Set the Night on Fire: A Bad Boy Firefighter Novel

by Parker, Weston

  Still. It irked me. That was my job. I’d worked hard to earn my place there, and being put in the box for missing a damn fundraiser was a kick to the balls.

  A call came through from our dispatcher. Another heart attack call.

  Allen flipped on the sirens and stepped on the gas. I gripped the handle in the door as we rounded a sharp corner, and he opened it up on a straightaway. I gritted my teeth. “You’re driving like a maniac for a call that’s probably bullshit.”

  “If you look at every call like that, you won’t be ready for the real ones.”

  I shrugged.

  “You’ll also be stuck riding bitch in the box,” he said.

  “Shit, Allen. You can talk smack.”

  Allen didn’t smile. Instead, he looked dead ahead and sped toward the apartment building that was the address of the call. We came to a stop at the curb and hopped out to run to the back doors of the ambulance where we got the stretcher. We hurried to the front doors. We were let in by a young woman walking her dog, who looked concerned as I followed Allen to the stairwell. He didn’t fuck around. He wasn’t going to stand around and wait for an elevator.

  He pointed to the elevator. “Meet me up there.”

  He took the stairs two at a time and disappeared around the corner as I wheeled the stretcher onto the elevator.

  I caught up with Allen on the third floor in front of the apartment we’d been called to. The door was open, and an older woman with permed gray hair led us into the living room where her husband had collapsed on the floor. She was close to panic but keeping it together for his sake.

  Allen went down on the carpet beside the man and started talking to him as I rolled the stretcher in. The man’s wife was close to tears.

  We got the older gentleman onto the stretcher as we asked his wife a few questions.

  Was he on heart medication? Did he have a history of chest pain? Does he have high blood pressure? Does heart disease run in the family?

  Allen and I were certain within less than a minute that the man had indeed had a stroke.

  We brought him and his wife outside and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. Allen directed me to sit in the back with him and his wife, which in my book was torture. Sitting beside a nearly hysterical seventy-two-year-old woman while she comforted her husband was not my scene.

  When we got to Searing General, we unloaded the stretcher. Allen spoke reassuring words to the husband and wife, and she held her husband’s hand when we wheeled him through to the ER.

  Allen left me with the patient as he went to the nurses’ desk and told them what the situation was.

  The nurse he spoke with caught my eye immediately.

  She was of average height, and her ass looked great in her scrubs. Her hair was dark cherry red, and her eyes were a pale shade of green. The combination gave her an almost mystical look. She certainly didn’t look like she belonged in an ER.

  She and Allen went over the details of the patient, and she nodded before he turned and came back to me. He addressed the patient’s wife. “All right, Mrs. Green. I’ve spoken with the nurses. They’re making up a bed for your husband right now and will move you up to the cardiac unit immediately. With symptoms as clear as this, there’s no point in wasting time in an ER. Your husband is stable, but they’ll be running some tests and keeping an eye on him overnight, at least. No food or drink until the doctor gives the okay.”

  “Thank you,” she said. Her voice was shaky. She gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Thank you both.”

  “No problem, ma’am,” Allen said, patting her shoulder lightly. “Your husband is in good hands here.”

  Allen and I walked out of the ER and got back in the ambulance. I clipped my seatbelt on as Allen grabbed a sip of water from his thermos. “You have a good bedside manner,” I told him.

  “It comes with the territory.”

  “Hey, that nurse you were talking to, the one with the red hair?”

  He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “What about her?”

  “How well do you know her?”

  Allen smirked, which surprised me. It was the closest thing I’d seen to a smile from him in weeks. “Don’t worry about her, Derek. She hates firemen, and she sure as shit would hate you.”

  “Ouch.”

  Allen chuckled. “Hey. You asked. I told.”

  I rubbed my hands together. “I’ve changed a woman’s mind before. I like a challenge.”

  6

  Katie

  Emily rolled her chair over to me and spun it around as she popped a baby carrot in her mouth. “Did you see that fireman?”

  “Allen?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. We see Allen all the time. The other one. The one who hung back. With the brown hair and golden eyes.”

  “Yeah. I saw him.”

  “He was cute,” Emily said in a sing-song voice.

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Whatever.”

  “What? He was! There’s no way you can’t tell me you didn’t find him attractive. I even saw a bit of a tattoo peeking out from under that sleeve right on his tricep. Drool.”

  “He was attractive, but he’s also a fireman. So, he’s probably an ass by default.”

  “Allen’s not an ass.”

  “True. But he’s the exception.”

  “You’re such a Negative Nancy.”

  “No, Emily. I’m just practical, okay?”

  She shrugged. “Same thing.”

  I put my hand on my hip and sighed. “It is most definitely not the same thing.”

  “All right. Whatever you say, Debbie Downer.”

  Instead of rolling my eyes at her again, I collected the patient files I’d just printed off for the new arrival, Mr. Green. I hurried out from behind the desk over to where he was waiting with his wife and greeted them both with a warm smile. Emily arrived right behind me.

