Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 32

“We have to teach that bastard a lesson this time!”
DeAndre yelled.
“That’s right, let’s tie him up and drag him here.”
“Don’t forget to beat him with clubs!”
“If the chief tries to stop me again, I’m going to charge at him too!”
“I’m not holding back either!”
The gathered men were at their wit’s end. Watching them rage as if they’d grab Grayson Miller and string him up right then and there, Dane kept his mouth shut the whole time.
He had no intention of getting swept up in this mess and causing more trouble, and he didn’t want to hear them say he was worse than Miller if he stood out too much, which would only ruin his mood. He just shrugged it off, thinking they’d calm down eventually, and resumed his lat pulldowns when…
Wee-ooh, wee-ooh!
The blaring siren cut through their clamor, making them all flinch at once. The hesitation lasted less than a second. Like springs, they bolted into action.
Dane also dropped the equipment and sprinted full speed. In a flash, he suited up in his firefighting gear and ran out as Wilkins flung open the passenger door of the fire truck and shouted,
“Get in, quick! Hurry! Get in, get in!”
Wilkins waved his arms frantically, urging his team members on. Hearing the team leader’s repeated yells, Ezra, about to climb in, froze. The others lined up behind him also stopped, and in his flustered state, he suddenly glanced to the side and shouted,
“Hey, Miller! What are you doing? Aren’t you getting in? Hurry up!”
The others, blinking in confusion, only then grasped the situation and their faces twisted in displeasure. Grayson, leaning against the wall alone, furrowed his brow as if he didn’t get it either. But Ezra, undeterred, kept calling his name.
“Get in, quickly! Come on! We have a call!”
“Dude, are you crazy?”
One of the teammates, finally snapping out of it, grabbed Ezra’s shoulder urgently. With a hushed voice and wide, glaring eyes, he pressed Ezra,
“Why the hell are you calling him? What good will he do?”
“Yeah, we’ll be lucky if he doesn’t mess things up.”
“Just leave him. Get in, quickly.”
The others joined in, throwing their own comments. Their words seemed reasonable at a glance, but Ezra saw it differently.
“Hey, if we leave him here and he actually sets the station on fire, then what? No one’s gonna stick around to watch him.”
At his words, the barrage of protests stopped. Ezra, seeing their wavering eyes one by one, nodded.
“I’m telling you, he’ll immediately cause trouble the moment we’re out of sight. It’s better to take him with us and let him wander around there. At least one of us can keep an eye on him, or someone in the crowd watching the fire might catch him doing something stupid.”
Ezra’s reasoning was too convincing. Considering they’d just been ranting about him moments before the call, his concern carried a lot of weight.
“That makes sense.”
One of them agreed, and others quickly followed.
“Yeah, let’s take him. I feel uneasy about what he’ll do if he’s left alone.”
“He probably won’t actually set a fire, but…”
“He’s an Extreme Alpha, a psychopath. He’s capable of doing crazy things we wouldn’t even imagine without a second thought. We’ve got to at least keep our station from burning down, right?”
If taking him with them was all it took to prevent that, they were willing to do it. With that, everyone’s opinions aligned, and they started shouting for Grayson in unison.
“Miller, hurry up and come! We have a call!”
“Yeah, you passed the test, now it’s time to be a real firefighter!”
“Let’s go, we’ll even save you a seat! Miller, get over here!”
Despite their calls, Grayson still stood there with a reluctant expression. But they persisted, shouting relentlessly. Even with the siren blaring nonstop, they seemed ready to stay put until Grayson got in.
“Ha…”
Finally, Grayson let out an irritated sigh and pushed himself off the wall. He walked toward the truck, his face filled with boredom, but they pretended not to notice and waited. And as he came within reach, Ezra and the others grabbed his arms and practically shoved him into the truck.
“Let’s go, let’s go! Dane, what are you doing? Get in!”
They piled into the truck one after another and called out to Dane. Up until then, Dane had been watching them with a look of disdain, but he climbed into the truck last without a word. Wilkins’ shouts echoed from behind.
“Slow, too slow! DeAndre, get in from that side! Is everyone in? We’re rolling!”
Wilkins, about to get in, suddenly spotted Grayson sitting in the back seat. He flinched, remembering the chief’s words, but he didn’t have time to waste. He hesitantly got into the passenger seat, and the driver immediately started the engine. The firetruck roared down the road, siren wailing.
The fire had broken out in a quiet residential area. The old neighborhood, usually peaceful and serene whenever they passed through, was always filled with kids playing and elderly folks tending their gardens. A fire there, of all places?
“My mother-in-law lives there.”
One of their colleagues, a father with two daughters, said with noticeable anxiety. Leaving him to hurriedly call home, worried about his family, another teammate asked Wilkins,
“Have the residents been evacuated?”
“It’s probably chaos right now. We’ll have to check when we get there.”
Dane, arms crossed and silently waiting to arrive, suddenly paused. Grayson, sitting across from him, was staring at him.
When their eyes met, that sweet scent Dane always noticed near Grayson hit him harder than usual. It wasn’t just the enclosed space of the truck. The others also seemed to notice and turned their eyes
toward Grayson.
Despite the uncomfortable stares, Grayson didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he even smiled faintly, a slight flush on his cheeks, as if excited. Everyone paused and fell silent, seeing Grayson Miller’s expression.
Dane thought, “Figures,” as he watched his colleagues now avert their gazes, a stark contrast to their harsh words in the training room.
It’s pointless to confront a crazy person head-on.
It was a rule he had lived by, but unlike the others, Dane didn’t look away from Grayson.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes, furrowed his brow, leaned back arrogantly in his seat, and spread his legs wide. Grayson, sitting opposite, shut his mouth and stared back intently. They glared at each other for a while, no one speaking. Only the uncomfortable silence filled the rapidly moving truck.
Grayson’s expression changed first. He smirked, his expression clearly mocking. Dane’s eyebrows twitched, but didn’t react further. Seeing his reaction, Grayson recalled something someone had said.
-It could also mean that while you’re doing that work and helping others, your partner will appear. In any case, the keyword is fire.