Not Just Friends (Hot in the City #3) - T. Gephart Page 0,23
make it sound like it’s your idea. She’ll be more receptive if she thinks it’s coming from you.”
Yeah, on that we disagree, buddy.
“I’m not lying to your sister, Tibbs. If she asks whose idea this was, your ass is totally going under the bus.” I didn’t even apologize, only willing to bend so much.
Between the two of them, I was between a rock and a hard place and that didn’t even take into consideration what was happening in my fucking pants. So I had no interest in being the moron-in-the-middle of their sibling fight, and the only reason I agreed was because I didn’t totally disagree with Tibbs. She needed protection, especially until Lewis was wearing metal bracelets gifted to him courtesy of the city.
“Don’t lie, just . . .” he paused, trying to choose his words, “be creative.”
Oh, I was going to have to get creative, just not in a way he was going to like.
“I’ll call her, stop riding my ass.” I pointed to the doors. “Go make sure the rookie didn’t mess shit up with the chief.”
His eyes cut to the main part of the stationhouse, “On it,” leaving me in the bays by myself.
I was going to call her for sure, but I was going to have to find a way to keep it all business. And that was exactly where I was going to have to be creative.
Apartment fire.
Two engines responded to an apartment building not far from where we lived in Hell’s Kitchen. Some asshole had tried to cook burgers inside because he was cold, dragging in a grill that had no business being in the shoebox he was paying rent for. So many code violations and stupidity I couldn’t even understand it, thankful we were there just to put out the fire and not deal with the insurance claim.
“Tibbs, Leighton. Everyone out?” Cap called as he returned back to the truck. It was only four floors, with most of the residents having cleared out when they saw the smoke. But a “maybe” wasn’t good enough. The two of us were sent in to go door to door while the lines tackled the flames, making sure everyone who should be out was chilling at the front, catching the spectacle on their phones like the rest of the neighborhood.
“All clear, Cap.” I nodded, pulling off my mask and sucking in regular air.
Tibbs shivered, also losing the O2 assist from the SCBA. “Man, it was getting toasty in there. Lucky it was the top floor, gave everyone a chance to get out.”
Not sure how “lucky” anyone felt as the black smoke continued to pour out. Considering the dude responsible for the fire hadn’t bothered to see a problem with literally lighting a fire inside his home, we couldn’t be sure he didn’t have some other surprises lurking in there. Last thing we needed was a store of rubbing alcohol or worse, gasoline, being discovered by the flames.
Man, I hated stupid people.
North and Rev were on a line nearby, trying to contain it from one side, while Evans and Brown were on it from the front. And other than a few watery eyes and some anxiety, no one was going to need a ride to the hospital.
It was as good an outcome as we could hope for, able to save most of the structure and finally put the fire out. The water damage was going to be intense though, which meant everyone was going to be finding somewhere else to call home for a while.
“Tibbs, Leighton,” Rockefeller—the detective, not the famous kind—approached us. “You wrapped this one up nice and quickly.” He looked to the building which was black but no longer on fire.
“That’s what we do, Detective. We get tasked a job, we get it taken care of.” The edge in Tibbs’ voice unmistakable.
Rockefeller didn’t flinch, barely raising an eyebrow. “Tibbs, you of all people know I can’t and will not discuss ongoing investigations with a civilian. Not everything goes by your timeline. Having said that, is Presley okay? You want one of the guys to check in on her?”
I guess twenty some odd years on the force gave you the skills to handle a guy, the hostility from Tibbs easing out. “She’s fine. Maybe if someone can circle around during the time she’s at the club?”
“Consider it done. Now, I’m going to find Cap, see you guys later.” Rockefeller left, leaving us to finish packing up the engine and getting ready to leave.