Oxygen Deprived (Kilgore Fire Book 3)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Urchin didn’t bother to look innocent anymore, instead he hissed at me.

  “Fucker,” I muttered as I hauled my annoyed and sleepy butt out of bed.

  Grabbing a robe, which just so happened to belong to Danny, and wrapping it around my shoulders, I walked to the front door and peeked through the peephole.

  My eyes narrowed and my lip curled in disdain as I took in my ex-boyfriend, the bane of my existence, on the other side of the door.

  “What do you want?” I asked him, looking back over my shoulder at the clock above my fire place.

  Three in the morning. Awesome.

  “My sister’s making me bring the TV back. If you want it inside, I suggest you open the door or I’ll leave it on the front porch. And we both know you won’t be able to move it,” Danny said nastily.

  “Just leave it,” I ordered. “I’ll get Jonah or Downy to move it tomorrow.”

  Danny had the nerve to laugh.

  “Go away,” I growled through the door.

  He did, making sure to take the TV to the very border of my yard first.

  Danny left, but not before he accidentally knocked the TV over, leaving it sprawling in the wet grass just outside of my ankle bracelet’s range.

  “Son of a bitch,” I growled, yanking open the door in time to see Danny speed off in that stupid – but nice – pickup truck of his that we’d picked out together. Although I did manage a small smile when I noticed it still looked a bit worse for the wear.

  I walked down the sidewalk, stopping just at the edge of my yard.

  I stared down at the ankle bracelet, lifting my robe out of the way, and tested it.

  The instant my foot went out of range, it started blinking red.

  Then Mrs. Fairchild’s words drifted through my brain.

  “You’ll have ten seconds to get back in the safe zone, or a police cruiser will be sent to your house to see why you’ve stepped out of your yard.”

  Grimacing, I moved back inside my yard and stared at the TV.

  It was definitely deliberate.

  “Damn him!” I growled in pure frustration.

  The sound of a door opening from across the street had me looking up in time to see my new neighbor come out with a pretty lady latched onto him.

  He gave her one hell of a hot, wet kiss and then lifted his head from the woman’s mouth.

  “’G’night,” the man muttered, setting the woman away from him. “Thanks for helping.”

  My brows rose.

  Was that code for ‘thanks for sucking my cock?’

  The man’s eyes came to me when the woman went to her car, giggling and waving over her shoulder the entire way.

  He watched me, but I turned my eyes down to the TV once again.

  The car finally left, and I sighed, turning around and heading back to my front door.

  “You getting rid of that?” I heard, the man’s voice a lot closer to me than he’d been when I started heading back to my door.

  I turned to find him standing in the middle of the street.

  “No, I just got it back. Last time I checked, it worked fine,” I replied. “But I can’t get it back in my house.”

  “Why’s it outside in the first place?” He wanted to know.

  I pinched my lips as I glared at the man.

  “Because my ex-boyfriend dropped it off there, knowing damn well I couldn’t get it.”

  “Interesting,” he said. “Do you want me to bring it in?”

  I weighed the benefits of getting the TV inside against the possibility that he might be a serial killer.

  Knowing damn well I couldn’t live without the TV, I decided to take a chance with my life and said, “Please.”

  The man didn’t even hesitate. I quickly moved out of his way, sweeping my hand through the night air in an embellished fashion to direct him towards my door.

  “After you,” I murmured.

  He picked the TV up as if it weighed nothing, and easily walked up the path and into the house, stopping once he was in the living room.

  “Where do you want it?” He stopped.

  I pursed my lips and pointed to where it used to be.

  “It used to be right there, hanging above the mantle, but if the wall mount wasn’t laying out there with the TV, then you’ll have to just put it on the floor, I guess,” I pointed to a blank spot where the recliner I’d bought Danny used to sit.

  His brows furrowed at my mention of him taking the mount, but he placed it on the floor anyway, stepping back once I had.

  “Thank you,” I sighed softly. “I really appreciate it.”

  Now get out of my house, please. I don’t really want to die.

  He must’ve sensed my thoughts because he headed to the door without another word, not stopping until he was down at the end of my yard standing next to my mailbox.

  “Don’t let him into your house anymore,” he said. “And I’d suggest changing your locks. If you want to get new locks, I’ll put them on for you.”

  I lifted my robe up slightly to show my anklet monitor.

  “No can do, sir. I can’t go out even if I wanted to,” I informed him.

  His eyes went down to my ankle, his gaze being captured by the blinking red dot.

  “You’re on house arrest?” He wondered, surprise evident in his voice.

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  “Why?” He pushed.

  There was no way he didn’t know.

  None.

  I’d been the talk of the county; my own brother was a cop.

  There was seriously no way he didn’t know why I was on house arrest, but I decided to tell him anyway.

  Tomorrow.

  Instead of saying goodbye, or even a ‘see you tomorrow’ I closed the door without another word.

  I couldn’t handle anymore adulting right now.

  Tomorrow would be soon enough.

