Basically, my mind was a hamster on a wheel and it wasn’t going to stop spinning all day, no matter how much I pushed my body physically.
The station was quiet as I left our dedicated gym area and headed to the kitchen. One of the guys had stocked it over the weekend, and there were some fresh bread loaves on the counter. Evie must have dropped off a couple for us.
The thing about having a fire department in a town this small was that it was mostly community organized. The fact that I was able to do this and be paid for it was lucky in a way, but the town had pushed to keep me here. Honestly, that was Austin’s doing. I knew he’d fought as hard as he could for that.
A lot of small towns were only run with volunteers, and Whynot wasn’t much different. In total, we had fifteen volunteer firefighters, including Austin and Dallas, and then me. I had the station alone for another hour or so, and then one of the guys would join me for about four hours while we did the equipment checks.
Which meant I had another hour to keep thinking about Levi and Avery.
What we needed was a date. A date without drawing attention from Dallas or Austin, because otherwise, there’d be hell to pay. There would be eventually when they found out, but I agreed with Avery on taking our time in secret.
I pulled out two pieces of bread and tossed them on a plate, making a turkey sandwich quickly. It wasn’t exactly breakfast food, but I didn’t care. I piled the turkey and cheese high, my stomach grumbling in anticipation.
Between the sex and two hours in the gym, I was tempted to eat two sandwiches. I took a bite and groaned, my eyes fluttering. Yep, I’d needed food.
I also needed to see Levi fuck Avery.
Dammit. I just couldn’t keep my mind off the two of them.
The biggest question in all of this was Levi. He was going to keep us at arm’s length, and I worried about that hurting Avery. But I also had to trust that if the two of them got involved together, they’d be able to handle themselves the same way Levi and I could.
I wanted to know more about him. I knew almost everything about Avery. Over the last couple of years, we'd become close. As close as you could become to someone without dating them. Whenever she needed something, I was usually the first person she called after June or Evie. Oftentimes, she called me before she called her brothers, which I'd always felt pretty damn proud of.
I wanted her to rely on me. I wanted her to always know that I would be there for her, no matter the time of day or night.
Could I ever get to that point with Levi? Could I ever be the one that he’d call if he needed something? There was a sharp little splinter in my heart when I thought about the fact that he'd be leaving so soon. I knew it was a bad idea to get involved with him, but I just couldn't stop myself.
There was something about him that pulled me in, something I just wanted so desperately.
I'd seen that same desire in Avery. She wanted him, the same way I wanted him too.
Now we just had to figure out where to go from here.
I polished off my plate, washed it in the sink and set it on the dish rack to dry. It took a couple minutes to clean up the kitchen, but once I had everything tidy, I headed straight out to the garage.
Whynot Fire Departmentblazed on the side of the crimson fire engine. It wasn't the most pristine fire truck I’d ever seen, that was for damn sure. I'd been pushing to get a new truck, but it was a matter of funding. That was the other thing about small towns, money was always an issue. It didn't matter that we hada festival that brought in thousands of people every year, or the fact that we were next to a national park that brought in visitors every summer.
I pressed the button on the garage opener and watched as the door slowly slid up, humming as it gave me a view of the street. The air was still today, not a breeze to be felt. It was going to be a scorcher. I was already covered in sweat, and didn't bat an eye as I crossed to our giant fan and turned it on. I'd keep it going as I scrolled through my checklist.
Once a month, I checked all of the suits, every part of our fire truck, and all of the other equipment that we had on hand. In a city, I would've been doing these checks much more often. But, thankfully, a lot of the time this equipment didn't get much use. That was a good thing, I reminded myself. I didn't want there to be emergencies, but I also wanted to make sure I was always ready to go if there was one.
Last year, there'd been a fire at the old bank on Main Street. If it weren't for our fast response time, it might've taken a couple other buildings down with it. One of the managers had lit a candle in the office and forgotten all about it. It was always candles. I hated them.
I was into some very kinky things, but there were a couple kinks that were off the table for me because of what I’d seen in my line of work. Wax play made me anxious because a good portion of the devastation I’d seen in my line of work had come from candles. Whips, riding crops, and canes were also off the table because of a situation I’d had my first year as a firefighter. We’d been called to a scene that I never let myself fully think about, but it had stuck with me nonetheless.
In Whynot, most of the emergencies I saw were people overheating. Occasionally there were fires or car accidents. A lot of the time, I was responding to calls from elderly people who’d fallen.
“Morning.”
I jumped and spun around, cursing under my breath as Dallas walked up to me wearing his navy blue volunteer shirt.
“What the fuck, Dallas. Don’t scare me like that,” I snapped, earning a wide grin from him.
The asshole raked his fingers through his dark hair and leaned against the truck. “Sorry. How’s it going? You look like you’ve been working hard.”
I looked down at myself. A line of sweat trailed down my chest and I realized I needed to change shirts. I probably reeked, too.
“Worked out for a while.” Dammit, did this mean Dallas was who I’d be working with today? I couldn’t think about Avery with him around. Or if I did, that had to be some sort of sin. I wasn’t even religious, but it just felt wrong. “Are you my volunteer today? On a Monday?”
