Ablaze (Dallas Fire & Rescue Book 2)

by Paige Tyler

  Dane opened his mouth to say something—heaven help her, if it was one more stupid thing, she was not going to be responsible for what happened—but a deep voice interrupted him.

  “What the hell is going on up here?”

  Lexi and Dane both turned to see Captain Stewart standing there regarding them with a scowl on his face.

  “Nothing, Captain,” Dane said. “Lexi and I disagree on something is all.”

  Captain Stewart snorted. “Sound more like a lovers’ spat. If you two make me regret looking the other way while you have a relationship, I promise that I’m going to make both of you regret it more.” When Dane looked like he wanted to argue, their boss jabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t test me, Dane, or I’ll have you transferred to a new station by tomorrow.”

  Dane clenched his jaw. He stared at the captain for a long time as if wondering whether the man was bluffing. After a moment, Dane shook his head and walked out. A few seconds later, she heard him stomping down the steps.

  Stewart looked at Lexi, his expression hard. “That goes for you, too. I’m not putting up with this crap. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Giving Lexi a nod, he turned and left the locker room, closing the door behind him.

  Tears stinging her eyes, Lexi turned and walked down the row of lockers until she got to hers. She didn’t know whether she wanted cry because she was hurt by what Dane had said or because she was so freaking pissed at him.

  She was taking off her shoes when she heard the door open. She quickly wiped the few tears that had escaped to slide down her face and spun around, thinking Dane had come back for another round. But it was Kate Fairchild, one of the female firefighters on the shift. While she and Kate had met when Lexi transferred to Station 58, they were becoming fast friends.

  Lexi peeled off her damp T-shirt. “I guess everyone in the station heard Dane and me, huh?”

  Kate gave her a sympathetic smile. “Actually, I think they heard you guys down at the next station.”

  Lexi groaned. “Great.”

  Kate she sat down on the long bench in front of the lockers. Slender with long blond hair and green eyes, she had that quintessential girl next door look about her.

  “I didn’t know Dane was such a sexist jerk,” Lexi said, pushing down her pants and stepping out of them.

  “I don’t think he means to be,” Kate said. “I think he cares about you.”

  Lexi angrily shoved her wet clothes in the laundry bag she kept in the bottom of her locker. “Then he’d respect me enough to let me do my job.” She glanced over her shoulder at Kate. “Have any of the guys in DF&R ever called you out because they didn’t think a woman can do the job?”

  Kate nodded. “A few times. I hate to say it, but it’s one of the hazards of being a woman in a male-oriented, macho occupation.”

  Lexi tossed her soggy sports bra and panties on top of the other wet clothes in the laundry bag then pulled new underwear and a fresh uniform.

  “Why do guys have to be that way?” she asked as she sat down on the bed beside Kate and pulled on her shoes.

  Kate shrugged. “In some cases, men are simply wired at the genetic level to protect women. In other cases, it’s a blatant preconceived notion that women aren’t capable of doing the job.”

  Lexi remembered what Skye had said about being grateful she’d found a man who believed in her and helped her get where she wanted to be. She’d thought Dane might be that man for her.

  “For what it’s worth, Dane has always been fair with me and the other female firefighters in the station,” Kate said quietly.

  Lexi wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. “Do you think getting involved with him was a mistake?”

  Kate gave her a small smile. “You’re the only one who can answer that question.”

  That wasn’t much help. But Kate was right. She was going to have to decide if Dane was worth it. Despite how much she was beginning to care about him, right now, she wasn’t so sure.

  * * * * *

  Dane should have known Jax would follow him. No sooner had he walked outside to cool off than his friend caught up with him. Even though the torrential rain had stopped right after the Dallas PD detective had shown up to talk to Lexi and Trent, the ground was still soggy.

  “What was that all about?” Jax demanded.

  “Nothing,” Dane barked as he strode over to the picnic tables set up near the grills along the side of the building.

  Jax kept pace with him. “It didn’t sound like nothing to me.”

  When Dane didn’t answer—or stop—Jax grabbed his arm and jerked him to a halt. “What the hell is your problem?”

  “My problem is that Lexi almost got herself killed tonight.” Dane’s gut clenched thinking about it. “I told her that she shouldn’t have taken a risk like that, and she took it the wrong way.”

  “Did she?” Jax said. “Because it seems to me like she took it exactly the right way.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “If Trent had been the one crawling out there on the top of that car, would you be berating him for being reckless?”

  The question caught Dane by surprise, and when he opened his mouth to answer it, nothing came out. He ground his jaw. “That’s different.”

  Jax lifted a brow. “And that’s where the problem starts. Because it’s not different, except for the minor fact that you’re not sleeping with Trent. At least not that I’m aware of.”

  Despite how pissed off—and terrified he still was when he thought of what could have happened to Lexi tonight—Dane couldn’t help chuckling. “No, I’m not sleeping with Trent. His bunk is kinda close to mine upstairs, though, so maybe that counts.” He shook his head. “You know what I’m talking about. It’s hard as hell seeing the woman I care about so much doing something so frigging crazy, that’s all.”

