Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2)

by Amy Starling

  “You can't keep secrets from someone you claim to love. You be honest with them, and let them make the choice to forgive.”

  “So do you forgive me, then?”

  I couldn't look at him. “I might forgive you, but that doesn't mean I can just pretend it never happened.”

  “Anna, please. Give me a chance. I don't want to be a pretend boyfriend anymore. In fact, I was never pretending. From the first moment I kissed you, I knew I had to have you.”

  “You'd still want me when I'm about to have another man's child?”

  “Yes,” he answered without hesitation.

  “I... I need some time to think. I can't let myself get hurt again. Not when I have a baby to worry about.”

  He kissed my cheek before heading out the door. “Oh, I'll give you time. Don't you fret, all right? I'm gonna make everything better for you. Just trust me.”

  I rubbed the spot he kissed and watched him go.

  “Trust you? I think that's how I got into this mess in the first place.”

  The second his car vanished from sight, I wished he would come back.

  Chapter 27 - Max

  Anna's farm was a shell of its former self.

  When I pulled into the driveway, I wasn't prepared for how hard it'd hit me. Gone was her truck, and a dirty old van sat in its place.

  Her vegetable garden was pretty much toast. A few stragglers still managed to hang on, mostly some hardy herbs. I could still remember helping her pick them not so long ago.

  The chicken coop had been emptied out, but at least it was still standing. Never thought I'd say I missed those dirty, noisy birds.

  The front door opened, and out came a portly older man with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He adjusted his glasses and stared at me from the porch.

  “Well, it's now or never,” I told myself. “Here's hoping my negotiation skills are up to snuff.”

  As I came closer, I recognized the man.

  “Mr. Jenkins, tenth-grade chemistry teacher. Remember me?”

  His confusion vanished and he broke into a smile. “Ah, Max. My favorite troublemaker. Must have been years since I've seen you last. What brings you here?”

  I took a deep breath. “This may sound crazy, but I really, really need this farm back.”

  He looked very confused. “Well now, I just bought the property from Daniel Southwell – that guy running for governor, y'know? It was quite a steal, too. Thought maybe I'd take a break from chemistry and try my hand at plant breeding.”

  “Whatever you paid, I'll pay you back. Hell, I'd pay more if I had to.”

  “Son, what in the world is your deal? Do you realize what you're asking?”

  “Anna, Daniel's daughter, used to live on this farm. She loved it here. It was her home, her business. But he kicked her out so he could sell it – all because she wouldn't marry some asshole.”

  It was crass, but it worked. Mr. Jenkins removed his glasses to wipe away a tear.

  “He did that? Why, what kind of monster would do such a thing? I remember Anna. She was a sweet girl.”

  “Yeah, and I'm in love with her, but I did some bad things and I gotta make it right. Please, sir, let me buy the property back from you.”

  His shoulders fell. “I only just moved in, and I've already gotten rather fond of the place.”

  “Fine. I'll pay whatever you're asking.”

  “Well, I was gonna use this as a vacation home. I got another place a town over.” He hesitated. “I paid Mr. Southwell two hundred and twenty K for it.”

  I about crapped myself when I heard the number. I didn't have anywhere near that amount! Sure, I had some in savings, but not much after I lost my job. And the good state of Texas was sending me a check to pay me back for the days I'd spent falsely imprisoned. But that would probably be a few thousand, at best.

  “Man, that's way more than I can afford. Is there anything I can do? Anna's about to have her baby, and she and that kid deserve better than coming home to a crappy, tiny apartment.”

  “Oh, she's pregnant?” His brow furrowed. “That's... Very touching, what you're trying to do for her. I can see you've turned into a fine man, Max.”

  I said nothing as he paced in a line, thinking.

  “How much can you pay right now?” he asked.

  “Maybe fifty grand, if I empty out my savings account.”

  He nodded. “Tell you what. You pay me what you can, and I'll let her move back in. You can send me the rest of it whenever y'all get back on your feet. Make little payments every month if you like.”

