Firefighter Christmas Complete Series Box Set (A Firefighter Holiday Romance Love Story)

by Nella Tyler

  Copyright © 2015 Nella Tyler

  Chapter One

  SUMMER

  “It’s ten thousand dollars, Ben! Do you know how long we can live off of ten grand?”

  “Yeah, the rest of us can all live great off of it while you’re getting your cavities searched in the county lock-up on a daily basis.”

  I rolled my eyes at my friend. Ben is the worrier of our group. He’s older…twenty-six, I think, and he’s been on the streets longer than any of us. I have a lot of respect for him and the things that he’s been through, but this is one thing I’m not going to let him talk me out of. I came across a flyer for a surfing contest that’s happening in two weeks, and I plan on winning it. “I have a plan, Ben. I’m not going to get caught.” I bent down to pick up a can out of the gutter and dropped it into the bag Bennie carried. So far this morning, we’d almost filled a thirty gallon bag – not bad for a Tuesday.

  “You don’t think the guy who owns the shop will be at the competition? I’m sure he has a brand name or something on those boards that make them recognizable in case they’re stolen. I’m sure if he doesn’t notice it gone right away, he will sometime in the next two weeks.” When I didn’t say anything, he continued, “Besides, Summer, babe…” I hate it when he calls me that. “There’s no guarantee you’ll win.”

  “That back room is filled with boards. He probably won’t ever notice it missing, but just in case, we’ll sand anything off that identifies it. Don’t call me babe and have some faith. I’ll win.”

  He sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “So let’s go over this ‘brilliant’ plan one more time. I don’t want to be responsible for screwing it up.”

  “Okay, so Phoebe and I are going to go in the shop. While we’re browsing, she is gonna strike up a conversation with that old guy at the counter who pervs on her every time he sees her.”

  “That ‘old guy’ is about thirty.”

  “Yeah, like I said, the old guy. Now pay attention. I’m going to wait until he’s lost in her deep brown eyes and then I’ll ask to use the bathroom. He’ll let me because he’ll want to keep Phoebe’s attention as long as he can. While I’m in the back, I’ll grab one of the boards and shove it out the door to you. You’ll be waiting in the alley, by the way.”

  “And, I just saunter away holding this brand new surfboard?”

  Frustrated with him now, I said, “There is a whole beach less than one block over. Do you think anyone is going to notice a guy carrying a surfboard around here?”

  “What about an alarm on the back door?”

  “He’s a hippie; he’s too laid back for alarms.”

  “You know this for a fact?”

  “No, but I’m convinced he’s not the alarm type. He’s more inclined to leave it to fate and karma. I’ll look closer while I’m in there, though, I promise.”

  “Summer…”

  “Come on, Bennie, give me some credit. I’ll be fine.”

  “You better be.”

  “I will, now listen. Once you have the board, you keep walking until you get to the cave. Phoebe and I will hang out a while longer so he doesn’t get suspicious. It’ll work, I promise.”I wasn’t usually one for manipulation, but I really wanted him off my back. I kissed his cheek and smiled at him the way it made him blush. Bennie and I had a short fling when I first hooked up with this band of vagabonds. Once he found out I was only seventeen, we never sealed the deal, it was just a lot of kissing and heavy petting. Eventually, I realized I thought of him more like a big brother and the kissing and touching started to kind of gross me out. Bennie understood, or at least he said he did, but, he still acts like a kid with a crush. “Come on; let’s go see what Ace cooked us up for lunch.”

  Bennie looked like he had more to say about my plan, but he kept it to himself, thankfully. I might only be four months away from my nineteenth birthday, but I’m no kid. I’ve been on the streets for almost five years. I crossed the country by myself when I was only fourteen. I’ve fought off more than one would-be attacker, and I’ve begged, borrowed, and stolen when I had to. I’ve moved from one encampment to the next. I’ve slept in parks and caves, on the beach and behind dumpsters. I’ve learned not to trust anyone completely…and no one easily. I’m not dead and I haven’t been in jail yet.

