ROMANCE: BIKER ROMANCE: Werewolf Rider (MC Shifter Pregnancy Romance) (New Adult Paranormal Romance Short Stories) (55 page)

Bearing the Burn

Chapter One

“I hate to see you go, Andy,” Professor Canatopolas said thoughtfully, signing off on the drop class slip his student had handed him.

“Thank you, Professor,” Andy replied, in a hurry to get as far from the classroom as possible.

“What will you do now?” the youngish political science professor asked him, maintaining eye contact in a way that always made Andy nervous around him.

“I was accepted to the fire academy,” Andy replied, stretching out his hand to retrieve the slip of paper from him.

“A very different path, but perhaps it is your calling.  Listen, now that you aren’t my student anymore, perhaps we could spend some time together, you know, off campus,” he said with a smile.

“Um, thank you, but I think you have the wrong idea about me,” Andy said quickly, practically snatching the slip of paper and making a hasty retreat.  Outside the door to the classroom, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.  Was there some sort of sign across his forehead that announced he was gay?  Though he had only ever dated females, this wasn’t the first time another guy had seemed to be coming on to him.  It wasn’t the first time he had found himself responsive to their affections either.

He made his way across campus, headed to the administration office with the collection of slips that would allow him to drop his classes properly.  Most people would have just stopped showing up, but that wasn’t the way Andy McCall operated.  He was no more certain about becoming a fireman than he had been about college, so he needed to leave the door open to return just in case he decided he wanted to come back.  Plus, not everyone made it through the academy.  It might be his only option if he couldn’t cut it.  Eight weeks later, he had forgotten all about a backup plan.

“Congratulations, McCall.  Welcome to the squad!” a burly looking guy with a beard said, clapping a hand on his shoulder hard enough to push him forward a bit. 

“Thanks, man,” Andy replied.  Though he had seen the guy before, he didn’t know his name.  He was hard to miss though.  He stood at least six inches taller than Andy, making him at least six foot five.  His sandy brown hair was always mussed up all over his head and his hazel eyes were almost a golden color.  There was not a notable ounce of body fat on his chiseled framed.  Andy found himself drawn to him in a way that he couldn’t quite sort.

As the weeks progressed, he found himself more and more in the company of the same guy, who he now knew as Luther Jackson, one of the squad leaders for the elite group of firefighters known as “The Burning Bears.”  Andy had been invited to join the squad straight out of firefighting school due to his continued excellence in both academic and physical tests.  He was the only one in his class to have been recruited for the group and the handful of guys that had applied were all rejected.

“Hey half pint,” one of the other guys teased him as he walked into the station.

“Hey yourself, Sasquatch,” Andy shot back.  The guys teased him a bit because of his smaller stature.  Andy was five foot eleven with a slender, athletic body.  His long, dark eyelashes accented pale blue eyes and silky black curls framed a chiseled jawline, giving him an almost regal appearance.  Most of them loomed over him, broad shouldered and brawny.  In comparison, Andy was almost delicate looking, but they respected him because, in a fire, he was able to quickly move in and out of areas that were a tight pinch for many of them.  He was damn good at what he did and they appreciated that about him.

“McCall, you off shift?” Jackson called to him across the fire house.  Andy could see that he was in his civilian clothes and headed out for the day.

“Yep.  Just finished,” he called back, walking toward him as he spoke.

“Come out with me.  I’m going to head up to Walker’s Lake and do some repelling with a few friends.  We’re going to have a bonfire and get shitfaced after that.  Want to join us?” he asked.

“I’d love to man, but that’s a little too far out to be driving home after drinking,” Andy said as he got closer.

“Won’t be any driving.  There’s a lake house up there we always crash at,” he replied.

“Got enough room for me then?” Andy asked.  He hadn’t really gotten out of the house in the while and sitting at home watching streaming movies didn’t really hold any appeal today.

“Of course.  It’s all floor space, but I’ve got an extra sleeping bag in my truck.  You can ride up with me if you wanna go,” he told him.

“Sure.  Let’s do it,” Andy said.  They made their way out of the firehouse and got in Jackson’s truck.  “This is a nice truck, Jackson.”

“Save that last name crap for the station.  Call me Luther.  Yeah, I like my truck,” he told him.

“Alright, Luther.  I guess you can call me Andy then,” he said.  Luther nodded and cranked up the volume on the radio, blasting out loud alternative music as they headed out of the firehouse parking lot and headed down the highway on their way out of town. 

Andy immediately began second guessing his decision to go with Luther.  He drove like a maniac and some of his drinking exploits were legendary around the station house.  This night might just prove to be way out of Andy’s comfort zone.  Then again, what fun was it to always play it safe?  An hour later, they were pulling into a parking lot that overlooked a series of cliffs leading down to a large beach below.

“Alright, let’s get you strapped up,” Luther told him, pulling a variety of gear from the back of this truck and setting up the cables they would need to make their way up and down the cliff.  Andy’s heart beat fast at the thought of going down the steep slope.  It beat much faster as Luther made quick work of slipping a harness onto him, accidentally brushing against his thighs as he clamped the safety latches closed.  He breathed a sigh of relief when Luther finished and began working on his own harness.

“Let’s go!’ he said cheerfully as he tossed over their sleeping bags, clamped a heavy carabiner onto the cable he had run over the edge and bounced backward over the edge.  Andy waited for him to get far enough down before joining him, enjoying the exhilaration he had always felt when climbing.  It was a beautiful day outside.  He felt Luther’s hands on his hips as he reached bottom, holding him up a little to avoid some sharp rocks he was about to land heavily on.

“Thanks,” he said, his heart once again racing as he turned to look at Luther.  For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw something in his eyes, but he dismissed it as Luther nodded and unclipped him from the cable, slipping of his harness.  Luther tossed the harnesses and their bags into a little area where he could see several more before turning to walk down the beach.

