9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Samuel

I’d started my day the very same for as long as I could remember. I got dressed and then settled in for breakfast, coffee, and my morning puzzles. Mars being here hadn’t changed my schedule, but it had given it a totally different feel. Now, instead of being what I did out of habit, I found myself looking forward to it.

He may have insisted that he wasn’t a breakfast eater when he first arrived, but he’d settled into it pretty quickly. Like this morning. He’d wandered into the kitchen, only half awake and looking cute as hell in his still sleep-rustled state, and the first thing out of his mouth was, “What’s for breakfast?”

“Oh, you want breakfast?” I asked with a smirk, and he just glared at me as he grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee. He inhaled the aroma and let out a sigh.

“It always smells so wonderful. Why can’t it taste as good without all the cream and honey?” He plopped down in the chair that I’d begun to think of as his and poured both honey and cream into his coffee before taking a drink.

“I went for quick and easy for breakfast today. There’s a pot of oatmeal on the stove. I love oatmeal when the weather gets chilly.” He’d told me one night that there wasn’t much he didn’t eat, so I was hoping oatmeal was okay because I didn’t have time to fix him anything else this morning.

“Oatmeal’s good. I’ll get myself a bowl when I get up to get a second cup of coffee.”

“Okay, just so you eat. I’m going to head into work early this morning. Every so often, I try to make it in before shift change so I can be the one to lead the morning meeting.”

“Who leads it on the other days?” he asked.

“The on-coming Captain. I leave a message for them the day before so they can cover anything important and get the guys prepared for the day ahead.”

He looked at me and nodded. “Being prepared is a good idea. And you need to be extra careful today.”

“Oh really? And why is that?” I didn’t believe in all the things he put stock in, things like astrology, crystals, and the daily cards he was always saying he pulled, but that didn’t mean I wanted to discourage him from sharing.

“The planet Mars is square your Sun today, which could mean a stressful day for you. If you were a businessman, I would say not to make any rash business decisions, but you’re not, so I’ll just say stay safe.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said with a smile. I tipped back my coffee mug and drank the last of my coffee. “I was just waiting for you to get up before I left, and since you’re up, I’m going to head on out.”

“You didn’t have to wait on me or cook my breakfast. I could’ve managed on my own.”

“I know, but like I told you, as long as you’re staying here, breakfast is non-negotiable. And I don’t trust you to actually eat a good breakfast on your own. Speaking of which, don’t forget your lunch.”

He rolled his eyes but grinned playfully. He put three fingers up. “Promise I’ll be good and eat a bowl of oatmeal after you’re gone, sir.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Were you even a Boy Scout?”

“Are you kidding me? Hello, intentional community kid here. We didn’t need Boy Scouts. We were living it. I can tie a knot that will hold a bear.” He bit his lower lip and tweaked his eyebrows. “I could show you sometime if you want.”

My mind absolutely did not imagine the things I could do to him with a few well-tied knots, and I figured my best bet was to pretend I didn’t catch what he meant.

“I’ll take your word for it. I’ll see you later, Mars.”

I arrived at the station a few minutes later, and the off-going crew was finishing the clean-up on their truck while the on-coming guys were just starting to arrive.

“How was your shift?” I asked Robert.

“Pretty standard. We had two medical emergencies and three automobile accidents.”

“Morning, Chief.” Jax walked through the door, carrying his duffle bag. “You got a morning meeting today?”

“That’s the plan,” I said. He nodded and headed on through to the station.

“Fox is in the office.” Robert motioned his head towards the door that opened into the station. “He’s pushing himself really hard, trying to find this arsonist.”

I sighed. “I know, but he can only work with what evidence he has. He can’t just magically figure out who the guy is.”

“I agree, but he seems to think if he stares at the stuff hard enough, an answer will come to him.”

“I’ll go check on him while the other guys from B-shift arrive.”

