Put Out (Kilgore Fire Book 5)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  One look at Booth had me realizing he knew what I was thinking.

  “Let’s not borrow trouble,” he switched on the light. “Watch your six.”

  I looked over my shoulder one more time before I disappeared into the smoke that was filling the hallway.

  We cleared the rooms, one at a time, until we came to the final one at the end of the hallway.

  And after clearing that one, too, we both looked at each other in confusion.

  There were no more rooms in the hallway.

  Was the man just confused on what he saw? Did the smoke addle his brain?

  “Try backstage?” he offered, pointing at the door that led backstage.

  I shrugged.

  “Fine.”

  It was the only other door left to enter, but there were no rooms in the back according to our building plans.

  The plans only showed that there was a wide-open stage area.

  However, we were proved wrong moments later when we opened the door, and something completely different than the auditorium that the plans said were there greeted us.

  “What the fuck?” both Booth and I said at the same time.

  It was like a completely different world back here. Tons of rooms greeted us.

  Though, I couldn’t say that they were actual rooms. More like props.

  Whatever the reason for them, this was going to be difficult.

  “Could be anywhere,” Booth muttered as we pushed through the door.

  “Fire’s out!” we heard yelled from somewhere beyond the curtain to our right.

  There was also someone on the roof making a vent for the smoke to escape through, and by the minute it was getting clearer and clearer.

  Soon I wouldn’t even need the mask.

  My hand tightened on the axe in my hand when whimpering came from somewhere beside me.

  Looking down, I found a young child, and closed my eyes in thanks that I’d even heard her.

  She was three or four, but no more. She also looked scared to fucking death.

  I hunkered down beside her and pushed up my mask.

  “Baby?” I said, touching her lightly on the arm.

  She screamed and shrunk away from me, but with nothing else I could do, I reached for her and picked her up anyway.

  Then I pushed through the curtain that separated backstage from the stage itself, and whistled loudly.

  Two firefighters from the other rig looked up, and I hand gestured to the girl.

  “Can y’all take her?”

  One of the firefighters started toward me, Boorman, their newest recruit, and raised his hands up high from down below.

  I leaned down and placed the screaming, thrashing child into his arms and nodded in thanks before returning to the curtain.

  Except I couldn’t find the fucking hole that I’d come out of, causing me to go further down than I’d originally intended. Which then caused me to become separated from Booth.

  And in a completely different set up than I’d been in before.

  The place was a fucking maze of rooms. One led into another. Hallways between the rooms. It was like they pushed them all backwards off the stage, then added more to it so it was like a freakin’ city back here.

  I just stepped out of a room that was likely supposed to be a kitchen of sorts when I heard the voices.

  “Just let me go,” Jade cried. “This isn’t you, Troy.”

  My heart froze in my chest.

  “You were supposed to get me money!” Troy fumed. “What did you give me? That’s right, fucking nothing. A pain in the ass wife. Her snotty assed kids. And I couldn’t be with the pretty sister.”

  I froze, listening intently, and waited to gauge more on the situation before I reacted.

  Stupid me, though.

  I should’ve known that freezing like that for the amount of time that I did would set off my PASS—Personal Alert Safety System—device. When I didn’t move for over ten seconds it would start this annoying chirping.

  It was a nuisance at times, because if you watched a firefighter just standing there, every once in a while you would see him jiggle to alert the device that he or she wasn’t dead. In case of an accident, it was an excellent tool to have.

  In an instant like this, where I was trying to hide my presence…well let’s just say it wasn’t so good.

  “What was that?” Troy barked.

  I jiggled my shoulder, and the beeping stopped.

  What didn’t stop, though, was Troy’s frantic voice.

  “Fucking bullshit. I’m lighting it. Not more talking. I have a nice insurance policy on both of you, so what I get should be enough.”

  Both of you?

  This time I didn’t freeze.

  This time, I did the stupid and noble thing, and pulled the flimsy ass wall down.

  Which started a chain reaction on the entire surrounding area.

  The walls all went down like a domino effect, one by one.

  Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

  On and on it went, until every single one of the walls was on the ground.

  I had no clue they weren’t nailed up.

  None.

  Otherwise, I would’ve likely tried to catch the wall before it fell on the man that’d been the bane of Angie’s existence.

  But I didn’t know it wasn’t nailed together.

  And it did fall on Troy.

  It was all quite comical, really.

  “That was eventful,” Booth said through his mask from behind me, making me jump.

  “Jesus,” I hissed. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  He pointed at the fallen walls, and I had nothing to say to that.

  Lucky for Angie, she was at the back of the actual wall of the backstage area, meaning the wall that’d fallen hadn’t landed anywhere near her.

  It did take down Troy at the hips, though.

  Troy was also knocked unconscious.

  “Oh, my God!” Jade cried in excitement. “Thank God you came!”

  Like I came for her.

  “Booth,” I gestured toward Troy. “Can you check him out while I get these two out?”

  Booth nodded. “There’s an exit in the far back corner.”

