Ellery Mountain 1 -The Fireman and the Cop Read Online Free

Ellery Mountain 1 -The Fireman and the Cop
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finally answered. He smelt coffee and despite knowing it was probably hospital-grade shit he had a sudden need for caffeinating his blood stream. If he knew Max better he might have asked for the guy to get him his own coffee, but he didn’t know him and he was sure coffee wasn’t on the list of approved drinks for post-fire patients.
Max did as he said and pulled up one of the two hard chairs that Josh had been sprawled in last time Finn had woken.
“How you feeling?” Max asked conversationally.
“Good.” There wasn’t a lot to add to the general physical condition. But there was a shitload more to add to the whole thing. “Alive. Thank you. Sorry.” There, I’ve covered all the bases. Now you can go and leave me to feel stupid and guilty on my own.
Max chuckled and placed the coffee he was holding on the small side table on wheels next to Finn’s bed.
“Glad to hear it, no problems and why are you sorry?” Max leant forward and finally Finn got a proper view of the face of the man who had saved his sorry ass.
His blond hair was short, but not buzz-cut, and tousled like Max had spent a while running his hands through it. It looked soft and Finn clenched his fist to stop himself from checking out his theory by patting the fireman on the head. Touching the man—who was probably straight—would do nothing except cause some kind of epic smack-down.
Finn concentrated on Max’s face instead. The light might well be low but all it did was serve to shadow the planes of his face and nothing could hide the extreme blue of his eyes.
A sudden memory, of those same eyes, flinty hard and determined as they stared right at him, flooded Finn and he shivered as the fear that he had been feeling the moment he’d first seen Max took him by surprise. Max had been wearing a mask, but still the absolute resolve in the guy when he’d heaved and levered at the desk, freeing Finn, had been intense. Finn closed his eyes as he relived those few seconds. He’d seen worse in his job, kids pinned down by men with weapons, drug addicts bleeding out on the streets, but to actually be the one pinned down and resigned to death? That was some heavy shit to be rolling over him at the moment. His throat tightened as he forced back panic—he couldn’t let Max see him lose it like a freaking kid.
“Okay?” Max sounded alert and concerned.
So much for hiding the freak-out. “Shit,” he cursed his thoughts.
Max grabbed his hand and held tight.
Finn didn’t fight the hold. He’d already shown Max what a wuss he was, why not add emotional wreck to the list.
“It’s okay, you know. First time I was pinned in a fire was only my second day on the job. A probie through and through. I freaked like you wouldn’t believe. Knowing death is coming for you when you’ve barely done shit in your life is kind of intense. When the flames get closer…” Max let his explanation trail away then shook his head to emphasise the point.
Max knew exactly the right thing to say. Finn opened his eyes and blinked back the blurred vision. If Max—I’m-a-big-strong-fearless-firefighter—had experienced scared, then Finn thought maybe he wasn’t being so much of a wuss.
“You went in even though the whole thing was coming down,” Finn said. He snapped the words and even to him they sounded like an accusation.
“Last man out,” Max replied simply. “It’s my job to make sure the building is empty.”
Finn realised Max was still holding his hand but Max made no move to remove the reassuring grip. The touch was comforting and solid and what Max had said, that it was his job, made sense. It was Finn’s job to look after the men in his care, whether civilian, or arrested, or colleagues, he didn’t differentiate his actions based on that.
“I couldn’t leave Mike in the lockup,” he said simply.
Max nodded. “Last man out,” he repeated again.
“So me saying sorry?”
“Isn’t necessary. I get it.”
A silence fell between them and Finn searched
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