  I wasn't normally an affectionate man, but I whooped for joy and hugged good ol' Mr. Jenkins.

  “Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver, sir.”

  “Aw, I'm just a sucker for a damsel in distress.” He waggled his finger at me. “You'd best treat that woman right, you hear?”

  “I promise I will.”

  I grinned like a fool while Mr. Jenkins went off to make some phone calls.

  “All right, then, darlin'. It's finally time to give you that nursery you always wanted.”

  Chapter 28 - Anna

  “I think Trey and I are gonna break up.”

  I stared at my computer and waited for Rachael to continue, as I knew she would. This was one of the downsides, evidently, of working with my sister. She just loved to come to me with all her personal problems.

  Of course, when I had something to complain about, she was far too busy to listen. Nothing between us would ever change.

  “We're arguing all the time now. I keep asking why he won't propose; he keeps putting it off and never giving me a good reason.” She sniffled into a tissue. “Then last night he told me the truth. He doesn't want to leave Bastrop. Like, ever.”

  “And you do?”

  “Mom and dad say they'll buy us a house in California if we get married. But he doesn't want to go there. He's happy living in this tiny town surrounded by hicks.”

  I scowled at her. “Can't believe you would have anything to do with them after what dad did to me.”

  “Well, that was your own fault. If you ask me, you never should have gotten involved with Max. He's the whole reason Henry ended up leaving you at the altar.”

  Leave it to her to blame me for the way things went. Why did everybody in this family behave so badly? I thought for sure I must have been raised by wolves. At least they had more manners.

  “I didn't want anything to do with Henry.”

  “You turned him down because you didn't know him that well. Big deal! The guy had money and power. I'd have snapped him up in a heartbeat.”

  “Mostly, I turned him down because I wanted Max.”

  “Yeah, and look where that got you. Now you have no man, no farm, no house, and you're about to pop that baby out any day now.”

  I stared at the too-bright computer screen. “Dad's the reason I have none of that. He's the one who took it all away from me.”

  “Right, go ahead and blame him. He's nothing but kind and generous to me – and he'd be the same to you if you were a better daughter.”

  I slammed my mouse down so hard that everyone in the office looked. Well, let them look. I'd had enough of being treated like a second-class citizen in my own damn family.

  “How dare you say that! You think it's acceptable, what dad did? He paid a bunch of strippers to seduce Max.”

  She squirmed in her chair. “You don't know that was him.”

  “It was, and you know it. Dad loathed Max; he wasn't good enough to be part of the Southwell family.” I rolled my eyes. “He was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of him.”

  “But he didn't send him to jail on purpose. Even if he did pay those girls, he didn't ask them to drug him and accuse him of rape, for God's sake. He wouldn't do that.”

  “How the hell do you know what he'd do? Dad's so desperate to look good to others, you have no idea how far he'd go. And then there's mom, who just goes along blindly with whatever he says.”

  Cind
y, our boss, cleared her throat loudly. That was her way of telling us to shut up.

  “Look, Ray. I'm sorry you and Trey are having problems. But whatever you're going through with him, I guarantee it's nowhere near the hell I'm living right now.”

  She grumbled and returned to her desk. “There you go again, being all melodramatic. You always were trying to be the center of attention.”

  I let her go without a word. Only thinking of Max made me calm down again.

  It took a lot of strength not to call him and beg for him to come back to me. I hadn't seen him since he visited me over a week ago, and he hadn't called, either. I was beginning to worry maybe I had run him off for good.

  It would've been my fault, if so. I was the one who told him I didn't trust him, that I needed time away from him to figure things out. Maybe he got sick of me and found another woman.

  I wanted terribly to be with him, but my feelings held me back. The anger over the stunt he'd pulled with Rich, and the fear that he'd hurt me again somehow.

  Could I put that fear in the past and be happy with him? Or would it be the biggest mistake of my life to let him back into my world?

