Chapter 81

Kaelen

The firehouse never slept.

Even after a call, after the smoke cleared and the trucks were scrubbed down, the place hummed with restless energy. Radios crackled, someone was cursing at the coffee machine again, and Cruz’s laughter carried from the bay like static. It was the kind of noise that usually grounded me. Today it just scraped at my nerves.

The bandage around my ribs pulled when I b