Page 35 of Wild Fires

I threw my arms up in disbelief. “I have to get to work,” I said before stomping out of his apartment and over to mine.

Brothers were a pain in my ass.

As I let myself into my house, I realized I only had a few minutes to shower and dress before Gracie would be there. I quickly got to work.

Unfortunately, despite our day and night escapades, my body was still strung tight as thoughts of Gracie in the shower with me played out in my mind. It led to a longer shower than it should have been as I helped ease a bit of my discomfort.

Was I going to walk around with a permanent woody from now on?

If Gracie stuck around to help me out with it, would I even mind?

It was crazy how quickly life could change. A week ago, I wouldn't have even given a passing glance to Gracie. Hell, two days ago all I could think about was wringing her neck. And now she suddenly consumed my every thought and action.

I wasn't even sure how this had all happened, but I couldn't imagine going back to my cool bed and sleeping alone again. I wanted her warmth wrapped around me every night from now on, and that scared the shit out of me.

I was just getting out of the shower when someone knocked on my door.

“Go away, Elias.”

The knock sounded again, so I walked over and threw the door open.

“Uh, hi. You said to come up, right?”

“Gracie?”

“Yeah?”

I shook my head to clear it.

“Sorry. I didn't think you'd be so fast and figured you were Elias coming to annoy me.”

She looked upset about something and I tried not to panic. I had no idea what to do if she started crying.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, there's been another fire.”

“Okay. We can deal with this.”

I wasn't sure why that would upset her so bad. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

“It's not that. Andrew was burned. I don't know how bad it is. I started to head straight to the clinic, but remembered I was supposed to pick you up.”

I held the door open so she could walk inside. Just as I closed the door, I caught a glimpse of Elias standing in his own doorway grinning. He gave me a little salute as I shut the door.

“Are you okay?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You seem really upset.” For some reason it made me agitated to think of her so worried about Andrew. Was something going on between the two of them? God I hoped not.

“Did you hear me at all? Andrew is hurt. He's at the clinic now and they may have to medivac him over to one of the human burn centers.”

“It's that serious?’

She nodded, biting her lip as she tried not to cry.

I felt like an ass. It had to be serious if they were considering sending him to a human hospital.