Firefighter's Risk: A Clean First Responders Romance Book Two Read online

  Nodding, Ashton swallowed down the instinct to bombard her with questions. She’d learned early on that she had to approach situations like this with care. “Okay, I won’t, but can you tell me what you planned to do here all night?”

  “I was gonna sleep under your desk or maybe in the library.” She shrugged. “There are blankets in there.”

  “Wouldn’t you get hungry?” Ashton softly asked.

  “There are snacks in the kitchen.”

  Smiling, Ashton held her hand out to Lucy. “You’re so smart, and that’s true, but it’s not the same thing as a meal. You would’ve been here all alone, too. It’s not safe to stay here by yourself all night long.”

  “It’s safer here, though.” She finally reached out to take Ashton’s hand. “It’s not safe at my house.”

  Ashton sucked in a sharp breath. “Not safe?”

  Lucy quickly shook her head. “No.” She stepped into Ashton's arms and hugged her.

  “Then we need to call the police.”

  The little girl leaned back, tears pooling in her eyes. “Please don’t. Please. I’ll be in trouble if you do.”

  “I—”

  “Please, Ms. Ashton, don’t call them.” The fear Ashton saw in Lucy’s eyes was now full-on terror. This little girl would run if she got wind that Ashton had spoken to anyone with a badge. Ashton had witnessed that type of body language before.

  She pulled Lucy back into the hug. “Okay, sweetie, we’ll figure something out.”

  For both their sakes, she hoped she was telling the truth.

  Chapter 7

  Ashton answered the door and greeted Carlos Scott. “Thank you for coming. I’m so sorry for calling so late.”

  His card had been sitting right on top of a stack of paperwork, like a sign, when she brought Lucy to the office. It’d been more than a week since they met, and she debated whether to call him or not. Then she’d taken another look at the scared little girl and swallowed whatever reservations she had.

  Carlos held up his hand to stop her. “It’s okay. I’m glad you called.”

  On the phone, he seemed surprised she’d called but quickly offered to help as soon as she told him what was going on. He’d been so sweet. Now that she was looking at him, his disheveled hair and rumpled t-shirt, she wondered if maybe she’d woken him up.

  She hugged herself as they paused by her office. “She’s in the kitchen eating a snack.”

  “So, she hid out here because she didn’t want to go home?” he asked.

  Nodding, Ashton dropped her arms, stuffing her hands in her jean pockets. “That’s what she said, and when I mentioned calling the police, I had the feeling she’d run. She wanted to hide here all night.”

  “She didn’t say why?”

  “No, but I was afraid to push her too much.” She looked in the direction of the kitchen. “I had to promise several times that I wouldn’t call the police or her parents. And I had to promise I wasn’t lying when I went to call you.”

  Carlos set his hands on his hips and looked over the top of Ashton’s head. “And no one came for her? Called? Nothing?”

  Shaking her head, she returned her gaze to his, noting the concern in his voice and on his face. “No. Not a soul.” She sighed. “If she hadn’t made any noise, I wouldn’t have even known she was here. I would have locked her in.” It hurt her heart to think she could have done that to a frightened little girl.

  He touched her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. That didn’t happen. She’s safe, eating a snack, and we’ll figure something out.”

  We. She’d never liked the sound of that word as much as she did right that second. “Thank you.”

  “Would it be okay if I talked to her?” he asked.

  Ashton appreciated that he didn’t just barge in and try to take over. “Sure, go ahead. Just tread careful when it comes to police and her parents.”

  They walked to the kitchen, and Ashton stopped at the door, leaning her shoulder against the frame as Carlos continued in and approached Lucy. She was still devouring the sad little dinner Ashton had managed to scrounge together.

  He took a seat across from Lucy. “Hey, do you remember me?”

  Nodding, Lucy smiled. “You’re Mr. Carlos, the firefighter. You talked to us last week. You look different in regular clothes, and your hair wasn’t sticking out all over like now.”

