Blaze: A Tortured Heroes Romance Read online

  “Need a toke? Might be a good idea.” Chad offered. I didn’t partake, and he knew it but he seemed to delight in making me uncomfortable. He lightly rubbed my upper arm as he offered a joint from his shirt pocket.

  I swear he rubbed up against me “accidentally” at least once a shift, and I was sure dipping into the stock was completely illegal. But Chad and legal had a tentative relationship at best.

  Monty, one of the Budtenders, told me that Chad opened In the Weeds as a medical dispensary, or that’s how he was able to open. The city only allowed medical dispensary stores. But this place was something else. That was pretty obvious the more time I spent there.

  Chad fashioned himself some sort of retro hippy guru. He had a bi-level haircut, bleached blonde, and a braided tail that straggled down the back past his shoulders. If the worst of the 1980s married the worst of the 1970s, then Chad was the strange result in human form.

  I was sure there was something hinky going on with Chad’s business. It wasn’t, however, my business. And I didn’t want to upset my Aunt.

  Chad had a big house in the suburbs and it appeared he kept my Aunt happy. My Aunt and I were learning how to be in each other’s company. I wasn’t here to offer my advice on her life.

  The whole thing was uncomfortable though. Everything about this living and working arrangement with Chad and my Aunt was temporary. I just needed to be patient. And I needed to wow them at the OTC. I liked the town of Colorado Springs a lot. I wanted this to work.

  I looked around the shelves. Things were looking messy and I usually wound up restocking and straightening up around the store.

  When I first found out what my Aunt had in mind, me working at a dispensary, I had no idea what to expect. But I checked out a few chains that were open in town.

  Best Budz and Maggie’s Farm were clean, comforting, and well run. And they were profitable.

  In The Weeds hovered just above chaos on the organizational scale.

  Chad employed three budtenders. They were the experts and handled the customers.

  I mostly hovered in the background, kept busy, and tried to avoid being alone with Chad.

  Narrow shelves reached to the ceiling and lined three of four walls. The shelves were filled with glass jars. Each jar was labeled with dozens of varieties of buds available at In The Weeds.

  Along the back wall of the store there was a long, deli-style counter where the budtenders worked with customers.

  I tried to keep the glass jars organized, clean, and filled. It was a losing battle.

  I concentrated on the task at hand.

  My Aunt floated to the back room which consisted of a stock area and a small office. She would chill there until Chad said they were done here for the day.

  Monty was the budtender on shift.

  “Chad, yeah, the POS isn’t working still.” Monty was ringing up a regular customer.

  As usual, something was broken, and this time it was the point of sale program the budtenders were supposed to use to ring up products. Typical.

  A ladder on casters was positioned on each wall. I climbed it get to the higher shelves and to remove myself from the general conversation at In The Weeds.

  I climbed up a few rungs and concentrated on dusting and straightening.

  “Don’t worry about it. Jerry here’s good.” Chad patted the customer on the shoulder. I swear he’d been in twice yesterday. Jerry really was a regular.

  “Thanks, Chad. You’re the man,” Jerry said as he left with his purchase.

  Chad walked over to the ladder. Too late I realized what he was doing.

  “Nice view Paige, pink is your color.” I was up the ladder and he was looking up my skirt. Ugh. Creep.

  “Get lost, Chad,” I said and proceeded to ignore him. I really wish my Aunt had better taste in boyfriends.

  I also said a silent prayer, please let me get in full time at the OTC! Stocking and dusting and dealing with Chad was getting old fast.

  Chapter Three

  Heath

  * * *

  We got back to the station house after the call to the OTC and I couldn’t help but think about Paige. She was so pretty, brave, and vulnerable at the same time.

  I didn’t want or need attachments. I’d been through hell once with Noelle. I lost everything that meant anything to me.

  I’d been running from her memory, that moment, ever since.

  I wasn’t going to let myself think about pretty Paige. I couldn’t.

  There was a situation that needed some attention.

  I was helping the municipal firefighters. I was vacation relief.

  I was second in command with the Fountain Creek Hotshot crew, and that was my mission in life.

  I was here on vacation relief, for now, but if there was a wildland fire, I was there, as fast as my F150 could carry me. But that didn’t mean I could ignore the shit that went down at the OTC with the muni crew.

  It wasn’t my job to chew out this crew. I did that if I needed to with my hotshots.

  But the boss of this station house needed to know about the near-fatal fuck up that could have cost pretty Paige her life. Damnit, just Paige, I told myself, not pretty Paige. She’s just a citizen you saved, not pretty, not anything but a job.

  Still, her eyes, and the way she felt in my arms for those brief seconds kept coming back into my head.

  I walked into the Captain Cary’s office and closed the door behind me.

  “Need something Finch?”

  “Yeah, big problem with your crew today.”

  “What, I thought we had no casualties, and barely any property damage?” Captain Cary, Jim Cary, to be exact, was too casual for me. And if I heard the story about how he was Jim Cary before Jim Carrey was famous, ending with Alrighty Then, I would likely punch something.

  “True, but that’s because I grabbed the woman from the elevator with a second to spare.”

