Chapter 6
6
Asher
Oscar, the Swiss Mountain dog we adopted from Granny Rose, stood atop the kitchen prep counter, his tail wagging.
The remains of my chicken and vegetables was smeared all over the floor. He'd become family like his little silver-haired previous owner, who lived across the street from the station. But on days like today, I wanted to strangle him. The guys and I had just spent the last two hours cleaning all the black soot from those smoldering food trucks off our trucks and equipment. Then, we had to sanitize the entire bay floor, and now I walked in to find this mess.
Somehow, he’d gotten up onto a chair and helped himself to dinner. Now he looked at me, a piece of a noodle still hanging from his jowls, wondering why I was pissed.
The little brown patches below his brows raised as he let out a small woof, as if he wanted me to tell him what a good boy he was. The white and brown on his snout moved as his tongue licked at the corner of his mouth, trying to wipe away the evidence.
“Sweet Jesus, Oscar. Look at the mess you made.”
“Woof.” He lowered his butt onto the bowl of rice, tipping it and adding to the mess. Then his paws inched closer to the table’s edge, flattening his body and pushing more items off the table. His eyes raised and lowered as he looked at me.
“How the hell did you even get in here? Where’s Brax at? He was supposed to be watching you.” Oscar’s puppy instincts knew he was in trouble, yet he hoped I’d give him a pass if I saw the feigned innocence in his eyes.
“Get down, boy, so I can clean this mess up.” Oscar scrambled to his feet and flew through the air until he landed on the tile beside me.
“What the hell happened in here?” Braxton “Brax” Andrews entered from the apparatus floor and groaned when he spotted Oscar standing beside me. “Should have figured he was behind this mess.”
“Who let him out of his crate?” Cap asked as he strode into the kitchen. “Or maybe I should be asking who forgot to put him in his crate before we left.”
Brax held his hands up in surrender. “My bad. I let him loose. Last time I looked, he was sleeping out on his bed in the bay.”
“Well, then you can help mop this shit up. And since the dog ate my dinner, one of you can run for pizza. Everyone’s starving.”
“I got this mess, Cap. Can’t expect my best friend here to resist my chicken.” I ruffled the fur behind Oscar’s ears. “I got ya, boy.” His brows twitched as he looked up at me and licked my palm.
“Guess he didn’t like the sauce.” Cap smirked. “And since he’s your best friend, you can take him to get his nuts snipped in two weeks. Denise made an appointment. It’s on the calendar. I’m tired of him humping everything around here.”
Hawk entered the kitchen, assessed the damage around him, and began laughing hysterically before asking, “Who’s getting their nuts snipped? You or the dog?”
“Oscar,” we all replied at the same time.
Hawk groaned and looked in Oscar’s direction, “Buddy, this doesn’t make you less of a man. You know that, right?”
Oscar trotted over to Hawk and raised up on his hind legs, resting his front paws on Hawk’s chest. “Hey, don’t be down about it; just think of all the fun you’ll have not worrying about getting some girl dog pregnant.”
“If anyone knows about the fun part, it would be you, Hawk,” I replied, pushing the heaping mess of food off the counter into the trash.
“You know it. I can’t help that the ladies wanted a piece of me before I met Skye,” Hawk answered while attending to the mess of dishes in the big sink. “Once Skye entered the picture, that invisible open-for-business sign that hung around my neck read back the fuck off.”
It was true. Once Hawk met Skye, he changed. More accurately, she changed him. He was still full of himself, but he was happier now.
There was a time when I swore I had no room in my heart for a girl. Loving one came with the potential of lies and deceit. That’s what the first girl I’d let in had taught me. The military shaped me into the man I was today—hardened to the core but also with a shit ton of baggage. The kind men bring home from war. Hawk might be down for the long haul with someone, but I had no time for it. No relationship needs that unsteady ground.
The beautiful girl with raven black hair and sad eyes made me want to reconsider. Would a woman that gorgeous even be available? She looked young, but definitely old enough. I didn’t see a ring on her finger, but these days that didn’t mean anything. Man, she was scared and shaking. Would someone like that understand my demons, now that she’d had a taste of her own?
There was a light breeze as I sat atop the picnic table outside the station’s back door. It was late and since sleep was eluding me, I figured Oscar might need a bathroom break.
The sound of cicadas filled the air while Oscar sat beside me. Occasionally, the guys whooping at a play the Braves made would drown out the silence. Hawk was up in our room, snoring.
“I’m telling ya, boy. There was something about this woman today.” I rubbed the fur on Oscar’s back. The dog twisted his head and looked up at me. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about her because I was too busy cleaning up your mess.”
Oscar let out a groan.
“So, while you were in the kitchen playing master chef and taste-testing my cooking, the guys and I were doing what we do best. Protecting the citizens of Nashville, but you already know that because you’re the best fire dog.”
Oscar licked my hand and nudged me. “Anyway, there was this woman that kind of got caught in the blast field. Man, she was so scared. I can’t say I blame her. Civilians aren’t used to being near that kind of intensity. She was curled in a ball, rocking back and forth.”
Oscar rolled onto his side, making sure I had ample room to rub his belly.
“I get that explosions would scare the shit out of her, but I don’t think that’s all there is to it. I’ve seen that kind of response before, Oscar. It’s making me wonder what she’s been through to cause such a visceral reaction like that.”
I rubbed my hand through his fur. “She was shell-shocked, boy. That’s… shit. That has to be what it was.” I looked at the dog as if he held all the answers. “You think she’s got a bit of PTSD? And if she does, is that the kind of woman I want to deal with? That might be a lot of work, ya know?”
Oscar gently nibbled my hand, reminding me to keep scratching. “I know. Who am I to judge? What woman wants a guy with nightmares like mine? Fucking battle scars of combat. Shit.”
I closed my eyes, blocking out all the things I didn’t want to remember—like my last deployment.
“There was something about her, boy. She felt familiar. I didn’t recognize her, but it’s weird. I feel like I know her somehow.”
Oscar let out a yawn.
She’d told me her name was Sienna, but that’s all I’d gotten. “She was absolutely gorgeous, Oscar. Like…wow.” Just thinking about her took my breath away. “I just hope she’s okay.”
Oscar and I got into a staring competition, as if he was calling me out on my shit. There was more to it. A pull—something I hadn’t felt in… I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this unsteady. I ran through the girls I’d dated. The sex that never turned into anything more than me pulling up my pants and running for the door.
This was different, as if some random woman out there had just marked me somehow.
The moments replayed over and over again. Her amazing eyes. How she held onto me as I carried her out of that mess. How she pleaded for me to stay with her. Maybe it was all just in my head. My imagination. Not like I’d ever see her again. She was in the wind. Or was she?
“I think I know where she works.”
Oscar got to his feet and jumped down off the table. He ran to the side of the building. Then, he came back. He did this three times; the last time, he stopped before me and tugged my pants leg between his teeth. When I didn’t move, he barked. “Quiet. I get what you’re trying to tell me, buddy, I do. But I’m on duty, so there’s no leaving the station until my shift ends.”
He gave me a drawn-out woof and then headed back into the station, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Running my hand across my neck wasn’t easing the tension. I stood and followed Oscar inside.
This was going to be a very long night.