Ronan exits the building. “Third floor clear.”
Technically Ronan Green is a lieutenant, like me, and we should always be on alternating shifts, but he is supposed to be training me, or reacquainting me as Captain D’Amato put it, with the station so we’re on this call together.
I call out to Captain. “Building is clear.”
“That’s my job, Maverick,” Ronan says and frowns and then he turns to the captain and shouts. “New guy is correct. All clear, Cap.”
Captain nods in our direction and opens his mouth to give more orders but suddenly Aspen jumps to her feet and runs back toward the building. Captain’s eyes look like they’re going to fly out of his head and he points.
“On it!” I say loudly and put a hand on Murphy’s shoulder to stop her from following Aspen before I take off after her. Ronan scowls at me as I jog by him but I pretend not to notice.
I reach her as she’s about to run into the lobby again. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lift her off her feet easily. Aspen is tall, almost five-ten, but I’m taller and picking her up is something I’ve done literally and figuratively before. She screeches in protest.
“Aspen I know this is a nightmare, but you don’t need to up the ante by repeatedly running into a burning building,” I say sternly and she stiffens for a second but then starts thrashing in my arms again. But at least she stops with the screaming.
I finally put her back on her feet, which I notice are bare, on the sidewalk and stand in front of her blocking her path back to the burning apartment building. “Jake, my stuff. It’s all still in there!” Aspen explains to me, her very pretty face all twisted with stress and panic. “Thousands of dollars of work equipment. Notes. My work laptop. Evidence!”
She tries to rush past me again but I grab her by her narrow shoulders, which I suddenly realize are covered in only a thin, long-sleeved T-shirt, which is a pale gray and soaking wet. Soaking, like her hair. It’s a chilly night. “Aspen, it’s just stuff. If your rental insurance doesn’t cover it, the building’s insurance should. Now let’s get you into a warm blanket.”
Still holding her shoulders I guide her over to the ambulance. Well, it’s more like shove and pull her because she really doesn’t want to go. “I grabbed as much as I could,” she points to the bags as we pass them. “But I didn’t get everything.”
“I have to say a part of me is impressed you’re trying to save your work stuff and not your designer clothing,” Logan says with a snarky grin as he starts unfolding a silver emergency blanket for her beside his ambulance. “You’re not the Aspen I knew in high school who would save her Coach purse from an oncoming car before she’d save a kitten.”
“Ugh. Logan, you still suck,” Aspen says tersely and rolls her eyes. But she shivers and I frown. Her eyes find mine and she whispers. “Not now.”
“Is it your apartment on fire, Aspen?” Ronan asks as he strides over to us.
“No. The one above me,” Aspen explains, her tone terse and cold. “But the smoke is pouring into my place and it tripped the main sprinkler system and I’m sure my place is completely flooded by now.”
I feel bad for her. Her big blue eyes are swimming in tears. Ronan stares at her and she stares back, defiant. He opens his mouth, closes it and storms off. “Jake, don’t spend all night coddling your ex. We have work to do.”
Logan wraps the blanket over Aspen’s shoulders as I head back toward the building. Green falls in step with me and I hear Aspen’s voice, high and panicky again. “He’s going in there again? But I can still see flames!”
I turn to look at her, walking backwards toward the building. “It’s my job, Aspen. Don’t go anywhere until I’m done. Or else.”
“You two a thing again?” Ronan asks with a cocked eyebrow I can see through his shield.
“Nope. Just friends.”
“Exes are never friends,” Ronan says and shoots me a patronizing look like I’m clueless. “And dating the same person twice is something only idiots do.”
“You and Courtney broke up and got back together like five times in the three years you were dating before I left town, didn’t you?” I counter, not because I want to make a case for dating Aspen but because I want him to see he’s a hypocritical asshat. “Are you still with her?”
“Shut up and follow my lead, okay?”
I manage a terse nod, then I flip that switch in my brain again, blocking out Aspen and how much Ronan Green still annoys me and get back to work.
Twenty-five minutes later, the fire is out. The apartment it started in is a burned out shell and the ones above and below like Aspen’s have serious smoke and water damage. No one is going to be allowed back in until the morning. Sadly for Aspen and a couple of others, it will be more than just one night as their apartments will need a shit ton of renovations.
I start to pull off my gear as I leave the building and as soon as my helmet and face shield are off she visibly sighs in relief. I walk over to where she’s sitting on the curb behind the ambulance and stop directly in front of her. “Two questions. Say yes or no and nothing else,” I command. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
I turn to Logan. “Did you check her out?”
“Yeah. Vitals are fine and she has no wounds or injuries,” Logan tells me.
I turn back to Aspen who is scowling because I reconfirmed with Logan and didn’t just take her word for it. “Everything. Feels fine,” she hisses.
