Up in Flames (Firehouse Three Book 1)

by Sidney Bristol

  Jesse wasn’t much of a hugger. Growing up with two manly-man brothers had that affect on a girl. But today was different. Someone had used her explosives to blast her truck and a warehouse to bits and as a result, put Hunter in danger. He could have been hurt today. Because of her.

  Everly blew out a breath and squeezed Jesse tighter.

  Hadn’t Hunter said something about Everly and…what was his name? Drake!

  “You!” Jesse stepped back and pointed her finger in Everly’s face. “You have some explaining to do. Here. Couch. Now.”

  She shoved the cupcakes into Everly’s hands and guided both pups into Everly’s spacious living room. All the boxes with stuff for the fundraiser were gone and judging by the lack of dog hair, Everly had engaged in her favorite stress activity. Cleaning. And now Jesse was here to indulge in her solution. Eating.

  Jesse plopped down on the sofa and tugged Sirius closer. She couldn’t wait for pup introductions to get even the barest details. Somehow, in the span of a week, she’d totally lost touch with her best friend. How did she not know things that Hunter knew? Wasn’t that like, a breach of girl code? Not that Jesse was very good at being girly, but she was still female.

  “What are you—I don’t know—I mean…” Everly stammered a non-answer, her cheeks flushing a brilliant scarlet. That was usually Jesse’s gig. It was awfully telling on Everly. Was that how Jesse looked? No wonder Hunter stared at her like a science project when she blushed.

  “I know about Drake. Well, some of it.” Jesse’s stomach clenched. Oh, God…what if…? “You saw the news?”

  “Yes…” Everly’s face went pale.

  “He’s fine,” she blurted. All afternoon, Jesse had been in knots, waiting for some word. News. Anything. Jesse had been frozen with terror, glued to the coverage and the Internet, praying for the flames to go out. In hindsight, she should have called Everly. The last thing Jesse wanted for Everly was to worry like she had. “I saw him before I came here.”

  “You—you what? Why?” Everly gaped at Jesse, lips parted, eyes wide. Oh, there were stories to tell on both sides.

  “Oh, no you don’t. You first. Here, have a cupcake. It’ll make you feel better.” Jesse opened the box and shoved Everly’s favorite sugary concoction at her. Jesse had gone all out for this one. Considering just how out of her depth she was with Hunter, it seemed necessary. “So, Drake, huh? The guy on the website? Spill, now, or so help me God, I’m going to call your mother and then you’ll have to tell us both.”

  “You—Jesse! No.” Everly froze with a cupcake between her fingers, mouth hanging open. “You wouldn’t.”

  No, Jesse, wouldn’t but Everly was so completely stressed out her knots probably had knots. Jesse was still going to get the scoop, even if that meant using dirty tactics.

  “Spill, woman.”

  “Don’t, spill woman me. What about you?” Everly peeled the wrapper off her cupcake and licked the frosting, doing her best to scowl at Jesse.

  “I will tell you all, but only after you tell me. What the hell is going on?”

  Everly set the cupcake down and covered her face with her hands. She groaned and peeked out from between her fingers.

  Jesse nibbled on her own cupcake, in desperate need of the sugary pick-me-up. She was running on fumes again, about to crash in a bad way if she didn’t do something about it soon.

  “I got caught in a tree, he rescued me, and then we kissed. A few times.” Everly snapped her fingers shut.

  Kissed?

  A few times?

  Who was this person and what had she done with Jesse’s best friend?

  “Everly Pitts. When did this happen?” Jesse couldn’t help but stare.

  “Last week…”

  “Last week? Are you serious? Why didn’t I know about this?”

  “I don’t know.” Everly dropped her hands to her lap, her expression panicked. She looked a lot how Jesse felt.

  “Is this why I couldn’t find you Friday after everything was over?”

  “Yes…”

  “How did the fundraiser go? I…never mind.” She shook her head. “You first. I need to know everything. Well, not everything-everything, just the appropriate bits.”

