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“I told my landlord. He’s supposed to come over tomorrow and try to fix it. We’ll see. He doesn’t always do what he says he will.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal, but Drew knew it was. When temperatures got this high, their EMT calls went through the roof with everything from heat exhaustion to dehydration.
“That’s horrible.” Beth sounded disgusted, and honestly, he was, too. “Hopefully your landlord will do the right thing.”
“I hope so, too.”
There wasn’t much more to be said, so Beth wished the woman a good night, and they walked into the club.
As soon as they were away from Ali, Drew squeezed Beth’s hand to get her attention. She met his gaze. “I might be able to get Baily to help Ali. He’s a whiz at stuff like that.”
Beth nodded. “That’s a good idea. We’ll ask her tomorrow night if her landlord was able to get it fixed. If not, then we can make the suggestion. Do you think he’d be willing?”
“I do. He loves working on appliances. His dad used to own an appliance repair shop years ago and Baily used to help his dad growing up. I honestly think if his dad still had that shop, joining the fire department wouldn’t have even crossed Baily’s mind.”
She smiled and gave him a peck on the lips. “Come on. Let’s get a drink. Then, I’m thinking a foot rub would be nice.”
“Of course, Mistress.”
Chad was behind the bar. “What can I get you tonight?” he asked Beth. Chad had been working at Serpent’s Kiss long enough to know the protocol.
“One of my usuals and a beer.” Drew was a little surprised to hear she was ordering him alcohol. Then again, it was early. It wasn’t as if one beer was going to leave him intoxicated and unable to function.
“Coming right up.” Chad quickly filled Beth’s glass with half Coke and half Sprite before grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator and popping the top off it. The whole process took less than a minute. “Here you go.”
Beth handed him her membership card to swipe, and then they were off to find their friends. Over the last month, there had been some rearranging. Allison and John had joined Nicole, Jeff, Daniel, and a few others, including the club’s newest member, Alexander. Drew followed Beth over to their group. He waited for her to sit before tossing a pillow down on the floor and kneeling beside her.
“How’s everyone been? I feel like this week went on forever,” Beth said, getting comfortable and kicking off her shoes. Drew took a swig of his beer and then placed it on the coffee table in front of him so he could get to work on that foot massage.
Nicole apparently liked Beth’s idea and kicked off her shoes as well. “It’s the heat. Makes the minutes feel like hours.” She paused and then sat up suddenly looking directly at him. “Oh. I almost forgot. I got a call this afternoon. They caught the arsonist.”
Despite his desire to please his mistress, Drew halted his movement and gave Nicole his full attention.
“That’s great news.”
Beth bumped his hand with her foot, letting him know she wanted him to continue. He mumbled his apology and went back to work.
Nicole, however, didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, it is. He’s caused enough damage over the last few months. But they caught him red-handed. Someone saw him entering an abandoned building and the police found him in the process of starting another fire. He even had burn marks on his hands and arms. Although signature-wise they can tie him to the other fires, they are going to see if Madison can identify him as the man he and Kelly saw running from that building. If so, the DA will likely add murder to the charges as well.”
Beth scratched her fingers along Drew’s scalp in an affectionate gesture. He knew she was offering him comfort. He might not have been all that close to Kelly, but it didn’t matter. Kelly was a firefighter who had been killed on the job.
***
There were some things Beth knew she would never fully understand. The connection between Drew and his fellow firefighters was one of them. She didn’t know what it was like to walk into a burning building and put your life and your trust into the hands of the men and women who were in there with you.
They’d talked a lot over the last month about what had happened to Kelly and even Shawn. The fear that something like that could one day happen to Drew was still there—it probably always would be—but she was learning to accept it and to trust in his training.
As they sat there with their friends, she tried to offer him what comfort she could. Gradually, she felt his tension ease. He rested his head against her leg as he continued to massage the muscles in her tired feet.
Alexander cleared his throat. He was the newest member of the club and had struck up an almost instant friendship with Daniel. They were both ex-military. Although Daniel had only served for four years back in his twenties, it was a connection they both seemed to be embracing. “Since we’re sharing good news . . . I think I’ve finally located my buddy’s wife.”
A couple of weeks ago, Alexander had shared more information with them as to what had brought him to St. Louis. The same incident that had caused his own injuries had killed his best friend. When he got back Stateside, he started his search for his friend’s wife. The only problem was that she’d moved—to St. Louis, apparently. He wouldn’t go into detail, but from what Beth gathered, Alexander had a message of some sort to pass on to her.
“That’s great news,” Daniel said.
“It is.” Alexander cupped his glass with both hands. Beth couldn’t see what was in it, but she would bet it was something strong.
“Are you nervous? I mean you’ve been here looking for almost two months.” Maybe it wasn’t Beth’s place, but there was an underlying anxiety in the way he held himself.
He snorted. “Terrified.”
