Page 40

Chapter

Fourteen

As soon as we are back in the station from our call, Tor, this shift’s engine driver, and the rest of the crew hop off and go straight inside to rest and hydrate. I’m stuck out here to handle the engine alone. Solo, with fire still coursing through my veins, I refill the tank. The hoses and equipment are next. After cleaning and decontaminating the engine, I hook her up to the power and air lines to keep the batteries charged and the air brake system pressurized until our next call.

I’m still on Cap’s shit list for leaving shift and the station on personal business a few months ago for Enani. Although working for Station 112 is completely voluntary and funded by each of us collectively, being here is a commitment and the rules are the rules. Abandoning shift, no matter the reason, is a serious offense and I’m on this new fucked up shift and engine for another three months. It’s a punishment I accept because I am committed and Cap is a Danakil elder but I don’t like the shit at all.

“Three more hours. Three more fucking hours,” I utter, counting down the time until I’m with my Enani. Besides dinner with her family tomorrow, I plan to spend the next few days all over and in her.

Before heading into the house, I dispose of everything I used for decontamination and discard my gloves. When I pass Cap’s assistant Eboni’s desk, she stops me.

“Cap ordered dinner. After the fire, no one has the energy to cook and y’all know I can’t,” she says with a grin. “It’s his favorite again, Dale’s, and I just got your usual. I didn’t want to bother you out there.”

“Thanks, Eb. I’m hungry and thirsty.”

“I just filled the fridge with water and energy drinks. Go do that thing y’all do to get the fire out. Your veins are deep orange.” She offers a nod, then smiles.

Eboni’s right though; my veins are on fucking fire. I need water, so I head to the kitchen first, drink two gallons of water, then hit the showers. The other crew members are already showered and chilling, some stretched out in their beds, others in the weight room, and the two female firefighters are in the living room area.

I don’t leave the shower until the intensity of the burn under my skin eases. All that’s left is for this orange to fade and my full strength to return. My food should help with that though. While I wait for it to arrive, I stretch out on my bed and call Enani. I want to see her pretty ass face, so I FaceTime her.

“You had a call,” she asks as soon as her beautiful face and hair fill my screen.

“Yeah, a brush fire out in the woods. What are you doing?” I ask, because I can tell she’s at the condo, not my house.

“I stopped at the condo after taking Nana to the store. She wants everything perfect for you tomorrow and there’s this scarf I supposedly have of hers and she wants it. I don’t even remember getting the damn thing, but I told her I’d check. If I have it, that’s something that wasn’t lost in the fire, so I’m searching like crazy. Hopefully, I’ll locate it.”

“You will. Your nana knows all. If she says you have it, you probably do.”

“And that’s exactly why she likes you,” she says with a smile. “Charming, my damn nana. Papa’s going to kick your ass.”

“Old man got some energy and strength though. He had enough of my blood.”

“Oh, I know. He swears he’s fifty. He was mowing the yard and cutting that big tree in their backyard when I picked her up today,” she says, smiling. Then my view changes to the ceiling. “Hold on, I dropped this thing,” she says, then picks it up. “Are you eating dinner there before you get to the house? I can grab something or cook.”

“Dinner here ’cause the only thing I’m eating tonight when I get in the house is your sweet pussy.”

“Noab, is anybody around you? They can hear you.”

“Beautiful, they are vamps. These niggas can hear whatever they want.”

“And we do!” Tor yells from somewhere.

“Oh my God,” she gasps with wide eyes.

“Bruh, don’t get fucked up,” I warn.

“We are never verbally talking again when you are at work,” she huffs. Hang up. We can talk like this, she communicates and I smile.

I just wanted to see your face.

Well, this works. We see each other but no one hears us. Now, what are you eating tonight? She smiles big as hell as she awaits for me to repeat myself.

“Nana, what in the world?” Shae asks when she and Enani walk into the kitchen.

We are at her grandparents for dinner. They are finally in their home and her grandmother wanted to cook to celebrate and thank me for saving them. Shae’s mom, their daughter-in-law, Miss Alycia, is here and this is my first time meeting her.

Baby, when you see the food, don’t laugh. I don’t know what Nana was thinking. Just know it’s all for you, Enani communicates.