“I wasn’t flirting!” Scottie threw up his hands. “I didn’t do more than look at you, and I thought I was being subtle.”
“Which is exactly the problem!”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, but then Scottie rolled his eyes and they both began to laugh. “Damn,” Scottie said on a wheezy exhale. “That was bad.”
“Agreed. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
With how much Jax’s friends liked to tease? “Not a problem.”
“So. I’m gay. You’re gay. And we’re both… interested.” Jax summed it up succinctly.
“Yeah.” Scottie couldn’t believe it. He looked around the room, not really sure what to say or do next. He’d never really been in a situation like this either. Guys who usually hit on him were the same “type” Scottie was. Early twenties, cute hair, slightly geeky… the complete opposite of Jax. He had to be in his late twenties, if not early thirties, and he was hot. Well, if you considered spiky dark hair, piercing blue eyes, chiseled jaw covered in sexy stubble, and muscles stacked on muscles covered in smooth, golden skin hot.
Scottie did, and his water bill was going to prove just how much next month.
“Is it safe to come back in yet?” Brandon stuck his head through the curtain, a stack of white bed sheets in his hands.
“Yeah, yeah.” Jax pointed at the closet by the TV. “Could you get my wallet, Scottie?”
“Sure.” Anything so they could leave this whole conversation in the past where it belonged.
“Hey, don’t forget to stay hydrated,” Brandon said. “You can take your water cup if you want.”
“Thanks.” He scooted his good leg over and let Brandon tuck it next to his thigh. “That’ll work.”
“Got your wallet. Do you want me to put it in my backpack?”
“Well, it’d be hard to push me while carrying it.”
“Your concern is noted. I certainly wouldn’t want to accidentally run you into any corners or anything.”
“No damaging my patient,” Brandon said as he stripped the bed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything that will make him have to stay here longer. I’ll have mercy… on you.”
Jax turned and looked over his shoulder at Scottie. “Maybe I shouldn’t buy you lunch.”
“Oh no.” Scottie slipped his backpack over his shoulders. “You’re not getting out of it now. I’ve been helping bring you treats all week. It’s my turn to get treated.”
“Don’t go to the cafeteria. Go to the café instead. They have fresh veggies and meat that looks like it came from actual creatures and wasn’t extruded in neat little faux food rectangles.”
“Thanks, Brandon. I could go for a good sandwich.”
Scottie actually had to pay attention as they went through the halls. There was equipment, staff, and visitors all over and navigating around them was awkward with Jax’s leg sticking straight out. There was a guy with a teddy bear and balloons getting out of the elevator as they got close.
“Hold that for us, please,” Scottie called. The guy stuck his foot against the elevator door. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
“Do you have any idea how to get to the cafe?” Jax asked when the door shut and they were headed down.
“Yeah, it’s on the first floor. You didn’t think I was going to eat from the cafeteria, did you?”
“Maybe. You were in college what, a year ago? You probably lived on peanut butter and noodles.”
“That’s what you think,” Scottie scoffed.
The elevator dinged right before the doors opened. A kid started to step in, but his mom pulled him back, making him wait. Scottie smiled at her exasperated warning to wait and see if someone was coming out before he pushed forward.
“I’ll have you know my lunches were peanut butter and jelly, on bread even. And dinner was usually Hot Pockets.”
“That’s so much better!”
“Hey, it fueled this body.”
Jax looked over his shoulder. “And I appreciate it… but let’s see if maybe some vegetables can do it even better.”
“I do like tomatoes.”
“It’s a start.”
They must have just pulled out a batch of fresh bread rolls and buns because it smelled great in the café. There were people sitting around, but it wasn’t packed. Scottie pushed Jax over to the counter so he could read the menu.
“So many options. Everything looks good. Do you know what you want?”
Scottie went with what he’d had the last time. “I’m not that hungry. I’ll go with the cup of gnocchi soup and a half sandwich. Ham, tomato, lettuce on wheat with light mayo.”
“Try spinach instead of lettuce. It has a peppery flavor and better nutrition than lettuce.”
