Memories with Fire (With Fire #2)

Chapter 1Hailey

CHAPTER 1

HAILEY

“The way you shoved it into that guy’s ass was delectable, Hails.”

Quinn Kelly, my partner in crime, other half at work, and best friend, beams proudly from the driver’s seat of the ambulance. I groan at the way she says it—purposely, I’m sure, because that’s Quinn for you.

“Jesus, Quinn, can you not say it like that?” I mutter from the passenger seat, flicking a piece of dried mud from my uniform. “He had that cop on the ground, what was I supposed to do? Nothing?”

“I’m just surprised my risk averse bestie was willing to stick her neck out like that.” Quinn glances at me and grins, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. “It was badass.”

She’s right. I prefer safe calls, but I know there’s a level of risk involved with being a paramedic. Normally, law enforcement deals with that side of things, but they were definitely fighting an uphill battle with the patient who needed a hospital for behavioral issues. Quinn and I had the needle full of a sedative at the ready, but we were trying to stay out of the tussle. Until an opportunity presented itself, and the guy had his ass in the air, completely distracted by the officers on scene. One little needle prick later, and he wasn’t a problem anymore.

Not before we all ended up covered in mud the guy was flinging when we first got there. It’s in our hair and covers our uniforms, and I can’t wait to have a shower when we get back to the station.

“It’s not a big deal,” I mutter, pulling my phone out of my pocket when I feel it vibrate against my leg. “God damn it.”

“What?” Quinn looks over, chuckling when I show her the screen. ‘Mom’ with a picture of my mother and me flashes on the screen. In a chipper tone I don’t feel, Quinn singsongs, “She wants to know all about your date last night with George.”

The blind date from hell. Ugh. I don’t know what my mother was thinking, setting me up on it—or the other five brilliant blind dates she’s set me up on in the last two months. She has the best intentions when it comes to my dating life, I know she does, but I don’t want the help she insists on providing. I always cave when she begs me to go, though. There’s nothing worse than disappointing her.

Quinn already knows the hell I went through last night. She heard all about it while we were getting ready this morning, thankfully keeping her laughter to a minimum. I wonder if that’ll be the case this time around.

Swiping to answer the call, I put it on speakerphone. I could ignore it, but I know she’ll just keep calling all day until she gets answers.

“Hi mom.”

There’s no preamble as she launches into, “How did it go with George?”

Heaving a sigh, I tell her, “Where do you want me to start? The oversized, noisy truck that could wake up the other side of the world? The heavy metal music blaring on the speakers? Or the band t-shirt he was wearing?” Flicking another piece of mud off my uniform, I wrinkle my nose. I’ll need to clean it off the floor later.

“What’s wrong with band t-shirts? He’s just expressing himself.”

I roll my eyes. “I get that, but it’s not my type. He was not my type. Mom, he had this scraggly beard that went down to his chest, and he took me for spicy food. Which would be fine if your date likes spicy, but we both know that I can’t stand it.”

“You could ask for mild, you know,” my mom interjects, sounding personally offended that I didn’t enjoy my time. I can picture her at the kitchen table in the house I grew up in, tapping her fingers against it as her coffee sits near her hand.

Beside me, Quinn tries to muffle a laugh, and I shoot her a dirty look.

“Okay, well, if that’s not enough, he ran into two friends, didn’t bother to introduce me, talked with them for ten minutes each, and then took me to the skate park. The fucking skate park, mom,” I grumble into the phone, still not believing I went through with the whole date.

I should have made him take me home after dinner, but I’m not that smart. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s watching people do dangerous stunts. In my profession, I deal with too much of the aftermath to enjoy watching things where people can get hurt. Social media posts where people do the dumbest crap, and a million things could go wrong, make me wonder how natural selection hasn’t intervened.

“You want to know the kicker?” I ask, flicking a large piece of caked mud from my knee. I don’t wait for her response. “He bailed so hard that he screamed like a baby, and I thought I was going to have to drive him to the emergency room. Turned out to be a scraped elbow.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that it didn’t go well?” she asks, making me want to scream in frustration.I refrain, somehow.