  Ashton coughed into her hand to cover up a laugh. Kids. Sometimes they were more honest than was comfortable.

  Carlos smiled as he raked a hand through his hair, not helping it in the slightest. “Yeah, that’s me.” He paused. “Uh, so, Ms. Ashton said you were wanting to spend the night here. Can you tell me why?”

  The little girl chewed her lip and cast a glance at Ashton. “Am I in trouble? Is that why you’re here?”

  He shook his head. “Oh, no. No, sweetheart. You’re not in trouble. I’m just wondering why you don’t want to go home. If you’d been trapped in here, you could have been hurt. If there was a fire…”

  Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t trying to do anything wrong.”

  “I know. It’s okay. It just can’t happen again. It scares me to think what might have happened because we wouldn’t have known you were here.”

  We again. Man, Ashton really liked the sound of that. It was a word she could quickly get used to…especially if he was the other part of that word.

  Carlos leaned forward with his arms on the table. “Can you make me a promise that next time something like this happens, you’ll let Ms. Ashton know?”

  Lucy bobbed her head up and down. “I promise.”

  A smile stretched wide on his lips. His voice dipped lower, and Ashton couldn’t hear what he was saying. They spoke like for several minutes until he rose from the chair and returned to her.

  “She’s absolutely petrified of going home, but she’s still not saying why.” He glanced over his shoulder to Lucy. “But I tried to keep what you said in mind and didn’t press her.”

  Ashton chewed the inside of her cheek a second. “Seems like it’s more than just her fear of getting into trouble for hiding out here.”

  “Oh yeah, most definitely.”

  She lifted her gaze to his, and her pulse jumped. They were in the middle of a crisis, but her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Those eyes, though. Could anyone blame her?

  “What do we do now?” he asked. “Obviously, we can’t take her home, but I’m a little out of my element here.” As if he wasn’t likable enough, he was looking to Ashton for what she thought they should do.

  She leaned in. “I have a confession to make. I did try to call the number I had on file for her, but there was no answer. I don’t know if anyone is even home at the address I have for her.”

  He seemed to consider the information for a moment as he rubbed his knuckles along his jaw. “Well, we could go there. See if anyone is home. If there are no lights or it looks like there might be trouble, we’ll go from there. How’s that sound?”

  Ashton placed her hand on his arm, and the tingle traveled to her spine. If he wasn’t staring straight at her, she’d fan herself. This attraction she had with him needed to take a hike. “You don’t have to get mixed up in this. I feel bad now that I called you. I shouldn’t have dragged you into it.”

  Covering her hand with his, he replied, “You didn’t drag me into anything. I gave you my card and told you to call if you needed anything. That little girl needs help.”

  Right. Little girl. Crisis. That’s all this was. He was a good guy, and he’d come because of an emergency, not to resuscitate her love life. Even if the thought had made her heart flutter a little. “Are you sure?”

  “I’ll call Polly and see if she’d be willing to watch Lucy while we check out her situation. Okay?”

  “Thank you.”

  Not facing everything alone was a nice change, and one she couldn’t get used to. More than likely, there had been a miscommunication and Lucy was scared for no reason. Which meant Ashton’s reason
for having him around would be over and she’d be back to facing the world alone.

  Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have someone next to her. Maybe one day she’d have time to think about that or even pursue it, but not right then. A little girl needed her, and that was all that mattered.

  Chapter 8

  There’d been a change of plans. Instead of taking Lucy to his home, they’d picked up Polly so she could watch Lucy at Ashton’s home. That way, if the little girl fell asleep, they wouldn’t be waking her up. Depending on what they found when they checked out her home.

  As he turned onto the street listed on Lucy’s file, Carlos took a deep breath. Bikes lined the street, and there was a car up on blocks with a pair of people standing just behind it who turned their faces away as the car lights hit them. “This doesn’t look promising.”

