Quiver & Burn (Surrender to Them 5)

I went to bed with a clear conscious and clarity I hadn’t experienced in quite some time. I had no idea if Brylee was interested enough to consider dating us both or being shared. She was a nice girl who had probably never considered that possibility. I knew one thing for sure though—she was going to have a hard time keeping her panties on if both of us turned up the heat. I had done my best to keep the filter on out of respect for Jett, but if we were going to go for it, then that was no longer necessary. I was a good wingman, but I was relentless when I went after someone I wanted. It had been far too long since I chased passion. I didn’t have to stay lost in my own fear anymore. Brylee might be the one that changed everything for both of us. She could be the one.

“I guess there’s no reason for me to go get the truck this morning.” I walked into the kitchen and chuckled as I started pouring my coffee.

“No, I doubt she’ll be out in the hallway this early on a Sunday.” Jett grinned and flipped to the next page of the newspaper he was reading.

Jett and I went to work, and while we didn’t talk about Brylee, I knew she was on both our minds. It would be a week before we could spend time with her again. I usually didn’t mind our schedule, but I normally didn’t have someone I was eager to see that it kept me away from. The first couple of hours of our shift was pretty quiet, and then we got a call for an accident on the interstate. We responded to that, and thankfully, it wasn’t much of an emergency. After we got back to the station, a call came in for a fire that had broken out downtown. It wasn’t much of a fire, and we had it out in no time. Those were the calls I liked. I hoped our entire shift was that easy because I hated it when the calls ended in tragedy. When we got back to the station for the second time, Chief Johnson was waiting as soon as we parked the truck.

“You two, follow me.” He pointed at Jett and then to me.

Shit, are we in trouble or something?

“What’s going on Chief?” I followed behind him as Jett caught up.

“It’s nothing bad. There’s someone here that wants to see you.” He pointed toward his office.

Brylee? Did she just decide to stop by the station? No—she doesn’t know what station we work at.

I followed Chief Johnson to his office and when the door opened, I saw a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair. I recognized her face, but it took me a moment to place it. She was one of the women we pulled out of the apartment building that we responded to a few days prior. Her apartment was on the bottom floor where the fire started and it was absolutely destroyed before the fire was out. Thankfully, we were able to get there in time to save her—and her children. The instant she saw us, she ran up and hugged us both. I was a little surprised, but I hugged her back. I looked at Jett and saw the same reflection of confusion on his face. We saved a lot of people, but it was rare for one of them to show up at the station.

“This is Maria.” Chief Johnson smiled and motioned to the woman we saved.

“I just wanted to come by and thank you both. I didn’t get a chance to the other night.” She was in tears by the time she stopped hugging us and took a step back. “I thought I was out of my mind because I saw two of you—but you really are twins.”

“Yes, we are. You really don’t have to thank us.” I shook my head back and forth. “It’s our job.”

“Yeah.” Jett nodded and put his hand on her shoulder. “Is everything okay now? Are the kids okay?”

“Yes, I don’t think they’re old enough to really understand how bad it could have been.” She sighed, but then a slight smile formed on her face. “I made you some cookies.”

“I guess you found a place to stay then?” I smiled as she walked over to Chief Johnson’s desk and picked up a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“Yes, our landlord has been more than generous. He’s found a place for all of us to stay while the apartment building is being renovated.” She walked over and held out the plate.

I guess it would be rude to say no, even though I don’t normally eat many sweets.

“Thank you.” I nodded and picked up one of the cookies.

“You really didn’t have to do this—but I’m not going to turn down a homemade chocolate chip cookie.” Jett grinned and grabbed one of them.

“It’s okay. I’m a single mom. All I do is work, cook and take care of the kids.” She shrugged and put the plate down.

“We know how that goes.” I looked at Jett and nodded. “Our mom raised us on her own too.”

“Well anyway, I won’t take up too much of your time. I just wanted to come by and thank you personally.” She smiled and tilted her head. “One more hug?”

“Sure.” I chuckled and gave her another quick hug. “I’m really glad you're okay. Hopefully, your renter's insurance will take care of everything and you’ll be back in your own place in no time.”

“I wish.” She sighed. “But we’ll be fine.”

“Wait.” Jett tilted his head slightly. “Do you not have insurance?”

“No—I probably should have, but it’s really expensive.” She shrugged and I saw a pained expression on her face. “The temporary place we’re in is fully furnished though, so I’ll save some money for a few months and do a little thrift store shopping.”

“What about clothes and—other stuff.” My face quickly twisted into one of concern, but then a thought hit me. “Wait, give us your address.”

“No, come on. I don’t want charity. You’ve done enough.” She held up her hand and waved me off.

“My brother and I buy abandoned storage lockers when we’re not rushing into burning buildings.” I looked over at Jett, who immediately understood what I was saying.