Chapter 23
“Hey Leo,” Nix called out from the kitchen at the firehouse where he was fixing a sandwich. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Hey man,” Leo said, stalking into the kitchen, his own stomach rumbling with hunger.
“Did you read the report from the chief yet?” Nix questioned, passing the loaf of bread over to Leo.
Leo shook his head. He had been running late to the station this morning after catching Jazz in the shower before she left for work.
“The investigations into those warehouse fires came back as arson instead of electrical issues or lightning strikes,” Nix informed him with a mouth half full of food.
Leo rocked back on his heels. That wasn’t something he had expected to hear. Honestly, he had been surprised at the string of fires that they’d had lately in the older part of town. Most of the buildings were vacant, but their initial inspections at the scene had all pointed to weather or simply old wiring.
“When did the report come in?” Leo asked, raising his own sandwich to his mouth.
“Early this morning. One of the insurance companies decided to deny the claim and did a little investigating into the old brewery fire. They managed to get tape from the new traffic light cameras on the corner, and there, clear as day, is someone piling old pallets against the building and dousing them with a gas can,” Nix explained, and then finished his food quickly before chugging an energy drink as if it were a lifeline. “Originally the presence of fuel by the building was blamed on the abandoned gas station next door.”
“Seriously? What about the others?” Leo asked confused, unsure if all the fires could be blamed on arson.
“The fire investigator decided to look a little further into the others now that one was confirmed on tape. Apparently, he closed the first cases a little too soon for the chief to be satisfied and so he agreed to reopen two others. Both had traces of accelerant on the backside of the buildings,” Nix explained, obviously as surprised as Leo.
“Anything caught on nearby security feeds?” Leo balled up his napkin and tossed it toward the trashcan on the other side of the kitchen. Making the basket, Leo held up his hands as if scoring a field goal causing Nix to roll his eyes.
“No security feed, the buildings back up to an alley that’s used for the dumpsters, but they did have a witness saying she saw a man walking with a gas can into the area. Her statement said she assumed he had ran out of gas and was taking the alley as a shortcut. There is only one streetlight back there so she couldn’t see him once he’d walked farther down the alley.”
“Well…shit.” Leo was caught off guard at the news. The last thing he needed right now was a crazy man with a gas can lighting shit on fire. Firefighting was dangerous enough without the random acts of insanity making their job harder.
“Any connections made yet?” Leo reached for an apple off the counter, his stomach now filled with nerves but still craving food.
“Nah, they’re all owned by different people and no pattern in how the buildings were picked other than possibly convenience.” Nix belched, patting his flat stomach. “Chief said they are reopening four cases that were closed and going over evidence again. The one right before you moved here actually ended up killing a vagrant who’d slept in the wrong building that night.”
“Man, talk about wrong place wrong time.” Leo shook his head.
“No joke, man. I’m grateful we didn’t lose any men on those calls. I’ve been wondering all morning how we managed to miss that they were arson. I normally have a gut feeling when something isn’t right,” Nix admitted, his voice questioning.
“I hear ya, man. I never even considered that we had a fire starter,” Leo said, letting Nix know he hadn’t been the only one in the dark.
“My shift ends soon. Can you text me if they announce anything and I’m not here for it?” Nix asked as he cleaned up his mess.
“Of course,” Leo replied, standing up to get back to work. “I’m hoping for a quiet night, but I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“Thanks, man.” Nix waved as he left the kitchen.
Leo remained standing in place for a few moments. His brain was trying to figure out the pieces to the arson puzzle as well as acknowledging how much he liked Nix. The man may have been interested in Jazz when he came on the scene, but there were no hard feelings anymore. Leo would have to be plain stupid to ignore the fact that Jazz was an amazing woman that any man, even Nix, would have been lucky to grab and hold on to.
The rest of his day consisted of the normal firehouse routine. Cleaning and checking equipment, something that was boring, but necessary to stay alive in their line of work. He had even gone through their inventory of station supplies to make note of what needed to be reordered soon before they ran out. It wasn’t until late afternoon when he heard the familiar tinkling laughter that he had come to look forward to.
Following the magical sound, Leo stood outside the door to the rec room and smiled at the sight of Jazz passing out pieces of banana bread. That was something else he had started to look forward to.