  I’m also not stupid enough to think my luck will hold out forever. That’s what makes this surfing contest so important. Ten grand would be the jump start I needed. If I could get a real place to stay just for a little while and enough money to have my hair done in something besides the long dreadlocks I keep it in to make things easy…and a set of decent clothes to cover my tats, then maybe I could get a job and live like a “normal” person for a change.

  I followed Bennie across the crowded beach and back towards the cove. La Jolla Cove sits between a couple of three-hundred-foot cliffs that are riddled with sea caves. The caves are popular with tourists and kayakers, but there are so many of them that we lucked out a few weeks ago when Ace found one that sits so far back from the little beach and cove that a visitor is rare, if not unheard of. There are six of us in our little ragtag band and we’ve made ourselves a pretty comfortable little hide-out there. We are all well aware of how that can change at any given moment, unfortunately. We had been camping down by the river before the police came and ran us off in the middle of the night. Any pathetic belongings we each possessed had to be left behind. We went back the next morning to get them, but it must have been some kind of community service project because the city had already sent in a crew to clean up the “mess.” When you’re homeless and you lose your stuff, it’s comparable to your house burning down, I think. It’s the stuff you can’t replace that really hurts…like the only photo I had left of my grandfather.

  We left the beach and walked the rest of the way through the park. The park is our lifesaver. It has barbecue pits, picnic tables, public restrooms, and showers. I might not have pretty clothes or a socially acceptable hairstyle, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stink and have hair covering my body like Sasquatch. Bennie lets me go to the dollar store once in a while and buy razors. The poor guy is probably hoping to have a chance to cop a feel again....

  “Hey! You two almost missed lunch.” As we got closer, I could see that Ace had a couple of foot-long hot dogs coming off the grill.

  “Where the hell did you get those?”

  “Do you always have to cuss?”

  “Sorry, Reverend,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Where did you get them?”

  He tossed his head in Hailey’s direction. She’s the newest member of our little group. My guess is she’s only about sixteen, but she claims to be my age. She only speaks when spoken to, and she has the most haunted pair of brown eyes that I’ve ever seen. “Hailey? Where did she get them?”

  Ace shrugged. “I’m just the domestic help, I don’t ask questions.”

  Ace used to be a hardcore heroin addict. He overdosed about three years ago and ended up spending two months in the hospital as a John Doe. He wasn’t unconscious; he just pretended that he didn’t know his own name or where he was from. They put him through rehab and he found religion and then they sent him to a halfway house. He once told me that he felt like he would suffocate if he spent another night inside of four walls. He honestly believes that the way we live from hand to mouth is the way God intended it. I think he just fried too many brain cells with the heroin. I left Bennie talking to Ace and went over to where Hailey sat at the picnic table.

  “Hey, girl, where’d you get the meat?”

  “At the store.”

  “Did you steal it?” I know that most “average” citizens wouldn’t believe this, but being homeless doesn’t mean you have no morals. Bennie has strict rules for belonging to our group and one of them is that the only time we steal is when we’re starving or in desperate need of medical care. He’s making a huge concession for me about the surfboard.

  “No,” she said, offended. “I bough
t it.”

  “With what money?” Phoebe is the only one of us who panhandles. It’s another safety measure, according to Bennie. If too many of us are out in the public eye, there’s a bigger chance we’ll draw unwanted attention.

  “I was on the beach and there were a couple of surfers there. One of them gave me a twenty. Mikey and I bought lunch, and we have change for Bennie.” I looked around, but I didn’t see Mikey. I looked over and could see Bennie looking around, too. He’s our unofficial leader. Ace probably told him Mikey had the rest of the cash. We’re supposed to all share what we have, but Bennie doesn’t trust Mikey. His other main rule for joining the group is that no one uses. It gets too expensive and too dangerous for the rest of the crew. Bennie hasn’t said anything, but I’ve seen him with his eyes on Mikey a lot lately.

  “Why did this guy give you twenty dollars, Hailey? He didn’t make you do something for it, did he?”

