It didn’t take us long to get to the inner-city address, and I couldn’t help but notice the condition of the houses. Old, run-down—several even had boards on the windows. They reminded me of some of the homes where I grew up. We pulled up at the curb and climbed out, and I saw a dilapidated two-story with smoke billowing out from under the eves.
A crowd was starting to form on the sidewalk, and after a quick scan of the area, Olsen marched over to the group of nosy onlookers.
“I’m Lieutenant Olsen with firehouse seventy-three. Does anyone know if this house is occupied?”
Several people shook their heads, and then a man in a brown uniform stepped forward.
“Hey, man, I’m the one who called it in. I’m not sure if anyone lives there or not, but I could’ve sworn I heard someone in there.”
“Thanks, we’ll get inside and take a look. If you can all move to the other side of the street to let my men through, that’d be appreciated.”
They all nodded and did as Olsen requested, then he walked back over to us.
“Right, no one knows if anyone lives here or not, but the guy who called it in heard someone inside. So let’s get going.”
We all masked up and headed up the front stairs to the porch. Olsen shoved the door open, and smoke poured out.
“All right, looks like a two-apartment setup. Brumm, Lee, take the first floor. Jameson and Isaacs, you're upstairs with me.”
I gave a firm nod and fell in behind Olsen and Isaacs. “Fire department, call out!”
With each step we took, the haze grew thicker, and about halfway up, the door to the upstairs apartment burst open, and someone appeared on the landing gasping for air.
“Miss?” Olsen said as he took the stairs a little faster. “Miss, are you okay? We’re with firehouse seventy-three, and we’re here to help.”
I paused, ready to do whatever my lieutenant needed me to. But just as he reached her, she flung an arm out, shoving him aside. What the fuck? She barreled down the stairs and used her momentum to push Isaacs off balance. As it was clear she was making a run for it, I braced myself, ready for her.
When she plowed into me, I grabbed her upper arms, halting her. She stumbled and fell forward, and when she looked up, her black hair fell back from her face, and I found myself staring at my sister.
“Jameson?”
“Amy?” I tore my helmet and mask off, about to ask what the hell she was doing here, but she wrestled her arm free. She slipped away from me, and before I could blink, she was off and running again.
“Jameson?” Olsen shouted. “Everything okay? You got her?”
No, I didn’t have shit. But I would. “Going after her now.”
I turned and booked it back down the stairs and out the door. I burst outside and sucked in several deep breaths of clean air. My eyes stung from the ash and smoke, and that headache from earlier now felt like a sledgehammer. I scanned the area in front of me, but all I saw was the rest of our crew.
“You okay, Jameson?” Davis called from the truck.
“You see a woman run out of here? Black hair, about five-one?”
Davis shook his head, but one of the bystanders called out, “She went that way,” and pointed to the left.
I took off in that direction, my mind still going over all the reasons why Amy would be here. This wasn’t our side of town. But it sure as fuck was our kind of neighborhood.
I jumped down from the porch and made my way up the side of the house, but there was no one there, and no one in the back alley either. She was gone.
Fuck.
“We’re all clear here,” Olsen said over the radio. “Seems it’s abandoned after all. Just squatters and junkies using the place to keep warm. Seems a makeshift fire in one of the bedrooms was the cause.”
I cursed again and kicked at the chain-link fence as Olsen instructed the engine to hose the place down.
“Jameson?” Olsen said over the radio.
“Here, lieutenant.”
“You catch up with our runner?”
Otherwise known as my sister, not that I was about to tell him that. Amy was just another reason I didn’t get close to people.
“No,” I said as I rounded the corner and spotted Olsen. “She’s gone.”
“I’m not surprised. She probably didn’t want to talk to the cops. I just wish she’d stuck around to get checked out.”
Yeah, right. There was no way Amy was going to stick around if she thought the cops would show. “She’ll find help if she needs it.”
Olsen nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “Yeah, you’re probably right. She sure shocked the hell out of me, though.”
Me too, but that was Amy’s way. She’d be gone for days, weeks, and this time months without contact, then out of the blue she’d resurface.
Was it the life I wanted for my sister? No. I’d tried to show her a better way, tried to help her so many times I’d lost count. But there was no getting through to her. So even though it had been a shock to see her here today, I was relieved to see she was okay, and that had to be enough.
“All right, boys,” Olsen called out. “Let’s get this wrapped up and head back to the station. Lee’s meatballs are calling me.”
I gave a final glance down the side of the house but then told myself to stop. If Amy needed me, she knew how to get in contact.
Chapter 15
Ryan
I PRESSED THE button to the floor of my apartment, shut my eyes, and thanked God it was Friday.
This week had been nonstop, and I was ready to relax. Between work and getting used to living with someone who had such an unusual work schedule, my brain was all over the place. Some nights Jameson was home; some nights he wasn’t. Some mornings I ran into him for ten minutes; other times not at all.
It was strange. Gabe and I had had such similar working hours that I hadn’t even thought about what it might be like to live with someone I sometimes didn’t see. But in those moments when I did see Jameson…wow.
I still wasn’t quite used to it, walking into a room and seeing him there. Jameson had this air about him that made me feel like a shy high school kid wanting the bad boy’s attention. It was that arrogance and confidence that was so intrinsic to his personality, and once you added in his broody looks, I was like a moth to a flame. It was ridiculous, really.
Also ridiculous was that I still hadn’t mastered that indifference I so badly wanted to perfect when around him. But it wasn’t that easy. I was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who tried to be as inclusive as possible. So trying to keep my distance from anyone was like torture.
But tonight, that was about to change. Jameson was home, and I knew that because he’d reached out to see if I wanted to “catch up,” and I was curious what that meant to him.
I unlocked the door and pushed it open, and even though I’d prepared myself for seeing him there in my space, the reality of Jameson lounging back on my couch was almost too much for me to take. In black sweatpants and a tight V-neck shirt to match, that wow factor was in my face—along with some seriously delicious muscles.
When Jameson spotted me, he straightened up in his seat.
“No, please, don’t get up,” I said as I walked over to the coat rack and hung my bag. I could feel his eyes tracking my movements as I began to unbutton my coat, and something about his silent scrutiny made my skin heat.