  “Well then job well done!” He smiled at me like a politician. This was exactly why I preferred wildland firefighting. Less politics, less bullshit, just do your damn job. And be the best at it.

  Captain Cary was angling to be Chief Cary and it was annoying. He couldn’t afford a whiff of incompetence at his station house. And I had laid that on his desk just now.

  “No, the roof crew should have seen it coming. They should have given a warning. They missed it.”

  “Well I’ll have a talking to with them. And thanks for the input. The door’s always open.”

  He said it as he was ushering me out of the office. And then he shut the door.

  It wasn’t my place to fix this crew. But still, it needed to be dealt with. I hoped Cary could put safety before politics.

  I doubted it.

  I put my gear away. My shift was over. I was glad. I needed to shake off my concern over the near miss and concentrate on my real job.

  Bash caught me on the way out.

  “Did you tell Cary?”

  “I did.” I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, if Bash was pissed or pleased.

  “Good, it needed to be said. This is what I’ve been saying for months. Maybe coming from you it’ll do some good.”

  “Not holding my breath.”

  “Got it. So, any openings on your crew?”

  “What’s your status?”

  “My shoulder’s healed, I can do the physical test any day you say.”

  Bash had a torn shoulder from a job a year ago when a roof collapsed underneath him. He’d been ready to apply to the Fountain Creek Hotshots back then. But it took a year of physical therapy to get back to full strength.

  “Seriously? That’s great news. Testing next month. We could use you.”

  Hotshots had to do more, be stronger and faster than the municipal crews.

  Bash would need to be able to run a mile and a half in ten minutes, do 40 sit-ups in 60 seconds, 25 pushups in 60 seconds, and crank out at least four chin-ups.

  We worked in the midst of the fire, not in the stati
on house, sometimes for days on end, and everyone had to be able to handle the load.

  “Thanks, Finch. Put in a good word for me with Dalton?”

  “I will.” Grayson Dalton was the Chief of the Fountain Creek crew. We respected each other. If I recommended Bash to Dalton, and Dalton passed the tests, he’d be in. Bash would be a good addition to our tight-knit group. We had to rely on each other in shitty conditions and we had to be able to tolerate each other in close quarters. I thought Bash fit the bill on those points. And I watched him. He was a damn good firefighter.

  I got in my truck and turned on the fire scanner.

  I looked west, where the terrain turned mountainous. I had a bad feeling.

  It was hot and dry out there right now. We hadn’t had a drop of rain in weeks.

  The recipe was right to fuel a badass fire. There were already a few going, farther off in the western part of The Rockies.

  Our hotshot crew had been lucky in May; it had been rainy. But Mother Nature had changed her mind again. She was pissed off.

  I’d keep my scanner and my phone on me, 24/7.

  I knew it was a matter of when, not if, a bad season was going to start.

  Chapter Four

  Paige

  * * *

  “Paige,” Daniella Hendrix, my boss at the OTC, stopped me as I loaded my equipment bag.

  As a social media assistant, I always had my smartphone, a DSLR camera, a small tripod, and a Mac Book Air. I was always charged and ready to go to shoot, edit, and post from anywhere in the complex when athletes were training. Sometimes, if I was lucky, they sent me to events where the athletes got out and interacted with the community. It was so much fun. I loved every second of it.

  Today I’d spent the day in the wrestling room highlighting Ellen Barlos. She was the star of the women’s wrestling team.

  “What did you work on today?” Daniella was in charge of the entire digital marketing team.

  “I got some great shots of Ellen today. She’s amazing.”

  “Total trailblazer and perfect, she’s an inspiration. I wanted to let you know that I heard from the counselors, of the tour you were on, and they were so complimentary.”

  “Of the pictures? Thanks.”

  “Well the pictures yes, but also the way you handled yourself in the elevator. That was impressive, and I know it had to have been scary.”

  “Oh, yes, well, panic doesn’t help anything.”

  “True, but still, it could have been terrible, and you kept cool and a sense of humor too. Nice work. And would you be available to come in later tonight for the meet the team event that got scheduled at the last minute?”

  “For sure, just let me know. Totally happy to.”

  “Great.” Daniella smiled and then headed back towards her office.

  Yay! A compliment from the boss maybe got me one step closer to a full-time job here. I crossed my fingers that she’d call me in later. Inching to full-time, baby!

  I practically skipped out to my car. I ignored the crappy sounds my old Taurus was making and motored to In The Weeds. The car barely made it. But I was okay with that. I’d had a great day at the OTC and nothing was going to get me down.

  I got right to work and tried not to skip around the store.

  Cool it, Paige, it’s just a job. But still, I was happy and ready to take the next step in a career, instead of just marking time at a job.

  Unfortunately, things were the same old same old at In The Weeds.

  Monty was on shift again and the place was crowded.

  “Paige, you’re good with this stuff right?” Monty waved the iPad at me that was supposed to have their point of sale software.

  “Still not working?”

  “No, and we’re slammed. Can you look?”

  “No guarantees but sure.”

  I took the iPad and clicked on the icon for In The Weeds point of sale app. The app was important because the rules were important.