“It will be dark soon.  They’ll be starting the bonfire without us,” he called back.

“Hey, guys.  This is Andy.  He works with me,” Luther said to the group of guys sitting around the pile of wood they had been gathering for the bonfire.

“Hey Andy, welcome to our little party,” one of them said, joined in by others as they all greeted him like he was just one of the gang.  He immediately noticed that there were no females in the group, which he found a little odd and possibly interesting, depending on what it meant.  There were several that he recognized from the station, as well. 

“Since you guys decided to turn up, you can help us fetch some more wood,” one of the guys returning with an armload of branches and logs from a nearby thicket of woods.  The lake was huge, the moon shimmering off of it in the darkness with no end in sight.

“Sure thing,” Luther replied, motioned for Andy to come with him.  They made quick work of grabbing up all the loose wood they could find and making their way out to the pit.  Andy saw that they had set up a grill to one side and was grateful.  He had not eaten in a while and wasn’t sure there would be anything to snack on.  He was pleased to see that he appeared to be wrong.

In no time at all, he felt completely at home with the guys just hanging out around the fire.  Kicking back and drinking beers while swapping stories about their misdeeds was a timeless ritual among men.  It didn’t take long for them to start ragging on Luther for some of his antics.

“Hey, Luther, tell us about that time you knocked over a liquor store,” one of them yelled across at him.

“Dude, I told you all that I did not do anything wrong.  My only crime was being drunk off my ass on a fifth of Johnny Walker Red and thinking I was in my room.  I assumed they would charge the two fresh bottles I grabbed to my bungalow when I walked out,” he laughed.

“You got charged, alright,” one of them laughed.

“I did.  I got pinched walking down the highway to my actual room.  I thought the cops were bellhops and were giving me a ride over to my bungalow in their golf cart thingy.  Last thing I remember was getting into their car.  Boy was I pissed when I woke up in a jail cell the next morning next to some guy that smelled like he had pissed himself in his sleep,” he said, shaking his head.

“is that the same night you burned down the pub?” another one asked.

“I did not burn down the pub.  I just got questioned for it.  I was already in the back of the Mayberry police car before the fire even started,” he said, shaking his head.  “I swear.  Get blackout drunk one time and you are guilty of everything.”

“How did you get out of all that?” the guy asked.

“I went back in the liquor store and paid the owner for what I took and begged him to drop the charges.  He took my money and made me an indentured servant.  I agreed to clean his parking lot each night for the next three months until his son returned home for active duty in return for him letting me off the hook.  They busted the guy that actually set the pub on fire, so they never charged me with that,” he said with a smile.

“What about that deal with you . . .,” another guy started to say.

“No, we’re done with the exploits of Luther.  I admit I’ve done some stuff in my time, but I’ve settled down now.  I’m a changed man,” he said.

“Bullshit,” someone said and everyone laughed.  Luther laughed with them and grabbed another beer, handing Andy one while he was at it.  “Come on and help me set up the tables.”

Andy wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but got up and followed him over to a rickety looking shack that sat at the edge of the tree thicket near where they had entered before.  Luther pulled out a couple of long folding tables and handed him one.  They set them up near the grill and wiped them down with a cloth and some water from the ice melting in one of the beer coolers before pulling supplies from another one and setting them out. 

“Alright, dinner is served,” the guy grilling hamburgers shouted as he set out the first platter of them alongside the condiments, chips and plates laid out on the table.

“You are surprisingly domestic,” Andy said to Luther with a little laugh.

“Fuck that.  I just did what I had to do so that we were first in line,” he laughed, filling his plate with food.  Andy laughed and made himself a plate. 

By the time they finished eating, the fire had begun to dwindle and so had the crowd around it.  They had a couple more beers while helping clear away the mess from dinner and made their way down the lake a piece to where a large lakehouse stood hidden in a small alcove of trees.  Though it was mostly dark, Andy could see lanterns shining in different areas of it.  He followed Luther inside, their sleeping bags under their arms.  Inside, Andy looked around, noting that there seemed to be no electricity or furniture.  He was a little wary of it all.

“Who does this place belong to?” he asked.

“Us,” Luther replied.  “A half dozen of us got together and pooled our savings to bid on it as a bankruptcy purchase.  We hope to fix it up as a fishing place in the next few months, but it took most of our resources just to buy it, so we are doing it a bit at a time.  There were some electrical hiccups and we couldn’t get the power turned on but the water is on and the plumbing works,” he told him.

“That isn’t complicated somewhere down the road, owning a house with a bunch of other guys?” he asked.

“We don’t see that it will be,” Luther replied.  “We have it covered.  Anyway, you can sleep in my room.  Come on.”

“Alright,” Andy replied, feeling another surge of excitement.  He was definitely getting a vibe off of Luther.  He wasn’t entirely certain about his instincts, but it just seemed like there was more to his being invited on this little adventure than comradery.  If that was the case, he could very well find out tonight.

Walking into the room Luther deemed his own, Andy’s hopes were quickly doused.  There were already several others camping on the floor of the room.  Luther found an open spot near the window and whispered for him to just drop his bag wherever there was space.  Andy found an opening near the door, far enough away from Luther that he might not think about him as much as he would in a bag right beside him.  After some tossing and turning, he fell into a troubled sleep, waking early the next morning to sunlight streaming through the window.

“Oh, good.  You’re up.  I’m starving.  Let’s go grab a bite to eat and I’ll get you back to the station to pick up your car,” Luther told him.  Thirty minutes later, the two of them were sitting in a diner about halfway back to town eating their fill and drinking coffee.

“Tell me, Luther.  Are all the stories I hear about you really true?” Andy asked.