Forged by Fire: A Small Town Second Chance Romance

by Cleveland, Eddie

  “My dick ain’t little. What are you going on about?” Her husband puffs up proudly.

  “Fine, it’s not my ‘little dick problem’ then. It’s your limp dick problem. Is that better?”

  “Not really, no. Please, isn’t this bad enough without you flapping your gums? Just be quiet, Bernice.” He goes back to cupping his manhood. I’m not sure if he’s doing it from the pain or for privacy. If it’s for privacy, that ship has most definitely sailed.

  “No, we can’t use scissors. They’ll just slide right off the ring and we’ll probably end up cutting him,” I explain to Josh.

  “No scissors! I’m not looking for a fucking circumcision here, boys!”

  I move the man’s hands and study the cockring. It’s easily the most awkward I’ve felt on any emergency call, but it’s time to get over it. If we don’t get this thing off his penis, there could be permanent damage. The metal is digging into his skin, painfully biting into his flesh. I can see where there’s a separation in the design.

  “And it did work. I mean, it did at first. You liked it when we used it this morning, didn’t you, Jeremy? In fact, he said to me, ‘Bernice, this was a great idea.’ Didn’t you?” She prods him.

  They already had a round using this thing earlier today? How much sex are elderly people having? You always picture them as sweet, innocent grandparents. Not wearing cockrings and spending their days rolling in the hay like teenagers.

  “I take it back!” he yells, his jowls vibrating. “It was a terrible fucking idea. Terrible.”

  “Well, you could’ve just gotten a prescription,” she counters.

  “Okay, enough!” I hold up my hands and the two of them stop bickering. “Ma’am, do you have a small metal spatula, by chance?” I turn to Bernice.

  “Well, I imagine I do.” She tilts her head and thinks it over.

  “Great.” I nod. “And, sir? Do you have a pair of wire cutters in the house?”

  He frowns and then nods. “Yeah, they’re in the back hall.”

  “Perfect.” I clap my hands together. We might actually be able to help this guy after all. “Ma’am, can you get me those things?”

  “I’ll do my best.” She makes her way out of the room.

  “While we wait, let’s bandage up the exposed skin here.” I pull out some gauze and hand it to Josh. “I don’t want to do any damage.”

  “I should certainly hope not!” Jeremy protests.

  Bernice walks in with the tools I asked for and Josh finishes wrapping up Jeremy’s dick like it’s going trick or treating as a mummy. Somehow it’s easier to maintain our professionalism and take this whole thing seriously when it’s contained by the bandaging.

  It takes some serious concentration, but Josh and I manage to slide the spatula in under the cockring where the link is weak. Slowly, carefully, we bend the metal and I snip the side with the wire cutters. It takes time and patience, but we manage to free his dick from the booby trap. A deep purple welt rises up on his shaft, but Jeremy doesn’t seem to mind.

  “You did it!” He practically jumps out of bed with joy.

  “We did,” I agree. “You’re probably going to want to ice that welt. Keep an eye on the skin and if you have any problems get into the doctor, okay?”

  “You got it.” Jeremy smiles brightly.

  “And while you’re there, get a prescription for those blue pills,” his wife pesters him.

  “Jesus, woman, you’re insatiable.” He laughs.

  Josh and I make a quick escape from the lovebirds’ house and as soon as we pull out of the driveway both of us burst out laughing.

  “I think I’ve seen everything now.” Josh wipes tears from his eyes as he laughs.

  “Just imagine the shit they must see in the ER.” I chuckle. “I mean, good for them, right? Can you imagine being that age and still going at it that much?”

  “Yeah, you got a point there. Jeremy’s the man.” Josh smiles.

  I pull back into the fire station and our smiles fade quick. Out in the parking lot are Josh’s brother and dad. The former chief and deputy chief of the firehouse are clearly resigning. Each of them is carrying a boxload of their belongings out to the truck.

  I open the door and hop out. Josh is hot on my heels.