  “Maybe that’s something you should have thought about before deciding to date a woman who happens to be a paramedic in the DF&R,” Jax pointed out. “Paramedics frequently risk their lives when they go on calls. It comes with the job description.”

  Dane sighed. “I know that. I hadn’t realized it would be so damn tough to handle.”

  “You think it’s hard on you, imagine being in Lexi’s shoes watching you run into burning buildings day after day.”

  Dane definitely hadn’t thought about it that way. In fact, he hadn’t been thinking at all. That wasn’t so new. If the situation with his sister had taught himself anything, it was that he tended to open his mouth before engaging his head. And it usually came back to bit him in the ass.

  He ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. “I guess I should go apologize.”

  “Probably,” Jax agreed. “But before you do that, you need to take a step back and ask yourself what you’re going to do the next time she does something dangerous.”

  Dane didn’t answer. The idea of something happening to Lexi was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat.

  “I don’t know,” he finally admitted.

  “Well, you need to figure it out,” Jax said. “Because it’s going to happen again. And if you can’t deal with that, then there’s no reason to apologize to Lexi. You can’t say you’re sorry while knowing you’re going to blow up again the next time she has to put herself in danger for her job. It would be disingenuous.”

  “Disingenuous?” Dane arched a brow. “Anyone ever mention your Doctor Drew imitation sucks? Shouldn’t you be trying to give me some advice on how to deal with this situation?”

  Jax didn’t even crack a smile. “I am giving you advice—you’re not listening. Lexi works a job that can be dangerous, like yours. If you’re not ready to accept that, maybe it’s a good thing this argument happened now, before you and Lexi get too deeply involved.”

  Dane didn’t bother mentioning it was too late for that. He and Lexi were already deeply involved. At least, as far as he was concerned. He supposed couldn’t real
ly answer for Lexi, especially after the jackass he’d made of himself tonight.

  “Let me ask you something,” Jax said. “What if Lexi came to you and said she didn’t like the idea of you being a firefighter anymore. How would you handle that?”

  “I never said she should quit her job,” Dane protested.

  “Didn’t you?”

  His friend didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and headed back into the station. Dane stayed where he was, thinking about what Jax had said. Dane definitely wouldn’t have taken too kindly to Lexi calling him out for doing his job or implying that he should quit. He hadn’t meant to imply that Lexi couldn’t do her job—or needed to walk away from it—but Jax had been right. That was the way it had come out. At the same time, it was damn tough seeing Lexi in danger. Even worse when it was danger she’d voluntarily put herself in.

  What the hell was he supposed to do?

  No matter how long he stood out there, he still didn’t have an answer. He knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t walking away from Lexi, not over something like this.

  Figuring this situation wouldn’t get better with age, he headed inside. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to say, but he needed to talk to Lexi anyway.

  He was still fifteen feet away from the station doors when he heard the sound of running feet and one of the trucks start up. At the same time, the alarm went off, and the red light out on the curb began strobing, warning drivers on the street that a vehicle was pulling out. A moment later, Rescue 58 rolled out the door, Lexi behind the wheel.

  Dane didn’t even have time to wave, much less tell her to be careful, before she and Trent turned onto the street, taillights disappearing into the darkness.

  He jogged into the vehicle bay in case the station’s other trucks had been called out, too, but there was no one around. That meant this was an EMS roll-out only.

  Dane told himself that was a good thing, that if the situation only required paramedics it wouldn’t be dangerous. But his gut called bullshit on that. There were plenty of scary situations paramedics could get themselves into all on their own.

  Shit.

  Jax was right. He was going to have to come to grips with this or what he had going with Lexi would fall apart before it truly got started.

  * * * * *

  “Sorry about you and Dane,” Trent said quietly as they sped down I-75 toward University Park.

  The area around Park City and Southern Methodist University was usually serviced jointly by Station 27 and the University Park Fire Department, so it was well outside the usual Station 58 response zone, but between the rain and those idiot street racers, half the rescue vehicles in the city were out on call at the moment. Division had sent her and Trent out on the call about an injured pedestrian simply because they were the closest crew available.

  “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.” The rain started again, and Lexi flicked on the wipers as she guided the truck off I-75 and onto the Central Expressway. “I knew there was a chance that dating a firefighter in my own station might blow up in my face.”

  Trent sighed. “Okay, so maybe sorry isn’t the right word. I know how frustrated you are right now, but you need to pull back a second and realize nothing has been said that can’t be unsaid, and nothing has been blown up that can’t be put back together.”

  Okay, that wasn’t something you’d usually expect a guy to say. Then again, Trent didn’t seem like a guy ruled by his inner caveman. Unlike Dane.

  She glanced at him as she pulling off the expressway onto the Northwest Highway. “You seriously think this is something Dane and I can get past? He called me out in front of the whole station for doing my job.”

  Trent glanced at the incident report before answering. “You’re seriously ready to walk away from a guy you’re clearly into because he didn’t know how to put into words how scared he was for you?”

  She started to say something snarky about the fact that it wasn’t Dane’s job to worry about her, but the words hung up in her throat. She knew what it was like to be scared for someone. Heck, she’d been freaked out a few days ago when Jax and Tory had pulled Dane out of that burning apartment complex.

