Burn It Down

by Jess Anastasi

  “It’s okay, I got you.” He sent one last death glare toward Benny when the guy looked like he was thinking about intervening. “Come on, Lewis.”

  For a second Lewis gaped between him and his father and uncle, before scrambling to follow him.

  “Where are we going?” Lewis asked in a small voice as Troy carried Aaron to his SUV.

  “Hospital to get your cousin checked out.”

  “What? No!” Aaron exclaimed, but then hissed in pain when he started to struggle. “My dad doesn’t have insurance since he lost his job. We can’t afford it.”

  “Then I’ll say you’re my kid and use my insurance. Or I’ll pay for it outright. I don’t care. He nailed you right in the ribs, Aaron. We need to check if anything is broken and make sure there’s no internal damage.”

  He got Aaron settled into the front seat of his SUV while Lewis climbed into the back seat. As he pulled away, he could see Hal and Benny were into one hell of a yelling match. Hal kicked at the pile of junk Troy had been eyeing earlier, the one with the white bottle of lighter fluid. Benny snatched it up and tossed it into the tent, making Troy’s gut roil with apprehension. No doubt about it, he definitely needed to look more closely into Benny Sadler.

  CHAPTER TEN

  JARED CURSED at himself as he deleted the tenth text message to Troy for the day without sending a single one of them. He’d be lucky if the guy ever wanted to speak to him again after blowing him off like he had this morning when Troy had asked him out for dinner. Seeing Kevin last night had thrown him for a loop, and he’d been more on edge today than the entire eighteen months since he’d moved back to Everness.

  He’d had a mini panic attack, stupidly, at the idea of he and Troy going out on an actual date and making whatever this was between them official. His mind had balked even though his heart and definitely his dick were totally on board. But also, he’d freaked out at the idea Kevin might not have left town and the train wreck he could easily imagine happening if Kevin saw them out together.

  Del wanted him to take a restraining order out on the guy. For one, he doubted that’d stop Kevin because he was just that stubborn-stupid. And two, he wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened, not mark the occasion by involving the sheriff and all the fun legal wrangling of getting a restraining order in place.

  “That cell phone is going to burst into flames if you glare at it any harder.”

  He glanced up to see his best buddy in the firehouse, Brody Allan, throwing himself down on the couch next to him and patting his full belly. It’d been Kurt’s turn to cook that day, the only time they got any decent chow, since the rest of them were a horror show in the kitchen.

  “Of course you’re in the right place if it does catch on fire,” Brody continued, slouching into the cushions. “Waiting for your new boyfriend to call you?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” he automatically shot back, even though the words sounded wrong coming out of his mouth. Goddammit, he wanted Troy to be his boyfriend. So bad.

  “Really?” Brody smirked at him. “You mouth-fuck just anyone like that? I thought we were going to have to turn the hoses on you two.”

  “Shut up,” he muttered, his cheeks getting warm. It had been one hell of a kiss….

  “Why don’t you message him?” Brody lifted a foot and lightly nudged his leg with the heel of his boot. “It is the twenty-first century. You don’t have to swoon by the phone—”

  “Seriously, I’m going to put ketchup in your turnout gear next time we’re on truck if you don’t shut up.” He punched Brody in the shoulder but didn’t put any actual swing behind it. “For your information I’ve been trying to text him all day, but I don’t know what to say or if he’ll even want to talk to me. I kind of dodged him when he asked me out to dinner.”

  “What?” Brody demanded, absently rubbing his arm where he’d hit him. “Why the hell did you do that? You fucking cocktease.”

  “It’s a long story.” He sighed and dropped his head to the couch cushions behind him. “The short of it is I’m an idiot.”

  “But you want to go out for dinner with him, right?”

  “Of course I do,” he said, throwing a hand up in exasperation.

  “Then let me fix it for you.” Brody got an alarmingly evil expression on his face.