  “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Green. Sorry to keep you waiting. My name is Katie, and this is Emily. We’re going to move you upstairs to the cardiac unit so you can get some quick care, all right?”

  Both of them nodded. Mr. Green was in rough shape. His skin was pale, and he was still in some discomfort. I put my hand on his shoulder as Emily started pushing his stretcher down the hall toward the elevator. I went through all the questions they had been asked by the firemen to make sure everything was accurate. It was.

  When we delivered him to his new room, his wife thanked me. I wished them luck and assured them that everything would be fine.

  As Emily and I walked back downstairs, she winced. “He didn’t look so good.”

  I shook my head. “I know. There is probably some serious damage to his heart. Hopefully nothing that can’t be mended.”

  We spent the next hour of our shift tending to our patients who suffered from all sorts of things. Broken collarbones, a concussion, a split earlobe from an earring getting caught in a towel when they were drying off, an infected cut on someone’s palm, more heart attacks, and an allergic reaction to a bee sting.

  By the time the hour passed, we were both starving and were relieved by two other nurses to take our lunch break. We slipped into the break room, got our lunches out of the fridge, and claimed one of the empty tables.

  I mixed up the salad I’d packed that morning and popped open the small container of lemon poppy seed dressing. I drizzled it on top, mixed it up some more, and started eating. I was starving.

  Emily bit into her sandwich and washed it down with chocolate milk as I drank lemon water. “How do you eat that rabbit food every day?” she asked.

  “It’s not rabbit food. I like it. It gives me energy.”

  “I feel like that’s a hoax. The only thing that gives me energy is coffee.”

  I smiled. “Different strokes for different folks.”

  “I guess. Speaking of which. Did you ever get that call from the guy I gave your number to?”

  I sighed. Emily had been trying to set me up with one of the guys she used to go
to business school with. He was good looking, well dressed, and successful career-wise. She insisted we would hit it off. “Yeah, but I didn’t call him back.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not interested in dating right now. You know that.”

  “But he’s probably wondering why you’re not returning his call.”

  “I don’t care if he’s wondering. I never wanted to go on a date. It’s not my problem.”

  “Harsh.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever.”

  I knew Emily was watching me as I went back to eating my salad. I made sure there was one of everything on my fork with every bite. A bit of lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, goat cheese, pecan, and carrot. Delicious. Clean.

  Emily put her sandwich down. “How come you’re not interested in dating? I’m just curious. You haven’t been with a guy since, well, you know. The last one. And that was almost two years ago.”

  “And I’ve enjoyed there not being a guy in the picture for two years. I don’t have time for it. It would be like having another patient at home to take care of. That doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.”

  “But it might not be like that if you snagged a good one.”

  “Well, if a good one ever comes along, maybe I’ll change my mind.”

  Emily and I finished eating lunch and sat back to relax and enjoy the last twenty minutes of our break. We had another six hours of our shift ahead of us, and it was impossible to know how the rest of the day was going to go. Mondays usually weren’t as hectic as the weekends because for the most part, people weren’t going out and doing reckless, drunken stuff. But this job was unpredictable.

  When we were down to our last two minutes, we both got to our feet and went back to the ER. My feet hurt and so did my lower back, but that was no excuse not to work.

  The next hour of my time was eaten up by trying to fix the confusion that had started when Emily and I took our breaks. One of the nurses double booked one of the beds, so we had someone in the ER just sitting in a wheelchair, waiting to be tended to for a really bad stomach ache and possible food poisoning.

  I shifted some things around and had them in a bed and in line to see a doctor within five minutes. Then I coached the new nurse through dealing with rushes in the ER. She hadn’t been working this shift long, and it was a steep learning curve. Making sure to delegate when you needed help and being able to hold your ground and tell anxious patients that you needed more time to get them a bed was something that got easier with practice. It didn’t just come naturally.

  As I was in the midst of telling her she was doing a good job, I looked up to see Allen and the firefighter he was riding with for the day come into the ER. They were moving quickly, and Allen looked concerned.

  I hurried around the desk to meet them.

  They had a young girl on their stretcher, probably no more than ten, and she was sobbing and clutching at her right side close to her hip.

  “Appendicitis?” I asked as Allen wheeled her by me and straight through the doors.

  He nodded. “Yes. Family waited too long. You need to get a surgeon for her immediately. I think it burst already.”

  “Oh hell,” I said. I waved at Emily, who was still behind the desk. “Page Doctor Redding. We need him for an emergency surgery. Appendicitis. Emergency operating room B.”

  Emily nodded and did as I said.

  Allen rolled the patient down the hall as a hysterical mother burst through the doors. I caught her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Your daughter needs surgery. The doctor is on his way down right now. Please try to remain calm. She’s going to need you to put on a brave face. She’s in a lot of pain right now, but trust me. We will make it all better for her. Now take a deep breath for me. Yes, that’s right.”

  The mother did as I said. I coached her through a couple more deep breaths and nodded at her. “Good. Very good. Now go through that door there and to the right. You’ll catch up with her and Allen as they prep her to go in for surgery. I just have to get her papers from the other medic, and I’ll be right there, okay?”