  “Oh, my God. Okay.” Everly blew out a breath, finding some measure of composure. “Great. The fundraiser…I had no idea it would be that successful. And you! You! Two thousand dollars? I can’t—”

  “You can. It already cleared my bank account. Charlie confirmed it for me. I like her, by the way. We are hanging out with her soon, right?”

  “Sure, we can, but—”

  “Good. Now, Drake?”

  Everly buried her face against the couch cushions and groaned. Yup, Jesse could relate. She’d spent most of the last two days alternating between abject horror and wanting to bury her face in the pillows.

  “That good, huh?” Jesse was enjoying this far too much, but it was only a matter of time until the tables were turned.

  “Yes.”

  “Go on your date yet?”

  “Yes.” Everly had her face nearly buried between the cushions now.

  It must have gone awfully well if Everly was this twisted up about things. Jesse had to know now, but maybe Everly would chill out a bit if it wasn’t just her.

  “I really should have paid more attention to the details of the auction. I didn’t realize I was bidding on a date—my bad.” Jesse licked the frosting off her fingers. “So…I had sex on Friday with my fireman.”

  My fireman.

  Those two words made Jesse all tingly. Calling him hers seemed…right.

  “You—what?” Everly sat up, eyes wide. “Who?”

  “His name is Hunter. He’s got—”

  “Tattoos?” Everly waved at her arms.

  “Yes…” It was Jesse’s turn to blush as the heat crept up her neck.

  “What? Seriously?” Everly set the cupcakes on the coffee table and leaned forward.

  Jesse didn’t know if the wide-eyed-shocked face should offend her or not. What? It wasn’t like she was a virgin.

  “Yup. And then someone stole my keys, my truck and…that warehouse fire on the news?” Jesse stared at the couch cushions, her giddy thrill abating. Elsa pressed her head against Jesse’s thigh. “Someone stole the C4 out of my demo locker and blew up that warehouse.”

  “No…”

  “Yeah, and…I keep thinking, what if someone got hurt? What if it was Hunter? Or…Drake, right? What if it was them? I’m probably officially on the crazy list up there, but I had to go to the firehouse, check on them. Because, what if I got someone hurt?” Or worse? There was always worse… Jesse chewed on her nail.

  “Wow.” Everly blinked a few times. “Do…do your brothers—?”

  “Oh, God. I don’t even want to talk about them.” Jesse groaned. Nightmare of nightmares.

  “They know?”

  “Justin tried to start a fight with Hunter and clocked me instead.” She pointed to her wonderful bruise starting to turn dark.

  “No.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And this precious little one?” Everly wiggled her fingers at Elsa.

  “This is Hunter’s girl. Elsa.”

  Elsa did her best please-love-me puppy face at Everly while Sirius flopped belly up on the floor.

  “You have his dog and he’s met your brothers. This is like a record, Jess. Is this…serious?” Everly went to town petting Elsa, who all but crawled up into Everly’s lap.

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said slowly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. It just…did. And now…I don’t know.” She stared at the floor.

  “You sound like me.”

  “Drake and Hunter seem really close.”

  “Drake moved here because of Hunter.”

  “Yeah, they sound like two peas in a pod.” Jesse couldn’t shake the coverage of the warehouse fire. “Did you watch the warehouse coverage?”

  “I did.” Everly’s face looked how Jesse felt.

&nb
sp; “How do they do it? Run into danger like that?”

  “It’s who they are.”

  “I know, but…does it have to be so dangerous? I was so worried, wondering if the fireman I saw on the screen…”

  “Was him? Me, too.”

  “So much for finding nice guys.” Jesse chuckled and tried to relax back into the cushions. “What’d you guys do for your date? We had take-out with the dogs. Sexy.”

  “Oh, uh…”

  “Everly…spill!”

  Hunter activated the Bluetooth headset and shifted his Jeep into drive. Usually he wasn’t raring to get out quite this fast, but most days he didn’t have a curvy brunette on his mind either. The line rang all of twice.

