Dare You by Ella Frank

1

Kieran

I’D JUST MANAGED to shut my eyes after a long night of calls when the blaring alarm sounded throughout the firehouse.

“Ambulance thirty-nine, engine seventeen, engine twenty-four, truck ninety-one, truck fifty-six, truck sixty-three, battalion eighty-two, hotel fire, 380 Wabash Avenue.”

Shit, it was a big one. I bolted out of the bed and ran straight for the app floor—or apparatus bay, where the trucks and engines were docked—as the rest of my crew followed at my heels. With our bunker gear already in place on the floor, it took less than two minutes for each of us to suit up, and then we hopped in the cab of the truck and were on our way. It was a routine I could do in my sleep, which was a good thing, since I was barely awake now.

That soon changed as the truck sped through downtown Chicago. The sound of horns honking and the siren wailing never failed to get the adrenaline pumping, and by the time we made it to the Royale Hotel, I was wide awake.

Chief Parker was already on the scene as we pulled up and climbed out of the truck. The engine behind followed closely by the ambulance, and as my boots hit the pavement, Olsen—my roommate and fellow crew member—stepped up beside me and craned his head back to take in the high rise looming overhead.

“Wanna bet it’s on the top floor?”

“Wanna shut your mouth?”

Olsen chuckled as the two of us made our way over to the chief. “You know I’m right. It’s early morning and we’re tired as shit—you think it’s gonna be something as easy as oh hey, fellas, it’s on the first floor.”

“I think you’re putting bad luck out in the universe and you should know better.”

“Uh huh. Still, wanna bet?”

No, I didn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was hike it up God knew how many stairs, but as we got closer to the chief, I saw the frazzled man with a grey suit and nametag turn and point to the top of the building.

Motherfucker.

Olsen bumped his shoulder into mine. “What’d I tell you, KB? Hope you ate your Wheaties this morning.”

I side-eyed him and shook my head. I hated when he was right.

“The fire started on the twenty-fourth floor,” the man told the chief. “There’s a private party being held on the twenty-fifth. I’m not sure how many guests were invited, but the capacity is fifty max. They were all told to evacuate and the fire alarms went off, but I’m not sure if everyone got out.”

Damn it. This was just going from bad to worse.

“What about guests?” Chief Parker asked, his hand on his radio, ready to give out our orders.

“We’re at seventy percent capacity, but as far as I know, everyone below floor twenty-four has been accounted for.”

Chief gave the man a clipped nod then turned to where we’d all come to a stop behind him. His weathered face was pulled taut, his expression grim, as he began barking out orders over his radio.

“Okay everyone, pay attention. Engine seventeen, you’re gonna feed the sprinkler system; engine twenty-four, fire attack, get two lines on that fire. Trucks, search and rescue. Truck fifty-six, fire floor. Truck ninety-one, floor above. Truck sixty-three, top to bottom. Let’s make sure everyone gets out safely.”

I took off, my orders clear in my head, and my crew followed close on my heels. We had twenty-five stories to climb and not a minute to spare. The fire had started on the west side of the building, so we headed to the east stairwell.

People rushed by us, dashing for the nearest exits, some crying, some screaming, and some on their damn phones taking videos for their next social upload as they all ran to safety and we ran into the stairwell.

Once we were inside, I peered up the hundreds of stairs that lay ahead of us and masked up. Then I turned to Olsen. “This is your fault, remember that, asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I took a deep breath and began my ascent, moving as fast as I could even with my heavy gear trying its best to weigh me down. Since I was the lead on the crew, I set the rapid pace, and my guys kept up as we raced up the stairs in an effort to beat the fire to the top. Ignoring the burn in my thighs, I ripped open the door to the twenty-fifth floor to see flames licking up the far end of the hall.

Fuck. This fire wasn’t waiting around for anyone. It’d already jumped a floor. The smoke was thick, making visibility difficult. We needed to step this search and rescue up quick before the whole goddamn thing went up.

“Brumm, Lee, take the left. Davis and Sanderson, the right. Olsen, you’re with me.” As the guys began calling out for any guests who remained and kicked open doors, I ran to the far end of the hall toward the suite entrance. The wide double doors remained shut, but unlocked, and when I walked inside, the smoke became thicker, and I could hear the crackling of flames getting closer.

“Fire department, call out,” I shouted, scanning the room urgently for any signs of life.

“I’m—” The voice broke off as the person started coughing, and I rushed down the corridor to see a man stumbling toward me.

