Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 35

Grayson looked as if he was about to grab Dane by the collar, but of course, that didn’t happen.
At that exact moment, one side of the staircase collapsed with a loud crash. Standing dangerously on the half-destroyed staircase, Grayson looked down and saw a gaping, dark void. Taking advantage of his hesitation, Dane ran down the hallway.
Grayson spat out a short curse and had no choice but to chase after him.
By the time they’d nearly searched the entire second floor, a voice crackled through the radio. It was Wilkins.
-Dane, Dane! Are you okay? Still haven’t found him?
“Still searching. Second floor.”
-Wait! Charles might be in the attic!
A man’s voice suddenly cut in. Seeing Dane stop in his tracks, Grayson thought, Oh crap, that’s what he’s thinking right now.
Just as Grayson prepared to retreat, assuming Dane would finally turn back, Dane suddenly asked,
“Where’s the attic?”
What the hell is he saying?
Grayson frowned and looked at him. He couldn’t see Dane’s expression since his back was turned, but he could sense that Dane had no intention of giving up.
“The ceiling in the back room… there’s a button to press…. Did Charles go up there often?”
-Yes, yes, I trained him to go up there whenever something scary happened. In case a burglar broke in and might try to hurt him, or if he got startled so he wouldn’t run outside and get lost…
The man’s voice was urgent, laced with desperation.
-You… you can find him, right? Charles’s still alive…
He kept talking, but Dane abruptly cut off the transmission. Whether he was annoyed by the man’s whining or simply pressed for time, or both, Grayson didn’t know, but he was certain of what Dane was about to do.
Not on my watch.
“Hey, let’s just…”
“Miller.”
Just as Grayson was about to say he wouldn’t go any further, Dane suddenly called his name. For the first time, the man who’d been charging ahead turned to face him and said,
“You go out. No need for you to stay here. You’re just in the way.”
That was exactly what Grayson had planned all along. Coming this far was more than enough, and he felt he’d done his part. But hearing it from Dane first soured his mood. It was probably because of that consistently unpleasant tone of his voice.
“And you?”
He was about to ask, Are you seriously going to jump into that fire for a dog that’s obviously dead?, but he didn’t get the chance. Before he could finish, Dane vanished into the smoke without a response.
Left alone, Grayson blinked in disbelief until a loud cracking sound jolted him back to reality. Another part of the house must have collapsed once again.
It was impossible to follow Dane now.
Not that he wanted to. Staying in this dangerous situation was a suicide. Dane, an experienced firefighter, couldn’t be unaware of what Grayson, a rookie, already knew.
He’ll come back out soon enough.
With that thought, Grayson turned back immediately. Humans instinctively feared death and the same goes for pain.
With flames rising all around, Grayson didn’t hesitate any longer and bolted outside without a shred of regret.
Wilkins stood in the same spot, anxiously watching the burning house. It felt like a long time since Dane had gone inside, but he had no idea what was happening.
He had even turned off his radio, what was he even thinking?
“Charles, Charles…”
The man kept sobbing, repeating his dog’s name. Wilkins felt just as frantic, but he couldn’t blame him. He silently patted the man’s shoulder when suddenly, a figure appeared through the flames.
“Dane?”
Wilkins immediately called out his name, and the man, startled, looked in the same direction. They waited, each hoping to see the one they were waiting for, but the man who came out and took off his mask wasn’t who they expected.
“Miller!”
“What about Charles?”
They both shouted almost simultaneously, and Grayson, removing his helmet and running a hand
through his hair, replied,
“That guy went back inside to look for the dog.”
“What?!”
Wilkins exclaimed in disbelief. The man immediately shot back,
“So you’re saying Charles hasn’t been found yet? Where did you get separated? He heard everything I said, right? I told him Charles would be hiding in the attic, but the radio cut-“
“Enough! Quiet down for a sec!”
Wilkins yelled, unable to stand the man’s rambling any longer. The man, who’d been wailing nonstop, stopped crying for a moment and stared at him, wide-eyed. Ignoring him, Wilkins turned back to Grayson and asked urgently,
“Dane went back inside? To look for the dog?”
His voice trembled with disbelief as he looked Grayson up and down, then fixed his gaze on his face.
“Then why the hell are you out here alone? I told you-over and over-to stick together! How could you leave your teammate behind and come out by yourself? How? Were your feet itching to run?!”
He seemed genuinely baffled. No firefighter would abandon a teammate in a situation like this and escape alone. Waiting for an answer, Wilkins watched as Grayson flashed the same smile as before and
replied brightly,
“He told me I was in the way, so I came out. I can’t refuse a request, you see.”
“…What?!”
Wilkins responded with a pause, visibly thrown off. His pale face and wide eyes reflected a mix of confusion, shock, contempt, and a tangle of other negative emotions as he stared up at Grayson.
“What happened? Dane’s in there alone?”
Ezra, overhearing late, shouted in horror. The backup from another station had arrived, and with the fire mostly under control on the other side, firefighters were starting to gather in front of the house, catching
their breath.
Wilkins, his fury surging belatedly, clenched his fists tightly and glared at Grayson. He then yelled.
“What kind of bullshit is that?! Even if Dane said that, you should have stayed there! At the very least, you could’ve radioed us! You left a teammate alone in that fire and walked out? And you call yourself a firefighter? You dared to come here claiming you’d be a firefighter, you damn bastard?!”
He was raging like a madman. And he wasn’t the only one. Ezra and the other colleagues also joined in, shouting and condemning Grayson.
“You son of a bitch, you’re not even human! Even if you weren’t a firefighter, you can’t just leave a teammate in danger like that and walk away!”
“It was a mistake to let trash like you become a firefighter in the first place! Get out of here, you piece of
shit!”
“We knew you were useless! We should’ve never let you in! I was against it from the start! We all knew you weren’t cut out for this!”
Despite their outburst, Grayson just stood there, smiling. His unchanging, mask-like expression almost seemed to mock them. That face only fueled their anger further, and as they shouted, Grayson shrugged
and asked,
“I get that you all have a great sense of camaraderie, but if you’re so worried, shouldn’t someone go in and
get him instead of standing here yelling at me?”
“We were going to even without you saying it, you bastard!”