Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,102
was already in motion. The alarms were still sounding, and the crew was pulling on their gear and getting the trucks loaded up.
“I’ll see you later,” Avery told him.
Jake looked from her to the activity behind her. “I . . .” He clearly didn’t want to leave but didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t trained as a firefighter. She almost laughed. There was actually one thing in the world that Jake Mitchell couldn’t do.
“Go get everyone into shelter. We have a town square full of campers.”
His eyes flickered to the truck behind her and back to her face. “Right. Yeah.”
Still he hesitated.
“Jake, I’ve got to go.”
“I know, I just . . . haven’t seen you going into a fire.”
That was true. In the week and a half he’d been here, she’d been working as fire chief, but she hadn’t been a firefighter. The two jobs could be pretty different.
“I’ll see you later,” she repeated.
Jake hesitated, then he grabbed her upper arms and pulled her onto her tiptoes for a kiss. A long, hard, deep, sweet, hot kiss she drank in greedily.
He set her back on her feet a moment later and turned on his heel and stalked out of the station, already pulling out his phone.
Avery pulled in a deep breath, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction wash over her. She was here with her crew. Max and Bree were out watching the storm, Jake would organize things in the square, Dillon and Kit were there for medical and emotional emergencies—everything was covered. Everything was going to be fine. The team was in place.
The skies opened up fifteen minutes later. Jake was shouting and trying to direct people while taking calls from Frank and Max.
“We’re under a tornado watch, too!” Max shouted in his ear.
Well, that was no surprise. “Watch your asses,” Jake told him.
“Always.”
“Is everyone going to city hall?” Frank asked a minute later when Jake flipped over to his call.
That was the plan. They could get the campers into the basement level of the big building to ride out the storm. They’d be dry, and if things did kick up into something more serious, they’d be in one of the safest places in town. But the party atmosphere was hindering the efforts.
“As soon as we can convince them that inside is better than outside,” Jake said.
Most of the crowd was scattering in several directions, shrieking and laughing. Some were attempting to hold protection over their heads, but the downpour had already soaked everything. Others were still in the middle of the square, finishing off the s’mores and trying to pack up camping equipment.
Lightning flashed in the clouds to the west, and Jake sighed. This was going to be a long night. Even without the knowledge that the woman he loved was somewhere fighting a fire at the same time that strong winds, hail, and another possible tornado threatened.
Jesus. Jake thrust his hand through his hair. Feeling helpless was like his own personal hell, and that was how he felt at the moment.
Lightning cracked overhead, and Jake felt like his nerve endings were jumping with the same anxious energy looking for an outlet.
His phone rang again. He jerked it out and looked at the display. Then hit “Ignore.” He could not deal with that call at the moment. He’d silenced the same call four times today and was likely in deep shit with his boss, but he couldn’t handle the governor of Iowa and his problems right now.
“Hey.”
Jake turned to find his father striding toward him. “Get these people inside,” Jake said, indicating the still-partying crowd.
“Where are you going?”
“The fire.”
Wes gave him a look. “You’re not a firefighter, Jake.”
“No. But Avery is.”
“You have to let her do her job.”
“Yeah. But I can be there while she does it.” He couldn’t stay here. At least not without losing his mind and decking a few people who thought they could screw around with lightning overhead and sixty-mile-per-hour winds coming.
“You can’t go every time she’s called out.” Wes put a restraining hand on Jake’s shoulder. “If you come home, if you’re with her, this is going to happen again and again.”
Jake forced himself to breathe. It shouldn’t surprise him that his father was reading the situation so accurately. Rain fell over them in sheets, but Jake had no desire to be anywhere safe and dry—not as long as Avery was out there battling everything.
He knew his dad was right. This was going to happen. Of course it was.