Rio's Fire (2 page)

Hagen

or bang it on something solid, the bracelet remained fixed tightly in place.

Stupid fey magic.

“I can tell you’ve been talking to Maverick again,” Oliver said as he approached. “You have that look that says you want to hit something.”

“If I didn’t think Maverick would bury me under the house, I’d hit him.” Fire turned and dropped down on one of the steps leading upstairs.

Oliver took a seat beside him, stretching his legs out and propping his elbows on the step behind him. “The guy would do more than put you down in the tunnel if you struck him.”

Fire narrowed his eyes at Oliver, thankful the guy hadn’t taken up counseling. He sucked at trying to make someone feel better. “You’re not helping.”

Crystal-blue eyes twinkled as Oliver didn’t try very hard to hide his smile. “Lighten up. How bad could it be?”

Twisting his body so he was looking right at Oliver, Fire told the guy just how bad it was. “He wants me to be an art teacher at the elementary school.”

Oliver’s face fell. “Oh.”

“See.” Fire waved a hand in front of him. “Even you think I would be clobbered.” Plus, what if he sucked at this? What if he was a bad teacher? What if one of them actually fell down a mining shaft?

God, this was the biggest responsibility Fire had ever had. Why would Maverick do this to him?

Sitting up, Oliver began to scratch at the back of his neck, avoiding Fire’s gaze. “It isn’t you I would be worried about.”

Was everyone out to insult him today? He wasn’t that bad of a person. He didn’t go around murdering or robbing people. He was just a misguided elf who had a penchant for gambling. It was an addiction he wished he never had, but he had it. He had learned from Drew that addictions were never fully cured, but that didn’t mean he was going
Rio’s Fire

13

to fall off of the wagon the minute he was away from everyone else.

Plus, kids really weren’t his thing. Fire didn’t appreciate the disparagements from Oliver.

Standing, he threw his hands on his hips, giving Oliver a scathing glare. “Since I only have a tiny piece of pride left, I think I’ll go see what George is doing.”

Oliver chuckled as Fire walked away. He wasn’t sure why he expected anyone in this house to understand his resentment at being made to do something against his will. Why couldn’t Maverick have sent him to work with Heaven at his shop? He could sit around all day and gossip instead of watching running little noses cause mayhem.

He shuddered again at the image.

If it was the last thing he would do, Fire was going to find a way out of this.

Walking into the kitchen, Fire stopped at the counter to lean against it as he watched George pull something out of the oven.

Whatever it was smelled freaking fantastic. Fire’s stomach grumbled at the scent. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on one of the golden little confections the cowboy had baked. He loved the man’s cooking.

George was a genius in the kitchen. Fire hadn’t started to really appreciate food until he had eaten here.

As soon as George set the cookie sheet down on the counter and started to move the treats to a cooling rack, Fire reached for one. He could already feel his mouth starting to water in anticipation.

“Hey!” he shouted as he snatched his hand back, rubbing the top of it where George had smacked him with a spatula. There was a slight stinging in his hand, making Fire narrow his eyes at George. It was just a cookie. It wasn’t like Fire was trying to take the national treasure. “What did you do that for?”

George gave him a peeved glance, his jaw tightening. “I let the kids sneak treats. Last time I checked, you were a fully grown pain in the ass. Ask next time.”

Ask?

14 Lynn

Hagen

Seriously?

Fire stared down at the rack of yummy golden goodness and debated. They looked really good. He could smell the cooling pastry, the melted mozzarella cheese, and the thick aroma of honey baked ham. George was making one heck of a dinner tonight. Maybe getting swatted by the spatula again would be worth it.

Fire moistened his dry lips with his tongue, debating on whether he should just grab and run, or do the right thing. He wanted to go with the first option, but he didn’t want to have to face down Tank, George’s mate, for making the cowboy angry. His eyes flickered to the counter once more, and he knew he was going to give in. “George, can I have one of your cookies?”

Fire blinked when a plate with a treat on it was suddenly held out to him, a satisfied grin on George’s face.
Wow, okay
. Maybe this asking stuff wasn’t so bad. Fire took the cookie and dug into it, his eyes rolling back into his head as the combination of exquisite flavors exploded across his tongue.