I walked through the door that opened into the communal area of the station and went down the hall to the offices. Sure enough, just like Robert said, I found Fox standing there staring at the board he’d put together that showed the location of the fires we’d confirmed as all set by our guy.

“What are you doing, Fox?”

He let out a sigh. “Same thing I do every day, Chief. There has to be a pattern of some kind here besides the buildings being empty. And I can’t figure out how Andy’s car and Cody’s store fit in aside from them being at this station. But out of thirty-plus crew members, why them? We assumed it was because of news coverage, but was that it or something else? I just don’t know.”

“I hear you. It feels like there’s something that has to be tying everything together.”

“I think the time of day could be—”

The tones sounded, and we both stopped talking so we could hear the announcement over the PA.

Structure Fire, 1426 Pecan. Cross streets Pecan and 14th Street. Engine 113, Ambulance 73.

“Shit, right at shift change,” I grumbled.

“Mind if I ride along?”

“Not at all.”

Just then, my cell phone rang, and I flipped it over to see the number for our dispatch center. That couldn’t be good.

“Chief Sheridan,” I answered.

“Chief, it’s Maggie from dispatch. Listen, that call is ugly, and I know it’s shift change, so I wanted to touch base. The fire is at the old Majestic Theater, and it’s a big one.”

“Damn, okay, stay with me for a second, Maggie.” I motioned for Fox to come with me and rushed to the bay where Robert and his crew were getting suited up. “Jax,” I called out. “Is everyone here?”

“Yeah, Chief, want us to take it?”

“I want both of you to respond. Robert, take the engine. Jax, your crew is on the ladder truck.”

“You got it, Chief.” They both called out.

“Maggie, dispatch one-two-seven as well. The crew is all here, and we need to hit this one with everything we have.”

“Sure thing, Chief. If you need me to send someone from Station twenty, let me know.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you know if we need backup as soon as we get there.” I hung up and quickly suited up. Fox was waiting for me in my truck, and we headed to Pecan Street.

“Damn, the Majestic has always been here,” Fox said.

“I know. I saw my first ever movie in that theater. Of course, shortly after that, they got the big multi-screen theater at the mall, and everyone started going there instead of the Majestic.”

“That was before my time, but my mom always took us there to watch classic Christmas movies every year. It was pretty rundown back then before the community theater got that grant to fix it up.”

“It was, and they did a great job with it. Hell, when I was teaching at the fire school, we used to use it to do evacuation training.”

“That was what we did in Houston where I went to school, too. Use a theater, I mean. At least we won’t have to evacuate the place this early in the morning. There shouldn’t be anyone there.”

We exchanged a look. “Another empty building,” I said.

“Yep, and right at shift change. That’s what I was about to say. This isn’t the first fire that was right at shift change. It’s almost like the guy knows what to do to cause the most chaos.”

“I know what you’re thinking, Fox, but I refuse to believe it’s a firefighter.”

“I don’t want to think that either. I have been going through the city’s employee files, checking for anyone who left under bad circumstances.”

“I understand why, but I don’t like the thought at all.”

I turned off of Eleventh Street onto Pecan, and I could see the smoke rising up from the roof of the Majestic from two blocks away. The flames licked high enough into the early morning sky that they cast an eerie orange light over the entire street.

This had to be our arsonist, and the Majestic was no small-time target. Its heavy, hundred-year-old timbers had weathered every storm this town had ever seen, its brick walls standing like a fortress. It even survived the 1976 tornado that took out half of the old downtown area.

I pulled to a screeching halt across the street from the theater and stepped out of my truck. I could feel the heat surging through the air, and even from there, I could tell the theater itself was a goner. Flames tore through the roof, crackling with a fury that only came from fuel and planning.

“You think it was him?” Fox asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Don’t you?”

Fox nodded, and I sighed. There was no way this was an accident. It was too hot, too fast.

The two trucks from Station 69 pulled up, and as both crews poured out, I called out, “Focus on the other buildings. There’s no saving the Majestic.”

