Round and Round (10 page)

“Jesus,” Angus moaned, and he looked like he was going to snort ice cream out his nose. “Of course I liked it. You nearly had me coming in two seconds flat.” Angus took his final bite and slid his bowl on the counter without taking his eyes off Kevin. The heat was instantaneous and would have melted the ice cream if there had been any left. “What did you like? The way I sucked you hard and deep, or the way I ate your tight little ass until you were ready to scream for me to fuck you… or maybe it was the way I was so deep in you it was hard to breathe.” Angus stepped closer. “Two can play that game,” he whispered.

“You know….” Kevin stroked his chin. “I can’t really remember. Maybe you’re going to have to jog my memory.”

Angus grabbed the carton of ice cream and practically threw it in the freezer, then slammed the door. Then he grabbed Kevin around the waist and lifted him over his shoulder again. Kevin did squeak this time as Angus carried him up to the bedroom.

“You’re a Neanderthal, you know that?” Kevin said. He initially squirmed to get down but found he had a great view and access to Angus’s ass, so he made the very most of it, sliding his hands inside the back of Angus’s jeans. “The view, on the other hand, is spectacular from here.”

Angus started slightly when Kevin squeezed his cheeks, and then he half dumped Kevin on the bed. “I think it’s time to get on to the memory refreshment.” Angus had his shoes, pants, and shirt off practically before the bed stopped bouncing, and Kevin wasn’t so sure about memory refreshment as Angus proceeded to turn his mind to mush.

ANGUS SPENT
the next few days doing all the things he’d put off while he’d been on shift: the piles of laundry, paying bills, and of course he had to clean the house. Kevin had stayed well into the evening the day of their date, and Angus had later taken him home. However, since then, Kevin hadn’t called, and Angus figured he’d really blown things with him. He had a few more days before he was back on shift and decided he might as well man up and call him.

Kevin’s phone rang and then went to voice mail. Angus left a message for Kevin to call him and hung up before finishing up his chores around the house.

His phone rang an hour later, and he snatched it up, his pulse racing a little in anticipation. But it wasn’t who he was expecting. “Hey, Marv,” he said to his friend.

“Well, don’t sound too damned disappointed. I can always hang up if you don’t want to talk.”

“What crawled up your butt?”

“Carolyn is on the warpath again,” Marv said.

“What did you do now?” Marv was most definitely clueless, and Carolyn was one of the kindest and longest-suffering people he’d ever met. The two of them loved each other. But every now and then she couldn’t take any more of Marv’s crap and they had a huge, often loud fight that tended to get Marv’s head screwed on straight, at least for a while.

“I had to go down to York with Steve after work, and I didn’t call her. Dammit, she has a cell phone and she could have called. Instead, she was waiting at home.”

Angus knew there was more to it than that and waited a few seconds. “I tried calling you yesterday, and you didn’t answer.”

“Well, I kind of lost my phone,” Marv said.

“Where did you see it last?”

“Falling out of the truck into the creek near the house.”

Marv had just officially graduated to moron status. “So you went to York and didn’t call her because you lost your cell phone and didn’t want Carolyn to know. How many phones have you lost?” Angus had to ask. “Is it eight?”

“Only six,” Marv said indignantly.

“And you don’t think Carolyn has a reason to be upset?” Angus knew that sometimes Marv needed to have things pointed out to him. “Go to the store and buy Carolyn some flowers and whatever else she’s been asking for. She loves you—God knows why—and you need to treat her better, because what would you do without her?”

“Okay, point taken. I’ll do that. But you haven’t told me why you’re all growly. You usually listen a little more before giving me hell.” Maybe Marv wasn’t totally clueless.

“It’s not important,” he answered.

“Uh-huh. This wouldn’t have anything to do with that guy you went out with on Sunday.”

“Maybe a little. I thought we had a good time, but he wanted to know about my past, and I got a little snippy and may have blown it. I left a message the other day and then today, but he hasn’t called me back.”

