3. Lochlan
CHAPTER 3
Lochlan
It takes us all night to wrap up the warehouse fire. It’s all we can do to get the rigs back to the station in time for the next watch, wash up, and get out of their way before we all stumble home.
So it’s not until a couple of days later, when I’m barely twenty minutes into my next shift, that Cap’s voice comes tearing through the house.
“BELL!”
It’s not only me who whips their head up to the balcony where Valentine is leaning, staring daggers at me.
“Uh, yeah?” I croak, knowing full well what’s about to happen, but playing dumb anyway.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “My office,” he says smoothly. “Now.”
As he walks away, all my asshole colleagues—who I would have called friends up until approximately five seconds ago—let out a chorus of “Oooooh!” Like I’m some kid being sent to the principal’s office.
I mean, that’s exactly what’s going on, but I don’t want them rubbing my face in it.
“All right, all right,” I grumble, waving my hands and deliberately flicking water over the guys closest to me. I was washing down the truck’s bumper when I was summoned, so I obviously couldn’t help it.
“Asshole,” our probie, Teddy, hisses as he wipes droplets off his face.
Rico chuckles. “You’ll live.”
“Dibs on all your shit, Beast,” Lili calls after me as I grab a rag and dry off my hands.
“No way I’m ever dying before you, Kwon,” I fire back at her.
But the truth is my stomach’s in knots as I jog up the stairs. I hate letting people down, and Valentine’s like a second dad to me in a lot of ways. I never want to make him or my actual dad disappointed in me.
Okay, so maybe Cap isn’t quite old enough to be my dad, unless he’d been a wild teen, which I know he wasn’t in a million years. I would never think of my old man as being hot, either, and it’s impossible not to notice how dreamy Cap is.
Not that I’m into guys like that. Not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with that! Half the damn One-Thirteen is gay or queer or something, and if anyone has a problem with that, they’ll have to go through me first. I’m just not wired that way. Into dudes, I mean.
But if I was…yeah. Julian Valentine would get it.
Warm, dark skin. Bee stung lips. Long cheekbones that could cut glass. And on a normal day, I’d say his eyes have this way of sparkling. But as I walk into his office, they look distinctly stormy, and I try my best to shrink in on myself. Difficult, when I’m six-five and ‘built like a brick shit outhouse,’ as my gramps affectionately says. But my cheeks heat and I certainly feel sheepish as I close the office door. I take a seat opposite the captain, his mahogany desk between us.
“Captain—” I start, my apology ready to go.
“Can it, Bell,” he snaps. “You know why you’re here?”
“Yes, sir,” I reply automatically.
He crooks that eyebrow again, and I do my best not to squirm. “And?” he asks.
I blink, not sure what he’s saying. “…and?”
He sighs. “And why do you think you are sitting in my office right now, Firefighter?”
Oh, right. I quit squirming and just slump. “Because I disobeyed a direct order and almost got my ass flame-grilled like a ribeye steak.”
Cap rubs his forehead for a second before fixing me with that disappointed stare that makes me want to melt between the floorboards with shame.
“It wasn’t just your ass on the line, Lochlan. That’s why I’m mad. Rico stayed with you. I was about thirty seconds away from charging in and dragging you both out.”
Before he’s even finished speaking, I’m sitting up straight in my chair and frowning at him, wagging a finger his way. “Naw, wait a second, Cap. I told Rico to get out of there. And I would’ve never, ever expected you to come in after me, even if things went sideways. That was my call to make. I heard the sound, so I took the risk. I’d never?—”
But he’s already waving me down, shutting me up. “That’s the thing, though. The thing I need you to get, Bell. We don’t leave anyone behind. Not now, not ever. If I make a call, it’s because I’m a fucking dinosaur and I’ve seen everything there is to see on this job. I know when shit is about to hit the fan. I am never going to stand by and let you get swallowed up on my watch. Do you hear me?”
I squirm again, but I nod. It gives me all kinds of feels, knowing I’ve got a team here who really are ride or die. However, I do have to stand my ground, even if it gets my ass chewed out even more.
