Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Yeah, that’s normal. Freaked me out completely when it happened to me with my first patient. When you’re doing CPR and that first bone breaks, there’s this god-awful crunch, and then with each push down from then on you can hear the bones scraping together.” She explained before Blaine made a gagging sound.
Luke’s face was impassive, as was Elliott’s, as well as the rest of the table that was now listening to our conversation. Blaine was the only one not in the medical field or the police/military occupation, and looked horrified and disgusted.
“Oh, my God. Please, I’m trying to eat here.” Blaine gagged.
“Oops. I’m sorry. It’s a pretty normal conversation for me.” Baylee apologized sheepishly.
The rest of the table had seen it, heard about it, or experienced it all before. I had seen enough of that shit while in the Marines that hardly anything affected me anymore. Not to mention in my career.
“I guess I should be thankful you weren’t talking about a STD or something.” Blaine murmured as she stuck another dip-covered chip into her mouth.
“Maybe next time. Although that conversation won’t have anything to do with me.” I teased.
“You get around enough that it could be about you.” Shiloh yelled from her end of the table.
Reaching my hand into the roll basket, I picked one up and launched at my sister, hitting her in the chest. “Keep that shit to yourself.”
Shiloh’s eyes were filled with laughter as she picked the roll up and took a bite of it. “If the shoe fits, brother.”
The rest of the night was moving along smoothly until my pager started going off. Yes, a pager. Benton Fire Department didn’t believe in modern technology. Well, to be truthful, they just plain couldn’t afford it.
I worked at the Benton fire department, as did quite a few of the other members of The Dixie Wardens MC.
When the club had first formed, it had been mostly dirty. However, once my father had arrived and became an influential member, they started to turn around. Slowly, the good started outweighing the bad, and most of the newer members were upstanding members of the small town and the surrounding community, such as police officers, ex-military, and firefighters.
The club slowly turned from illegal money to completely legitimate businessmen. That’s not to say that everything we did was legal, but that was all moral code. Everything we did business wise was upheld in the eyes of the law. The old timers that didn’t like it either left, or got the fuck over it.
The pager squawked again, the same urgent message, and I knew it was bad. “All right, I’ve gotta go. Thanks for inviting me sis. See you around, Baylee.”
Throwing down a fifty-dollar bill, I headed to the door quickly.
“Be careful!”
My sister’s concerned words from behind me made me throw a smile over my shoulder.
“Always, little sister.”
Chapter 4
Firefighters find them hot, and leave them wet.
- Why you should date a firefighter
Baylee
“Holy crap. That man is so sexy.” I heard a woman say as I passed her on the way to the donut counter.
“What can I get you, ma’am?” A pimply faced teen asked.
“Uhh,” I said, surveying the selection. “I’ll have a cinnamon roll, a kolache, and a bag of donut holes.”
The teen worked quickly and handed me the bag with my receipt, before gesturing to the cashier at the side of the store. “You can pay over there.”
Walking up to the cashier, I could still hear the woman chatting animatedly about the sexy fire fighter on the front of the paper.
“Will that be all?” The cashier asked as she rang up the price of the donuts.
On a whim, I went over to the paper, grabbed a copy, and had the cashier ring it up, too. “That’ll be nine fifty.”
Handing over the money and receiving the change, I made my way out to The Beast and sank down into the sweltering car. I’d planned to take my donuts home, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I snatched the paper up and quickly scanned the article that dominated the front page.
“BENTON FIREFIGTHER TOWN HERO”
The name of the town, Benton, caught my attention, and I unfolded the paper. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the object of my fantasies for the past week in vivid color, dominating the majority of the front page.
The picture was of a burning building in the background, with a very dirty, sweaty, and mad Sebastian standing beside a fire engine. The coat that protected his upper body from the high heat and flames was tossed down haphazardly at his feet. The bottom portion of his body was encased in the bunker gear, with the suspenders bisecting his t-shirt clad chest. His body was just covered in soot, with the sweat he was producing running freely down his chest, arms, and face. The look on his face was murderous, most likely from getting his picture snapped when he didn’t want it to be taken.
The caption underneath the photo read: Benton, Louisiana firefighter, Sebastian Mackenzie, rests after rescuing a man and his wife who lost their home to a fire late Saturday evening.
“Holy shit.” I whispered.
I didn’t know if it was the fact that Sebastian was a firefighter or the fact that I thought he was just a criminal. I’d automatically assumed he was bad when I’d seen the biker cut he’d worn each time I’d seen him. That hadn’t stopped my body from reacting to the man.
It surprised the ever-loving shit out of me that he actually had a legitimate job, instead of selling E and pot to teenagers. Of all the possibilities I’d pictured him doing, firefighting just wasn’t one of them. Who would’ve thought?
Especially how Luke carried on and on about him being a bad guy. Luke was full of shit.
“I’m going to beat him.” I declared as I started my Cutlass and headed back towards my house and my day off.
***
Three days later, I was still thinking about the man. I’d wake up drenched with sweat, and doing things under my sheets that I’d only done in the deepest, darkest nights.