Page 21 of Revived (Lucky Ones #1)

Chapter fourteen

Sullivan Byrne

“ F aster, Rook!” I yell across the back parking lot.

I currently have them running a drill where they’re blindfolded with all their equipment on.

We’re simulating them being lost in a structure fire.

After setting up hoses going in every which way, ladders, and obstacles in their path, I led them out here one at a time.

I spun them around five times and told them to drop.

Now they have to find their way to the truck.

Oh, and did I mention that they also have someone to rescue during all of this?

Elijah’s our last guy to go, and at the pace he’s moving, he’s going to take the longest. I stand with my arms crossed in the middle of the parking lot and yell out reminders to him.

“Bump to pump, brother!” I yell out when he finally finds the hose.

The rescue dummy is laid across his back as he army crawls across the parking lot.

The other members of our crew have already gone and stand silently watching him.

I watch him fight with the coupling to figure out what he has in his hand.

“Motherfuck!” He yells out after getting turned around a few more times and running head first into a training prop. The prop is made of wood and simulates the distance between two studs in a wall. He has to get through it with his rescue dummy to get out.

As soon as he yells out, I’m on the move.

Rook is still new, and these drills are to teach them and hone their skills.

I lay on my stomach directly beside him so my mouth is about six inches from his ear.

He’s frustrated, just like he’ll be in a real fire, but also, just like a real fire, his crew members will be in his ear.

“Take a deep breath, Rook.” I wait until I hear the sound of his mask filling with a large pull of air. “Good, that’s good, brother. Now take a survey. What can you feel?”

“It’s fucking hot, Lieu. Rescue is still secure on my back. There’s something hard in front of me. It feels like a two by four, but this one and the next aren’t far enough apart for me to fit through.”

Ahh, there it is. He panicked and has forgot something that was drilled into his head during the academy. “What’s the distance remind you of, Rook?”

“I don’t know!” He bites out in frustration.

“I get that you’re frustrated, Rook, but I’ll remind you that you’re speaking to your Lieutenant right now.” I grit out. I love my crew, and we joke around like siblings, but at the end of the day I am their leader, and I demand respect.

He takes another deep breath, “Yes, sir. The space reminds me of a small window.” He takes a second.

“No. That’s not right… It’s– oh! Studs!” He instantly begins to maneuver his rescue through the sixteen inch space.

Once that’s complete, he begins to wrestle with getting himself through the space between the studs.

“What did you learn about studs in the academy, Williams?” I maneuver through the studs with ease, something Elijah will not be doing with all his gear on and his SCBA attached to his back.

“I can’t– Lieutenant Byrne, I’m blanking.” He stutters out.

“Calm down, Elijah. Studs, it’s been drilled in your head, I know it has been.”

“If your shoulders can get through, your whole body can too.” He finally says .

“That’s it. Good job. Now get through these studs, and get your rescue to safety before you’re both dead.”

He nods in determination before bringing his hands together and stretching them out in front of him to narrow his shoulders as much as he can.

It takes him a minute, but he gets through, grabs his rescue, and makes it to the truck just as his low pressure alarm sounds.

He tugs off his mask, helmet, and hood and gulps air into his lungs.

This is why on rescue I don’t set you loose until you’ve shadowed me for eight to twelve months. I need to know he knows this shit without slipping up before he can go off on his own.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s get ready. Clean it up, then clean yourselves up. It’s our turn to cook tonight. Before we do tha—”

“What about you, Lieu? You’re not going to show us how it’s done?” The rookie, who I guess grew a pair in the last five minutes, cuts in before I can finish my damn sentence. The blatant show of disrespect causes my temper to light, but I work to keep it tampered.

Steel lets out a low whistle, “Damn, not the puppy challenging the top dog.” He and Sadie snicker.

I laugh humorlessly, “You know what? Sure, kid. I bet you I can do this in less than five minutes.”

“Ain’t no way.” He shakes his head with a small tip of his lips. Cocky little fucker.

I glance over at Steel and he nods. He’s fighting damn hard not to break out in a full smile.

“Alright. Hal, you bring Byrne out when he’s dressed.

I’ll time. Sadie will spin him, and the kid can choke on his tongue.