“I knew I had time, though, Cap,” I protest. His eyes get stormy again. However, I push on. “I read the fire. I knew there was another minute or so before it got too bad, and that’s the only reason I didn’t scream at Rico to haul ass. But I heard what I heard, and I wasn’t leaving until I’d found whoever was making that noise.”
Valentine sighs and folds his arms over his chest. “You don’t have the authority to dismiss your lieutenant. I do, but he didn’t listen, because he wasn’t going to abandon you, either. Do you see the dilemma?”
I shrink down again. “Yes, sir.” God, if anything happened to anyone on my crew, I’d literally never forgive myself.
Valentine puffs his cheeks out and squints at me. “I hate seeing you look whooped. You’re a dick, okay? Just…don’t do it again.”
I practically vault out of my seat as I sit up straight and nod like a maniac. “I promise, sir. I won’t.”
“I give you three weeks,” he grumbles, a hint of a smile tweaking at the corner of his mouth. “All right, enough of this bullshit. I assume you’re keeping the little rascal.” He arches that eyebrow again, and I chuckle and squirm for slightly different reasons.
“Um…he might be under the kitchen table right now.”
Valentine looks skyward and mutters what I assume to be a brief prayer under his breath. “Of course he is. You pick out a name yet?”
I grin. “Sure did, Cap. His name is Rocky, coz he’s a fighter. I washed him up real good, bought him top shelf doggy chow, and took him to the veterinarian for a check up and all that. He’s not chipped, and he’s only about ten weeks old, so they were sure he’s a stray and I can keep him. They gave him some shots and he’s got more scheduled next week.”
Cap is waving me to shut up again, but I can tell it’s good-natured. “All right. I’m down with it. But you can’t just dump him in a tub and get him jabbed. You gotta train with him, for real. Take classes. If he’s going to be around the house, he needs to be a model citizen.”
“Yes, sir,” I promise. “He’ll be the goodest of good boys in no time. You’ll barely even notice he’s here.”
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I think we can officially declare this ass-whooping done. Introduce me, already.”
I jump to my feet. “Yes, sir!” I cry a lot more enthusiastically.
When I yank his office door open, Lili and Teddy are scurrying along the balcony toward the stairs. “Oh, hey, Cap!” Lili calls, spinning around like she wasn’t trying to pretend the two of them weren’t eavesdropping. She shoves Teddy one-eighty as well. “Uh, Probie here was just wondering, uh…”
“What you’d like me to cook for lunch!” he supplies pretty smoothly. “Enchiladas or chicken pasta.” For a baby-faced blond, I’m not sure our youngest team member is as innocent as he seems most of the time, but especially now.
Valentine scoffs, apparently agreeing with me. “Nice try, Probie,” he says as he ushers me past the threshold of his door and closes it behind him. “I believe there are some latrines that need cleaning, hmm?”
“Oh, I already did—” Teddy begins. Then he catches Valentine’s expression and clears his throat. “I mean…yes, sir. I’ll get right on that.”
Sheepishly, he turns and starts jogging down the stairs.
Lili joins him…for about two seconds. “Uh, Firefighter Kwon?” Valentine calls out, a touch of amusement in his voice.
She flinches for just a second before spinning back around with a big smile on her face. “Yes, Cap?”
He snorts. “Probationary Firefighter Foster will get the job done a lot quicker with some help.”
Lili grimaces, but nods all the same, probably knowing full well that she deserves a little punishment for trying to snoop on me getting my butt kicked. “Yes, sir,” she says before disappearing after Teddy.
Valentine laughs and claps me on the back. “See. No one’s ever in my doghouse long, Bell.”
Having been under him at the One-Thirteen since I was a probie myself, I know that all too well. I just prefer it if I’m not the one in trouble for too long.
I’m grinning as I hurry down the spiral staircase and march into the kitchen. Aside from the bunks and bathrooms, the whole ground level of the house is an open space held up by thick supporting pillars. So the gaggle around the dining table has nowhere to hide as we approach, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
“Cap!” Sawyer squeaks, immediately looking guilty. “We were just, um…”
Valentine chuckles. “It’s fine. The cat’s out of the bag. Or the Dalmatian, I guess. But speaking of cats, where’s Smokey?”
