“I have a question for you,” he says, breaking the silence that we’ve settled into.
“What’s that?”
“Would you be my date to the Firefighters Ball?”
I mull his question over, a little shocked that he’s asked. “I’d love to,” I tell him honestly.
“It’s formal, so you’d need a dress and all that,” he tells me.
“That isn’t a problem. It just gives me a reason to go shopping,” I tell him.
His question lifts my mood a little bit. Maybe he is coming around to the idea that we could be more than just fuck buddies. With that thought, and perhaps a little bit of hope, I snuggle in a little tighter to his side and fall asleep.
12
LEE
Allison was up and out of here early this morning. Something was off with her last night, and I really wish I knew what exactly it was. We’ve got a good thing going between us, but I’m out if things get too weird. I’d rather have her as a friend than have things going sideways.
I hop out of the shower, drying off and wrapping the towel around my waist as I step up in front of my sink and mirror. I start with my electric razor before cleaning the rest of my scruff up with my handheld one and then head into my bedroom to get dressed and ready for my shift. I pack a bag since I’ll be at the firehouse for a full twenty-four-hour shift.
“What’s up, man?” Tucker asks, strolling into the locker room, his own bag slung over his shoulder. He bumps fists with me before offloading his things into his locker.
“Nothing much, how about you?” I ask him as I shut my locker door and close the few feet between us.
“Just an easy day, spent it with my girl before I had to come to work.”
I smirk at him, referring to Lindsay as his girl. Settling down actually suits him.
I kick back in the great room, a random car show on the TV, as the rest of our crew is milling about, waiting for the first call of our shift to come in. It only takes us sitting around for about thirty minutes before the bells are ringing, and we all go running for the rigs in the bays.
We roll up on the house, smoke billowing from the upper windows. I can already tell this is going to be a total loss for this family.
“Ma’am,” I call out to the woman standing at the end of the driveway, tears streaming down her face as she looks at the burning house. “Is anyone still inside?” I ask, wanting to know if we need to get in and rescue anyone.
“No,” she chokes out between sobs. “I was the only one home. My husband was gone with our kids.”
“That’s good,” I tell her, trying to show her as much sympathy as I can. “Do you know how the fire started?” I ask.
“I think from the dryer, but I really don’t know. I was busy cleaning the bathroom when the smoke detector went off,” she tells me as some of my crew starts spraying water on the house as others head inside to fight this from both sides. “When I came out of the bathroom, the hallway was already filled with smoke, so I ran out of the house and called you guys.”
“You did great, ma’am. We’ll get things under control as quickly as we can. Do you need any medical attention? Does it hurt to breathe?” I question. Smoke inhalation can cause damage quickly, so depending on how much smoke she had to go through before making it outside, it could possibly have caused damage to her lungs.
“I don’t think so,” she answers, her body visibly shaking, most likely from the shock the fire has caused.
We do everything we can to get the fire out, but as I feared when we rolled up, the house was completely lost. Between the smoke, fire, and water damage, not much inside will be salvageable. By the time we got the flames knocked down, the husband and kids had shown back up. I noticed the man holding his wife as she cried into his shoulder when I walked back to the truck for one of the axes.
We finish up, ensuring we’ve put out all the smoldering embers everywhere before packing up our equipment and heading back to the station.
“Who’s on dinner duty tonight?” I ask the group as I finish dressing after a quick shower. Fighting fires is not only a dirty job because of the ashes and soot that we end up covered in, but we’re a sweaty mess by the time we’re done. Turnout gear only protects you from so much.
“I think we’re going to order in,” Tucker says, flipping through the menu book we keep with all the restaurants' menus, not that any of us really need them to know what we’d want from anywhere. In the last five years or so, we’ve had more chain places popping up since we’re on the interstate, but the really good, hole in the wall, local places are where it's at.
“Good, I’m starving,” I tell him as my stomach growls loudly.
“Then you pick,” he says, handing over the menu binder.
“Like you even have to ask,” I scoff. I always pick our local BBQ place. They’ve got large servings, are usually super-fast, and best of all, not that far from the station.
“Figured.” Tucker laughs and shakes his head at me. “I swear you’d eat there every day if you could.”
“What can I say? I like their food.”
It doesn’t take long before we’ve got our order called in and back here at the station so we can all dive in. Thankfully, things are on our side tonight as we don’t get called out on our next call until well after we’ve had dinner.
My shift finally ticks by; I swear tonight felt like it was never going to end. Thankfully, I was able to get a decent stretch of sleep, not that I won’t still just head home and crash for the next few hours.
I pull into my garage, shutting my truck off before hitting the button on my opener to close the door before I step out of the truck. The sun is bright, and with it no longer shining in, my eyes take a few minutes to adjust to the dimmer room. I snag my bag from the truck seat, slinging it over my shoulder as I head into my house.
I drop everything just inside the door and head straight for my bed. I slide between the sheets, my phone pinging from the nightstand as I do. I grab it to see who’s texting me this morning and see I’ve got a message from Allison. My dick twitches just reading her name, but now’s not the time for that appendage to be in charge.
Allison: Hey! Are you free tonight? Maybe we can grab a drink?
Her text comes across as her usual bubbly self, so I can only hope that means whatever was bugging her the other night is no longer bothering her.
Lee: Sure, I just got home and was going to crash for a few more hours. Did you want to get together this afternoon?
Allison: I’m off today, so we can get together whenever.
Lee: How about I text you when I’m up and moving for the day?
Allison: Works for me; enjoy your nap. {winky face}
I toss my phone aside once again, doing my best to shut my mind off long enough to fall asleep for a few more hours.
13
ALLISON
Two months later
I stand in front of the mirror, checking over my complete look for tonight. I splurged and had my hair and makeup done at the salon today. I love the way my hair is styled, and my makeup is on point.