  “What are you going to—” Before he could finish asking the question, Brody lunged and snatched his phone out of his hand before leaping over the back of the couch.

  “Hey!” He scrambled after him, but Brody was the fastest on the squad, and he was already on the other side of the room.

  “Sawyer! Vasquez! Take him out!” Brody yelled, pausing in the far corner of the large room as his fingers skipped over the screen of Jared’s phone.

  Two of his other buddies came at him laughing. He tried to dodge them, but they tackled him back to the couch and held him there.

  “Get off me, you morons.” He halfheartedly tried yanking himself free, but with two against one, he wasn’t going to get very far unless he really fought for it. This kind of malarkey wasn’t unusual around the firehouse on shift, but it never got serious.

  “Anyone know the name of that guy Jared was getting all hot and heavy with this morning?” Brody called out.

  “Troy Hurst,” Randall answered, joining Brody in the corner as they tossed ideas for text messages between themselves. He’d thought they were just going to torment him with the threat of it, but when it seemed the pair were actually getting ready to send a text on his behalf, he struggled harder against Sawyer and Vasquez.

  “Hey! Come on, guys. You got me, okay? Ha-ha. I learned my lesson. I’ll man up and send him a message.”

  “No need,” Brody said triumphantly with a shit-eating grin. “Already done.”

  He and Randall high-fived, while Sawyer and Vasquez finally let him up.

  “Please tell me you’re joking.” His voice might have been somewhere around whine-level, but he was panicking too much to care. He ran over and yanked his phone from Brody, only to see message sent to Troy.

  “Dammit, Brody, you asshole.” He was about to bring up the message to see how mortified he needed to be when his phone chimed with an incoming text.

  “Did he already answer?” Brody clapped him on the back. “Damn, bro, you must have that park ranger running hot.”

  Brody winked at him and then wandered off with the other guys to find some new entertainment. Sighing and resigned to his fate, he opened the message app.

  The first thing he saw was the message Brody had sent on his behalf.

  I’m an idiot. I’d love to have dinner with you.

  Of course, this was ruined with a second message underneath it.

  Remind me to tell you how legendary my buddy Brody is. Best firefighter in EFD history.

  He shook his head and searched out Brody to glare at him, but the guy was suspiciously absent from the room. He scrolled down to see Troy’s reply.

  Hey. Glad to hear from you. And great about dinner. Not sure about tonight anymore. I’m at the hospital in Conroe. Could be stuck here for a while.

  “What?” he said out loud, heart taking up an erratic pound. Instead of typing a reply, he hit the icon to call him. Troy answered on the second ring.

  “Why the hell are you at the hospital? What happened? I’m coming right now.”

  Troy gave a charmed laugh. “Calm, deep breaths, Jared. I’m fine. Sorry, I was distracted when I wrote that text and I didn’t think how it might sound. I’m here with Lewis and Aaron.”

  “Oh.” He blew out a relieved sigh and then had to drop into a nearby chair when his legs suddenly felt wobbly. The idea of anything happening to Troy had just about slayed him. “Are they okay?”

  “For the most part. Can you hang on just a second?”

  After he agreed there was a rustling sound, and then Troy’s next words were muffled, presumably talking to Lewis or Aaron, before he came back on the line.

  “Sorry, just told them I was step
ping out of the room for a minute.”

  “What’s going on?” Even though Troy probably didn’t need him hanging around, he still wanted to jump into his truck and drive straight to Conroe, just to be with him while Troy dealt with whatever was happening.

  “Aaron’s father, Benny, took exception to me asking him to clean up his latest collection of empty beer and liquor bottles and decided to take it out on Aaron.” Troy sounded pissed about it, but there was also a thread of guilt in the words.

  “Shit. Is he all right?” He pushed to his feet and started making his way to the chief’s office. Apart from the fire at the dock that morning, it’d been a slow day. The guys could do without him, and if anything happened, he’d just have to meet them on scene. He was going to the hospital in Conroe.