  I had the baby to think of, too. If things went south with Max, it wouldn't just be me who got hurt.

  When work let out, the sun had long past set. I was starving, and the baby demanded that I feed him with a burger, fries, and a big chocolate milkshake.

  “Fast food isn't healthy for you, little one,” I murmured. “Well, okay. Just this once. I was getting sick of eating beans and leftovers anyway.”

  I could get to the Whataburger via the highway, but it was all backed up for some reason, so the side road was a better bet. The road was so narrow, fitting two cars side-by-side on it was a challenge.

  Seeing no one around for miles ahead, I picked up speed to fifty miles an hour.

  And that's when a sharp, agonizing pain tore through my abdomen. Panicked, I hit the brakes.

  What was wrong with me? Was it the baby? Oh, no. God, no. if something went wrong, if I lost him...

  The pain struck again. Instinctively, I grabbed for my belly, and my elbow jammed against the steering wheel. Before I could correct my path, the car swerved off the road and flew into a ditch.

  Down the slope I rolled, crashing through bushes and rolling over small trees, while I tried desperately to hit the brakes despite the pain. It hurt so bad that I broke out in a cold sweat and my vision blurred with tears.

  At last, I came to a stop in a gully without colliding with anything else. Shaking and terrified, I fumbled for my purse, which had tipped upside-down and spilled its contents all over the floor.

  “The phone. Where is it?”

  I had to call someone. The hospital? Max?

  No, what could he do? Something was seriously wrong with me. I needed medical attention, fast, or I just knew something would happen to the baby.

  I discovered the phone buried under a bunch of napkins. I hurried to dial 911, pressed send – and then the car began to move again.

  I gazed out the side window and realized what was happening, but too late. I'd come to a stop on the edge of a cliff, and my car was teetering over the side, ready to slide down into the dry creek bed below.

  “What is the nature of your emergency, please?”

  “Help me,” I screamed.

  The car tipped and then fell. I clutched the wheel and closed my eyes and prayed we would be okay.

  Through all this, the pain never stopped. I couldn't see, couldn't think. Everything was a blur, a nightmare, almost surreal.

  The car flipped on its side, taking me with it. Down the embankment next, sliding, helpless to stop or save myself now.

  The top of the car scraped against a tree trunk. There was the sound of metal crunching, the smell of smoke coming from somewhere.

  Then the car collided with a tree hard and I was sure, in those last few seconds of consciousness, I was going to die.

  Chapter 29 - Max

  “Man, that is quite a wild story, Max. It would make such a badass movie.”

  Chris tossed his basketball at the hoop they'd set up in the corner. The shot totally missed, and the guys all laughed at him.

  “Jake's right,” said Logan. “I'd pay to go see that. Hell, I might even read the book.”

  “And here I always thought you were illiterate,” another guy teased.

  It felt good to be back here at the Bastrop fire department. I used to think it was pretty boring here, 'cause there just weren't that many fires to fight in a small town except during the dry season. Now, I savored the peace and quiet.

  It was my turn to shoot the ball, but I wasn't really feeling it. I couldn't stop thinking of Anna.

  You bet I wanted to call her, but I was terrified of bothering her. One wrong move, and she'd decide she was done with me forever.

  “So whatever happened with you and your girl? Anna, right?”

  I sighed. “She's not my girl, like I told you last time. She doesn't want nothing to do with me. Needs space, she said.”

  “Ouch. That's not good.”

  “No, it ain't.”

  The radio went off, and all of us hushed as the dispatcher's voice came through.

  “We've had reports of a vehicle fire off highway ninety five. A witness said there appeared to be a pickup truck in the woods with flames coming out of it. He was unsure if the vehicle was occupied at the moment.”

  Seconds later, another 911 call came through.

  “We just received a call from a woman who only said 'help me' before hanging up. We traced the call to highway ninety five, shortly past the Samson Avenue exit. Any available unit, please respond.”

  Samson Avenue... That was where Anna's favorite fast-food joint was. And she got off work not long ago, too.

