Fighting the Fire

by Jennifer Conner

  “Where am I?”

  Cy yawned again. He stretched his arms above his head and cracked his knuckles. “You’re at my cabin.” He rose stiffly and then plodded barefoot to the sink. “You want coffee?”

  She looked away.

  “Okay.” He shrugged. “Have it your way. But I can’t start the morning without coffee.”

  “Take me back home,” Mia demanded, trying to squelch her temper. Why hadn’t he just done as she’d asked? Then she could be gone and wouldn’t have to be having this awkward conversation.

  “Nope. Not going to do that until you talk to me. And besides, that's not your home, it's a basement.”

  “Go to hell.”

  He pulled his long body up and learned on the kitchen counter, crossing his bare feet. “I can tell you’re scared of whatever that was. I do have to say, I was scared myself.”

  She tipped her chin up in defiance and bit her trembling lip.

  “I just want some answers. The same thing that happened last night, happened the night of the fire at your house, didn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Cy jumped down and strode toward her, instantly closing the gap. Heat radiated off him in anger and frustration. “Cut the crap. I hate when people lie. Just tell me the truth.”

  He reached to grab her arm, but Mia yanked back violently. “Don't touch me! Leave me alone.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Cy dropped his hands to his side, and he shook his head. “Last night you gave me the most incredible, sexy kiss I’ve had from—well, from any woman, in my entire life.” He set a hip back down on the edge of the table. “But then something happened. I felt it, and I saw it. I know I wasn’t imagining things this time. There’s something inside you. Some kind of electrical charge, a power you can’t control. I’m not sure what to do.”

  Would he call the police? Mia turned, fearful of what he’d do when he knew the truth. Would they lock her away in some dark hole until they figured out if she was dangerous to others?

  Cy’s gaze was troubled, and creased lines furrowed his brows. His gaze traveled down her body, and then slowly back up. He pulled a wool blanket off the back of the couch and stepped toward her. “I’m just going to put this over your shoulders to keep you warm. Without examining you, and with my limited EMT knowledge, I’d say your body’s in shock. That’s where the shaking’s coming from. I wish you’d let me take you to the hospital to be examined...” His words trailed off when she shook her head violently. “At least sit down. Please.” He removed the few books from the chair, and then went to the kitchen, returning with a large glass of orange juice. “This should help bring up your blood sugar and help you feel better.”

  “Thanks.” Mia eyed him as he sat on a padded leather footstool by her feet.

  “I know you don’t trust me. Why would you? Hell, we don’t know anything about each other.” He rubbed his chin, his gaze never leaving hers. “But you’ve spent most of life hurt and confused by the people around you.”

  “How would you know anything about my past?” Mia pulled her feet up under her on the chair trying to get some warmth back to her body. She felt like she was freezing to death. “I bet you grew up in a rambler outside of town, with your mom and dad, and a dog named Boomer. All laid out with a white picket fence around the yard to keep Boomer in. It was the life of a Norman Rockwell painting in the little town of Klahowya. How sweet,” Mia finished in a sarcastic tone.

  Cy’s face grew tight and changed. An odd, detached smile stretched his normally good-humored face when he finally spoke. “Sure. You know everything about everyone, don’t you? You’re the expert on other’s lives.”

  Did he understand what she’d been through? Half of her wanted to cut and run as she’d always done in the past. But the other half wanted to stay. That was insane. She would never be able to do that.

  His voice grew quiet and calm—too calm. “You think you’ve had this crappy life? But that giant chip you carry around on your shoulders only pushes you further and further into the ground. You spend your time trying to stay ahead of the past and not go back down the same road you hated so much as a child.”

  Mia hated talking about her past, or even thinking about it. It made her physically sick. “My mom didn’t want me. She sent me away to live in a foster home. I ran away when I was fourteen.”

  “And you’ve been running ever since.” He pulled in a deep breath. “Was it bad? Did they hurt you?”

  “Who? My foster family? No. I hurt them. I’ve always hurt everyone around me.”

  Cy studied her. “You haven’t hurt me.”

  Mia let out a hardened laugh. “What the hell are you talking about? I almost killed you the night of the fire.”

  “The fire could have killed me—you didn’t.”

  “The fire started because of me.” She snapped her mouth closed, trying to wish her words back.

  “You told me that you weren’t responsible?” Cy eyed her hesitantly.

  “I wasn’t. At least I don’t think I was. Not in the way you’re thinking. How can you understand, when I don’t!” Mia cried. She jumped to her feet and then ran for the front door bursting through to the porch. Her breath came in short gasps and her heart beat staccato. Her vision swam from the sudden movement and she grasped the pine railing to keep her knees steady.

  Cy followed her out the door and stood a few feet back. “You can’t run forever. Life doesn’t work that way, or at least I know it’s not what you want from your life.”

  “You don't know what I want.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe I’ve figured you out. I think that we came from the same place in our pasts. Scared. Alone. I chose to stop running. I face the demons of my past every day and live with them. Not because I’m stronger, or better than you, but because I’m not going to give in. I have to be strong, I have no choice. I had enough of giving in when I was younger.”

