Let It Burn (A BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance) (2 page)

“Ma’am,” the lady EMT’s voice was as soothing as it could be in the midst of the chaos.  “Ma’am, your son’s been through quite a bit already.  He needs you to be strong for him now.”

His mother whirled to face the EMT, brown eyes blazing in her pale, dirty face.  “Well, I need my husband and my daughter to be safe.  Then I’ll be as strong as you want.”

Shouts drew all their attention to the house.  The fireman who’d found Kevin ran out the front door, followed by two others.  No one else came out.  With a low groan of agony, the house shifted and the roof disappeared in a shower of sparks.

“Noooooo,” his mother’s wail filled his head, but Kevin was lunging, running back to the house, to his sister, his dad. 

He almost made the porch steps before the firefighter caught him, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him back against his bruisingly hard body.  Kevin kicked and screamed, flailing until the fireman wrapped his arms around his body, subduing him completely.

“There’s nothing you can do, son,” the man shouted over the gleeful roar of the fire.  “They’re with God now, but your mom needs you here with her.” 

Over and over the man repeated his words until Kevin finally heard him and went limp in his hold.  The fireman scooped him up, carrying him like a baby, like
Kevin carried Kimmy when she fell asleep on the rug in front of the fireplace, and took him back to the ambulance. 

His mom was on her knees, staring blankly at the shell of their home.  The fireman set Kevin gently in the back of he ambulance then wrapped an arm around his mom, drawing her up to sit beside him.

“I am so sorry, Ma’am,” he rumbled.  “The stairs were mostly gone by the time we got inside.  There was no way we could get upstairs, and it was too late to use the ladder.”

“You left them up there,” she whispered. She was still looking at the house, but Kevin knew she was talking to him.

“Ma’am?”  The EMT moved in front of her, breaking her line of sight.  His mom blinked, took too long to focus on the woman.  “Is there anyone we can call for you?”

“No,” his mom said slowly.  “My whole family is right here.”  She finally seemed to come out of her trance, looking at Kevin where he sat coughing and sobbing. 

“Mom?”  He didn’t care that his voice broke, that he sounded like a sissy, a baby.  He needed his mom to hold onto him, to tell him things would somehow be all right.

“It’s ok
ay, Kev,” she whispered, moving to wrap her arm around him.  “I know you tried.  I know you didn’t mean to leave them up there.”

“Mommy,” his voice broke and he burrowed into her side.  “Mommy, I’m sorry.  Sorry… sorry…”  He sobbed against her and she gently petted him, crooning, “I know, Kev.  I know.”

And in the background, the fire danced and laughed, mocking their grief.  And the firefighters fought it tirelessly, like superheroes.  Stronger than Superman, more determined than Batman.  And Kevin watched them, his mom, the fire, the firefighters, and knew nothing would ever be the same.

Today

              Kevin Kryszenski was on his feet and half way across the room before he came totally awake. The sick knot in his stomach told him he’d been dreaming again – dreaming of Kimmy. Dreaming of the Hell Monster.  But, like always, the dreams faded to smoke with wakefulness. 

             
In the split second it took him to make that observation, he’d snapped to full awareness.  The alarm was going off, and he was on call.  He choked down the dream induced nausea and surged into the equipment room, heading for his gear.

             
By the time he shoved his feet into his boots and pulled his heavy over-alls up, Kevin had stuffed the fear and rage back into a box deep in his brain to be ignored until the next nightmare dredged it up again.

             
“Yo!”  He hit the garage at a run, though he didn’t feel any real sense of urgency.  Nothing ever happened in Ludington except periodic flooding when the moody lake decided to PMS all over them.  But it wasn’t the right time of year or weather for Lady Lake to be in a snit, so Kevin didn’t expect this midnight emergency to amount to much.

             
“Dude,” his best friend, Travis, returned his greeting as he swung up into the cab of the ancient fire truck.

             
“So, what’s the sitch?”  Kevin climbed up beside him, settling in the shotgun position as Earl and Jimmy clambered into the back of the extended cab.

             
“Dispatcher got a call that the Community Center’s on fire.”  Travis deftly maneuvered the awkward truck out of the garage and into the street.  Since it was after midnight and the streets were pretty much deserted, he didn’t bother with the siren, just aimed for the lakeshore drive that led to LCC.

             
“No shit?” Jimmy chimed in from behind.  He was the newest member of their team, and hadn’t yet faced even a reasonably serious fire.  Kevin glanced back and rolled his eyes at the kid’s eager face.  He’d lose that kid-at-Christmas expression soon enough if the fire monster was really on the rampage.

             
“No shit, Jim,” Travis confirmed.  “Sounds like the place is toast.” 

             
But by now they could see for themselves.  Travis wheeled the rig into the LCC parking lot and Jimmy and Earl were out and unrolling hose before the truck came to a complete stop.

             
“Well, fuck,” Kevin muttered, settling his hat firmly on his head. 

             
He met the cop in charge of the scene half-way across the parking lot.

             
“Anyone inside?”  He waited, dreading the answer.

             
“Nope, not so far as we can tell.”  Kevin let a slow breath out as the cop continued.  “Been a pisser keeping the gawkers back, though.”  He gestured to the group of citizens gathered in their pajamas and robes and corralled by a strip of crime scene tape.

             
“Yeah, well, we don’t get this kind of excitement often,” Kevin commented, glancing back toward the rig.  “Okay. The boys got the hose hooked in so it’s time for me to get to work.”  With a brief salute, he loped back to the truck, taking up his position at the hose.

             
The fire was stubborn, but not particularly clever, and with a determined few hours of saturation they finally managed to drown it. 

