Page 95 of When In Doubt

“Not really.” I yawn, pressing my face in closer. “I don’t like strangers touching me, or really light touches.”

“This is okay, though?”

“Yeah.” I close my eyes, letting another bit of honesty slip out. It’s like pulling a broken shard out of my chest and showing him, hoping he’ll like it anyway. “I really needed this.”

His breath stutters. “I’m sorry you didn’t have it.”

“People just assume, then they avoid touching me instead of asking what I need.”

“Like I did.”

I squeeze his middle. “You didn’t stay away.”

“I never will.”

With the sound of his breathing in my ear and the gentle movements of his hand, I finally let my eyes go heavy.

Chapter Thirty-One

OSCAR

My stomach growls as the truck pulls back into the station. We were about to sit down for dinner when we got the call that someone had been burning garden waste in their back yard and had let things get out of control.

Justin sighs, unzipping his jacket. “Well, that guy was a fucking idiot.”

Mack scowls at him. “It was an accident.”

“Why was he burning shit so close to his house?” he protests.

The truck comes to a stop and I open the door. “He’s not going to make that mistake again.” We managed to put the fire out before it did any damage to the home, but it was a close call.

The crew piles out of the truck and starts into our routine to get everything reset for the next call. I pull off my gear and throw it into a plastic bag, labelling it as contaminated before putting it in one of the bins ready to be cleaned. Justin heads to the kit room to grab everybody new turnouts as Mack goes upstairs to write his report.

“You alright doing radio batteries?” I ask Ryan.

“Got it!” he yells behind him, already jogging to where we keep the spare ones charging.

I walk around to the side of the truck where Jenna’s already got all the hatches open. She starts replacing the air canisters, her movements sure. We’ve all done this a hundred times, we could probably reset the truck with our eyes closed.

“That guy’s gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight,” Jenna chuckles.

“Oh yeah, his wife was pissed.” I start unfurling the hose, ready to inspect it.

“Hey, you still coming to trivia this month?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Some of the crew go to trivia night at Hawkins’ Bar once a month. We come in at last place every time, but it’s a nice way to blow off some steam.

Ryan comes jogging up to me. “Batteries are done, you need a hand?”

“Sure, can you grab the other one?” I nod towards the second hose, still on its roll. Ryan pulls it out, and once the two are laying side by side, we start to check them for any damage.

We get halfway down before he pipes up. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something,” he says, sounding uncertain.

“You good?”

“Yeah, I just… do you think there’s anything I could be doing better?”

I frown over at him. “In what way?”