  “Me being all observant and crap, I see I’ve struck a nerve,” Trent said sarcastically. “Look, I won’t go all sexist on you and attempt to say women are better at hiding their feelings when it comes to concerns over their lover’s occupation. That’s BS. But I can confidently say that most men suck at it. Flat-out, Dane saw you doing something that suddenly made him realize he’s building a relationship with a woman who does a job as dangerous as his, and it freaked him out.”

  “Shouldn’t he have figured that out before?” she asked.

  Trent shrugged. “You’d think so. But like my getting into a relationship with a woman that spends more time on a plane than she does on the ground, most of the time we don’t think beyond the issue of finding a woman we click with. It’s that single-focus caveman thing that’s wired into our DNA. Dane is falling for you—which is a great thing—but now he’s finally figuring out his relationship is going to come with a few speed bumps along the way, and I don’t think he was ready for it.”

  She sighed, knowing deep down that Trent was right. Maybe she shouldn’t have reacted the way she had, but she hadn’t exactly been in a good frame of mind. She’d been riding on an adrenaline high after saving someone’s life, and lashed out without thought.

  “So you think it’s on me to help Dane work through this?” she finally said.

  “It’s on both of you,” Trent said. “If you and Dane aren’t willing to put a little effort into dealing with the first frigging obstacle that appears in the road, maybe this isn’t the relationship for you. Hell, maybe relationships in general aren’t for you.”

  O-kay. She shot him a sharp look. “That’s a little blunt, don’t you think?”

  Trent chuckled. “Maybe. But if you can’t be blunt with your friends, who can you be blunt with?”

  Lexi shook her head with a laugh. Trent was right. If she and Dane couldn’t handle something this simple, how were they ever going to handle the hard stuff life was bound to throw their way?

  She slowed at the sight of flashing blue lights near the park off Hillcrest. Trent checked the incident sheet and confirmed this was where they were supposed to be. But as they pulled up, neither of them saw an injured pedestrian anywhere. All she saw was a police officer standing in front of his patrol car.

  “Where’s our injured pedestrian?” Lexi asked the cop as she and Trent got out of the truck.

  The officer pointed at the opposite side of the street. “We got here a few minutes ago to find a homeless guy with a busted up leg sitting in the grass over there. He said some crazy drivers slammed into the cars parked by the curb, hitting him in the process before speeding off. The guy’s leg looked pretty bad, but he said he wasn’t going to hang around in the rain any longer and started walking south down this side of Hillcrest. My partner is following him.”

  Lexi thanked him then then she and Trent got back in their rescue truck and started down Hillcrest. They ended up finding their patient a quarter mile down the road, patiently limping along the sidewalk, a police officer at his side.

  As they got out and approached, she took in the injured man’s worn but expensive looking camouflage jacket. She’d been around enough military types to recognize a GORE-TEX jacket. This guy was probably a veteran, and while he might look rough around the edges, he didn’t think he was more than twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. There was blood seeping through the leg of the man’s dirty jeans and based on how bad he was hobbling, Lexi was confident it was broken.

  Lexi passed the police officer, falling into step with the injured man and giving him a smile. “Hi there. I’m Lexi and I’m a paramedic with Dallas Fire and Rescue. Your leg seems to be causing you a little trouble. Do you mind if I take a look?”

  When the man eyed her suspiciously, she smiled at him again. After a few st
eps, he nodded then stopped, letting her take his hand and lead him to the back of the rescue truck.

  “What’s your name?” she asked the bearded man as she and Trent got him on a gurney.

  “Jessie.”

  Her lips curved. “Well, Jessie, we’re going to fix you right up.”

  Jessie nodded, but then held up a hand and shook his head the moment Trent picked up scissors to slice open his jeans. “These are the only pants I got.”

  Trent glanced at her, lifting a questioning brow.

  “Jessie, we won’t be able to help you if we can’t take a look at your leg,” she said gently. “I promise I’ll make sure you get a new pair of pants. Okay?”

  Jessie hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and relaxed back on the gurney. One look at his leg after Trent sliced open his jeans told her it was definitely broken. Lexi couldn’t believe he’d walked as far as he had.

  “What happened?” she asked Jessie as they tended to his leg.

  “It was Ismael Montero and those damn asshole buddies of his. They race around here like they own the frigging city,” Jessie grumbled, his gray eyes meeting hers. “I was walking past those cars back there, and they damn near crushed me. I’m going over to his shop after you fix up my leg so I can kick the effing tar out of him and all his stupid friends.”

  Lexi exchanged looks with Trent.

  “You know the people who have been racing around Dallas in those souped-up cars?” she asked Jessie.

  The man eyed her as she cleaned his leg, barely flinching as she gently wiped blood out of the multiple lacerations.

  “Of course I know them.” He snorted. “Everyone knows them. It’s Ismael. He runs a chop shop over on Northhaven.”

  “Would you mind if I pass that information along to a detective I know?” she asked. “Those guys nearly killed a woman over on the Lyndon Johnson Freeway earlier tonight.”

  The man shrugged. “Go ahead. As long as I get a chance to kick his ass first.”