More Than a Fling [Uniformed and Blazing Hot 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (20 page)

* * * *

“There’s going to be a lot of pissed off women after they hear about this.”

Nick chuckled at Taylor Parke’s comment over his headset as he and the rest of Engine Company 4 made their way through the thick smoke inside the factory to the second floor. He wondered fleetingly if Alyssa was a hardcore chocolate fan like most of the women he had met in his life.

“No shit,” Davon Reed muttered, the bulk of his attention obviously on his surroundings. “There’s not going to be any chocolate made in this place for a long while.”

The explosion inside the one-hundred-foot-tall sugar silo sent most of the flames shooting through the roof as the storage tower had been designed to do. The accompanying blast that had apparently traveled through the enclosed overhead conveyer system inside the building went against the silo’s design.

Nick spotted the conveyor through the murky haze as they climbed a flight of stairs. “How far does that conveyor go?”

“At least two rooms over,” Reed answered. “It’s got to be splintered, though. We wouldn’t have this much fire in here if it was still intact.”

“Engine 4, report.”

Nick peered through the black face mask of his SCBA—self-contained breathing apparatus—as he and the rest of his company forged their way through the thick smoke and topped the flight of stairs.

“Fire is everywhere up here, Cap,” Reed answered the captain.

Flames licked their way through the factory room, sucking up the air and turning everything into a murky haze. The force of the explosion had taken out the electricity inside the building, shutting off the machinery and bathing the facility in a darkness broken only by the red and orange of the flames.

“Part of the wall over there went down with the blast.” Nick tipped his chin toward it and then looked to his lieutenant on his right. He saw Reed nod once. “The fire spread fast.” He turned his attention up to the flames dancing their way across the ceiling. “The housing for the conveyor did more than splinter. The whole damn thing is in sections.”

“Captain, has Station 4 responded yet?” Reed asked over his headset.

“They’re pulling in now.”

With or without Alyssa, Nick wondered. He figured she had likely still been at Station 4 when the call for backup had gone out. He answered his own question in the next second, knowing damn well the woman was out there somewhere ready to report on the fire whether she had hopped on one of the trucks or followed them in her own car.

“Get them to send a crew to the second floor on the east side if they can get up there,” Reed requested. “That fire is traveling through what’s left of the conveyor system. It’s got to be coming out somewhere else.”

“Copy that,” the captain responded.

“Calfee, let’s get a hose on that conveyor,” Reed instructed. “Parke, tackle the beast from the bottom. With any luck, we’ll meet in the middle.”

Nick adjusted his grip on the fire hose in his hand, angled the nozzle up, and opened stream on the flames overhead. Through his radio, he heard voices giving updates from their respective positions. Tanner reported that Ladder 29 had the blaze shooting out of the silo under control. Squad 16 finally deemed the first floor of the building to be clear of employees. Engine 1 from Station 4 confirmed the fire was blowing and going through the conveyor system on the east end of the building.

A few feet away, Taylor Parke let out a jubilant chuckle as he opened stream on the flames licking their way across the floor and wall toward them. Nick felt himself grin, fully understanding the man’s elation. Facing off with a beast intent on devouring everything in its path was an adrenaline rush like nothing else in the world. He shifted his stance, not surprised by the rock-solid state of his dick pressing against the zipper of his uniform pants. Fighting fire was damn near better than sex. Hell, it had been better…until he had met Alyssa.

Knowing now wasn’t the time to let his mind wander to her sultry body and the things he planned to do to her tomorrow, especially after this arousing experience, he pushed all thoughts of her aside and got his head back in the game. The flames fought them micro-inch by micro-inch, but they were determined to be the victor. Then, the unthinkable happened.

Nick’s world turned to slow-mo. He heard the rumble, felt the floor beneath his feet start to shake, and a deafening boom momentarily drowned out all sound. He jerked his head right, then left, and then up as he heard the shout a nanosecond too late.

The force of the third explosion dislodged another portion of the conveyor system and sent it flying through the room. He had barely a moment to see it coming right at him before it tipped at an angle, one end knocking him off his feet while the other collided with Taylor Parke.

* * * *

“Firefighters down!”

Alyssa’s heart had stopped beating the second the explosion rocked the building in front of her. It dove to her stomach when the shout came through the microphone hooked on the shoulders of Captains Stacy Knox and Wallace Spencer. She had weaseled her way through the enormous crowd of employees and onlookers outside the chocolate factory to stand with the men as the firefighters from both stations worked to put out the inferno blazing on top of and inside the facility.

“Repeat, Parke and Calfee are down.”

The sound that escaped her throat at Nick’s last name was one she had never heard herself make before. Her hand flew over her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes. She didn’t realize she had taken a reflexive step forward until Stacy Knox’s hand closed around her upper arm.

“Ingram, Rafferty?” She dimly heard Knox’s call over his radio to his paramedic personnel.

“We’re on it, Cap.”

Alyssa recognized Maddie Rafferty’s voice as she responded to the captain’s request. Dear God. Nick was hurt somewhere in that building.

Please let him be okay.

Knox’s hand was still on her upper arm, holding it firmly. “Stay here,” he told her in a calm, yet authoritative voice. “You getting hurt in there, too, is the last thing Nick needs right now.” He keyed up the microphone on his shoulder. “Everyone else from both stations, report.”

One after another, voices from the rest of the crews from Station’s 4 and 5 reported their safety. Alyssa held her breath until she heard Tanner’s voice come through the radio.

“Ingram, Rafferty,” Knox said again after the barrage quietened down. “What’s your status?”

“Almost there, Cap,” one of them answered.

“Reed, report,” Knox commanded.

