My neck broke out in goosebumps. Not the good kind. The ones that felt like someone had walked over my grave. A biting remark was on the tip of my tongue before I caught it.
I wouldn’t hurt Delilah on purpose—never again if I could help it—but I also felt an overwhelming need to shut this door once and for all. Not just for Del but for the entire town. I was exhausted from having to prove there was nothing between her and me, and I was pissed everyone was trying toback me into a corner and force my hand.
So fine. Fucking fine.
They’d force it, but it wouldn’t be in the direction Delilah and her parents had wanted.
“The thing is, Del, it would be impossible for you and me to ever be anything,” I said it gently, but it didn’t stop the annoyance from flickering across her face.
“Only because you’re too stubborn to see what’s right in front of you.”
What flashed in my mind wasn’t Del. It was another woman with hair like chocolate silk and pale-green eyes. A woman who understood the dead muscle in my chest and my inability to commit. A woman who understood the revulsion I felt at relationships wasn’t just temporary but necessary. I may not ever have told Maisey about the smoke that filled my lungs when I thought of marriage, but she accepted I couldn’t do forever after.
Delilah would always wish for more than I could give. As if proving my point, her hands landed on my chest, sliding up seductively.
I caught them, trapping her wrists and ignoring the flare in her eyes at the action.
Self-preservation and anger had me spewing words I had no right to spill, especially without at least having a conversation about them first. “No. It’s impossible, Del, because I’m already engaged to someone else.”
Her entire being went still, shock rolling over her face. She yanked her hands away from me and took a step back. “Liar. You haven’t dated anyone seriously in years.”
I was going to hell. I was going to hell, and my best friend was going to be the one to send me there. And I’d deserve it. But the truth was, Maisey would cover my ass while she did it. She’d step up to the plate because that was the core of who she was—she took care of others.
It made me hate myself a bit more, knowing Maisey had already spent a lifetime picking up after other people and I was giving her one more mess to handle. But it didn’t stop me from continuing the lie.
“We’ve been keeping it quiet on purpose,” I insisted. “We weren’t ready to tell anyone yet.”
Delilah’s lips tightened. “Who? Because you seriously haven’t been seen with anyone in months besides…” Her mouth popped open as realization settled in. “Maisey? You’re talking about Maisey?”
I didn’t have time to respond as the alarm sounded, roaring through the station and echoing out into the street. Grateful, for the first time in my life, for a fire, I whirled and raced down the hall, sliding down to the lockers where our turnout gear waited. My crew was already there, feet sliding into their boots. I was not even two seconds behind them, but seconds matteredwhen it came to fire.
Vader bounded onto the stairs with an excited woof, and I shouted at him to stay with the stupid cat before I launched myself into the engine with Kasey chauffeuring.
Sliding into my seat and throwing my phone into the compartment in the dash as we roared onto the street, I asked, “What have we got?”
The crew exchanged a look, and my stomach sank. It was the probie who answered, not understanding what it would mean to me.
“Structure fire. Residential. 501 Meadow Lane.” Sensing the tension in the air after he’d blurted out the address, Leon asked, “What? Do we know who lives there?”
Memories hit me like a reel gone viral—hard and fast and on repeat. Jumping over the fence into Maisey’s yard. Playing tag and hide-and-seek amongst the chicken coops. Mrs. Campbell fixing us sandwiches and cookies at the rickety table with a piece of cardboard under one leg to even it out. Maisey curled up in a ball on a twin-sized bed, sobbing after her mother died, while I slid in behind her, simply holding her because I didn’t know what else to do.
Maisey in that damn yellow dress, picking her way over the roots in the cracked path as she made her way to the steps of a porch that sagged and needed replacing.
The heart I often thought was dead flexed in its cage of scars, slashing out at me.
She wasn’t at the house. She would have left hours ago.
She’d talked about picking up a shift at the hospital or going to the ranch to practice with Titan.
She was not in a burning house!
The cars on Main Street parted for us, and as we flew by the Emporium, I saw the smoke rising from the neighborhood beyond it. Black and insidious, it curled into the unusually heavy summer air. Kasey spun the wheel, and we turned the corner at speeds that had the rookie cursing behind me.
The engine hadn’t even stopped before I’d jumped out to assess the situation at the Campbell house. The fire was at the rear. Likely the kitchen. My crew sprang from the engine, and I issued commands. “Leon, stretch the pipe. Tejas, do the initial investigation and make sure it’s contained to the kitchen while I conduct the primary search. Kasey, alpha provides the easiest egress. It’s a straight shot through the front door to the kitchen. You and Leon follow me in.”
I dragged my lid and SCBA on as I headed up the steps. Tejas ran to the left, sweeping the property clockwise, while Leon and Kasey went towork on the plug and pipe.
I had my hand on the front door as a body came tumbling out. I might not have recognized Maisey’s dad if I’d passed him on the street. Not because he was covered in black ash but because he seemed half the man I’d grown up around.