  “Yeah, bruised ribs. Luckily they weren’t broken.” Troy blew out a harsh sigh. “I was standing right there, Jared. It happened right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t really think the guy would be dumb or arrogant enough to assault his own kid right in front of me.”

  “Who knows how many brain cells all that alcohol has destroyed?” he muttered. “Probably most of them by the sounds of things.”

  “That’s not all, though.” Troy’s voice caught, and he took a moment to clear his throat.

  Jared clenched his fists, wishing like hell he was there next to Troy and could put his arms around him, hold him close and tell him they’d figure this out together. Whatever the hell this was.

  “I’m pretty sure the kids hadn’t eaten for a couple of days. I took them lunch, and they basically inhaled the food like they were starving. And when we got here—I might have fudged things a little and let the hospital believe I had temporary guardianship—they told me some of Aaron’s medical history. Other episodes of broken bones and accidents that’d landed him here with extensive bruising. Even a head injury one day.”

  “His father beats the crap out of him,” he surmised, saying aloud what they’d both already guessed.

  “I don’t want to take him back there, Jared. Not either of them. What am I going to do?”

  He could hear the emotional toll this was taking on Troy through the uneven cadence of his voice.

  “I might be able to help you with that. Hold tight. I’m on my way.”

  “Jared, I appreciate it, but you’re working, and I don’t want to drag you in—”

  “I’m in, Troy.” He paused, surprised at his own vehement words. But they felt and sounded right. “I’m all in, okay?”

  He heard Troy take in a sharp breath.

  “Okay,” Troy replied, sounding calmer. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

  He bid Troy goodbye and then ended the call, taking a moment to inhale slowly and try to calm his racing heart, since he’d all but declared himself to Troy and not even planned it.

  Except he wanted it so much, wanted everything with Troy he’d never had with Kevin. Everything he’d dreamed of when he’d been young and naive and believed in true love and soul mates and happily ever after. Those dreams were beginning to resurrect themselves, despite the fact he’d thought them long dead and buried, another thing he’d lost to his relationship with Kevin.

  It was like he was waking up from a coma, like he was remembering who he’d been before Kevin had come into his life. He’d realized after he’d gotten out of the relationship he’d lost himself somewhere along the way, and while over the past two years he’d made strides in getting his true self back, the last little pieces were now slotting into place. All thanks to a guy who hadn’t even kissed another man before last week yet had managed to give him the most intense orgasms of his life, even though they hadn’t even been naked together.

  The door in front of him swung open and he blinked, momentarily forgetting where he was since his mind was in a bed somewhere with Troy.

  “Winters, is there something I can do for you?” the chief asked, looking surprised to see him standing there in the hallway like the idiot he’d already established himself to be.

  “Yes, sir. I was hoping I could duck out for a little while.”

  The chief stepped back and motioned him into the office. “Come in and tell me what’s going on.”

  He nodded and followed the chief in, letting the door swing closed behind him, rehearsing what he was going to say.

  Well, sir, I’m about to jump into the deep end, and I’m probably completely nuts.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TROY PACED in front of the window of the room Aaron had been given. The doctor had decided she wanted to run some other tests, and he’d had a hell of a time convincing her not to call CPS. If anyone was going to do it, then it sure as hell was going to be him. He just needed to discuss it with Jared before he made any big decisions. Because if Lewis and Aaron had been responsible for the dock fire, then things were going to get even more complicated than they already were. Yes, arson was a serious crime, but the boys clearly needed help, not punishment.

  He didn’t want to think too closely about why Jared’s opinion was so important to him—it was too much on top of all the other stuff in his head right now. He wasn’t going to question it; he was just going to go with it and be thankful he wasn’t dealing with all this by himself.

  “Troy?”

  He glanced over to see Jared ducking his head around the door and let out a sigh of relief. Before he’d even thought about it, his legs were taking him across the room, and then Jared was in his arms. He kissed him brief and chaste—the kind of kiss couples greeted each other with—but it felt like the right thing to do all the way down to his toes.