“You’re welcome.”

Fire nodded because speaking with his mouth full would have been rude. Not that he really cared about being rude but he didn’t think George would share again if he was. And he knew he couldn’t eat just one. George’s cookies were like a drug addiction. If Fire wasn’t careful, he’d be letting his pants out pretty soon.

Putting the last cookie on the cooling rack, George set the sheet aside and then wiped his hands on a towel. “I hear you got a job.”

Fire’s appetite took a nosedive. He swallowed the last bite in his mouth, the delicious cookie suddenly tasting like cardboard. Since living here, Fire found out that nothing stayed secret or quiet in this house. Fire should have known everyone would know, but he hadn’t expected the news to travel this fast. He pulled a chair from the table and dropped down as the cowboy reminded him of what he didn’t want to do. “Maverick made me.”

Rio’s Fire

15

Placing the sheet and spatula in the sudsy water, George turned around and leaned against the counter. “It will be good for you.”

Strumming his fingers on the table, Fire seriously doubted being stuck in a room full of kids would be good for him. He could just see himself banging his head into a wall as the kids went buck wild all around him. The twins, Matthew and Maddox, gave Fire a run for his money. Maverick was talking about shoving him in a class with thirty of the little villains. “Do you actually know what he wants me to do?”

George shook his head. “No, but whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll love it. Maverick is never wrong about these things.”

“He might be right about torturing me but he’s wrong about the job, way wrong.”

That statement seemed to get George’s attention. The cowboy crossed his arms over his chest, studying Fire for a long moment before he spoke. “What does he have you doing?”

“Elementary school art teacher.”

“Really?”

Fire could see the astonishment on George’s face and knew he had met a kindred soul. “Right? Like I know a damn thing about snot-nosed little brats. I barely know anything about art. How in the hell am I supposed to teach them anything?”

George’s lips began to curve up. “He really said elementary school?”

“Yep.”

A strange twitch started ticking in George’s left eye. “He’s actually putting
you
in charge of teaching art?”

Fire frowned because George no longer sounded sympathetic.

“Yeah, why?”

George carefully regarded Fire with a critical eye that made him want to squirm in his seat. Fire was beginning to wonder if anyone in this house would be sympathetic to what he was being forced to do.

Maybe he should go hunt Keata down and see if the man wanted to overwork Fire some more. At least with the tiger shifter, he wouldn’t
16 Lynn

Hagen

have to hear any screaming or…wait, Keata did make those annoying noises. Drat.

“Do you actually know anything about kids?”

Fire shrugged. “They smell funny. They whine. They scream a lot.

They never listen to anyone. And they run around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

“Sounds kind of like you.”

Fire’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t drool,” he snapped.

George arched a blond eyebrow, his blue eyes flickering from Fire to the pastry in his hand.

Fire rolled his eyes and stood, storming out of the kitchen, but not before grabbing another cookie from the counter.
Screw asking nicely.

Why did no one understand that an art teacher was not what he was meant to be? He might not be quite sure of what he was meant to do with his life but he was positive it wasn’t watching over a bunch of little heathens.

He shivered in revulsion just thinking about the hordes of little fingers that could possibly get gooey stuff all over him or his nice clothes.

Maybe he could come down with some sort of fatal disease.

Somehow Fire knew the alpha would still make him go to work. He was just mean like that.

Making it to his bedroom, Fire turned on the light and then wrapped his arms around himself. His entire life Fire never really had a say in what he wanted to do. His parents had told Fire he was going to attend human college and make something of himself. It hadn’t been his dream to become a lawyer or doctor, but his parents, especially his dad, had started pushing him in that direction.

Fire had relented and enrolled in school. He had finished two years—miserably, before falling in with a bad crowd. At the time, they didn’t seem bad to him. They were fun and he loved hanging around them.

Rio’s Fire

17

All Fire had wanted was acceptance. His mom and dad hadn’t accepted him for who he was. They were trying to change him.

Trying to make him become someone he wasn’t—not only with the school thing, but with life.