  “No!” If I had a dollar for every time I’d been propositioned by some creep since my grandfather died and I hit the road, I’d own one of those mansions I could see from where I sat right now. I promised myself a long time ago that no matter how hungry I got, I’d never cross that line. Hailey went on to say, “I would never do anything like that. There were some young guys, rich little teenagers…they were bothering me and he was just being nice. He threatened to kick their asses if they didn’t back off and then he stuffed the money in my pocket before I took off. I didn’t even know it was there until I got back here.”

  “Okay, good. I’m sorry, Hailey.”

  “Don’t be sorry, Summer. Just know that no matter what happens, I ain’t no prostitute.”

  “I know. Thanks for the hot dog!” I smiled at her, and she smiled back. She was coming around. That one almost reached her eyes.

  I went back over to Ace and got my dog. We even had buns and ketchup! It was the best meal I’d had in a week. Last night we had seafood, but Ace had fished it from the dumpster behind one of the fancy seafood restaurants in town and it kind of tasted like coffee grinds. Every once in a while we snag a Garibaldi fish. It’s illegal to fish in the Cove, but they’re so abundant you can practically grab them right out of the water. We don’t do it often because they taste like shit, but sometimes beggars can’t be choosers.

  “Ace, where’s Phoebe?”

  “She hasn’t come back yet.” Phoebe panhandles at one of the busiest corners in La Jolla every morning. It’s a prime spot, but she’s had it since the old guy that used to cover it died three years ago. It’s an unwritten law on the streets that you don’t take someone else’s corner unless they get locked up or they die. Ace cut his dark eyes over to the side to make sure Bennie was out of earshot before saying, “Are you two going after the surfboard tonight?”

  “Yeah, and it’s okay. I told Bennie.”

  “Did he give you shit about it?”

  “He’s not happy about it, but he’s not going to let me go alone. He’s going to help.”

  “Yeah, Bennie’s not going to risk losing you, that’s for sure.”

  I rolled my eyes. I hope one day Bennie realizes that I’m not his to lose. Ace is right, though, no matter how much Bennie disagrees with one of my plans, he won’t ever tell me no. I just hope we both know what we’re doing because as confident as I tried to sound when I went over my plan with him this morning, I’m as nervous as hell.

  Chapter Two

  DRAKE

  “Hey, Kobe!”

  “Spence, my man!” My buddy Kobe was born in the wrong decade. He’s only twenty-eight, but he talks and acts like he lived through Woodstock.

  I wrapped hands with him and said, “I’m headed over to Land Lubber’s for some lunch, I’m starving. You want to come with?”

  Kobe looked around at the empty store. “Hell, since my last customer was…what day is this?”

  He also smokes a lot of weed. His memory is not so good. “It’s Tuesday.”

  “Okay, then, my last customer was Friday so I guess it would be safe to close up for an hour.” I laughed and he said, “Go ahead and laugh it up, but just remember to put some change in my cup when you pass me on the street, man.”

  “I’m sorry, is it that bad?” I had no idea what Kobe’s financial situation was. I guess the way I was raised made me kind of clueless about finances in particular. When I wanted something, I used the Amex card the old man gave me when I was twelve to buy it. He was recently spending a lot of time reminding me of that.

  “Nah, not yet, man. I got a big settlement, you know, when that boat hit me in the head. Most of that money is still in the bank.”

  “What the hell? You got hit by a boat?” This is what I love about Kobe – it was something new every day.

  “Yeah, man, I told you about that…”

  “No, Kobe, you didn’t. But come on, you can tell me at lunch. I’m seriously ready to chew off my own arm.” My friend Lance and I had been surfing all morning. I was trying to get ready for a competition in Laguna in a few weeks. I had been in the zone and I’d forgotten to eat. If Lance hadn’t had to quit and go to work, I’d probably still be out there. I waited for Kobe to lock up and we walked down Main Street towards Land Lubber’s. It’s a little hole in the wall restaurant facing the beach; they make the best damn burgers in the entire free world. We were about halfway there when I saw Kobe checking out the homeless girl that sits in the center of the island. It was the second time since I’d been home I’d seen him watching her. I guess she’s kind of cute, but the fact that she’s homeless and begging for money was a turn off to me. It was also hard to tell how old she was. “I’d be careful if I were you, horn dog… I doubt she’s legal.”

