Chapter Twenty-Eight
Amber fell asleep for a late afternoon nap, but Aaron couldn’t rest.
Surprisingly, it didn’t have anything to do with his pent-up sexual frustration, either.
Those clouds had rolled in. The air was heavy and humid. A storm was going to fire up at any moment. As a firefighter, storm days always meant one thing: trouble of some kind.
Traffic accidents increased. Flash floods created stranded citizens who needed rescued. And in the springtime, when tornadoes formed, it was a whole other ballgame. He hated those damn things. So dangerous and just had the potential to hurt folks and property.
Right now felt like one of those troublesome days. Not like a tornado, necessarily. It was too hot without a cold front in sight for that. But for whatever reason, his firefighter senses were tingling.
He stood on the cottage’s small front porch and watched the dark clouds billow angrily overhead. Flashes of lightning streaked deep in the churning mass, making it appear as if bombs were going off inside it.
That’s it, he thought to himself. Lightning. That’s why I’m on edge. Nothing good ever comes from lightning.
The thunder grew louder, growing from the sound of distant cannon fire to something close and deafening. Wondering if Amber could sleep through it, he turned to poke his head in the door but felt someone approaching.
His awareness and senses proved sharp. Beckett appeared from the side of the cottage, having come from the direction of his place.
“Is this storm making you as nervous as it is making me?” the police officer asked.
“I was just thinking about it,” Aaron confirmed.
In that moment, they weren’t just Littles at a fun, kink-friendly resort. They were two first responders talking shop.
Aaron was thankful he’d thrown on jeans with his shirt and wasn’t simply wearing a diaper below the waist in case that prickly feeling that gnawed at him turned out to be more than just his imagination.
Beckett was wearing shorts along with his t-shirt.
If trouble did rear up, they were at least dressed in more than Little clothes. Hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue, though.
“Amber is asleep, but you want to hang out? We just have to be quiet,” Aaron said.
“Yeah. But man, I have to ask you…” He looked apologetic as he continued, “are you sure we’re cool about what happened earlier?”
Aaron grinned and waved it off. “Oh yeah, brother. Trust me. We’re better than cool.”
Beckett returned the smile. “It really doesn’t bother you?”
Aaron shook his head. “Not in the least.”
Beckett nodded knowingly. “Yeah. It wouldn’t bother me, either. If I had a wife to—”
A brilliant light flashed all around them, and Aaron swore his hair stood up. The thunder that accompanied the lightning rattled the entire cottage.
“Holy shit!” Beckett said.
“Dude, we need to get inside,” Aaron said.
Beckett didn’t hear it because more simultaneous lighting and thunder struck. Amber appeared at the door, seemingly wide awake now.
“Is it going to be a bad one?” she asked.
Aaron shrugged. “A loud one, at least. But I don’t think we have to worry about tornadoes. Just not cool enough behind the storm. Flooding might be an issue. And that lightning could—”
As if to illustrate his point, the storm released another electric burst. But this time, there was a loud crack that could be heard even over the accompanying thunder. A scream echoed in the distance.
“Tree?” Beckett asked.
“Maybe,” Aaron said. “But might’ve been too loud to be a tree snapping, unless it was a huge one. Come on!”
“Aaron!” Amber cried. But then she must have realized what he did for a living, because when he turned around, jogging backwards for a moment to look at her, she just said, “Be careful. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He turned around and picked up the pace, with Beckett close behind.
***
The person screamed several more times, allowing Aaron and Beckett to follow the sound even over the gathering storm.
Thankfully, the threatening rain hadn’t started yet, but those clouds were low and looked so full they might rupture at any moment. Hopefully, the deluge held off just a while longer.
And hopefully, whoever had screamed, was all right.
“It’s coming from the main building!” Aaron called as they rounded a corner and saw the old collegiate gothic structure towering ahead. “Oh crap! Right there!”
A familiar stench registered in his brain. He didn’t see a fire, though. Perhaps it was just residual charring left from the lightning strike.
What he did see, however, needed attention just as urgently.
A pile of bricks was covering the lower half of a man. Aaron instantly recognized him as Sam Mason, who owned the resort with his wife.
He knelt beside Sam. “Are you okay?”
“I’m…fine. Just help…Misty…”
Another scream rang out and Sam pointed toward the building.
That smell of fire grew stronger and Aaron looked at Beckett. “You got this?”
“I got him.”
It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. One of the chimneys on the historic building had been struck by lightning, and poor Sam just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The bricks from that now half-chimney on the roof fell right onto him.
But lightning had done more damage than that.
Aaron now saw that one of the backdoors was open and smoke was starting to drift out of it. That smoke grew thicker as Aaron stepped inside and took a quick glance around. It was a mud room of sorts, not a very big space, and it was filling up quickly with smoke.
He could see enough to gain a preliminary understanding of what happened—thanks to the blackened wall where the fire had started and escaped from.
Lightning had struck, sending a massive, high-voltage electrical surge directly into the building’s wiring system. That sudden overload caused the wires to instantly overheat, melt their insulation, and ignite. But none of that mattered right now.
Misty mattered.
“Over here!”
Through the increasing smoke, he could see her, but instead of rushing straight toward her, he fought that reflex and took a second or two to assess the situation.
It wasn’t good.
She was surrounded by flames.
Thankfully, there was a fire extinguisher nearby that was accessible to him but cut off from her. It didn’t take very long before he had it in hand and was using it to clear a path.
“Can you walk?” he asked loudly, competing with the crackling that was growing in intensity.
“Yeah. I’m not hurt.”
“Come on!”
More flames sprouted in their path, but Aaron was able to defeat them. The only problem was that there was a lot of fire left behind them and the extinguisher was now empty.
If that fire wasn’t dealt with soon, it was going to spread, ravaging that beautiful, historic building.
“Is anyone else in there?” he asked, once they’d made it outside.
Thankfully, they were greeted by the sight of Sam—now free of those bricks—staggering to his feet with the help of Beckett.
“No. It was just me.” She saw her husband and cried, “Sam!”
The two ran to each other—though Sam hobbled a bit—and the sight warmed Aaron’s heart.
Though he didn’t have time to reflect on it. There was a fire to deal with!
“Where’s the breaker box to this place?” he asked.
Misty and Sam both pointed to a spot on the back outside wall. Thankfully, it was close and easy for Aaron to see and access. He threw the metal door open and just flipped every switch to the OFF position.
Next, he got the hose that was already connected to the outside faucet—no doubt there to water the nearby flower beds—turned the water on and rushed back inside.
The fire was spreading, but it hadn’t left that room yet, and he was able to knock most of it out pretty easily. The hose wouldn’t stretch to the farthest corners of the room, but he was able to make the water reach.
Five minutes later, the fire was out.
“You two saved us! And you saved the building!” Misty said, giving Aaron and Beckett a tight hug.
For the first time since coming to the Evergreens, Aaron wouldn’t have cared if the guys at the fire station could see him now.
Being Little—or submissive or a cuck—didn’t change who and what he was.
He was Aaron Garrett, and he freaking loved himself and his life.