Then the friends he thought he had made, well, soon Fire was gambling heavily, going into debt so fast that he couldn’t find his way out. Those fun-loving friends hadn’t stuck around when Fire was in over his eyeballs. They had abandoned him and Fire had been left with nothing but a mounting debt he was being crushed under.

His brother had tried to warn him, but Fire hadn’t listened. He thought he could handle things. If he could just win a bet, then he could clear his debt—or so he thought. But he never won, and soon he had the bookies hot on his heels.

It had been a vicious cycle until he had been kidnapped at an illegal bare-knuckle boxing event. Carter had brought him here and Melonee had gone to bat for him, freeing him from his debt.

He still didn’t know what she had done in order to get the bookies off his back, and Fire was too ashamed to ask her.

All he knew was that he was indebted to Maverick now and was under the man’s thumb.

Fire stared down at the bracelet around his wrist and cursed vehemently under his breath. His life was a fucked-up mess. But he didn’t want to be a prisoner for the rest of his life.

One way or another, he was going to find a way to get the damn thing off, and then he was out of here.

18 Lynn

Hagen

Rio LeBlanc squatted down as he stared between Todd and Lucy.

The little boy fidgeted, Lucy looked on the verge of tears. Resting his arms on his thighs, Rio decided to address Todd first. “What is the rule in my classroom, Mr. Bingham?”

Todd pulled at the hem of his shirt, his little hazel eyes darting all around, never falling to Rio. “No fighting.”

Lucy’s small lip quivered, but Rio kept his attention on Todd.

“Then can you tell me why you were pulling Lucy’s pigtail?”

Rio hated this part of his job. He always felt like the bad guy when he had to lecture any of his kindergarten students. Although he knew he couldn’t allow Todd to get away with what he had done, in truth, he just wanted to give Lucy a hug and tell Todd to say he was sorry. But Rio always made it a rule for the children to explain why they had broken a rule. He knew it gave them a better understanding of what they had done wrong.

Todd’s shoulders lifted slightly as he stared at his shoes.

“You don’t know why you did it?” Rio asked.

“Maybe,” Todd responded.

Rio bit back the smile that almost forced its way to his lips.

Smiling would make the child think that what he had done was funny.

That was the last sort of notion Rio wanted to give the impressionable boy. “Then tell me.”

Todd’s eyes flickered over to Lucy and Rio could see the uncertainty in them. “Because she stole my crayon.”

“Did not!” Lucy defended, the small drops of tears clinging to her thick eyelashes. “You didn’t use it.”

Rio’s Fire

19

“Okay, Lucy.” Rio patted her on her shoulder. “Go finish your drawing while I talk to Todd.”

She stood there for a moment, her eyes flickering between Rio and Todd. “Is he in trouble?”

“No,” Rio stated. “But I want to talk to him about pulling hair.”

With tiny hands, she wiped at her eyes and then gave an overexaggerated nod, her pigtails bouncing around wildly. She turned and hurried back over to her table, but Rio could see her sneaking peeks their way.

He gave his attention back to Todd. “Okay, Mr. Bingham, tell me why it isn’t nice to pull hair.” The little five- and six-year-olds loved when Rio called them by their last names. It made them feel important, like what they had to say mattered. He loved seeing the bright sparkle of pride in their eyes anytime he addressed them properly.

“Because her hair will fall out?” Todd asked more than he stated.

Rio tried to fight the grin, but it was useless. His lips turned up as he shook his head. “No, because we respect each other’s boundaries and it isn’t nice to hurt someone.” He leaned in a little closer.

“Besides, did you know pulling a girl’s hair means you like her?”

Cupping his mouth with his hand, Todd leaned in even closer.

“But girls are icky.”

“You won’t think that when you are older.”

Todd looked at him as if Rio had lost his mind. “I won’t pull her hair no more. Can I go color now?”

Rio nodded, feeling that Todd had learned his lesson. “But share the crayons.”

When Todd raced over to the table, Rio stood. He watched Todd and Lucy for a moment, seeing that Todd was being extra careful to give her any crayon she reached for.