Chapter 3

Bryce stood at his locker, towel wrapped around his waist. He'd just showered after a morning workout and training session. Matt and Toby were across the locker room, both also fresh from the shower. Were they ever not together? He'd caught sight of their naked asses on display as they dressed, and his cock was threatening to let them know just how interested he was. He hadn't bothered to hide the fact that he was gay. He'd been out when he'd worked in Atlanta, and he wasn't about to go back into the closet after he moved. But that didn't mean he was going to let anyone think he was perving on his fellow firefighters in the showers. Who he slept with didn't make a difference in how good a firefighter he was, and he wanted the straight guys to see that when it came to the job, they were all the same. Sporting wood after ogling Matt and Toby wouldn't accomplish that.

The locker room cleared out as he stood there, trying to get his body under control. Now it was just him, Toby, and Matt. Their joking around, slapping each other with towels, and roughhousing had delayed them. Bryce could hear them whispering to each other now. Toby laughed, and the sound was like a caress to Bryce. Don't turn around.

Bryce ignored his better self and glanced their way, catching Matt giving him a once-over. Color filled Matt's cheeks, but Bryce still couldn't make himself look away. Before any of them had a chance to speak, the alarm blared. Bryce grabbed his clothes and dressed hastily, no longer thinking of anything but the job. Once he had on his pants and t-shirt, he rushed into the bay where his turnout gear was laid out by the truck.

Experienced enough to know that rushing would only make him take longer, he methodically pulled on his pants, his hood, and then his coat. He checked and doubled-checked his air tank and settled into the passenger seat in Ladder Six after picking up his helmet. As the rest of the men and women getting geared up buzzed around him, he took a few seconds to go through the ritual he'd developed long ago when he'd been as new as Toby and Matt.

He touched the brim of his helmet—rubbing his fingers over scratches that had occurred during the fire in Atlanta that was still messing with his mind—and said a Hail Mary. He'd stopped going to church years ago, and he wasn't sure what he believed or didn't now, but what he did know was that saying the prayer and thinking of Mother Mary watching over anyone who was in danger eased his nerves. Going in calm and clear-headed was the best way to come out alive and uninjured. The prayer had become his good-luck charm his first year on the job, and some might say it had always worked. He was alive and healthy, but it sure hadn't helped that family in Atlanta.

Bryce had been the driver in his unit in the AFRD, but with his move to Durham, he'd been promoted to lieutenant. Their driver, WT, hopped into the cab and took his place behind the wheel. Matt and Toby settled into the jump seats, and Bryce responded that they were ready to go. He focused on the data coming through the onboard computer. No more time to dwell on the past.

They were headed to a house fire that had progressed enough that a witness had seen flames coming from the window. The witness had called it in after driving by. No one had been seen outside the house. It was late morning on a weekday, so there was a good chance no one was home. He prayed that was the case.

Bryce glanced at the map on his computer screen. Not far now. The battalion chief had just arrived, and Bryce and his men were going to be third on the scene.

They sped down a suburban street, and WT made a left. The neighborhood changed. Run-down, graffiti-riddled buildings lined the streets now instead of the nicer houses they'd just passed. Then he saw it a few blocks away, a ramshackle home with flames rising from a side window toward the back of the house.

WT brought the truck to a stop in front of the house. Flashes of memory rushed into Bryce's mind as he jumped down from the truck. This wasn't Atlanta, though that neighborhood had also seen better days. This one wasn't so urban. You're here, not there. You can do this.

"You all right, man?"

Toby patted Bryce's shoulder, and Bryce looked up, realizing he'd been grimacing. "Yeah, fine, just…" He choked. Fuck! He really had to pull himself together.

Toby watched him intently. He didn't need the younger guys thinking he was going to wig out on them. They all knew what had happened in Atlanta. They all knew he'd run from there because of it. "I'm good." His voice remained steady, if a little rough.

