14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Ash
T he next day at the station is uneventful.
They are so busy with call after call that Ash gets barely any time to talk with Raif or any of the other firefighters.
She sees him look at her a couple of times, though, catches her eye, gives her a nod, and that small private smile of his.
She likes him, not in a romantic sort of way but as a friend.
He was there for her when she needed someone, he seemed to understand what she needed, and she greatly appreciates it.
Ash wonders how he sees her. She never catches him looking at her body.
Even her best friend Sam sometimes has wandering eyes when she bends over.
But Raif seems completely respectful, which makes her like him more.
He doesn’t ogle her, doesn’t flirt. He’s kind and caring if a little gruff on the outside.
She’s watched him on calls, though. Talking to the older woman after her house was broken into.
On one call in Silver Lake, she saw someone thank Raif for mowing their lawn, so she guesses it’s something he does for the community.
She thinks it’s sweet. He maintains a rough facade, but she’s starting to see the real him inside.
Sam came into the station and practically begged her to come out to the bar with him the next night.
Roping in Lucas and Ben, and soon the rest of the station, who won’t be on shift.
She grudgingly agrees. She plans to get up early the day after her shift and mow her lawn, but she sleeps the morning and afternoon away, and before she knows it, it’s seven pm.
She puts on a pair of slim-fitting dark jeans and a black tank top. She’s not trying to get picked up, doesn’t want to get hit on. But these jeans are honestly her cleanest pair, so she throws them on with some short black boots and is out the door.
Juniper Springs has two bars. One is a biker bar on the South side of town.
It’s rough, and she’s only ever been there on calls for fights and other nonsense.
The other is Jasper’s. They have food and dancing, and it’s not too loud, even on busy nights.
When she pulls into the parking lot, the sun has set, and music is wafting through the building outside.
She only plans on having one drink. She drove herself, for goodness sake, and would never drink and drive.
Entering, she sees a large table with Sam, Ben, and Lucas. Aiden, her current least favorite person, sits at the end. There are a couple of extra chairs, but when Sam sees her, he hobbles up and pulls up another chair next to his.
“My queen, how are you tonight?” Sam’s got a big smile on his face, and his cheeks are red and rosy, drunk.
She chuckles and sits down next to him. He immediately pulls her chair closer to his and throws an arm around the back of hers.
Sam’s friendly, touchy, always has been.
He doesn’t outright flirt with her because he kind of flirts with all women, even the little old ladies at the grocery store.
Just in his personality. So she doesn’t think much of him pulling her close and putting an arm on the back of her chair, it’s just Sam.
Ash’s gotten her first beer when she sees Raif come in and look around. Her heart beats a little faster, and she attributes it to the alcohol. When he sees their table and locks eyes with her, she can’t help the smile that spreads on her face.
Everyone welcomes Raif to the table, and he sits across from Ash. He looks good, a tight black t-shirt showing off his broad chest and big arms. Tight jeans that cling to his thick thighs. She shakes her head a little to clear her thoughts, the alcohol is really getting to her.
They talk shop. It’s what they always do in their downtime.
Telling and re-telling stories from their calls.
Even when most have happened when they were all together.
It’s fun, and she feels herself laughing a lot.
Recently, she’s felt more stressed than normal, thinking and remembering James, plus fighting with her mother.
Now, though, she drinks more and lets herself scooch down in the seat.
Sam rubs her shoulder, and it feels nice. She’s lucky to have a friend like him.
She watches Raif. He doesn’t talk much, nurses his beer, and nods along. He catches her gaze a few times, it’s intense, and she always ends up breaking eye contact to look away. When she sees him looking at Sam’s hand on her shoulder, she gets a little bold. She’s on her fourth drink of the night.
Ben is recounting the time when they went to an abandoned warehouse, and spiders attacked Lucas.
Everyone is laughing, and she puts her hand on Sam’s thigh, running it up and down.
She watches Raif. He freezes, bringing the beer bottle to his lips, and watches her.
It’s clear where her hand is even across the table.
Sam brings his hand up and links their fingers together on his thigh, stopping her path of moving up and down and holding her gently to his leg.
She leans over to Sam, whispers in his ear, “wanna dance?”
He smiles big and bright at her and stands, tucking one crutch under his arm and leading her to the dance floor.
The song is fast with lots of bass. She presses her ass to Sam’s crotch, and his one hand grips her hip.
She doesn’t grind into him, just sways back and forth.
He maintains an inch or so of space between them until she leans back against his chest, tilting her neck up in the air.
Sam’s mouth is against her neck in a second.
Not kissing, just hot puffs of air against her skin.
She rolls her head to the side and sees that Raif is watching her intently.
She likes it, likes the attention. She doesn’t want to go home with Sam.
That would be weird, almost incestuous, since he’s her best friend.
But she likes how Raif is staring. She wants him to come over, ask to cut in, take her in his arms, and press himself against her.
She chokes basically. Her throat closes up a little at the realization she’s fantasizing about Raif. Fuck, she’s definitely drunk. Sam squeezes her hip a little tighter, and she swears she can feel something pressing into her ass. She pulls away.
“Bathroom, gotta pee.” She doesn’t look at Sam’s face, just walks away towards the hallway where the bathrooms are.
There she splashes water on her face. She remembers dancing with James in a cowboy bar like this.
Pressed up against him, him kissing her neck.
It’s so similar to what she just did with Sam, whom she has zero feelings for.
She feels a little sick, unsure if it’s from the large quantity of alcohol or her poor decisions trying to make Raif jealous.
It takes her a few minutes of holding onto the sink to get her legs back and feel well enough to make her way back out there.
When she steps out into the hallway, the bathroom is in she immediately sees Raif with a water bottle.
“How are you feeling?”
She shrugs her shoulders. She feels embarrassed and wonders if he knows that display was to see if he’d get jealous.
“I got you some water, you should drink it. Maybe eat something too.”
He hands her the water bottle, and she looks down at it before taking a big gulp. It’s extremely refreshing, and she drinks almost the whole thing in one go.
“Do you want food from here or somewhere else?”
She shrugs and looks down, refusing to meet his eyes.
“Come on,” he tugs her elbow gently back towards the table. She looks around as Raif talks with Ben and Lucas. Sam is on the dancefloor with a curvy blonde, and they’re kissing. Raif leads her outside.