  “What’s going on, Dad?” He walks up to Clyde.

  “What the fuck does it look like, dipshit? The Bakers are quitting this stupid department. It’s about time you showed up. Go get your stuff. We’ll wait for ya,” his father instructs him.

  I look from Josh’s face to the other guys in his family and back. He really doesn’t fit in with Clyde and Todd. For one, Josh has actually heard of a shower. But, beyond that, he’s just a good guy. I’ve worked by his side for several years now, and he’s salt of the earth. Todd and Clyde are just salty.

  “You don’t have to quit just because they are.” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder at the troublemakers.

  “How about you keep the hell out of it, Murphy?” Todd drops his box on the concrete and marches over to me, bumping his chest into mine.

  “Step the fuck off, Todd. I’m not in the mood for your shit.” My own chest inflates, and my jaw squares off as I look down my nose at him.

  Todd has been an asshole since the day he was born. Back when I was dating his little sister, he always went out of his way to pick on me. I never cared, though. What bothered me was how he talked to Karen. She was always the sensitive one in her family and Todd took great joy in tearing her down. He was one of the reasons I knew I had to make her leave this place. I couldn’t watch him chip away at her. He was slowly destroying everything that made her beautiful and unique.

  “Oh, you think you’re a big man now that you took deputy away from me, huh? Trying to fill Daddy’s old boots, are ya?” he taunts me.

  My nostrils flare and my hands ball up tight. White hot rage sends blood rushing to all my muscles. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  “Back off him, Todd,” Clyde calls out, but he doesn’t listen.

  “I said you’re trying to fill your dad’s shoes, but you ain’t half the man he was. So fuck you, Murphy. You cheating sack of shit!” Todd’s hands push me back and something inside me snaps.

  My knuckles slice across his mouth, splitting his lip open. Blood drips down his chin and fire burns as bright as his hair behind his brown eyes.

  “I’m gonna kill you,” he snarls. Todd lunges at me, but Josh jumps in, pulling his older brother off me. Even Clyde comes over and helps yank Todd back to the truck.

  “Enough!” Clyde yells at his boys. “Todd, get your ass in the truck before we have the police carting you off. Josh, get inside and get your shit. We’re leaving,” he barks his orders.

  Todd slinks back to the truck and I have half a mind to smash his face through the windshield. I glower at him, my teeth on edge as I imagine the glass exploding around his skull.

  “No.”

  Everyone turns and stares at Josh for the same reason. No one can believe what they just heard.

  “What’d you say?” Clyde looks at him.

  “No,” Josh repeats. “I’m not quitting the department. Especially not because you two are pissed off that you lost your titles. I couldn’t care less about that shit. I’m staying.” His voice is steady and calm.

  Todd’s face scrunches up in an angry knot of red. “You fucking traitor. You forget what fucking house you were born in? Huh? You turning your back on this family?”

  Clyde holds up his hand and silences his raging son. “Enough.” His watery blue eyes lock in on Josh. “I guess that’s that then,” he sniffs. I expect him to say more, but he just tells Todd to get in the truck and the two of them drive away.

  Josh and I watch a big dust cloud billow around the truck as his brother and father drive away. What a crazy day. First I ran into Karen. Then the cockring. Now this country family drama. I never expected any of this to happen when I woke up this morning. The truck disappears over the road and the dust cloud goes
with it. I guess I always knew those two would leave and that when they did the dust would finally settle. I just never expected Josh Baker to be standing by my side when that happened.

  19

  Karen

  “Hey, how about you pass down the pie and quit hogging it all,” Todd snarls at Josh. The two of them exchange a look I can’t decipher. There’s something going on. Todd is being even more of a dick than usual.

  “How about you hold your horses. I’m just getting myself a slice first.” Josh scoops out a wedge of Mama’s fresh baked apple pie onto his plate. I look down at the piece in front of me. The way the slice of cheddar cheese is melted over the top makes my mouth water. Breaking through the crust with my fork, I scoop a big piece into my mouth and savor the home cooking.

