Fighting the Fire (Warrior Fight Club 3)

“I can’t go to WFC this week either. Hoping to make dinner, though,” Billy said around a bite of chips.

“Working?”

“Actually, no. I’m going to a Nat’s game with my Little.” When Sean frowned, Billy continued. “You know, Big Brothers/Big Sisters. I signed up to be a Big and got matched about a month ago. My Little’s name is Dante. He’s twelve.”

“That’s…pretty damn cool. Is this because of those features Shayna worked on?” She and another reporter had published a fantastic series of stories on different aspects of the program last fall and winter.

“Yeah,” Billy said. “She learned that Big Brothers are in especially high demand. They’re always looking for men to be mentors, and there’s always a waitlist of boys waiting to be matched.” He looked down and shrugged. “I guess I was wanting to be a part of something, I don’t know, bigger than just my job.”

The sentiment hit Sean in his already-hurting chest. He got that feeling even though he didn’t know what to do with it. “Wow. So what do you and Dante do together?” Sean asked.

“We mostly just hang out. The baseball game is a special sponsored event for Bigs and Littles. Usually, we play games at my house or take my neighbor’s dog for a walk or go have a meal. I try to take my cues from him, you know?”

“That’s really awesome of you, B.”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I dig spending time with him, so it’s not just for him.” Billy eyeballed Sean for a long minute. “You know, you should check it out. You could take your Little to meet the guys at the firehouse and show him the ropes there. Man, kids would dig that.”

They often had school groups visit the firehouse during the day, so Sean knew firsthand how much kids enjoyed seeing the trucks and hearing the sirens and call tones. Not to mention visiting the station cat, Winston, who’d just sort of arrived one day and stayed, like he’d adopted them instead of the other way around.

“Yeah? Huh. I never thought of something like that,” Sean said, wondering if he’d be any good at it. What did he know about spending time with kids?

“I hadn’t either,” Billy said, wiping his mouth and checking the time on his phone. “Shit, I gotta go in about fifteen.”

Feeling a little more fortified by the food, Sean dropped his napkin on his plate. “Thanks for coming by. Really.”

“You know my schedule has some flexibility, so if you need me, hit me up.” Billy carried their dishes to the sink and insisted on loading them into the dishwasher and wiping down the counter despite Sean’s assurances that he could take care of it later. Then the guy filled the ice unit and asked, “Now, how do you use this thing?”

A few minutes later, Sean was sitting on the couch downstairs and strapped back into the machine, courtesy of Billy and a whole lot of trying not to laugh as he struggled with the stickiness of the Velcro straps. They said their good-byes and B saw his way out, and then Sean was back to flipping channels on the idiot box.

Not that anything held his interest, so for a while he shot off messages to the guys at the station who’d texted or left voicemails. He hated the reason for all the attention, but he couldn’t deny that it felt good to be thought of by so many people. The firehouse and his friends at WFC were like family, especially since he had none of his own—or at least none who cared.

When he’d sent the last of his replies, he stared at the old movie that he hadn’t really been watching. His attention strayed…to the wall-mounted art deco lights of Captain America and Thor that hung on either side of the television. Sean’s gaze tracked next to his comic book collection. And the collectible figures arrayed on a shelf.

A kid would like this place.

Man, if he’d had a friend with a set-up like this when he’d been twelve, he would’ve offered to sell body parts to move in forever and never have to go home again.

Huh.

On a grimace, he reached for his laptop on the coffee table. Booted it up. Opened a search window.

Just out of curiosity, he typed in, what does it take to become a big brother

Even though, as a workaholic in a high-risk job who carried some serious baggage he mostly tried to ignore, he was pretty sure he didn’t qualify to be anybody’s role model.

Still, he started reading. What else did he have to do?

Chapter Seven

It was entirely possible that Sean was putting too much time and attention into preparing for Dani’s Avengers education. He placed an online grocery order to restock his pantry. Rush-ordered his favorite caramel and cheese popcorns. And, in between a steady stream of get-well and funny-meme texts from the guys at the station and his friends at WFC, Sean had begun strategizing over the best viewing order.