Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 26

The fire chief’s voice grew louder with each passing word. Wilkins, flustered, tried his best to smooth things over.
“Physical tests are important, aren’t they? If someone isn’t properly prepared on the front lines, it could put the lives of other team members at risk…”
“Why did you decide that on your own? You should have reported to me first! And if you weren’t confident in him, you could have just kept him off calls! There’s always the option of sticking him with grunt work in the field! But instead, you dragged Miller out here on your own and caused all this trouble? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?”
The clamor of arguing voices had already faded, leaving only the chief’s booming voice echoing through the air. Wilkins could do nothing but hang his head low, repeating, “I’m sorry.”
The chief, his face still red with anger, looked around and, confirming that Grayson was nowhere in sight, continued in a harsh tone,
“So what happened? It’s still not over? When did this even start?!”
Wilkins answered the questions that poured in one after another meekly,
“About three hours ago.”
“What…!”
To be precise, it had actually been three hours and fifty minutes. But everyone kept their mouths shut, nervously watching the chief’s reaction. As expected, the chief exploded, shouting furiously.
“It shouldn’t take more than two hours, even at the most, and you’re saying it’s been three hours? And you’re all just standing around here doing nothing?! Go find Miller, now! Move it! I’ll deal with you later.”
With a thunderous command, the chief jabbed a finger at Wilkins, growling. Left with no choice, Wilkins replied, “Yes, chief,” before turning to quickly organize a search party.
“They might already be on their way back, so let’s head up the opposite way. Just in case, bring some first- aid supplies too…”
Wilkins selected a few of the most capable members and gave them quick instructions. They immediately sprang into action, gathering the necessary supplies and preparing to ascend the hill. The sun would be setting soon. They had to hurry…
“Huh?”
Someone let out a bewildered gasp. Those who’d casually turned their heads froze in place, and those who sensed something followed their gazes, only to stop as well. At the end of their line of sight was the man they’d been waiting for, walking toward them.
Grayson Miller.
His once beautiful golden hair was now covered in dirt and leaves, completely covered in dust. His body was riddled with scratches and torn wounds, his clothes were in tatters with no part left unscathed, and his face was swollen as if he’d been hit by someone. By tomorrow, there’d surely be mottled bruises all over him.
“Hey, Team Leader.”
He raised one hand and greeted them cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. Seeing him flash a bright smile with his white teeth, everyone couldn’t help but stare in dumbfounded shock. Amidst their blank gazes, Grayson sauntered over naturally and stopped in front of Wilkins.
“I’m back. Is the test over now? Since I completed the course safely, I’ll be able to participate in calls from now on, right?”
He looked anything but “safe,” but Grayson carried himself with confidence. Despite his appearance clearly showing he’d been in a fight, his face insisted nothing was wrong. He didn’t snitch about Dane throwing punches at him, didn’t demand to know who’d orchestrated it, and didn’t throw a tantrum.
The chief, who’d been inwardly bracing himself for Grayson to snap-maybe threaten to withdraw his donations over being treated this way or even sue the entire fire station-blinked stupidly. From the moment Grayson had first appeared, asking for a job, it had been impossible to figure out what he was thinking.
The others were equally confused.
He could participate in calls now?
Absurdly, his question came off as almost innocently cheerful. This was clearly a seasoned, hardened man, yet how could he seem so innocently childlike?
Surely the word “innocent” could die and come back to life a thousand times and still never come within a millimeter of describing this guy.
“Uh, uh… yeah, sure.”
Wilkins nodded dumbly, and Ezra, snapping out of it a beat late, shouted from behind him,
“Where’s Dane?”
As if that were a signal, startled voices erupted from all directions.
“That’s right, what happened to Dane?”
“He was definitely ahead of you, so why are you back first?”
“You bastard! What did you do to Dane? There’s no way you’d be back first otherwise!”
Just as the crowd began to clamor and close in on him, someone suddenly shouted in surprise.
“Dane!”
At first, the voice was drowned out by the noisy commotion. But then another guy, catching it by chance, spotted him too and yelled in shock.
“Everyone, look! It’s Dane! Dane’s here!”
“Dane?”
“Where? Where is he?”
Those who were late to catch on buzzed with confusion, looking around, then froze.
From the same direction Grayson had come, Dane was walking toward them, his exhausted legs dragged reluctantly with every step. Seeing him, his teammates let out cries and rushed toward him, jostling to be the first to reach him.
“Dane!”
“Dane, you’re back!”
“What happened? We were worried! Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Oh my god, what happened to you…?”
Dane nodded silently as people surrounded him, chattering noisily from all directions. He looked like he didn’t even want to speak anymore, but no one showed any signs of stopping. It was, of course, the chief who brought order to the chaos.
“Everyone, quiet! Get back to your positions!”
At the chief’s booming shout, the staff members flinched and scurried back in surprise. Like the parting of the Red Sea, a clear path opened up in front of Dane, leading directly to the chief.
With a blatantly reluctant expression, Dane walked toward him. The chief scanned Dane’s body from head to toe, then clicked his tongue with a tsk.
“What in the world happened to you?”
The chief sighed, his voice laced with disbelief. And rightfully so-because Dane, like Grayson, didn’t have
a single unscathed spot.
His soft reddish blond hair was a tangled mess, littered with fallen leaves and small twigs. His face, smudged black in places, bore scratches with dried blood caked on. The chief, noting even his tattered, shredded uniform, rubbed his forehead as if a headache was setting in and said,
“To ruin such a handsome face like this… Reflect on it.”
As they say, Dane was the face of this fire station.
Every year, he graced a page of their annual calendar, and the editions featuring him on the cover sold out in a flash that they had to do several reprints, which was an unprecedented occurrence.
There were even quite a few people who visited the fire station just to catch a glimpse of Dane Striker’s face, and using his popularity to solicit donations had greatly benefited the station. And yet, here he was, treating his body so recklessly…
“Your body doesn’t belong only to you. It belongs to all of us!”
The chief scolded him sternly. He went on and on about how Dane had been swayed by Wilkins’ words and recklessly put himself in harm’s way, how it would be problematic if he had scars on his face, and that he should go to the emergency room, but the only thing that stuck in Dane’s ears was his last statement.
“I’m giving you two days of paid leave. Get some rest, alright?”
Only then did Dane crack a smile and nod.
“Sure, thank you.”
“Wait, hold on, what? Suddenly?”
“No way, we all got into this mess together, and only Dane gets paid leave? Does that even make sense?”
“This is unfair! Where’s the equality in this?”
Naturally, a wave of fierce objections followed. However, the chief’s decision was firm.
“You lot must have dragged Dane into this! Dane doesn’t care about other people’s business, he’s a hardcore individualist who only does his own work! Unless it’s about sex, money, or his cat, there’s no way Dane would’ve stepped up and gotten himself into this kind of mess! Am I wrong? And you still have the nerve to complain? All of you, reflect on this!”
While everything he said was true, it somehow felt like Dane was the one being chewed out. As guilt settled over the group, Dane took it a step further and chimed in.
“That’s right. As expected, the chief knows everything.”
With a hand dramatically placed on his chest and a smile, as if deeply touched, Dane left the others speechless. As they groaned and muttered curses in disbelief, Dane cast them a sidelong glance, as if asking, Do any of you really have something to say?
And, of course, they didn’t.