Page 37 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
“You know more about us than we know about you,” I say.
Olivia pauses, her gaze bouncing between us until it settles on Dax, who responds with a subtle nod. “They’re right, Olivia,” he replies. “We don’t know much about you. You’re from Devon, New York. You’re best friends with Chloe Jackson, whom we only saw sparingly over the summer months in past years. You’re good with computers, yet you work as a waitress in a diner. You’re smarter than you let on?—”
“How’d you guess that?” she laughs lightly.
“Luke,” Leo says, never taking his eyes off her. “Don’t underestimate the kid, Olivia. He’s smart as a whip and incredibly observant. You speak his language. He picked right up on that.”
“I had a rough year,” she finally concedes. “I needed a fresh start.”
“Is that why you’re so hell-bent on keeping a low profile?” I ask her.
I feel her tensing up, and I can almost hear her self-preservation instinct screaming at her. I know what it’s like, because I was once in her shoes. We all have skeletons in our closets, things we’d rather keep buried.
“I was a medic in the Marines,” I tell her. “That’s why being a paramedic at the fire house suits me better. I’m trained forfirefighting, too, mind you. I went through the whole program; I’m certified for Squad and Engine, but I stayed on Ambulance. Did I ever tell you why?”
She shakes her head slowly while Dax and Leo watch our exchange. They know the story. They were there. I’m pretty sure they remember the pain and anguish I fought through during our deployment. I can still feel it burrowed deep within my soul.
“You didn’t,” Olivia says.
“I was working on a young Marine on the battlefield, trying to patch him up enough for us to get him on a gurney and back to the chopper,” I say, recounting that horrible day. “We were in over our heads. The intel was off by too many factors. Dax and Leo were providing cover fire to the best of their abilities. And then I saw her… this kid, she couldn’t have been more than thirteen.
“She came running out from between the houses. Shit was blowing up all around us. The insurgents were firing heavily, bullets were flying, grenades were dropping. And there I was, wrapping this guy up with entire yards of gauze, hoping I could stabilize him until we got him to a hospital. And there’s this girl, crying and screaming, covered in blood. I had a split-second decision to make.”
“Save her or your Marine?” Olivia can see where I’m going with this already.
“The guy was hanging on by a thread. I didn’t think he’d make it, truth be told. But as long as he was breathing, I was determined to give him a chance. Until the girl came out. So I had to decide. There were insurgents everywhere, several hiding inside civilian homes where we couldn’t see them. I figured the kid had her whole life ahead of her. She’sstanding on her own two feet. We could at least take her away from that hellhole and drop her off at a refugee camp on the way back.
“I ran to the girl. Dax was shouting at me, telling me to stand back. But I had to do something. I didn’t want to watch those bullets tear through an innocent girl. It wasn’t until I got close enough to see that the girl was screaming and crying for an entirely different reason. She had an IED strapped to her back. She was begging for us to help her.”
Leo exhales sharply. “We got it off of her just before the thing blew up.”
“Oh, no,” Olivia says, tearing up.
“I lost our guy and nearly my own arm,” I say and smile bitterly. “But at least the little girl was safe.”
“You’ve saved a lot of lives, Beck,” Dax kindly reminds me. “Thing is, we had to bury the whole incident,” he tells Olivia. “Our commanding officers didn’t take kindly to us rescuing civilians from that particular region because they were all supporting the insurgents. Our mission there was to extract an abducted engineer. We never mentioned the girl or Beck’s decision. Our mate died in the line of fire, and that was it.”
“It would’ve been that bad?” Olivia asks, sighing deeply.
Leo nods grimly. “Yes, it would’ve been that bad, given that our commanders had their heads so far up their asses that they couldn’t be reasoned with. They were looking for any reason to punish anybody who didn’t follow every goddamn order to the letter.” He looks at me. “You did the right thing, Beck. I still believe that.”
“Sure. But that decision, that day? That’s my cross to bear, my guilt to live with for as long as I draw a breath,” I say,then look at Olivia. “So, there you go. A secret of mine, out in the open, something I’ve never told anyone outside our group.”
Suddenly, all eyes are on her, and she doesn’t know what to do with that. “I’m sorry you had to live through that, and I’m sure you have plenty more horror stories to tell, but?—”
Dax cuts her off. “We need to know more about you, and you’re being evasive, Olivia. Why? Don’t you trust us?”
“Of course, I trust you?—”
“Why’d you come to Ember Ridge?” I ask, the ghosts of my past still lingering in the back of my head. “Don’t say for a fresh start, please. We need more than that.”
She thinks about it for a moment, and I can almost see the struggle in her eyes. It’s not coming from a bad place; I’m guessing she’s simply trying to protect herself. But if we’re going to build something together here, Olivia has to learn to open up more, to let us protect her, if she needs protection.
“I was in a bad relationship,” she concedes. “It didn’t start out like that, though. For a long time, it was good. He saved me. He got me off the streets, took care of me.”
“Who’s he?” Dax asks.
She shakes her head. “It’s better if you don’t know?—”
