Consumed (Firefighters #1)(26)

Besides, if the female in that drunken voicemail was any indication, it was pretty clear what kind of self-medicating he was using.

Whenever her guilt got to stinging, she needed to remind herself that Danny was just fine and so was she. And with the passage of all the hours, days, weeks, and months since that warehouse fire, their lives were in different places and that horrible eternity when she’d been trapped in the hot spot was gone.

You had to keep going.

Staring over the cleared site, she thought . . . yup, just as the remnants of the warehouse were gone, so, too, the events had been struck out of the timeline of both their lives.

So, too, the connection they had once had.

Back behind her, her phone started ringing in the car. After a moment, she pivoted away and returned to her vehicle to answer it.





chapter




12



“You got a cigarette?”

As Danny tossed the perfectly reasonable out there, Emilio looked at him like he’d suggested the guy give him a block of cocaine.

“What?” Danny muttered.

“You’re sitting on the back of an ambulance—”

“So I’ll light up over there.”

“—and I’m treating you for smoke inhalation.”

On that note, Emilio tried to put the oxygen mask back in place, but Danny was having none of that. Shoving the guy off of him, he braced his dirty hands on his knees and triangulated his torso to give his lungs more space to inflate. The wheezing was not something he could hide, and to cut off conversation, he stared at the steaming pair of houses. They looked like a bomb had been dropped between them, the kitchen side of the one on the right and the living room side of the one on the left all blackened, dripping, ruined.

As 499’s pumper pulled out, he cursed. That was his ride.

Emilio gave the mask another shot. “Come on, Danny. You’re wheezing—”

“No, I’m not—”

The coughing jag that hit him put liar to that one pretty good, but he was done with this. Getting to his feet, he yanked his turnout suspenders back on his shoulders and leaned down for his insulated jacket.

“Mind if I catch a ride on the ladder?” He clapped the other guy on the shoulder. “Great. Thanks. I’ll ride in the back—”

“You’re not going to the stationhouse.”

“The hell I’m not. Fire’s out and I’m—”

“Heading for the ER.”

“Amy, don’t be codependent. It makes your ass look big.”

“Don’t argue and I won’t have to be.” Chavez pointed off to the side. “Besides, you got to deal with him now. Have fun with that.”

Danny closed his eyes. And then faced off at what was coming on the attack.

Chief Tom Ashburn was bull-in-a-china-shop pissed off, his too-much-like-Anne’s eyes glaring, his prematurely gray hair standing up straight as if he’d been dragging a hand through it, his target site trained on Danny and Danny alone.

“Don’t even start,” the chief snapped as he arrived with all the subtlety of a grenade going off in a fireworks factory. “You will be seen at the ER. And now, not later.”

God, he reaaaaaally wanted a cigarette. “You can’t force me to do anything.”

Tom ignored him. “Chavez, place the patient on a gurney and head to University’s ER with him.”

As Amy dropped an f-bomb, Danny shook his head. “I’m not going—”

“Yes, you are—”

“I’m fine—”

From under his arm, the chief brought out a singed folder. “No, you’re off duty and on probation pending a psych evaluation.”

Okay, that got his attention. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The yellow folder swung right up to his face. “You went back into that building for this. You risked your own life for papers—”

“It’s her math homework. So I had to go and get it—”

“You risked your fucking life for nothing after you dumped your oxygen supply with her—”

“She’s asthmatic! She couldn’t breathe!”

“—and I’m tired of telling you the rules just to have you fuck them off because you have a death wish.”

Danny dropped his voice and leaned in. “My roommate Jack has been out to this house twice in the last three months. And you know damn well he’s fucking SWAT, not a beat cop. That kid has nothing but her homework, do you understand? Her father is in jail, and her mother’s been skating the system. So hell yeah, I went back in and got it—and I would do it again.”

“There’s always a reason.”

“That girl has nothing!”

“And you are out of a job unless you go get eval’d and are cleared.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “Look, why don’t you just be a man about this, okay.”

There was a beat of silence. And then Tom stepped forward and met Danny eye to eye. “Excuse me.”

Danny glanced at Chavez, but the guy was no fool. He was shaking his head and backing off so fast, he tripped over his own feet.

Making sure his voice didn’t carry, Danny said, “You’re still pissed about what happened with Anne. Why don’t you just admit that to my face instead of playing this backdoor-game shit.”