“Fire’s still live. Anyone want to fight it?” the captain’s deep voice growled from behind her, and her stomach clenched.Fuck. How much did he hear?
She spun around. “Captain Davis, sir, I...”
He turned to go but pivoted back. “I’ll be seeing both of you in my office after this is over. Desai, feed hose to Evans. Ambrose, go help Walsh.”
Chastened, Riya scattered to the hose to do her job. Evans glanced at her, dark eyes piercing her with disapproval. “Get your gear back on, and let’s get to it.”
At the station, Riya attended to her duties as usual, but her stomach roiled. Scout followed her around, looking adorable and snuggling her while she tried to do her postfire tasks. Even the scent of Schultz’s homemade cinnamon rolls wasn’t enough to settle her stomach. It was only a matter of time until—
“Desai!” Captain Davis bellowed. “Hand off the dog, and meet me in my office.”
“Yes, sir.” She handed Scout to Evans as he passed her on his way out of the captain’s office.
Ambrose followed her. She turned to glare at him.
“What the hell is going on here?” Captain Davis demanded. More than a few gray hairs poked through the black, speaking to years in the trenches, fighting fires. His deep-set, dark brown eyes were dead serious, and right now they were fixed on her.
She and Ambrose remained silent.
“Someone better speak,” the captain grumbled.
“Desai heard a scream from the opposite side of the building from where we were. She wanted to go in and investigate. I asked her to wait so we wouldn’t leave Evans alone on the line. She proceeded without me.”
“Of course I did. Someone screamed for help! We didn’t have time to getcoverage!” She appealed to her captain, death stare be damned. “Captain, sir, he literally said he did not want to have to come after me. He thinks I can’t do the job. I need to be able to have opportunity if I’m to show what I can do.”
The captain shook his head and looked from one to the other. “Desai, you do know we have a protocol? No one—male or female—goes into a rescue situation alone.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “Particularly a rookie.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That protocol applies to you and to Ambrose, here, equally.” He turned to Ambrose. “Do you have an issue with Desai being a woman?”
“No, sir. I do not.”
“He absolutely does have a problem with me, sir.” Riya spoke up.
Ambrose inhaled and fixed Riya in his ice-blue glare. “I have aproblemwith a firefighter who has a chip on their shoulder. Desai has one the size of a boulder.”
Well, the good lieutenant would, too, if he had to prove himself every minute of every single shift just because of his gender.
Captain Davis turned to Riya, eyebrows raised. “Is this true?”
She met her captain’s gaze. No good would come from complaining about it; besides, she could handle these guys. Her words were icy. “I’m fine.”
The captain stared her down for a moment, and she matched his glare. He turned his gaze to Ambrose. After a moment, the man stood. Easily six feet tall, over two hundred pounds of muscle, he was an intimidating figure.
He managed to seem like he was looking down at both of them, even though Ambrose was the same height. He turned first to his lieutenant. “Everyone in this department went to the academy, had the same training.” He waited until Ambrose nodded acknowledgment.
He turned to Riya. “Everyone in this department works as a team. We have a hierarchy, and I need my people to follow orders. If that falls apart, I have chaos. And chaos does not put out fires. Or save people.” He waited until Riya nodded that she understood.
“I’m watching you both. Go. Play nice. Dismissed.” He waved a hand at them, as if they were his children having a squabble.
Yeah, right. As if any of the men here would ever see her as an equal.
Riya left the office and rounded on Ambrose the instant the door shut. “You think I have a chip on my shoulder? You’re damn right I do. I’m a woman in a male-dominated field. I have to be twice as good to prove I belong here, even though I graduated at the top of my class. Not to mention the asshole that constantly leers at me. You’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that I’m staying.”
Ambrose just stared down at her, anger flickering in his blue eyes for a moment. “You just have to learn to be a team player. We’re brothers here. That makes you a sister. We’re a family. We work together, have each other’s backs. You’re not a team player, Desai. That’s the real problem here. And just so we’re clear, every rookie here has had to prove themselves. Every. Single. One. Me included.” He paused for breath. “And who the fuck is leering at you?”
“I can take care of myself.” Riya narrowed her eyes to hide the tears that burned behind them at the wordsister. “And I’m nobody’s sister anymore.”