“Okay. Spinach it is. What about you?” Scottie dropped the backpack at his feet and unzipped the front pocket so he could fish out Jax’s wallet.
“I think I’ll go with the turkey and avocado. Full sandwich but could you cut it into triangles? Cottage cheese on the side. And a cranberry juice. You want a drink, Scottie?”
“Just water.” Scottie handed over the wallet. “Do you want to eat in here or outside?”
Jax fumbled getting it open but didn’t ask for help so Scottie resisted offering. Jax braced it open on his good leg and finally managed to pull out his card. “Is it nice outside?”
“Hot, but I’m guessing you don’t mind the heat. If we can find a shady spot, it should be fine.” Scottie grabbed some napkins and tucked them into one of the side pockets of his backpack.
“To go it is. I should get some cash out.” Jax paid for their meal, and Scottie put his wallet in the net pouch in the main pocket.
“There’s an ATM in the lobby. We can get it before we go up. You want any salt or pepper packets?”
“No. I’m good.”
Scottie grabbed their drinks and tucked them into his bag. He didn’t realize how awkward it was to cart stuff around when his hands were occupied. It was a small glimpse of the frustration Jax had to feel not being able to use more than his fingertips. It was a good thing he still used a backpack, otherwise they’d be in trouble.
“Think you can balance the bags?” Their lunch was called, and Scottie didn’t want to smash their sandwiches in his backpack.
“Pretty sure I’m up to it.” Scottie put the sacks on Jax’s lap and headed outside. “Okay, wow.” The gardens were next to a parking lot, and they were nice, but there wasn’t a lot of shade. “I think I see a bench next to that tree.”
“You’re the driver. I don’t mind a little sun.”
Scottie hadn’t brought sunblock with him. “I do. It causes cancer you know.”
“It’s not like I can take breaks to put sunblock on when I’m cutting down trees or digging up weeds.” Scottie parked Jax so he was in the sun but not facing it and sat down on the concrete bench facing him.
“But then you’re mostly covered by your gear. You’re in shorts and a T-shirt now. Lots of skin exposed.” Scottie stopped talking and cleared his throat, glancing away.
Jax’s grin grew slowly. “Like what you see, don’t you?”
“Conceited much?” The slow heat creeping up Scottie’s neck was going to give him away. He cracked open his water bottle and took a long drink.
“Yep.” Jax certainly wasn’t beating around the bush. “You like to look at me. I’m hot. It’s understandable.”
Scottie sputtered, coughing on the water he inhaled.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” he gasped out between coughs into his elbow. It took a few minutes, but he finally was able to breathe again.
“Can you unwrap my sandwich for me? I think I can eat it since they cut it into quarters.” Jax couldn’t open his fingers fully, but he was able to manage the small triangles once Scottie unwrapped them.
Scottie took a bite of his ham sandwich. The gnocchi soup was in a to go cup with a lid, which was handy. He pulled a plastic spoo
n out of the bag and tried a few bites, blowing on them to cool it down. “I like the spinach instead of the lettuce.” It did have more flavor, and it was good when he dipped a corner in his creamy soup.
“Cranberry juice, please.”
He hadn’t seen any squirrels, so it was probably safe to set his cup down on the bench without covering it back up. He shook the plastic bottle of juice and then cracked it open. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a straw, peeling off the paper. “Look what I remembered.”
Jax chuckled. “A bag of many wonders.” He drained nearly half the juice in one long drink, his Adam’s apple bobbing repeatedly.
“Hot?” Little beads of sweat dotted Jax’s forehead. It was probably in the upper eighties, pretty warm to be in the full sun. “I can move you into the shade.”
“Thanks.”
He had to back the wheelchair up and then angle it more away from him, but it got Jax mostly in the shade the skinny trees provided. He just had to turn sideways so they could still look at each other. To make it easier to talk, Scottie straddled the bench. He picked up his soup, taking a bite of chicken and gnocchi. At least it had cooled down enough to eat without risking burning off his taste buds.