  “I talked to her a few days ago,” he said with a stupid grin on his face. I worried about him sometimes. He had no idea that there were some people you just can’t let into your life, no matter how hot you think she is.

  “So, what did she have to say?”

  He tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and finally turned to watch where he was going. “She says she’s nineteen, which is perfectly legal, and her name is Phoebe.”

  “Yeah, perfectly legal, she says. How much does she charge?”

  “Dude, you’re so negative. She’s not a prostitute.”

  “She sits on the corner and begs for money. I’ve been home almost a week now and she’s been wearing the same clothes every time I see her. You think she’s going to give up her only worthy commodity for free?”

  “Fuck you, Spence. Don’t talk about her like that.”

  I laughed. “Wow,” Kobe never got aggressive with me, or anyone for that matter. “You’ve got it bad for this girl. But, man, she’s homeless…even I’ve never been with a chick that doesn’t bathe regularly.”

  “You don’t know if she bathes. She always smells like flowers to me. I don’t care if she lives in a house or a fucking tent, either. I like her. You’re too judgmental. You don’t even realize how good you have it.” We reached the restaurant, and I pulled open the door. My stomach rumbled as the smells of grilling beef assaulted my senses. I’d been all over the world and I’ve eaten in some damned fine restaurants, and I still crave these burgers.

  “Maybe.” Kobe’s probably right about that much anyways since my father had been singing the same song lately. I guess I really don’t think about how good I have it because I don’t know anything else. That’s not really my fault, though. My parents have made my life easy – what was I supposed to do, turn it down? I think I’m still a decent person at heart, though. As a matter of fact, when I saw those little assholes on the beach this morning picking on that little homeless girl, I didn’t hesitate to help her. I ran them off and gave her the cash I had in my pocket. I started to tell Kobe about that now, but then I decided that patting myself on the back for giving the girl twenty bucks would make me look and sound like an even bigger dick. Instead, I simply said, “I’ll work on it.”

  We took our usual table by the window. After the waitress left with our
orders, in an effort to take the heat off of me for being a rich asshole, I said, “Hey, maybe that surfing contest that Ruckus is putting on in a couple of weeks will bring in some business for you.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. I picked up a bunch of flyers the other day. I’m gonna put them on the counter and out front and have a sale on all the stuff a beginner would need.” The contest was being put on by a local surfboard company. It’s only for beginners who have never competed and the first prize is ten grand. I think that’ll stir up a lot of wanna-be surfers that might buy a lot of gear they’ll never use again. Hopefully, there will be a lot of medics on standby.

  We got our burgers and fries and while we ate, I said, “So, what’s this about a boat hitting you?”

  “Oh yeah, man, I can’t believe I never told you. It was about nine years ago, I guess. I was living out of my Kombi back then, following the coastline from one end to the other. I’d been in San Diego for a few weeks and was thinking about pulling out that night, but I went in for one last midnight run before I did. I was paddling out to the break and these little bastards in daddy’s speedboat barreled past me. They had some girls on the boat, and I could tell they’d been drinking. They were in a part of the cove they weren’t even supposed to be. I remember thinking that last run wasn’t worth dealing with the little punks, so I turned around. That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the hospital. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and there was an attorney at my bedside when I woke up. He sued their daddies and that’s where I got the money to open my place. I put the rest in the bank for hard times.”

  I shook my head. That story explained so much. I met Kobe when I was seventeen. We’ve been friends for four years and this whole time, I thought his problems functioning in society were all related to how much weed he smoked. “Damn, Kobe! I can’t believe you never told me that.”

  He grinned and I could barely see his white teeth through his gnarly black beard. He really needed a haircut and shave. “Maybe I did and you forgot.”