  “Were you in foster care?”

  “No.” Cy let out a short, dry laugh. “I wish. After my dad broke his back, he decided pretty much everything in his world was my fault. It sounds like the beginning of a bad country song, doesn’t it? The more he drank, the more his life became my fault. When I was eight, he beat me hard enough to break my arm, a few ribs, and cause some head trauma. I was unconscious and in intensive care for a few days with that beating.”

  Mia’s voice trembled, “There was more than one?” When their eyes met, Mia knew the answer.

  “Child Protective Services looked into it but it’s a small town with not many workers. He was a marvelous story weaver. He made up the age-old catch-all story that I’d crashed my bike into a tree.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s the past.” Cy shook his head. “Then my father was in a car accident where two people died. He spent some years in jail. That was when Malcom West, the captain of the fire station came into the picture. He and Sally Parker traded off and took me in as one of their own.”

  Cy kicked a rock at his feet and looked out at nothing in particular in the distance.

  He continued, “I pretty much grew up in the firehouse after that. Every day after school I’d run as fast as I could and stay at the firehouse until they booted me out. When my dad got out of jail, he convinced the courts he was a ‘changed man’ and he was ready to be a ‘good father’ so I had to go back. But I’d learned at a young age, where my limits were. I would never let anyone hurt me like that again because now, I had a safe place to go. Even though my home life pretty much sucked, having a safe place was all I needed. A place I could go where I wasn’t afraid of him.” Cy took a slow step toward and placed a gentle hand on the sleeve of her arm. “I’ve never talked with anyone about what happened to me when I was a kid. I try not to think of it as a part of me, though I know it still is.” He rubbed his hand in a slow, soothing motion up and down her arm. She could read the emotions rippling off his body—sadness, and a deep need for family.


  Mia shook her head trying to clear away the rush of emotions. Like the night before, his hand felt warm against her arm. The pads of his fingers were rough from work. His hand skimmed down her cheek catching a tear from her eye on the tip of his finger. “Mia? Have you ever been able to find that safe place?”

  She bit her lip. “My house. My house was that place, but now it’s gone.”

  “What is that Mia? What’s inside you? I saw it the night of the fire. Hell, I felt it last night when I kissed you. I thought it killed you.”

  “I wish it had. I’ve always been a freak.”

  “Funny, me too.” His eyes met hers, dark and powerful.

  She believed him. She’d never met anyone like Cy or talked to anyone who could understand this fear that had consumed her since she was young. If she allowed herself to believe in someone, they’d only leave, and she’d be alone once again.

  “Come on, sit down.” He guided her to the top of the cabin’s steps and then sat next to her. “When I came into your bedroom the night of the fire, you were surrounded by a protective bubble of light. As I got closer, it engulfed me too. You told me that I would be safe if I stayed by you. And I was…until I didn’t listen to what you said and passed you off to Captain West. You were trying to warn me.” Cy smiled and ran a hand up through the curls of his hair. “Sometimes I’m a little thick-headed when it comes to listening.”

  “I don’t know what happened that night. I keep trying to remember what brought it on, but I can’t.” Mia blinked her eyes closed. “It may have been a dream. It has never happened before when I’ve been asleep.”

  “When was the first time it did?”

  Mia studied him, trying to figure out if she could trust him. Then she took a deep breath and let it go. What the hell.

  “I was ten. My mom and I lived on a reservation in Idaho. I got angry one day, you know, dumb kid stuff. We’d fought. But that was the first time I could feel it, that something was growing inside me, something burning that had to get out. I ran out back to the shed behind our house, and that’s when the blue ball appeared in my hand. I tried to shake it free, get it off my hand. I was so afraid. My mom chased after me, screaming that I was a freak ‘just like her.’”

  “Who was she talking about?”

  “I don’t know. I never felt or saw the powers in my mother. The next day she dropped me off at Child Protective Services with my clothes packed in a Wal-Mart shopping bag. I never saw her again.” Looking off into the forest that surrounded them she continued, “I try to remember what she looked like. I can’t. I hated her for so many years, I guess I blocked her out, and now she’s gone.”

  “You didn’t have any other family that could take you?”

  “No, C.P.S. couldn’t find anyone. They never found her again. We moved so many times and my mom always used different names. She mentioned Klahowya but I don’t remember anyone else in our family, I was too young. She always carried fake I.Ds, so C.P.S. put me in foster care. As I said, the Millers were a nice family. They never hurt me.” Mia’s gaze traveled to Cy then away, trying not to think of what he’d said about his father’s beatings. “But I lived every day afraid it would happen again.”

  “Did it?”

  “It was a few years, but yes. I was afraid for the Millers, they’d been so nice. I couldn’t take the chance of putting them in danger, so I ran.”

  “At -fourteen?”

  “I grew up fast,” Mia said. “I don’t do well with people touching me. It brings down the control I have over it, whatever the hell, it is. That’s why I stayed in small towns; I could always find odd jobs and a place to stay. I moved from town to town making what I needed to survive.”

  “Damn.” Cy laughed. “That never worked for me. Everyone knows my business and everyone else’s in Klahowya.”