Jazz loved to bake but there was no way she could possibly eat everything she made so she had made a habit of bringing goodies into the station when she had time.
“I hope you saved me a piece,” Leo rumbled from the door, smiling when Jazz jumped as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“I did.” Jazz greeted him with a quick closed-lip kiss, her gloss making his mouth feel slightly sticky. “I also made an extra loaf just for you and it’s safe on the kitchen counter back home.”
Leo rubbed his chest where it warmed over his heart at hearing her refer to his house as home.
“I thought you would be working at the clinic late tonight?” Leo asked before taking a large bite of his slice of bread and rolling his eyes toward the heavens at the magnificence taking over his taste buds.
“I was going to, but Janelle needed the shift more than me, and they were all shot appointments anyway,” Jasmine said with a shiver, her distaste of making kids cry obvious to all.
“Are you going to keep my bed warm for me?” Leo probed, knowing that the thought of her tangled in his sheets would both comfort and arouse him later when he thought about her laying naked on his bed.
“Actually, I need to clean out the fridge at the apartment.” Jazz made a face and wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure my milk expired a month ago and I need to do damage control before things start walking around on their own.”
Leo nodded but pulled her close to whisper in her ear, “But my bed will miss you.”
“Your bed will be okay for one night while I take care of things. Plus, it’s not like you’re even going to be home,” Jazz argued.
“But who will walk the dog?”
Jasmine pulled back, confusion apparent on her face. “You don’t have a dog.”
“True, but I could get one. That would give me the excuse to have you there all the time.” Leo offered with a calculating smile. “You wouldn’t be heartless enough to leave a puppy alone all night long, would you?”
“Geez, Leo. At this rate, I might as well just move in.” Jasmine’s eyes widened at her own words, her mouth making an O of embarrassment.
Leo wanted to pump his fist in the air. He had been trying to find a way to broach the subject of her moving in now for the last week, but had chickened out on more than one occasion. Keeping his expression innocent, he shrugged his shoulders. “That isn’t a bad idea, when is your lease up?”
Jasmine stared at him in shock. The entire room was silent as a group of tough, muscled firefighters eavesdropped like little old ladies in a knitting circle.
“Are you serious?” Jasmine whispered with watery eyes.
Leo looked past her shoulder at the guys leaning closer to hear her words. A few casually looked away before their gazes darted back without shame.
Cupping her face in his hands, he smiled and continued, “I’ve thought about it and it sounds like a good idea to me. In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been a better idea in the history of the world.”
Jasmine slapped at his arm, her eyes serious. “Don’t tease.”
“I’m totally serious.” Leo made sure his voice was as solemn as possible with those three words. “I would love to wake up every single morning with you there. I want you to have your own space and not live out of that duffle bag you keep in the corner.”
Jasmine bit her lip before answering him, which of course drove him completely crazy. Waiting for her to answer him was probably the longest twenty seconds of his life.
“Okay, I’ll move in.” At her words, cheering broke out behind her. Jasmine jumped as if she had just remembered they had an audience. When Leo hugged her close, she whispered into his shoulder, “That was pretty ballsy, you know?”
“My woman wouldn’t let me down,” Leo teased, nipping her ear before releasing her.
“You’re crazy you know that?”
“You’ve already dealt with one crazy roommate,” Leo said, referring to Winter. He thought she was great, but also realized she was a bit nuts when it came to certain things. “When can we get this done?”
“Whoa there, trigger. I need to check my lease and then figure out furniture.” Jazz held up her hands as if to slow him down.
“Jazz, I want you with me, and the sooner the better. I’m able to help with the cost of breaking your lease early if we need to. Let me know what I need to do, and we can get this moving along.” Leo smacked her butt, the sound causing his friends to snicker. Friends who he had forgotten were watching them and were now staring at the area he had graced with his hand just moments before.
Glaring over her shoulder, he narrowed his eyes when a couple of the men simply shrugged and smiled at being caught ogling Jazz’s backside. Turning their bodies so his back was to the men caused even more laughter, but he didn’t care.
Fuckers.
That was his ass to look at and spank. If the guys knew what was good for them, they would keep their eyes to themselves or there’d be words.
“There’s so much to do,” Jasmine said to herself, most likely making a list of items to check off, which seemed to be the way her brain worked when tasked with something.
