White Pine Firefighters 4 - Burning Truth by Adam Carpenter

Author:Adam Carpenter [Truth, Burning]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Joey

Joey Silva pushed the dumbbell up over his head as high as his straining arms could, his body screaming beneath the weight. Sweat poured down his face, but that only served to urge him on further, to challenge him both mentally and physically, just the way he liked it. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed life on the edge as a firefighter, the sheer physicality of the job kept him in amazing shape, kept his mind sharp, and kept his body primed for other activities he never denied himself. Like two nights ago at the Highway 50 Motel with that photographer, they’d just been getting to the real action when the fire whistle blew, preventing him—and Ellis—from blowing. Having been unable to finish what he’d started was high among Joey Silva’s pet peeves.

After the fire had been put out at the factory in White Pine, it had been a busy day in the village of Honor Hills, with a grease fire at a restaurant and a two-car accident that had seen a car engines ignite. So the men of Honor Hills Fire Department had been given little rest over the past two days, and as such Chief Silva had sent several of his men home to rest and recharge. For Joey, that meant getting in a good, strenuous work out that pushed his muscles to the limit even as his exhorting cleared away any remnants of smoke from his lungs. He was healthy, he was strong, and right now after an hour of pushing himself with weights, jump rope and so many push-ups he had stopped counting, he was ready to do as his father suggested: rest.

A ringing of the doorbell brought that idea to a halt. Running upstairs from his basement gym, Joey called out, “Be right there,” dashing into the kitchen for a beer as a reward for his hard work. It was only two in the afternoon, not that he cared. Joey lived life on his terms, his way, like making whoever it was at the door wait until he had taken that first, refreshing sip. Who did the pop-in anyway, shouldn’t they have called first? He realized he’d left his shirt downstairs in the gym, so when he went to answer the door it was dressed only in his shorts. A silvery sheen of sweat still coated his body, matting the generous swath of dark hair that covered his torso. He took another pull on the beer, foam sticking to the facial hair on his upper lip. Another knock came and he dashed to the door, opening it wide.

“Oh, uh, hi,” said the voice behind the door.

“Ellis,” Joey said, “what a surprise.”

“I hope I’m not disturbing you?”

Practically naked, he realized what Ellis referred to and he allowed himself a laugh. “Uh, it’s not what you think. The only thing that stops me is a fire whistle.”

Ellis nodded. “So I learned,” he said dryly. “You always answer the door that way?”

“You got it, flaunt it,” Joey said, running a hand through his impressive mat of blackened chest fur.

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