Saxon's Savior (Protect and Serve #3) - Pandora Pine Page 0,4
When a firehouse landed a good one, the captain didn’t give them up without a fight. Ozzy knew this as well as I did.
Ozzy’s mouth dropped open. He obviously hadn’t asked himself the same question. I knew how hard Hal’s death had been on him. It’d been hard on all of us. My brother used his grief as the reason for dragging his feet on making this decision. “What did Toby say about him?”
“He’s the sort of man who is too big for his britches. Not a team player.” I took a second to rein in my anger. “Dammit, Ozzy! If you’d let me get involved with the selection process, I could have handpicked Hal’s successor.”
“I wasn’t ready to replace him.” Ozzy’s voice rose an octave.
“None of us were ready. Hal was family. A brother.” Hal was an incredible paramedic and an even better person. “By putting the decision off, command made it for us. Some dick who thinks more of himself than of others.”
“I fucked up.” Ozzy threw his hands into the air. “I admit it. What else can I say?” He was silent for a moment. I could see how much he was struggling with the situation. “This new guy is going to be working for you, Dallas. You need to figure out how to deal with him. Maybe Toby is wrong, and this Saxon guy just got a bad rap? Stranger things have happened in our line of work.”
Maybe Ozzy was right, and Toby’s call was made to rile me up and put me off my game. I didn’t know why he’d do that, but I’d keep an open mind about this new guy. At least until Saxon James proved Toby right.
Christ, what a mess. And it was all mine.
2
Saxon
I was going to throw up. Fortunately, there was nothing in my stomach to hurl. I hated first days at new jobs. Maybe today would be my last first day.
To be fair, I’d wondered the same thing on my first day at Firehouse Bravo in Newburyport. I’d grown up in Salisbury, the next town over. Coming home, so to speak, had been a dream come true for me, until I met the other men in the firehouse. The paramedics were okay, even though they were already a premade clique, not interested in adding new members. The firemen, on the other hand, were a bunch of homophobic bastards.
I don’t wear my rainbow on my sleeve. Never have. But hearing the shit those guys would say about guys like me made my blood boil. I managed to keep my truth under my hat, but every day at work sucked. I knew Toby Whitmer was gay like me, but he was a dog. He fucked anything with a dick. On the down low. I respected myself too much to give into Toby’s macho charms.
I must be the only gay man in Massachusetts with a moral compass. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it from the way I behaved. I was an alpha male, acting like people who judge me based on my looks think I should act. Was my attitude Bush League? Yes. Was I operating under the principle of survival of the fittest? Also, yes.
Sitting here, in the cab of my pickup, in the parking lot of Gloucester Firehouse Three, wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I knew I needed to get off my dead ass and onto my dying feet. Today wasn’t going to be as bad as I feared it would be. I’d spent part of last night googling Fire Captain Ozzy Graves, and his head paramedic and brother, Dallas Haynes. Both men had stellar reputations, and clean service records. Ozzy had even been partly responsible for catching an arsonist who had been plaguing Gloucester over the summer. I’d finally landed in a good place.
The fire captain was the least of my worries. It was the brother, Dallas, who would be my direct supervisor. I needed to show this man I was here to work. Making a good first impression was never my strong suit.
Climbing out of the truck, I summoned all my courage and headed toward the firehouse. All five bay doors were open, revealing two ambulances, two fire trucks, and the hook and ladder truck. Seeing the large trucks made me feel like a little boy again.
I was about to walk into the firehouse when a redheaded man walked outside. He was dressed in a paramedic uniform, just like I was.