The Fire Within

1 | The One With Cupcakes

— R A E —

"Man, these really hit the spot after that shift," Mason comments, stuffing the entire cupcake into his mouth.

I watch as my best friend, Kat, reaches across him and uses her finger to wipe a spot of frosting off his cheek, then I cringe as she proceeds to lick it right off her own finger.

I roll my eyes, "You guys need to get a room."

They've been all over each other since we arrived at the fire station, or "The House" as Mason calls it.

We met Mason at a bar a few days ago and they immediately clung together like magnets. We hung out most of the night so, of course, he bragged about being a firefighter every chance he got, and Kat just fed his ego with all her "oohs" and "ahhs". I wasn't surprised when they exchanged numbers before we left and he gave us an open invitation to visit the fire station.

And so, here we are. They texted nonstop the past two days and Kat finally dragged me here under the guise of handing out cupcakes to the firemen.

Right. Public charity, my ass.

But that's what best friends do.

"So how was your shift? Put out any big scary fires?" Kat asks, eyelashes batting.

I roll my eyes again and try to focus less on them and more on handing out the goods.

It's just past 7 pm, which according to Mason, means it's time for a shift change.

We are currently standing around in the front entrance located right next to the garage, so it was a perfect place to catch the crew as they're headed in or out for their shift.

The timing was too perfect—it's almost as if Kat had planned for us to be here right as Mason's shift finished. Go figure.

"Oh hey, while you're here you guys should meet my friend, he's not too social so he wasn't at the bar, but he's fun so you should help me convince him to come with us next time." Mason cups his hands around his mouth and shouts towards the garage, "Ajax, get over here!"

"Yeah, be right there!" comes the response, and a moment later a tall, young fireman turns the corner from the garage and heads towards us. He's wearing his uniform's cargo pants but only has a navy-colored t-shirt on which, to my satisfaction, shows off his arms and broad shoulders quite nicely.

I had to remind myself to release the breath I was holding—I've never swooned over a handsome man before, and I don't plan to start now.

But it wasn't easy, he really was quite stunning. Not the flawless-prince-type like Mason, but more rugged. Strong, lightly stubbled jawline with thick brows hanging over a slightly crooked nose like something didn't heal quite right.

Breath Rae! Keep it together! Growing up my mom always brought plenty of men to our house. I've seen my fair share of handsome guys come and go and decided long ago I didn't need or want that.

But I'm still a 23-year-old young woman, I remind myself. It's a biological reaction. And nobody can blame me for appreciating something beautiful. Even if that beautiful thing is in the form of a man who causes me to momentarily question my reasoning.

"These lovely ladies brought some goodies for us! Ladies, this is Ajax. Ajax, this is Rae and Kat" Mason introduces us.

I snap back out of my thoughts. "Hi, uhh.." I manage to say, my brain currently a pile of mush, "cupcake?" I lamely offer.

A sly smile graces Ajax's lips. "Cupcake? I didn't realize we were choosing pet names already, but I suppose 'Cupcake' is cuter than the usual 'Baby'."

My eyebrows scrunch together, "Pet names? What are you....... oh."

Color floods to my cheeks as understanding dawns. "Um..." I'm a mumbling mess! I open the box of cupcakes and hold them out in better view before clearing my throat, putting on my best smile, and continuing, "I meant would you like a cupcake?"

He lets out a quick laugh before responding, "Sure, Cupcake, I would love a cupcake!"

My smile widens as he takes his time to grab one. Carefully looking over the box, he chooses the one with the most frosting and lifts it to take a huge bite.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a frosting guy but I guess you shouldn't judge a book by...." I pause as I catch a look at his forearm when he raises it.

"Holy shitting hell!" I screech. "How the fuck did you get that!?"

I squint to make sure I'm seeing it right, then indicate to the others the still bleeding gash on the underside of his arm.

Ajax has pure shock and confusion written on his face with thick eyebrows peaked on his forehead, but it quickly fades as a broad smile breaks out across his face.

"Ok, one: I'll forgive you for misjudging me about my sweet tooth because I admit I also may have wrongly assumed you to be a goody-two-shoes instead of this little-miss-foul-mouth over here."

Well shit, that's embarrassing.

"She's got a sailor's mouth," Kat interrupts unfazed, "it usually shows up more when she lets her guard down. We love her even more because of it, though."

"Trust me it wasn't unwelcome, just surprising" he shrugs. Drawing his gaze from me he redirects it to his arm, attempting to see the cut. "Aaaand two: I have no clue when that happened, I barely even feel it. I must've sliced it while I was cleaning some of the equipment after I took my jacket off."

"Dude," Mason chimes in, "you should really clean that out before it gets infected."

"Yeah, it looks pretty bad, you might even need some help with that," Kat is quick to add, with a shit-eating grin in my direction. "Plus, it may give us some more time to get to know each other even better," she adds as she leans back into Mason.

"Well you're right about one thing," Ajax says, "I do need to get this cleaned... but I'll be fine on my own, I've cleaned plenty of my own injuries."

As much as I don't really don't care to go off with some guy I just met, (it goes against every rule I can possibly think of) even I can obviously see that Ajax is going to need help. And honestly, after taking another glance at Kat and Mason getting overly chummy, I could really use an excuse to get away for a while. We're a fire station for fucks sake, what could Ajax possibly do?

Mind made up, I state my case: "Look, there's no way you will be able to clean and bandage that with only one hand, so just let me help you, okay? And, I reeeally need a break from that" I say, tilting my head meaningfully towards the two lovebirds.

He catches on, but I appreciate that I can see him weighing his options before he concedes with a quick nod. "Yeah, alright. Trust me, I get it... come on."

* * * * * * *
A/N:
Hey guys! Thanks for tuning in and giving this a chance. It's my first book, comments and constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated- feel free to point out any mistakes, I go through and re-edit every so often.

Please note, I have no idea how fire stations run/operate, or how they are laid out. I've done a tiny bit of research but most of this is just made up to fit the idea I had in my head. So don't think too hard on it, artistic interpretation and all lol.

Much love ❤️