Seduction Squad

Seduction Squad

Shaye Evans

Seduction Squad

First Kindle Edition © February 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—electronic, mechanical, photographic (photocopying), recording, or otherwise—without prior permission in writing from the author.

This is a work of fiction. As such, any names, characters, places, incidents, and dialogue are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons (living or dead) is purely coincidental.

Cover Art by
: Shaye Evans

Edited
by
: Olivia Ventura

Beta Read by:
Meg Amor

Disclaimer
:

This book is intended for mature audiences only, due to content of same-sex relations, language, and adult situations.

Chapter One

With his hand above my head supporting his weight, Lock leaned down and grazed his lips along my neck as he squeezed me in the palm of his other hand. I whimpered, arching into his hold—

I gasped awake to the sound of an alarm screeching through the station. My eyes flew open and to the bed beside my own. Lockland’s beautiful blue gaze held mine through the dim light of the on-call room. A grin splayed across his mouth.

“Fire at fifty-one Wattsons Street—Squad Eight, Truck Six, and Ambulance Eighty-two needed.”

“What a way to wake up from a hot dream, eh Adan?” 

I rolled my eyes and flung myself upright in the bed. “Yeah, yeah.” My cheeks heated—I hoped none of the other guys had heard me.

By the time I swung my legs over the side of the mattress, my heart rate was already hitching with anticipation. The final
remnants of sleep continued to grip the insides of my brain and refused to leave as I quickly stalked to the main room, passing a couple of the truck guys running out fully clothed in yellow-and-black uniforms. Of course they were ready first. Their on-call room was closer to the main room than the squad’s.

Lockland pressed his plump, smooth lips to the side of my face
as he walked past me, instantly heightening my awareness. He glanced over his shoulder, waving his arse from side to side while the corner of his mouth lifted. Desire twinkled deep within his gaze. That look stirred things inside me I hadn’t experienced for a while. Lately, with summer well settled in, we’d been called to one fire after another, usually started by barbeques or air conditioners that hadn’t been maintained. So there had been little time for touches of lips or dicks.

As he passed through the door of the gear room, I followed, yearning to pin him to the wall until we came screaming each other’s names. On my way toward my gear I passed Lock, shrugging into his coat. I slapped his arse and he jumped and laughed while glancing at me. A couple of the guys rolled their eyes in response, but I shrugged them off. Being openly gay with my squad and colleagues made the environment awkwardly tense between us, especially in the locker room, but we worked it out. We had to. We were a team. 

I pulled on my boots and pants, then shrugged on my coat, followed by my helmet, and as quickly as the alarm had sounded, we were dressed and heading for the squad truck. Sam Kimberly, our lieutenant, was already in the front seat waiting as Lockland and I slid into the back with Steven and Jay.

The glass doors were already groaning open when Truck Six’s sirens echoed from beside us and it took off with the ambulance following close behind, their lights flashing, casting blue and red beams through the night.

As I sat beside Lockland, the heated rush of adrenaline raced through my veins. Adrenaline and excitement, as bad as it sounded, was something I usually experienced before heading into a fire. But something about tonight was different, and it made me clutch the Maltese cross hanging from around my neck. Lockland had gifted it to me the day of my graduation. It was said to protect firefighters, but tonight, I felt the need to hand it to him instead.  So, as the fire truck turned a corner, I took off my helmet, pulled the chain over my head, and found Lock’s hand. He glanced me, then to his palm, where my pendant glinted in the light of the passing streetlamps.

“Put it on,” I mouthed, knowing he wouldn’t hear me over the sirens. He nodded and did so as I leaned across my seat and pressed my lips to his cheek.

The truck slowed and an orange glow filtered through the side window, drawing my attention outside. Lockland leaned close to me as we stared at the flames and dense clouds of smoke rising from the top of the old apartment building, choking the overcast sky.

People were crowded around the building. A few were covered in ash and soot, being attended to by other emergency and medical personnel. The second the truck came to a halt, Sam slid from his seat with the rest of us following. A couple of homes surrounded the apartment building, but they were old, graffitied structures, almost in ruins with fallen fences and caved-in roofs.  Truck Six and Ambulance Eighty-two were already on scene. Chief pulled up alongside of us a second later.