  Chapter 2

  I’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

  -Rule of thumb

  Aspen

  “No, no, no,” I cried, watching as the smoke started to pour out of the open oven door. “Why? Whyyyy?” My questioning exclamation came out in a pitifully whiny and frustrated twang that I just couldn’t help.

  Today was New Year’s Eve, seven days after my asshole ex got me put on house arrest, and I was going stir crazy.

  I’d cleaned everything, top to bottom, and the house was immaculate now. There wasn’t one thing I would need to clean for at least a month.

  However, now I needed to focus on getting the smoke out, or I might suffocate to death in my own house.

  Walking to the window above the kitchen sink, I pushed it out and open.

  The smoke billowed out, and I was amazed at just how much smoke one little turkey could produce.

  “Surely, it can’t be that bad,” I murmured to myself, coughing slightly when I pushed further into the kitchen to come to a stop in front of the stove.

  I grabbed the oven mitts beside the oven, thrust my hands into them, and then bent over to grab the turkey from the oven.

  It was heavy.

  Really heavy.

  But I managed to finagle it out and onto the kitchen counter without too much fuss.

  It was then I got my first good look at the turkey.

  “Black’s probably not okay to eat,” a man said from behind me.

  I gasped, turning around to see a man in full turn out fire gear behind me and right behind him were two more.

  The one closest to me, though, was my newest neighbor. The one I couldn’t stop thinking about.

  The one who was currently staring at my ass.

  “What are you doing in here?” I asked warily, backing my ass up against the counter so he could no longer see my cheeks.

  The dastardly man smiled.

  Fucking smiled!

  “You have smoke coming out of your house,” he said as if he was talki
ng to a child. “Smoke, where we come from, means fire. Fire means the fire department comes. Right?”

  I glared at him.

  “Nothing’s on fire,” I muttered darkly.

  “Well, we didn’t know that, and your door was hanging wide open, so…” he shrugged.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “So you just decided to come in without my explicit permission?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at the man.

  “Jesus Christ. Ridley, where the fuck are you?” Downy, my brother, yelled from somewhere beyond the kitchen.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” I called loudly. “And stop calling me Ridley! My name is fucking Aspen! Use it!”

  I hated being called Ridley. By him, most of all.

  My name was Aspen Ridley Crew, and ever since I could remember, he’d called me Ridley. I don’t know why, and I could never get him to tell me. Yet, it was incredibly annoying. No one called me Ridley. I didn’t even like the name Ridley.

  “What the fuck are you doing in your underwear?” Downy snapped the moment he saw me.

  “Well,” I gestured to the room and people around me. “I was by myself up until about thirty seconds ago, so I don’t know why I wouldn’t be in my underwear if I was in my own goddamned house!”

  Downy frowned. “Why are you so mad at me?”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “Gee, I don’t know,” I drawled. “How about you don’t ever stop by? Or how about the fact that you only come by when you need something, or I’m potentially burning to death?”

  His eyes narrowed.

  “And you’re half the reason I’m stuck in this hell hole in the first place,” I muttered darkly, pushing in between him and my new neighbor. “Go home.”

  Downy followed me.

  “Your ass is hanging out of those,” he muttered. “And why can’t you ever do anything right?” he asked. “I tried really hard to only get you house arrest. Do you know what could have happened for assaulting a police officer?” He continued. “You could’ve gone to jail. Not to mention the man’s my friend. How does it look to have your sister beat the shit out of your friend?”

  I turned around and stared at him incredulously.

  “You got the fact that Danny cheated on me, right?” I asked.

  He frowned.

  “He was with a female officer, and they weren’t fucking. They were working,” he countered.

  I laughed then.

  “Yeah,” I said. “That female officer was fucking my fiancé. On duty. What would you have done if you’d walked up on Memphis fucking Nico?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “First of all, Nico has a wife. Second of all, don’t bring my wife into this. She would never cheat on me. She’s too good of a woman to do so. You must’ve done something…”

  “Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I slammed the bedroom door in his face.

  I immediately ran to the bed and buried my face into the pillows.

  Nobody believed me.

  It was the same thing, over and over again, and it was beginning to really get to me.

  It hadn’t been my fault that he’d cheated. I’d done everything right.

  I’d been a fucking awesome girlfriend.

  I’d taken his uniforms to and from the dry cleaners.

  I’d visited him at work.

  I’d brought him dinner to work, which had been what I was doing the night I found him with his hands down the back of his partner’s pants and his mouth latched onto her breast.

  My first thought had been ‘had he forgotten he’d asked me to bring him dinner?’

  Then it’d quickly changed into anger. Pure, white hot rage.

  I’d been so mad, I couldn’t even see straight.

  I’d walked back to his truck, which I’d borrowed because I’d taken it to get the oil changed while he was at work.

  Then I’d purposefully driven his truck off the road, slamming it into the nearest brick wall I could find, which happened to be the sign that sat in front of the police station.

  Before it’d read ‘Kilgore Police Department.’ Now it just read ‘gore.’