  “Okay,” the mother whispered.

  “If you need to call your husband or anybody else, call them now. Then I’ll be right there with you.”

  “Okay,” she said again, and then I let her go, and she hurried out the doors.

  The other fireman was waiting for me back at the desk. I met him on his side of the counter and held out my hand for the patient files that were on the desk under his palm.

  He smiled at me. “Hey. You’re Katie, right?”

  Here we go. “Yes.”

  “I’m Derek.”

  “Hi, Derek. Nice to meet you. Do you mind giving me those files? I need to bring them into the operating room and make sure the patient has no allergies before we use any anesthesia.”

  His smile broadened. Wow. He was hot. The smile revealed two dimples and warmed his hazel eyes even more than they already were. The crinkles at the corners of his eyes were endearing, and the way he rubbed the back of his neck made me think he was a little nervous. Which meant one thing: he was going to hit on me.

  Of course.

  I reached for the files, and he slid his hand backward, dragging the papers with him.

  I put my hand on my hip and arched an eyebrow. “I don’t have time to play games right now. Surgery, remember?”

  “I just wanted a couple more minutes with you.”

  “Oh. How romantic.” I slapped my hand down on the corner of the files and tugged them out from under his palm. I held them behind my back so he couldn’t get them from me. “Goodbye, Derek.”

  “Don’t be like that, Katie.”

  “Like what? I’m trying to do my job, and you’re taking up my time. Goodbye.”

  He tried to follow me as I walked away, which was embarrassing. For him.

  I left the ER, and he was forced to stay behind. What an insensitive ass. He genuinely thought that his time was more important than my patient’s.

  7

  Derek

  Allen and I pulled up to the station on Tuesday morning just before six o’clock. He parked the ambulance, and we slid out. I was looking forward to seeing the other guys for breakfast. Two days in the box with Allen had almost made me incapable of normal socializing. The guy was a few words shy of being a mute. He barely spoke, and when he did, it was to order a coffee at a drive thru or talk to a patient as we got them in the ambulance.

  It was infuriating.

  Conversation was not easy to strike up, and after two days of making an effort to try to find common ground with the ex-marine, I’d almost thrown in the towel.

  I told Hayden so when I sat down beside him at the communal table. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me, man. I mean, I even resorted to asking him about the book he was reading. You know I don’t give a shit about that. But that goes to show how hard I’m trying.”

  “Maybe you should just stop trying?” Hayden suggested.

  I groaned and raked my fingers through my hair. It was getting too long. I’d have to get a trim before the chief said something about it. “Just sit there all day, every day not saying a word?”

  Hayden shrugged. “You gotta start somewhere. You know you have a bit of a… what’s the word?” Hayden paused and pursed his lips. “Abrasive. Yes. You have a bit of an abrasive personality. Maybe you should just take it easy and see if he comes around to you.”

  “No. That sounds like Hell.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  My stomach growled, and I glanced over to the kitchen where Maddox and Allen were going about cooking breakfast. Today, we were eating breakfast sausages, fried eggs, and pancakes. It was a breakfast for champions, and my mouth was watering. I leaned back and rested my hands on my stomach. “I’m not being dramatic. I just need to know more about him. What do you know about the guy?”

  “That he’s an ex-marine.”

  “Yeah. We all know that.”

  Hayden stroke
d his chin. “Well, aside from that, all I really know is that he likes reading. And he’s really private. And you prying for information about him is probably a better way to piss him off rather than earn his friendship.”

  “I never said we needed to be friends. I just need to be able to talk to the guy.”

  “You should let him make the first move.”

  “What is this? ‘Blind dating tips with Hayden’?”

  Hayden laughed as the others all sat down around the table. Allen slid me my plate, and I thanked him. We all dug in, and Hayden asked me how things were going in the box.

  “It’s been okay. I can’t lie. It’s a bit boring. Much slower paced than what I’m used to.”

  Allen, who had taken the seat beside Hayden, nudged him with his elbow as he chewed and swallowed a bite of sausage. “Your boy has eyes for one of the nurses in the ER.”

  Hayden’s eyes widened as he turned to me. “Oh, he does, does he?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I said three words to her.”

  “Because she shot you down before you made it to four,” Allen noted.

  All the guys around the table started snickering and harassing me. Usually, I was good with women. I shook my head at them. “You weren’t there.”

  “Your timing was awful,” Allen said.

  “I will admit that is true. I could have timed it better.”

  Allen shrugged. “Well, she asked about you the last time I saw her.”

  I sat up a little straighter. “Wait, really? What did she say?”

  The corner of Allen’s mouth twitched.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you fucking with me, Yellich?”

  Allen chuckled and kept eating his breakfast.

  The other guys found this especially hilarious. Allen wasn’t the sort to make jokes, so this seemed to be a homerun in terms of moments of hilarity in the firehouse. And, lucky me, it was at my expense.

  Hayden leaned over. “Looks to me like you guys are getting along just fine.”