9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Raif
W hen Axel suggested he do something else besides work at the lodge, Raif thought a lot about it.
He had a long list of books he wanted to read and knew he could hole up in his cabin and devour them easily.
But he wanted more. Another job, something separate from the lodge, something worthwhile.
So that’s how he finds himself at the fire station in Juniper Springs on a bright Monday morning.
He’d heard about the fire station needing volunteer firefighters from Steve, who heard it from George, who heard from someone else that a firefighter broke their leg in a fire and was going to be out for a while.
Raif didn’t mind that there was no pay. He didn’t want for much, food and a roof over his head, plus his books, which he got free from the library.
He spies the other volunteer, Aiden, who rubbed him the wrong way when they met the Chief last week.
Aiden is tall and built, but on the leaner side compared to Raif.
He had zero experience, too, but his attitude came off as cocky.
Raif doesn’t like him. When they go in, Raif sees a man in casual clothes but with a big cast on his leg and crutches.
“Hey, you guys must be the new volunteers,” the guy greets them, standing and hobbling over to where they’re standing. Raif wants to tell him to relax, sit down off his bad leg, but thinks it wouldn’t be well received. “I’m Sam.” He extends his hand out to Raif and Aiden with a bright smile.
Raif introduces himself and shakes Sam’s hand.
“Let me go grab the Chief, I’ll be right back.” Sam hobbles away, and moments later, the Chief is pushing through the big door.
“Nice to see you guys, come on back.”
They follow him back to the bay, where the fire truck and equipment are.
Another firefighter comes up and introduces himself as Ben, then another by the name of Lucas.
Raif is trying to keep everyone straight, but he’s nervous and doesn’t want to mess up.
Keeping his face cool and composed, he shakes their hands and nods.
“Grant will be giving you guys the rundown. Listen to her at all costs. She is your instructor and is in charge of you both at all times you’re in this firehouse.
One misstep on your part can cost a firefighter their life, and I don’t want any fuck ups.
” The Chief is clearly serious, and Raif answers him with a ‘yes, sir’ while Aiden just nods in understanding.
A moment later, the bay door opens, and in walks Raif’s mate. His bear perks up instantly. Smelling her delicious scent from across the fire station floor. She’s here, she’s really here.
Her steps falter for a moment when she sees Raif, and the blank facade on her face cracks a little into a frown.
“Grant, this is Henderson and Maxwell. They are your new recruits. Try not to make them cry.”
Ash cracks a smile at the Chief, and he walks off, leaving just Aiden and Raif alone with Ash.
“I’m Ash. Chief is big on last names, but we usually go by firsts here." She extends her hand to Aiden, and he shakes it, giving her his name before she moves on to Raif.
“Raif Henderson,” when he takes her small hand in his, he swears he feels a jolt. She must feel it too, as her hand twitches in his before she lets it go.
“Follow me then.”
She leads them to the back, where the kitchen is, and then onto the area with the beds and lockers.
“Which one’s yours?” Aiden asks her, the corner of his mouth tipped up in a smirk.
“It can vary. Make sure you wash your sheets at the end of your shift, it’s your responsibility.” Raif sees her give Aiden a subtle glare and moves into the equipment room.
There’s a lot to learn. In bigger cities and towns, even volunteer firefighters undergo training in a facility, but out here, where the towns are very small, they can’t afford to send people out for training, especially volunteers.
They practice getting in their kits, putting on all the gear till Raif feels himself breaking out in a sweat from the weight of it all.
They lug around the dummy, which weighs one hundred seventy pounds.
It’s easy for Raif, and he can see it’s easy for Aiden, too, who appears to be showing off when he pulls up his shirt to wipe his face.
Ash doesn’t seem to notice or doesn’t care about Aiden’s display, and it makes Raif preen inside that his mate isn’t interested in the other man.
Ash isn’t cold towards Raif, but she isn’t really friendly either.
She tells him when he’s doing something right and corrects him when he gets the straps tangled in his kit.
At the end of four hours, their first day is up, and she moves to clap Raif on the shoulder but hovers and drops her hand before touching him. She doesn’t move to touch Aiden at all.
