Hooked on a Phoenix

by Ashlyn Chase

  “Worrying won’t help your coworkers. It will just get you worked up. You need to stay calm.”

  “Don’t you worry about your fellow firefighters?”

  He thought about that for a moment. They were all well trained to handle themselves in any emergency. Usually, he was too focused on the fire or whatever situation required his full attention. But yeah, there were times when somebody was in danger and he worried, especially if he couldn’t help…or it was one of his brothers.

  “I guess so.”

  Gabe wanted to lean over and kiss the top of her head, but that might open the door to a precedent he didn’t want to deal with later. If she expected more, he could probably blame it on the moment, but he didn’t want to mess with her head…or his.

  * * *

  Baldy was pacing back and forth, waving his gun. “Now what, Mr. Manager?”

  Adam shrugged. “Once the safe is closed and it locks, it won’t open again for eight hours.”

  The antsy bank robber stopped pacing in front of him and placed the barrel of his gun against Adam’s forehead. “There has to be an override code or something.”

  Adam was shaking so badly inside, he thought his knees would turn to jelly and he might fall or faint. “Th-there’s some kind of emergency code, but only the bank president has it. He’s on a cruise right now.”

  “Can you call him?”

  “He goes on cruises specifically because there’s no internet or phone. Even if I could get ahold of him, he’d probably realize something was wrong and call the cops.”

  The “boss” stomped his foot.

  “Well, we tried,” the heavyset one mumbled.

  The bald guy’s jaw was clenched, and his face was growing redder. At last, he looked at the ceiling, threw his arms in the air, and yelled, “Fuck!”

  Everyone stared at him silently for a few moments.

  “Uh, boss?”

  “What?” he shouted.

  “I think we should probably go.” He nodded toward the front door where a customer was pulling on it frantically, then leaning against the glass, cupping the area around his eyes, and trying to see in.

  The smaller guy slumped. “Christ. I’m not leaving with nothing. Everyone empty your pockets into this backpack.” He tossed the flat bag at the manager.

  Adam caught it and reached into his own back pocket first. Then he carried the bag to Betsy, one of the female tellers.

  “Our wallets are in our purses,” she said.

  Baldy ripped the bag out of Adam’s hand. “Open the drawers and don’t touch the contents. My partner will load up the cash.” Then he looked at the remaining tellers. “Next stop, purse city, ladies.”

  * * *

  Misty wanted to cry. She was trying to be brave, but she really, really wanted to cry. She felt tears burn behind her eyes and tipped her face up, hoping to keep them from running down her cheeks. Gabe leaned away. Maybe he thought she was looking for a kiss.

  Then she swayed and bumped against him. Was that bulge… Oh my!

  “Misty, I guess we might as well sit down, since we’re going to be waiting for a while,” Gabe said.

  Sitting against a solid wall before her legs gave out sounded like a great idea. The place was filled with shelving, but there was a flat surface beside the door. She felt behind her, found the smooth wall, and slid down to a sitting position. She hadn’t told anyone about her legs failing to cooperate lately, even in the best of circumstances. She hoped it was just a weird muscle spasm or something that would go away.

  Gabe found her shoulder and scooted down beside her. She couldn’t see an inch in front of her face, but she pictured their legs straight out in front of them like little kids as they sat side by side. Gabe took Misty’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

  It was comforting and familiar, yet not enough. Her thoughts traveled back to her childhood…

  She’d been in love with Gabe as long as she could remember. The first fairy tales she’d heard replayed in her mind when she was little and daydreaming, with Gabe as the handsome prince. Her favorite story was “Sleeping Beauty.” Her favorite daydream was being awakened with Gabe’s kiss.

  She had been sheltered. At least, compared to her suburban friends. In the city, she’d had to be watched at all times. That made sense. Cities could be tough places for kids. So many people became hardened or downright toxic. Gabe and Parker watched over her. She didn’t know if Parker had been told to do so, but Gabe certainly hadn’t. Yet when Parker had to go inside to use the bathroom or answer a phone call, she knew she was just as safe with Gabe.

  Then, even though her grandparents had taken them to a small town where she was safer, they still watched her like a hawk. She’d rebelled. Breaking curfew. Not telling them where she was going…and now, looking back, she felt terrible about it. She and her brother were all they had left of their daughter. Her uncle was useless, only showing up to borrow money. Now he had all of it. Private studio lessons weren’t cheap. Whatever hope she’d had of a professional dance career couldn’t be afforded anymore, so she had to change her goal. But to what?

  After a long silence, she asked, “Gabe, do you have any regrets?”

  She thought she was in for another long silence when he finally said, “The past is the past. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the past, necessarily. I mean hypothetically, if you died today, is there anything you would wish you had done that you haven’t?”

  “Hypothetically? Not really. At least I don’t think so. You?”

  “Yeah. But if we get out of here, there’s still a chance.” She wasn’t about to tell him that the chance she wanted was with him.

  “A chance to what? Dance professionally? I remember how you loved to dance.”

  “Well, maybe. That, or I would have liked to open my own dance studio.”