  “Hey.” Jesse’s voice was bright, full of smiles. Had she been waiting for his call? He liked to think so.

  “Afternoon.”

  “I was just thinking about you.”

  “Naughty thoughts, I hope.”

  “No, sorry to disappoint.” She chuckled. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just tired.”

  “Well, get some sleep.”

  “I will. Headed home now. You free? We could take a nap.” Yeah, right. If Hunter had Jesse in his bed, sleeping would be the last thing they’d be doing on his list. He still didn’t have a plan for how to keep her besides making one, but keeping her happy in bed was at least a start. Something he knew how to do.

  “I wish, but no. I managed to get enough explosives to do this demo. Our window for doing it is shrinking because there’s some big political rally thing later this week and they want us done before they set up.”

  “The hotel demo you told me about?”

  “Yeah. I’m setting the charges with my crew, and then the whole thing’s coming down tonight. We’re on lunch break right now, so perfect timing.”

  “Lucky me.” He turned into the condo and used his keycard for the parking garage. “You mean you can’t do a demo if something else is going on?”

  “Usually it doesn’t matter, but the hotel is on the south side of downtown and we have dozens of charges that will go off simultaneously. Since it’s so close to the heart of Dallas, I’m working with City Hall to ensure the demo doesn’t scare people, disrupt traffic, that whole thing.”

  “Man. I would have thought I’d have heard about this.”

  “It’s not in your area. Department. Um, space?”

  Hunter chuckled.

  “Hey, you want to come see it tonight? It’s not like fireworks cool or anything, but it’s kinda neat to see a building come down. Especially one this big.”

  “Watch a pretty girl blow stuff up? Where do I park?”

  “I’ll text you the details.” She laughed and all was right with the world.

  “Can’t wait. How’s Elsa doing? She behaving?”

  “She’s a doll. You can pick her up tonight after the demo if you like.”

  “Or…we could rain check that nap until after your demo.”

  Jesse’s laugh turned flustered and it was all too easy to recall the way she blushed all the way to her breasts.

  “Too soon?” Hunter knew what he wanted, that wasn’t the problem. But it might take Jesse longer to get there. He got the feeling she wasn’t quite sure what to do with him, a sentiment he understood.

  “No, I…uh, I’ll just tell James I won’t need a ride home then.”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Bye.”

  The call ended much too soon. Hunter wasn’t excited about the prospect of going home to an empty apartment, but after the last twenty-four-hour shift, he was in desperate need of some sleep. He hauled his ass out of the Jeep and made the trek to his door. Having his place this close was incredibly convenient, but right about now he’d drive to the state border if that meant having someone there when he got off work. Shifts like these were hard, but at least no one had been hurt and no lives were lost.

  He paused at the counter and snagged a piece of paper and jotted down a few things he wanted to pick up before heading out to meet Jesse tonight. Like condoms. Some flowers. Maybe a gift for the dogs. That done, he shed his clothes and crawled into bed.

  The pillow next to his still had a dip in it from where she’d been. He leaned over and smelled the sheets, inhaling her scent like some sort of addict.

  What the hell?

  Hunter hugged the pillow, burying his face in it and squeezed.

  Just a few more hours and he’d get his arms around her again. He had to play his cards just right.

  Oscar glanced over his shoulder at the demo crew. Jesse was running them hard today, with good reason. Usually she insisted on a two-day set up before she brought the house down. Cramming it all into one meant extra men on her team and long hours. The perfect recipe to screw something up.

  He was especially glad to not be in that group. Some of the guys might grumble about having a woman, much less the bosses’ sister, calling the shots, but she knew what she was about. Part of him felt guilty for what he was doing—had done—but not enough to put the brakes on. Someone had to do something in a big way. He was just lucky enough to be part of it. And when all was said and done, he’d have his kids back.

  He jabbed the missed number and pressed his phone to his ear.

  “What?” Terry asked.

  “Do we need more stuff?” Oscar asked.

  A chair squeaked in the background, muted voices could be heard, but otherwise…silence.

  “We could always use more.”