“So I’m not here tomorrow because we’re twenty-four on, then twenty-four off, but I’m here Wednesday, and I expect you both to be here as well.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Raif answers automatically.
Aiden snorts and turns to leave the fire station. Raif hovers, and Ash just watches him.
“Anything I can do between now and then, ma’am? Anything I should work on?”
“Just don’t break your leg before Wednesday, and we should be good. We can’t afford another firefighter out. Also, shave your fucking beard off. You can’t have the breather sealed around your face with that thing.”
He nods in understanding, and before he can say anything else, the alarm is going off, and she’s running back inside. He watches her go, thick legs in fitted navy pants. Ponytail bouncing. She’s gone before he can look too long, and he groans a little at the thickening of his cock.
He stares at his reflection in the mirror, unsure what to do.
He’s had some sort of beard since he was able to grow facial hair.
And over the past few years, he’s let his beard and hair get a little long, okay, maybe a little more unkempt than long.
But who did he need to impress? Some guest?
Fuck that. But as he stares at his reflection, he knows Ash was right.
From his research and talking more with the Chief, he learned that full beards were not allowed as the breathing apparatus needed to be able to seal around their faces.
He’s got an electric shaver and scissors in front of him, but doesn’t know where to start.
Change is good, he tells himself. He met Ash, that’s a change.
He’s going to be a volunteer firefighter, that’s a change as well.
He needs to cut his hair and shave, that’s another change he can reluctantly do.
And he can get to know Ash, try to let her in instead of pushing her away like he does everyone else. Change can be good.
He picks up the scissors, grabs a lock of hair, and cuts.
An hour later, he’s made a mess of his bathroom and frowns down at all the hair covering the sink, counter, and floor.
He should have prepared a little better.
His neck feels strange without the long hair against it, and even though his hair is long enough to rest at the back of his neck, it’s not to his shoulders like it was.
His face, on the other hand, is a whole other story.
He has a mustache now. A big, thick mustache that makes him look more like a douche than he thought it would.
But he doesn’t have any more time to fool with it.
He swipes a wet towel across his face and neck, and then he’s out the door on the way to the fire station.
When he walks into the bay in his uniform, Ben whistles, Lucas laughs, and Ash just stares.
Everyone else can just fuck off, but he doesn’t know what to think of Ash’s reaction.
Does she like his new haircut and the mustache?
Or does she think it looks like something crawled up and died on his face?
He’s there for only an hour when the alarm goes off, and he hasn't gotten up the courage to talk to her.
“Come on, Henderson, move it.” Ash brushes past him, tone firm but not unkind. He’s a little nervous going out on his first call, and it must show as he fumbles getting in the truck. Ben directs him where to sit, and he relaxes a little.
It’s a fire, a small one in the kitchen of a home.
Lucas uses a fire extinguisher to put it out, and Raif mostly stands around.
The man is lucky that the fire is small, no real damage to the home.
It mostly scared him a lot, which serves him right, leaving the burner unattended while he took a shower.
“Where’s your friend?” Ash comes up and asks him while they wait for the Chief to clear them to leave.
“Friend?” Raif has been watching Ash the whole time they’ve been on call. How she moves, how she talks to the other firefighters. She’s kind and smart, and Raif is proud to have a mate like her, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
“Your buddy, you know? Aiden.”
“He is not my friend.”
“Oh,” the surprise is clear in her voice, “I just assumed.”
“I met him on the day of orientation. I don’t know anything about him.”
“I see,” she crosses her arms over her chest and looks to the side. He can’t read her at all and wonders what she’s thinking.
“It’s not like I don’t want friends here, at the fire station. I do, just maybe not Aiden. Where is he, by the way?”
“Don’t know. Chief called him, got his voicemail.”
Raif nods in understanding, and then Ash is being pulled away by Lucas to look at the gas lines.
When they get back on the truck, Raif is next to Ash, and he can smell her scent more concentrated inside the truck, citrus and cloves, his favorite scents. He looks at her briefly as she wipes the back of her hand across her forehead, sweat on her brow, and a smudge of dirt. She’s lovely.