Bad Boy's Kiss (Firemen in Love Book 2) Read Free

we can't work around, is it? Just put me on probation or something.”
    His jaw set. “We've already done that. Twice. I told you if something like this happened one more time, you were done. You knew that.”
    I hated the way he talked to me, like I was some bratty teenager and he was gonna take away my car keys. Anger boiled inside me, but I couldn't let it out, not this time. Adding assault charges to my record was the dumbest thing I could do right now.
    “You're giving the Waco Fire Department a bad name, son. Your little 'incident' was all over the news and the internet too. They got video of our truck, crashed through the front of a store. People are talking, and it's not good.”
    Desperation was not something I often felt or would ever admit to. Right now, thought, I was desperate. I needed to keep this job. Not just for the money.
    If Hank let me go, what other point did my life have?
    “Man, please.” I clamped my hand down on his shoulder. “I'll do anything. You want me to pay off the guy's hospital bills? Fine. I'll make a public apology on TV if need be.”
    Hank jerked away from me. “Sorry, Max. If we don't let you go, it'll look bad for us. The public will see us as corrupt, willing to sweep just about anything under the rug for one of our own.”
    “If you ask me, that's how it should be. We're family, aren't we?”
    He looked out the window again. His lip wavered.
    “Gather your things and leave, please. You'll get your last check in the mail.”
    I fled from the office with a furious growl, shoving the door open so violently it put a hole in the wall behind it. Surprisingly, Hank didn't yell at me for it. He didn't even look at me.
    That's what pissed me off the most.
    Five years I'd given to this place, and this was how they repaid me? I made a couple of mistakes, but that was nothing compared to all the good I'd done.
    I rescued people from burning buildings. Stopped flames from turning families' houses into cinders and ash. I walked through fucking fire to save the lives of those kids. Had scars all over my body to prove what I'd done, to show the sacrifices I was willing to make.
    But all it took was a couple of slip-ups, and suddenly, those sacrifices meant nothing.
    I stormed to my desk. It was covered with messes of paperwork and fast-food wrappers. A dusty photo frame perched on the corner. I picked it up and brushed away the dirt.
    It was a picture of me and the boys on my twenty-third birthday a few years back. We took a trip to Vegas together; I'd never forget it. They were my family. My best friends.
    I knew what would happen. Once I was gone, they'd eventually forget about me. Someone new would come to take my place. They'd stop calling. Stop inviting me out with them. I wouldn't matter anymore.
    “Hey, Max. What's wrong, man?”
    Jayce had come up behind me. God, how he'd changed this past year. Used to love partying and picking up chicks with us. We'd been friends for ages, and I was pretty sure nobody knew me better than him.
    Thought he'd never change, but then he stunned us all by falling in love. Now he's a married man with a kid. No more parties, no more hunting for girls together at the clubs.
    I had to admit, it was real lonely without him.
    “What's wrong?” I laughed. “Hank just canned me, that's what.”
    His smile faded. “Oh. For that thing last week, huh?”
    “I know what you're going to say. You're gonna scold me and tell me what a screw-up I am.” I shoved my things into an empty Taco Bueno bag. “Please, don't rub it in. I already know.”
    He slung an arm around my shoulders. “So you screwed up. Doesn't mean you are a screw-up. You just made some... pretty bad judgment calls.”
    “Try telling Hank that. Asshole says he can't possibly let me stay. That it would be bad for our image or something.”
    “Well, you did drive a truck through Derek's antique store.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “And you weren't exactly sober at the time.”
    “I