Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 34

“Hey, Ezra… this won’t do. Is DeAndre… already inside? Then…”
Wilkins, after running through a few names in succession, clutched his head.
Damn it, no one is available!
“If there’s no one to go in with him, I’ll do it.”
Just as he was about to give up, a voice of salvation came from behind. Wilkins turned around with a hopeful expression, then froze in shock. Grayson was looking at him with the same grin as before.
“N-No, it’s fine. You don’t have experience…”
He hurriedly turned his head away, but Grayson replied casually,
“I’ve had enough training, so I can handle it. And isn’t this something I’ll have to do eventually?”
He wasn’t wrong. But sending a complete rookie and their ace in together… he couldn’t risk losing Dane so pointlessly.
“No, really, it’s fine. There’s no need…”
He tried to refuse again, but he couldn’t stall any longer. Behind him, Dane, seemingly unconcerned by Wilkins’s hesitation, adjusted his mask and started moving.
“I’m going in.”
“W-Wait, hold on!”
Wilkins called out again as Dane prepared to rush into the house. There was no other choice. Maybe, just maybe, Grayson would do well. All he had to do was follow Dane’s lead.
Thinking this, Wilkins made up his mind and turned to Grayson and said,
“Don’t overdo it. Just stick behind Dane. And if anything happens, don’t come out alone, make sure you bring Dane with you… understand?”
It was something Grayson had to face eventually. Even if it was just for a year, they were always short of manpower. Miller or not, as long as Grayson could be of some help, there was no reason to refuse.
As Wilkins reiterated his instructions, trying to convince himself, Grayson replied with his usual smile, “Understood. Then, if you’ll excuse me…”
Donning his mask and gear, Grayson dashed into the house. Dane had already gone in with the hose.
“Don’t do anything on your own, you have to follow Dane’s orders!”
Ignoring Wilkins’ desperate shouts, Grayson also disappeared inside.
The ominous sounds of burning furniture breaking and falling echoed from all directions.
Grayson silently followed Dane, who steadily gripped the hose and sprayed water as he advanced. Less than five minutes after entering, Grayson was already regretting his decision.
Wasn’t this a bit too reckless, even if he’d only decided to do it to see Wilkins flustered?
He was mulling this over when a loud crash suddenly echoed, and a part of the ceiling collapsed.
“Whoa!”
Startled, Grayson let out a yelp and instinctively stepped back.
That was close.
He whistled briefly, looking at the large chunk of debris that had fallen before him, then chuckled and quipped,
“Man, I thought I’d burn to death, but I almost got my head smashed instead.”
Hahaha.
He burst into hearty laughter, but Dane didn’t even glance at him, just kept moving forward. Grayson abruptly stopped laughing, tilting his head with a scowl.
“How boring.”
Muttering to himself, he resumed following Dane, whose figure was already blurring in the smoke.
Even with the oxygen mask, it was still difficult to breathe. The heat seeping through the firefighting suit was intense, and the tension of being in life-threatening flames made it worse. Maintaining breath in the confined space of the mask only amplified the struggle. Yet Dane, far from stopping, went even deeper inside.
Doesn’t this guy feel the heat?
Grayson frowned, watching Dane’s back. Only when he felt the hose he was holding being pulled along did he reluctantly move his feet.
The smoke-filled interior was a sea of red flames, making it hard to see anything clearly. Nevertheless, Dane moved as if he’d been here countless times, spraying water and advancing without hesitation.
“Charles!”
It was the first time Dane had spoken since entering. Though it was just calling a dog’s name. He shouted repeatedly at the top of his lungs, but the noise of the building breaking apart drowned it out effortlessly.
“It’s no use.”
Grayson shouted to Dane. For the first time, Dane turned to look at him. Feeling a small sense of accomplishment, Grayson sneered,
“It’s probably already dead. That’s why there’s no response.”
Dane stared at him without a word, then kicked the door in front of him with force. The door, weakened
by the fire, flew off pathetically, and Dane immediately entered the room.
“Huh.”
Grayson let out an incredulous huff.
Did that bastard just ignore me?
He felt his blood pressure rising and quickly strode toward the room Dane had entered. Just as he was
about to step in, he ran into Dane coming out, seemingly finished with his search.
A loud rumble echoed, like thunder. It seemed like another part of the building have collapsed somewhere. Through the dusty mask, Dane’s face seemed to grimace.
“What? Move.”
At those words, Dane pushed past Grayson without giving him a chance to step aside.
“Hey! Oi! Hold on!”
Fuming, Grayson shouted after him again, but Dane ignored him and entered the next room.
“Charles! Charles, where are you? Charles!”
Grayson watched with a cynical expression as Dane kept calling the dog’s name.
Let’s see how long he keeps this up.
Now driven by something close to spite, he only watched him. But as Dane repeated the process, coming
up empty each time, Grayson’s interest waned.
“Hey, let’s talk for a sec.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Grayson spoke up just as Dane pulled out a metal pry bar and smashed
the door handle.
“What? Make it quick.”
Dane yanked off the dangling handle and tossed it aside, contradicting his words by immediately sticking his hand into the round hole to open the door and stepping inside. Grayson was dumbfounded, but he followed him and poured out the words he had been holding back.
“How long are you going to keep up this stupid shit? The dog’s dead. There’s no way it would survive this fire. It probably suffocated from the smoke before it even burned.”
It was foolish to come in and wander around in the middle of a fire trying to rescue a dog. He had done enough, hadn’t he? How much longer was he going to keep this up?
Grayson asked, hiding his numerous questions behind his words, and Dane, who had been searching the mattress and closet, came out. He gave Grayson a brief glance without a word and headed for the second
floor. Though Dane said nothing, it was as good as hearing the answer.
“Wait! Hold on! I said wait!”
Grayson shouted, but Dane still ignored him, swiftly climbing the stairs. Grayson leapt up after him,
grabbing Dane at the landing.
“You seem to enjoy repeating pointless crap, but I hate wasting my life on things like this. So let’s just go
back.”
At Grayson’s demand, Dane stared at him blankly. Unexpectedly, his eyes, visible through the dust- covered mask, looked bored. Haa, Dane sighed and spoke.
“That’s rich, coming from you, who’s wasting your life chasing some unrealistic destined love.”
“What?!”