Sully

by Jade Kuzma

  I clenched my jaw as I looked at Dorian. There was a look of uncertainty on his face. He stood there with his hands on his hips, trying not to look right at me.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said to me.

  I reluctantly walked up to the man.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m Fire Chief Burton,” he said. “I’m in charge at the station. One of my men saw someone there. A woman. Were you at the station earlier tonight?”

  “W-well, I-I…”

  I stuttered as I looked at Dorian, trying to find the right thing to say. As bad as the night was going, I didn’t want it to get any worse.

  But my hesitation was enough for Burton to figure out that I was already looking for a lie.

  “Tell me the truth,” he said. “We have security footage of the station. Don’t waste my time.”

  Dorian looked at me but didn’t say anything. I knew there was no point in lying about it.

  “I stopped by the station,” I said. “I wanted to pay Dorian a visit to say hello. I know late night shifts can be boring and—”

  “They’re supposed to be boring,” he cut me off. “If they’re boring, it means buildings aren’t on fire.”

  He turned back toward Dorian.

  “And you… Who gave you the authorization to let a civilian into the station during your shift? You were supposed to be ready.”

  “I was ready!” Dorian said. “George and I got here as fast as we could. We couldn’t have got here any sooner to put that fire out.”

  “Maybe…”

  Burton eyeballed me up and down.

  “…But I never approved you letting people into the station when there were only two men on duty.”

  The bald man sighed a deep breath and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, Sullivan,” he said. “I have to suspend you.”

  “What?” Dorian exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!”

  “I’m serious. There are rules here. You’ve gotta follow protocol. A few more seconds might not have made a difference tonight but things could have been different.”

  “They weren’t. I was here. I was here as fast as I could be.”

  Anger. Frustration. There was a combination of emotions on Dorian’s face I’d never seen before. I stood there staring at him, just as helpless as I’d been when I watched the fire burn.

  “Come back in a couple of weeks,” Burton said as he walked away. “Until then, I don’t want you anywhere near the station, you got it?”

  Dorian put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground. I hesitated for a moment before putting a hand on his arm.

  “Dorian… Dorian, I’m sorry—”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said, suddenly looking up at me.

  “I never should have come to the station to visit you. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

  “Hey…”

  He put his hands on my shoulders to calm me down. The smile on his face eased some of the tension I felt just moments ago.

  “…I don’t regret what happened,” he said. “Do you?”

  “No,” I said as I shook my head. “Of course not.”

  “What’s done is done. I just have to accept it.”

  He put an arm around my shoulder to console me.

  Dorian was suspended.

  The place I worked at was burned to the ground.

  I couldn’t tell which one of us was in a worse mood.

  But standing there with his arm around me, I strangely felt better than I thought I would have.

  We took one last look at the scene as the firefighters finished taping the building off. The police shooed away the stragglers as they retired for the evening. The sirens stopped flashing.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let me give you a ride back to the station so you can get your bike.”

  He gave me a smirk before we got into my car.

  Dorian was quiet as we headed back to the fire station. I was too exhausted to bother him with what he was thinking about.

  It felt like we were the only two people in Ivory. With the sky as dark as it would ever get, I couldn’t wait for the night to finally end.

  Chapter 11

  DORIAN

  There was no business at the clubhouse to tend to. The shit that happened at the bakery and my suspension from the fire station didn’t mean much to the other members.

  I had the rest of the day to myself, so I figured I would turn to the one person in town I actually looked forward to seeing. Despite how bad the circumstances were, at least Gina was there with me.

  I picked her up from her apartment and she looked as good as she always did. Underneath the daylight, I was able to get a better look at her. She didn’t seem to mind how hard I was staring at her, that pixie smirk on her lips as she got on my ride behind me.

  We headed back to Amy’s Bakery to see how things were. The place was shut off completely. Yellow tape blocked the entrance and the windows were broken and melted off.

  Gina sighed as she looked up at the place.

  “Are you sure you wanna do this?”

  I put a hand on her shoulder and she nodded.

  “It isn’t like I have much else to do these days.”

  I followed her into the bakery and looked around at all the ash. As soon as we stepped inside, I heard something in the back of the bakery. We made our way into the kitchen and saw Lydia looking around.

  “Lydia!” Gina exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She looked up and smiled.

  “Gina! I thought I told you to take some time off.”

  “You can’t be in a place like this with all of this ash everywhere!”

  “This place isn’t going to clean itself up. I might as well get to it.”

  “Here. Let me.”

  Gina grabbed a broom from out back. It was one of the few things in the place that wasn’t destroyed.

  “How about you, Reaper?” Lydia said to me. “You feel like helping out.”

  “Seeing as how I’m suspended…” I started.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing… What can I do for you?”

  “All of this equipment is no good now. You mind taking it out back for me? The insurance agency is going to stop by later today to document everything. Thank goodness most of this stuff is insured…”

  “No problem.”