  Oscar let out a breath.

  “I’ll get my hands on some.” He glanced over his shoulder again. Jesse slid out of her brother’s truck, hard hat and vest on, the guys scrambling to wolf down the last of their lunches. “Won’t be a lot.”

  “Every little bit matters, Oscar. Think of your kids.”

  12.

  Hunter sat on the blanket spread out in the back of Jesse’s brother’s pick-up truck. She’d had the spot picked out when he got here, blankets, pillows and all. The area around the hotel was fenced off all the way to the road and a few of the side streets were blocked to traffic. A few groups of people were clustered around, waiting for the show.

  He had to wonder if they were far enough away that there wasn’t a danger of debris falling on them. The close confines of the other buildings would make getting completely out of the way difficult or next to impossible. Still, Jesse knew what she was doing and had her hands full. She was the professional here.

  Besides a quick peck on the cheek and handing him a hardhat and vest, she hadn’t said much to him. The energy was high as men scrambled around, doing all the last minute preparations.

  The blast was scheduled for seven o’ clock. From his understanding, that ensured the blast didn’t cause rush hour disruptions, but was still over with in the daylight hours. The local fire department was on hand, as well as a few police and EMTs. He knew several of the guys in passing, but had kept to himself. Everyone had a job to do and he, he was only focused on one thing.

  The way Jesse’s bottom swayed when she walked, how her tool belt hung on her hips, and how much he wanted to unbraid her hair later. This whole display was more than a little hot. In her element, she was a completely different creature. Confident. A bit bossy, but bitches got shit done and the way she managed her crew left no doubt in his mind that things would be completed up to standards or else.

  She was different when they were together. Not as sure of herself. Was it because of him? Did he…make her doubt herself? Was it something he’d said or done? He could relate in that he had no idea what he was doing when it came to keeping a woman interested. But he was determined to figure it out. One way or another. Maybe he could coax that bossy nature out to play more often.

  He checked his phone, but Arthur still wasn’t returning his messages.

  Chances were, it meant the detective had found something, and Jesse wasn’t going to like it.

  Hunter scanned the work site, studying each man there
.

  The thief was likely one of these people. Someone Jesse trusted.

  If Hunter were Arthur…

  He twisted, looking at the crowd again. Arthur was probably there. Watching.

  Shit.

  This date was now an exercise in observation.

  He turned around in time to hear Jesse calling out to her brothers. The two guys, plus their shadow Nicholas, and a new guy Hunter didn’t recognize, circled up around her. She did that thing where she had one hand on her hip, the other at her chin. It was a nervous gesture.

  Something wasn’t right.

  He slid out of the pick-up bed and stood. Instinct said to go to her, help, do something. But this wasn’t his element.

  A nearby whistle broke his concentration.

  A black man stood at the chain-link fence wearing jeans and a T-shirt, baseball cap pulled low.

  Hunter circled the truck, that same grim feeling settling around him.

  “What’s going on?” He leaned one hand against the hood of the truck.

  Arthur had hold of the fence with one hand, his other on his hip. He kept his gaze on the knot of people around Jesse.

  “You know what’s going on?” Arthur asked.

  “No, but I’m guessing I won’t like it.”

  “There’s a discrepancy between what was sent to the site and what was received.”

  Translation, shit was missing.

  “Fuck. How much?” Hunter scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “Couple pounds. Not much.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “Talked to Jesse. Going to call it an equipment malfunction and go ahead with the demo.”

  “So, what?”

  “There were five people who had their hands on those explosives.” Arthur tipped his head forward. Toward Jesse and her brothers. “One of them is our thief.”

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you that. Keep your eyes open?”

  “Come on, Arthur. Who am I watching?”

  “That young guy? Not the brother, but the other one.”

  “Nick?”

  “It’s not looking good.” Arthur shook his head.

  Hunter swallowed. The way Jesse had talked about Nicholas, he was a brother to them. Someone they trusted. Which meant Nicholas had access to them in a way other people on their crew wouldn’t.