A couple of people point to above the refrigerator where the station’s gray kitty, Smokey, is glaring at us all with her orb-like yellow eyes. “Ah, sorry girl,” I say with genuine chagrin. “I promise I’m gonna teach the new guy some manners.”
Our driver engineer, Gene, is already pulling out the cardboard box where Rocky’s been hiding. His little face immediately pops up and his tongue lolls out of his mouth as he wags his tail. “Told you Cap couldn’t say no to such a cutie,” Gene grumbles with half a smile. “You’re all worse than my kids. Bell, get over here and take this little guy outside sharpish. He’s making ‘I need to go potty’ noises.”
“Oh, yikes,” I cry, lurching over and fishing both my puppy and his leash out of the box I’d lined with newspaper. “Good boy, Rocky! Daddy’s here. Let’s go tinkle out on the grass and not in Captain Valentine’s house, all right?”
Sawyer sneaks in a quick scratch on Rocky’s head as I pass. “He is a good boy! So, Cap said he can stay?”
“Cap did indeed,” Valentine says ruefully. “Lord help me. As if this place isn’t chaotic enough.”
I know the alarm could sound at any moment, so I rush outside with Rocky and gently place him on the lawn, trying to be calm for him. I’ve never had my own pet before and I’ve been trying to research as much as possible, but it’s only been a couple of days so far. I know that I need to be his alpha, though. His pack leader. That means I need to be in charge and set an example for him.
In other words…I’m gonna have to fake it till I make it.
“Okay, little man. Do you need to go potty? Here’s where you do that. Daddy has poop baggies and everything, so you just feel free to do your thing.”
Rocky scratches one of his big, floppy ears with an equally large paw, then looks expectantly up at me.
I sigh. Gene has almost as many dogs as he does kids, so if he says Rocky was making those kinds of noises, I believe him.
“Let’s just stay out here for a while and see if you change your mind, huh?”
Rocky yelps, wags his tail, then rolls over and starts fighting with the end of his leash.
I sigh again, reminding myself that this is still very early days—for both of us. I’ll get the hang of this and so will he.
Hopefully.
“Mr. Bell, is that you?”
I turn and grin to see the station’s neighbor approaching. Mrs. Sylvia Bloom’s satin pumps click-clack along the sidewalk as she raises her arm high and waves at me. In her other hand she primly holds her own leash, connected to the one and only Miss Margot Fonteyn, her prize-winning floor mop. I mean…shit zoo. No…shih tzu! That’s it.
“Mrs. Bloom!” I call back as she gets closer.
Wide, light-purple pants billow like a parachute as she walks, and her crisp white blouse shows off her tanned arms. I can already catch a whiff of her expensive floral perfume before she even reaches me, and her bling is dazzling as usual, catching the Californian sunlight like a disco ball. I’m not sure how old she is, but she’s certainly from a generation that wouldn’t consider it polite to ask.
She’s a widower with too much time and money on her hands who long ago decided that the firehouse was hers to fuss over. It’s not unusual for her to drop by two or three times a week with stacks of freshly homemade cupcakes, a giant lasagna, or a vat of Szechuan noodles.
But I believe her primary joy in life is telling everyone what to do because she knows best, and honestly? A lot of the time she really does.
“Oh my goodness,” she coos, immediately spotting my currently uncooperative puppy. “And who is this, then?”
“Rocky!” I tell her proudly, puffing up my chest. “He’s mine!”
“Is that so?”
She watches with me in amusement as Margot trots up to my gangly baby, her floof shimmering like a cloud. I’m glad I won’t have to worry about brushing Rocky every day like Mrs. Bloom does for her. That sounds annoying. Rocky flips himself back on his oversized paws, automatically sniffing Margot back.
Then he barks at her. Loudly.
“Oof, he’s going to need to learn some manners,” Mrs. Bloom comments with a laugh. She doesn’t seem bothered as Margot growls at my rude son, standing her ground.