  An awful feeling shot through me then. I felt it in my very soul, and somehow knew, without a doubt, that Anna was in trouble. It was her in that truck. I knew it!

  “I'm going,” I shouted as I raced out the door to a waiting engine. Chris and Jake followed, giving each other confused looks as they buckled themselves into their seats.

  “Max, what the hell? Why are you freaking out like this?”

  I didn't answer. My phone, where was it? There! Anna's name was the first in my contacts list.

  I tapped her number and listened to the phone ring over and over again, all the while speeding down the highway and zipping around cars that wouldn't move out of my way fast enough.

  “C'mon, pick up. Pick up, please!”

  But she didn't. She could have been ignoring me, but I doubted it. Oh, Lord. This was bad, real bad.

  “Max?”

  “I think it's Anna. I gotta get to her.”

  “What? How do you know?”

  “I don't for sure, but I can just tell somehow.”

  Chris's brow scrunched as he stared out the window. “No matter who it is, we need to reach the scene fast. If there's a vehicle fire in the woods, the whole place could turn into an inferno in minutes.”

  I floored it, hurtling down the highway at eighty miles an hour, furious that the piece of crap truck couldn't get up any faster than that.

  “Down there!”

  I slammed on the brakes. Sure enough, there was that tell-tale orange glow of something burning down in the ditch.

  “Truck can't get down there, and it looks like it's spreading quick. We might not have enough water for this one.”

  Ambulance sirens wailed in the distance. They'd be here soon, but there was nothing they could do until we got the fire out of the way. I grabbed my tools and an extinguisher, then skidded down the embankment without waiting for the guys.

  “Max, don't go alone. It's dangerous.”

  “I don't care!”

  It was too dark to see at first, but as I approached, pure terror filled my heart. There was Anna's Toyota Tacoma, lying on its side, with flames spewing from the hood. The fire had spread around the truck, too, so getting to it wouldn't b
e easy.

  I cut a path through the burning brush toward the car, praying that she wasn't in it, that she'd gotten out and was safe. But when I spotted her slouched over in the front seat, eyes closed, I flipped out.

  “Anna! Don't you die, damn it,” I hissed.

  I tried opening the door normally, but no dice. Instead, I shattered the glass with a hammer, reached in to unlock it, and pulled her out.

  She stirred as I lifted her over my shoulder, then began to choke on the smoke.

  “It's me, Anna. You're gonna be okay. You and the baby are going to get through this.”

  “M-Max? I... It hurts.”

  “You're going to the hospital. They'll patch you up. Just hold onto me, okay?”

  She weakly put her arms around my neck.

  “No, I mean...” She coughed violently. “My stomach. I think... The baby.”

  Sweat beaded on my brow as I sprayed down the fire. Every time I put out the flames in front of me, more popped up to the sides. The guys were working fast as they could to unravel the hose and get down here, but they weren't going quick enough.

  “The baby? What's wrong with him?”

  “I don't know. It just hurts. I'm scared, Max.”

  “I'm here for you. I'm here, and I'm never gonna leave you again. Please, stay strong for me.”

  It wasn't easy getting up the hill with a pregnant woman on my back, but I did it. Just in time, too. An ambulance pulled up alongside our truck, and out rushed two paramedics.

  “Is she injured? Set her down here,” one said.

  “She was in a bad wreck.” I gently placed her on the stretcher. “And she's pregnant. She says her belly hurts. Please, don't let anything happen to either of them.”

  I watched tearfully as they loaded her into the ambulance. I never felt so helpless before. Being in that wheelchair was nothing compared to this.

  A hand came down on my shoulder. “You need to go with her,” Chris said.

  “Yeah, I do. Thanks, man.”

  He gave me a grim smile as I climbed into the ambulance with her. I was grateful to see that the paramedic had stabilized her and given her something for the pain, but even that didn't help much. She let out a horrible cry every few seconds that rattled me deep.