Page 14 of Tempt
Taking in one deep breath after another, I start to back away.
Glancing over at Casey, I see she too is still laughing but has managed to wipe away her tears.
“I’m gonna go,” I tell her, and she nods. “Can you make sure she’s okay?”
“You got it,” Casey assures me, and I walk out of the bakery. Part of me is sad that it hadn’t gone like I’d planned but then again loving how frazzled Kyra seems to get in my presence.
* * *
I lean back in my recliner and start flipping through the channels. It’s after midnight and I can’t sleep. My mind has been going crazy all day after leaving the bakery earlier.
I intended to ask her to dinner this weekend, but I never counted on that door taking her out.
I smile again remembering the look on her face, followed by her stumbling backwards with the door swinging in her direction. She was alright, more embarrassed than anything, but I wish she would have allowed me to see her.
The sound of a door closing outside, followed by a boom triggers my interest. Moving over to the front window I peek out through the blinds and see nothing.
My neighbors are normally quiet and mostly in bed by now. However there is a new guy that moved into the last unit, and I think he works nights because he’s always getting in after midnight. He’s never courteous either, considering most of the other units already have their lights off you’d think he would be.
Coming up empty I start to walk back to my chair when I hear a swoosh sound followed by the entire front windows of my apartment glowing.
“What the hell,” I whisper, looking through the blinds once more when my stomach feels like it drops to my feet.
“Fuck,” I scramble for my phone and yank open the door while dialing 911.
My truck is engulfed in flames.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“My truck is on fire, and it's too close to the building.” I try to drag out the hose, but it is caught on something.
“Can you give me your address?”
I rattle it off and by this time a few of the neighbors have come out to see what’s going on.
“Hurry,” I say before tucking the phone in my pocket and pulling the hose with two hands.
The noisy neighbor in the end unit grabs his own and together we try to put out the flame.
A loud explosion ignites and the two of us drop, shielding ourselves.
“What was that?”
“Gas cans,” I tell him, “and a mower.”
I’d been over to my grandmother's house, my mom's mom, mowing her yard for her yesterday. I hadn’t taken everything out of the back of my truck yet.
“Anything else we should worry about?” The guy asks while we both stand once more.
“Don’t think so.”
By this time the sirens are screaming, and the firetruck slides in on the opposite side. The two of us step back to allow them to do their job.
An hour later I’m looking over the heap that was once my truck, and is now nothing more than a crispy shell.
“Found this,” the chief of police walks over and holds up a glass bottle with what looks like a rag that is mostly burnt. “Seems this wasn’t an accident. Do you know anyone who’d want to start this fire?”
“I can think of one,” I glance at Miles, and he holds my stare. “Question is, are you gonna do anything about it? Or does his daddy got you by the balls?”