  “Delicious,” I talk around the food in my mouth.

  “How about you try thinking of someone but yourself for once? Traitor,” Todd continues stoking the embers on whatever this fire is between him and Josh.

  “Oh, I’m a traitor, huh? Just because I don’t think you need to pull your toys out of the sandbox every time someone in this family loses a game? Grow up, Todd. You’re thirty years old, not a kid,” Josh counters.

  “Clyde, tell them to stop.” Mama’s eyebrows crinkle together with worry.

  “Quit upsetting your mother.” Dad doesn’t look up from his dessert.

  “Whatever,” Todd mumbles, stuffing the entire slice of pie he fished off the plate down his throat. Still chewing, he stands up and walks away from the table. His little lapdog, I mean his wife Cara, abandons her food on the table and follows him out.

  The only sound left in the room is the tiny scrapes of our forks against our plates and chewing. Rebecca and I shrug, clearly not in the loop about whatever our family’s latest drama is. After we eat and clear the table, everyone except my parents goes out into the backyard to relax on the patio.

  “What was that about?” Rebecca cuts right to the chase.

  Todd takes a long drag off his cigarette and then hands it off to his wife. “I’ll tell you what it’s about. It’s about fucking loyalty.” He blows out his smoke in our faces.

  “Pfft, loyalty. It’s about being a sore loser,” Josh scoffs.

  “S’cuse me?” Todd narrows his eyes. “This ain’t about losing my title. It ain’t even ‘bout the money I’m losing to that Murphy prick. It’s about the fact that our department and our fucking town is being taken over by a bunch of hippie-dippy snowflakes who want to change everything up just for fun. This family has been the backbone of the Pine Grove fire department since it formed and now they want us out.”

  “No, they want you out,” Rebecca corrects him.

  “You guys aren’t being very nice to your brother. He’s just sticking up for your dad, you know.” Cara breathes out a cloud of gray.

  “Trust me, Dad doesn’t need anyone standing up for him.” Josh snorts.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Todd glares at him and takes his cigarette back from Cara. “The way I see it, there’s been a line drawn. It’s our family versus the stupid hipster artists taking over this place. First they want us out of the fire department, next they’ll try to railroad us out of town. And you guys”—he points at my sister, Josh, and me—“are on the wrong fucking side of that line.”

  “No one’s trying to run you out of town.” I roll my eyes and laugh, but Todd doesn’t find it funny.

  “You don’t know shit about it, hot-shot. You’ve been off in your artsy-fartsy school. You don't know the first thing about what’s been happening around here.” Todd leans into me as he stares me down.

  “I don’t need to live here to know that the entire town isn’t the problem, Todd,” I answer him through clenched teeth. “I imagine the problem is the same one it’s always been—you.”

  “Hey, don’t talk to your brother like that!” Cara points her finger in my face and it takes all my will not to snap it.

  “Oh, I'm the problem? The way I see it, you’re part of the fucking problem. And you know what, I think I liked it a lot more when I only had to see your stupid face at Christmas. Why don’t you go back to New York where you and your friends can stare at gallons of paint splashed on canvases and talk about how your art is gonna solve world hunger or whatever, you smarmy bitch.”

  I open my mouth to tell Todd exactly what I think of him, but then I close it. It’s not worth it. Besides, he’s right. I don’t belong here. I never did. “Whatever,” I mutter and walk out of the yard.

  “Karen, don’t go,” my sister calls after me, but I ignore her.

  “I need to go for a walk … alone,” I yell, leaving them all behind.

  I kick rocks as I march across the compacted dirt driveway and out to the road. Who does Todd think he is? He always ruins everything. I was actually enjoying being back here this time. Seeing all the changes in my town, watching how it’s grown and changed. I was even toying with the idea of living here again.

  Well, fuck that.

  I stomp down over the hill as the sun begins to ease down across the sky. This town might have changed, but my family never will. I went away to New York to learn and grow and experience. Coming back here would be like I erased all that progress and just settled back into the heaping pile of trash that is my family.

