Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Thank you. I’ve been trying to tough it out since I left the hospital,” I admitted. I was so busy with everything else that I didn’t care to pick up any Tylenol.
“No need to do that. I’m no doctor, but I know my way around a bump or a bruise,” Angus replied as he leaned against the counter, his tone having an air of playfulness.
“So, if I need heart surgery, I’m out of luck?” I asked with a wry smile.
Angus chuckled and nodded.
“Pretty much,” he said.
“The guys are lucky to have you on the crew. I’m sure they rack up quite a few injuries running into fires,” I told him.
“It doesn’t help that we have adrenaline junkies in the crew either. Other than Matty, Cohen is the one you have to watch. If there’s a risk, he’ll take it,” Angus replied as he shook his head.
I wrinkled my nose.
“Cohen?” I questioned him, making sure I heard him right.
Angus nodded.
“Oh, yeah. I don’t think he’s afraid of much of anything,” he replied. “Makes him a damn good mentor too. He gives it to you straight.”
I had to withhold a laugh. Cohen didn’t exactly seem like the mentoring type.
“Who did he mentor? Matty?” I asked.
“Me,” Angus said with a proud look on his face.
“Really? How did this happen?” I replied, needing to know this surprising connection. He seemed so composed and calm. I couldn’t picture him needing so much guidance from another person.
Angus crossed his arms over his chest and glanced away from me.
“Well, I got myself in some trouble when I was a teenager. I was… misguided. I met Cohen one day, and he saw that I needed help straightening up. He took me under his wing and showed me what he did. How he helped people and felt fulfilled. That encouraged me to turn my life around and pursue a career in emergency services,” he explained. “He helped me become a better person, and he’s one of the best people that I know.”
I couldn’t help but blink in surprise, not expecting to hear that. Cohen didn’t seem all that personable to me, but he obviously had a heart and wanted to help people. Why else would he be a firefighter? Why else would he take a troubled kid under his wing?
I just didn’t know him like the others did. If he allowed me, I wanted to, but it came down to him.
“Whenever he’s up for it, I look forward to getting to know him better,” I told Angus, prompting an amused grin to cross his face.
Angus picked up his yogurt cup and headed toward the exit of the kitchen.
“Don’t worry. He’ll let you know,” he said before motioning to the door with his head. “Come on. I’ll give you a proper tour of the place.”
With a grateful look, I nodded and followed close behind him.
At the least the others were warming up to me, and I was certainly heating up around them. I still didn’t understand how there were so many handsome firefighters in one fire station. The help I would get from them would be priceless, but I had to say that their company would definitely be a cherished, dangerous bonus.
Chapter 8
Garrett
My heart was pounding even harder than normal this morning. My daily morning run always had my heart pumping, but something completely unexpected had happened a few days ago, and I was still reeling from the news that Matty texted to me.
Zoe Collins was back in Rockview, and I was seeing her again for the first time in years today.
Evidently, she was here to work on a story about the arson incidents happening all over town. We all had a feeling that something twisted was going on, but it wasn’t like we were detectives. We were trained to help people and put out fires, and we were too occupied with that to have the time or energy to deal with anything else on top of that.
So, if Zoe wanted to dig around and find the truth, I wasn’t going to stop her. Back in high school, I got in her way enough.
I breathed in deeply as I walked down the sidewalk toward Brews2Go, one of our local coffee shops that was on the way to the fire station. My eyes darted to my fitness watch to make sure that I was on time before my mind shuttled backward to the past. How could I forget my time with her? My Brother, Gabe, and I were in a club back in high school that was mostly for socializing and debating certain topics about the school among us guys. All the girls flocked to Zoe’s group, and they were pretty outspoken about all the changes they wanted to see in the school. We co-existed for the most part until they started making demands that some of our group members didn’t agree with.