“Calfee is on his feet,” Davon’s voice came back. “He got the wind knocked out of him, but I think he’s okay.”

“Parke is hurt bad, sir.”

Relief, swift and dizzying, rushed through Alyssa at the sound of Nick’s voice. She was glad in that moment that the captain was still holding onto her arm.

“He’s unconscious. His facemask and helmet are cracked.”

The concern and barely controlled panic in Nick’s voice brought more tears to Alyssa’s eyes. That wasn’t just a fellow firefighter in there. That was his friend, part of a family. She had realized as she was interviewing each shift at the stations that every one of these men felt that way about the members of their crew.

She looked around, her gaze scanning the crowd of cops, onlookers, and firefighters, and saw that all conversation and commotion had stopped. Every one of them seemed to have their heart in their throats as they waited to find out the status of the fallen firefighter.

“We can’t get to him, Captain,” Neil Ingram’s voice came through the radio. “The stairs leading to the second floor where he’s at collapsed.”

“Squad 16?” Knox said into his microphone.

“We’re right behind them.”

Alyssa was pretty sure that was Ryder Cox’s voice that answered.

“We’re tossing a rope up now. We’ll have to lower him down to get him out.”

“Do what you’ve got to do,” Knox told him, the muscles in his jaw jumping.

Minutes that stretched to hours passed before Neil Ingram and Maddie Rafferty came out of the building with Taylor Parke on a stretcher between them. Nick followed after, limping a little, but appearing to be otherwise okay.

Alyssa felt her hand close on Stacy Knox’s shoulder, more out of reflex to hold her upright than thought, at the sight of Nick. She saw him glace around, then his gaze locked hers. The smile that unfolded on his lips despite his concern for his fallen friend as he shook his head was the most beautiful thing she had seen in her entire life.

* * * *

Tanner bowed his head as he raked his fingers through his hair and leaned against the wall in the ER hallway. In one ear, he heard Nick’s voice moving through the closed door of the nearby hospital room. The man had walked out of the factory on his own two feet and loaded himself in the back of Ambulance 42, but there had been no way the captains, other firefighters, paramedics, and even doctors and nurses were going to let him walk out of this hospital today without an examination.

Tanner tried not to listen to the quiet whispers that flowed down the hallway to tease and torment his other ear. What was happening down there was none of his business. Still, he couldn’t help but eavesdrop and what he heard made his mind reel and his heart tighten in his chest.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jax Darwin’s voice stayed soft, but there was no way to miss the anger in his tone.

“How can you ask me that?” Carly whispered back with just as much anger in her tone. “Taylor might be fighting for his life, Jax.”

“Yeah, a life you walked out on.”

“It’s not like either of you gave me a choice.”

“We gave you a choice and you made it. You left us. The fact that Taylor is unconscious now doesn’t change that.”

“He’s going to wake up.” Carly sounded as if she was attempting to convince herself of that more than Jax.

“And when he does, you really think seeing you is going to do him any good?”

Carly stood her ground. “I’m not leaving this hospital until I know Taylor is going to be okay. Deal with it or deal without it, but that’s the way it’s going to be.”

“Fuck!”

Tanner didn’t look, but he was pretty sure Jax punched the wall as Carly stormed off. Damn, was love really worth all the bullshit it put people through? Did it last for anyone anymore? Was forever really the pipedream he had believed it to be since his mother had walked out on him and his fathers?

No. No. Yes.

Even as the answers to his own questions shot through his mind, he heard the soft clack of high heels growing louder as they headed down the hall toward him. He lifted his head and his gaze locked with Alyssa’s. He was thirty-two years old and had never been in love. Not until Alyssa.

As he watched her come closer, the answers altered themselves in his mind. Maybe. Maybe it was worth the bullshit, maybe it did last for some people, and maybe it wasn’t a pipedream after all.

Alyssa stopped within arm’s reach, but didn’t touch him. God, he wanted her to touch him. He needed to feel her right now more than ever.

“Captain Knox thought it would be okay if I came to find you.” Her attention slid to the door next to him. “Is Nick?”

“He’s in there. He’s a little banged up, but he’ll be fine. The nurse is giving him a few instructions and he’ll be free to leave.”

Relief washed through her angelic face. “Why are you in the hall?”

Tanner raked a hand down his face. “I just needed a minute.”

She slowly nodded. “It scared you, too.” She snorted softly. “Of course it did. That was stupid.”

Tanner shook his head and managed a small smile. “No, it wasn’t.”

She cupped the side of his face as she closed the remaining distance between them and then, oh, yes, she was finally in his arms again. “I’ve been in a lot of dangerous situations and seen a lot of horrid things, but I’ll admit I’ve never been so scared in my life. All I could think, after I saw Nick hobble out of that factory, was this is what I have to look forward to.” A dart of a different fear moved through her eyes as she gazed at him. “That is if—”

She broke off when the door opened and Nick stepped into the hall.

Tanner reluctantly released her as he watched Nick’s lips unfold in a smile when his attention landed on Alyssa. He didn’t need for her to finish her sentence to know what she had been about to say.
That is if things between the three of them went as far as she hoped.
He had seen that in the way she had been looking at him and had felt it in her touch.

“There you are.” Nick pulled her close and brushed a kiss to her lips. “Nurse Ratchet here said I’m free to go.”

“He needs to take it easy,” the nurse told them as she stepped around Nick to move into the hall. “He has some spinal bruising, but nothing that shouldn’t heal on its own in a few days.”

Nick kept an arm locked around Alyssa as he turned a narrow-eyed gaze on the nurse. “You’re clearing me to go back to work effective now, right?”

“Effective next shift.”