Ellery Mountain 1 -The Fireman and the Cop (6 page)

Max was way past pissed and onto murderous. The mechanic didn’t hold back on his assessment of what was sitting in his bay.
“The brake line was cut a small amount. The fluid leaked and the more Corporal Ryan used them, the less fluid there was until there was nothing left. Then there would be complete failure.”
“And what is your assessment on how it became damaged?”
The mechanic looked up at him from his crouch. “In my experience this kind of damage can be nothing but deliberate, but we’ll need to get it evaluated independently. I’m not an expert in this so you may wanna call the cops and update them ASAP. I’ll put through my official report as well.”
With a curt nod and a single word of thanks, Max had his cell out and connected through to the department. They were aware Finn had been in an accident but nothing would shake them more than to find out Finn had been deliberately targeted. This made it easier, though. Two attempts with one person as the common denominator? Someone wanted Finn Ryan dead.

Finn hated hospitals as much as the people working in hospitals hated him. Not only had he been forced to lie on a bed to be poked and prodded, but also the nurse next to his bed was pissed at him. It didn’t help that she was friends with his mom and had changed his diapers when he was a kid. Sometimes small towns sucked.

“If you move then I will inject you with a muscle relaxant.”
“Then stop hurting me,” Finn snapped, irritated.
She was forcing him to bend then relax his left knee, the most injured of the two—and it

freaking hurt.
“Suck it up, Ryan,” she said with no small amount of impatience. “You got nothing
more than scratches here.”
Finn didn’t call two-inch gouges in the meaty part above his knees scratches. There had
been blood. A lot of blood. He closed his eyes as he remembered Max lifting his hand that
had been tipped scarlet. Fuck. He felt sick and a wave of shock hit him. He was pretty ticked
off with being injured and in hospital, and what the hell was wrong with his truck? “Finn?” Torture nurse was saying his name. This time, though, her voice sounded
different—like she was talking from a distance. “Finn.” She poked him hard in his stomach
and Finn snapped his eyes open.
“Ouch,” he said with an awful lot of force behind the words.
He wanted to tell her to leave him along, but then he was a polite, well brought up boy
who respected his elders. She poked him again. He very nearly poked her back. Someone
knocked on the door and Fin groaned. He’d already had his mom in, his brother on the
phone, and the entire cop staff in asking questions. No, he didn’t remember anyone near his
truck. No, he couldn’t remember feeling the brakes as being bad yesterday. What did they
want him to say?
The door opened and six-whatever of Max Harrison, in jeans and a T-shirt, filled the
entrance.
“There,” his torturer said cheerfully. “All bandaged and you have a visitor.” Finn
glared up at her but when she bent over and dropped a kiss on his forehead he kind of
melted inside. “He’s been making a nuisance of himself wanting to get in. I like him, Finn,”
she whispered. Then, collecting her things, she left the room and very deliberately pulled the
door shut behind her.
“Hey,” Max said from the door. “Heard you’re okay.”
“The vastus medialus or something like that, both sides, bruised, and the skin is cut
quite deep but I’ll live.” Finn shrugged off the damage and the pain and upped the positive
spin on things that he would likely be using crutches for a week then need physical therapy
for some time after.
“Jesus, Finn,” Max said simply. “How many more times have I got to pull your ass out
the fire?”
Finn hesitated. Max was clearly trying for lighthearted but there was an edge to what
he was saying.
“Or water,” Finn said.
Keep it light. All we’ve done is kiss and had one meet up for hot sex.
Nice but nothing serious.
“Don’t joke about this. Someone is clearly trying to hurt you.”
Max took a step closer then stopped. He looked way past uncomfortable and Finn
immediately got it. Max wasn’t sure what the hell to say.
That was the moment that Finn saw could start something or finish something. What
would he do? Laugh it off, pull back, do his normal avoidance thing? Or should he just break
through years of male conditioning and actually be honest?
“Thank you for attending the scene. I know they didn’t call the volunteers in.” He
paused. How did he phrase this? “I wanted you there.”
Christ.