I heard acknowledgments and saw my people moving into position. We weren’t here to save the landmark theater today, as much as I wished we were. The arsonist—because there was no doubt in my mind that’s who we were dealing with—had seen to that.

Our job now was to keep this monster from spreading to the rest of the block, where small businesses and century-old buildings were packed tightly together. I keyed up my radio. “Dispatch, this is Chief Sheridan. You might want to dispatch that truck from Station twenty just to be safe.”

I didn’t know if we would need a third truck, but with so many businesses at risk, I didn’t want to risk it. I wasn’t sure he could’ve picked a better target if he wanted to do maximum damage to the city. The Majestic had been the heart of old downtown for as long as I could remember.

“Chief, we’re ready on the north end,” Robert’s voice said through my radio.

“And we’ve got the south,” Jax added.

Both my captains had jumped right in to cut off the flames before they reached McCoy’s Bakery and Silver Box Jewelry, the two stores that sat on each side of the theater.

I pressed the talk button. “Good. Keep those lines charged and be ready to pull back if you see that roof start to go.”

There was no time to hesitate. With the way the fire was spreading, if we didn’t act quickly, we’d lose more than just the theater. I could hear the snap and groan of old wood collapsing in on itself, the sturdy beams finally surrendering. The Majestic had stood for nearly a century, but today would be its last.

We moved like clockwork—every step calculated, every order precise. My team knew the drill, and as I watched them work, I felt that familiar mix of pride and tension. We were up against the worst kind of enemy today. Whoever set this fire had known exactly what they were doing.

Mars

It had taken me forever to get to the shop today. Traffic was backed up down Fourteenth, and I could see the smoke from what appeared to be a very large fire.

I’d been curious what was up, but it hadn’t taken long for me to find out what had happened, since it was all anyone who came in could talk about. The old Majestic Theater had caught fire, and apparently, multiple fire trucks and half the Vesper police department were in the old downtown area, doing their best to save what they could.

If I’d learned one thing from my house fire, it was that sometimes all they could do was extinguish the fire so it didn’t spread anywhere else, which would be a shame if that was the case with the historic theater. The inside had been so grand after the community theater got a grant to renovate it and going there for local theater productions had always been so much fun.

The shop had been busier than normal, so I hadn’t been able to check the news. I was tempted to message Samuel and make sure he was okay, but not only would that be a ridiculous thing to do since we were nothing but roommates, but it would also possibly distract him.

Mid-morning, Steven popped in with another box of Roxy’s Halloween stuffies. Her first batch had flown off the shelves, and even though it was only a week before Halloween, I thought there was a chance I could still sell quite a few more. People really seemed to like those.

“Did you hear about the Majestic?” Steven asked.

“I did. Is that in your dad’s area?”

“It is. I talked to him a few minutes ago. The theater is a total loss. Roxy’s shattered. She was planning to help with the set for the January production the community theater was planning.”

“Yeah, I always thought I would enjoy community theater, but I never found the time to try it.” One night last week, I couldn’t sleep, and I was thinking about my realization that my life needed to change. I’d made a list of things I’d wanted to do but had never tried, and joining the local community theater group had been on that list, but Steven didn’t need to know that.

“You always did love theater when we were in school.”

“I did. I’m sure they’ll find a new place, but they’d put so much work into that old theater. It’s just a shame.”

“It is.”

A customer stepped up to the counter ready to pay, so I excused myself to go and check them out. When I was done, I rejoined him in the tea room.

“The shop seems really busy today.” He motioned with his head towards the room where I kept the incense and the candles.

“It’s probably because the weather finally started to get chilly, and people are indoors more. They’re thinking about cozy things like candles and hearths, not to mention the fact that Samhain is right around the corner.”

“Do you need me to bring you lunch?” he asked.

“Not today. Your dad seems to think I’m not capable of caring for myself, and he keeps packaging me up stuff for lunch from the night before’s leftovers.”

Steven gave me a look and shook his head. “Listen, Mars, my dad can be bossy, you know that. Don’t think you have to do what he says just because he tells you to.”

