Page 15 of Burning Skies
Trig scratches his chin. “Can’t say I remember that, but I definitely recall you shooting off Roman candles in my direction when I was on my motorbike.” He moves closer, and I don’t backdown. Trig is like a rabid dog. If you give him an inch, he’ll sense the weakness.
I shrug. “What can I say? It was a nice night for fireworks. Besides, you were on my property.” Figured turnabout was fair play after he ran me off the road. As I study the biggest jackass in town, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Honey is related to this idiot.
When he doesn’t say anything, I smile, and that’s all it takes to make him snap. Trig lunges for me, but Cash pulls him back. He glances around and notices people in the parking lot. “Not here.”
I look to Trig’s older brother, who’s usually the sane one. “You know, I kinda hoped we could put all this bullshit behind us. We’re not the ones who started this pissing contest, but we can be the ones who stop it.” I chuckle. “Unless you don’t think your daddy would let you make friends with the enemy.”
Trig grits his teeth. “No one tells me what to do.”
Finally, I sigh. “Look, I didn’t slash anyone’s tires.” Pretty sure that was my older brother Isaiah. “All I did was fire a Roman candle at you after you landed me in the hospital, which sounds pretty fucking fair in my book. If the roles had been reversed, you’d have been out for blood.” I don’t mention all the times these two tried to corner me or one of my brothers when we were alone. They know how they’ve treated us. Hell, their father tried to snatch our ranch out from under us when we were kids and my family got behind on our mortgage.
When they don’t respond, I figure we’re done. I start to back away, but just when I turn, Trig breaks free from Cash and tackles me to the ground.
But unlike when I was wrestling with Jace, neither Trig nor I hold back any punches.
4
BEAU
“What’s up with your eye?”Coop asks the next morning at the fire station.
I’m slouched back on the couch in the break room with a bag of frozen peas pressed to my face and a kitten in the crook of my elbow. “Is it that bad?”
He winces when he gets a good look at it. “Not sure you’re gonna make this year’s firemen’s calendar with that shiner.”
“Thank God for small mercies. If I have one more grandma come up to me and try to set me up with one of their offspring…” Sharp nails claw their way up my pant leg, and I reach down to pick up another furball. “Had to bring these guys in with me. The chief said it was fine as long as they stay in here.”
Coop peeks in the box. “Guess the cat distribution system knows how to pack a punch, huh?” The other two are curled up in a giant box that has a cat pillow, litter box, food, and water. He takes the dark tabby who just crawled up my leg.
“You want one when they’re old enough? I can’t keep four cats.” The fluffy orange kitten in my arm purrs, and I snuggle the baby to my chest. “Okay, I might keep this one. Fireball here ispretty fucking cute.” Plus, she doesn’t like anyone else, and it kinda makes me feel special that I’m her person.
“Sorry. Can’t. My girlfriend’s allergic.” He puts the kitten back with the others. “So what happened with your eye?”
I debate whether to explain what really happened because I hate adding any fuel to this fire, but Coop isn’t a gossip, so I relent. “It met up with Trig McAllister’s fist at the Alamo Tractor Supply.”
“No shit. I thought that family feud stuff was old. Like your grandfather shot their grandfather or something.”
Coop moved here a few years ago, so he doesn’t know all of the history. “Close. Their great-great-great-grandfather shot ours, and then every generation since then has had a beef. It’s dumb stuff.” Though it has gotten bloody from time to time.
The alarm rings, and the kitten scrambles off my lap. Coop and I haul ass to the fire truck, and once Mel and Loving have joined us, I call out the details. “Fire at the high school in one of the bathrooms.”
“Two calls there in two weeks,” Coop says as he flips on the siren.
“Kids do dumb shit around Halloween.” My mind immediately goes to that night at the Devil’s Den. I was an idiot for sneaking in there to gamble and an even bigger idiot for making a move on Honey. That night flipped from being one of the hottest of my life to a nightmare. If Trig and Cash ever found out I messed around with their little sister, they’d bury my body in a shallow grave. I’d probably do the same if the roles were reversed.
When we reach the school, the students have evacuated to the parking lot. The principal tells us the sprinklers flipped on and put out the fire, but state law still requires us to check out the situation and make sure it’s safe before students return to the building.
Mel handles the main alarm while Loving checks on the utilities to make sure no gas lines were affected. After I turn off the sprinklers, Coop and I check out the boys’ bathroom.
I point at the charred metal trash can. “We’re lucky that contained the problem.”
He dumps out the contents and, after a moment, he holds up what looks like a cigarette butt. “Maybe a kid decided he’d had a rough day and needed a cigarette break.”
“Hopefully, this was an accident. It’s the possibility of arson that troubles me.” I glance at the brick walls, which would’ve contained this fire for a while had it taken us longer to respond.
We head out to talk to the staff. “Sorry we made a mess in there, but it’s safe to go in now.” After I explain what we found to Principal Erickson, she waves the students and teachers back in, and we pull aside the kid who discovered the fire. It’s Keith Jenkins, one of the newspaper students.
“I was working in our office over there.” After he pushes up his glasses, he pauses to point. “Our door was open, and I smelled smoke.”