  “That sounds nice. There’s no reason you can’t do that, because we are going to get out of here. I promise.”

  Feeling hopeless, she said, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  “Misty, let’s talk about something else. So, tell me about the suburbs.”

  “Gee, do you have five seconds?”

  Gabe laughed. “We might have five hours.”

  Misty took a deep breath, then regretted it, knowing that air might be at a premium soon.

  Gabe was speaking again. She had to bring herself back to the present when he asked, “What about school? I imagine you finished high school. Was it public or private?”

  “Yes, I finished Saugus High School. It was public, but nice. Fairly new. The kids weren’t too bad, either.”

  “Really? Sounds like you lucked out. Some of the kids at Boston Latin were assholes.”

  “But I thought that was a good school?”

  “Sure. The teachers were good. The classes were good. The kids were assholes.”

  “Oh well. You can’t win ’em all,” she said. Kids could be jerks when they were jealous. She imagined a lot of guys would be jealous of the handsome teenager Gabe must have been. He probably attracted plenty of female attention, but she didn’t want to think about that now…or ever.

  “So, do you like being a bank teller and want to make a career of it, or is this just a step to something else?”

  Misty snorted. “Does anyone want to be a bank teller when they grow up?”

  Gabe was quiet, so she forged on. “Yeah, I guess it’s a step. I wanted to dance professionally, maybe doing music videos or live tours, but there really isn’t much call for that around this area. I could save up and go to Hollywood—eventually. But by then, I’d be too old.”

  He laughed. “Old? You’re only twenty-two!”

  “Almost twenty-three. My birthday is in a couple of weeks. I should have gone to Hollywood or Vegas right out of high school,
but I needed to be close to my grandparents until…” A lump formed in her throat, so she just stopped talking.

  “Until they left you,” Gabe said.

  She sighed. “Yeah. Sometimes it feels that way.” Freakin’ abandonment issues…

  He squeezed her hand again. “Well, you have me. I may be a sorry excuse for a relative, but I can be a good friend.”

  A friend. Well, she knew where she stood. Or sat, at the moment—thank goodness. Fatigue swamped her, and her posture slumped.

  She felt Gabe slide his arm around her back. She didn’t know how he’d react to her leaning her head on his shoulder, but she did it anyway. He didn’t pull away. The two of them sat in a cocoon of silence for a few minutes.

  “So, how about you? Did you always want to be a firefighter?”

  “Doesn’t every little boy? Especially if the whole frigging family is in the fire service?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I was a little girl with girly-girl dreams when we lived near you. But I can imagine the pressure you must’ve been under to carry on the family tradition.”

  “I don’t mind. I love the job. Right now, my parents are struggling with my youngest brother, Luca. He wants to be a cop.”

  “In a family of firefighters? Doesn’t that make him the black sheep?”

  He chuckled. “You know it. My mother is usually so calm about our jobs, but with Luca… Well, he’s the baby. And she doesn’t want her baby getting shot.”

  “But she’s not worried about the rest of you in a fire?”

  He was quiet for a moment, then said, “She knows we can take care of ourselves.”

  “The last time I saw Luca, he was about six or seven years old. I have a hard time seeing him as a cop.”

  “Just like I had a hard time seeing you as a mature woman, until… Well, there you were. All grown-up and beautiful to boot.”

  Misty smiled, not that he could see it. She kept her head on his shoulder. Leaning on him felt good, natural, like coming home. She basked in his warmth, very glad he didn’t pull away.

  Chapter 3

  “Do you really think we’ll get out of here before…you know,” Misty asked.

  “Of course we will! I bet we’ll be free within the hour.”

  “What do you bet?”

  “Huh?” It sounded as if Misty was willing to name stakes. Intriguing. “What do you want if you win? I mean besides an escort home. That’s a given,” Gabe said.

  “Hmmm… Let me see. How about a kiss?”

  What could he say to that? He wanted to. God, did he want to! But Parker would kill him…and Misty would too, eventually. He was never going to get serious about a woman and didn’t want to mislead her.

  “Uh, Gabe?”

  “Misty, this isn’t seven minutes in a closet.”

  “No, it’s a helluva lot longer.” She was quiet for a moment, then asked, “Do you have a girlfriend or something?”

  “No. Not at the moment.”

  “Then are you still hung up on someone?”

  “I’ve never been in a serious relationship.”

  “Really?” Misty seemed shocked. “Aren’t you, like, twenty-six?”

  “I made up my mind long ago. I’ll never get married, be a family man and all that. It has nothing to do with you.”

  “Then what?”

  He sighed. “You mentioned regrets… There’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever get over. Do you remember our dog, Buddy?”

  “Yeah. He was a good dog.”

  “Yes, he was. Do you know how he died?”

  “I heard he got off his leash and was hit by a car. I cried when I heard about it. Is that not true?”

