Page 69 of The Fire We Crave

A message from Smoke.

Smoke:It’s me about to come through the door. If you’re awake, for the love of God, don’t shoot.

I type quickly.

Me:Thanks for the heads up.

I hit send, then immediately hate my word choices. It sounds so…corporate.

But before I can think of something better to say, the key turns in the lock. Bones, the most useless guard dog in the history of the world, stays fast asleep in my room.

Yet, something propels me forward, like I’m being pulled toward Smoke by an invisible tide.

Immense gratitude.

Longing.

A wash of relief that he’s okay and the bakery is still standing.

I jump from my seat and run to him, throwing my arms around him. “Thank you.”

Smoke makes anumpfsound as he catches me and puts his arms around me, his palm rubbing my back. “Hey, it’s okay. The back windows have been boarded up, and there’ll be an investigation. It’s all locked up for tonight, though.”

I step back and look up at him. “Thank you. Truly. For what you did.”

“You saw?” he asks.

“Did you think I wouldn’t watch?”

His eyes go wide. “Jesus. You watched all of it on the video cams?”

I nod.

“Fuck. You shouldn’t have been watching. Some things you can’t get out of your head.”

I put my hand on his bicep. “But I did. I saw the men when they realized you were close by. How they split and ran. And I saw the moment when you decided to put the fire out instead of following them. You saved my bakery, Smoke. I heard the other firefighter tell you that you’d done nice work.”

He takes my hand and leads me down the corridor to my bedroom. For a second, I wonder if he’s going to join me, but he pushes the door open and nudges me inside.

“What else did you hear?”

“I heard him say that the fire you fought was the hardest. I had to search up what a conflagration fire was. It must have been horrific. I mean, I intellectually knew because people were lost and you were hurt, but seeing pictures… It must have been terrifying.”

Smoke’s face tightens. “I’m a professional firefighter, Quinn. I know what I’m doing.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t. I’m saying it’s heroic. Like your friend did. And it makes you even braver for jumping the wall to put the fire out.”

Smoke huffs. “Wasn’t remotely the same thing. The fire is big to you because the damage is personal. It’s your property and your business. But as fires go, it was a small thing. Barely took a minute to put out because we caught it early.”

“The other fireman, he also said he had to call it in and that you do a better job of straddling the law than he does. What would you have done if he’d walked away?”

Smoke puts his hands on his hips. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to, Quinn.”

I don’t know what makes me push, but I do. “Butcher said they would be fair game if they escaped.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Smoke says. “You’re a smart woman, Quinn. Do you really need me to spell it out for you? Who I am? What I do? Do you really not understand what that means?”

“Of course I do. You would have killed them.” Butcher and the rest of the Outlaws would have rounded the men up, taken them somewhere, likely tortured them for information, then buried their bodies.

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