“Why did you do that? You’d burn!” Her eyes dart around my torso, and I become too aware that I’m half naked in a stranger’s house.
“I wouldn’t. The fire was out already,” I explain but glance down at myself just in case. With the amount of body hairs I have, a few may have gotten scorched.
“But the surface must still be hot!” She’s still yelling, and although it’s like sandpaper against my brain, I’m grateful to find a drop of common sense in that head of hers.
“I didn’t touch any of it. See?” I spread my arms wide. “I’m fine.”
Her eyes rake over me, but I can’t see her facial expression behind all that soot. Her eyes survey me one more time, narrowing as if not happy with what they see. She quickly averts them. I’m not prince charming, but I’m notthatugly to look at. Her obvious disgust causes acid to settle in my stomach. This is why I don’t mess with rich girls anymore, the ones who can only paint their nails and aren’t capable of anything else.
The sound of a fire engine roars outside. Just great. Thirty seconds later, three people in full gear burst in, stopping short when they notice me. One comes toward us while the other two hover by the entrance.
“Dang, boy, you’re fast,” Austin says after asserting the situation. He’s the oldest at the station and like a father figure to everyone he works with. We respect him tremendously, even when he’s busting our asses. Especially then.
I grab my extinguisher and get ready to go back home. There’s no way this chick would know what to do if a fire really did break out, so I’m her best bet for survival here. This thing goes with me wherever I go, within reach in case of emergency. It’s a necessary precaution, or she’ll burn down the whole neighborhood.
“What happened here?” Austin asks with a whistle, looking around.
“This idi…lady…”I gesture at the blonde. “Decided to light the fireplace without opening the damper.”
“Oh, ma’am.” Austin coughs, trying to hide his laughter. “Are you all right?”
The woman shoots me a dirty look and turns toward Austin. Trying to maintain her pride, her posture is so proper and intense, she might as well be the queen of England. “I’m fine, thank you very much,” she tells him, a thankful smile on her lips.
“Yeah, good thing Mark lives nearby,” he says, a proud smile on his lips.
“You’re here just as fast as he is, so I’m sure you’d have been able to save me anyway.” She gives him a sweet, megawatt smile, and her pearly white teeth look ridiculous on her smokey face. In fact, her eyes and her teeth are the only places not covered in soot.
I briefly assess her attire: oversized—like four sizes oversized—pajama pants and a long-sleeve shirt of an unknown color. Her long blonde hair falls in a tangled mess down her lower back, covered in soot. My sister wouldn’t be caught dead looking like that, even at home alone on a Sunday night.
“Yeah, you got a point there. We need to check everything to ensure the fire didn’t spread.” He looks around, wonder in his eyes. “Damn, the old bat really kept all this beauty to herself? Hmm.” He proceeds to check the building.
As he does, the two other guys come closer. They’re new and from a different shift. I don’t even remember their names yet.
“Sup, man. Heard a lot about you,” one says with a nod before turning toward Austin before leaving. “We’ll be outside. Shout if you need us.”
I look around and see that Mrs. Jenkins took all the furniture with her and left her houseplants. She hated those things with passion. Her kids thought she loved them, so they kept giving them to her as gifts. She had to keep them. I bet she was more than giddy to dump them on this woman.
I turn my attention to her and catch her checking me out. My torso, to be precise. She’s so focused, I look down to ensure I don’t have a nasty burn or something I don’t know about. No, everything looks just fine. I glance back at her, and when she notices my eyes on her, she sheepishly averts her eyes to her naked feet. It would be adorable if I wasn’t annoyed as fuck by getting awakened after a double shift. Plus, her disgust a few minutes ago didn’t exactly stroke my ego.
Austin comes back. “All good. Do you need an ambulance, ma’am?”
The blonde shakes her head. “No,the gentlemanstopped the fire on time,” she says, still looking at her feet. After a few moments, I hear a “thanks.” It comes out of her mouth like it physically pains her.
Fuckin’ spoiled princess. Even from here, I can tell the potato bag she’s wearing costs more than any piece of clothing should.
“See you tomorrow, Mark,” Austin says with a wave, getting ready to walk out the door.
“Nah, I’m off tomorrow. Have some errands to run, finally,” I say, following him. Whatever happens here now is the blonde’s problem, not mine. “You staying for another shift? It will be what? The third for you?”
“The fourth,” he says. “Mary isn’t speaking to me, so I’m in a doghouse. I figure if I spend this time at work and let her miss me, she may properly greet me later.” He winks as he laughs at his own joke.
I chuckle and smack his shoulder. The escapades between him and his wife are legendary. They spend more time fighting than making up, but they love each other. I guess it’s their foreplay. Regardless, I wouldn’t know what a normal relationship would look like if it bit me in the ass.
Austin leaves the house and saunters over to the new guys outside. I throw one last look at the woman, making sure she’s really all right. As annoying as the idiot has been, I still have some empathy for her. She stands in the middle of the room, looking around at the mess and biting her thumbnail. Her eyes seem lost, as if she’s mentally somewhere I can’t see, and she isn’t moving.
“Are you sure you don’t need an ambulance?” I ask her.
She blinks a few times, her eyes clearing. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thank you.”
