Ignite

by Emma Renshaw

  When he broke the kiss, he grabbed his shirt from the floor, where I’d flung it the night before, and pulled it on. He kissed me one last time. “See you soon, clover.”

  I knotted my robe loosely, tracing my finger over my lips. The effects of Ridge always lasted long after he left my side, and I knew after having him for however long I was here, I might never shake the aftershocks he left behind.

  I jumped when someone knocked on the door. I was grinning before I opened it. “Forget something?” I asked, swinging the door open; then I froze. “Jesse.”

  His eyes trailed down my body. I fisted the top of my robe, holding it even more tightly closed.

  “Figured you would need some company and someone to have your back while in this godforsaken town. I can’t believe you came back here. Aren’t you going to hug me? I’ve missed you, Zo.”

  I stepped forward, hugging him quickly before turning my back on him. I grabbed the first items of clothing my fingers touched and went into the bathroom to change. When I came out, he was on the bed with his back against the headboard, scrolling through his phone.

  “I don’t need backup while I’m here, Jesse.”

  He raised a brow. In a moment of complete weakness, I’d told him my fear that I’d caused the accident. He was the opposite of Georgia, who thought no matter how long I’d been away I would always be welcomed back with open arms. He thought I should forget this place had ever existed before someone found out my secret and came after me.

  “Well then, I’ll just keep you company.”

  “You should’ve called,” I said, taking a seat at the table, crossing my legs, and folding my arms over my stomach. “I’m actually pretty busy here.”

  “You don’t want me here?”

  I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and sighed. “It’s not that, Jesse. You know you’re my friend.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Friend. Right. When are you going to take a chance on us?”

  I shook my head. “Jesse, I only see you as a friend.”

  “Then I’m here as a friend,” he insisted, but I saw the determined look in his eyes. He thought he could break down my barriers, even though I’d been firm throughout our friendship that this was all it was.

  “I’m pretty busy while I’m here. I’m sort of working. I’m spending lots of time with Makenna.” I paused, unsure if I should add the next part, but it was important that he knew. “I’m kind of seeing someone while I’m here.”

  “You’ve been here a couple of weeks and you’re dating? You never date in Colorado.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not true. It was complicated. I wanted to be with Georgia. Dating seemed insignificant in comparison. When I tried to go on dates, I only thought of her.”

  “So your aunt dies and all of a sudden you find someone—in the couple weeks you’ve been here?”

  “I’ve known him for a long time.”

  “Did he go to high school with us? Jesus, Zoe. All those guys are assholes.”

  I knew Jesse had struggled in high school. He wasn’t popular and, as far as I knew, he didn’t have any friends from Hawk Valley. For him, this place was hell and a reminder of the kid people didn’t play with at recess and picked on in high school. “He’s actually the guy that saved me the night of the fire.”

  Jesse shook his head.

  I ran a hand through my messy tangles. I needed to shower before Ridge came back, and if Jesse didn’t leave soon, I would run out of time. “I need to be here. I need to focus on the friendships I fucked up. I still haven’t gone to Macy’s and Allison’s graves. I’ve pushed that from my mind. I need to spread Georgia’s ashes. You’re my friend, but I need to focus on the friendships I left here.”

  He got off the bed and crouched down in front of me. “Do you swear you’re okay? I’m just worried about you. Missy and the gang really miss you,” he said, referring to his grandmother and her friends at the nursing home.

  “I’m okay. This is something I have to do.”

  “Okay,” he said and stood. “I’m going to go. I don’t know how you’re doing it. I’ve been here thirty minutes, and I’m already breaking out in hives. Hopefully, I can get a quick flight out.”

  I chuckled and said words I wouldn’t have said only weeks ago. “Hawk Valley isn’t so bad. It’s nice to come home.”

  15

  Ridge

  A shrill scream rang through the air. I poked my head around the corner, looking down the hallway toward the bunk room. Chase ran out of the bathroom buck naked, shampoo dripping into his eyes. He ran down the hallway, looking back over his shoulder.