  Literally.

  Pink and mauve swirls begin to dust the sky and I get lost in the beauty of it. It’s so rare to see a nice sunset out in the city. Between the smog, the skyscrapers, and the never-ending bustle, I just never have a chance to soak them in. The soft pastel hues twirl together in a silent ballet. I’m mesmerized by a natural beauty I never appreciated when I was young. While I soak it in, my feet lead me over a familiar path, but I don’t think about it.

  I’m at the park. The one behind Luke’s old house. The one where he broke up with me. I sink onto one of the swings and rest my head against the cold chain holding it up. How is it that I can leave and change so much, but inside I’m still the same girl?

  After all those university lectures, after all those late night art shows, after losing myself in the chaotic nights in New York, I still went home to a lonely dorm room and wished for one thing.

  Him.

  I stand back up and leave the park, heading up to the road. Yet again, I’m trying to put distance between myself and these feelings. Between Luke and me. It seems like no matter how far I move away or how much I change my heart never stops wanting what it wants.

  And it wants Luke Murphy.

  20

  Luke

  Wow, where did the day go? The trip home has gone by in a daydream. I’d say that I’m driving the car, but I wonder if it’s just magically driving me somehow. I’m in such a haze, I don’t think I even saw anything for the last mile of road. It’s kind of scary how automatic driving is. Sometimes, at the end of a long shift, I can be so spaced out I might as well be sleeping, but I still manage to get home safe.

  Wait, is that …?

  My foot hits the brake and the car slams to a halt beside Karen. Her long golden hair glimmers with a hint of pink under the sunset. She stops and looks into my car and I roll down the passenger side window.

  “Uh, hey. Do you need a lift back to your house?” I try to be casual, but my heart is thumping in my ears. If she would just give me a chance to explain, I wonder if I could clear the air between us.

  “No, that’s the last place I want to go.” She twists the toe of her flat into the dirt.

  “Fair enough.” I nod. My knuckles are still sore from cracking her asshole brother across the jaw today. Some of his blood is probably dried on the back of my hand. If she’s not interested in spending time with the Neanderthals in the Baker clan tonight, I can’t say I blame her.

  “I’m actually fine just walking. Thanks for the offer, though.” She gives the side of my car a light thump and starts sauntering off down the shoulder of the road. For a moment, I just watch her walk away. My eyes slide down the back of her body like I wish my hands coul
d. What I wouldn’t give to stand behind her and let my arms wrap around her from behind. And if my body happened to grind into hers, if she happened to feel my throbbing cock against her firm ass, well, this could turn into a whole other kind of fantasy.

  Clearing my throat, I snap back to reality and take my foot off the brake. The car slowly coasts forward until the open passenger window is lined back up with her. Karen looks inside at me and squints.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I was hoping I could give you a lift somewhere and we could talk.” I roll along the pavement beside her.

  “I already told you, I want to walk.” She looks straight ahead, like she can just ignore a full sedan matching her pace on the road.

  “Come on”—I push back—“I’ll buy you a coffee.”

  “I don’t like coffee.”

  I blink and remember how she always had a cup of coffee in her hand when she lived here. Even before the rest of us started drinking it in high school, I remember Karen sipping little mugs of black coffee since we were in sixth grade.

  “Who are you trying to kid? You love coffee. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who enjoys it as much as you. God, even your favorite chocolate is those little coffee flavored ones,” I call her bluff, laughing.

  But Karen isn’t laughing. She just looks hurt. It makes my smile slide off my face and a knife twist in my gut.

  “Yeah, well, people change. I hate coffee now,” she answers flatly and keeps walking.

  Hates coffee? Is it possible she’s actually changed that much? Could something she used to love that much be something she hates now? Maybe there really is no hope for me. The thought gnaws at me. It burrows inside my brain like a tick.

  “No,” I mumble to my steering wheel.

  “Excuse me?” She shoots up an eyebrow.