  I got to work moving all of the equipment out the back door of the restaurant. It took a surprising amount of heavy machinery to make all of the pastries they sold in the place. I didn’t realize how much work Gina and Lydia went through every day to put out fresh products for the people in town.

  The work was hard enough to make me sweat but I didn’t complain. I was sweating so much that I had to take my vest off. Gina eyeballed me as she continued sweeping the ash all over the floor.

  “Tired,” she asked.

  “Not at all. I used to move bales of hay every morning for my dad. This shit is easy work for me.”

  “You don’t have to impress me, you know?”

  “Oh, I know. It doesn’t hurt though, does it?”

  Flirting with Gina was enough to put a smile on both of our faces. Considering how bad shit was, any reason to smile was a good one.

  A few hours went by as I continued clearing out the kitchen. Gina kept herself busy sweeping while Lydia watched from a distance. Gina had to keep reminding Lydia that she was pregnant and her water would break at any moment. It was enough for all of us to get our mind off of everything.

  “All right,” Lydia said. “Why don’t you take a break now?”

  I just finished moving the last piece of equipment to the back of the bakery. I put the back of my hand to my forehead to wipe off the sweat. She handed me a bottle of water and I sipped on it.

  The back parking lot of the bakery was empty. The whole street had been practically closed off, so it felt like there was no one else around.

  I leaned up against one of the broken
pieces of equipment underneath the warm Ivory sun. Lydia took a seat next to me as we both looked at Gina inside of the bakery. We watched her as she continued to sweep the endless amount of char and ash on the ground.

  Lydia was a good-looking woman, maybe just a few years older than me. Brunette with fair skin, it wasn’t hard to believe she found a guy willing to knock her up.

  “She says she knew you,” Lydia said. “Back in high school.”

  “She knew me but I didn’t know her.”

  “That’s how it is with the popular ones. No time for everybody even though everybody’s always clamoring for it.”

  I wasn’t looking at Lydia but I could feel her staring at me from the corner of my eye.

  “What is she to you?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  “You know what I mean. And don’t bullshit me. I’m engaged to a former club member.”

  She flashed the diamond ring on her finger. The smirk on her face made me chuckle.

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, I went to high school with her but I never talked to her until a couple of nights ago.”

  “That’s long enough.”

  “Long enough for what?”

  “Long enough to figure out what she is. Is she just some chick you wanted to bend over and stick your dick in? Or is she something more?”

  Lydia’s bluntness caught me by surprise. But considering she was engaged to a former patch, I should have expected as much.

  I stared at Gina in the distance and shrugged my shoulders.

  “I’ll be honest with you,” I said. “I don’t know. I like her. I like spending time with her. She’s not like any girl I’ve ever met. I… I can’t explain it. But if you’re asking me if I’m going to get down on a knee and propose to her…”

  I shook my head, unsure of the answer Lydia was looking for.

  “She’s been through a lot,” Lydia said.

  “She has?”

  I raised an eyebrow in curiosity at Lydia.

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  “You don’t know?”

  I shook my head. Lydia squinted at me, looking into my eyes like she was trying to read my mind.

  “I can’t tell you what happened to her,” Lydia said. “That’s not my place to say. It’s her business. But I will tell you this…”

  Lydia leaned in close to me and whispered even though there was nobody close enough to hear her.

  “Whatever it is you’re up to, just be honest with her. Don’t make this shit more complicated for her than it has to be, okay?”

  I looked over at Gina. It was clear there was more to her than the girl I was trying to hook up with. It was easy for me to respond to Lydia.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I can do that. I don’t know if I can promise anything—”

  “You don’t have to promise me shit. If you’re going to make any promises, make ‘em to Gina.”

  I chuckled softly and nodded.

  “I’ll do that,” I said.

  “Good. Thanks for all the help, Reaper.”

  She patted me on the shoulder and slowly made her way back inside of the bakery. I remained leaning up against the piece of equipment, enjoying the warm weather as I watched Lydia and Gina work inside of the bakery.

  A few moments later Gina walked outside and took the spot where Lydia just was. We watched Lydia in the distance.

  “She’s insane,” Gina said. “Working in a burned down bakery when her water is about to break at any moment.”

  “She’s a passionate woman,” I said. “You’ve gotta admire that.”

  “I admire her, all right. There’s a lot of things about Lydia I admire. You know, she grew up in the big city.”

  “Did she?”

  “Yeah,” she said with a nod. “She spent most of her life up north before she came down to Ivory.”

  “Why the hell would someone come down from the big city to live in a place like Ivory?”

  “I asked her the same thing when she first came down here…”

  Gina and I turned to one another. She had a soft smile on her face that made me laugh.

  “…I guess there’s no other place like Ivory,” she said. “It’s got a certain… charm to it.”