I remembered how Steven used to complain about his dad trying to tell him how to live his life, but I’d never thought he was so bad. It wasn’t like he was mean about it or treated Steven poorly. Sure, he had opinions sometimes about some of Steven’s choices, but honestly, he was usually right. Not that I would dare tell Steven that.

“Trust me, your dad isn’t bossing me around. He’s… well, it’s kind of nice for a change. You know, to have someone who gives a shit if I eat or whatever.”

“I know, but don’t let it go too far. He never knows when to stop. I think that’s why he doesn’t have a relationship. Nobody wants someone else telling them what to do all the time.”

I would let Samuel tell me what to do all day long and twice on Sunday, but again, not information Steven needed.

“I can stick up for myself, don’t worry. That’s why Troy is gone, remember?”

“I know you can, Marsy, but you’re way too nice, and you give people way too many chances.”

“I hear you, but I won’t be there much longer. I got my insurance check, and I’m ready to start looking for a place. I was planning to look over the weekend, but it wasn’t a good time to make major decisions, so I’m waiting until this weekend to look.”

“Sounds good. If you need any help or want someone to go with you, just let me know.”

The rest of the day sped by, and the shop stayed busy all the way up until closing time when I flipped off the neon open sign and locked the door.

By the time I got home, it was later than normal, and Samuel was already there. He was sitting in his recliner with his head leaned back, and he looked absolutely exhausted.

“Hey there, big guy,” I said quietly.

A small smile tweaked at his lip, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Hey there.”

“You look tired.”

He lifted his head and looked at me. “I am tired, and I’m worried.”

“Because of the fire today at the Majestic?”

“Yeah, we managed to save the Silver Box, but McCoy’s bakery sustained major damage. Those two stores shared an attic space, so the fire moved in that direction. It isn’t a total loss like the theater, but they’ll be closed for a while.”

“What caused the fire?” I asked.

“We don’t know for sure, yet.” He rolled his shoulders. “I haven’t even thought about dinner.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

I stepped up behind his chair and placed my hands on his shoulders. “That’s what I thought. You’re tense. Here, let me help.”

I started massaging his shoulders, using my thumbs to press on the knots in the back of his neck.

“Mars, this isn’t a good… oh man.” He groaned when I pressed on a hard knot where his shoulders and neck met. “You have good hands.”

“So I’ve been told.” I kept up the pressure until the tension in his shoulders lessened and his shoulders relaxed.

I was about to stop when he grabbed my right wrist with his hand and pulled me around the chair. Maybe just to tell me thank you or to ask me about dinner again. I really wasn’t sure why, and I really didn’t care. I might not know what he wanted, but I knew what I needed.

I slid into his lap and looked up at him. He looked down at my lips, and I darted out my tongue and ran it across them, waiting to see what he would do. He reached up and slowly ran his thumb across my lower lip, and my whole body broke out in goosebumps.

Then his mouth was on mine, and fuck if it wasn’t a better kiss than I’d even imagined, and let me tell you, I have a great imagination.

My body melted into his, and he grabbed my ass, pulling me closer. I moaned and opened my mouth for him, and his tongue slipped inside, tangling with mine. The kiss went on and on until he suddenly pulled back, breathing heavily.

“Fuck, Mars, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Shouldn’t have done what? Kiss me? Because I beg to differ, I absolutely think you should have kissed me. As a matter of fact, I think you should do it again.”

He grabbed my hips and lifted me up off him. Then he stood up. “No, I shouldn’t have. You’re way too young for me, Mars. Not only are you Steven’s friend, you’re a guest in my house. I’m really sorry.”

I stood there, dumbfounded. This man had just set my entire body on fire with the hottest kiss I’d ever experienced, and he was sorry?

“Listen, Mars, don’t worry about dinner. I think I should go out for a while.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just watched him go. What were you supposed to say when a straight guy kissed you, apologized, and then announced they were leaving?