  Sure enough, I could see the emergency exit sign now, and as long as I climbed over the walls as I went, it wasn’t that far away.

  Completely ignoring Jade and her demand to get her loose, I dropped down to my knees in front of Angie and cupped her face in my hands.

  “Thank God,” I moaned. “Are you okay?”

  “I only heard ‘God’ and ‘you’,” she smiled. “Your mask, baby.”

  I ripped my mask off, upsetting my helmet, but I didn’t care.

  It fell to the floor somewhere behind me, and I tried again.

  “Are you okay?” I repeated.

  She grinned.

  “I am,” she croaked.

  I narrowed my eyes at her and reached forward to untie her hands.

  The moment she was free, she threw herself into my arms, and wrapped herself tightly around me.

  “I was scared shitless,” she whispered into my ear.

  We stayed like that, silent and still, for long moments as we soaked each other in.

  For ten seconds, at least, until my PASS device started to go off again.

  “Let’s get you checked out,” I ordered.

  She coughed when she went to protest, and I moved her so she was cradled in my arms.

  “Booth,” I called. “Give me my mask and helmet please.”

  Booth stood up from where he was kneeling beside a still unconscious Troy, picked up my mask and helmet, and handed them both gently to Angie.

  “Hey!” Jade cried. “What about me?”

  Angie took the offerings, and I dropped my eyes to hers.

  “Put that mask on, baby,” I ordered her.

  There wasn’t much smoke left in the room, but it was enough to be irritating, especially to someone who’d been inhaling it for the last twenty minu
tes.

  She gave me an irritated look, and I had to bite back a stern ‘now.’

  She did it for me, though, without complaint, placing it on her face and curling her body deeper into mine.

  Her hands clutched my helmet, and her dainty feet dangled listlessly.

  “You asleep already?” I asked her.

  Her eyes opened slowly, and she shrugged.

  “I kept you up too late?”

  She grinned.

  “Summn like wat,” she replied, which I assumed was short for ‘something like that.’

  “All right, baby.” I turned to let my backside push on the bar that would open the door. “Ready for the show?”

  She nodded her head.

  And I went outside, smoke billowing out around me, and walked straight for the ambulance that’d so conveniently pulled up around the back.

  “Perfect,” I grinned.

  I’d gotten out alive.

  She’d gotten out alive.

  And everyone else was okay.

  At least everyone we liked was, anyway.

  ***

  “Why didn’t the sprinkler systems come on?” Angie asked.

  I sat down on the bed next to her.

  “Sprinkler systems are usually on a thermometer of sorts. For it to come on, it has to reach a certain temperature. An active fire has to be in effect and making that sensor hot enough for it to actually turn on before anything happens,” I explained to her.

  “That seems stupid,” she muttered.

  “Yes and no,” I conceded. “Yes, because it could’ve saved a few rooms today. No, because you don’t want those sprinkler systems to come on unless they absolutely have to. They ruin more than they save sometimes.”

  She pursed her lips.

  “You’re not going to talk about it?” I asked. “You’d rather talk about the sprinklers?”

  She sighed in frustration.

  “I don’t know what to think,” she admitted. “He saved me. I feel like my whole freakin’ life was a lie.”

  I hesitated to say it, but I knew she’d want to know the truth.

  “If you want to be technical,” I paused. “He told us it was Jade in there, not you.”

  Her mouth dropped open and then she started to laugh.

  The smoke had made her laugh sound so rough and sexy that I had a hard time keeping my hands off of her.

  I liked seeing her laughing.

  Especially after seeing her tied to a fucking chair today with her fucked up ex seconds away from lighting her on fire.

  “That’s the best news I’ve received all day.”

  I picked up her hand and kissed her finger where my ring lay against her skin.

  Pure possession filled me as I once again met her eyes with my own.

  “And what about this news?” I asked her. “I noticed you didn’t tell your family or friends yet.”

  She reached for the collar of my shirt, which still smelled like smoke, and didn’t stop pulling until I was sitting on the bed directly next to her. My mouth only inches away from hers.

  “I didn’t tell my family or friends because I don’t think I can tell them without screeching it.”

  I chuckled and dropped my lips the inch that separated us, tasting her.

  “I’ll tell them then.”

  She grinned.

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Yes, it did sound pretty fucking perfect.

  Chapter 25

  Life is so much more enjoyable since I decided to stop giving a fuck.

  -Angie’s secret thoughts

  Bowe

  “Yo,” I called to PD, who stopped and stared at me expectantly. “Will you grab me a drink from the lounge?”

  PD nodded before turning to head to the EMS lounge that the hospital kept for us to grab drinks for when we were on the go. I headed in the direction of the triage desk where I’d spied Angie on my way in with a patient.

  It’d been a total of five weeks since Troy had tried to kill Angie and Jade, and three weeks since she’d not only passed her state boards, but she also officially became a nurse in the eyes of Texas.

  I rounded the corner and whistled through my teeth, causing her to look up in surprise.

  Upon seeing me, she stood up from her chair, eyed the man that was sitting beside her, and walked hurriedly into my open arms.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her head falling back so she could see my face.

