Sizzle (St. Martin Family Saga): Emergency Responders (4 page)

He didn’t want to have to think about maintaining his composure during sex. From experience, he knew he couldn’t sustain what was considered a nice, respectable rhythm. He couldn’t maintain interest in common sex acts. He wanted to burn and he needed to feel. He wanted to be able to lose control without consequences. Before he discovered the club, he’d been forced to coddle his way through sex with women in his hometown or risk the entire town thinking he had serious issues and needed psychiatric intervention. He would never be placed in that position again because he knew if he were, he couldn’t conform.

He waited until he heard Brianna leave before he went into the shared bathroom, where he showered and dressed. When he was about to leave, he caught his reflection in the mirror.

He looked normal—the same height as his father, the same thick brown hair and blue eyes that most of his siblings had. Yes, he was overly muscled from weight training needed for the job, and his skin was overly bronzed from long days working out in the sun, and since he was the oldest of seven, he had more lines on his face than they had. But most differences were inside. He wasn’t like the others. And being different wasn’t good or bad, it was just a fact.

As he studied the lines around his eyes and recognized he wasn’t getting any younger, a heaviness settled over him. Were firefighting and sex with strangers all there was to his life?

Were they all he’d ever have?

For some reason, visions of the blond girl from the deli filled his brain and caused him to smile. He didn’t even know who she was, but thoughts of her pure and honest demeanor had saved him from self-deprecating and for that he sent up a prayer on her behalf. Whoever she was, wherever she was, he knew her spirit followed, bestowing joy on all those that came into her path.

***

3

A
week later, trackers
had been following a storm that had developed off the coast of Africa. They’d tracked it across the Atlantic, and now all models forecasted it to enter the Gulf. Clay was at a meeting for emergency responders and city officials to discuss evacuation preparedness. From now until the storm passed, the emergency responders were all on call. That included him and his crew at the downtown station.

By midweek the storm had moved across the Gulf and weather models now predicted it would make landfall somewhere between Texas and Alabama, which placed Baton Rouge smack dab in the middle of the growing storm, already a category four with winds in excess of one hundred fifty miles per hour. Evacuation orders were to be issued within the hour.

If the storm were to make landfall as a category four or five storm, then Whiskey Cove would experience one hundred mile per hour winds. Clay needed to warn his family. He smiled when he thought about the hodgepodge crew. His five brothers all had significant others, and some of the women had brought extra members to the family. There were currently two very pregnant women, a five-year-old child, an autistic teenager, one greyhound, one Airedale terrier, a lab, and a Missouri fox trotter to contend with, not to mention Dad’s horses and Cory’s boarded pets. Clay had worked plenty of storms and knew he needed to give his family time to make preparations. He wanted them all to evacuate.

When the focus of the meeting shifted, Clay stepped out of the room. He pulled his smartphone from his pocket and dialed his father. He sighed when he put the phone to his ear.

“Dad, it’s Clay. I’ve got—”

“Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?”

“Who is it, Cliff?” Clay heard his mother ask.

“Hello. Newfangled piece of shit doesn’t work.”

The line went dead.

Clay tried twice more, his father growing ever shorter-tempered, before giving up. He’d have to call one of his brothers.

A hand clapped over his shoulder. “Been missing my wingman at the club the past few nights.”

“Yeah, I’ve been taking a break.”

Augie exhaled long and deep. His brow rose. “Everything okay?”

Clay shrugged. “I just got bored.”

“Well, get ready to rock and roll now. You ready for this?” He angled his chin toward the door leading outside.

Lives had been lost in the larger cities during the last hurricane due to an evacuation fiasco. Baton Rouge had fared relatively well considering the overall devastation.

Clay nodded. “I’m going to get moving on local preparations today.”

“What are you thinking?”

Clay rubbed his chin as he spoke his thoughts. “I’ll check on Davis High School, take inventory, see what’s needed.”

Clay’s phone rang. He looked down at the screen and saw it was his father calling back. “Shit, it’s my father. I called him earlier.”

“He still believe technology is a tool of the devil?”

Clay laughed as he held the phone to his ear. “Dad, hang on for a second.”

Augie held up his hand in a wave. “Let me know if you need my help.”

Clay nodded. “I’ll call you.”

***

After the meeting, Clay picked up Jackson from the station and headed to the high school that served as the town shelter.

