Only Her Smokejumper Firefighter - Cami Checketts Page 0,44
power beyond his own relaxed his fingers against his will. A voice inside said, “No.”
Ren instantly released Bruce and fell back. His men surrounded him. Nobody spoke as Bruce gasped for air.
“What the—” Bruce swore up a storm as the rest of them sat there in shock.
“Crew Supervisor,” Tyler said very formally. “Do you want to walk this off?”
Ren was probably looking at disciplinary action. He didn’t care. His men wouldn’t have been able to stop him from killing Bruce, but his mom and his Father above had. He knew someday he’d be glad. Right now, he wasn’t glad. He didn’t want murder on his conscience, but the guy deserved it. Rape, beating Mavyn until she lost her baby, and then the guy had the guts to lie about Mavyn spending “nights” with him and being “wild in bed.”
The anger resurfaced. He stood quickly and pushed through the circle of his men before he attacked Bruce again.
“Mavyn’s your girl,” Bruce taunted from behind him. “Lucky man. Definitely not the pure Christian you pretend to be if you’re sleeping with the likes of that hooker.”
Ren spun and would’ve leaped onto him again, but Joshua, Tyler, Seth, and Adam all grasped him tight.
“Take some deep breaths,” Joshua instructed. “Let’s get you away from him.”
Ren tried to comply, but he was seeing red. He’d never been so unsettled and angry in his life. He’d teased, wrestled, and fought with his real brothers and his firefighting brothers all of his life. Sometimes it’d been in anger, but it’d cooled quickly. Nothing like this pounding, aching, screaming fury.
He heard loud footsteps coming from up the canyon. The evac medics were coming. They’d get this refuse out of here and at least Ren wouldn’t have to listen to him any longer.
He paced away with Tyler and Joshua on each side of him. The evac medics looked at him oddly, probably expecting some instruction, but he had nothing to say that wouldn’t reveal how close he was to losing it again.
They set to work. Bruce cursed and cried out a few times, but they loaded him in the Stokes basket and then started carrying him up the canyon.
“Thanks for saving me, Supe,” Bruce’s taunting voice floated back to them. “Enjoy Mave for me.”
Ren closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and counted slowly to a hundred. When he opened his eyes, his crew all watched him as if he was unstable. He was. He definitely was. He needed out of this canyon and off this mountain. He needed to get to Mavyn.
“Let’s pack up and head out,” he grunted.
They all nodded and set to work. Ren should be praying hard right now for forgiveness and help, but he didn’t have it in him. He’d saved that loser and then almost killed him. The anger was slowly seeping out. He felt shame and regret, but he was still angry. He wanted to forgive Bruce and forgive himself, but it was a lot to ask.
All he knew was … He needed Mavyn. Only she could soothe him now.
Chapter Eleven
Mavyn waited impatiently next to Cedar, Aster, and Quill. She appreciated Ren’s brothers being here in a show of support, but as soon as Ren climbed out of that helicopter, she’d shove these tough men out of the way to get to him. She had to tell him the truth about everything from her past, about the Spirit she’d felt so strongly telling her to come here, and about how much she loved him.
They were at the smokejumpers’ base in Redding, California. The flight here had gone smoothly and Cedar had gotten news that there had been a bad accident but Ren was fine. Maybe Mavyn’s instincts to come were off since Ren wasn’t injured, but she didn’t feel that. She still felt she should be here.
She chanced a glance at Ren’s brothers, gauging if she could beat them across the tarmac and into Ren’s arms. This was the fourth helicopter to land in the past half hour and apparently, a fifth had taken the injured man straight to the Bothin Burn Center in San Francisco. This was supposed to be the last crew of smokejumpers who had been through having to hide in their fire shelters while a fire burned over them. Each crew had been grim. Some of the men had recognized Ren’s brothers and said hello quickly. One of them told Quill that Ren had saved the injured man’s life, but he’d been stiff and awkward