             
With an evil smile he set Jimmy to work rolling hoses. The boy wanted some action, rolling hoses ought to satisfy his craving for exertion. At least, Kevin laughed at Travis’ knowing grin, the boy’d be too damn tired and sore to go yapping around the station like an eager puppy for a couple of days.

             
Still chuckling Kevin moved to join the Fire Chief, Butch Caldwell, where he stood contemplating the charred ruins.

             
“Got a lot of kids who are gonna be disappointed come this afternoon when their classes are cancelled,” Travis commented, moving to join them.

             
“Yeah,” Kevin agreed.  “It really sucks, because if we’d gotten here fifteen minutes sooner we probably could have saved most of the building.”  He shook his head and turned to the Chief.  “The arson investigator on his way?” he asked his mentor.  The Chief nodded, still gazing at the burned out Community Center.

             
“Yeah.  He should be here any minute now.” Caldwell finally dragged his eyes to Kevin and Travis.  “You boys did a good job.”  He gestured at the buildings huddled close to the burned out shell.  “It would have been nothing for the fire to jump to one of the neighboring buildings.”  He glanced over at Jimmy who was gamely man-handling the yards of heavy hose back into its neat coil.  “So, how’d the kid do at his first real event?”  He asked with a twitch at the corner of his mouth. 

             
“He did okay,” Kevin answered.  “I think this was the highlight of his week.”

             
“Well, since he’s on equipment duty, I guess that leaves the three of us on notification duty.” That little twitch tugged into a smile when Kevin and Travis groaned.  “Look at the bright side,” he added dryly. “It’s not a residence, no one was injured, so there shouldn’t be grief and hysterics.”  He glanced down at the list of people who taught classes at the LCC.  “Well,” he amended as he ripped the list into three segments and handed the first to Kevin, “at least not much.”

             
Kevin glanced at the three names on his list and gave the Chief a sour look. 

             
“What’d I do to piss you off this time?” he grumbled. He had the pleasure of waking up Amos Whitlock, local nature photographer and curmudgeon; no doubt the old man would tear a strip off him before he was finished. Then he got to visit Alyssa Celmer, director of the LCC’s pre-school program and
very
available bachelorette. If he wasn’t careful, he’d find himself trapped in her little cottage while she plied him with coffee and come-on’s. Kevin raised his eyebrows at the last name on his list. Joanna Balentine. He’d gone to school with the local artist and remembered her as painfully shy and a little odd.

             
She’d always been a loner, whether by choice or because her reputation as a weirdo kept her isolated, he wasn’t sure. He was a little surprised to find her teaching art classes, though. He wouldn’t have expected her to do something so… interactive.

             
“Shit,” he muttered again. Best to just get it over with. He hitched a ride back to the station with one of the cop’s on-scene and took a quick shower. No need to freak the citizens out any more than necessary by showing up on their doorsteps head-to-toe soot and sweat.

****

Two hours later Kevin pulled his Chevy four by four into the lot behind the old theatre where Joanna Balentine lived. He was exhausted and starting to feel slightly slap happy. Waking up old Amos had been a huge mistake.

Jerking a seve
nty three year old man from his sleep was bad enough.  The sight of the old man answering the door without his teeth and wearing only very baggy long john bottoms was almost more that Kevin could take.

He’d gritted his teeth through the whole notification, respectfully answering the old guy’s sleep peppered questions while trying to hold back his laughter. 
He left the old man with promises of keeping him informed about the investigation.

Poor Alyssa
had given him a headache. He’d known she would take it badly, what he hadn’t expected was a rabid breakdown complete with hysterics. Giant crocodile tears accompanied a severe case of hyperventilation. Kevin was useless when trying to deal with a weepy female. He made her some tea and sat with her, holding the box of Kleenex until Alyssa was all cried out. She’d rallied enough to offer him cookies, staring deeply into his eyes and dropping her voice an octave on the words
warm, melty chocolate chips
, but somehow her bloodshot eyes and puffy lids lacked a certain sensual appeal.

Kevin stepped out of his truck and leaned back to survey the former Ludington
Palladium Theater. Wind chimes dotted the tiny second story landing, each one making a different musical sound. The old wooden building was charming.  A charming fire magnet, in his opinion. He leaned back against the truck, mentally trying to prepare for this last notification.

Everyone in town knew about
Joanna -JoJo Balentine. The old hens who gossiped all over town called her that sweet girl who was just a bit odd. The guys his age rarely mentioned her name unless they’d spotted her wearing one of her bohemian outfits. All in all she’d barely been a blip on his radar before tonight.

God
, he hoped she didn’t cry.
His patience was at an all time low and he sure as hell wasn’t up to coddling another weepy woman.

Indulging in a deep sigh, he trudged up the stairs to her second floor apartment.  She’d converted the lower level to a sort of combination studio and gallery.  Kevin didn’t think she did much local business, but he’d seen a steady stream of tourists pass through her doors when the season was right.  He thought maybe she gave demonstrations of how she created her murals, things like getting her subjects to giant scale and stuff, and then sold some of her smaller paintings
.

He grimaced, realizing he was procrastinating.  Damn
, he was tired.  But this notification was standing between him and his bed.  Taking a deep breath he knocked sharply on the old wooden door. A light came on inside almost before his knuckles hit the wood, and a sleepy eyed woman dressed in an old t-shirt dotted with paint that fell just above her knees opened the door. Her long curly brown hair was sleep tousled, her pale pink lips swollen and her deep brown eyes half closed.

Kevin cleared his throat
and shifted when he felt himself get hard. How in the hell had he missed how attractive Joanna was? Bereft of crazy clothes she was amazing. She wasn’t tall and slim, like his usual type, but her legs were long, her calves shapely. Tight nipples poked against the thin cotton of her t-shirt making Kevin’s mouth water. He’d bet his paycheck she had a nice heart shaped ass that would fit perfectly in his large hands.