Marv snickered. “I take it you like this guy, because you’ve never obsessed over anyone before. If they don’t like you, and all the guys like you—the girls do too, but you don’t notice them at all—”

“Get to the point,” Angus said.

“Fine. You go from guy to guy all the time, having a good time. But you’ve never wondered if a guy was going to call you back. So take your own advice and go get some flowers or something and go see him. You know where he lives, right?”

“Yeah. I picked him up on my bike.”

“Then don’t sit around like a pussy—go do something.” Angus could see Marv rolling his eyes. He wondered when Marv had gotten a clue and figured that wasn’t bad advice. His phone beeped that he had another call coming in. He checked the number.

“I have to go. It’s work,” he told Marv and took the other call. “This is Angus.”

“MacTavish, grab your gear and get to the station. There’s an apartment fire, and we need all available hands.”

Angus was already moving through his house, grabbing the bag he kept packed next to his door. He hefted it. “I already have it. Do you just want me at the scene?”

“Do that. The address is 1245 Marshall Avenue,” the captain said.

Angus nearly dropped his phone. He knew that address. “We were just there not long ago for an oven fire.”

“This is a lot more than that. Part of the entire building is involved, and as fast as it’s spreading, there’s definitely accelerant.”

Angus was already at his car and threw his gear in the trunk. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and got inside the Mustang, heart pumping. He raised the garage door and backed out of the garage, then headed back to Kevin’s building, only this time it was for something potentially much more dire than a date.

Angus had worked as a firefighter for six years, but until this point he had never had to show up at the home of someone he cared about. The other guys told stories of arriving at the homes of family friends and even relatives, and all they could do was go to work, check that everyone was all right, and then comfort the ones they cared about after the fire had been extinguished. Angus had been spared that… until he pulled up in front of Kevin’s apartment.

The rear of the building was fully involved. He stopped his car out of the way and raced out. Within seconds he had his trunk open and was pulling on his gear. “Cap,” he called, and Justinian hurried over to him. “Is everyone out?”

“No. Get on breathing gear. An old lady and younger man are unaccounted for.”

“Kevin and Mrs. V?” Angus asked.

The captain nodded. “They’re most likely on the first or second floors. I have teams soaking the building, but we need someone to go in. I’ve assigned—”

Before the captain could say anything more, Angus pulled on the rest of his gear, checked it, and hurried toward the front door. Thankfully it was quiet and fire-free. Hoses had doused the area, and the firefighters pulled back briefly so he could get inside.

Smoke rolled everywhere, and Angus hurriedly kicked open the door to the first-floor apartment. The front was intact, but the rear was already on fire. He checked the first bedroom and bath before turning and trying the other. It was empty as well. Once he finished, the heat was building, but he didn’t stop, hurrying up the stairs. The back of the hall was already in flames. One door stood open. He peered inside, saw no one, and then kicked open the other door. Heat and smoke rolled out of the door and flames burst through the rear door of the apartment as air fanned the fire. He found a woman with gray hair on the floor near the table and lifted her into his arms and carefully began the trek out of the building.

The smoke was increasing, along with the heat. He sighed as he reached the front door and handed the woman off to emergency personnel. Then he turned to go back inside. The captain grabbed his shoulder and shook his head, pointing toward the roof.

Angus shrugged him off and raced back into the building and up the stairs. The apartment was nearly fully engulfed. He found Kevin on the floor in front of the kitchen sink. He scooped him up, hoping like hell he was okay, and started for the exit. Angus reached the door as flames exploded behind him, pushing him out into the hall, and he nearly tumbled him down the stairs. Flames were shooting out of the first-floor doorways, and he steadied himself for a few seconds, cradled Kevin to him, and descended the stairs as fast as he could, leaping through the front door into a shower of water as sparks flew all around him.

He handed Kevin off in time to turn around as the roof collapsed, pancaking the other weakened floors. Everyone moved back as every hose dumped water on the old building, but it had most likely been weakened by years of improper maintenance and care. The side walls fell inward, and Angus raced back, grabbing coworkers as the front of the building broke away and began to crumble forward.