“Isn’t soup more of a fall thing?” Jax asked.
“I like it year round. And chili. Anything I can put in the crockpot is great, because then it’s ready when I get home and my apartment isn’t roasting from using the stove.”
“No air conditioning?”
Scottie shook his head. “It’s not too bad. I get a good cross breeze when I open the living room windows and my bedroom one since I live on a corner.”
“That’s not safe.” Jax scowled, an impressive look promising more to come. “Even in Vancouver.”
“It’s better than roasting to death with it so hot this year. I use those anti-intruder locks that keep the windows from opening more than a few inches. Plus, I’m on the third floor, and I don’t have a balcony. I’d like to see the guy who could crawl up the building that high to break into an apartment. If he did, and could figure out how to get it down without breaking it, I’d say he’s welcome to my forty-inch TV.”
“Not your laptop?”
“My laptop stays with me.” Scottie patted his backpack. “There’s a cushioned section in the back built in just to keep it protected. I like to do the odd personal project at work when I’m on my breaks, so I keep my laptop with me almost all the time.”
“What kind of personal projects?”
“You’ll make fun of me.” Scottie balled up his sandwich wrapper and put it in the empty to go cup.
“No, I won’t.”
Scottie tilted his head, studying Jax. He probably would, but it didn’t matter. “I want to make a book that features mountains in Washington state. The usual mountains like Rainier that tourists know, but also places they don’t know.”
“That’s not funny.”
“You don’t think it’s a cliché? Amateur photographer creating a landscapes coffee table book?”
“No. I can’t take a picture to save my life. Somehow my thumb or finger always ends up in the shot, so anyone who can take pictures that good is impressive to me. What are you thinking about putting in your book?”
“Well, the mountains themselves mostly, but I have some shots of views from on the mountains too. I already have some pictures, but I wanted to get more of Mt. Adams’ wildlife area. I’ve taken pictures at Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Olympus, and even Whiskey Dick Mountain over by Ellensburg. It’s covered in those turbines that look like airplane propellers. I didn’t realize how many wind farms there were east of the Columbia River Gorge.”
“The wind is always roaring through the Gorge. Makes fire season a real bitch.”
“I bet. You probably know about Mt. Pilchuck, right?”
Jax nodded. “The one with the restored fire station. That’s a pretty hefty climb. You do like to hike, don’t you?”
Scottie said, “I told you I wasn’t an amateur. I’ve spent most of my life in Washington, and a lot of it traveling around camping. We went on all sorts of hikes growing up, and when I got into cameras in high school, I started taking pictures. There are dozens of peaks in this state. Digital quality is a lot better now, and it seemed like something I could do to share my love of the state with others since I was taking pictures anyway. So when my friends were going out drinking on spring break, I was climbing scree slopes.”
“Do you ever visit the other parts of the state?”
“Like where?”
“The coast? Cities?”
“I’ve been to the coast, but we usually just drove through the Seattle area. I’ve never actually stopped there.”
“Really? I mean, the outdoors is great—protecting our forests is one of the reasons why I’m a firefighter—but there’s a whole other side of appreciating the state than just the outdoors. The people who live here and the communities they create are just as unique. You’ve never visited Pike’s?”
Scottie shrugged one shoulder. “My dad doesn’t like fish.”
“There’s a lot more than fish, though the guys who throw them are popular. What about the Space Needle? You can sometimes see Mt. Rainier from there on a clear day.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” It would be a different kind of shot. If he could replace his equipment….
“You’re already thinking about taking pictures, aren’t you?”
“My camera was melted, and I lost my lenses too. I’d been thinking about replacing my set, upgrading to a nicer model, but I won’t be able to take a full week off until next year. My boss let me switch the rest of my vacation days over to my sick leave, but that’s only going to give me three extra vacation days to save up for the rest of this year. Besides, I’m not up for any long drives.”
