“Ahh, our guest speakers are here early. Michelle, please allow Shane his seat back so we can discuss some fire safety. Mr. Spada, please introduce yourself.” Adeline said gleefully.
I rolled my eyes. This wasn’t my first rodeo.
Therefore, I had no problem spewing out the usual spiel I gave to the five to eight year olds, bringing Dillon and Sebastian in while I was at it.
After about fifteen minutes of speaking, I finally stopped and waited. “Any questions?”
Of course, Adeline had one. “How do you put out a chemical fire?”
Her eyes were practically dancing with happiness, which made me want to gather her up into my arms and hug the shit out of her.
We hadn’t seen each other in well over a week, although my phone bill would definitely be hurting from all the text messages we’ve been sending over the last two months. I’d been called into work twice on the days we’d planned to hang out due to the flu going around.
“It depends. What kind of chemical is it?”
After going on to explain what we did during certain situations, Sebastian finally broke up our verbal foreplay by asking if there were any other questions.
We of course got the usual questions.
Do you have a Dalmatian at the station?-No.
How much water does it take to put out a fire? –A lot.
Do we have a fire pole? –Yes.
Do you slide down the fire pole? –Duh. Yes.
Whose hose is the biggest. –Mine.
That last one was whimpered by Adeline into my ear, which I promptly answered with nothing but the truth.
“You had me ready to beat some teenage ass. Was it that Fairway kid?” I asked her, scrutinizing the boy who was trying to look anywhere but at me while Sebastian and Dallas answered more questions.
“Yes,” she agreed. “He was sent to the principal’s office, which in my opinion is more than enough of a punishment right there.” She shuddered, eyeing Mrs. Threadgill who hadn’t left yet.
“Doubt it. That woman used to be like a junkyard dog in my days. She’s gone soft in her old age.” I laughed quietly.
“I didn’t know you went here.” She asked confused.
“Yeah, I was home schooled until I was in junior high, and then my mom decided I needed to get out and experience high school and meet new people, so he enrolled me in my freshman year.” I hedged.
The reason I was home schooled was because I had zero immune system. I’d had Leukemia when I was a young child, and battled it for a year when I was nine years old. After that, I was a very sickly child who could barely walk out of the house without catching a cold.
Then, when I was twelve, I suddenly kicked all the colds and sicknesses, and was able to actually be a child.
I begged my father over and over again to let me go to school, and when I was fourteen, he’d relented. Mostly because he was tired of hiring tutors to come to the house to teach me the stuff. He had better things for me to do than sit on my ass all day. He didn’t want my mother to be teaching me either. Her role was mainly to play his perfect little house wife and attend brunches, and show her face in the community.
But Adeline didn’t need to know all that.
When people realized that I’d had cancer as a child, they looked at me differently. With pity and something else I could never identify, and I hated the way it changed the way they treated me. I didn’t want to see that change in Adeline, although she’d probably understand more than most where I was coming from.
“Well that’s good that you got to go to public school so you didn’t miss everything. Were you a basketball player?” She asked eyeing my large frame.
I hadn’t realized that the class was done with their questions until one of the kids that sat in the back piped in. “Nah, Ms. S, I bet he was a defensive lineman. Look at the size of the man’s arms.”
Little did they know that I was the size of a beanpole in school. “Actually, I was on the debate team and played the violin in band.”
You know those moments when something crashes to the ground in the middle of a crowd, and there’s silence for a few heart stopping moments as the people process that sound? Yeah.
Of course, it had to come from my own boss and best friend. “You were on the debate team?” He laughed.
My eyes narrowed on my friend. “What’s so wrong with that?” I blasted as I crossed my arms over my chest.
He held his hands up in surrender before backing up a few steps. “Nothing man. It just makes so much more sense now.”
I wasn’t sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult, but I chose to take it as a compliment and let it go.
“Do you play violin anymore?” A skinny boy asked hesitantly from the middle of the room.
My eyes moved to find a tall and skinny boy with large hands that he’d soon grow into. I resembled him sixteen years ago; down to the preppy clothes that didn’t help my popularity in the least.
“I can and do, yes, but that was never really my instrument. The fiddle is; I just settled for the violin since they didn’t have those in band.”
The boy looked confused, and I knew the exact question that was about to come out of his mouth.
“But aren’t the fiddle and the violin the same thing?”
Sebastian laughed beside me, drawing my eyes for a split second before they returned to the young boy.
“You can’t spill beer on a violin.”
I had to explain that a lot.
There was really no difference, instrument wise, between the two. The only real difference was the type of music one played on the fiddle. It wasn’t the classical shit that I was forced to play during band. My fiddle plays the song of my heart.
“Mr. Spada, we do not discuss beer at school.” Mrs. Threadgill reprimanded.
Oops.
Just as I was about to apologize to the old woman, the tones on our radios dropped.
“Engine one respond to a house fire at 122 South Fuller.”
