Into the Fire Excerpt

Chapter One

DARREN

"Get the hell off me!"

Pauly's eyes had shot open seconds earlier, thanks to the Narcan and the bag of oxygen he'd shoved away. A slew of curses and violent thrashing was our reward for bringing him back to consciousness too abruptly. We'd fucked up his high, and he wasn't pleased.

"Bridge, hold him down."

Before I could, Pauly whacked Ian in the face with his angry flailing. Ian shoved him down on the sidewalk harder than he needed to. We were on the twenty-third hour of a double shift, and my patience was growing thin too. Pauly was a frequent flier, and as long as he was conscious and in a decent mood, the medics would usually crate him off to the hospital where they'd monitor his vitals until he came out of it. Today, we weren't that lucky.

"Try that again, Pauly, and next time you're getting the Narcan no matter how good you're feeling," Ian ground out.

It was an empty threat, but one that no doubt felt very real to Pauly under the current circumstances. Narrowing his eyes, he shifted his bleary gaze to me.

I shook my head, keeping my hold firm on his arms, which were unexpectedly strong considering how thin he'd recently become. "Don't look at me for sympathy, man. You can't hit us when we're trying to help you. You going to calm down now?"

Pauly was a junkie, one of thousands in the city. We were two of a few dozen guys on the fire department who periodically made sure he was breathing after someone found him unresponsive on the streets, again.

We seemed to care more about Pauly staying alive than he did sometimes.

The harrowing truth of it would eat away at someone else. I couldn't let his story or the hundreds of others I'd seen play out over the years get under my skin though. Not in this line of work. I just wanted to get back to the station. We'd been toned out all night long. Back to sleep just long enough to get jolted awake again. Nothing meant more to me right now than the promise of a few hours of uninterrupted rest. The sooner Pauly and I saw eye to eye, the sooner I could get my relief and go home.

After a moment, he seemed to relent, his muscles going lax.

"Good man." I let out a sigh, equal parts relief and exhaustion. I nodded toward the medics who'd just arrived with a stretcher. "These guys are going to take care of you now. You going to be nice to them?"

"Yeah." He closed his eyes with a grimace.

Until next time, Pauly.

A couple of hours later, I was walking through the glass doors of Bridge Fitness. The gym that my brother owned and I helped manage had become a second home for me. Cameron had been working his ass off for weeks in anticipation of taking time off for his wedding. I came in every shift I could to help lighten the load, but I was grateful today wasn't one of them. I needed to burn off just enough energy to crash back at my apartment.

I entered the main gym room, and Cameron's fiancée, Maya Jacobs, was on the treadmill, earbuds in, oblivious to my presence. The pretty blonde had had my brother twisted up for years, and as much as I'd hated to see him go through it, he seemed happier than I'd ever seen him now that they were together again. I gave her a wave when I passed and headed toward the office in the back where I'd likely find Cameron.

As expected, he was at his desk. But he wasn't alone. Raina, our resident yoga instructor, leaned her hip against the side of the desk. She flickered her lascivious gaze from his uneasy expression down his body and edged closer. Damn, the woman was an inch away from climbing into his lap. When she licked her lips suggestively, Cameron looked away.