  Marijuana dispensaries needed to follow the regulations to the letter or risk getting their license pulled or worse. The app was supposed to help Chad keep track of the sales and regulation compliance.

  Although he didn’t seem concerned that it wasn’t working. Monty and the other budtenders were annoyed and overworked. Chad made an art of ignoring them.

  I played around with the app. In a few minutes found exactly the problem. Chad hadn’t renewed his subscription for the POS app.

  Ugh, I looked at the data that was saved. Good ole Jerry showed up in the customer list a million times before it crashed. I tried to renew the license, but I didn’t have the password for Chad’s account.

  “Hey, Monty, I think I found the problem. I will let Chad know, it should be an easy fix.”

  “Thank you! I’m up to my dreads in math problems over here and it sucks not having that.”

  “Yep, hang in there.”

  I found Chad in the back. He was leaning back in his chair and had his flip-flop wearing feet propped up on the desk. The office wasn’t much more than a closet.

  “Chad, I’ve figured out the issue with the point of sale system.”

  “Oh, yeah? Something wrong with it?”

  I had heard Monty complain to Chad about it but here he was acting like it was news to him. Whatever. I charged ahead.

  “The POS system isn’t working because you have to pay the subscription fee.” This was basic stuff. Though I was always amazed how tech I thought was simple could confound people.

  “Uh, I don’t know where that part is on the program. Show me.”

  I walked to the desk and put the iPad down in front of him.

  “See, here, click to the gear and then it shows your payment method.” I went through the process and realized Chad was getting closer and closer.

  “Yes, oh I see that’s an old card.” He leaned over for a closer look at the screen. All of sudden Chad had his hand on my lower back. It was dangerously close to my butt!

  “Great!” I practically leaped over the desk back to the door. Chad had a smirk on his face. I swear my Aunt had to be blind to like this guy.

  “That should take care of it,” I said and hustled back to the shop floor as fast as I could.

  Gross. Ugh. Chad hadn’t outright hit on me but he was close. I had no doubt that the only thing saving me from that fate was being faster than he was.

  My phone buzzed. It was an OTC number.

  I opened the call.

  “This is Paige.”

  “Paige, it’s Daniella, could you do me a favor and come back in? That meet the team, it’s for table tennis. I think we need some dedicated social media.”

  “Happy to, for sure. On my way.”

  “Monty, tell Chad or my Aunt, whoever you see first, I have to head back into the OTC.” Thank GOD! I was not looking forward to any more close calls with Chad today.

  I was starting to get nervous because dodging him was becoming harder and harder.

  “Sure Paige, hey Jerry, how’d that new strain work for you?” Jerry was there again, as usual.

  I got to my car fast and fired up the old Taurus.

  I turned the key. The engine tried to start but failed.

  “Shit, I need you to go.” I was talking to the car, pleading with it really. I turned the key again and the engine chugged to life.

  “Thank you!” I pulled the car out.

  I wanted to get to the OTC, to show Daniella I was eager, and I needed to get away from In The Weeds.

  My car didn’t chug along for very long.

  I had about two minutes of drive time left before I reached the OTC when I when my beat up old car gave up on me. Shoot!

  It stalled out. I did my best to point it to the side of the road and coast out of the traffic flow. Traffic was whizzing by and honking. Great. Just great. I put the hazards on.

  I couldn’t afford this car issue right now. I couldn’t afford the time or the money.

  I also didn’t know who to call.

  A s
mall kernel of panic rose up in my throat.

  I’d promised Daniella that I was coming in.

  It was going to look terrible if I didn’t show.

  If I waited for a tow truck the event would for sure be over. I’d miss my chance at impressing her.

  I turned the key a few more times and got nothing from my stupid old Taurus.

  Traffic continued to roar past me. The little car shook each time. I was afraid to open the driver’s door for fear of it getting blown right off.

  I crawled over to the passenger side of my car and got out. I grabbed my bag of gear.

  I would call for a tow truck after I got to work. But darn it I wasn’t going to disappoint Daniella. I was going to get to work. Period.

  I looked back at the car one more time, confident that it was far enough off the road to not cause a problem. The hazard lights were fully operational at least. I started walking.

  It wasn’t ideal. There was no sidewalk, but what else was I going to do?

  This stretch of street certainly wasn’t made for pedestrians. Damn car.

  I kept walking.

  A pickup truck pulled up alongside me. Oh great. Now I was going to be murdered by a serial killer.

  “Paige! You could get killed walking along here!”

  And my pickup truck driving knight in shining armor was none other than Firefighter Heath Finch. He looked even more handsome than he had the other day.

  And pissed off.

  “Well, my car is dead, so I don’t have much of a choice.”

  “Get in, immediately.”

  “Excuse me? Is that an order?”

  “Yes, yes, it is. This is dangerous. Cars take this stretch way too fast.” A few cars were honking now that the pickup was slowing traffic behind it.

  Heath leaned over and swung open the door to his truck. I climbed in.

  “Better?” I probably shouldn’t have been sassy, but it was my gut response to being ordered into his truck. Even though he was totally right that this wasn’t the safest plan, walking along the road.

  He shook his head and a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”