“Dammit.” Jack tossed his phone onto the dash

Clay raised a brow at him. “Problem?”

He rubbed his index finger across his upper lip. “I can’t reach…”

Clay looked over at Jack and looked again after he passed through an intersection. Jack was acting strange lately, long before the hurricane’s arrival.

Jack reached for the phone he’d just tossed and scrolled through screens. “Did you call the family?” he asked.

“I talked to Dad.” As he steered the truck, he watched Jack closely. Worry lines on his forehead had been added to the darkness under his eyes, but Clay would have bet the underlying cause wasn’t physical. The man was torn about something.

Jack stared out the window, sighing. “What about Clara?” He turned to Clay, his eyes searching.

Clay pulled into the school lot and parked the fire department’s mammoth SUV near the gymnasium. His sister was the only one Clay hadn’t been able to speak to. “I left her a message to call me asap.”

“I can’t reach her either.” Jack’s hand went to his hair and rubbed.

Clay shot Jack a curious glance.

“What?” Jack lifted his hands in the air, further revealing his exasperation. “
You
know how New Orleans gets once evacuation orders go out. There will be a run on gas and Clara never has any gas in her car as it is. I was just thinking about Katrina, and she’s down there. I mean, what if I can’t get to her and she can’t get out?”

“Shit, you’re right. If she doesn’t get my message, she’ll be stuck.” The thought of his baby sister in dire straits without him to protect her sent chills down Clay’s spine.

Jackson turned his phone so Clay could see the screen. “Tulane’s canceled classes.”

Clay didn’t have time to think about why Jackson had such a sudden interest in Clara. He opened his door and said, “Let’s get this stuff unloaded.”

Once they delivered the supplies, Clay hit the interstate. He’d called his father on the landline and learned that no one had been able to reach Clara because the cellular circuits were already jammed. The evacuation order hadn’t even come down and the town had already gone mad.

“Hey, she got my text. She’s waiting for us.” Jack’s demeanor changed from mopey donkey to what Clay imagined was an astronaut being rocketed to the moon.

And Clay was once again wondering why Jack was so worried about Clara.

*

Traffic was building to the north, but they headed south. When they pulled up to Clara’s apartment, some of her neighbors were outside, huddled and talking, while others were loading their belongings—all their belongings, from the look of it—into vehicles. He stepped from the SUV, and several pairs of eyes followed him. Jack ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

A woman with a child in tow approached him.

Kind hazel eyes met his. “Excuse me, sir, are you a fireman?”

“That’s right. East Baton Rouge Parish.”

“Oh.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “Do you know if an evacuation order will be issued for New Orleans?”

He wasn’t allowed to reveal that information, so he hesitated. The woman squinted from the bright sunlight as she looked up at him.

“
Personally
, if I had a young child to care for, I’d pack up and leave as soon as possible.”

She caught the sincerity in his voice and nodded. “Thank you.” She pulled her child by the hand and turned to walk away.

“Miss?”

She turned to him, but kept walking backwards. “Yes?”

“Go fill your gas tank right away.”

She pulled her key fob from her pocket and changed direction, heading toward the covered parking area.

When Clara answered the door, Clay was still on his way up the stairs and she’d yet to see him. But as soon as her eyes landed on Jack, she jumped into his arms and they hugged tight. Clay hadn’t noticed them ever being that close before. Pulling up behind them, he cleared his throat. Clara opened her eyes, and Jack released the hold he had on her.

“Clay!” She jumped into his arms just as she had Jack’s. “Thank you for coming.” He lowered her so her feet were back on the floor. She grasped his left hand and Jack’s right, making a circle. “I’m so glad you guys are here. When I got home neighbors started talking about the last storm and how bad it had been, and I was getting really nervous.

Jack spoke up before Clay could say anything. “Nothing would keep me from getting to you.”

Clay noted their intense looks, but he didn’t want to acknowledge where his thoughts were going. His baby sister was eighteen; in comparison, Jack was twenty-eight. He felt their eyes on him and shook his head to clear his mind.

“Jack’s right; we would have come for you no matter what.”

She released their hands. “I’ve packed some bags.”

They crossed the threshold and each lifted a bag. “We’ll be leaving your car here,” Clay said when she jingled her keys.

Clara’s brow furrowed. “Can’t I follow behind you?”

They waited as she locked her front door. “We have a better chance cutting through traffic in the department vehicle.”