  Ashton seemed to scoot closer to him. He could easily picture her sitting next to him on the bench seat of his pickup with his arm around her. Which wasn’t something he needed to be thinking about. She’d only called him because a little girl was scared.

  At first, he’d been shocked to hear her voice. She’d caught him on the verge of dozing off, but he’d quickly recovered. He’d never expected her to call him, and he had to admit, learning that she’d only called because she had to left him feeling a little deflated.

  Ashton glanced down at her phone and then pointed to a house halfway down the block on the left. “That’s it.”

  It was the only place on the block lit up, with music pumping louder the closer they got. The driveway was packed with even more vehicles lining the street. There was a group of men on the porch laughing and shouting loud enough that Carlos could hear them through the rolled-up windows.

  “This doesn’t look like a place a kid needs to be, especially when she has school the next day.”

  “I agree,” Ashton said, twisting in the seat as Carlos pulled the car to a stop. “But it’s not our place to decide that. All I can do is document everything in case a problem arises and the police or DFS need to step in.”

  He pulled his gaze from the scene outside back to Ashton. “I know, but…” Based on her expression, she agreed with him and it pained her to say otherwise. She was right, but that didn’t make him like it. A kid didn’t need to be in this type of environment.

  Ashton’s shoulders sagged. “I hate it too. She’s a sweet little girl, but we can’t refuse her parents. If we did, we could be in trouble. I have to think about all the kids.”

  “I hate to pull the stay-here card, but I’m going to. These guys look pretty rough. I’m not—”

  “It’s okay. I’m not really sure I want to go in there.”

  He eased off the brake and cruised a few spaces away from the house to park. “I’ll be back.” He paused. “Listen, if something happens, though, take the truck and go. Then call the police. Okay?”

  She blinked. “Leave you?”

  “Not leaving, just escaping long enough to get help. I don’t think anything will happen; I just want to have a plan in case something does.” He kept his voice calm for her sake. He was being honest. It never hurt to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Which in this case was a nice, friendly conversation with a scared little girl’s parents.

  He left the truck running as he stepped out and looked back at Ashton. “Lock the doors, okay?”

  She nodded, and he left her, taking his time until he heard the familiar sound of the locks. He ran his hand through his hair again, remembering what Lucy had said earlier. He hadn’t even checked himself when he ran out of the house, giving Polly enough information to keep her from worrying.

  As he reached the front porch, he did his best to seem as non-threatening as possible to the group gathered there. “Uh, is the owner of the house around?”

  One of the men glanced around at his friends. “What? You gonna complain about the noise?” His laugh held an edge to it, and the rest of the group laughed with him. Carlos suspected not many of the neighbors complained about the parties.

  “No,” Carlos said. “It’s about Lucy.”

  That changed the mood pretty quickly.

  “Lucy? Is she okay?” one woman asked, pushing her way to the front. “I’m her aunt. This is my sister’s house.” She swayed on her feet, and the smell of stale smoke hit him in the face. He was less than impressed by the woman.

  “Do you happen to know where she is? Does your sister? Because I’m pretty sure she didn’t come home this evening.”

  The woman stumbled forward, clutching his arm. “Oh no. Where is she? Is she missing? Is she hurt?” Well, with the panic in her voice, at least she seemed to care. It made him feel a little better about the situation.

  “She’s fine, but she wanted to stay at the kid’s club a few miles from here. Could I speak to your sister? Or Lucy’s dad?”

  “Yeah, they’re both here. This party is for him. He just got out of jail today.” She waved for him to follow her. “My name is Fay. Come on; I’ll take you to her.”

  Yep. It didn’t surprise him. Lucy was afraid of coming home because her dad had just got out of prison. He wanted to say, I’m sure with all the excitement it was easy to forget his child, but instead, he smiled. “Thanks.”

  Lucy’s aunt carved a path through the packed house, shoving people aside when they didn’t hear her asking them to move. As they reached the kitchen, she called over her shoulder, “My sister should be in here. Hey, Monica, someone’s here to talk to you!”

