When we were done and the equipment put away, I headed for the showers. Afterward, I marched myself straight up to the barracks, where I noticed that Ash’s bed was suspiciously empty.
“Hmm,” I muttered, glancing over to Beck’s bunk. He was already fast asleep on his back, one arm over his face as he snored.
With a sigh, I turned around and went back downstairs to the firefighters’ parking lot. Ash’s bike was still there, so he hadn’t gone on a sad ride. I decided to check the lockers. His was locked. I peered through the slots; everything was still there, too.
He must have gone on a walk.It was with this thought that something clicked in my head. There was one place that Ash might have gone to sort out his feelings.
I rifled through my pockets to find my phone and dialed Rhea’s number. Several rings later, it was clear that she wasn’t going to answer. I hoped she was asleep, but I had a feeling that she was receiving a visit from Ash.
18
~
Rhea
I was awoken by an urgent hammering at the front door. Confused and half-asleep, I checked my phone on the nightstand. Barely 4:30 AM. Barely any light was coming through my curtains, and the room was still dark enough that I couldn’t really see much. My alarm was still two hours from ringing.
Who the hell would show up here at this time?I wondered grumpily as I got up and wrapped myself in my silk robe. I left my feet bare and my hair in disarray. Whoever it was would have to deal with me in my most natural form. I shuffled into the hallway, and the hammering kept going. Whoever it was clearly had something incredibly urgent on their mind. Something that couldn’t wait until a more reasonable hour.
You can’t just open the door to anyone in the middle of the night,I reminded myself as I reached the stairs, deciding against switching on any of the first floor’s lights. I tiptoed down the foyer to the front door and peered through the peephole. I recognized the man standing there, with his face covered in soot and some kind of pain.
With a frown, I undid the door’s latch and opened it. “Ash? What are you doing here?”
He seemed distraught, or at least his version of it. The frown on his face was deep, and his eyes were without light. Even hisshoulders seemed lower than usual. My heart hammered in my chest as I wondered what was going on. He wouldn’t have shown up at such a wild time for anything mild. Did someone get hurt? Were Calder and Beck okay?
“The ice cream parlor burned down,” Ash said through his teeth, and I could immediately tell how hard that fact had hit him.
It was interesting that the first thing he’d done since coming back to the station was to walk over to see me. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who was catching feelings. It made me think that I’d been the only person who Ash had told about the parlor; otherwise, he wouldn’t have shown up at my doorstep.
I wondered if Calder and Beck had any idea. Even if they did, what could they do for him? Men weren’t exactly known for sharing their feelings with one another, or consoling each other. At most, I could imagine them patting Ash on the shoulder. He probably needed more than that, but what could I give him in this situation?
“Oh, my god,” I said, standing aside and ushering him through the door. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”
“We don’t know.” The sentence was short and almost sounded forced, as if he was having a hard time talking. He wasn’t a man of too many words in the first place, but it felt like he was almost entirely speechless now.
I didn’t know what to do with the information, or how to make him feel better. It was like a piece of his childhood had been entirely destroyed, something that had taken him back to better memories. Now, it was gone, and there was nothing that he or anyone else could do about it.
It must’ve been tearing him apart.
I wondered if it was the same arsonist that had been running amok around town. If it was, what reason could they have had to target an abandoned building? Were they trying to target Ash specifically? No, that didn’t make sense. He didn’t have any connections to the kiosk or the apartment building, at least as far as I knew. Unless there were two arsonists, or there was some kind of accident, but that seemed a bit more than unlikely.
“Would you like some tea?” I asked as I followed Ash deeper into the house. It was the only thing I could think of doing as some form of consolation. I didn’t think a mere hug was going to be enough, but what would be?
Ash turned to face me, so quickly that I almost bumped into him. “I don’t really want tea.”
He stood closer, putting his hands on my shoulders. I felt a shiver running down my spine. I had an idea what he wanted to do.
“So… What do—” I paused when Ash put his hand around my neck and stared into my eyes. It was enough to make me entirely quiet, and the world slowed down around us.
Ash leaned in slowly, but when he kissed me, it was like crashing into a meteor. It was urgent, passionate, and almost angry. There was something sorrowful in it, too, hidden deep beneath all of the other emotions that Ash was channeling through his lips.
I kissed him back as he put his arm around me and led me down the hall to the kitchen. As we moved, we were undressing one another. Ash undid the knot of my robe and I shrugged it off my shoulders.
I reached for his shirt, still covered in soot and smelling of smoke from the fire, and lifted it over his head. His chest was sweaty and hard, and as soon as my pajama shirt was off, Ipushed myself against him to feel it all against my skin. This close, this intense, the scent of the fire’s aftermath was almost overwhelming.
I could picture him and the others with the hoses, fighting the roaring blaze at the scene of Ash’s favorite childhood hangout. It must have been difficult for him, especially if none of it could be saved. I wasn’t sure how bad the fire was, but with how intensely he was now kissing my neck as he pulled down my pajama pants, it must have been devastating.
We reached the kitchen, where Ash lifted me onto the counter that overlooked the living room. I had a lot of questions for him about the fire and the investigation, but I let the primal urges now building in my chest take over instead of talking.