Chief Marden slid his tall, buff frame from behind the wheel of his red SUV. Like us, he was also dressed in yellow and black, but he remained outside, observing the fire. “I’ve received several reports of a boy missing and presumed trapped on the fifth level. You know the drill,” he voiced huskily.

“Yes, Chief.” Sam nodded, leading us all toward the entrance, where a flood of people came racing out. The ground level was hazed with smoke. Two staircases sat on either side of the elevator, facing us. We split into two groups and began scaling the stairs, checking each level and apartment as we went. It appeared most of the building had already been evacuated.

“Fire department, is anyone in here?” Lockland yelled, bursting open a door.

With every level we climbed, the smoke and heat increased until we reached the fifth floor, where the fire had evidently begun. An orange-red glow flickered from under a door as Steven and Jay busted inside. Black smoke poured through the door as flames lined the hall and licked at the wallpaper.

Lockland turned for the first apartment, busting open the door. Steven and Jay raced through and down the corridor.  Smoke blackened the family room while intense flames ate hungrily at the furniture. My eyes slowly scanned the room from where we stood. I raised my head, thinking I’d heard coughing, but it may have been the fire crackling and hissing or structure boards moving.

“Fire department—anyone in here?” Lockland hollered, and simultaneously we heard the cry for help from a kid, coughing. Lockland advanced, searching behind furniture as he went and
disappeared into another room. Flames licking the walls, burning wallpaper in the process, lead me into an untouched bedroom that I began to search just in case. A second later, my radio crackled with Lock’s voice. “Found him.”

“Is he still conscious?” I questioned, heading into the room he had disappeared into.

“Barely.”

A growl in the ceiling made me raise my head. “Be careful, Lockland.”

Lockland met me in the doorway with a little boy about the age of seven. His creamy skin was dusted gray with ash and soot. He fought to keep his eyes open.

“Hey, buddy, can you hear me?” I asked, remaining close to Lockland’s side as we hurried to get out. He needed oxygen the second we could get it to him.

“Having dinner with friends,” the boy wheezed with a gasping cough.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No.” He shook his head.

“You’re safe now, bud. We have you,” I assured, taking him when Lockland took his radio into hand. “Stay with us, okay? Stay awake.”

“We found him, Chief.”

The ceiling began to creak and moan, then Chief’s voice boomed through our radios. “All units evacuate immediately! Repeat, immediately!”

After that everything appeared to happen at once, so fast it was like watching a TV screen set on fast-forward. The ceiling’s creaks turned to a loud whine as Lockland’s palms pushed into my back, lurching me forward and away from his side. I stumbled, hearing a roar behind me, and as I raised my head, bright orange flames illuminated Sam’s tall, broad frame as he headed in and took the boy, handing him to one of the guys on their way past. I snapped around, back toward Lockland. But I couldn’t see him. Instead, dust and smoke clouded the family room, making it almost impossible to see anything other than the orange glow of flame, now somewhat tamed by the fallen debris. “Lockland!” I yelled, jerking forward.

Sam’s hand clutched my wrist. “Adan, stop!”

I snapped my head toward Sam, ripping my wrist from his grasp. His lips parted but I shook my head. I knew what he was going to suggest—wait for the others to come back up to help.  But they had the boy to think about, and we—Lockland—didn’t have time.  “I’m not leaving him, Sam! And I’m not waiting for the others to help.”

Through the screen of his mask, realization dawned across Sam’s face. Slowly, he nodded. “I’m not asking you to leave him—I’m asking you to be careful.”

The radios crackled with Chief’s voice, but I left Sam to deal with it. I had to figure out how to get over to Lockland. I turned to face the rubble with the weight of dread and fear pressed upon my chest. God, I hoped he was okay. The dust had cleared enough to see that some of the floorboards had given out and were literally hanging by a thread of cabling. I didn’t know how far down it was to the next floor and I didn’t want to find out.

“Adan?” Lockland shouted. “I’m trapped.”

My heart soared with relief. “Lock, I’m here. We’re going to get you out.” Cautiously, I stepped across the room and saw the yellow reflector of Lockland’s suit. I gasped, seeing a beam lying across the back of his legs.

Sam was on my heels as I approached Lockland. “Chief isn’t happy.”

