Hearts on Fire 2: Michaela(10)

“Jake, I’m fine. I told you that I could take care of myself.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t want to hear that nonsense anymore. Around here, friends stick together. I care about you.”

“What? How? You don’t even know me,” she said with attitude.

“I’m planning on rectifying that situation and so are my brothers. Now sit tight, and we’ll give you the okay when it’s safe to go back inside.”

He released her shoulders and she stared at him as he walked away. Did he just hint that he and his brothers, Billy and Hal, were interested in her?

“Miss, I see that your elbow is bleeding. Let me clean that up for you.” A paramedic interrupted her thoughts and she nodded, still speechless after what Jake just said, never mind did. She was attracted to the three of them, but she shouldn’t be. Especially since she may not even be sticking around this town for that much longer. With thoughts of her situation and the danger she was in, came thoughts of why she couldn’t act on her attraction to Jake or to his brothers.

Plus, that type of relationship had never even crossed her mind, not even in fantasy. A ménage? Three men and one woman?

I’ve never even had a boyfriend. One boyfriend. How the hell could I even consider three boyfriends?

At once. She felt sick to her stomach with a combination of fear and curiosity. Those men can’t be serious. They must just like to have fun and be wild in bed. Each of them were so damn sexy, they probably had had dozens of women, maybe even more between the three of them. She’d had none. Zip. Not even a boyfriend. Too fearful of being tricked, cheated, or just plain used.

The walls I’ve put up are pretty damn solid. Three sexy firefighters who like to share their women will not break those walls down. I’ve been hurt and heartbroken enough in my life. Nope, I’m not going to weaken now. I can’t.

It was easier to remain alone and secluded than it was to open herself up for more pain, and more than likely more disappointment. Everyone in her life disappointed and failed her. A ménage relationship was just asking for it to fail and for them to break her heart and leave her as hollow as she felt right now.

“Excuse me, Michaela?” She turned toward an older man who joined her and the paramedic. She recognized him immediately. He lived next door, at the closest house to hers in the cul-de-sac.

“Yes.”

He smiled. “I’m so glad that you’re okay, and so is the house. When I saw the smoke and knew you were inside, I called the fire department right away. My name is Ike. Ike Mason.” He introduced himself and held out his hand for her to shake.

She reached over with her right hand since the paramedic was wrapping her left. Ike chuckled but gently took her right hand.

“Michaela Smitt. It’s nice to meet you, Ike, and thank you for calling in for help.”

“No problem. I was so happy to see someone had brought the old Fennigan home. I’d hate for something like this to scare you off.”

“Oh, no worries there. I don’t scare too easily,” she told him and then thought about how she might have to leave on a moment’s notice if that hit man or Solomon came looking for her. She turned away and back toward her house which wasn’t in terrible shape at all.

“It could have been a lot worse. Looks like you probably stopped that electrical fire from getting out of control.” Hal interrupted her thoughts as he, Billy, Jake, and the fire chief came over.

“Michaela, this is Chief Martelli.”

She smiled at the man as he shook her hand.

“How are you feeling, honey?” he asked her with a smile.

“I’m okay.”

“Good to hear. The men were worried,” he said, glancing at Billy and Hal.

Hal took position next to her.

“What caused it, do you know?” She asked.

“It appears to have been electrical. Something wired up through the eaves of the house from the outside. Not done by code at all.”

“Great. Well, I can tell you it probably had something to do with the porch light. It kept flickering on and off since I bought the house. I changed the outlet and the bulb. It was working fine.”

“Are you certain you knew what you were doing?” Hal asked.

She gave him the once-over. “Oh, I know what I’m doing. I don’t mess around with the heavy electrical work, the minor stuff I can handle.”

The chief cleared his throat.

“More than likely the problem wasn’t in the outlet where the main connector was. It seems that the previous owner rigged his own source of wiring from up in the attic. Probably to hide it from an inspector. The faulty wire behind the walls of the siding finally gave out, and when they shorted, they caught fire by the small box up in the attic,” the chief stated.

