Burned (8 page)

Lincoln cringed as his heavenly body bent over to drag another duffel bag from underneath the bed. Through her hate, her heart wept knowing this would this be the last time she would see him or hear his laughter. She indeed would miss his corny jokes and the tender way he had with her when they made love. She wanted to scream from the pain shooting from the top of her head down to her toes.

Lincoln’s legs felt too shaky to stand, and the timing could not be worse for Regan to be out of town. The volcano had erupted, and hot lava flowed far enough to engulf her. Unlike Anthony, she had no one outside of her sister to comfort her. She was on her own until Regan returned from Puerto Rico.

“I’m out of here,” he said, shouldering past her with his arms full of his belongings.

She rubbed her shoulder. The sting from where it hit against the doorjamb from his passing by her radiated down her left arm. She sighed at the way he left the bedroom. He didn’t bother to close the dresser drawers and left the closet door wide open.

When she heard the front door slam, she flipped. In a crazed frenzy, she went through the whole apartment throwing away everything of his left behind. She wanted no remnants of Anthony Jenkins left anywhere in the apartment.

Lincoln gathered the wire hangers from the bed and arranged them neatly to place back in the closet. She closed the drawers to the dresser and stripped the bedding from the bed to wash. In the bathroom, she searched the cabinets to make sure Anthony removed his toiletries then took the towels from the rack throwing them in the laundry basket. She had to wash everything he’d touched to get rid of his scent.

After she was done stripping the apartment of Anthony, she poured a glass of wine and sat in the living room.  She made a mental note to call maintenance and have them change the lock on her door.

She took a sip of wine. The television was off, and it was quiet. Only then, did she allow herself to cry. She felt she’d earned the right to grieve over the loss of the man she’d devoted her life to for two years.

Chapter Nine

It was past five o’clock in the evening, and Nick decided to go home instead of staying at the firehouse to shower or take a brief nap.

He dragged his tired body to the parking lot exhausted and in need of some serious sleep. It had been one of those shifts at Station 30. The crew battled two double alarm fires within hours of each other only to have to assist with a triple-three alarm warehouse fire that came in no sooner than they returned to base. By the time that fire was under control, they were late returning the trucks for the next shift.

Nick stuck a piece of chewing gum in his mouth. His mouth tasted of the foul smoke that clogged his nostrils and traveled down the back of his throat with each swallow.

He pulled the crucifix hanging around his neck from under his t-shirt and kissed it. He did that every time he walked away from a blaze unhurt. Firefighters had their differences with each other and with other firehouses, but once they were called to work together, those differences were put aside to become one team to get the job done.

He felt a sneeze brewing and blew it into a wad of tissues. “Ugh!”  Black soot spotted the white tissue. It was normal for firefighters to sneeze repeatedly after inhaling an abundance of smoke. Hence, he kept boxes of tissue in his truck for that purpose. He checked his face in the rearview mirror to make sure soot wasn’t running out of his nose. It wouldn’t matter since his face was filthy with heavy soot already.

He opened the glove box to get a comb to remove the debris from his hair. He heard someone say. “Good job, Nick. Make sure you get some rest, buddy.”

He raised his head to see Jon and Anthony walking through the parking lot together and replied, “Yeah, you too.”  Anthony didn’t bother to look in his direction. Since their encounter at the restaurant, Anthony avoided any contact with him that didn’t involve work.

He quietly laughed it off as he started his truck and pulled from the parking lot. Driving down the street, he remembered he had not held up his promise to Orlando. He neglected to visit Lincoln over the weekend in order to tend to his social life. Doing a no-no, he searched through his phone while driving to look for her address. If she lived in the same direction he was going, he would make a quick stop.

Nick pulled into the apartment complex Orlando had texted to him days ago. He’d never seen an apartment complex made up this way. It was as if he had entered a secluded village. There were multi-level apartments on the lot as well as single-level units clustered together in groups of fours. He drove slow to find Lincoln’s address. The place seemed quiet as he drove along.

He found her address. Her apartment was one of the single units. He liked this idea. He would love to have a single unit apartment and not have anyone stomping over his head when he slept or entertained.

