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CHAPTERSIX
Danny
Present Day
There’s a low-level buzz in the pit of my stomach. One I haven’t felt in way too long. This date I’m about to go on? It’s different than any other. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there are certain moments where you know there’s a spark in the air. A crackle ready to disrupt the status quo of life.
That crackle’s been needed for entirely too long. The routine of daily life is almost enough to get me down. Get up, go to work at the firehouse or with my dad, and then go home. If I’m feeling up to it, I go to Cockloft, the local bar the firefighters hang out at.
My mind goes back to a few days ago, the last time I was at Cockloft. Hours before I’d met Hayden and there’d been a shift in my priorities.
Being a Probationary Firefighter is full of ups and downs, harder than I imagined it being.
I’m doing my best not to let it discourage me. This is what I’ve wanted my whole life. Everything I’ve worked for. When my parents could have persuaded me to put my life on hold for the good of the family, they instead encouraged me to follow my dreams.
The downside is, I still have to work with my dad. At least until he finds someone he can count on to show up. It’s harder than it seems. Every time I think he’s got an employee and I can give it up, they don’t want to do the physical labor.
But my dad? It’s all he knows. He’ll work until his fingers bleed if that’s what it takes to support his family. They don’t make ‘em like him anymore and it’s been painfully obvious the last few months.
Me? I’m burning the candle at both ends, not sure how much longer I can keep doing this. Already, I’m beginning to rebel and, with my track record, that’s never good.
“What are you doing tonight?” My cousin, Alejandro, taps me on the elbow.
“First thing is taking a nap.”
“How long you been up for?”
Turning my wrist toward me, I squint. My eyes are starting to burn from lack of sleep. “Thirty-six hours. I’ll be crashing for a while.”
He smirks. “Then what are you planning on doing?”
The two of us. We know each other. He knows my secrets and I his. Things we’d prefer not to have other people find out, we tend to confess to each other. “Hitting up Cockloft.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“It’s been over a month since I’ve been there,” I defend myself. “These two jobs are killing me.”
“No time to play, huh?”
“Not even an hour here or there.”
He reminds me, “You chose to become a firefighter. There had to be some sort of understanding that, with that decision, you’d have to pull double-duty.”
“Yeah, I thought maybe for a month. Two, tops.” I rub the back of my neck. It hurts like a motherfucker.
Carrying the hopes and dreams of so many others is damn near about to break me.
“He’s proud of you. He molded you into the type of person you are and no one else has come close yet.”
Sighing, I fold my arms over my chest. “It’s fuckin’ hard to live up to, even if you’re the one who’s been molded.”
“I know there’s a lot of pressure.”
“You have no idea,” I snap back.
The exchange with Alejandro had led me to the place I’d always gone to take care of the tension that so often rides along the back of my neck.
Cockloft.
