Grizz glanced at his watch for the third time. This unnecessary delay was cutting into his time off. He was out of here, as soon as Skye finished yelling at the crew.
“I don’t care if Dani’s station was the one that had that unflattering report about the hotshots. You should have helped her.” Skye’s voice bounced off the metal walls of the long rectangular building that doubled as their mess hall. He needed to get to the vehicle bay where he’d stashed his ATV. After working and living three months at base camp, Grizz couldn’t wait to get back to his cabin.
“I can’t believe you sent her away to climb Copper Mountain on her own.” Skye glared at Mack, Hammer, Saxon, and Grizz individually. “You know we’ve had some flash flooding and mudslides from the rain.”
This was not his first time being on the receiving end of a dressing down by someone who wasn’t his superior. But they’d had it coming.
The Trouble Boys were in trouble. Again. And somehow, Grizz had gotten lumped in with them.
So maybe he could have stepped in and cut the glitzy woman some slack.
Nah.
Far as Grizz was concerned, that diva city reporter had no business hiking Copper Mountain to chase a rumor of a secret compound.
He’d never be able to protect someone so headstrong from the wilds of Alaska. Grizz had hung up his superhero cape long ago.
“In our defense,” Mack said, “she didn’t tell us she knew you. And you should have seen her outfit. All she needed was one of those teeny purse dogs and she would have rivaled a Kardashian.”
Grizz looked to the big man standing next to him. Hammer, Mack’s older brother, said nothing, leaving Mack to run his mouth. Saxon flanked the other side of Hammer, not bothering to insert himself in the discussion. Mack was the youngest of the group and had a lot to learn—although anyone under the age of twenty-five was a kid as far as Grizz was concerned. Sometimes it paid to stay quiet.
Three of the hotshots were ex-Army like him, but Grizz had never met Hammer, Saxon, or Kane while he was serving. He didn’t know why they’d chosen wildland firefighting or why they’d brought Hammer’s kid brother along. But he knew it had something to do with the female hotshot, Sanchez.
Wherever Sanchez was, that was where you could find Kane.
“What even is a Kardashian?” Hammer snickered. The tattoo across the man’s thick forearm spelledTrouble. They all shared the blame in making snide comments about the fish-out-of-water guests, but no one was going to admit that to Skye.
Skye fixed her fists on her hips and glared at all of them. “So you let Dani and her cameraman wander into the woods alone?” Her beet-red face conveyed her anger, underscored by her sharp, overenunciated words. They all knew better than to mess with Skye, because no one wanted to tangle with her husband Rio if he caught wind of the situation. The FBI agent was well-connected, and Grizz refused to get on that man’s bad side.
Grizz knew he’d been the worst offender. He’d more or less snarled at the beauty queen while the others laughed. “Her station is the one that called us the ‘lukewarm shots’ last year after we failed to stop a fire from ravaging a fancy new subdivision.”
He’d seen that yellow network logo embroidered on her thick blazer, and it’d all rushed back.
But Skye had a valid point.
What could Grizz say to end this conversation? Skye was standing in the way of his time off. “Maybe we could have been more accommodating.” Even if playing tour guide to a couple of clueless reporters wasn’t in his official job description, he could have behaved better.
“Thanks, Grizz. I appreciate you volunteering to head out and find them.”
Wait, what?
Skye wasn’t his boss. Why was she giving the orders? He wasn’t responsible for these two city slickers that’d wandered into base camp with some half-baked theory.
He bit back a growl. “How do you even know they’re lost? I’m going to check on my cabin. We haven’t had a night off in months!”
Skye’s eyes looked like they might shoot laser beams and fry him where he stood.
“Fine.” Grizz bit the words out. “I’ll take my ATV and check on Dani and the cameraman. Make sure they’re not bear chow.”
Time to play nice and not let the surly mountain-man vibe win this round, despite everything within him wanting to retreat to his cabin. Alone.
Where he belonged.
Not that he didn’t love his team. The hotshots had his back when putting out wildfires. But in general, he was skeptical of new people. Especially a nosey reporter sniffing out a story. Trust didn’t come naturally to him. He’d been burned one too many times to let outsiders in.
It was even the reason he’d stopped going to church. How was he supposed to trust God when God had so many untrustworthy followers? Everyone had an angle to work.
Grizz watched the other hotshots scatter like raindrops. He’d check on the out-of-towners, but he wasn’t getting involved in their drama. Not at all.