I took one more look at Adeline and responded, pressing my finger against the radio clipped to my shirt. “Unit one responding.”
With a tiny tug on her ponytail, I walked out the door.
“Be careful!” She yelled at my back.
“Always.” I responded.
***
I took the stairs to Adeline’s apartment, two steps at a time, before coming to a halt just before her new mat.
“’Home is where the Harley is. Bikers welcome.’” I read aloud.
Without stepping on the new mat, I stretched my arm out and knocked on her door.
“Come in!” Adeline yelled from the door beyond.
Twisting the knob, I found Adeline with her blue jean short covered ass shaking in the air with her shoulders and head to the ground. She was looking underneath the couch muttering something about a ‘big bastard.’
My dick, which had been under control for nearly ten whole minutes after my hand action in the shower, roared to life; I had to shift and settle my dick down the right leg of my jeans to make it more manageable.
“You talking about me?” I asked stopping just behind her.
The t-shirt she was wearing had ridden up so the expanse of her back was exposed from her lower hips to shoulder level; that was when I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra.
My breath hissed in through clenched teeth, and I took a step back just in case my dick decided to leap out of my pants and find its way inside of her.
“Monty is missing again.” She said as she crawled to the other couch.
She was wearing purple panties under her shorts.
Closing my eyes, I said, “Monty’s on the top of your book shelf.”
I’d seen the snake as soon as I’d walked in, but then Adeline’s shaking ass had captured my attention.
I heard her shuffling, and when I opened my eyes, I saw her reaching on top of the bookshelf for the snake.
&n
bsp; “Why are you looking for him?” I asked.
“I called the police a few minutes ago about some more weird smells coming from my bathroom, only these don’t smell like weed. My chemistry brain started coming up with all sorts of scenarios. Anyway, I went to knock on their door earlier to ask about the smell and they slammed the door in my face. I called the police only after the smell kept getting worse and worse. I normally keep Monty in his cage when I expect people over, just in case. He’s a slippery devil.” She explained as she walked to the large cage in the corner of the room and placed the snake back in his home.
“What kind of smells?” I asked as she turned and started towards me.
She walked slowly, as if she was waiting for something to interrupt them, and unsure of her welcome.
When she was just a hairsbreadth away, my hand reached up slowly to wrap around her neck, and I’d started to lean down when a loud boom shattered our moment.
Instinctively, my arm went around Adeline’s waist, pulling her close.
My erection, that was insistent seconds before, deflated, sending the blood that was localized in my lower body straight to my heart as my flight or fight mechanisms started firing in my blood.
The apartment underneath my feet shook, and the floor rippled.
“What the fuck was that?” She gasped, clawing at my shoulders to get closer to me.
My brain started filtering through all the possibilities, and only one thing kept coming back to me, and that was to get the hell out.
Lifting Adeline off her feet and swinging her around to my back, I waited for her to hang on tight before I started towards the cage that Monty was slithering back and forth across.
With my free hand, I grabbed the snake and ran for the door.
“Did you find a home for the cat?” I asked quickly as I opened the front door.
Why I was worried at this point I didn’t know, other than Adeline would, and that’s all that mattered.
“Yes,” she said nodding her head against my back. “My sister took her to one of her friends.”
With one look, I realized that the stairs were a no go. They were broken and mangled, making me wish I’d said something about them months ago.
And the heat was astounding.
I knew the apartment underneath of us was on fire. I just hoped the back looked a little better than the front.
Turning around, I pounded through her living room, into the kitchen, and yanked the back balcony door open.
She didn’t have a fire escape, which I’d expected. What I didn’t expect to see was a wall of fire so high that it reached the tip of the balcony and started curling over.
“Goddammit.” I growled, slamming the door closed.
“You got a window in your spare bedroom?” I growled, heading to the room.
I hadn’t actually seen that room. She’d kept it closed because of all the mice and shit she’d stolen from the lab she used to work at.
Thank fuck she’d gotten rid of the animals over the past few weeks, donating them to the schools as class pets.
I knew my own room had one, but hers was a two bedroom compared to my three bedroom, and I didn’t know if that would change the layout any.
“Yes, it’s covered by a bookshelf though.” She squeaked.
My jaw clenched.
I hated when people covered their windows with furniture. That was a fire hazard, and it made it incredibly hard to get into places in times of emergency.
Or, in this case, get out of.
“We’ll have to have a talk about this later.” I grunted as I pushed through her spare bedroom.
Dropping her down on her feet, I took in the room in a glance, saw there wasn’t anything other than books on the shelf, gestured for Adeline to move aside, and threw the bookshelf over onto its face, spilling books everywhere.
The shelf hit with a small slam, revealing the window that Adeline had covered.
The window faced the apartment above my own, and I said a silent prayer that there was no fire consuming the back bedrooms of the one underneath yet, otherwise we’d be stuck.
