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Absolutely nothing had changed from the bar. It wasn’t like Parker had revealed anything to me on our way home to make me think he’d even given our hook up a second thought. It was almost like it hadn’t happened, at all, like it was something I’d daydreamed while Parker was out on the dance floor.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Parker needed to be the last thing on my mind for the next few hours, which meant I’d get to live in blissful ignorance of how he really felt about the hook up until I came back home.
Ah.
Blissful ignorance.
Nothing could’ve sounded any better.
I held my place near the front of the fire hose, the water rushing out of it. George was close behind me, somewhere to my left or my right. It was always a little disorienting when putting out a fire, so much to look at that it was hard to place anything happening outside of the flames. I squinted in an attempt to get better visuals on the forest fire in front of us, noticing the way the water seemed to quickly douse the blaze.
“Almost got it!” George yelled out, just as I heard the shifting of boots, his location still a mystery to me.
A few more seconds of aiming the water toward the fire and the blaze was done for. I let out a loud sigh before I leaned against the fire truck, a trail of smoke dancing up toward the night sky, finding its place among the stars…
It was beautiful.
It was also the kind of thought I never would’ve said around the other guys, completely uninterested in hearing their jokes or taunts, even though they wouldn’t have meant anything by it. People tended to think of me a certain way, probably because of my build, maybe because of my history, too. I was meant to be ripped and rugged, not poetic and soft.
Not thoughtful in the way I often felt myself being.
I quietly took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the forest, loving the way the earthy smell filled my lungs. Just as I turned toward the truck, ready to help put the fire hose away with the rest of the squad, I felt someone clap me on the side of my shoulder.
“You see why we needed you?” George grinned, before he playfully nudged me in the shoulder. “That took like five minutes with you. Would’ve been thirty without.”
“I’m not the only person who knows how to work the fire hose.” I grinned right back. “In fact, I’m starting to suspect this might’ve been a bout of learned helplessness.”
“Maybe I didn’t feel like taking all of the glory.”
“Are you pretending to be humble right now?”
“You know what my wife says, I don’t make a big enough deal out of being a firefighter,” he joked. “Not like I’ve been on the squad for nearly two decades or anything.”
“Oh. Is this what this is?” I quirked an eyebrow. “Are you looking for someone to replace you? Was this my unofficial audition?”
“Maybe so.” George nudged me in the arm again, a bright smile on his face. “I mean, I think we could do a lot worse.”
I couldn’t help but beam back at him, the center of my chest filling with pride. I hadn’t really thought about being in George’s shoes one day, content with being on the squad but not above it. Although now, I couldn’t help but admit that the idea was appealing to me, images of being promoted casually sliding across my mind, shaking hands with George before he pinned a new badge on my uniform, one of the guys snapping a photograph of us in front of the station.
There were other images, too, though.
Parker on his knees in the bathroom. Parker looking up at me as he took my cock inside his mouth. Parker’s hands eagerly making their way toward my thighs, his fingers desperate to undress me?—
“You okay, kid?” George’s face was filled with concern. “You didn’t inhale any of that smoke, did ya?”
“I’m fine,” I insisted, shaking my head. “It’s just… a lot to consider, you know? I never thought that you would actually… I never thought I could really…”
“And that’s why you’d be perfect for it,” George said, as he took the fire hose out of my grip. “Because you’re not entitled to it. Because you put in the work without ever expecting it. You’re just one of the guys… and that’s what makes you shine, Cooper.”
It was the last thing he said to me as he finished attaching the fire hose back to the truck. Instead of continuing our conversation, I headed toward the recently extinguished fire, wanting to hastily survey the land and make sure we hadn’t missed any cinders. Honestly, I’d also wanted to get a moment or two to myself to figure out what was going through my head, why I couldn’t stop thinking about Parker even though I’d just potentially received some of the best news of my life.
Fuck.
Was I really that invested in the guy just because he blew me in a bathroom stall?
What was it about him that had me feeling so obsessed? Why couldn’t I just let it go?
Whatever the reason, I really, really needed to find a way to get Parker out of my head.