They exited the truck as they got their respirators and helmets on.

Over the radio, the battalion chief addressed Bryce. "Ladder Six, your unit will take primary search."

"Yes, sir," Bryce answered.

He turned to the rest of his unit. "Toby, you're with me. WT, you take Matt. We'll go right, you go left."

The men nodded and approached the house. The attack team was already in and working on the blaze, which was centered at the back of the house. The heat wasn't bad yet at the front of the house, so they were able to stay on their feet as they crossed the living room. Bryce's heart pounded as the smoke thickened and the heat began to rise in the hallway. What were they going to find? Please, God, not a body. But whatever was there, he'd deal. He had to. He wouldn't let Toby or anyone else down.

They dropped to hands and knees to take advantage of the cooler air near the floor. The attack team was pouring water on the fire, which raged in a room at the far end of the house. Bryce and Toby entered a bedroom on the left side of the hall and began their search. Bryce laid his right hand against the wall just inside the doorway, and Toby held on to the heel of his left boot and reached as far into the room as he could, searching for anyone who might have taken refuge there.

"Nothing yet?" he prompted Toby.

"Nothing but bare floor."

As they made progress around the room, Bryce's hand hit the frame of a closet door. "Toby, I'm at a closet. I'm going to hold on to the door while you check inside."

"Yes, sir." Toby crawled across the floor and entered the closet. "Nothing but shoes and some boxes."

"Okay, we'll keep moving around the room, then."

Bryce encountered a window after a few more paces. He made a mental note of how far in they were. It would be their escape route if the heat in the hallway grew more intense.

"I'm feeling something. I think it's just the edge of a rug," Toby said.

Bryce stretched a little farther so Toby could get a better feel.

"Yeah, a rug. Coming to the bed now."

The chief spoke over the radio. "Ladder Six, pick up the pace. Flames are spreading into the hall."

Bryce tensed. They needed to check the bed and work their way to the exit. "You check underneath," he instructed Toby.

The bed was against the wall so Bryce stretched out his hands and felt the top of the bed. He found a lump, but when he pressed down it gave, just a pillow. He stretched out as far as he could, trying not to miss anything.

"Find anything?" he asked Toby.

"No," Toby responded. "You?"

"No, keep moving quickly." They finished their circuit of the room. When they reached the door, Bryce determined they could still use the hall to return to the front of the house.

Within a few minutes, the crisis had passed, and the attack team had gotten the fire under control. Bryce and Toby went back in for a secondary search. Bryce could feel how much cooler the air was. The team must have ventilated the room, because the smoke was thinning.

Once again he and Toby made a right-hand search. They could see a bit now and were able to reach the bed quickly. "You take underneath again," he said. He felt the top of the bed. This time when he pressed down on the pillow, something moved. He reached underneath in and felt a small foot.

"Chief, there's a child hiding under a pillow in the left front bedroom."

"What is her condition, Ladder Six?"

Bryce scooped up the child and she began to sob, but that was good, crying meant the little girl was alive. "She's conscious and appears to be uninjured."

What if they'd missed her? What if… But things had gone right. They'd found her. This wasn't Atlanta. He carried her out with Toby following them and passed her to the paramedics. She was coughing and crying, but she didn't look like she'd sustained any burns or other serious injuries.

Bryce dripped with sweat. Nothing like full gear on a hot summer day. He'd been able to turn off his fears when he needed to, yet he'd missed the girl on the primary search.

You had to move fast. You went back in and you found her. You got her out. You did your job.

Yeah, he had, but he couldn't shake the heavy feeling in his chest.

No one else was found in the structure or anywhere nearby. The little girl said her parents were at work, but she was too shaken up to give any more information. Bryce wished he could have a few minutes alone with the parents who'd left her home all by herself. No kid deserved to be abandoned like that, but at least she was alive and so was he. The job had never been easy, but it was worth it. This story had a happy ending. That used to be enough for him.