  “Oh, it’s true, all right. And it happened because of me. My girlfriend at the time was allergic, so I tied him to the railing beside the front door. As you must remember, we had no backyard. I was supposed to be taking care of him while my family was away. Instead of acting responsibly, I put him out front where anyone could hurt him, just so I could make out with a girl. Later, I found his collar unbuckled, still tied to the railing. Some asshole purposely let him go free. And then he got run over. I’ve never felt more terrible in my life. I can never put myself in that position again.”

  “Gabe, I know it was horrible—believe me, I understand—but that’s not something you can change. All you can do is learn from it. And you’ll make different decisions. I took care of my grandparents, and my grandpa fell while I was out. After that, I had to get someone to take over for me, even if I just had to run to the pharmacy or go grocery shopping. And you can teach kids about the dangers of running into the street—looking both ways and so on. You can’t teach dogs that.”

  “I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but pets depend on people to take care of them. You can’t just learn from mistakes. Frankly, you can’t make mistakes. I found Buddy as a puppy, rummaging around in the garbage behind a restaurant. I took him home, and after much begging, I was allowed to keep him. He became everybody’s dog, though. We all loved his adorable goofy grin, and he loved every one of us. When I went looking for him, I found him in the gutter. Just pushed aside like trash.”

  “Oh, Gabe. I’m so sorry.” She moved enough to hug him, and he let her.

  Finally, he took a deep breath and let go. “Yeah, well, the worst wasn’t over. I had to tell everyone else what had happened. The whole family cried and mourned like they’d lost a child.” Gabe had let everyone down. He was still angry with himself for being so stupid.

  “That must have been awful. Absolutely horrible! And I can understand that maybe you don’t want to have another dog, but why—”

  “Because every woman I’ve ever dated wants kids. If I couldn’t even look after a dog, how could I trust myself with a baby? A child is even more clueless than a dog.”

  “Are you saying you’d leave a baby tied to the front door?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Probably? Oh, come on. You’d never do that, Gabe. There’s even a thing I’ve heard of where overwhelmed mothers can drop off their babies at a fire station, no questions asked. Sheesh!”

  “Yeah. It’s called Safe Haven. Look, there are any number of ways a child can die. I’ve seen some horrible examples. Kids accidentally drowning in a bathtub, for instance. It only takes one distraction, and there are so many distractions these days.”

  “You’re right, of course. It could happen. Does that mean you’re never going to take a risk? Even if it could lead to great happiness?”

  Gabe sighed again. “I think it’s time to change the subject. What else have you got?”

  As they were trying to think of something else to talk about, he heard a noise. It sounded far away, but it was some kind of rasping sound. It had to be an electric saw.

  “Oh, thank God! The cavalry is here,” he exclaimed.

  “You mean, the fire department is trying to get us out?”

  “Yeah. I told you they would.”

  “I guess you’re going to win that bet.”

  To say he had mixed feelings was an understatement. He and Misty were just getting to know each other again. With all the ways to do online banking, who knew if he’d ever come up with another excuse to see her?

  She had pushed him out of his comfort zone. He wanted to keep things superficial, so why didn’t she let him? He could call in a few days to see how she was doing, but after that?

  * * *

  After what seemed like hours of the same rasping noise plus a few other additional noises, Gabe had pretty much identified what they were trying to do. It sounded like cement saws were concentrating on the ceiling. They had probably checked the building plans and discovered the weakest spot.

  Misty had said the door was the strongest, and he had seen how thick it was when it was open, so he doubted they were even attempting
to take off hinges or cut a hole in it. The walls might be as thick as the door.

  At last, something broke through the ceiling toward the back of the vault. A tiny sliver of light appeared.

  Gabe stood and helped Misty up. Holding her hand, he pulled her back against the door. Unfortunately, dust was starting to fill up the little room. He yanked a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Here, put this over your nose and mouth. It’s clean.”

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’ll use my sleeve.”

  As the rasping became louder, they were aware of voices also coming from the ceiling. It was impossible to understand what they were saying, but man, what a comfort to hear the rumbling of humans giving orders and acknowledging them.

  “Gabe?” Misty asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for keeping me calm and safe during all this, I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “Well, I haven’t seen my coworkers yet. I know you couldn’t have stuffed all of us in this vault, but you did what you thought was right.”

  If Gabe wasn’t holding her hand and using his other one to block the dust, he would’ve slapped himself upside the head. He already felt like a jerk, but was she serious? She wished he’d pushed all her coworkers into the vault, knowing the air wouldn’t last a fraction of the time?

  “Well, I did what I did. I hope your coworkers are okay, but at least I know you are. If you’d been taken and raped and Parker found out I was right there… Shit. Never mind.” As light began to invade the room from above, he was finally able to see Misty’s outline. “You are okay, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”

  “Other than feeling like an idiot, I’m perfectly fine.” Gabe laughed, then coughed. “Don’t try to talk. Just breathe through your nose. Keep your eyes closed so the dust doesn’t get in them.”

  “They’re already closed.”

  She bumped up against him, let go of his hand, and slipped her arm around his waist. He had no choice but to put his arm around her shoulder. Any lower would give her and anyone who entered the vault the wrong idea.