Perverse Riches

Chapter 7

9 Months Later

"I hate Morgan." I growled angrily. "He rides my ass like a... like a... like a... Fucking firefighter." In the lack of a proper word, a descriptor seemed apt in the case. Beth and Anya shook their heads in mock sympathy.

"He is a firefighter, honey, and so are you." Beth gave no sympathy but I was already used to it.

"I'm under the two-year evaluation. Don't make me out to be better than I am." And Morgan was the irritating bear of a fireman I was shadowing and who reported my every movement to the boss.

"Maybe he likes you." Anya winked conspiratorially. I shivered in dread. No. Absolutely not. No liking allowed anywhere near me, for my sanity's sake.

"Relationships are off the table, remember?" Beth elbowed the other girl with a grin but her eyes were grim. She was the only one who knew everything. I'd broken down after a particularly hard day when the nightmares still made me come awake screaming and the training covered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She knew I didn't want to become romantically close to others now. Parenting classes, normal therapy, and cognitive-behavioural therapy, on top of the station house duties and proper martial arts training at last, AND fire and rescue university BA took all of my time. Plus there was the regular court house inspections to make sure I had a stable environment for Rosalie, which Martha was about to have at any minute in the prison. Some days I was so tired I just dropped and was asleep before my body hit the mattress. The baby chair was already properly installed in the four door mini hatchback I bought two months before, just waiting to get the call.

"Oh, right. Sorry. By the way, have you formalized your maternity leave?"

"Yes. I'll miss the station and the classes for sure, but Lee will need my full time attention for the first few months." Seth recommended I formally adopt Rosalie so Martha could never negatively interfere with her life, and I had to agree. Gods knew what the mad woman would try to pull otherwise.

I took another swallow of my iced tea, gods how I craved beer despite being sober since the move.

"But hey, you know-" The pager interrupted Anya's guaranteed to piss me off words.

"Gotta go. Bye." I ran outside where Bezzy was waiting for me. The others were already mobilizing when I got there, not even two minutes later.

"Where the fuck were you, softy? Get your ass in line." Morgan... grrrr. I didn't bother to reply. He was lucky I even showed up. It was my day off and I only agreed to be on call because I'd be temporarily stopping soon enough. My boots were left behind in favour of the gear I'd left ready to step on before leaving not even three hours before.

"Nice to see you too, buttercup. I hope you didn't miss me." We climbed in the back and the truck pulled out. Fighting fires was exhilarating, but maybe I'd take the time off to get another course... Of course, I had no idea how taking care of Lee would be, so it was a tentative idea at best.

"Talk to me Atkins. Tell me what you're thinking." Morgan shouted to be heard over the wind.

"None of your business." Morgan looked like that dude who played Alcide on True Blood. All rugged, hairy and ferocious, but considering my background, he didn't intimidate me at all, which seemed to perversely piss him off and impress him depending on the day. The cars moved away from the path of the engine.

"Alright everybody. There's a three car accident right ahead." Marcy's voice came through on the radio as the truck stopped moving. Morgan got off and extended a hand, but I just scoffed and got down on my own. I didn't see him giving a hand to the others, did he think I was weak or something? Bah.