I yelled out for Olsen and reached for the man, helping him down the hall. “Is there anyone else?” When he nodded, I handed him off to Olsen. “How many?”

“Just one, I think. They were trying to help—”

I was down the hall before he could finish his sentence. “Fire department, call out.” With no one in the first room, I moved on to the next.

“KB, it’s about to catch,” Olsen shouted, and I looked over my shoulder to see flames beginning to lick up the wall in the main room.

Shit.We needed to get out of here, and fast. Hopefully whoever was still back here wasn’t pinned or injured, because we didn’t have much time.

Before I could call out again, a figure emerged from the back bedroom, a gloved hand covering her face in an effort to block the smoke. The thought that it must’ve been some party, judging by the red sequined gown she wore, flitted through my mind as I reached for her.

“Anyone else?”

She shook her head as I huddled her into a corner and ripped off my helmet and mask.

“Take a deep breath,” I instructed her as I shoved the mask over her nose and mouth, and as she did, I looked around for the best way out.

The smoke was no joke at this stage. My visibility was shot to shit, and after several deep inhales, I pulled the mask free and quickly placed it back on.

“Okay, we gotta go.” I wrapped my arm around her to rush us out before things got worse. But as we entered the main room, the fire spread quickly, heading toward our exit.

Like a deer in headlights, the woman beside me froze, and it was a familiar reaction. Most people panicked when they were confronted with fire on this scale.

“Come on, we have to keep moving,” I said, pulling her along, but she was stronger than I expected and stood her ground. I cursed as the sound of my team bursting in made me look over my shoulder.

“Others?” Brumm asked.

“We’re clear.”

“Then let’s go.”

I turned back to the woman as the smoke grew thicker, and as she began to cough, I realized there was only one way we were going to get out of here. Without a second of hesitation, I bent down and lifted the woman up and over my shoulder. She gasped but didn’t struggle as we made our way out of the room, and it was in the nick of time, too, because as soon as we crossed the entryway, the doors caught fire.

Shit, that was close. Too close.

Once we hit the stairwell, I set her down, and she quickly kicked out of her heels to run with us. Going down was much quicker than going up, and soon we were on the ground, bursting through the exit and removing our masks to take gulps of air.

“Medic,” I called out. Stevie rushed over to where I was leading Miss Razzle Dazzle toward the ambulance, and when she dropped one of her heels, I stopped to pick it up.

Sleek, black, and a mile high, the stiletto was sexy as hell—and according to the Manolo Blahnik label, more expensive than my entire wardrobe combined.

“Miss?” I called out as Stevie wrapped an arm around her slim waist. “I think you dropped this.”

She glanced over her shoulder at me, and even through the smoke, grime, and soot distorting my vision, the sharp angles of her alabaster skin stopped me in my tracks. She was stunning, and as she reached for the shoe I held out to her, I found myself taking an extra step forward to get a better look.

“Thank you, handsome.” The low tenor of her voice made my feet falter as I blinked and tried to make sense of what I’d just heard. Then she took the shoe from me and added, “For saving me and my shoe. I’ll have to think of something extra special to repay you. These Manolos are one of a kind.”

I opened my mouth with the automatic you don’t have to thank me or do anything speech on my tongue, but no words were coming out. My brain was too busy trying to match the voice to the face and vice versa, because something wasn’t adding up. But before I could work out exactly what it was, Stevie was walking her back to the ambulance, and the leering sounds of my crew made me turn.

“Miss? Oh, miss? I think you dropped this?” Olsen imitated me as I walked over to where the dumbasses were chugging back bottles of water and laughing amongst themselves.

I shook my head, pulled my helmet off, and tipped some water over my head. “Morons. No wonder you guys can’t get a woman. No chivalry. What’d you think I should’ve done? Kept her shoe as a souvenir?”

Davis snorted. “Yeah, for the time you were too stupid to realize you were playing Prince Charming to another prince.”

Wait, another what?There was no way that had been a…a…prince, as Davis had put it. She—he—had been too damn pretty.

I whipped my head around and zeroed in on the stretcher that was being lifted into the back of the rig, and caught a final glimpse of the sparkly red sequins just before the doors were shut.

Holy shit, Davis was right. The strength in her—his—hold upstairs and tone of voice all made sense now, and I’d had no freaking clue, because that man, and the face I’d just been staring into, was just as striking as the dress he’d been wearing.

Guess the smoke had gone more to my head than I realized if that was where my mind was. Either that or my lack of sleep was catching up with me. It was time to hit the hay, and the sooner we cleaned up, shut it down, and cleared out from here, the sooner I could do that.