“I’ll help in any way that I can,” Leo said right before the fire bell started pealing. “Babe, we gotta go.”
Jasmine jumped out of the way of the men barreling toward the door.
“Be safe,” Jasmine ordered with a worried glance.
“Always.” Leo jogged out of the room but not before leaving her with something he felt needed to be said. “Love you, sugar.”
He smiled without turning around at her gasp.
That probably wasn’t the best time to tell his woman what she meant to him, but he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
He loved that woman.
Jasmine stayed still, almost frozen in place, long after the sounds of the fire engine faded as the men raced toward their call.
Leo loved her.
Holy shit, he loved her!
Jasmine spun on her heels and squealed, knowing the action made her look like she was a teenager with her first boyfriend, but not caring one damn bit.
She cupped her hands over her mouth to keep in the exuberant laughter that wanted to break free. The sheer happiness that she felt at his admission and the offer to move in was overwhelming. It felt as if her heart was about to pound right out of her chest.
She had so much to do and no idea where to start before she remembered what the obvious first step was. Walking quickly out of the station, Jasmine pulled out her phone.
“Leo asked me to move in,” Jazz half yelled as soon as Winter picked up her call.
“Wait, what?” Winter asked groggily on her end.
“Were you sleeping?” Jasmine pulled the phone away from her face to check the time. “This isn’t the time to be sleeping, Winter! Leo asked me to move in with him.”
“And you said yes, of course,” her best friend said with a yawn.
“Of course.” Jasmine realized how big she was smiling when she saw her reflection in the car window as she opened the door. “I’m going to need help.”
“Let me know what to do,” Winter offered quickly. “This is so exciting.”
Jasmine agreed, finally understanding how Winter had felt when Will asked her to move in shortly after they’d started dating. “I’ll need you to handle your old room, but I think I can get everything else squared away on my own,” Jasmine said. Winter had left her bedroom furniture when she moved out earlier in the year. It had come in handy a few times when Winter had come over for girls’ nights during Will’s long shifts at the station. Now, it was just one more thing she needed to check off her list.
“Done,” Winter answered immediately, probably already having a place in mind for the old furniture.
“Oh, and are you free tonight? I want to have one last girl’s night at the old place and since Leo is on shift the timing is perfect.” Jasmine drove down the street, happy that her Bluetooth had picked up the phone call automatically.
“I’m free. You heading there now?”
“I’m about ten minutes away,” Jasmine replied only paying half attention to what Winter was saying the farther she drove. “Hey, the guys left on a call right before I called you, and now traffic is at a standstill on Sixth Street. Is there anything on the news yet?”
“Let me check. I have to find the remote.” While Jasmine waited, she giggled when she heard Winter cursing up a storm in the background.
“Did you just call Will ‘a ball of taint cheese’?”
“Ummm…maybe,” Winter said, embarrassment heavy in her voice. “But in my defense, I’ve told him to put the remote on the table so it doesn’t slip between the cushions a million times.”
“Is this what I have to look forward to? Lost remotes and making up new insults,” Jasmine teased, finally easing out of the traffic jam.
“That and so much more,” Winter said sarcastically.
“Awesome, can’t wait,” Jasmine deadpanned. She furrowed her brow at the evidence of black smoke rolling through the area. “Did you get it on the news yet? There’s a ton of smoke over here and it looks really thick.”
“Yeah, shush for a second. I can’t hear what they’re saying with you yapping in my ear,” Winter mumbled.
There was radio silence for what seemed like ten minutes rather than the thirty second that had actually passed while Jasmine waited.
“Jazz, I need you to get to your apartment and I’m heading over there now.”
There was something in Winter’s voice that made the hair on Jasmine’s neck stand up.
“Winnie?” Jasmine cleared her throat, the feeling of it tightening up making her swallow hard. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll meet you at your apartment. I’m leaving now.” Winter instructed, “Be safe driving and I’ll see you in five.”
Jasmine felt her hands start to sweat on the steering wheel from her death grip. Before she could say anything else, Winter hung up the phone.
Something wasn’t right.
The short drive to her apartment was done in a blur as Jasmine’s mind played over all the different scenarios. She tried to think positive, but her stomach clenched as she pulled into the parking lot.
No, something was wrong. Jasmine wasn’t sure how she knew it, but something was very wrong.