  “Had a call,” I grinned. “How’s your day going?”

  I looked over her shoulder at the man, and my eyes narrowed.

  His eyes were on her ass.

  My ass.

  I bared my teeth at him, and he looked up with an unapologetic shrug.

  I returned my eyes to Angie’s, and then tucked her hair back behind her ear.

  “It’s going okay,” she smiled. “I have two more days of babysitting before I’m done.”

  Hospital policy was that all new nurses were trained by another nurse who was trained to teach new nurses the ropes. Which was what the guy with her, who was still currently checking out her ass, was supposed to be doing.

  “That’s awesome, baby.” I pulled her even closer. “Got a few minutes?”

  She looked back at the man.

  “I’m going to go ahead and take my lunch,” she smiled, but didn’t wait for permission.

  Instead, she took my hand and led us down the hallway I’d just come, and into the EMS courtesy room where I’d just sent PD for my drinks.

  We walked in just as PD finished downing an entire Dr. Pepper.

  “Thirsty?” Angie teased.

  PD crushed the coke can in his hand and tossed it into the trash before grabbing another.

  “It’s fucking hot and humid from all the fucking rain we’ve been getting,” he groaned. “What’s it to you?”

  Angie held her hands up as if to apologize for something that she shouldn’t be apologizing for.

  “What’s got your titties in a twist?” I asked, grabbing my own cold can of Dr Pepper.

  PD was right about it being hot and humid. It was disgusting weather to be wearing long pants and dark colors.

  Angie looked at my drink longingly, and I grinned.

  “Sorry, sweetie,” I teased. “This is only for EMS.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me and I handed her the bottom half of my drink.

  She moaned when she took her first sip, and I had to work at keeping my dick from getting hard.

  It was a difficult thing to do when I couldn’t stop myself from watching her throat working, or the way her breasts heaved when she was finished.

  “What has my titties in a twist,” he said wryly. “Is my wife.”

  “What about her?” Angie asked in concern.

  PD grimaced.

  “She wants another kid.”

  We all blinked, waiting for the rest of it.

  “And?” Angie asked.

  “Annnnnd,” PD sighed. “And I’m scared. I missed the last pregnancy. I don’t want to miss this one. I feel like, if I concede, that’s saying yes to something bad that could happen.”

  During his wife’s pregnancy, she’d been kidnapped by a couple of men from her high school graduating class, and they’d kept her for months while PD and July’s brother, Wolf, worked tirelessly to find her.

  It’d not been a pretty sight, but it was also something that was out of PD’s control.

  Which I told him.

  “You have no control or guarantees in life, PD.” I stared at my friend, who was looking defeated. “But you do have a wife who loves you. Who wants more kids with you. And, that right there, is special. You have the kind of love that everyone craves, and you’re squandering it.”

  Angie’s hand found mine, but I kept my eyes on my friend.

  He looked up, and I could see the torture in his eyes. The indecision.

  “Scares the shit out of me, man.” He rubbed his belly. “And coming here with a pregnant patient who d
oesn’t have the man who helped her get that way at her side really scares the shit out of me.”

  I slapped him on the shoulder.

  “But think of all the awesome times you’ll have making that baby,” I goaded him.

  PD grinned.

  “There is that,” he conceded.

  “Silver lining, buddy.” I shoved his shoulder. “Now get the fuck out so I can talk to my woman.”

  “Talk…” PD drawled as he made his way to the door. “Right.”

  He, of course, was right.

  I wasn’t going to talk.

  Not even a little bit.

  The moment the door closed behind PD, I had Angie pressed up against it, my mouth devouring hers.

  She moaned and wrapped her legs around my hips.

  “Six more weeks and you’re mine forever,” I told her between kisses. “You’re sure you don’t want to run?”

  She tightened her legs around my hips and made sure to grind down on my erection.

  “And give up this?” she teased, lifting what was left of her coke can and drinking it down.

  I dropped my head to her chest and tried really hard to be appropriate while on the job, and failed miserably when she let out the burp to end all burps.

  My head came up slowly, awe written all over my face.

  Her eyes widened like she couldn’t believe she just did that, and immediately she started to apologize.

  “Angie,” I looked into her eyes. “The people that share their bodily functions together, stay together.”

  She blinked.

  “I’m not sure that’s how that saying goes,” she tried. “And that’ll be the only bodily function I share with you.”

  I grinned.

  “But it’s okay if I don’t follow that rule?” I teased.

  She shook her head in disbelief.

  “Was that what I signed up for when I agreed to marry you?” she asked me.

  I grinned.

  “Yep.”

  She rolled her eyes, and then palmed the empty can in her hand before squeezing it tightly.

  It shriveled up partially at the sides from the force but, otherwise, remained intact, causing her to sigh.

  “Give it to me,” I ordered.

  She handed it over to me, and I winked before crushing it the rest of the way with my hand.

  “Better?” I asked her, handing it back.

  She stuck her tongue back out, and this time I took advantage of it and bit it lightly.