He got a whiff of himself as he got out the truck. “I stink like a chimney,” he said frowning. “Oh, well, nothing I can do about it until I get home.”  He walked up the walkway. Lincoln had two lawn chairs and a table sitting on a small patio. He imagined her, and Anthony would sit outside in the summer and enjoy the quiet. He looked up at the clear sky above. The sun was setting for the evening. Soon the spring chill in the air would fade to the summer warmth and the sky above would be dotted with millions of bright stars at night. He could see himself living in a place like this. And if he ever decided to settle down with one woman, he too could enjoy evenings on the patio chilling with a bottle of wine and soft music drifting from an open window.

Nick shook the notion from his head as he searched for a doorbell. Not finding one he used the doorknocker and waited for her to answer. It didn’t dawn on him that she might be out for the evening. It was early, and she did work.  Plus she could have a social life. Lincoln was a single woman with no kids. Therefore, she had no reason to rush home in the evenings.

He started to leave when he heard the garage door behind him open. Seconds later her blue Honda pulled around the corner and whipped into the garage. The interior light of the car came on as Lincoln exited the car.

Nick saw Lincoln was hunkered down with grocery bags, a briefcase and her purse slung across her shoulder. He trotted over to help. “Let me take those for you,” he said balancing the four plastic bags in one hand and taking the briefcase with the other hand.”

Lincoln closed the car door with a look of surprise on her face. Evidently, she had not seen him standing on her patio when she drove up. “Nick, what are you doing here?” she asked in a surprise voice.

“I was in the neighborhood and decided to check on you.”

She looked him over not making a comment about his dirty appearance. “Is that right,” she said walking in front of him and leading the way to her apartment.

“Yeah, that’s right.”  There was plenty more he wanted to say, but words eluded him. His mind went blank as his eyes fell on her shapely derriere. She was slender, but the tight dress enhanced her figure as her hips did a sexy sway as she walked in front of him. He took a deep breath to stop his body from responding to what he eyes wouldn’t move away from. As tired as he was, he was a man. He had no problem getting a rise when a beautiful woman was in his presence.

Lincoln opened the door flip on the lights. The place was larger than he thought. “Where is the kitchen,” he asked lowering the briefcase on a chair.

“Through that archway,” she pointed. “Just put the bags on the table. I’ll put the stuff away later.”

Nick did as instructed. When he returned, she was sifting through mail. “So, how you been?”  He was not good at small talk, especially when he felt the person did not appreciate him being there.

She dropped the mail on the table and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m fine. I don’t believe you just stopped by though. Orlando and Regan put you up to this didn’t they?”

He dropped his arms at his sides. “They’re just looking out for you, Lincoln. If you want me to leave, I understand.”

“You look tired as hell and you are a mess. Did you come here after fighting a fire?”

He ran his hand through his hair and debris fell on his t-shirt. “Yeah, I did. If I’d gone home first, I would’ve passed out from total exhaustion.”

“Nick, I have a phone. You could have called and reported back to Orlando how I am doing.”

“Huh. I didn’t think of that,” he joked. “I wanted to see for myself how you are doing. I know it hasn’t been easy for you since kicking Ant to the curb.”

She took a step back as if she needed distance to maintain her emotions. “How did you know about that?”

“I overheard him on the phone. Look, Lincoln, I hate I kept what I knew about Ant away from you, but you have to understand where I’m coming from.”

She raised her hand to stop him. “I do and I owe you an apology. I should not have asked you to spy on him.”

Nick folded his arms across his chest. “So he confessed everything to you?  You know they are living together right?”

“Have you eaten yet?” She asked.

Dammit to hell
!  If he could kick himself, he would. She didn’t know about Anthony’s living arrangements. “You didn’t know about that until now? Damn I’m special when it comes to putting my foot in my mouth.”

He moved towards her and she stepped around him. “No, it’s okay. Umm, you didn’t answer my question about eating.”

“No, I haven’t eaten since yesterday. Station 30 has been battling major fires that took forever to get under control.”

“So, you must be famished besides dead tired. There are clean towels in the bathroom. Go take a hot shower while I cook dinner. Toss your clothes in the hallway and I’ll throw them in the washer for you.”