Now he sounded like a girl. But he was only being honest. He had wanted Max
there.
Max closed his eyes and Finn’s heart sank. That was not the reaction he had wanted,
but to be fair, was probably what he’d expected.
Max opened his eyes again, their blue depths troubled and sparking with emotion. He
took the final two steps to the side of Finn’s bed then perched himself on the edge. Finn
scooted over a little and didn’t feel a thing since the meds had kicked in and dulled everything to a pleasurable nothingness. Max placed a hand flat on Finn’s chest and nodded.
He was evidently having some kind of internal conversation with himself.
“When I heard your name on the call…” He paused. “This is stupid. I’ve only known
you a week…”
“Uh huh,” Finn encouraged. There was still no real indication of what was going on in
Max’s head.
“I didn’t like it,” Max finished on a sigh.
Finn cautiously placed his own hand over Max’s and was rewarded when Max held his
hand palm up and entwined his fingers with Finn’s. There were no more words and for a
short while Finn contemplated what to do or say. He didn’t want to break the intensity of
Max’s blue gaze or scare him away. What he really wanted was a kiss. That would be a good
test—a man couldn’t always get where he wanted with pretty words and declarations of
need. Finn had to show Max.
Lifting their joined hands, he tugged Max’s until they lay still entwined on the pillow
next to Finn’s head. The subtle shift meant Max was pulled forward and his body rested
slightly on Finn’s chest. With his other hand Finn reached up and curled the fingers into
Max’s short blond hair and with a gentle tug he encouraged Max to lean further. There was
no resistance and Max allowed himself to be guided to where Finn wanted him—into a kiss. When their lips touched it was like match to paper—incendiary and immediate. The
taste of Max was every bit as good as Finn remembered and he took his fill.
Max deepened the kiss and Finn was lost. Max removed Finn’s hand from his hair,
pushing it to next to Finn’s head. Pinned to the bed by Max’s hands and the firm weight of
him, Finn was seriously close to soiling hospital sheets without a single touch to his dick. Max shifted and deepened the kiss, and there was desperation in the action. Finn suddenly felt lightheaded and he whimpered low in his throat.
Max immediately released the kiss and looked a little abashed.
“Sorry,” he said. “Got carried away.”
Finn wasn’t letting him away without a fight and he chased the kiss. Max chuckled—
the bastard—and continued the heated embrace.
“Well, this is new,” a voice filled with laughter said behind them. “I don’t remember
getting this service when I had my appendix removed.”
Finn groaned and Max pulled back. Not a quick jerk away, but slow, with a hint of
resignation. He dropped a final, gentle kiss on Finn’s lips then finally released his hold of
Finn’s hands.
Finn felt immediately bereft and having Kieran at the door, with—
fuck
—Daniel right
behind him, didn’t stop him wanting Max right back against him.
“Kieran Dexter,” Kieran introduced himself. He held out a hand to shake Max’s. “And
you must be the tall, blond and gorgeous fireman.”
Finn groaned.
Please stop now.
“Kieran—”
“I normally just answer to Max,” Max said with a smile.
“Daniel Skylar.”
God. Daniel
. Max was going to take one look at the ex-Marine quarterback, all-round
bad-boy and that was it, Finn was so out of the picture.
“Was just visiting my man here,” Max said simply.
Finn blinked at the words. And even Kieran was quiet. Kieran I-have-words-for-everyoccasion Dexter was quiet. Would wonders never cease?
“Is he okay?” Daniel finally said. He approached the bed and, for some reason only
known to Daniel, he poked at the bandages.
The meds must have been wearing off as Finn definitely felt the poke.
“Fuck, Daniel,” Finn rasped.
“Stop poking the patient,” Kieran admonished. He pulled up a chair.
“You don’t need to stay,” Finn said instantly. He was aware he was sounding rude, but
the first rule of the Fridays was that if a member was with a man then they were left the hell
alone. Of course, in the six months they had been meeting, Finn was the first to actually be
trying the whole proposition of having a man out.
“What happened?” Daniel asked seriously.