  Once I’d shaken myself from my stupor of being in a wreck, I’d gotten out of the car and reached for the tire iron that Danny kept in the back for emergency purposes. Then proceeded to take the tire iron to the rest of Danny’s truck that hadn’t been damaged in the accident.

  By the time I’d rounded the truck to the other side and finished off with breaking the glass of the passenger side window, I’d caught the attention of most of the police department.

  They’d all stared at me in shock, including my brother.

  Then Danny had showed up and completely lost his shit.

  So I’d done the only thing I could think of doing, which had been to throw the tire iron at him to keep him from beating the crap out of me.

  It’d beamed him right on the forehead, and he’d gone down like a sack of potatoes in front of about ten cops and even more bystanders.

  His partner, the bitch who I’d cooked dinner for and let borrow my best dress to go out on a date with a man whose name she refused to tell me.

  “God,” I moaned. “My life sucks.”

  Downy had done the best that he could under the circumstances.

  Danny was well liked throughout the department, and I’d gone and beaten the crap out of his truck.

  I’d brought it all upon myself, and I didn’t have anyone to complain to.

  Even Naomi, his sister, had been a little appalled at my behavior, and she’d done some pretty sketchy stuff in her time.

  “He’s gone!” My neighbor yelled through my closed door. “The turkey’s out in the trashcan behind your house, and I’m going to lock the door, okay?”

  “Thank you,” I yelled back, then promptly burst into tears.

  Chapter 3

  14,000 people are having sex right now. 156,000 are kissing. Then there’s you. You’re reading this instead of getting some.

  -Coffee Cup

  Drew

  I was walking my trashcan out to the trash the next night when the little imp next door came out into her yard, and started wiggling her bare toes in the grass.

  “Evening,” I said to her almost out of habit.

  She snapped her head up.

  “Uhh, hi,” she smiled slightly.

  Jesus, that just did it for me.

  I was forty-two years old, and never once in my life had I had a woman affect me like this woman did.

  A woman that’d somehow gotten on house arrest and was probably her own special brand of crazy.

  “Can you get your trash all the way out?” I asked her.

  She nodded, pointing to the trashcan that was barely at the side of the road. Mostly, it was behind her shrubs that lined her mailbox, and I could just see the garbage man missing it.

  So, like a nice guy, I walked over and pulled the trashcan down until it sat where it belonged.

  “Thanks,” she smiled. “I debated whether to even put it out.”

  I looked down in the trashcan and saw the whole thing filled to the brim with pictures and…clothes?

  “You don’t need these clothes anymore?” I asked her.

  She shook her head.

  “You remember that ex-boyfriend I was talking about?” She turned her head.

  I nodded, looking up at her and studying her face.

  How anyone could leave her was beyond me. She was a freakin’ vision.

  Although she was really short, I would guess no more than five feet two inches or so, she had long, curly brown hair that fell down to her waist. The biggest blue eyes in Texas, and a beautiful mouth that just begged for kissing.

  Her breasts were full and round, just perfect. Not too big, not too small.

  They’d probably fit perfectly in my mouth…

  Shit!

  I tore my eyes away from her breasts, tur
ning them to gaze at the shrub behind her house, and immediately winced.

  “You need to get that tree/shrub thing trimmed,” I said off handedly.

  I wasn’t able to turn off the firefighter in me. It was always there in the background, pulsing like a living thing deep inside me.

  She turned to study the tree where it was brushing the power line above it and shrugged indifferently.

  “I don’t have the money to pay for that right now,” she admitted. “It’s taking almost my whole month’s paycheck just to cover my rent, my car—which, might I add, I’m not allowed to use—and the costs to pay for my house arrest.”

  I could tell that she really didn’t want to admit that.

  “Get your brother to take care of it,” I told her.

  She shook her head.

  “If I had my way, I wouldn’t ever have to talk to him again,” she admitted. “Thanks for putting my trash out. If you have a chance after they empty it, could you push it back into my yard?”

  I nodded.

  “I can,” I said, knowing when to shut up.

  She smiled sadly at me and then turned to go to the side of her house.

  I stayed watching her for way too long and ended up seeing her again about a minute later when she came out on the other side of her house next to the offending shrub I’d told her to trim.

  She didn’t lift her gaze from the ground as she walked, turned the corner at the front of her yard and then disappeared down the side of the house.

  Shaking my head, I pulled the keys to my truck out of my pocket and unlocked the doors.

  The locks clicked open and I got inside, enjoying the new car smell that assaulted my senses the moment I got inside.

  Pushing the button to the window, I lowered it nearly all the way, shivering slightly at the way the cold hit me to the bone.

  As I backed out of the driveway, after starting it, I idly wondered why she didn’t have shoes on, but chose not to give it, or her, too much thought.

  She was a grown woman.

  There was no need for me to be her daddy.

  If she wanted to walk around in the nearly twenty-five-degree weather without any shoes on, who was I to say anything?

  Of course, thoughts of frostbite on her cute little toes assaulted me all the way to the station. As I pulled in, my mind still hadn’t managed to shake off thoughts of her.