Lets Try That Again

Chapter 4Let’s Try That Again.

Heron~My heart was beating rapidly inside my chest, and I couldn’t ever remember feeling this anxious, not even when I’d had to face my first fire all those years ago. Still, I wasn’t about to back down now. When Eliza had muttered the idea of having guests on her episodes, I’d seen that as a sign. Albeit a crazy one, but a sign, nonetheless.RapierHooker: Hello, you don’t know me, but I’ve been watching your show, and I’d like to come on as a guest if you were serious.I hit send, letting out a shaky breath. You’d think that I was a twelve-year-old boy with his first crush, but there was just something about Eliza Dodger that had me interested as hell. Maybe it was how she refused to give up. Maybe it was how positive she stayed as she faced her failures. As a firefighter and athlete, I could appreciate both those characteristics.I was about to set my phone aside, but when it chimed with a notification, I got excited.What’sNextwEliza: Thank you for watching, but my channel is designated for all ages.RapierHooker: I don’t see how that’s a problem.What’sNextwEliza: Well, I suppose that we can keep your profession a secret. What other hobbies do you have?I started laughing. I’d had my handle for so long that I hadn’t even considered that she could get the wrong idea when I had messaged her.RapierHooker: I’m a different kind of hooker, Ms. Dodger. I play rugby for the California Rapiers. During the off-season, I’m a firefighter.What’sNextwEliza: I’m so sorry! I’ve never watched rugby, though there’s nothing wrong with being a hooker, hooker.I had to read that twice.RapierHooker: There’s not?What’sNextwEliza: You’re messaging someone that can’t make something as simple as a cupcake, Mr. RapierHooker. I’m the last person that should be judging someone for how they choose to make a living.I laughed again. Eliza Dodger was a breath of fresh air, indeed.RapierHooker: My name is Heron. Heron Treyton.What’sNextwEliza: Okay, let me look you up, so that I know you’re real. Too many nutjobs in the world to take your word at face value.RapierHooker: Of course.Eliza didn’t get back to me for almost two hours. As far as a personal presence on the internet, there wasn’t very much available when someone looked me up. My personal social media accounts were set to private, and I only shared those with my family and close friends. As for my position with the Rapiers and Fire Station No. Fifteen, there was information on both sites about my positions, experiences, and lots of photos with my team and/or fellow firefighters. Since the fire station did a lot of charity work, there were plenty of pictures of us with the community.That was another thing that I had checked on before reaching out to Eliza Dodger. She lived in the same town that I did, so that’d made my decision to reach out to her easier. Had she lived across the country, I would have had to rethink things.What’sNextwEliza: Wow. You lead a very interesting life.RapierHooker: Interesting enough to come on your show?What’sNextwEliza: Why would someone like you want to come on my show?RapierHooker: I think that’s a conversation best had in person. How about you meet me for lunch, so that we can discuss it further?What’sNextwEliza: I don’t know you.RapierHooker: It’ll be in the middle of the day with plenty of people around. You can even bring a friend if it’ll make you feel safer.I let out a low curse when she didn’t respond right away. I knew better than to suggest a meeting with a stranger over the internet. She didn’t know me, and only a woman with no regard for her safety would agree to such a thing. There were too many creeps out there in the world, and all you had to do was turn on the news to see that.What’sNextwEliza: When are you free?*****Eliza~As I stared at my phone, I could only conclude that I was out of my goddamn mind. No one with any kind of sense agreed to meet a stranger from the internet. I mean, the horror stories were everywhere. Yeah, I had looked him up, but how could I be sure that the person messaging me was the same person that I had stalked on the internet for two hours?When he had given me his name, I had immediately typed it in the search bar, and Sweet Baby Jesus, was the man hot as Hades. The Rapiers’ page had been kind of enough to offer his stats, so I knew that he was thirty-three, six-foot-four, was over two-hundred pounds of solid muscle, and the site had also provided a very clear, very photogenic, very mouth-watering picture of the man.Apart from his impressive height and build, Heron had dark blonde hair, green eyes, and from the smirk on his lips in the picture, a very sexy set of dimples on his stunning face. The man reminded me of Dima Gornovskyi, only with a touch more badass to him. Maybe it was because he played rugby, maybe it was because he was also a firefighter, or maybe he was just fucking hot and there was nothing more to it. Nevertheless, I had ended up researching his name, his team, and his fire station for almost two damn hours. While his personal social media accounts were set to private, his team and work ones hadn’t been. His fire station did a lot of charity work, so I’d gotten an eye full.Still, there was no guarantee that it was really Heron Treyton on the other end of the phone. People stole other people’s pictures all the time on the internet. Catfishing was a real thing, and if not careful, it could also be a very dangerous thing.RapierHooker: I’m free tomorrow and the day after that, but I have a match on Wednesday and Thursday.I bit the inside of my right cheek. Was I really contemplating this? Yeah, he’d been gracious enough to allow me to bring a friend, but so what? It wasn’t like two girls couldn’t get drugged and kidnapped if the creep knew what he was doing.Get a grip, Eliza. This isn’t the movie Taken.I stared at his reply, and I knew that I couldn’t meet him without him answering my question to some degree. I needed a hint to why he reached to me, at least.What’sNextwEliza: I know you said that you’d explain reaching out to me face-to-face, but can I ask how you even came across my channel?RapierHooker: One of your episodes popped up on one of my social media feeds.What’sNextwEliza: Really? That seems unlikely.RapierHooker: I have insomnia, so I search random things when I can’t sleep.My first instinct was to give him advice, but I quickly tapped that down. If I really was speaking to Heron Treyton, then he was a grown man and had probably already tried tricks to fight the insomnia. He was a professional athlete and firefighter, so he had to have great health care. Besides, he’d have to be stupid to take medical advice from a chick that made sugar cookies with salt.What’sNextwEliza: Can I think about it? After all, how do I know that this is really Heron Treyton. How do I know you’re not some nefarious character with a gambling problem that’s looking to harvest my internal organs on the black market? That stuff happens, you know.RapierHooker: Wow…okay. Uhm, will a picture suffice?Everything female in me had my fingers typing a mile a minute.What’sNextwEliza: Yeah, a picture might help.My chest felt tight as I waited for the picture to come through. I needed to remind myself that whatever he sent could have been stolen also. I mean, what were the odds of the real Heron Treyton reaching out to me? The man played professional rugby and put out fires, for Christ’s sakes. Did the man really have time to reach out to me?RapierHooker: I took the picture in front of my home computer, so that you could see the time and date for yourself. (attch)I could feel my mouth drop open at the picture of Heron Treyton standing in front of his computer, the date and time stamp matching what was on my phone, and Holy Mary, Mother of God. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and a simple pair of grey sweats, only nothing looked simple on the man. Heron Treyton was a straight-up god, and every part of me started panting.What’sNextwEliza: Thank you for that extra effort.Honestly, I didn’t know what else to say. While I wasn’t a blushing virgin, I knew when someone was out of my league, and I was pretty sure that Heron Treyton was out of most women’s leagues.RapierHooker: A woman can never be too careful when a stranger from the internet reaches out to her. I can appreciate you being cautious.What’sNextwEliza: What about Saturday or Sunday around noon?RapierHooker: Saturday works for me.What’sNextwEliza: Great. See you then.RapierHooker: See you then, Eliza.I clenched my phone in my hand, hoping and praying that he wasn’t some creep.