“I see.” I narrowed my eyes and nodded. “Next time I’ll spank you harder.”

“And longer maybe—if I don’t cum first.” Brylee’s face lit up and the desire was extremely obvious.

I guess she’s really into that sort of thing—she’s going to be even more perfect than I realized because spanking her made me hard as fuck.

“We’ll figure it out as we go.” Jett nodded and finished the last few drops of his coffee. “Okay, we need to go.”

“I guess I’ll do my first walk of shame.” Brylee giggled and leaned down to slide on her shoes.

“Luckily you don’t have to go very far.” I finished my coffee and stood up.

We said our goodbyes and exchanged a round of kisses that went a little longer than they should have, but Brylee’s lips were just too fucking tempting for me not to kiss them like they deserved. I was a little tired after the previous night, but a few cups of coffee would get me where I needed to be. Thankfully, things were rather quiet at the station when we arrived. Jett and I ate a couple of bagels with cream cheese, killed a pot of coffee, and lounged around as we waited for our first call of the day. The first one came around mid-morning, and it wasn’t anything serious. It was a small fire in an apartment that was out before we arrived and didn’t spread further than the kitchen. I hoped that set the pace for the day because we still had the storage locker to work on the next day and we needed some rest. A few more calls came in, and by the evening, I was already dozing, ho

ping that it would be a peaceful Saturday night in Atlanta.

“We got another call.” Chief Johnson walked into the main part of the station and hit the alarm.

“Alright, let’s go.” I nudged Jett who had started to doze in his chair as well.

“What’s going on?” Jett walked over to the chief. “Is it anything serious?”

“It’s a warehouse fire. I don’t think anyone is inside, but we should follow normal protocol.” Chief Johnson motioned towards the locker room. “Alright, suit up.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded quickly and started walking towards our lockers.

Warehouse fires usually weren’t very exciting, but the fires could get out of control quickly depending on what was stored in them. The warehouse in questions was in an area where a lot of businesses had closed due to gang activity. That meant it was likely abandoned, so we would be putting out the fire and letting the investigators take over. It wasn’t always arson when an old abandoned warehouse went up in flames, but it happened more times than not. The chances were even higher in that part of town where owners were left with a property they couldn’t sell after the gangs took over. We sped to the location and found that the doors were locked. They were too big for us to easily open, so we broke out a couple of windows and the crew started dousing the flames they could see with water.

“Let’s take a trip around the building, just to make sure there’s nothing we should be concerned about.” I motioned to Jett and he followed behind me.

“I really wish people would stop trying to solve their financial problems by setting them on fire,” Jett grunted and kicked a couple of canisters that were near the side of the building.

“Yeah, no shit.” I nodded quickly. “They don’t realize that someone has to go in there, even if the fucking place is abandoned.”

The someone in question was us. We were usually the two that went in first, and this was going to be no exception. We confirmed that there was nothing flammable on the perimeter and then found a window near the side of the building that would be able to serve as an entry point. I let the team know what was going on while Jett broke through the glass and then the two of us headed inside. The smoke was fairly thick, and we weren’t going to risk our lives for a warehouse fire, but we still needed to do a quick check. I expected it to be routine, but when I turned the corner, I realized it wasn’t. I grabbed Jett’s arm and pointed at what appeared to be a person lying on the floor behind the flames. Jett ran to the window, called for help, and we started concentrating the water on that area so we could get through it.

“The second floor isn’t going to hold. We need to get in there quick!” I paced and tried to find an option to get through the fire.

The warehouse had two floors, and the second floor was open in the center with a staircase that led up to it. It was supported by metal beams, but the floor itself was wood. It resembled scaffolding more than an actual floor, and I was certain it wasn’t up to code. The owner probably wanted more space and just had some workers throw it up in a hurry. That meant it probably wouldn’t be structurally sound and a few creaks that were followed by embers hitting the floor confirmed my suspicions. Based on the shape and clothes, it looked like the person on the floor was a woman. I didn’t have a lot of hope for her survival, but we had to try. The left side of her body was burned, and while I couldn’t see her face, I could see blonde hair that was charred. We finally got a section of the fire down enough for us to get through it and we reacted immediately.

“This isn’t good,” Jett yelled through his mask. “I’ll carry her.”

It wasn’t going to be a good night, that was for damn sure. Anytime we had to carry someone out of a fire already knowing that they were likely gone made me sick to my stomach. Jett carried the woman in his arms and I cleared the way. The warehouse wasn’t completely abandoned and was full of boxes and crates. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to have anything flammable or explosive inside them. We got her outside and the paramedics took over from there. They confirmed she was gone within a few minutes of us pulling her out of the fire. They didn’t find any form of identification, so she was labeled as a Jane Doe and taken to the morgue. Jett and I did another quick check of the building and confirmed there was nobody else inside. After that, we assisted the guys running the water until the fire was completely out.

“Why would someone be in a place like this?” I shook my head back and forth as I took off my helmet. “Those were expensive clothes and she was wearing heels. She definitely wasn’t any sort of worker.”

“I have no fucking idea,” Jett grunted and threw his helmet on the back of the truck. “Maybe she started the fire. It wouldn’t be the first time some crazy owner thought they could start a fire and get out before it was out of control.”

“I don’t see any cars though.” I motioned to the parking lot. “And we checked the perimeter. What was she going to do, walk home in heels?”

“Yeah, it definitely doesn’t look right.” Jett shrugged and sat down. “The investigators will figure it out. Our part in this is just about done.”

It would take days before the investigators had any real information, but it didn’t stop me from being curious about the woman in the warehouse. I had a feeling that the police were going to be opening a homicide file before the end of the night because finding someone in there was incredibly suspicious. She didn’t have any form of identification and we didn’t see a purse near her on the ground, even when we went back to check the second time. Even if it was caught in the fire, there should have been some evidence left behind. After the fire was out, all we could do was return to the station. Both of us were pretty exhausted by that point, and thankfully, the rest of our shift was quiet. We were able to lay down and get some rest. I did manage to fall asleep, but it wasn’t a restful sleep. It never was after a shift like that.

“Fuck, it’s almost time for the shift to be over. Brylee will be waiting on us to head to the storage locker.” Jett sipped his coffee and sighed.

“Yeah, we shouldn’t let a bad night get in the way of that.” I poured a cup of coffee and sat down across from him. “We see shit like this all the time—I don’t know why it doesn’t get any easier.”

“I think you lose a little piece of your humanity when it does. Maybe it’s a good thing it still bothers us.” Rand shrugged and sipped his coffee again. “I’ve gotten better at compartmentalizing it—except when it’s someone I care about.”

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