” Steel tells us. My lips tip as I turn to walk away.

“Oh, Lieutenant Byrne?” I turn back to him and raise my eyebrow.

“You have two minutes to dress starting now.” It’s the same time I gave them .

“Give me one.” I smirk before taking off to the open bay.

Jumping into my gear is like a dance. I’ve been doing it so long that it’s almost like I’m magically dressed in the next sixty seconds.

I even have time to toss my phone to Hal and tell him his one job is to tell me if Elle calls or her Dexcom alert goes off.

I’m led out to the lot before Sadie takes over and spins me, definitely more than five times, and tells me to drop down.

My body acts on instinct alone as my mind wanders to my happy place.

I’m focused, my senses are on high alert, but my thoughts are still occupied by Elena.

We decided to start dating over a week ago now, and so far so good.

I fuck her every night that I’m off shift, and I wake up to her in my arms every morning.

She submits to me so beautifully, and that alone makes my chest ache.

Oh, there’s my rescue. I toss him on my back and continue on to the hose.

Our friends haven’t mentioned it much. They definitely smirk or give me a questioning look when we’re hanging out and her ass meets my lap more times than not, but they won’t give us shit.

I think they’ve wanted us to get together longer than we’ve wanted to get together.

Flynn’s been gone on a string of away games, but he wanted to talk, so he’s coming up here later on tonight after he gets home and settled.

As soon as I get to the studs, I dump the dummy and turn around to head back in.

My guys are assholes, so I’d bet my left nut there’s another dummy here somewhere.

When I hear Hal’s loud belly laugh, I know I’m right.

It doesn’t take but a few swipes of my hand before I grab a limb.

As soon as I wrap my hand around it I know it’s a toddler dummy.

Grabbing it and tucking it tight into my chest, I push up onto my knees, and with one hand I feel the hose and lead the second dummy and myself through the studs and out to the other side.

Standing, I grab the adult dummy while still cradling the kid and dump them as soon as my shins touch the running board .

Low whistles sound around me as I pull off my helmet and mask, turn off my SCBA, and push down my hood. “Time?” I know damn well that was less than five minutes, but I want the kid to hear it.

“Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds, Lieutenant.” Sadie calls out.

I turn to the kid and lift my eyebrow. “I was going to grab my stuff and do the drill if you would have given me a second to finish my sentence. I will not be disrespected at all, but especially not in front of my crew. You just bought yourself two weeks of bathroom duty. Once at the beginning of every shift and once at the end. I want them so clean that I’d let my girl walk through them barefoot.

The next time you mouth off to me, you get a slip to another crew or firehouse.

I respect you, and you damn sure will respect me. Do I make myself clear probie. ”

I can see his eye twitch, and the tint to his cheeks tells me that he’s embarrassed. He’s also pissed, but at least he’s smart enough to nod and just answer with a simple, “yes, Lieutenant Byrne.”

I nod in acknowledgment and start picking up what we laid out for our drill. My team takes a hint, and they all begin cleaning up too. I can hear the other members grumbling at Williams, but I’m nobody’s parent. He can handle that himself, especially after that shit he pulled.

I get it. He’s barely out of high school and trying to prove himself to us, but he’s not going to do that by pissing everyone off.

Once everything is cleaned up, we walk our gear back inside and set it up.

We take the tanks out of our SCBA packs and bring them over to where they’ll be picked up and taken to refill later this week.

I’m holding the door open for everyone to walk ahead of me when Ward grabs my shoulder to get my attention.

“Can we meet in my office?” He asks barely above a murmur .

“Yeah, let’s go.” I follow him to his office, which is a mirror version of mine.

He sits behind his desk, and I get comfortable in the seat in front of it.

“What’s up?” I ask while rubbing my hands down my pants.

I’m not nervous or anything. I just hate when I don’t have something to do with my hands.

“I watched how you handled the rook.” He states. I don’t know what he’s waiting for, but if it’s for me to squirm, he’s going to be waiting a long time.

“What about it?” I return his unyielding stare.

“Put the claws away, tiger. I was just going to say I was impressed. I didn’t expect that out of you. You’re so calm and easygoing.”