Page 5 of Wild Fires

I was just doing my job. It's not my fault I have a unique skill set that sometimes terrifies others.

Pissed off and ready to lash out, I decided to give myself the day off. Screw Clarence. Screw all of them.

“Come on, it can't be that bad,” Andrew said, swatting me with a wet towel. It stung my arm.

“Ow. Knock it off, asshole.”

“Uh-oh. Chief got your panties in a bunch, Gracie Lou?” Dan teased.

“You know damn well my middle name isn't Lou,” I growled. This was an ongoing joke around the station, and it was funny at first, but it was getting old quickly. They were going to ruin my favorite movie at this rate.

“You're not Gracie Lou Freebush?” he said, feigning shock and causing the rest of the room to hoot with laughter.

“It's getting old, boys.”

“I'll never get old,” Dan insisted. “Right, Rodney?”

“Never,” he confirmed.

“I hate all of you.”

“Well, if that were true, you'd have quit this job a long time ago, baby girl,” Richard “Big Dick" Montgomery said.

“Keep it up Big Dick, you'll be sorry.”

Andrew snorted. “She's going to punch you in your big dick again if you don't watch it.”

He shrugged good naturedly. “I'll take my chances.”

“Speaking of chances. What do you guys think our odds of yet another fire tonight are? Because I have a date,” Dan confessed.

“The hell you do,” Guffy Grimes challenged.

“Shut the hell up. I do have a date tonight.”

“With who?” Rodney asked.

“That's my business, and I know better than to tell you idiots.”

“Yeah, it's bullshit. He just wants the night off and playing the sympathy card,” Big Dick insisted.

“Believe what you want. I don't give a shit what you think. Besides, we were talking about Gracie Lou, not me.”

“Ms. Freebush, heard you got benched for that little solo act last night,” Guffy teased.

My fists balled at my sides and I had an overwhelming desire to punch someone or something, preferably someone. Someone named Guffy would be even better right about now.

“Watch out. I swear I see steam coming out of her ears,” Andrew warned.

“You assholes, just laugh it up. Your day is coming and you'll know how it feels.”

“Nah. Won't happen. Nothing we can possibly do will be as dumb as what you did last night,” Dick challenged.

“You did set that bar pretty high,” Guffy agreed.

“I can not die, not by fire. So really, I put no one in danger, not even myself. Why can't everyone just realize that. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“Baby girl, it's nasty. No one wants to see that,” Dick insisted.

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