“That’s okay. I’m probably not going to be released for at least a week or so. Dinner and movie dates always seem so boring. What about doing weekend trips instead? I’m not going to be up for a hike anytime soon, not even a baby one”—he patted his thigh above his knee brace—“but I think I could manage some city streets, if you’re willing to gimp along with me.”
Chapter Nine
SCOTTIE DID have to go back to work before Jax was released. He made sure to break up his day by frequent trips away from his computer. He still had a headache at the end of the day, but he’d written down the number to Jax’s phone, and they spent a good hour or so chatting after he got home.
When Jax was released, one of his crew took him home. Scottie might have played up his headache a little, in order to leave work early. All his projects were in good places, and he wasn’t leaving anyone on the hook to complete his work, so he didn’t feel too guilty.
The address Jax gave him took him north of Vancouver, to large houses on fenced properties. He couldn’t even see the house from the road when he made it through the gate. It was a far, far cry from his dinky apartment.
Firefighters must make a lot more money than he thought they did. Maybe he was in the wrong field.
The circular driveway—an actual circular driveway—was empty, but there was a three-car garage so he pulled in front of one of the bays. He got out and went around to the passenger seat to grab the grocery sacks.
Scottie trucked up the wide steps to the front doors. Those had to be a bitch for Jax to get up when he got home. He looked for a bell to ring when he noticed a white piece of paper taped to the inside of the decorated glass inset in the door. “Come in, Scottie,” he read aloud. Sure enough, when he tried the door, it wasn’t locked. “Well that’s secure.”
He didn’t live in a hotbed of crime, but he damn sure locked his doors. Scottie juggled the bags as he shut the door. “Hello?” he called out.
“In here.”
“Here where?” The entry opened to a formal living room on one side and a kitchen on the other.
“To your left.” Kitchen side. At least he was able to drop off the bags. He set them d
own on the counter. There were dishes in the sink, so at least it looked like his friends fed Jax after they dropped him off.
Around the corner of the built-in desk, Scottie noticed another living room. This one looked well-used. There was a big TV on the wall and a gaming console under it on the entertainment center facing a puffy blue couch and set of chairs. “There you are.”
Jax was sitting in one of the chairs, legs extended. He had a big bottle of water, the remote, and a bag of snacks on a table next to him. “Hey, Scottie!” Jax was grinning. He muted the movie playing on the TV.
“Oh, they gave you a double dose of the good stuff before you left, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, but mostly it’s just being home.” He stretched his arms up and leaned back in the puffy chair. His shirt pulled up, exposing the dark strip that led from his belly button down to the low-slung athletic shorts barely hugging his hip bones.
He groaned, and Scottie held his breath to avoid joining him. He took advantage of Jax having his eyes closed and readjusted himself. His decision to change into jeans before he came over was biting him… well, not in the ass.
Jax was still hurt and nothing was going to happen between them. Which sucked. Hard. Scottie hadn’t been so attracted to someone since his days of teenage puppy love.
“I didn’t really appreciate how comfy this chair was before. My ass is killing me after nearly two weeks in that bed and chair.”
“I bet. I was only in for a day and a half, but that was a day and a half too long.”
Jax waved at the couch. “Sit down. I’m glad you were able to find the house.”
“Yeah, you have a really nice place. To be honest, this is not what I was expecting at all.”
“Did you think I’d have a messy apartment that smelled of smoke?” Jax smirked.
“Something like that.” Scottie shrugged one shoulder. “You don’t seem like the rich-guy type.”
Chuckling, Jax shook his head. “I’m not rich. I do work for a living, after all. I’m just lucky enough to be able to do something I love, even if it doesn’t pay that well.” He must have read the skepticism on Scottie’s face. “When I was a kid, my grandparents won the lottery, but they were in their early seventies already. Not a huge jackpot, but enough that they set up small trusts for family that paid for my college and gave me a cushion to follow my dream. This was their house they bought free and clear. So other than maintenance, utilities, and taxes that come from the trust, my budget pretty much just needs to cover a nice car, good food, and a decent video game setup.” He shrugged. “I don’t really need a whole lot more.”
On Fire Page 7