Finn knew that tone well. It was ex-Marine speak for ‘Who do I kill?’. He’d only heard it
once before when some young kid from town had taken Daniel’s mom’s car on a joyride up
and down the mountain. The scared-as-shit teenager wasn’t likely to ever do anything
similar to this again. Not with the threat of Daniel-I’m-bad-Skylar on his tail. “Someone cut his brake line,” Max responded, matching Daniel’s serious tone. Finn waited for the reaction from Daniel and Kieran. He didn’t have to wait long.
Kieran was all
what the fuck
and Daniel had slipped well and truly into kill mode. Great. So
much for quiet time and some more of that toe-curling kissing.
“Guys?” Finn tried to interrupt the discussion that ranged from killing people—
Daniel—to a house-to-house search—Kieran—to putting Finn in his cabin and locking him in
until the cops had caught the bad guys—Max. “Guys!” Finally his voice was strident enough
to break through the talking and everyone stared at him expectantly.
“Are you tired?” Max said.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. With an irritated huff, Finn struggled to
sit up on the bed, Max hovering at his side solicitously, and Kieran stood there with his
hands out like he was going to catch Finn if he fell. Daniel watched with a smirk on his face.
The fucker.
“I’m not staying in tonight. I need one of you to take me to the mayor’s office so I can
check in and then drive me home. I need another one to check on my damn truck.” Kieran looked concerned and doubtful. “You’re not staying in hospital?” “It’s not that bad. Get me out of here.”
“Max, can you ferry Finn around and get him home?” Daniel said. “Kieran and I can
follow up on the truck, see what we can salvage.”
Daniel immediately took charge. Three months in a hospital stateside before he left the
Marines. He could understand the itch beneath Finn’s skin to get the hell out. Max gazed
down at Finn and Finn saw nothing but determination in Max’s gorgeous eyes—apparently
he now had his own personal chauffeur and bodyguard.
“Definitely.”

The interview—because that was what it was—was a hard one. Chief Carter Mayfield, sometimes companion to Daniel’s mom, was in attendance, as was Drew and the other cop on the books, Oscar. Max simply sat back and watched while Finn was interrogated by his colleagues. That Finn was the focus of some campaign against him was obvious, but a firebug was one thing, someone deliberately cutting brake lines was wandering away from the fire side of things.

“So, even though there is no obvious link, we’re concluding that the fire and the car are linked,” Max said.
“Too much coincidence for it not to be,” Drew said. He was scribbling on a notepad and he literally hadn’t stopped the entire meeting.
“Tell me about the city,” Max said. They’d already covered Finn’s time here but for a few years he had been in college and then in the Academy. “If it isn’t here that you’ve attracted someone wanting to hurt you then maybe it’s way back when.”
Finn half closed his eyes and considered the question.
“Normal boyfriend stuff in college. One guy, Neil, was an asshole. Possessive, jealous, and I ended up getting a restraining order to keep him away. Last I heard he was in Florida working at God knows what and I wasn’t with him long. Other than that, there were mainstream cases for the two years I was in KVille. I narrowed it to the two cases, the family, and the kid with the fireworks. You know as well as I do that our job in this town is different to what a city cop deals with.”
“We’ll pick this up tomorrow,” Max said. He’d heard enough and seen enough today to last a lifetime. His first instinct was to hole up at home and wait this out. Having someone he was beginning to care about beyond a one-night stand was playing havoc with his ability to compartmentalise what was going on. They would be checking the ex with a history, the husband with the kids in care, and the dispatcher’s nephew with the fireworks. There was nothing else they could do here.
Max was pleased to see Finn could actually walk. Walk in a loose sense of the term. He was stiff-legged and jerky in movement but at least with Max’s help they made their way to Max’s truck. By mutual decision Max turned up onto the mountain and headed up, following Finn’s instructions to Finn’s place. As they pulled into Finn’s driveway, Max was struck by the beauty of the house set into the mountain and surrounded by woods. It was as remote as the house Max had attended for a structure fire the night before. A simple two-storey cottage set back into the mountain with the front on sturdy stilts and the rest supported by unmoving metal and stone. It had a porch area overlooking the tips of tall pine trees and was clad in wood. Max’s inner fireman wished it wasn’t wood, and his inner lover agreed, but he had to admit, it fitted Finn’s personality to a ‘T’.