Thank God she’d gotten rid of the slew of animals she’d stolen from the lab she used to work at. Those animals would’ve burned. There was no way I’d have been able to get them, her, and me out in time.
When I lifted the window and looked down, I was relieved to find nothing there, except smooth grass and the chilling breeze outside.
“Come here,” I snapped and held out my hand.
Adeline grabbed my hand firmly with hers, and stepped up on the bookshelf before dropping down to the carpet in the little space where the shelf used to be.
“I’m going to lower you down. You’ll still have a three foot drop. Bend your knees, and hold on to Monty. Okay?” I said looking into her wide brown eyes.
At her nod, I hoisted her up onto the window’s ledge; taking a firm grip of her forearms, I lowered her down carefully.
My muscles strained instantly, bunching in exertion.
She squeaked in startled surprise when she didn’t have anything but my arms to support her anymore, but she adjusted quickly and tried to keep the squirming to a minimum.
Once I had her where her body was fully extended, I said, “Okay, going to drop you now. Ready?”
At her nod, I let her drop.
***
Adeline
Heart pounding, I felt Kettle’s iron grip around my forearms loosen, and then let go all together, then I was airborne for a few heart-stopping instants.
I landed with my knees bent slightly, just as Kettle had suggested.
My feet held true, and I scrambled forward and out of the way before turning and looking up at the window I’d just been dropped out of.
Kettle was sitting on the windowsill and ready to jump out just as a cop and a K-9 officer rounded the edge of the apartment from the front.
I didn’t realize I was nearly face to face with Trance until the wind shifted some of the smoke up, allowing me to see his face.
Trance and Radar.
It was getting thick and heavy, and starting to pour out of the open window of my own apartment now, too.
Kettle jumped, landing easily.
“Let’s go!” He yelled, grabbing my arm and moving quickly, following Trance.
At a particularly strong bank of smoke, I started to cough, and didn’t stop again until we’d reached the sidewalk on the opposite side of the parking lot.
“Oh, my God. She has a snake!” A young girl shrieked.
I ignored her, and threw my arms around Kettle, burying my face into his chest.
His shirt smelled like smoke, but I didn’t care. Especially not when Kettle wrapped his large arms around me, snake and all.
Monty slithered from around my left hand to Kettle’s neck and arm causing him to shiver.
“Your snake kind of creeps me out, you know.” He said as Monty settled onto his shoulders.
“Yeah, he does me, too.” I shivered.
We were interrupted by Trance, and he was pissed. “I need you two to come with me. Now.”
Kettle wasn’t surprised that Trance was angry, and gave me a ‘be good’ glance as we walked behind the man and dog.
Radar’s ears were straight up, and his big body was shaking with pent up energy.
Radar wasn’t your normal German Shepherd. He was pure black with longer, shaggy fur, but had the normal brown eyes, pointed ears, and sharp wit.
As I watched, Radar froze, and then sat before giving a loud woof.
Trance, who was slightly in front of Radar, halted immediately, moving his eyes from the front of him towards the car that he’d just passed.
Then he pulled a white towel off his belt loop that I hadn’t noticed before, and shook it in front of Radar, who immediately latched on to it and started tugging.
“Good boy,” Trance encouraged, tugging on the white torn cloth until he said a word
in another language, causing Radar to stop tugging and drop back down on his hindquarters.
“What the hell?” I whispered to Kettle as I watched Trance circle the vehicle.
He reached for the radio at his shoulder and said something, but with all the commotion from the crowd, the police sirens that were coming into the parking lot, and the crackling of the fire now destroying my home, I couldn’t make it out.
“The dog found something,” Kettle explained, moving closer to Trance.
I reached out to touch Radar, as I’d done quite a few times before, but Kettle stopped me with a hand around my wrist.
“He’s working, don’t touch him.” Kettle said, receiving a thankful nod from Trance who’d heard the command.
At my wounded look, Kettle softened. “When he’s working, he needs to be focused on the task at hand, not on you. He won’t do anything to you, it’s just that Trance likes to keep Radar’s attention on work, and he’s in work mode right now.”
Chapter 6
Save a fire truck. Ride a fireman.
-Text from Adeline to Baylee
Kettle
“What’d he find?” I asked Trance, as we got closer.
Trance shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I called in the car’s plates to headquarters, and now we’re going to wait until we get permission, although, technically, we don’t need it since Radar found something.”
Two younger boys standing off to the side by the office were eyeing their group warily, drawing my gaze.
“Those boys over there are looking quite alarmed that you’re standing by this car.” I observed.
The car was a Volkswagen hatchback with spinning rims that probably cost a mint to buy.
Trance turned fully and faced the boys who, of course, took off running as soon as Trance saw them.
“Retrieve!” Trance barked as he ran after the boys.
Radar, who’d been sitting alertly on the ground at the back of the car, reacted instantly, taking off after the two young teens.
I stayed where I was. If I was needed, I’d be called, but for now, I only watched.
Halligan To My Axe (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 2) Page 7
