by Piper Rayne
“Maddie,” the little girl says, jumping up and heading to the fence line.
“Hey, Jade.” I see she’s holding a cute white puppy in her arms. “You got a puppy?”
Her eyes light up, a smile so big I can see why Reed finally caved. Jade’s been begging for a dog for months.
I pet the dog’s head, and it leans in already too used to getting a lot of attention.
“I named him Snowball.” Jade holds him up in her arms.
“He’s adorable.” I continue petting him thinking maybe a dog would be a good idea if I stayed in a house for any length of time.
“I know. I can’t believe my mom and Reed agreed. My daddy brought him as a good luck in school gift this past weekend.”
I cringe inwardly, wondering how pissed off Reed must have been.
Speaking of the man, he walks out of their house and over to us in jeans and long sleeve t-shirt. He’s definitely an attractive man and talk about a potentially dangerous job. Assistant DA isn’t exactly a cakewalk either.
“Hey Maddie, I see you met our new addition.” He drinks from his cup, staring down at the furball in Jade’s arms.
“I did. Snowball is a cutie.”
“Not so cute when he can’t figure out that he needs to pee and poop outside,” he says.
“Not much of a dog person, huh?”
“Reed says Snowball is going to ruin our house so he’s stopped all renovations until he’s potty trained,” Jade says.
Reed shakes his head with a smile.
“It’s a nice gift,” I offer.
“From a person who doesn’t have to deal with it, of course.” He raises an eyebrow.
Jade drops Snowball to the ground, following the puppy as it wanders around their small yard.
“Sorry, ex-husbands, huh?”
He shrugs. “Did you see her smile though? How can I argue with that?”
“And Victoria?”
“She’s the same as me. Jade’s got us wrapped around her finger. She’s wanted it and we’d thought about it. Pete just beat us to it.”
Pete must be Jade’s father and if memory serves he lives in California. From what I can tell, they all get along pretty well.
“I’m glad I ran into you, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” Reed glances behind him to make sure Jade isn’t within earshot. Which is hard in our small yards but she’s so consumed with Snowball, I don’t think we have to worry.
“What’s going on? If it’s about the sale, I’m waiting for another project to be finished and then I’ll be putting this house on the market. I’ll let you know what I list it at.”
He waves off my concern. Usually I don’t know the neighbors of the houses I rehab, but Reed, Victoria, and Jade are outgoing and it’s summer so we’ve had more interaction than I normally would.
“No, I saw a black truck picking you up and dropping you off a few times. Is that a new boyfriend?” I can tell he’s uncomfortable asking me.
“He is.”
“A firefighter? I saw the sticker in the back window.” He sips from his cup again, his eyes looking over his shoulder one more time.
“Yes. Engine Fifty-Five.”
“The one with Hunter Zaxby?”
“Cut to the chase, Reed. I feel like you’re about to ruin my day.”
He chuckles. “I’m not. The case is pretty clear-cut—it was arson that killed Hunter. I’m not sure if your boyfriend knows that yet. The case is finalized tomorrow, but I have some concerns, off the record.”
He takes a deep breath. “I don’t think this was the owner of an abandoned building wanting his problems to burn up. Just tell your boyfriend and his buddies to be careful. We’re having another look at some other fires that were originally ruled as accidents, but his job might be a lot more dangerous than usual if an arsonist is using ingredients to make fires uncontrollable and unpredictable.”
“Why would anyone purposely go after the fire department?” My stomach churns and my chest is tight thinking about someone trying to harm innocent workers who lay their lives on the line.
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. It could be anything from a disgruntled former employee to a psychopath. There’s just too much coincidence in what I’m seeing. I wondered if he’d be willing to sit down and talk at some point.”
My hands grip the fence. Mauro’s in even more danger than he normally is?
“I’ll ask him. Hunter was a good friend of his so I’m sure he’d do anything to help you figure this out.”
“Reed, Snowball just threw up,” Jade calls out.
Reed rolls his eyes. “Remind me to thank Pete again.”
I laugh.
“You can give him my number or if he’d rather you’re there, the two of you are welcome over anytime. I just really want to pick his brain.” He walks away from the fence line, placing his cup down and unwinding the hose.
“I’ll ask him tonight and get back to you.”
“Thanks, Maddie.”
“Anytime.”
The house is empty, which I already suspected since Lauren’s Fiat isn’t in the garage. I dig through my purse for my M&Ms and flip on the television to see if there’s any news about the fire Mauro had to run off to. Reed’s fears become my own that he’ll have the same fate as Hunter if there’s some crazy person out there setting fires to harm firefighter.
There’s nothing on the news about it except what Reed already said about the announcement tomorrow morning on the fire that took the life of a firefighter. No mention of arson yet. Once that’s decided they’ll start the investigation.
I can’t help but worry about how this will all affect Mauro. Will it churn up feelings of anger toward someone he considered a best friend and betrayed him? One thing is for sure, our easy road of lovemaking and small disagreements is about to be turned on its head.
I hope we’re strong enough to get through it.