“It didn’t help that the box was made out of wood, and there were old cardboard boxes and rags near it. I even found paint containers. It could have been worse. It could have blown up with you up there,” Hal stated and then leaned his hand against the back of the fire truck right above her shoulder.

His turnout coat was undone, his gloves off, and she could see his bulging muscles beneath the tight blue T-shirt he wore. The man was flammable himself. Her heart raced as she held his gaze.

“You probably helped to stop the fire from getting out of control. Although I don’t condone what you did. But you’re safe, and the house is intact. You’ll just need to get rid of all the junk up there in the attic,” the chief continued.

“And you’ll need an electrician to come in and check out all the wiring, so this can’t happen anywhere else in the house,” Jake added with his arms crossed in front of his chest. She felt like a child being reprimanded.

“Listen, I appreciate all the great advice. I’ll be sure to go over everything more thoroughly tomorrow. I’m planning on gutting most of the place room by room, which means down to the beams beneath the sheet rock.”

“My nephew works for an electrician. He’s really good. I can have him come over here tomorrow and go through things with you,” Ike offered.

“That’s very nice of you. I’ll let you know, Ike.”

“Hey, I know the company his nephew works for. It’s a good company and the owner is a friend of mine. I think that’s a great idea, Ike,” Jake added.

“Listen.” She raised her voice and they all stared at her.

Michaela took a deep breath and then released it. “Listen, I appreciate the offers, but I can handle this on my own. Now, can I go inside to see the damage?”

“You may want to rest for the night, maybe take this on tomorrow. You did inhale a lot of smoke,” Hal said as he placed his hand on her shoulder stopping her. He glided his hand down her arm, giving her goose bumps and making her shiver from the level of attraction she was feeling. He was sexy and very good looking. He gently turned her arm to look at the bandage.

“I’m fine, Hal. I just cut it on the flooring when the attic ladder fell.” She pulled it from him and slowly eased between him and Billy to walk into her house. She would have run if she weren’t trying so hard to prove her independence and desire to be left alone, and not let on to the dizziness she felt. She thanked the other firefighters as they cleaned up their equipment.

As she inhaled the smell of smoke in her home she wondered how she would even sleep tonight. With no lights on, of course. God knows what else might catch on fire in this place.

She looked at the mess in the hallway from where the attic stairs were lying on the ground. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes.

Will I ever have peace in my life? Will there ever be a happy time, even a moment of normalcy and accomplishment? Or will my life eternally be filled with heartache, struggles, and fear?

She wiped away the tear she wouldn’t let fall and pushed away from the wall. It was time to do what she always did when shit happened. She cleaned it up because no one else was going to help her to do it.

I’m alone in this godforsaken world. I know that, so why am I feeling ready to cry and just give up? Suck it up, Michaela. Like always.



* * * *



Michaela was startled as she heard the banging on the front door. It was seven o’clock in the morning on a Sunday. Who could be here? She hadn’t even made coffee yet. She had gotten dressed in shorts and a tank top. It wasn’t as hot as yesterday but she would be sweating soon enough. She had the mess from the fire to clean up before she could even think about moving on to the demolition work.

She looked at the front window as she made her way toward the front door, and her heart caught in her throat. She could see multiple trucks and guys carrying things from their vehicles. She opened the front door and there stood Jake with a large brown bag and a huge takeout container of coffee.

“Good morning, darling. Hope you didn’t have breakfast yet. The chief’s daughter sent all this stuff over from Sullivan’s restaurant.” He walked right by her and headed toward the kitchen. Hal was behind him along with Billy. They were carrying tools and some sort of square vacuum thing. A glance past them and she saw the electricians truck, Ike from next door, and about five other men.

“What are you doing here? What’s all of this?” she asked, feeling her throat clog up with emotion.