Nick shifted his weight on his tired feet. “You don’t have to do that. I’m about to head home now.”

She raised a sharp eyebrow that indicated she meant business. “Yes I do. Orlando and Regan wouldn’t appreciate it if I let you drive as tired as you are. The bathroom is down the hall on the left. You will have to make do with my soap until you get home. I’ll change clothes and start dinner while you clean up. I hope you like pork chops.”

He covered his mouth as he yawned. It was a twenty mile drive to his side of town. He was sure he could make it without falling asleep at the wheel, but the longer he stood in her living room, the worse he felt. Even though he appreciated Lincoln’s help, he didn’t want to put her through any trouble by taking care of him.

She snapped her fingers. “Well, don’t just stand there, you reek of smoke, and I’m sure you want that smell off of you.”

Her smile was reassuring as he nodded. “Yeah, it’s giving me a headache.”

“There is aspirin in the medicine cabinet and new toothbrushes in the vanity drawer; help yourself to both.”

He followed her down the short hallway. She went into the bedroom and closed the door and he went in the bathroom. He lowered the lid on the toilet and sat down. His headache pounded against his temples and hunger pangs gnawed at his stomach. He wasn’t lying when he said he hadn’t eaten in a day. The granola bars and bottles of water he consumed between fires had worn off long ago.

Finding strength to stand, he turned on the water in the shower. The odor of the new shower curtain tunneled past the smoke in his nose. He looked around the bathroom. The walls appeared to be freshly painted. He saw streaks of yellow bleeding through the thin coat of white paint slapped over the top. The paint job definitely wasn’t done by a professional.

Nick opened the medicine cabinet to look for the aspirin. He felt weird looking at her personal stuff on the shelves. He wasn’t a snoop by nature and never looked through the personal items of the women he dated. He noticed the aspirin bottle behind a box of tampons. He had sisters and was used to seeing them in the bathroom when he lived at home. However, this was Lincoln and she was not one of his sisters.

Tenderly he inched the box over with his finger to get to the aspirin. Suddenly the shelf tipped and dumped the items from the cabinet into the sink. “Holy shit,” he muttered as he scrambled to pick up the items.

“Oh, the stupid shelf in the medicine cabinet is broken so be careful.”

Now she tells me
. He picked the spilled items from the basin, lining them on the counter of the vanity. He drew in a breath when he picked up the dispenser containing birth control pills. “At least she’s responsible,” he said putting the pill dispenser on the counter. He popped two aspirin in his mouth and dipped his head under the spigot to wash them down.

Nick stripped off his clothes and put them outside the bathroom door before he stepped into the shower. The pulsing stream of warm water instantly eased some of the aches from his tired body. Her shampoo sat on a corner caddy. He opened his hand and squeezed out a palm-full of the fruit scented shampoo and rubbed it through his hair to scrub away the dirt and grime.

The shower revived him, restoring some of his energy, but not a lot. With his headache easing, the growl in his stomach intensified. Whatever she was cooking smelled delicious and he couldn’t wait to eat.

Nick tucked in the ends of the towel to secure it around his waist and followed the aroma of the food. He found Lincoln in the kitchen tending to the pots on the stove. He stood with his shoulder braced against the doorjamb and watched her work. Her back was to him, her slim body looked sexy in the skinny jeans and thin cotton white t-shirt. Wisps of hair that hung from her ponytail drew his attention. The impulse to push them out of the way and press his lips against her sleek neck swept over him. He fought it off and scolded his libido for having such thoughts. It didn’t matter how attractive he found Lincoln; she was off limits.

Although he and Anthony’s rocky friendship was close to being over, he had to stick with the code. The only way a firefighter at Station 30 would pursue an ex-girlfriend or ex-spouse of a fellow firefighter is if the firefighter left the house or God forbid, lost his life. He didn’t despise Anthony enough to wish that fate on him.

Quietly, he continued to watch her not wanting to interrupt her concentration on preparing dinner. He knew he should announce he was standing there but instead stepped back into the living room to regain his composure. The thick towel wouldn’t be able to hide what was on his mind.