Chapter Thirty-One
Mauro
“Your girlfriend seems nice,” Trevor says on our way back to the firehouse.
The small kitchen fire wasn’t anything much, and it sucks that what one person could have easily taken care of stole me away from my lunch date with Madison.
“She is and you can stop thinking about her right now.”
He rumbles with laughter. The kid is overzealous to say the least. Always at a ten.
“You worried I’m going to steal her away?” He moves his eyebrows up and down.
“No. Because you wouldn’t stand a chance with her.”
“I never said I wanted her. All I said was she was nice.” He holds up his left hand with a ring attached.
Well, I’ve been fooled before. That piece of metal means nothing.
“And I’m just confirming that she’s mine.”
“Jeez, lay off the testosterone.”
We sit in silence for the rest of the ride. I know I’m being a jealous prick. I’ve seen Trevor and his wife, Ariel. They’re much like me and Madison where they can’t keep their hands off each other. She’s all bright eyes and huge smiles, bouncing around next to Trevor when she comes in. That’s one thing Cailin and Hunter never had. They never did seem that happy, but they were married and in my opinion that held more weight than the affection they shared.
The truck is about to turn into the station, a few passersby watching us as always. A little boy waves and Big Gus honks the horn. The kid’s face lights up.
I’ll be thankful to get back to the station, call Madison and if I’m lucky, get each other off with some dirty talk.
“Engine Fifty-Five,” a dispatcher comes in over the radio.
Big Gus pulls the radio down to his mouth, pressing the button.
“Another call. A warehouse on…” My mind drifts with the word warehouse.
Trevor pales across from me, his eyes finding no serenity at the kid jumping up and down on the sidewalk. He was there that night. Being a newbie, he was only able to assist in hose preparation.
Tonight, he’ll be in on the action.
My LT turns to us from the front, his eyes finding mine.
“They’re calling in other engines for back up. It’s a big one boys.”
As we back up onto the streets of Chicago, another set of guys head to the ladder truck, climbing in. The ladder truck hasn’t been used since that night and all of us in the cab of this truck know it.
Fuck, uneasiness unsettles my stomach as the truck sirens blare down the street. It’s a bad omen when you have to go into a call with a monkey on your back like this. I try to shake it off as we whip through traffic, but it’s impossible.
Ten minutes later, the thick, dark smoke billows out into the blue sky and we’ve arrived at our destination. The ladder truck goes first, positioning itself to spray down into the structure.
At three stories, this one is bigger than the one six months ago.
My lieutenant jumps out, as we all do, the physical aspects of the job second nature by now. It’s putting the mental mind fuck aside to function as the team we’re trained to, that’s the challenge.
A car is parked in front of the fire hydrant, so Trevor breaks one window and I the other as I pass him the hose to hook up. The car alarm joins the chorus of fire trucks approaching the scene.
“Bianco!” Lieutenant waves me over. “You and Conley handle hose.”
I nod to Trevor Conley who looks like he’s about to puke in the middle of the street.
I grab the hose, put on my helmet and button my jacket up.
We head up the sidewalk, following the other fighters with axes to break down anything that blocks our way.
All that’s on my mind is Madison. The way her eyelashes flutter when I kiss her good morning. How her body seeks mine, her arms and legs anchoring my body down in bed like she’s afraid I’ll disappear.
The heat of the flames hits my face, and I switch the hose on, cementing my legs to keep control of the water, spraying down the uncontrollable rager in front of me. I’m fighting the fire physically but my mind wanders to her.
I remember two mornings ago when I woke up to her hands sliding down the waistband of my boxer briefs.
How her heated gaze stayed on me while her tongue licked up my length and she settled between my legs.
Her soft hair wrapped around my fingers as I rocked into her mouth. The tension that stiffened my legs as my balls drew up while her soft hands massaged them.
The name Madison falling from my lips while the morning light flowed into my bedroom.
The warmth of her body as she slides up to meet me.
The way I tasted on her tongue.
Her giggle as I flipped her over and returned her good morning wake-up call.
I never wanted to leave that room.
“BIANCO!” Trevor yells and I wake up from my daydream to hit the flames about to melt our boots on the floor. “It’s everywhere, man!” Fear laces every word.
It takes us a while but when the front room is clear, we head upstairs while another team covers the first floor.
“Just keep the hose firm in your grip. It will be over before you know it.” I say to him.
“Second floor is practically nonexistent,” another firefighter says over our line. “Need another hose ASAP.”
“Coming,” I say, increasing my speed.
Trevor keeps up and we find two guys outside a door, one with an axe in his hand.
“One, two, three.” The guy beats it down and we all stay on the side to see what kind of flames will emerge.
When it’s clear, me and Trevor head in, spraying down the rapid rupture of flames climbing the walls. Again, as I extinguish the hungry beast, Madison enters my mind once again.
Last week when she went over to my mom’s and they discussed options to expand their kitchen. A ventilation system that would ensure it did not get so hot. She even suggested a double oven. The call from my mom after her visit, proud that I found such a keeper.
That’s exactly what she is, a keeper and I have to make sure she doesn’t slip away.
