Page 20 of Controlled Burn
Now Watts glanced up, slow, like a queen on a throne. “What now?”
“You know exactly what.” Talia’s voice cut clean. “You ran your mouth to that ER doc about my sedation call, and then you abandoned me on the fire call the next cycle. I’m so sick of your shit.”
“You don’t get to question my decisions and then disappear when it gets dangerous. You don’t get to play the passive and reckless role, acting like some misunderstood victim. I’m not covering for you. Not this time. Not ever again.”
Watts shrugged, bored. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You said I overdosed a guy. That’s not gossip—that’s slander. Then you risked my life—and worse, made me look like I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve earned my place here. You’re just wasting yours.”
“I just said I wouldn’t have done it that way. Which is true.”
“Then why didn’t you take the call?”
“You were AIC.”
“Because you let me be.”
Watts’s mouth curled, but her hand twitched. Just once.
Kennedy shrank further, face half-hidden, pretending to dig in her bag for something that didn’t exist.
From the hallway, Talia caught the shadow of Jake Hastings, just outside the cracked door, listening—his boots stilled mid-step, breath held like he wanted every word. He was always where the drama was, always ready to trade secrets for attention.
And somewhere in the background, Brooks drifted, a quiet presence, pretending to check lockers but just lurking, eyes skittering between the women, taking everything in.
“You think you’re untouchable just because you’re younger and have nice tits?” Watts muttered.
Talia stepped forward, heat under her skin. “No, I think I’m better because I’m not a fucking coward.”
That landed.
Watts stood taller, broader, but not steadier. A balloon ready to pop.
“You’re the reason they treat all of us like we’re liabilities,” Talia snapped. “You sit back, do the bare minimum, then throw other women under the bus when it makes you look bad.”
“You think you’re one of the guys,” Watts hissed. “But they’re only nice to you because they want to fuck you.”
Talia didn’t flinch. “And what’s your excuse? You’re on so much lithium you can’t tell a seizure from a tantrum.”
Silence slammed between them.
Watts shoved her—metal buckle scraping tile in a shrill squeal. Talia’s forearm brushed the rough weave of her bunker gloves as she pushed back, unshaken.
“No,” Talia said, voice low and steady. “This isn’t about medicine or fire—it’s about trust and solidarity.”
That was the difference. Talia had fought tooth and nail to be here and studied harder. Trained longer and stayed sharper.
Watts? She burned bridges, cried foul, and blamed everyone else when the smoke cleared. No wonder she kept getting reassigned.
Maddox (outside the locker room)
He’d only come looking for a clipboard.
What he found was chaos.
Raised voices. Liability. Sedation. Lithium.
He froze in the hall, next to Jake Hastings—who met his eye for half a second before melting away, smirking, off to spread whatever story he’d just collected.