  “Thank you for coming,” he said in Jared’s ear.

  “Like I’d want to be anywhere else,” Jared replied, kissing him on the jaw before pulling back. “How’s things going?”

  “Boring,” Aaron said from the bed.

  Troy turned, keeping a hand on Jared’s waist as he faced the kids. Lewis was sitting on a chair positioned right up against Aaron’s bed, staring at him and Jared with wide eyes and a blush on his cheeks. Whoops. Maybe he should have been a little more circumspect with the PDA in front of the two boys, but it wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done if Jared was a woman.

  “Are you two together?” Aaron asked, a note in his tone landing somewhere between confused with maybe a hint of disgust. “You’re like actually fag—”

  “Don’t say it,” Jared interrupted in a very dad-like voice, pointing an admonishing finger at the teen.

  Suitably chastised, Aaron dropped his gaze to his lap, now blushing even brighter red than his cousin.

  “Sorry, don’t mind him,” Lewis said, glancing between them like he was curious and… impressed? “His dad is a raging homophobe. It’s cool. We’re cool with you being gay.”

  Lewis seemed to wait for something, then poked Aaron with a frown.

  “Yep, totally fine. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said the F word.”

  Jared walked over and perched on the end of Aaron’s bed. “It’s fine, you didn’t. Not really. And I’m not going to hold what your dad said against you. I know you’re a smart guy, Aaron. You’ve learned from his mistakes, and you take care of your cousin like he’s your brother.”

  Aaron looked up at Jared, and for the first time since the day they’d pulled the pair out of the lake, he didn’t look belligerent or on the verge of mouthing off. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken, he thought he saw a little hint of worship in the kid’s eyes as he stared at Jared. Like Jared was a real-life superhero.

  Something tightened momentarily in his chest but then loosened and fell away, leaving him with the weird feeling that his entire life had just shifted and settled into place. And it all came down to the firefighter casually talking with Lewis and Aaron about what they’d been doing the past few days since he’d seen them.

  Aaron seemed unusually interested in the dock fire, which worried him to no end. Troy found he no longer had the perspective to figure out
if it was natural curiosity or the culprit fishing for information about how close the authorities were to catching him. He’d become completely invested in the two boys without even realizing it was happening. Of course that meant if Aaron had been the one to set the dock on fire, then Troy wouldn’t let him get tossed into the system to become another lost, damaged kid no one cared about.

  “You guys haven’t been forced to eat any terrible hospital food, have you?” Jared asked, which launched the boys into an animated description of the early dinner an orderly had brought in, which had been some gross-looking stew and limp vegetables.

  Troy smiled as Jared bantered back and forth with them. He was a natural, which was no surprise considering Tate had to be almost ten years younger than him. With a jolt, he realized Aaron and Lewis were probably only four years younger than Tate, so Jared was obviously used to dealing with teenagers.

  “Okay, well, how about Troy and I go see what we can get you from the vending machine?” Jared stood and patted Aaron on the leg through the blankets. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  Jared sent the pair a wink, but as soon as he turned his back on them, the smile fell from his face, gaze turning serious. He tilted his head, indicating for Troy to head out of the room, so he told the boys he’d be right back and trailed Jared into the hall.

  “They’ve admitted Aaron?” Jared asked, crossing his arms, brow creasing with concern.

  “They didn’t say they were going to keep him overnight, but the doctor wanted to run more tests and didn’t say how long they were going to take.”

  Jared glanced up and down the hall before shifting closer. “They didn’t call child services, did they?”

  “No, it was a near thing, though. Had a hell of a time talking her out of it.”

  Jared nodded, expression thoughtful. “It might not have been the worst thing, considering their circumstances.”

  The idea of Lewis and Aaron ending up in a foster home—or worse, getting split up—sent the same shaft of ice through him it did every time he thought about it. “Jared, foster homes aren’t always better—”