  “What the hell, Chase?”

  “S-sn-snakes,” he said, panting for air. He covered himself with one hand and pointed toward the bathroom with the other. “There was a fucking snake in the shower. Is this some rookie hazing shit? How’d you find out that I’m terrified of snakes?”

  “It’s not rookie hazing.” I shrugged. “We’re in rural Texas. It doesn’t happen all that often, but sometimes snakes can find their way inside.”

  He had one eye screwed shut as the shampoo suds dripped on his face. He was still panting. “Catch it and release it outside,” I said. “And get your naked ass out of the hallway. Chief would flip if he saw you.”

  “It’s not just one snake,” he yelled and pointed toward the bathroom again. “It’s a fucking army of snakes. One slithered up my leg while I was in the shower.”

  I raised a brow and strode toward the bathroom. Foster hopped up from his bunk as I passed by. “Why is the rookie screaming?”

  “He saw a snake in the bathroom,” I said.

  “Catch it and release it,” Foster said, turning back toward his bunk.

  “Not a snake. Snakes. With an s. Plural. Multiple. A whole lotta fucking snakes!”

  Foster fell into step next to me until we reached the bathroom, and we walked past the lockers to the shower stalls.

  “Holy shit,” I mumbled.

  “Kid wasn’t kidding,” Foster said.

  Multiple snakes slithered along the ground. Foster brushed a hand through his hair. “Think we can release them, or should we call animal control? How the hell did they all get in here?”

  I shrugged. “We need to get them out before Chief returns from his daughter’s dance recital. That’s all I know.”

  “How are you so calm?” Chase asked, still naked.

  “Go put some clothes on,” Foster said and laughed. “They’re just snakes. And they’re harmless. These guys aren’t poisonous.”

  Chase grabbed a towel from the rack, wrapped it around his waist, and opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Theo yelled from the other side of the wall.

  “What the hell is going on?” Foster asked.

  I walked out of the bathroom, rounding the corner into the laundry area. Theo had his hands on his head and was muttering curses. “Theo,” Foster said. Foster and Chase had followed me.

  “Our shirts,” Theo mumbled and held up a formerly white polo shirt. We were supposed to wear them for our house picture that afternoon. Theo had been put in charge of making sure each shirt was washed and pristine after the order arrived.

  Now they weren’t pristine. They were pink.

  Adele walked in and snatched it from Theo, holding it up to her body. “I don’t know, it’s kind of cute,” she said. “I like it. Wonder if Chief will let me wear it like this.”

  I chuckled, shaking my head. “What the hell did you put in the laundry with white shirts?”

  “Nothing!” Theo’s hands fisted at his sides.

  “Oh, those assholes,” Adele said, looking into the laundry hamper. She pulled out a red shirt and held it up.

  In bold white letters the shirt said I LOVE COPS.

  “That explains the snakes,” I said.

  “Explains the snakes?” Chase asked with an edge of hysteria still in his voice. I swore the rookie shuddered every time he said the word snakes.

  I scratched my face a
nd Theo laughed. Adele smothered her laughter by placing a hand over her mouth, and Foster clapped Chase on the back. “There’s a little rivalry between the cops and the firefighters.”

  “Because they wish they were us,” Theo said.

  Adele scoffed. “Y’all all wish you were smart enough to be an EMT,” she said.

  “Last month we released some pigs into the police station. There were three, but we numbered them one, two, and four. We have a video if you want to see.”

  Chase finally laughed. “So the answer to pigs is snakes and dyeing our shirts pink?”

  “It’s been going on a long time,” I said, just as the alarm for a call went out. “Get dressed quick, rookie. Foster, call animal control on our way.”

  Chase was gone before I’d finished speaking, and Foster nodded as we strode toward the stairs, falling in line with everyone else. Chase came racing out a second later, buckling his pants as he ran down the stairs. There were still suds in his hair, but at least he wasn’t naked.

