Off Chance (Off 5)

Peeking in on Rowan, I see she's still sound asleep with Capone lying over her legs at the bottom of the bed. I'm betting she'll be out for another few hours, which should give me plenty of time to run my errands and get back.

I hate to admit, but part of me is afraid she'll bolt once I'm gone. She clearly has a hard time trusting, and an even harder time accepting help. I also have no clue why it's so fucking important to me to help her out. She's a stranger to me, and the only bond we share is that of savior and victim. In my line of work, that does not make for a lasting bond. I save someone, I go home, and I forget about them.

But there's no forgetting Rowan Page.

What I'll go ahead and admit is that I'm lying to myself just a bit when I act ignorant of my reasons for getting involved. Ever since Marney died, I'm obsessed with saving people. Clearly, it's the reason I became a firefighter and it's the reason I take some unnecessary risks that have landed me in hot water with my Chief and crew. But it extends beyond just pulling people from the flames. I also get involved where it's probably not my business, and try to make situations better.

Case in point... Rowan Page.

Clearly none of my business, and yet I want to make things better for her.

I think about this vexing woman the entire trip over to Nix's house. She's an enigma and I'm probably a bit obsessed with finding out more about her. How does someone that is clearly intelligent with a good dose of street smarts get involved with a drug dealer? Is she involved in the drug trade? I also wonder why she left her boyfriend, and I wonder if he's coming back for her to finish the job.

All of these thoughts have me on edge, and I know I can't solve all of her problems today. But I am intent on helping her solve them if she'll let me.

I pull into Nix's driveway and jog up to his front porch, knocking on the door rapidly. It opens up and Nix eyes me up and down.

"What's up, loser?"

"Not much, bonehead. Is Emily around?"

Nix's eyebrows rise in surprise but he nods, stepping aside to let me in.

"Are you having an illicit affair with my fiancee?" he asks with a grin.

I chuckle but then deadpan, "Yes, we are illicitly having an affair... right here... in front of you. In fact, I made sure you were here before I came knocking on the door."

Nix responds with a boisterous laugh and it warms my heart. My cousin didn't have a lot to laugh about in the not-to-distant past. Struggling to overcome physical and emotional injuries from his time spent in the Afghanistan war, he became a recluse and the once close bond I shared with him growing up had eroded to almost nothing.

That was until he met Emily Burnham. That's when my boy became a new man.

Right on cue, Emily comes skipping down the stairs. "Flynn," she says in surprised delight. "What brings you out here?"

Emily throws her arms around me in a hug and I grin over her shoulder at Nix, waggling my eyebrows. "See... we're very illicit."

Pulling back, Emily looks between Nix and me. "What's illicit?"

I shrug my shoulders. "The affair you and I are having under Nix's nose."

Emily just gives me an accommodating smile and starts walking back to the kitchen. "I see. We're very stealthy, aren't we? Well, come on back and let's have some coffee. We can make future illicit plans. I was just getting ready to make some breakfast."

Nix and I follow Emily into the kitchen. I hadn't called before coming over and just took a gamble that Emily would be here. Even though she has an apartment in the city that she shares with her college roommate, Fil, she stays over at Nix's house most nights.

Glancing over, I see Nix's dog, Harley, lies in front of the kitchen windows, basking in the early morning son. He raises his head, gives me a lazy look, and then goes back to sleep.

"So seriously, what brings you over here?" Emily asks as she pours a cup of coffee and slides it across the counter toward me. She knows I take it black so doesn't offer anything else.

"I need to borrow some of your clothes."

Emily just stares at me blankly, and Nix rolls his eyes. "First, you're having an affair with my fiancee and now you want to dress up in her clothes?"

"Yeah, it's not as kinky as it sounds. Short version of a very long and whacked story is that I have a temporary, female roommate who I rescued from a fire yesterday. She has nothing to her name except a pair of surgical scrubs they released her from the hospital with. I was hoping to borrow a set of Emily's clothes, particularly shoes, so I can take her shopping for some stuff today."

After I finish my story, I watch to gauge their reaction. Both Emily and Nix just continue to stare at me, not saying a word.

I wait, particularly for Emily to pipe up that she'd be glad to help.

I'm met with silence.

Sighing deeply, I say, "What's the silent treatment for?"

Emily and Nix exchange a quick look, but it's filled with a little bit of worry, and a whole lot of frustration.

"Okay... go ahead and spill it out. Let's get this over with." I pull a kitchen chair out from the table, turn it backward, and straddle it, resting my arms across the back.

Nix leans back against the counter and crosses his arms. "Isn't it a little out of the norm for a firefighter to bring one of his rescues home?"

It's a legitimate question coming from anyone, but I know where Nix is headed. "You already know the answer to that, Nix. Why don't you just say what you really want to say?"

My voice is hard and unforgiving. I've heard these concerns before from practically every family member and close friend.

Before Nix can say anything else, Emily steps forward, laying a restraining hand on Nix's arm so he doesn't say anything further. Nix isn't known for his tact. "Flynn... you know we're just worried about you. You tend to take on every hopeless and lost cause there is, often to your detriment, many times causing you pain."

"And it often comes in the form of a woman," Nix adds.

I shoot him a glare and then look back to Emily. "Don't you think you're exaggerating?"

"Flynn, it's just that--" Emily starts to say but she gets cut off by Nix.

"You tend to date broken women and then you try to fix them. And when you find out you can't fix them, or that they don't want to be fixed, you're left behind holding a broken heart and usually their debt."

"Nix," Emily says in a chastising tone.

"It's true, Em. I know you haven't known Flynn long, but ever since Marney died, he thinks every woman needs saved from some dark catastrophe."

Emily opens her mouth to say something but I beat her to the punch. "Leave Marney out of this, Nix." My voice is laced with so much venom, I can see Emily actually take a step backward.

There was a time in his life that Nix would have just as soon punched my lights out for talking to him that way, but he only drags his hand through his long hair in frustration.

"I'm sorry," he says. "That was out of line. I just don't want to see you hurt. You're like a brother to me and I protect what's mine."

The anger deflates out of me and the tension leaves my shoulders. Standing from the chair, I clap a hand on his shoulder. "I know, man, and I love you for it. But this is a little different situation."

"How so?" Emily asks.

"First... I'm not dating her and have no intentions of doing so. It was just a really interesting situation, and it's a very temporary sort of help."

Picking my coffee cup back up, I take another sip and then proceed to tell them the entire story of how I met Rowan Page. I speak in impersonal tones, so they don't even catch a whiff of the fact that my interest in Rowan isn't completely professional. Those gray eyes don't just haunt me anymore, they've perked an interest in me that has me looking at her as a woman, and not as a victim.

But I'm not about to let them know that. I lay out the scenario, and assure them that I just want to help get her on her feet. I don't hold back about the fact that she could be in danger so they understand that Rowan is truly in a bad situat

ion and needs help.

By the time I'm finished, there's no doubt in my mind Emily would have taken her in had I not. She rushes upstairs to pull together a few outfits that Rowan can borrow until I can buy her some new clothes.

Once she's gone, Nix turns to me. "I'm really sorry for bringing Marney up."

"It's okay. I've been told I have a hero complex on more than one occasion."

"With good reason, buddy. But just remember... you don't have to fix everything. It's not your responsibility to save the world."

Fuck if I don't know the truth of that statement, but it doesn't stop me from trying my damnedest anyway.