  “Only if you let them get close enough to you. Otherwise, it’s safe. I can control the power…most of the time.”

  “Until someone like me comes along and tries to kiss you?” He tipped his head and smiled a crooked grin. Her heart melted.

  “I think you did a little more than try.” She couldn’t help but smile.

  “I’m happy you came back to Klahowya.”

  A part of her was happy too.

  Mia tapped her foot. “You saw it. I can pull it out into my hand, and then I have to get rid of it in water. What happened the night at my house? It had never happened before when I’ve been asleep. Maybe it’s the next level. Once it gets out, it…”

  “Protects you. It protected both of us that night.” Cy finished her sentence. “Are you sure that the energy causes fires? Have you ever seen that blue light burn anything?”

  “No. But what about my house? It’s the only explanation.”

  “I thought I’d always been a fairly scientific kind of guy, until now.”

  “I blew that out of the water didn’t I?” She let out a short laugh.

  “I also believe the things I’ve seen with my own eyes. And I believe that you don’t know what this electricity is. The investigators haven’t determined where the fire started. Maybe it was faulty wiring or something else. Maybe you didn’t start it.”

  “I just don’t know. I can’t remember. So now, you know my big secret.” Her hands shook as she placed them on her knees.

  “And I guess you know mine.” Cy reached over, but his hand stopped a few inches over hers. “Can I touch you? I don’t want to hurt you.” Concern laced his voice.

  When she nodded, he placed a large hand over hers and squeezed. He wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. She choked back a sob. He was so real, so solid, and he was there for her. “I can feel when it gets out of control.”

  He pulled back slightly and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You’ll tell me, right?”

  “I promise. I’ll try not to burn down your house.”

  “It’s not quite mine yet. It’s still Captain West’s. I have years of payments until it’s mine.”

  She paused. “I haven't scared you off, running and screaming. Thanks.” And she meant it. There had never been anyone who hadn’t looked at her without fear in their eyes once they knew the truth. Mickey, from the restaurant, was one of her only friends, but he didn’t know her secrets, her past.

  Cy’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’m not running anywhere. Besides, my foot still hurts.” His face grew serious and he added, “Mia, I told you last night. I’m not going to leave you alone. You don’t need to run. Why don't you stop and try to find out these powers.”

  Mia nodded and tried not to cry. Cy seemed to know what to say at the exact right moment.

  This couldn’t be happening. No one ever cared about her. Mia shot a quick glance over at him thinking how handsome he looked with the morning sun slivering streaks of gold into his brown curls. “It’s beautiful here,” she said. “Very quiet and peaceful.”

  “You like it? Yeah? I love it. It’s my favorite place in the world. I’m a lucky man.” As if he couldn’t stop his hand, it trailed out and touched the silken flow of her hair.

  She added, “I’d never leave if I lived here.”

  “Leave here...the firehouse...Ah...jeez! What time is it?” Cy leaped up and ran inside the cabin, then came bursting back out on the porch. “We gotta go. I mean, I have to go. You can stay here or... I’m late. And I’m already on thin ice. I need to take a shower.”

  It was good to see he took commitment seriously, and it was fun to see him flustered. “Can I catch a ride back to town?” she called after him.

  “Sure. I’ll be back in a minute.” Cy disappeared into the house, leaving her alone to listen to the sounds of birds and running water from the river close by. Mia looked down at her wrist realizing she’d left the turquoise bracelet she’d worn the night before, by the bed.

  The door of the cabin creaked loudly as she stepped back inside. Yanking the comforter and sheets she pulled the bed back into order. It was the
least she could do to repay Cy for his hospitality.

  Her gaze shot up just as Cy bounded out of the bathroom, naked, except for a low-slung white terry towel wrapped tightly around his lean hips. Muscles shone rock-solid as rivulets of water ran from his wet hair, and down the sculpted muscles of his torso. Golden skin glistened as he ran a hand up through his hair and shook water off his fingers. A silky trail of dark hair led down the center of his chest and disappeared below the edge of the towel.

  Was he blushing?

  “God...sorry. I'm not used to having anyone around. I just need my clothes.” He scooped up a folded pile of laundry from the basket on the chair and moved back toward the bathroom, leaving large, wet footprints across the wood floor.

  Mia tried to pry her gaze from his retreating backside.

  Wow...She’d heard some girls at the restaurant talk about firemen being the number one sexiest profession, but to have one here at arm’s length? He was too handsome for any girl’s peace of mind. Her fingers tingled, as the thought of him raised her body temperature and she wondered wickedly, what was under the edge of that towel.

  Mia stepped toward the sink and ran cold water over her hands. There was a slight hiss followed by a puff of steam.

  Hot was right, but that was better...for now.

  Chapter 6

  “It’s on days like this I wish I’d gone with a car that has air conditioning and not this old rattletrap.” Cy rolled down the window and stuck his arm out to catch a breeze. It wasn’t even noon yet, but the temperature was rising above ninety and prickled his skin. “I’m a Western Washington State kind of boy. I like it when it’s a bit cooler.” His shirt was already stuck to his back with perspiration. “Do you want me to drop you off at the restaurant?”