Richard

On the drive, my thoughts drifted back to Tanya and the way she’d looked when she’d stepped out of that shower. When I’d seen her last she’d just been a scrawny little girl, but now, after all these years, I couldn’t deny that my stepsister was long past being called a girl—she was all woman.

The way that towel clung to her curves, her hair soaked and dangling like Spanish moss over her neck and shoulders. If it had been anyone else—any girl I’d brought home from the club or the bar—I’d have had her bent over my bed and screaming my name.

But this was my stepsister. The only thing I should have seen when I looked at her was the little brat I used to help put pigtails on when she was getting ready for school, not some smoking hot vixen.

It was wrong...

And I knew that if I hadn’t gotten out of there, then an awkward situation would have become something much, much worse. Despite how she was acting or even how she felt about me, I knew that I couldn’t lose Tanya again—this time, I wouldn’t run.

It didn’t take me very long to get to the firehouse, just long enough to collect my thoughts and think away the tent in my jeans.

When I arrived, I saw half the station outside gathered around our big fire engine. A few of the boys were soaked and covered in suds and a few others took turns rinsing the truck, the remnants of their handiwork spiraling down into the darkness of the nearest storm drain.

“Yo! Gunner!” one of my boys called from where the rest of them were lounging by the grill. “Ain’t today your day off?”

I walked over, finding Stoggins manning the grill behind a column of smoke. Our resident grill master loved his meat nice and smoky. The rest of us? Not so much.

“Jesus, you’re lettin’ this buffoon around the grill again?” I asked, punching my friend in the arm as he flipped the next batch of burgers over the fire. “What’s the procedure when we have to report our own damn fire? Do we have to call someone else to put the fuckin’ thing out?”

“How about you do us all a favor and shove a damn burger in your mouth, and then shut the fuck up, Gunner,” Stoggins shot back, jerking his head toward a plate of juicy patties.

“I’ll shove my fist in your mouth, is what I’ll do,” I said, fixing myself a burger while I glanced around at the rest of our crew.

These makeshift block parties of ours were pretty common whenever we had to wash the engines, and it gave us a chance to relax. Or until the tones sounded, anyway. A few of the guys made a habit out of bringing their families and letting their kids run around on the side of the firehouse while their wives caught up on the latest gossip. I wasn’t too into the whole family-man bullshit, but having the kids and wives around made everything seem a little more like a family—a community.

I hadn’t had one of those in a long damn time. I briefly—and probably stupidly—entertained the thought of bringing Tanya to one of our get-togethers, someday.

“Hey, Gunner,” Garfield called from behind me. He was only a part-timer, but shit, everybody came out of the woodwork when free food was involved. “What was the deal with you the other day?”

I knew what he meant, but Christ, I’d come here to get away from family drama, not relive it with all my friends. “What’re you talking about?”

“You fuckin’ bolted after the fire,” he said, taking a long pull of his beer. “I asked the Captain what the hell was up, but he told me it was personal. That girl a friend of yours?”

Man, some of these guys were like bloodhounds for pussy. Every time we pulled some chick out of a burning building, they expected to get their dicks wet. I usually didn’t pay them much mind, but now we were talking about my stepsister, and that changed things.

Hoping to shut him down easy, I shrugged. “Not really.”

But goddamn Garfield couldn’t take a hint. “She looked really fuckin’ familiar. You bring her around here or something before? One of your conquests?”

I swallowed the bite of burger in my mouth. “She’s my fuckin’ stepsister, asshole. Watch your mouth.”

“You got a sister?” Garfield looked stunned, like I’d just told him that at night I grew wings and moonlighted as the Tooth Fairy. “Shit, I thought you were an only child.”

“We haven’t talked in a while.” Before he could say anything else, I added, “Look, man, I don’t want to get into it.”

Garfield went quiet for a minute, and I thought it was over. Then he frowned and I sighed. Dude was like a dog with a bone. “But I know I’ve seen her somewhere before. It’s starting to fuckin’ drive me nuts, y’know?”

All right. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

“I don’t know where the hell you would have seen her before, Garfield. I didn’t even know she still lived in the city. I didn’t exactly leave under the best circumstances, and if it’s all right with you, I’d really like to fuckin’ drop it, all right?”

“But, I mean, if you didn’t bring her around, then I must have seen her somewhere else.” Fuck-face McGee must’ve been drunk, because usually all I had to do around the station was tell someone to shut the fuck up, and they did it. They all knew better. “Does she go to the gym, or something?”

“For fuck’s sakes, Garfield, I don’t fuckin’ know. This is the first time I’ve even talked to her in years.”

“She go to school? I’m takin’ some courses at the community college. Maybe I’ve seen her there.”

“What’s a retard like you doin’ taking college courses?” Stoggins interrupted, and I heard a few of the other guys chuckle. “Shit, man. If that girl’s in college, she’s damn well outta your league. Plus she’s Gunner’s sister. She’s off-limits. Leave it alone.”

I cast a thankful glance in Stoggins’ direction and Garfield sighed, looking at the ground. I didn’t understand why this was bugging him so much. But the more he thought about it, the more agitated and determined he seemed to place just where he’d seen Tanya before.

“Where does she work?” he asked, looking up from a few moments of contemplation.

“I don’t know,” I sighed, rubbing my face. “I think she’s a waitress. Maybe the last time you were stuffin’ your fat face, she’s the one who served your food.”

“That’s startin’ to ring a bell, yeah.” He nodded, tapping his foot. Christ, I could practically hear the gears turning. If he thought about this much harder, he was gonna set off our smoke alarms. “I just can’t place her at any of my usual haunts. Shit, I feel like I’ve seen her a lot, thought. I just don’t know where. You know what place she waitresses at?”

“Garfield, drop it, man,” Stoggins warned.

“Some club,” I told him through my teeth. “Downtown. That’s all I got. Now fuckin’ give it up before I_._._._”

Garfield’s face flushed for a moment, then went white as a sheet. No sooner had I mentioned it being a club than our conversation ground to a halt.

“Oh,” he said, his tone a mix of realization and dread. “I_._._._Okay, Gunner. Whatever you say, man.”

I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t like the way that sounded one bit.

“What the hell does ‘oh’ mean, Garfield?”

“Nothing, dude, let’s just forget it.”

“No, I want to know what the hell ‘oh’ means. Spit it out.”

He sighed, running a hand over his slicked-back hair. His eyes darted around, his weight shifting in the cheap lawn chair he’d plotted his ass into. I could feel my heart rate rising as my annoyance with this whole conversation reached a boiling point.

“There’s the club I go to every once in a while downtown—y’know, someplace I go to unwind. Well, it’s the only time I ever go downtown, honestly, and_._._._” He sighed, wiping his forehead as sweat began to glisten on his skin. “It’s not exactly the most savory of places, if you catch my drift.”

“Get to it, Garfield,” I snapped, my voice rising high enough to start getting the attention of the others around me. Deep down I knew where this was going, but I didn’t want to believe it.

I wanted what Garfield was about to say to not be true with every fiber of my being.

“All right,” Garfield said. “I’m just gonna come out with it, then.” He looked at me very seriously. “You’re sister’s a stripper, Gunner.”

“Fuck you.”