“This was my parents’ place but Mom moved down into town and I kind of inherited it early. Actually, it belongs to me and my brother Josh, but he’s at college,” Finn said, fumbling with keys.
Max finally took them off him and opened the front door. The darkness inside had him blinking after the daylight until at last he could make out the interior. Very much Finn. Simple, sturdy and pretty, everything was placed just so and the place was tidy. A great room opened to the kitchen with the dining table further in. Finn excused himself to use the bathroom and told Max to look around. He did, his fireman’s eye picking out escape routes. His ‘potential partner’s eye’ picked up no sign of anyone else in the house.
“There’s beer in the fridge,” Finn said as he hobbled from his bathroom and made his way to the kitchen.
Max waylaid him halfway there and placed a hand flat on his chest. “Sit. I’m technically on call. I’ll make coffee.” He found everything to make coffee then moved back into the main room with coffees in hand.
Finally next to each other on the large red, wood-framed sofa they sipped the hot brew and sat in silence. Max wondered what was going through Finn’s head. Twice in the space of a week he had been trapped somewhere—it couldn’t be a good place inside his thoughts.
“Tell me about this guy at college,” Max said. He only asked for something to say but when Finn cast him a ‘what the fuck’ look Max backed down. “Sorry,” he said.
“Nah, I haven’t thought about him in a long time. Happened way back and I haven’t seen him in years. Kind of put me off relationships for a while. Well, actually, more than a while, I’ve not really dived in head first since. Not until you.”
Max’s chest tightened. They were so much the same. He’d not really had a relationship ever. Not one he wanted to invest time in, and he was six or seven years older than Finn. Being gay and having a partner when you were in the world of first responders wasn’t easy. Maybe Ellery would be different. Finn was certainly out and Max wasn’t exactly closeted— just more careful whom he told.
“In the city, when I was training, and where I was stationed I had some real shit laid on me,” Max said bluntly.
“For being gay?”
“And some. For being a big guy who was gay, for a guy who liked football who was gay, for being a fireman who was gay. Being gay defined me in so many people’s eyes.”
“I was lucky. I’m not saying Ellery doesn’t have its share of bigots but everyone has known about me since I was, jeez, sixteen I think. I have more supporters here than detractors, and it’s a good life.”
Silence hung in the air as Max digested this.
“How are you feeling?” Max asked. He itched to touch Finn but he wouldn’t if Finn was in pain. He just craved the touch that meant his man was okay. He hadn’t been lying to Finn’s friends, he wanted more with Finn and identifying him as ‘his man’ out loud was enough that Finn would know now.
“Bit sore and I probably need to have a nap,” Finn said.
Max pushed aside the need for connection and instead stood, then offered a hand to help Finn stand up. Their hands stayed entwined even when Finn was solidly standing and, with a gentle tug, Finn pulled Max with him.
“I need my man to come lay down with me,” Finn said mischievously. With a smile that could topple the strongest man’s resolve, Finn sat on the edge of the large queen bed covered in a navy blue comforter. “I’ll need some help getting these scrubs off since the hospital cut my jeans to shreds again.”
Max immediately crouched next to Finn and helped the other man to wriggle out of the loose pants. He was suddenly faced with a very obvious bulge inches from his face and only a thin cotton barrier stopping him from seeing what he had tasted the day before.
Just that thought, the single idea that he had tasted Finn brought everything flooding back. Finn. The fire. The accident that wasn’t an accident. He climbed on the bed next to Finn then guided the other man back into his arms.
Finn yawned widely and settled back on the pillows. He cuddled in to Max who just held on tight.
Max would look after this man until any danger was over. It was that simple. He just needed to push emotion that weakened him to one side, and concentrate on keeping Finn safe.
Easy. Finn would understand.