Clay and Jack folded themselves into the SUV, but Clara stood frozen, staring at her neighbors, some of whom she no doubt knew well. She chewed her lip as she looked across the parking lot at the families loading their cars to escape the storm.

Clay rolled the window down. “Clara, get in the truck.”

She opened the door and jumped in. “Did you tell them about the evacuation?”

“You know I can’t do that, but I did tell them if it were me, I’d get the hell out of here as soon as humanly possible.”

She leaned up from her position in the back seat so that her head was between them. “Thank you for coming to get me. I know you’re horribly busy.”

Clay met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Baby girl, I would fight a tornado to get to you.”

She rested her head on his shoulder.

Jack fiddled first with his phone and then the truck radio until Celtic rock filled the SUV.

“What is this?” Clay asked.

“Flogging Molly.” Jack and Clara answered in unison, then Jack smiled and Clara giggled as they made eyes at one another.

A gold and purple bag caught Clay’s eye as Clara shook it between the seats.

“Guess what I’ve got in here?”

She was so damn cute with her dimples shining at him in the mirror.

“Clara, you can’t seriously be sporting that thing around the Tulane campus,” he said.

She cocked her head and pulled the bag back, as if inspecting it for the first time.

“Why not? It’s a perfectly good backpack.”

Jack reached over and slapped the pack. He shrugged. “It’s not like the Green Wave is going to take on the Tigers anyway.”

Clay laughed. “True enough. So what’s in the bag?”

A zipper wrenched, and then Clara was holding a box next to her face, showcasing it
Price Is Right
style. “Aunt Sally’s original Creole pralines.”

Clay looked at Jack and tapped the heel of his hand into the steering wheel. “You could search the world over, but you’d never find a better sister.”

Jack lifted his hands. “Nobody’s going to argue that.”

“And”—the rustling of plastic came from the back seat—“I didn’t forget you, Jack.” A praline found its way into Jack’s lap. “I got you the ones laced with Tabasco.”

Clay’s brow shot up as Jack rotated toward Clara.

“A little sweet with a little heat—these are the best.”

“Remember the last time I brought these, Jack?” Her hand squeezed his upper arm. “It was summer time. You and the boys were at the estate, and I happened upon all of you skinny dipping in the lake.” She patted Jack’s arm. “You too, Jack. What was that about?”

“We’d been hunting, and it was hot as a two-dollar whore at shore leave.”

“All I know is that after I saw three of my brothers emerge bare naked from the lake, I wanted to poke at my eyes with hot needles.”

Jack cocked his head at her. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Trust me, it’s not dramatic enough.”

“It’s not like you haven’t done it.” Jack spoke around a mouthful of praline.

Clara’s jaw dropped as she gasped, “That’s not true.”

Clay laughed. “It’s true, Clara. You were about… How old would you say, Jack?”

“Hmm, let’s see… I’m twenty-eight now, so I guess Clara would have been about ten.”

Clay cocked his head. “Lake gets a lot of action.”

Jack turned and winked at Clara. “Luckily we’re not related; wouldn’t want to have to burn my eyes out.”

Clara swatted at his shoulder.

They made good time considering the roads were packed. When they got into Baton Rouge, Clay was considering ways to get Clara united with the rest of the family in Whiskey Cove.

“I’ve got to see about some things, so I’ll take Clara into Whiskey,” Jack offered.

Clay nodded. He wouldn’t ask the question burning in his brain. He just wouldn’t go there. He thought about the math. They’d celebrated Clara’s birthday this past summer. She’d graduated from high school a year early, at seventeen. She’d been eighteen for a few months only, so that would mean they’d been together while she was underage. No, he wouldn’t ask because if there were something going on between them, he’d have to kill Jack, and he didn’t relish the thought of doing that to a dear friend. Clay shook his head. It was a ridiculous notion. They were all friends, so why wouldn’t Jack worry about her? If the situation were reversed, he’d have done the same for Jack’s sister.

Still, he glared at Jack for good measure before turning to kiss his baby sister on the cheek and hug her. “Call me when you get there. Love you.”

He gripped Jack’s shoulder and squeezed harder than usual, pulling him aside. “Make sure your intentions with my sister remain friendly. And get your ass back here asap. Department’s going to need you.”

Jack’s eyes got slightly smaller before they leveled out. “I’ll be here.”