“No, mom, it didn’t go well.”

“Oh, thank god.”

“What?” Both Quinn and I say at the same time, my head swiveling to look at her, her doing the same to me. I add, “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you.”

“No, I’m glad you didn’t have a good time.” She’s casual. Nonchalant. As if this response is completely acceptable.

“You do recall you’re the one that set me up, right?” I ask, semi-recovered from my mild shock. “I wouldn’t have gone on the stupid date if it weren’t for you.”

“You don’t know why I’m saying I’m glad.”

I stare at Quinn, shaking my head. Nothing good can come of this. She glances at me, teal colored eyes—contacts she switches for new colors every day—dancing with amusement, not bothering to hide her enjoyment of the situation, and entertainment my mother provides.

My mom is banging around in the kitchen, and I wonder if I was wrong in my initial assessment about her having her coffee at the table already. It sounds like she’s getting herself one now, waiting me out until I ask her why she’s glad.

With a sigh of resignation, I finally ask, “Why are you glad, mom?”

“Well, there’s this new woman at book club,” she launches into her explanation with the sound of hope and excitement tinging the words. “Darlene. She showed me a picture of her son, and Hailey, is he ever cute.”

I mutter an expletive. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Oh, Hailey, please just think about it! I think you’d really like this one.”

“You said that about all of them!” I cry, throwing my hands up in frustration. “Mom! I don’t want to go on any more blind dates!”

“Well I don’t see you going on any of your own volition,” she retorts.

Beside me, in my peripheral vision, I see Quinn nod her head, and I reach over to flick her shoulder. Then I take a deep breath, count to five, and let it out.

Is this how Nate, a friend, and my lieutenant at the firehouse, felt when everyone ganged up on him and his dating life? Or rather, his lack of one? Of course, that was before he met Savanna, his girlfriend, who became one of my closest friends. I’d venture a guess she’s about to become more to him, if she says yes when he pops the question next week. Which she will. The two of them can’t get enough of each other. It’s so sweet, it’s almost sickening. They deserve it, though, after everything they went through with her psycho ex.

If I were blissfully happy like them, I wouldn’t be having this dumb conversation with my mom.

“I don’t want to go on any more blind dates, mom,” I repeat with more ire than the first time. “I’m done with them. No more. Finito. Closed for business. That’s it.”

“Hailey…”

It’s her tone. I know that damn tone. Through clenched teeth, I growl, “You already said I would do it, didn’t you?”

“Honey, just think about it. Please? I swear this one is better looking than the last.”

My eyes dart to the phone, my jaw slackening. Anger is seeping into my blood, and I take a breath. “You told me you didn’t see a picture of George.”

“Well,” she hesitates, clearing her throat. “Not a good one.”

“Mom!” I exclaim, hitting the side of the door with the heel of my hand.

I can’t believe she saw a picture and still let me go out with him. She’s more out of her mind than I thought. This whole blind date thing has to end once and for all; it’s been exhausting. At this point, I don’t care if I end up the crazy cat lady on the block. I’d prefer it over these awful, awkward dates.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I tell her, looking out the window at the mountains to the east that lead up to my home in Bear Creek. I don’t live right in Santa Rosé, a town outside of San José, California, where I work; I live half an hour away in a little town with one four-way stop, where I grew up and my mom still lives. A community that has all the charm of a little mountain village. “I will consider this blind date if you promise to never, ever, set me up on a date again. Any kind of date.”

“Hailey, you can’t be?—”

“Okay, the answer is no.”

“Wait!” There’s a heavy sigh on the other end of the line, and it sounds like her hands smack the table or counter. “If you go on the date, I’ll never ask again.”

“Nope. Key word was consider. I will consider it.” For the first time this morning, I feel a grin forming.

There’s a rustling in the background on the phone, and then she sighs again. “Hailey, I just want you to find something like your dad and I had. I’m only trying to help because you don’t seem to help yourself.”