From room to room, we combat the fire, making ground and all I want is for this to be over so I can see Madison. I’ll call her as soon as I get back and ask her to come to the station just so I can hold her in my arms.
We break down another door, waiting for the flames to emerge before we spray it down and enter. We’ve already done this more times than I can count but based on the other rooms I wasn’t prepared for the flames to cover every surface like an out of control vein on steroids. Within seconds, every surface around us was covered.
“What do we do?” Trevor asks as I try to spray each corner, only to have it covered by fire again immediately. The flames aren’t going out and panic starts to bubble in my throat. “It’s closing in on us, Mauro. What do we do?” Trevor is in a full panic.
“Conley! Bianco! You need to get out. It’s way too dangerous. We’re going to have to fight it from the outside only!” the lieutenant shouts in my ear.
I turn around for a second to signal to Conley for us to find some way out of this, but he’s as baffled as me. “We’ve got nowhere to go. We’re caged.”
“Find a way, goddamn it. Find a fucking way, Bianco!”
My eyes search, spraying the hose in all different directions trying to get enough control of the fire to allow us a moment to escape. It feels hopeless as I watch the water-sprayed wood feed the fire down the path we came.
“We have no choice. We have to go forward to get out.”
“We’ll never survive,” Trevor says behind me.
“Look behind you, Conley, we’ll never survive that way. We have no choice.” Moving forward, the heat becomes almost unbearable.
“If you live and I die, tell Ariel I love her. Tell her I’m there with her when the baby is born. There’s a letter in my locker, in case anything like this happens. Give it to her.”
I don’t want to hear this shit because I’ve never told the woman I love that I love her. I’ve been too chicken shit in case she doesn’t feel the same way about me yet.
“I will, but we’re getting out of here, you hear me?”
“Watch out!” Conley yells and a wall falls down to the right of us, sending embers in all directions.
I have to get it together, but visions of Madison at my funeral plague me as we search for escape. Visions of the flag draped over my coffin and her walking behind the truck assault my mind as each room brightens with more intense flames.
She’d never know how much I love her. If I get out this, I’m telling her, to hell with the consequences.
“BIANCO!” Conley bellows and this time I have no time to react.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Madison
“A firefighter from Engine Fifty-Five has been taken to hospital,” the anchor on the news channel says.
I stare at my phone, wishing, pleading, praying that it will ring.
“The fire is finally out, but it took a lot of resources and crews to accomplish. Many in charge are comparing it to the fire six months ago that took the life of Firefighter Hunter Zaxby.”
Nope. I’m not waiting.
I grab my purse and my keys, not caring that I’m in my pajamas.
Racing over to the fire station is scarier than when I checked up on Mauro the first time. I’m so much more invested in our future now. Which I’m not sure I realized until this moment. It always takes something big like this, right? How fucking stupid.
Pulling up, I park on a side street and head up the sidewalk, with each footstep unsure of my decision, but he’s my boyfriend, and I need to know he’s okay.
I round the corner and the truck pulls in, some of the guys hopping out, hugging the women waiting for them. Mumblings of I love you and I was so worried can be heard coming from the women while the men give them assurances of how they were safe and had the fire beat the entire time.
I smile at the man with soot all over his face, cradling his wife’s stomach, relief etched in his face.
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br /> “They were trapped and couldn’t get out,” one man says to his wife. “The ambulance took him before I saw anything. They called his brother.”
My heart stops beating and blood rushes in my ears.
Oh my God, it was Mauro. They called Cristian or Luca, I know it.
Why would they not call me?
Because they don’t have my number.
“Excuse me?” I approach the man, needing to know. “The injured firefighter?”
The big man raises his eyebrows and purses his lips like he’s not going to tell me shit.
“Do you know if Mauro Bianco is back yet?” I ask.
“MAURO!” a woman’s voice screeches from behind me.
I turn to see Cailin running across two lanes of traffic, not stopping, heading right to the other side of the truck.
“He’s right there, ma’am,” the guy says to my back and then continues his conversation about whoever the injured firefighter is.
My eyes are glued to the end of the truck, watching Mauro emerge and drop his gear, opening his arms to Cailin. Burrowing his head into her neck, he picks her up like a man coming home from war.
My mouth hangs open and tears prick my eyes.
Mauro places her back on her feet and she looks into his eyes, her hands on his face, his shoulders, like she’s trying to make sure he’s real. It’s like I’m having an out of body experience or peering into an intimate moment between lovers.
Nausea rumbles in my stomach.
She raises on her tiptoes, keeping his head firmly between her hands.
I watch the scene unfold and I can’t look away even though it’s torture and I know I’ll never be able to clear the visual out of my head.
Their lips meet and I close my eyes, tears spilling down my cheeks. The roller coaster of emotions my body went through in the last five minutes too much to deal with.
Turning around, I walk away.
“Hey, Madison, right?” One of the guys from earlier today reaches out to me. “Your guy was quite the hero today. He saved my ass.”
I nod. His pregnant wife looks at me with sympathy, probably because I’m crying and walking away from the scene. She obviously sees something her husband doesn’t.
