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So, these two goddamn firefighters had been the ones to somehow find Malachi’s backpack and lead the arson investigation unit to the warehouse. Not once, but twice now, they’d gotten in his way, ruining his plans to burn the warehouse to the ground and keeping him from completing his task.
They had to pay.
Malachi watched them walk toward an SUV parked at the curb, his mind spinning. Going after anyone actively investigating the case might be too risky, but these two had just been very clearly told to stand down. They weren’t arson investigators. They weren’t even officially connected to this case, if what he’d overheard was accurate. Of course, he’d have to plan, and it might take a little longer than if he simply burned things that were convenient. But he had time to kill before he could come back here to complete the warehouse, and he wasn’t weak. He was smart enough to exact a little revenge, no matter what his father thought.
He would make Sam and Lucy pay for interfering with his plans, and then he’d finish what he started.
Nothing was going to stand in his way this time.
12
Lucy was used to adrenaline letdown. She’d made a steady diet out of situations that would give most people anxiety attacks—active fire, fatal car crashes, life-and-death medical emergencies, people trapped, hurt, or worse. Knowing how to recognize and manage all the things her brain and body did after being flooded with an overload of excitement had been a critical part of her training.
Yet none of that changed the fact that she was soaked in the stuff, and all the coping methods in the world weren’t going to get rid of the endorphins currently pumping through her veins.
Sam’s heel was going about fifty miles an hour against her SUV’s floor, and at least she wasn’t the only person at the adrenaline party. “I can’t believe they’re not going to let us help,” he said, and Lucy couldn’t help it. She laughed.
“I can’t believe we went for a quick scene inspection to rule out any foul play and ended up discovering solid evidence of felony arson.”
“Youwent to rule out foul play,” Sam corrected, watching her navigate back toward the city for a beat before adding, “I told you there was something wonky with that fire.”
Lucy spared a second to arch a brow at him before turning her attention back to the road. “Was it actually painful for you to wait this long to whip out an ‘I told you so’? It was, wasn’t it?”
“A little bit,” he said over a grin. The expression faded fast, though. “But come on. You said so yourself. You knew something wasn’t right with that fire. We took the initiative to speak up and uncover evidence of a serious crime—evidence that could have been lost or destroyed by the elements if we hadn’t stepped up, by the way—and now we have to ride the pineagain. Doesn’t that drive you crazy?”
She opened her mouth to remind him they’d known the rules when Nat had okayed the scene visit and that keeping to protocol was not only smart, but necessary.
So it really freaking shocked her when said mouth bypassed her common sense and formed the words, “Ofcourseit drives me crazy.”
“It does?”
Okay, so the surprise was mutual. But she’d let it out, however unexpectedly. She might as well back it up.
“As much as I like to stick to the rules, standing on the sidelines isn’t really my thing. So, yes, not being able to do more when this fire is clearly suspicious is driving me crazy. But we knew going into it that we’d have to turn things over to Nat and her unit no matter what we found. I’m not thrilled about walking away. Believe me, I’d way rather help on this investigation than spend another two weeks at the academy.” Lucy suppressed the shiver of dread threatening to climb her spine at the thought of spending two more weeks in the one place she’d vowed she’d never return to. She’d honestly rather do damn near anything, including scrub the bathrooms at Seventeen with a toothbrush, than spend another minute rehashing all of her shitful memories of the place. “But at least we were able to get Nat what she needs to find whoever set the fire.”
Sam nodded, although his heel told her in no uncertain terms that he was still restless as hell. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I just hate all this sitting around.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, my friend. Need I remind you that I went for a run at stupid o’clock this morning?”
“We’re kind of two peas in a pod, huh?” he said, tilting his head at her in thought. “You know, if we hung out, it would make the time go faster.”
A laugh popped out of Lucy without her permission. “You want to hang out with me?”
Sam didn’t skip a single beat. “Sure. I mean, I know we don’t normally spend time together, just me and you, but we’re friends, right?”
“Yes,” she said automatically. While she’d put a bit of a barrier between them at first, after he’d propositioned her and she’d damn near said yes to the scorching hot, no strings attached sex he’d put on offer, Lucy had always considered him a friend. Albeit one she had trouble resisting.
“And you’re not mad at me anymore, right?”
“No. I’m not mad at you.”
He turned toward her, his heel still and his smile dialed up to ten. “So, let’s review. I’m bored. You’re bored. We’ve got a whole weekend ahead of us where we can’t work and we can’t investigate the arson we uncovered, and I don’t know about you, but I cannot take another workout without my fucking legs falling off.”
Damn it, she started to laugh. “Agreed.”
“And even though it was unplanned—and, okay, a little bit of a weird pick for activities—today was kind of fun, don’t you think?”
“It was,” Lucy conceded. As hesitant as she’d been at first to trust herself around Sam (thanks, dirty sex dream), spending the day investigating the warehouse with him had been far better than all the staring at the walls she’d had planned.
