didn't like the sound of it. I'd been looking forward to fall and winter, just to get away from the grueling hours of fire season for a while. I was looking forward to the more relaxed pace of our calls being more local.
Most of our job wasn't even fighting fires – much to the chagrin of Owen.
With wildfire season behind us, it was nice to have those breaks where the most important thing we had to do was check the hydrants around the city to make sure they were working properly. Or maybe to do some maintenance on the truck or talk to the students at the local schools about fire safety.
Regular EMT calls were the bulk of our runs, however. Most cities lacked enough ambulances to meet the needs of the residents and often, the fire trucks were the first on the scene. Most of those calls were relatively minor as well – which was always a good thing. As much as I loved my job, I loved it even more when we arrived at the scene of a call to discover the potential heart attack was really a panic attack, or that the patient just needed some sugar water to raise their blood sugar. Those calls were easy and accounted for most of what we did.
It was the other things – the real fires, the heart attacks, the car accidents – that were stressful, and left me with many sleepless nights, fighting images that had been burned into my brain for good. You can only see so many charred and broken bodies before you start to wonder if enough was enough. If you had the stomach to wade through the blood and gore of yet another accident, of staring into the lifeless face of another victim.
Then one day, you save a kid or someone's mother, and see the gratitude in their eyes, and it all becomes worth it again. It renewed your faith in what you were doing.
But arson – hell, I knew that was bad, and the thought of it sent chills down my spine. I'd only been a firefighter for two years, and never had I experienced anything like that. Especially if whoever the arsonist was, was running around causing big fires that had the potential to destroy cities and take lives – like the life of my sister.
My pulse raced and suddenly, it was all I could think about. My baby sister Jacklyn lived out that way. I prayed Luke was wrong, and that this fire was the last one. That we didn't actually have a serial arsonist running around. Luke was very rarely wrong, however. He was good at figuring shit out and seeing the things that the rest of us often missed. Too good sometimes.
“You playing or what, Spencer?” Wes asked again, pulling me back to the here and now.
I pushed my seat back and threw my cards down on the table for all to see, which made Wes grin and shake his head.
“Sorry, I'm not really in the mood to play anymore,” I muttered. “I need to call my sister.”
“Hey, Jacklyn, give me a call back when you get this, okay? It's kind of important. Miss you,” I said with a sigh.
It had been far too long since I'd talked to my baby sister. I knew it and felt bad about it. I'd always allowed myself to be sidetracked with the job, or with this, or that. Plus, I'd always been closer to Mallory, my older sister. We were closer in age, and both had similar interests. We just had more in common than Jacklyn and I did. With the holidays approaching, I needed to make some time for both of my sisters. We usually spent every Christmas together, and a smile stretched across my face as I thought back to Christmas's past - with Jacklyn in pigtails and My Little Pony PJs, Mallory with her tomboy pixie cut. My two sisters couldn't be more different, but they were both amazing women.
Mallory had been a Marine, then later joined the police force. We both served the public, worked in high-pressure male dominated fields, and it fit us. I stared at the photo of the three of us on my lock screen and smiled.
Jacklyn was the smallest of the three of us. Just over five feet tall with a thin figure, and flowing strawberry blonde hair. Her big, blue eyes were the largest thing on her face, and she just had this innocence about her that made me feel super protective of her.
Mallory, on the other hand, looked fierce – even in the selfie. Her hair was the darkest of the three of us – almost auburn, really – and was cut into a bob that framed her otherwise delicate face. But don't ever let her hear you say that she's delicate. Oh, no. She was a force to be reckoned with and fitter than most men I knew.
We were all fairly petite women, but both Mal and I worked out and it showed. We had to be in peak physical shape for our careers. Jacklyn remained in shape as well – she worked with horses all day and needed to be able to hold her own. Unlike us though, she didn't need to carry people out of burning buildings or fight off criminals who underestimated you because you were a woman.
The photo on my phone's lock screen was fairly recent. It had been taken at Jacklyn's horse farm this past summer. All of us had cocktails in our hands, and we were all smiling wide. My hair was longer now, but was still the same shade of red. I mostly wore it pulled back in a ponytail or bun, out of the way, because of work. In the photo though, it was more feminine, falling in soft waves down to my shoulders.
Yes, we desperately needed to get together for Christmas. It had been far too long since I'd seen my sisters.
I'd escaped to the bunk room, where we'd usually sleep during our longer shifts, or nap during breaks. I was alone at first, and it was nice to just stretch out and relax. The door opened though, and Austin came walking in, catching sight of me curled up on one of the beds.
He smiled. “Your sister doing okay?”
“I got her voicemail,” I said, sighing. “And I know she doesn't check voicemail, so I guess I should text her to call me.”
“Probably busy with the horses,” Austin said.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I chuckled.
Jacklyn was always the “horse girl”. You know the type. Growing up, she always had photos of horses plastered around her room and talked about them incessantly. Daddy couldn't afford to buy her a horse when were young – we were just a working-class family in San Diego. Besides, we had nowhere to really keep one anyway.
Our dad's sister though – our aunt Eleanor – had a ranch outside the city, and Jacklyn spent every summer there. It was probably another reason I was closer to Mallory than my baby sister. We didn't see Jacklyn too much during school breaks. She was always off with Eleanor, riding horses and doing whatever horse people do. Eleanor had some money issues though and lost the ranch, which broke Jacklyn's heart.
So, it came as no surprise to any of us, that she went to work at another ranch – and that she was good at it too. Training horses was her calling, and she did well at it. It was something that made her happy. Yet, just like it had been back in the old days, it didn't leave her a whole lot of time for her family.
I tossed my phone down on the bed beside me and focused on the man in front of me. We shared a
smile as he crossed the room.
“Mind if I sit down?”
“Go right ahead, boss,” I teased, patting the foot of the bed. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?”
“Nothing in particular,” he said.
“I'm not in trouble, you mean?”
He laughed, a deep, hearty sound that rumbled from his chest. “God, no. Sarah, you impress the hell out of me every single day,” he said. “And today was no different.”
Hearing such kind words of praise from my boss filled me with joy. I appreciated being recognized for a job well done. If I was being honest though, the feeling inside of me wasn't just because he was my boss, and he was giving me kudos on my job performance. The truth of the matter was that I loved when Austin praised me or showed me any kind of attention. But, there was always a little more to it than just that. I knew it was wrong – he was my superior. No matter how hard I tried to squash it though, those feelings wouldn't disappear entirely.
“Thank you. That means a lot,” I said. “You have no idea.”
“I think I have some idea,” he said with a wink.
I had no idea what he meant by that, and while I wasn't typically the type of girl to blush easily, he always managed to bring it out of me. My cheeks burned as I turned my attention to my fingernails which were caked with dirt even after showering. I grimaced at seeing the grime beneath my nails. Not very ladylike at all. Not that I’d ever really cared about being ladylike.
Still, I needed a good, thorough scrubbing – something I'd get after my shift was over. Being the only girl in the house meant when I showered, I showered alone. None of the guys could join me. They had to wait until I was done. So I usually hurried myself along, not wanting to make anybody wait. We all wanted to shower after a long, dirty call, and it sucked I wasn't one of the guys – meaning we'd all just hop in together and it wouldn't be a thing, and nobody would be left waiting.
“What are your plans for the holiday, Sarah?” he asked.
“Holiday?” I cocked my head to the side, trying to think about what day it was – and then it hit me. “Ha, you mean I might actually get a Christmas off for a change?”