My heart twinges at the mention of my dad. I didn’t know their love because he died when I was only a year and a half old, but my mom always made sure that I knew how deep it ran. Once, many years ago, I thought I had found a love like it, but I was young and na?ve back then. Now I know better.

“You’re in no position to negotiate, and you know it,” I respond, ignoring the little stab in my heart for my dad. While I love my mom, I know that she can be manipulative at times, even if her heart is in the right place. Normally I let her, but today I’m taking a stand for myself. No more blind dates. “Take it or leave it.”

There’s a long pause. I don’t need to be there in person to see the scowl she’s casting me through the phone. Finally, she grumbles. “Fine. Deal.”

“Do you promise?” I ask, wanting to ensure she knows I will hold her to this.

“If you truly promise to consider it, then I promise this is the last time I’ll set you up,” she concedes.

I almost feel bad for being victorious because she sounds so dejected. Almost.

As much as I don’t want to consider it, a deal is a deal. “Good. I promise I will consider it. But this isn’t a yes to the date by any means, so I better not be bombarded with some guy blowing up my phone asking when we can Netflix and chill.”

True story.

Quinn snickers beside me, and I pin her with a glare to shut her up.

That was blind date number two. I’ll give my mother credit for being furious when I told her about it.

There’s a gasp of outrage from the other end, like the mere memory of it brings her right back to the moment. “If I’d known he was going to be like that, I never would have agreed to that date!”

“I know, mom. I’m just reminding you that I haven’t said yes. I’m going to hang up now,” I warn her, my finger itching to hit the ‘end call’ button. “I’m almost back to the station, and I want to zen out after this stressful conversation.”

“This has not been stressful,” she scoffs.

“I love you, mom. Goodbye.”

I hear her “I love you, too” before I hit end, releasing a loud sigh as I slouch in my seat. I woke up on the wrong side of bed, grouchy as hell after a crappy evening and less sleep than I’m used to, especially with work. I usually don’t plan things the night before a shift, but George and I weren’t both free any other night, and I wanted to get our date over and done. Bad move.

Add in the coffee I spilled all over my cream-colored sweater on my way to work, and the shitty call first thing this morning, and I’m beginning to wonder what else might go wrong today.

“Damn,” Quinn says, trying to hold back her laughter as she backs into our spot at the fire station. She still shakes beside me, but I appreciate the effort. “Deb works faster than I do on ladies' night with a pack of studs.”

Rolling my eyes, I refuse to comment. Mostly because it’s true. Lately my dating life is all she’s talked about, and I’m wondering if she’s going through some kind of late mid-life crisis, or has a ticking clock for grandchildren. Either way, she can leave me out of it.

Jumping out of the rig when Quinn has it parked, I’m met with a stupidly handsome face courtesy of a man coming towards me. His megawatt smile has me groaning; it’s too early to deal with sunshine on a morning when I want nothing to do with it.

“Good morning, to the two most gorgeous paramedics on my shift. Harley Quinn. How are we today?” he asks, lifting his arms, as if to encompass the entire fire station as Quinn comes around the vehicle.

It’s a bad enough morning without him using that stupid nickname for us. “Don’t call us that.”

He ignores me, looking us over, inspecting our mud-covered uniforms, and breaks into a wider grin. “Ah, just how I like the ladies. A little dirty.”

Liam King. One hell of a looker, charming to boot, usually hilarious, and one hundred percent playboy. We’re good friends, and I love him to pieces, but I can’t stomach his buoyant personality right now. Or questions about last night. Everyone in the station knew I was headed on another blind date.

“Ugh,” I grumble, and at my five feet, four inches, I’m short enough to easily duck under Liam’s arm to head towards the locker room amidst laughing from Quinn.

I can hear her tell him about my mom’s newest date request, but she wouldn’t be laughing if it were her. Then again, Quinn would never allow such a thing to happen. Nor would her mother ever do such things to her. Her mom took off when Quinn was a little girl, and she essentially raised herself after that.

