Flames

“What’s a Prince Albert?” Rick took a pull from his beer.

“Cock piercing.” Cameron answered without missing a beat.

“Uptight, Boss man has a piercing on his dick?”

I sat, shaking my head at the idiots discussing my penis while we sat around shooting the shit after a long week of work. I swallowed back the last of my beer before hopping up to head over to the bar for another, letting the idiots chatter.

“Another beer, Caleb?”

“Please.” I gave a tight smile to Mike, the bartender for Roads, one of the only bars in town. I glanced around, recognizing nearly every face currently inside. Having lived in this town my entire life and now working as a Fireman for the town, it was hard not to know every citizen.

Firefighting was in my blood. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. My Father, Grandfather, Brother, and even my cousins all worked for the department as well. It was our family legacy. To take care of the people of Sentry, and keep them safe and protected. Some said I took it a little too seriously, but they didn’t see the loss that I had and see how much work my family had dedicated to the department. I wasn’t about to fuck that up.

“Who’s at the station tonight?” Mike slid the beer across the counter to me.

“Will and my Dad are in charge, then the rookies. You feeling some pyro tendencies?” I cocked a brow at him with a laugh.

“Nah. Just rare to see you out and about.” He nodded at a group coming into the bar and took off to service them.

“When do we get to see this piercing?” I regretted returning to our table the second the words were out of Rick’s mouth. The fact they were still talking about this irritated the shit out of me, and I remembered why I never came out with them.

“Dude, shut up.” Ren, my cousin, laughed. “I don’t want to hear another word about his dick or anyone else’s dick, for that matter. We need PUSSY!” He shouted, having had one too many beverages. I rolled my eyes before slowly sitting, trying to figure out how I could get out of there without too much fuss.

“This,” I motioned around, looking at my brother. “Is exactly why I never come out.”

“C’mon, man… You need to get laid. You’re too uptight. It’s annoying.” Ren leaned over, grabbing my shoulder.

“I’m good. Cam’s already fucked half the town; he’s doing enough for the both of us.”

“All real relationships!” Cameron yelled back. My poor brother, young, dumb, and full of? What’s the saying? Yeah. Never without a lady on his arm, constantly in a relationship, and looking for the “love of his life.” He was desperate to recreate my parents’ relationship, though I firmly believed that to be impossible.

I let the guys all banter back and forth, ignoring their conversation. Thankfully I was saved by a text, my youngest brother, