Falling for My Brother’s Hot Best Friend… Again

1. Chapter One ~ Brayden

Chapter One ~ Brayden

As I stood in front of the burning bar, I couldn’t help but envision the love I once lost. Our passion for each other burned the same way the old slabs of wood did. I saw myself being between her legs, thrusting and nibbling on her neck while gripping her plump breast in my palm.

“Brayden,” she moaned. “Brayden!”

Her moans grew louder the harder I thrust into her. My shaft jerked inside because of her warmth, making my toes curl as I fought back the urge to release myself. The crackling of the fire that blazed reminded me of the sound of our bed buckling under our chaotic love.

The heat around me brewed and reminded me of the heat I felt as our bodies collided. I dug deep into her ocean, making her climax on my hardened shaft. One time. Two times. Three. I flipped her over and plowed into her from her behind, smacking her round ass with each thrust. I even took a handful of her hair into my hand and tugged a little.

Mia was no stranger to my roughness. She enjoyed it. Her tight frame and chiseled physique held up against the hard rams she requested more of. The tightness of her walls gripped and sucked at my girth, pulling me into another dimension. Much like the fire my eyes were locked in on. Every time I saw a fire, I thought of Mia. She was the one who got away.

“Brayden!” A voice wavered in my ears, but it was no longer hers. “Earth to Brayden! Get your ass back to reality before you get hurt!”

Nate entered my view, shielding me from the blaze that grew without me realizing it. I hated Nate. I hated his smugness and his attempts to take over the team I grew to call family. He was a new guy from states away and tried way too hard to assert his dominance.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said angrily.

“Yeah?” he scoffed. “It sure looks like you do. Standing here daydreaming instead of assessing the situation.”

“Go to hell,” I shot back. “Someone has to go inside and from the looks of it, it’s going to be me.”

Going back and forth with him in the middle of a roaring fire was a sure way to add fuel to it. While the Firehouse bar and pub burned to the ground, I thought about all the ways I could make him burn to the ground with it. I was sure he wanted the same fate for me. We disliked each other so much that Captain Beckham threatened to fire one of us if we couldn’t find a common ground.

“You can’t go in there! Don't try to be a hero tonight, Brayden!”

He called me Brayden as if he knew me. He hadn’t been on our team for a full three months; he didn't know me at all. I carried station fourteen on my back for five years and I would be damned if I let some rookie come in and test me.

“There could be people trapped in there!” I shouted back. “You either stand down or make a move, but you won’t tell me how to do my job!”

“Damnit Knight! You don’t even know if there’s anyone in there!” He pushed back. “The building isn’t cleared for you to search.”

I tried to push past him, but he stood firmly in my way. We stood chest to chest, heaving forceful air through our nostrils like raging bulls ready to buck at any moment. When he refused to move, I charged at him, buckling his knees beneath him and making my way into the bar without a second glance.

I heard Captain Beckham’s voice calling out behind me, but he was seconds too late. I was already inside the building fighting my way through the smoke and flames.

“Hello!” I shouted for any responders. “Anyone in here!? Where are you!?”

The smoke got darker and the fire blazed hotter. I couldn’t hear anything over the roar of the flames and crashing of the building, but I continued my search. It felt like minutes passed before I found the kitchen, where it all started. Sure enough, there were three members of the staff backed into a corner trying their best to shield their eyes and lungs from the smoke.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked. “Anyone hurt? Can you all walk?”

They all nodded their heads at once. Terror filled their eyes as the smoke consumed the room.

“Alright. Good. I’m fire Ranger Brayden Knight. We have to get out of here as quickly as we can, alright? So, what I need you all to do is grab hands and walk in a straight line in that direction.”

I pointed toward the way I entered. It was darker than before. Nothing could be seen at an arm's reach and suddenly, I second guessed my decision.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” one of the staff members questioned. “I can’t see anything. Everything's hot!”

She was right. It was way too hot to head in that direction. It was way too hot to breathe too. I started to cough, and my eyes burned like the appliances in the bar. But I had to get them out. I would feel like a failure if I didn’t, and my failing would give Nate something more to poke fun at.

Just as all hope started to leave me and my lungs burned more, I remembered the axe on my back. I grabbed it and found the nearest wall that led to the outside and started to hack away at it. With each swing, I inhaled more and more smoke. It burned and I coughed, but I kept swinging.

“The fire’s getting closer!” someone shouted behind me. “Hurry!”

It was so dark in the room; I swung blindly and missed the wall completely. I felt something warm spurt through my pants leg and a sharp pain crippled me to the floor.

“Ahh!” I groaned in pain, realizing my ax had torn through the flesh on my thigh. “Shit!”

Just as the fire inched closer to my boots, the wall I hacked away at came tumbling down and Nate and my team entered the building.

“Brayden!” Captain Beckham shouted as he tried peering through the smoke in the room. “Damnit Knight, where are you!?”

“We’re here!” an employee shouted as they all worked together to drag me through the hole in the wall.

They weren’t as skilled and as quick as firefighters, which led me into a whole new world of trouble. The fire had caught up to us and crept up the legs of my pants as they worked to get me out. The pain in my legs felt like blades slicing at my flesh. I could only flutter one leg, while the other one sizzled under the flames like steaks on a grill.

“Shit! We have to get him out fast! His legs are burning!”

Captain Beckham took the chance of climbing in before the building collapsed completely and squashed me like a bug. With the employees out of the way, he grabbed ahold of my collar and pulled me through the hole like a sack of potatoes.

Without hesitation, he jumped on top of my legs to smother the fire. It caused me more pain than ever, but the fire was out, and my legs were saved from melting away like candle sticks.

“Why’d you go in there, Knight!” he shouted at me as he waved for help. “That was stupid of you! You could have gotten yourself killed!”

After being lifted onto a stretcher and slid into the back of an ambulance, I don’t remember much. The pain I felt was enough to knock me out cold before being given pain meds.

I woke up what felt like days later even though it had only been hours. My leg was stapled shut where the ax hit and wrapped in bandages where the fire burned. Captain Beckham sat at my bedside waiting for me to come to and when I did, boy, did he lay it on thick.

“What the hell were you thinking back there Brayden?” he asked. “This feud between you and Nate has got to come to an end before one of you gets killed. That was stupid move you pulled and I'm glad you made it out, but as of now, you’re placed on leave. No desk work, no entering the station, nothing. You need to take this time to heal and really get to the root of your anger with everything. Until then, I can't have you back.”

“What?” I frowned. “No way. I couldn’t have known the fire would pick up as fast as it did. There were people trapped inside. I saved them.”

“Yeah, while nearly killing yourself.”

“Isn’t that what it means to be a firefighter? Risk yourself to save the innocent?”

Beckham looked at me and only shook his head. He was disappointed beyond belief, and I could do nothing but try to justify my actions. The excruciating pain in my legs reminded me of how stupid my take was, but I fought hard for my position anyway.

“Three months leave,” he said. “That’s final.”

“Captain?”

“I don’t want to hear it, Brayden. Three months. Take some time to get yourself together and then we’ll talk about you coming back.”

Before he walked away, he patted my shoulder to let me know there was no love lost between us. He was just doing his job. Not long after, my mom came barging into my hospital room looking like she’d been street walking all night and day. Her eyes were full of tears and her hair was a mess. She smelled funny too.

“Brayden are you alright?” she sobbed as she approached me. “I heard about what happened. How are you feeling, honey?”

“I’m fine.”

I answered her with annoyance in my tone and looked away. I couldn’t stand the sight of her the way she was; dirty and unkept. Drunk out of her mind most days we ran into each other.

“That’s good,” she said. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if something were to happen to you.”

“Oh yeah?” My uncle Joe entered the room right on cue. “That’s very rich coming from you.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Mom scoffed. “Every time something happens, you’re always showing up. I can take care of my own son, Joe.”

The two of them were always fighting over me. When my mom let her addiction consume her, my Uncle Joe took me under his wing and raised me like I was his own. He tried getting her clean and off the bottle several times over the course of my life, but she always returned.

“What were you thinking out there, kid?” Uncle Joe asked. “That was a dangerous stunt you pulled. I know you think you failed at saving this one here, but you can’t make up for that by doing stupid shit like what you did tonight. You understand?”

I didn’t answer him. I was in too much pain and was in no mood for a lecture after what I'd gone through that night.

“Beck said he placed you on three months leave,” he said.

“Yeah,” I scoffed angrily. “That’s bullshit.”

“It’s not,” Uncle Joe chuckled. “You can’t even move your legs right now, kid. What are you going to do at the station?”

I ignored that question too. Being placed on leave made me more furious than being on bed rest. More furious than seeing mom in her drunken state. More furious than anything I've ever been angry about in life. My job was my life. I worked hard to get where I was.

“I got the cabin fixed up for you.” Uncle Joe put the keys to his cabin onto my lap. “You’ll stay there until you're healed and ready to go back to work. Don't worry about Beck, I'll have a talk with him, but I suggest you do some real reflecting, kid. You don’t want to ruin your life dabbling in nonsense. It's time to truly grow up and shift all of your anger into power. Before it’s too late.”

My uncle Joe’s cabin was one of the many highlights of Big Bear. He was a billionaire CEO of one of the largest luxury car dealerships in the world, and ended up branching off into owning his own hotel chain as well. He had it all. When I was younger, he would allow me and my buddies to camp out at the cabin and we’d throw wild parties and stay up until the sun rose.

But, after getting into an accident that got my best friend sent to prison, my days at the cabin came to an end.