Page 47 of On Fire

Chapter Twelve

Dave Keller

The moment Nic tries to stand, he goes white, and I know he’s about to faint. I shoot up, sheets of water coming off me, and grab him as he starts to go down. Then he’s mumbling something, apologizing, and trying to get his legs under him.

I haul him out of the tub, have him sit for a moment in a chair with his head between his legs, then hand him a towel when he recovers.

“I am so sorry,” he says. “I don’t know what happened.”

“I do. You haven’t eaten in days, you haven’t slept. You ate tonight and all the blood went to your stomach.”

He manages to get upstairs on his own steam, and I follow after wiping down the kitchen counters. When I enter the tiny bedroom his even breathing means he’s already asleep. I switch on the bathroom light so I don’t wake him and peer into the twilight of the room.

He’s sprawled on his back, one hand over his chest, the other behind his head, sound asleep, the sheets loose around his waist. His belly throbs with a steady pulse and my own dick starts to get hard. I grab my toothbrush and make my way back downstairs and brush my teeth at the kitchen sink so I don’t wake him.

When I sneak back up into bed, he hasn’t moved. I toy with gently shifting him, but then opt for just sliding in and around him as quietly as possible. The result is an awkward but deeply satisfying sleeping position. Here I can watch him breathing. I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than this right now.

Yes. I am a sap.

΅

I wake before the five thirty alarm. It’s Wednesday. I’m up and leave him in bed. Just those words, a man in my bed are extraordinary. I’m in the kitchen moving as quietly as possible. It takes fifteen minutes to get the coffee going. When Luke pulls up, I hold the screen door open so it doesn’t slam and put a finger to my lips.

“Is he here? Sleeping?”

I nod.

“Holy shit. This is a thing then? It is! It is! Look at the shit eating grin on your face.”

“Stop it.”

“I’ve waited for so—”

“I never pushed you and Devon. I never told anyone about you and Devon.”

That sobers him up. “You’re right. You’re right. I should be more adult about this.” He pauses and then continues, only slightly less subdued. “But I can’t. This is awesome.”

“Why are you here?”

“Devon gets off shift in half an hour and I said I’d pick her up.”

“I’m on all day and then am meeting with the other fire chiefs, Dillion and Schwartz, tomorrow. I think Jim Graham is coming up too.” Remy Dillion and Kat Schwartz are the fire chiefs from Thomaston and Rockland and Jimmy Graham is coming in from Belfast.

He pours himself a coffee. I motion him out the front door and we walk to our cars. “Kat always struck me as an odd ball.”

“He’s just shy,” I say. “Can you help with a vehicle inventory and check?”

He nods. “I still say he’s weird. It’s like he lives on delay—he’s one second behind where he should be. And he doesn’t get people.”

“He gets people when it matters. Any other news before I go in?”

Luke gives me a quick hug. “Mateus told me Nic was questioned yesterday.”

“Yeah.” I begin to climb into the car.

“Because he knew the victim?”

“Yeah.”