Thankfully, everyone got out of the way, and as soon as the rubble settled, the hose teams began dousing the pile of debris. Angus took off his breathing gear and helmet, coming face-to-face with his captain.

“If you ever do that again, so help me I will kick your ass from here to kingdom come and pull you in front of a review board. I know you got the missing man out, but we could have lost both him and you if you had taken twenty more seconds. You were damn lucky the roof lasted as long as it did.”

Angus knew better than to argue, so he held his tongue, even though it was difficult. His defiance came out in his stare. There was no way he was going to back down, and if he had to remain silent, he wouldn’t cower.

“Now, I don’t know if you were just being stubborn, but what you did was as brave as hell, and you saved someone’s life. That’s what we’re here for.” Captain Justinian glared at him. “But next time you listen to me.”

Angus nodded and turned away, pulling off his fire coat so he didn’t completely sweat away. Then he went in search of the people he’d rescued.

He found Kevin on the ground with a mask over his mouth and nose. “How is he?” he asked the EMT.

“He roused for a few minutes but then lost consciousness again. We’re transporting him to the hospital. He inhaled a lot of smoke, but we think he’s going to be okay.” The EMT turned to the ambulance, and Angus followed his gaze. A figure lay under a sheet, face covered. The door to the ambulance was closed, and then it pulled away. The simple glimpse gave him all the information he needed to know.

“She was a good friend of his,” Angus said. He thanked the EMT, getting out of the way so Kevin could be looked at more closely. He watched as Kevin was transferred to the gurney and then loaded into the other ambulance. Once it had left, he returned to where the other firefighters were working.

“Did they both make it?” Clark asked.

“No. It looks like the woman didn’t. She was the one who sent the sweets with Kevin to the station. I didn’t know her, but she meant a lot to him.”

“Do they have people to contact?” Clark asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered even as he started walking to his car. Clark walked with him, and Angus got his phone off the passenger seat and looked up the number for Bronco’s. He remembered that Kevin talked a lot about a guy named Bull, so he asked for him when someone answered the phone. “I’m one of the firefighters who was at the club a week or so ago.”

“Yeah,” Bull said gruffly. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m calling because of Kevin.”

“What happened?” the gruffness disappeared instantly, replaced by concern.

“I was called to his building, and it was nearly fully engulfed. I did get him out of the building, but he’s been taken to Pinnacle Health Center. He was unconscious the last time I saw him, and I wasn’t sure who else to call.”

“Appreciate it. I’ll call Zach, and he’ll go up there to be with him.”

“Thanks,” Angus said, not sure what else he should do. They’d had one date, and he didn’t have much of a claim on Kevin. “I didn’t want him to be alone.”

“No chance of that. Once Zach gets done there will be a steady stream of his friends looking out for him.” Bull ended the call, and Angus threw his phone back on the seat and returned to the rest of the team. They continued pouring water on what was left of the apartment building, but the fire was out and now they were just making sure there wouldn’t be a flare-up later.

The other tenants had gathered off to the side, where people from the Red Cross were already meeting with them to see to their immediate needs.

“Let’s start to pack up,” Captain Justinian said, and Angus got to work, putting away equipment as water was turned off and hoses retracted. It took some time to get everything packed back where it belonged, and one by one the trucks headed back to their stations. “Go on home,” Justinian told him.

Angus got in his car and drove back to Shipoke. At least that was where he intended to go, but his car made the turn onto the bridge, and he zipped over to the west shore of the Susquehanna and into the Pinnacle parking lot. He parked his car and raced inside.

“I’m here to see Kevin Foster. He was brought in by ambulance from a fire. I was one of the responders on the scene, and I wanted to know how he was doing.”

“I can’t tell you much other than he is here.” She motioned toward the waiting area.

“Is he okay?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. There isn’t anything I can tell you.”

Angus huffed and went to sit down. It was then that he remembered he was still in his fire pants and boots. He took off the boots and slipped out of the pants, draping them over one of the chairs before putting the boots back on. Then he sat down to wait, watching the doors as people came and went.