  “What are we facing?” I asked Evan.

  “Abandoned warehouse fire. Anonymous tipster called it in. Doesn’t seem to be blazing too bad based on the information we were given.”

  I clutched my mask and calmed myself before we rolled onto the scene and hopped out of the truck. Lieutenant Mouton gave orders. Fire was spilling from a few of the broken windows, but it seemed to be contained to the first floor and one corner of the warehouse. I followed Foster into the thick of the flames, and the smoke clouded my vision.

  “Help!” I turned toward the voice and found a man in ragged clothes huddled against the wall. I ran toward him.

  “Can you walk?”

  “No,” he shouted. “I burned my leg.”

  I lifted him into a fireman’s carry and exited the building, racing to Adele’s waiting stretcher. The EMTs started looking him over as I jogged back inside to help Foster. Theo and Evan were setting up the hoses to blast it from outside. As I was crossing the threshold of the building, Foster’s alarm started blaring. The alarm sounds after a firefighter has been still for too long, and it helps find them. I sprinted toward the flames. “Foster!”

  My heartrate kicked up when he didn’t answer. I scanned the area until I saw his foot peeking out from behind a pile of discarded junk. I dropped to his side, checking his pulse. He was facedown on the ground and knocked out. His mask was askew, and his helmet had rolled a couple of feet away. I placed my hand on the back of his head, and when I pulled it away, I noticed blood on my glove.

  I pressed the radio button. “Firefighter down. Coming out now.”

  I secured Foster’s mask and lifted him over my shoulder, carrying him outside. Mouton was by my side in an instant, instructing the rest of the crew on what to do and barking orders. “What the hell happened?”

  “Unclear,” I said and bent my knees to drop Foster onto the waiting stretcher.

  Adele’s partner, Frank, had the other man sitting on the back of the rig. “I called for another ambulance,” Adele said.

  I nodded. Only one patient could be transferred per ambulance.

  “I brought that man out and Foster was fine. When I came back, his alarm had started to sound. I found him behind a pile of junk. He’s bleeding from the back of his head.”

  Adele turned Foster’s head, and Mouton and I watched her poke at the laceration. “It isn’t too deep, but it will need stitches. He will probably wake up with a concussion. It looks like he was hit over the head with something.”

  Mouton’s gaze turned toward the man sitting on the back of the ambulance. “Couldn’t have been him, lieutenant. Foster was standing and battling the fire when I carried him out.”

  He nodded. “Then what the hell happened?”

  “Fuck.” Foster groaned. He tried to sit up, but Adele pushed him back and ordered him to stay there as she shone a light into his eyes.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “What happened?” Mouton asked.

  “I found what I think was the source of the fire, and then someone hit me on the back of the head. I heard a door slam and then I passed out.”

  “A door slam?” We’d gone in through an open entry; there was no door.

  “There was a door in the back,” Foster said, grimacing, as Adele poked the back of his head again and the second ambulance’s siren wailed through the air.

  Mouton turned away and radioed for police officers to be dispatched to the scene and one officer to the hospital to take a statement from Foster. Adele left, asking us to give her an update and promising to come by later to check on Foster. When Mouton finished, he turned toward me. “We’ve got this contained. Ride with him.” I nodded.

  “Ridge,” Adele called. She jogged over and handed me my phone and Foster’s phone.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  I jumped into the back of the ambulance after they loaded Foster in. The adrenaline started to die down as we rode to the hospital and I watched the EMTs working on my best friend, knowing someone had intentionally tried to harm him.

  I squeezed the back of my neck and stayed quiet as we reached the emergency room and as I followed Foster into a bay.

  “Don’t mention this to anyone,” Foster said.

  I shook my head. “Why not?”

  “Just…don’t.”

  “Alright,” I answered. Right now there was only one person I wanted to call. The one person I shouldn’t want to call unless it was for fun. But I knew Zoe would be worried about me and would show up here in a heartbeat. And if she did, I would follow her home and get lost in her.

