35. Sam
Chapter 35
T he firetruck's still in the bay. The towns barely big enough to afford one, but under normal circumstances that’s all we need. The doors are rolled up and people scramble around inside trying to get organized. Gabe takes in Garret and me and waves us over. “You know, this isn’t a bring-your-kid-to-work-day kinda thing, right?” Gabe doesn’t have much room to talk since he’s my age and expecting twins.
“Har de har har, smartass. This is Garret. Garret, this is Gabe, lead alpha of Pack Asher, and all around hilarious motherfucker.” I nod back to Garret before returning my attention to the man in front of me. “Is Leo here? I thought he could give Garret a rundown on what to expect.” Gabe’s eyebrows go up. “Garret’s a medic, he’s in town visiting family and friends and staying at my place. When I got the call, he offered to help.” There, not exactly a lie.
Gabe nods and waves his arm, and a few moments later the giant alpha appears behind him so he can make introductions. “Sam brought help if you need it, this here’s…um…Garret?” He looks from me to the alpha standing beside me, and I see Garret nod from the corner of my eye. “Leo, this is Garret, he has medic training and came along in case you need help since we’re shorthanded.” Leo reaches out and shakes Garret’s hand, and they start to talk quietly while he leads him over to the lockers.
Gabe grabs my attention again as I’m heading towards the lockers myself, but I stall out. “Joseph’s gonna flip his shit when he sees you, you know that right?”
I sigh and shrug, because what else can I do? “You’d rather be shorthanded?”
He shakes his head, but the smile he gives me doesn’t reach his eyes. “Not at all, I just wanted to warn you. After what happened this weekend, I figured you’d be expecting shit on that front.” His upper lip curls in a snarl, and I’m glad that he’s not blaming Joseph’s outburst at the ceremony on me.
Fuck, yeah, that all started at his bonding ceremony, didn’t it? These last few days have just been crazy. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cause a scene at your pack’s big day. I really—”
He cuts me off. “Sam, man, you saved Jacks. Pulled his unconscious ass out of a fire, when I was barely fucking coherent. We’re good, no apology needed.”
I’m trying to scramble into my boots as his head swings from me to Garret. “Also, congratulations on finding your pack. How’s that goin’?”
I just manage to wedge my foot down into my boot as another truck pulls into the parking lot. At last, we can get this show on the road, but I answer Gabe anyway as we climb on board. “Well, it’s fucking complicated, that’s for damned sure.” He just chuckles and shakes his head as Joseph climbs out of his own truck. His glare stays fixed on me the entire run across the lot until he’s climbing into the driver’s seat of the firetruck, and we pull out into the frozen night.
T he wind plays merry hell with the truck, and we slide several times before we arrive on scene. Gabe is on one side of me and Garret’s on the other. He’s still in deep discussion with Leo, and I’m glad he has someone to talk to so I can think for a few minutes. Only three of Pack Asher and a few lone alphas were able to make it out, and I’m starting to appreciate Garret’s willingness to volunteer.
Not that I’m letting him get anywhere near the actual fire, but it’ll be good to have an extra set of hands to help out. Things are always crazy in these situations. Maybe if he and Steve stick around they can join up, get trained properly and be more helpful. But that’s a thought for another time. Though, the way Xan was glaring earlier, these two are gonna need to do more damage control for how they treated Kelly.
We—surprisingly—manage not to hit anyone or take out any street signs on the drive over. A couple of cop cars are already there—they were probably closer to the scene when the call came, and didn’t have to wait for a team to assemble to get here. I look at my watch and it’s already been over thirty minutes since I got the call in the first place. That’s a nightmare in and of itself, but this weather wasn’t helping anybody.
Once we’re stopped, we all pile out and get to work. Joseph takes Leo over to talk to the people standing on the sidewalk. For lack of a better option, Garret follows along like a baby duck, his head following the conversation even though he doesn’t join it. According to Gabe, Jacks stayed home with Candice in case anything happens with the storm or her pregnancy. And according to Xan, because he demands that at least one of them gives their omega a proper honeymoon, and he refused to leave.
Gabe and Xan locate the nearest hydrant. We have it on the map, but it’s buried under a snow drift. Xan gets to work uncovering it while Gabe unrolls the hose. Everyone rushes around, but I’m standing like a statue—half waiting for information about people inside, half waiting for my big brother to throw more disappointment my way.
Garret wanders back to where I’m standing sheltered from the wind by the side of the truck. “No one seems to be letting you know, but the people on the sidewalk over there said this is their house, and the whole family is out. Their kids and cat are sitting in the car across the street out of the storm, but everyone’s safe.”
I appreciate him coming to tell me, and I wave him back towards the truck to get warm. When my eyes scan back over the sidewalk, Joseph's glaring at me. I knew he was gonna be an asshole, but I came anyway when they needed me. Fuck, it felt so good being at home cuddled with Kelly and Teddy.
Instead, I’m standing out here, freezing my ass off and about to deal with drama bullshit. There’s really no way to mentally brace yourself for this kinda thing. There’s no way to know what he’s going to try to throw in my face this time. If he’s still pissed about Teddy and Kelly, the age difference, the fact that I brought Garret…Fuck me, he’s probably pissed that I even showed up right now.
If all he wants to do is throw my pack back in my face, he can fuck all the way off.
Shit, maybe he wants to fire me?
Can they fire you if you volunteer?
Pretty sure they can.
But this isn’t a huge area, and on nights like tonight when we're already short staffed…
I guess it doesn’t matter, it just means more time to work on the house and spend time with my pack.
Now I kinda want to just quit so I 'll have the extra time for them.
Nah, they’d want me to help if I could.
Joseph stomps across the street to where I’m standing by the truck, waves of dominance and anger rolling off of him.
Oh, great, it’s to be another public shaming.
Goody.
Fucking crawled out of a warm bed for this shit.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here? You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve showing your face around here after the shit you pulled!” Gabe perks up when the shouting starts, and while my main focus is on my brother—who is losing his shit right now—I’m not so far gone that I don’t pay attention to my surroundings.
Before I can even try to stop the vitriol spewing out of Joseph, Gabe is there, and he looks pissed. He grabs Joseph by the arm, pulling him away from my face, and I barely register that the shouting has also brought Garret back out of the truck. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Joe? Seriously. Starting this shit at my fucking bonding ceremony wasn’t enough, now you gotta start it on a fuckin’ job? We were called out here to help people, which you have done jack-all to accomplish. Thank fuck Leo, Xan, and Paul are actually trying to put out the fucking fire right now…and Paul’s not even on our team, he came with the fucking cops!”
Gabe’s waving his arm at the house that’s still spitting and sputtering flames as two of his pack mates and Officer Paul work the hose. I feel like an asshole for not going over there to help, but with no one but Garret clueing me into the situation, I didn’t want to risk getting in the way and making things worse. “Get your head out of your ass and get your shit together, man.” Gabe reaches for my jacket. “Come on Sam, we need an extra set of hands over here.” I don’t actually care where he’s dragging me right now, I’m just glad to get away from Joseph’s bullshit.