  “That’s one way of describing it.”

  We shared another laugh as I looked at the side of the building. I sipped on my water as I examined the burn marks running along the bricks.

  What is that?

  I narrowed my eyes as I examined the black marks all over the side of the walls.

  “Is something wrong?”

  I was so focused on the walls that I almost missed what Gina said.

  “What?” I said as I turned to her.

  “You look like there’s something wrong,” she said. “The way you’re staring at the wall.”

  “It’s nothing…”

  “Are you sure it’s nothing?”

  Gina’s curiosity had to be satisfied. I sighed as I pointed at the black burn marks on the wall.

  “Did you talk to the fire investigator?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Last night. Not for long though…”

  “What did he say?”

  “He didn’t say much,” Gina said with a shrug. “He just said that someone left the gas on. The pilot light was still on, so it exploded. Everything caught on fire.”

  I blinked my eyes like I wasn’t sure I heard her right. I stood up straight and took a step toward the bricks.

  “Are you sure?” I said.

  “That’s what he said. Lydia warns me about it all the time. Leave the pilot light on so you don’t have to keep reigniting it. Just make sure the gas is off. One of the new trainees probably left it on and… Dorian?”

  I turned to Gina and suddenly saw the concern in her eyes. I didn’t want to be honest with her. The last thing she needed was something else to worry about. But I knew I couldn’t keep it from her.

  “Dorian, are you sure you’re okay?”

  I looked at Lydia inside of the bakery. She was a good distance away but I still had to make sure she couldn’t hear me.

  “You’re absolutely sure that’s what the investigator said to you?” I said.

  “Yes. I’m positive. A hundred percent. Why?”

  “If it were a gas leak, the fire wouldn’t look like that.”

  “What?” she exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Look,” I said as I pointed at the wall. “A gas leak would have been an explosion. The burn patterns would be even because everything caught on fire at once. This wasn’t an explosion. There’s a trail. The fire was started somewhere in the middle of the kitchen and it spread.”

  “Wait,” she said as she put her hands up. “What are you saying? Are you telling me someone started the fire intentionally?”

  It fucking hurt me to see the worry on Gina’s face. I sighed a deep breath and shook my head, trying to back out of the corner I’d suddenly put her in.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But it doesn’t look like a gas leak.”

  “Dorian…”

  “Hey.”

  I put my hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

  “It’s probably nothing you need to worry about,” I said. “Fire forensics are not always accurate. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it. Burn patterns are never consistent.”

  “Why would anybody intentionally start a fire at the bakery?” she said. “Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  Gina looked down at the ground in thought.

  “Sean,” she said. “Lydia’s fiancé is a former club member. Someone might have a vendetta against him and is trying to get back at him.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “If he’s a former patch, nobody would bother.”

  “And the only people who would are dead…”

  Gina and I looked at Lydia. I immediately regretted bringing this shit up. I searched for a way to try and comfort Gina the
best I could.

  “It’s all right,” I said as I put an arm around her. “Like I said, I’m probably thinking too much about. I spent too much time at the fire academy.”

  “You don’t have to try and impress me with all of your knowledge about fires,” she said sarcastically.

  Seeing Gina smile was enough to make me stop thinking about what I thought I saw.

  “Listen,” I said as I took her hands in mine. “I’m not doing anything. And I’m sure you don’t have any plans either. What do you think about heading out to The Grindhouse tonight?”

  “Hmm… Motorcycle clubhouses are a real good way to get in trouble. I don’t know if I should…”

  She playfully tapped her index finger against her cheek.

  “…But… Seeing as I don’t have shit to do, it sounds like a good time. I could use a drink.”

  I leaned in close to her and kissed her softly. As soon as I did, Lydia interrupted us.

  “Hey!”

  Gina and I both turned and looked toward her.

  “No kissing on the job,” she said as she snapped her fingers.

  We both laughed as we headed back into the bakery to finish cleaning up.

  Chapter 12

  GINA

  “I never took you for the kind of girl who would be interested in a guy like Sully.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  I turned and raised an eyebrow at Needle.

  His name was Blake but they called him Needle for a reason I didn’t know. He wasn’t like most of the stereotypical bikers you met. Sure, he had the tattoos and leather like the rest. But he was a blond-haired, blue-eyed pretty boy. And he knew it. There was always an aura of confidence about him. He said what was on his mind without hesitation. He seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of people. All you had to do was spend a few minutes with him to figure out what kind of man he was.

  “Sully’s not like the rest of us,” Needle said.

  “You say that as if it’s a bad thing. The last thing Ivory needs is more club members like you.”

  I pointed an index finger at the Black Reaper and he chuckled in response.

  “Hey, I love Sully,” Needle said. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s patched in. He’s a brother. But you’ve gotta admit, he’s not like the other Reapers.”