  In bed with Zoe was the only place I wanted to be right now.

  16

  Zoe

  I laced up my tennis shoes and stood up. I was dressed in yoga pants and a fitted T-shirt. Today was the first day I would be helping Adeline with Earl. Addie had given me the address, and I was familiar with the area. There were some great trails in the area.

  I hadn’t been on a run since coming to Hawk Valley, but in Colorado, I’d run through the neighborhood a few times a week. Running had become my stress relief. The only way I could erase the thoughts from my mind was by pounding my feet on the pavement. I was excited to explore a little today and wondered if I would feel a difference, since Hawk Valley wasn’t even close to the same elevation as Denver.

  After checking my purse for my phone armband holder and headphones, I left, hopping into the vintage Mustang golf cart to go to the main parking lot, where my new rental car was parked. The rental car agency had dropped it off, which was a relief. I’d been nervous about going inside, worried they’d blame me for the accident.

  Delilah and her son Tucker were standing on the porch. He had his backpack on, and she was kneeling in front of him, adjusting the straps with a smile on her face. I waved before sliding into the car and taking off to meet the infamous Earl. When I’d mentioned to Delilah that I was going to meet him, she’d cracked up and said, “Good luck.”

  If it was the last thing I did, I was going to make that man like me. I hadn’t even met him yet, but I was determined to be his new favorite person.

  While I was familiar with area where his house was, I had never seen it and couldn’t believe the view. It rivaled the view from Gunner and Delilah’s house. I whistled, taking it all in, as I jogged up the steps and rang the bell, pasting a warm smile on my face. I needed this break from work and from life in Colorado. Everything there was on pause while I was here. Georgia’s estate had paid for the house, so the mortgage wasn’t a worry, and the nursing home had let me take a sabbatical. I had savings, which was getting me through, but working with the residents at the home was the one thing I had started to miss.

  Adeline opened the door and sighed. She looked a little frazzled, with her hair in disarray. She grabbed my shoulder, yanking me into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. He’s in a mood today and making me want to pull my hair out. I should warn you, he’s not happy I invited you.”

>   I rubbed her back. “Don’t worry, I can handle it. Where I worked there were a lot of residents that didn’t want to move in and weren’t nice. This isn’t my first rodeo, I promise.”

  Adeline let go of me and nodded. “I’m so worried you’re going to run out of here screaming and never come back. And I’m worried Earl is going to fire me, and I need both jobs. Managing the store doesn’t pay all that well, and I’ve been saving to hopefully buy it one day. She shook her head and sighed again, her shoulders falling and her hands fisting at her sides. “I don’t know why I lay everything on you when I see you. You might be running out of here because of me,” she said chuckling.

  “No one is running anywhere,” I said, squeezing her arm in reassurance. “Introduce me to Earl.”

  She led me inside through the entryway. It was a big home for one older man, but beautiful and tastefully decorated, with dark oak floors. There wasn’t a sound besides our shoes creaking against the floorboards.

  Adeline knocked on a door. “Earl, Zoe is here.”

  “Bugger off,” he muttered. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I couldn’t show him that I found him amusing or that any of his antics got to me, because it would only encourage him to continue or get worse. You had to meet steel with steel. I rolled my shoulders back, as Addie opened the door, and mentally brought down my walls. They’d been a little battered since Georgia died, but I knew I could handle anything this man could throw at me.

  I stepped past Adeline, striding straight up to where Earl was sitting in a motorized wheelchair, very similar to Georgia’s. I stuck out my hand. “I’m Zoe Boswell. I’m going to be helping out around here.”

  One shaggy white eyebrow rose. He squinted, but I didn’t budge or fidget. He sat straighter in his chair, unblinking, his frown increasing with each passing second. My hand still hung in the air in front of him.

  “You’re not if I say you’re not. I didn’t hire you.”

  I brought my hand to my waist and shrugged. “That’s true. I’m helping out. I wasn’t hired, which means you can’t fire me.”