  A woman standing near the stove turned around, and Carlos was instantly struck by how much she resembled Lucy, right down to the haunted eyes. “Who are you?” She seemed to look over Carlos’s shoulder. “My husband—”

  “I’m not here for your husband, or, well, not just him. I’d like to talk about your daughter. Do you know she didn’t come home today?”

  Monica regarded him a moment and then replied, “I know. I told her not to come home.”

  Carlos blinked. “You told her not to come home? Why would you do that? She tried to hide out at the Brothers and Sisters Building by herself.”

  Monica gasped, looking at her sister. “She was supposed to spend the night at her friend’s house! That’s what I meant. They were supposed to have a sleepover so she wouldn’t be here for this. Where is she now?”

  He let out a sigh, though he wasn’t so sure it was relief. Not entirely. “She’s safe at Ashton’s house, but it could have turned out way different. She would have been locked in all night.” He couldn’t understand not calling to make sure Lucy made it to her friend’s house. That was basic parenting.

  Lucy’s mom led him out of the house through the kitchen door. “I’m so sorry about this. I had no idea she’d try to do that. When she said she had a friend to stay with, I trusted her. She’s never lied to me before.”

  “I’m not trying to be harsh at all, but she was really scared. Ashton even tried calling you, but there was no answer.”

  Her eyebrows knitted together, and she rubbed her fingers over a small locket hanging around her neck. “I probably didn’t hear it ringing.”

  The aggravation he’d felt prior melted. This poor woman was doing her best, and if he were in her shoes, he wouldn’t want a kid at a party like this either. “It’s a little loud.”

  She turned to him then, just as they reached the front gate. “Listen. I know it might be hard to believe, but it’s not usually like this around here. Duke, my husband, just got home today and wanted a party, and his friends wanted to welcome him home. This is a special occasion.” Funny how she didn’t look happy about it. In fact, she sounded exhausted and frazzled.

  “I understand that. You were in a difficult situation. Lucy’s safe, though. Do you mind if she stays with Ashton overnight? Are there other children that might need to stay with her? If not, we can go get her.” He paused and leaned in a little. “Are you safe?”

  Shaking her head, Monica’s posture softened. “I’m perfectly fin
e, and she’s our only child. Please, let her stay. I won’t let this happen again. I promise. And I appreciate you caring enough to come here and let me know what happened.”

  “Hey!” The word rang out like the crack of a whip.

  Carlos barely had time to turn around before a tall, long-haired man barreled down the walkway in his direction like a charging bull. The tattoos on his neck and hands made him appear intimidating.

  “Wait, Duke.” Monica stood in front of her husband with her hands against his chest, as if she could stop a man his size. “It’s okay. He found Lucy. She didn’t go to her sleepover, and he was letting me know that she’s safe.”

  Her words didn’t seem to make much of a difference. “What are you doing, walking around with this guy? Where was he taking you?” Though he was speaking to his wife, his eyes never left Carlos.

  Carlos held his gaze, smiling. “You must be Duke. This is quite the welcome home party. Your daughter tried to stay in an empty locked building rather than come home. I guess plans with her friend fell through, and she was terrified of the idea of staying here.”

  Duke’s laughter was cold enough to chill Carlos. “Smart kid. I always knew she had her old man’s smarts. No, she shouldn’t be here tonight. This is no place for her.”

  Maybe this kind of party shouldn’t be thrown so his child wasn’t fearful of coming home. He held back his true thoughts in favor of saying, “Yeah, well, staying in an empty building with nothing but snacks and a blanket wouldn’t do her any favors either.”

  “Why don’t you keep your opinions to yourself?” Duke challenged, stepping close. When Monica tried to get in the way, he pushed her aside. “You don’t know any of us. I don’t care what you do with the kid tonight, only keep her away from here. She can come home tomorrow, after school.”

  “Have you even seen her yet? You just got home today.”