“Fuck Chief—this isn’t his boyfriend lying here.”

He sighed and nodded, lowering his weight beside my man. “We’ve got five minutes, tops. Lockland, does anything hurt? Can you move your toes?”

“My wrist aches, but yeah, I can. What’s over my legs, Adan?” He looked up at me as Sam stood and inspected the debris and what it connected to. If we moved the beam, in turn it’d move the debris, so we had to be hesitant. One wrong move and the flooring could give out or the debris could touch a possible live wire… there were so many things to be watchful of.

“A beam, but it’s okay, we’ll lift it.”

“Great…” He sighed. “Where’s the boy? And you shouldn’t be here,” he murmured, glancing over his shoulder at Sam. “I heard Chief’s alert.”

“Safe, outside
—
where do you think I’d go?” I smiled. It was just like Lockland to be selfless and think of the boy’s welfare instead of his own. I shook my head, knowing Lock would expect me to respect his wishes, to keep myself safe, but his safety meant more to me than my own well-being.

“Remember, it’s you and me until the end,” I murmured, choking. I never thought words could be so hard to speak. “You made that promise. I’m keeping it.”

A smile curved the corners of his mouth under the dust-and soot-covered visor. “You’re crying?

I answered his question with my tear-stricken gaze.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He reached his hand out and I grasped it tightly. 

“Adan,” Sam said, breaking the moment. “I need your help.”

I shifted and stood as Sam stepped behind Lockland, where debris covered half of the beam. “The beam,” Sam began, “is supporting the rest of the debris—we need to lift it in unison or the debris could fall and cause more injuries.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“On three—one, two.”

“Three.” With a grunt and a groan, we heaved the beam off Lockland’s legs. It must have been close to two hundred pounds. Eighty pounds of my apparel was nothing compared to the plank. Debris and dust slid from the beam as we lowered it to the ground. 

I rushed toward Lockland, shifting to sit up. I wrapped my arms tightly around his shoulders from behind. I wanted to rip that mask off his face and crush our lips together in the most heated kiss we had yet to experience. Knowing the air quality was toxic and lethal, I refrained. But it damn near killed me. I wasn’t used to holding myself back when it came to Lockland.

Carefully, I grasped his upper arms, pulled us to our feet, and wound my arm around Lockland’s waist, supported most of his weight. He winced, limping. Sam appeared in the doorway that led down the corridor to the staircase. I hadn’t even realized he’d left us.

“The stairwell is clear,” Sam assured.

“You have three minutes, Kimberly,” Chief’s voice crackled through the radio.

“On our way down, Chief,” Sam replied, sliding his arm around Lockland’s shoulders.   

The smoky haze that filled the staircase dissipated with every level we descended until we finally reached the ground floor. The girls of Ambulance Eighty-two met us at the door, and instantly began checking Lockland over, asking a hundred questions a minute. I remained by his side, glancing at chief talking to Sam across from us.

Sam threw up his hands and stalked toward the squad truck, where most of the crew lingered. By the way Chief’s voice had sounded over the radio, we were going to be in for it once we got back to the station. But little did Chief Mardon know that I wouldn’t listen to a word. I just hoped I copped most of the blame instead of Sam. Yeah, he was our lieutenant, our leader, but I’d never leave Lockland, whether it was for my own safety or not, and Sam knew that. He knew the commitment and bond we shared, the promise we’d made years ago.

The girls thoroughly checked over Lockland and announced he had been lucky to get away with a couple of grazes, bruises, and a sprained wrist. Just to be on the safe side, though, they were taking him to hospital to check for any further injuries such as internal bleeding.

“I’ll see you later,” I murmured.

“Yeah.” Our foreheads pressed together. Our lips lingered half an inch apart. Thin ropes of dark hair hung over his forehead as sweat glistened across his face in the streetlights.

“Love you.”

“Love you more,” he murmured.

A smile pulled at the corners of my mouth, and hesitantly I pulled away and turned toward the squad truck. The girls didn’t have enough room for me in the ambulance, especially with ash- and dust-covered clothes, reeking of smoke. Between the two of us, I was sure we would fume the rig out before they’d even reached the hospital. So with the rest of the guys, I headed back to the station to try and get some rest.