“Just tell your mom you’re dating me,” Liam calls out as I push through the door leading into the living quarters of the firehouse. “I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend!”

My mother has met Liam. She’s met everyone from the firehouse. There’s not a chance in hell she would believe I was dating him, nor would I want her to think it. As much as I adore him, the guy gets around. He’s not exactly what I would call a safe option, in so many ways, and if I’m going to be forced into a boyfriend, it’s going to be with the safe option. Someone who likes nights in, doesn’t do a lot of crazy activities, hasn’t had a heaping helping of women prior to me.

Dull. Boring. Practical.

Maybe a video game nerd, or a computer whiz. Maybe someone who likes slo-pitch, because that’s relatively safe, and the one thing I do enjoy being part of. A guy who can fit in with my friends on the occasional night out. I’m not sure if I can find a gamer or computer guy like that, but if I can’t, I’m happy to stay single. The crazy cat lady. It’s not a bad thing to be. Animals need love.

“You know what?” Quinn says, catching up to me as I reach the locker room. I open my locker as she continues, “I think it’s a good thing your mom is doing this. It’s good to see you going out. I know you don’t necessarily want to, but it’s good for you.”

I sneer at her.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m serious. You’re probably worse than Nate was with the lack of dating life, and look at him now. With the love of his life, getting regular ass, and it shows. You just need some regular dick.” She snaps her fingers at me. “Maybe that’s all you need! Maybe we should just go out and get you laid.”

None of this is helping my mood. Quinn knows I’m not the girl that goes out and gets laid by some random guy. Nor by a non-random guy.

“Stop.” Groaning, I throw my muddy shirt at her. We’re both half stripped from our dirty uniforms. “We are not going to go and—oh my god!” I screech, eyes widening in her direction.

Without realizing I’m doing it, I’m pointing at her. More importantly, I’m pointing at her chest which is still covered by her sports bra. “Did you—what did you—are those?—”

“Nipple piercings!” she says excitedly. Mistaking my horror for enthusiasm, she yanks the side of her sports bra over and exposes a perky breast to me. “I got them done two days ago. I wondered if you’d notice. Aren’t they amazing?”

“Quinn!” My cheeks flame, a hand coming up to cover my eyes.

I love her, I really do, but I don’t need to see her boobs. Not that this is the first time. Quinn has no scruples about baring it all for anyone who wants to look. Sometimes I envy that about her.

Grabbing my hand, she pulls it down from my face. “Don’t be a prude. Check it out. They’re sore and sensitive, though, so I haven’t been able to really try them out. But I love them.”

I inch an eye open, then the other, giving in to take a look. It’s brief, mostly just to satisfy her, but in the quick look before I turn away, I have to admit, they suit her. “Just keep them clean. Don’t let them get infected. That would be something awful.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch her rubbing large circles around her nipples, both breasts firmly in place behind the cover of her bra. I nearly snort because I can tell she doesn’t want to think about it. She knows the horrors of what can happen if something gets infected. Thankfully, she knows how to take care of herself.

“Okay, back to you,” she says, making me sigh. “While I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, I really think you should go on this date. Just say yes. One more date won’t kill you, and what if the guy ends up being the love of your life?”

Grabbing everything I’ll need for a quick shower, I roll my eyes, refraining from telling her she sounds just like my mom. “I’ll think about it.”

Fifteen minutes later, clean and in a fresh uniform, Quinn, Liam, and the rest of my shift are all howling with laughter over the recount of my date with George. Even Brody, a behemoth of a man who doesn’t say a hell of a lot, is sitting there with a smirk after chuckling a time or two.

“I’m telling you, Hails. Just tell your mom you’re dating me. She’ll leave you alone,” Liam says, causing everyone to burst into another round of laughter. He holds a hand up to silence everyone. “If you tell her we’re dating, she’ll end up so busy trying to convince you to break up with me you won’t need to worry about any more dates.”

