Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1) Read Free Page B

Kane looked back at Micah. “Bible doesn’t talk about that!”
    Micah’s eyebrows furrowed and he cleared his throat. “Megan should never be viewed as an enemy, Kane. She’s his wife. Maybe your hatred against marriage is why you still haven’t landed a solid lady.”
    Kane shook his head, “Did you forget I got those digits from that bakery chick? We got a date this coming Friday night.”
    “What’s her name?” I asked.
    He pulled out the napkin she wrote her number on. “It doesn’t have a name.”
    “What, no name? You don’t remember it?” I asked.
    He laughed. “No I don’t remember!”
    Megan peeked back into the room, “Do any of you want anything to drink? We have cola and lemonade in the fridge.”
    “I’ll take lemonade,” Ted said from behind Micah. Everybody else declined. Megan nodded and vanished again downstairs.
    Ted peered past Micah at my cast and said, “So what did they have to do in the surgery?”
    “Attach the muscle back to the tendon…” I said.
    He shivered a little. “Sounds crazy man… Do you worry they left some tools in there? I heard about some crazy stuff on the news a while back about them doing that kind of thing.”
    “Shut up Ted,” Kane said. “You watch too much TV.”
    Ted shook his head at Kane as he said, “No man… It really happens!”
    “Well, I’m not really worried about that kind of thing,” I said. “I’m more worried about the recovery time… I can’t lift a cup of coffee for even the first month!”
    All their eyes widened at the same time. Micah said, “Denise and I will keep you in our prayers, Brother.”
    Kane said, “The station feels really strange without you around to keep everyone in line. Alderman forgot to mop the apparatus room yesterday and when the Cap was doing his inspection he noticed it. Oh man… you should have seen the Cap, he was flaming mad!”
    “Bet Alderman felt stupid,” I said.
    Micah nodded along with Ted.
    Kane continued, “The Captain ripped into him pretty bad about it. Talking about how he’s one of the vets around there and how we all look up to him… It was brutal.”
    “How’d you guys hear about it?” I asked.
    Kane smiled. “We were at the top of the fire pole listening in on the conversation between them…”
    “That’s no surprise for my father to get like that,” Megan said coming into the room. “He’s been that way forever. I remember once when I was a kid I spaced making my bed one morning and he lectured me for an hour about how responsibility and duty comes before playing. Then he grounded me for the rest of the week.”
    We all shook our heads at the story. I said, “He’s rough at times, but he’s a good man.”
    “You say that because he’s your father-in-law,” Kane replied with a grin. “We all know you don’t like him, Taylor.”
    “I know that too,” Megan said smiling.
    “Father-in-law or not,” I said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for that man that dates back to before he got that title of Captain.”
    “Yeah…” Kane replied, nodding.
    “He gave me a chance when I didn’t deserve one. He put his name in for recommending me when I was just a young buck, and he didn’t even know me,” I said.
    “It’s too bad he hates you now for marrying his daughter,” Ted added.
    “I don’t think he hates him,” Kane said.
    “No, he’s right, he hates Cole,” Megan said, nodding as she handed Ted his cup of lemonade.
    I smiled over at her.
    “Hate to break up this bro fest you all are having, but I need to help Cole take care of some stuff before dinner time rolls around,” Megan said weaving between the guys. She didn’t verbalize the word ‘bath,’ but it was still embarrassing.
    I went red in the face. I felt so weak, so incapable, and the worst part of what Megan did in that moment was she did it in front of the men that look up to me at the station. They weren’t just friends. They trusted me with their lives. “Megan…” I said as I