“Yeah, I know,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’ve been reading stuff online but he kinda just fell into my lap, so I wasn’t prepared.”
Mrs. Bloom tuts and arches her signature sculpted eyebrow at me. “Books will only get you so far, you know. What this young man needs is a training class. Not just to learn, you understand, but also to socialize.”
I blink before grinning at her again. “Hey, that’s a great idea! He can make doggy friends and maybe I can make human friends, too.”
She hums and gives me a wink. “You should be aware by now that I only have good ideas, Mr. Bell. And it just so happens that I know a very good class in the area. It’s run by the granddaughter of one of my SCUBA-diving friends.” She points a manicured nail at me. “The granddaughter is engaged, so don’t get any funny ideas in that direction.”
I hold my hands up. “Whoa! Yes, ma’am. But I’m not the playboy. That would be Sawyer. Your friend’s granddaughter’s virtue is safe with me.”
She hums again, not sounding convinced. “All you kids are allergic to settling down, I swear. This whole damn house is single.”
“Gene and his wife have enough kids for all of us,” I promise her, genuinely unable to recall if their last baby was number four or five.
She hums dubiously again, sounding not all that dissimilar to Miss Margot’s growls. But speaking of our four-legged buddies, Rocky still seems determined to try and make friends with the show dog. He’s yapping and jumping and wrapping his leash around my legs. Margot scuffs her feet and barks back, not having any of his nonsense.
“I better get back inside,” I admit, twisting around to try and untangle myself.
Mrs. Bloom laughs. “I’ll send you the details for the class. Make sure you sign up right away. I believe the next group is starting next week, and Zoe is always popular. She trains animals for Hollywood, you know. And guide dog puppies.”
“She must be great then,” I enthuse.
“I wouldn’t recommend her if she wasn’t,” Mrs. Bloom says with a tsk, but her eyes are warm. “If the class is full, you just tell them I sent you and you’ll get in. Best of luck, Mr. Bell. Goodbye, young Mr. Rocky.”
My Dalmatian barks, then flops over to start licking his balls. I resist the urge to facepalm.
A smile quirks at Mrs. Bloom’s glossy lips. “Come, Margot.” The shih tzu obediently trots by her mom’s feet as both of them waltz away.
Before I can think of anything else, the alarm blares through the house, the dispatcher’s voice calling for both the engine and the truck as well as the ambulance. Sounds like a pile up on the interstate, so we’ll no doubt be teaming up with a few of the nearby San Clemente units.
“Okay, buddy!” I cry, tugging at Rocky’s leash. “We gotta go!”
He races back into the house with me, where I hot foot it to Nancy’s office. As our administrator, she’ll be here during the day when we get called out and has already promised to watch over Rocky for me.
“Hey, Nance! Can you?—?”
The older lady’s eyebrows raise as she peers over her glasses to my feet…where Rocky is relieving himself all over the linoleum floor.
“Aw, man,” I groan.
“BELL!” Cap hollers from where he and the rest of the team are jumping into the rigs. He’s pointing at me with a triumphant grin. “Looks like you better stay here and clean that up.”
“You can’t leave me behind!” I shout back, but the damn engine is already pulling out. “What the hell should I do after that?”
“Make lunch!” Lili yells at me.
“Latrine duty!” Teddy gloats.
I sigh and watch my whole team haul ass until it’s just me and Nancy left with my naughty puppy and a skulking kitty. Rocky has apparently finished tinkling and is wagging his tail at me again. I huff and run to get some paper towels and disinfectant before the mess can spread too far, mopping it up in record time while Nancy plays tug-o-war with my dog.
Once I’m done, I look around the quiet house. Who knows how long they’ll be?
I look at our administrator and decide I’ve probably cleaned up enough icky stuff for now. “Enchiladas and last night’s Traitors?” I suggest.
She laughs and jumps to her feet, Rocky dancing by her side. “Now you’re talking,” she says with a snap of her fingers.
Who cares if I’m missing out on all the action. I’ve got a hot lunch date and a training class to book. I’m going to be the best doggy daddy Redwood Bay has ever seen.