Though I laugh, he has a point. I could see my mom telling me to run for the hills if she thought I was seriously dating Liam. Not only is he a playboy, but he’s a risk taker, and as much as I hate risk taking, my mom hates it more. She never got over my dad falling to his death at work. He was a roofer, building new homes, and hadn’t been wearing a safety harness. So, maybe I’ll keep the idea in my back pocket, just in case she doesn’t stick to her end of the bargain when it comes to this final blind date I’m considering.

“You’ll be my secret weapon, Liam,” I assure him.

“Or maybe our new guy will be cute,” Quinn muses, glancing at me with a twinkle in her eye. “And you could get a real date, Hails. Your mom won’t have the opportunity to do shit like this then.”

The new guy. The reason we’re all sitting in the conference room, waiting for Nate. The reason Liam was there to greet us when we got back from our call. He let Quinn know, when I walked away, that we were to meet here.

Today is the guy’s first shift. I don’t even know his name yet, but as we all sit around waiting, I imagine Nate and him will be walking in at any moment. He’s here to replace Mac, the oldest member of our crew, who retired last week.

That final shift with Mac nearly killed us all. Since the day I started, he treated me like one of his own, and I came to love and adore him. Not having him around is weird. There’s a sense of loss around the house with his departure, but none of us has talked about it. I think that would make it too real.

This new guy, however, is also going to make it feel real.

I roll my eyes at Quinn. As grumpy as I felt this morning, I’m feeling better since we got together for our meeting. Retelling the story of last night, to others besides my mom, made me see how funny it could be if I thought of it in the right light, even if it was annoying in the moment.

Today isn’t going to be so bad, I decide, resetting my attitude. Maybe this new guy won’t be so bad either.

“Oh shit,” Quinn whistles low. “He is cute.”

Everyone in the room straightens and turns their attention to the front. My head swivels in the direction of the door, and I see Nate first, his blue eyes glancing around the room, nodding hello to all of us.

I don’t spend much time looking at Nate because my eyes are immediately drawn to the man walking in behind him. For a second, I think I’m seeing things.

There’s no way.

It isn’t possible.

I’ve got to be hallucinating.

All this dating is bringing up crazy things in my subconscious, and now I’m imagining things that aren’t there. This must be a dream, and I’m about to wake up any second.

“Alright, everyone,” Nate says to the room, though I hardly hear him. I’ve blinked so many times that someone who didn’t know me would probably think I have a tic. “I’d like to introduce you all to?—”

“Luke?”

My voice sounds foreign to me. I don’t even realize I’m the one who has spoken until everyone’s eyes shift in my direction. Not that I’m looking at them. The only one I’m staring at is the man beside Nate. The one whose light ash hair is no longer worn in a crew cut, but buzzed close to his head. The one whose eyes I could never decide if they were blue or green, because it always depended on the light. The one whose dimples melted my heart every time he flashed me a hint of a smile.

The one gaping back at me now. “Hailey?”

“You two know each other?” Nate asks, sounding as surprised as I feel.

Thankfully, I don’t need to answer. The alarm sounds, indicating a call. I don’t dare take my eyes off Luke. His own, wide with disbelief, don’t leave me. We’ve both been caught off guard, and I don’t think either of us knows what to say or do.

I’m more than grateful when the call turns out to be only for Quinn and me, but I can’t seem to make myself move, my gaze firmly glued to the man standing a few inches shorter than Nate’s six-one.

“Hailey, let’s go,” Quinn mutters, giving my shoulder a shove as she gets up from her seat.

It’s enough to pull me out of the trance. My head snaps in her direction and then I’m up, shaking out the cobwebs that seemed to have formed within seconds. “Coming.”

I don’t bother looking at Luke again, but I know his eyes are focused on me as we walk by Nate and him. I know because I can feel them. The same way I can feel my entire body tingling just from being around him. Just like it always did.

I don’t know why he’s here, or how he ended up in my firehouse, but I do know that my day went from bad to worse. I expected the new guy to create waves in the house with Mac leaving and all, but I didn’t expect this.

Luke Reyes. The first, and only, man I’ve ever loved. The only one to ever break my heart.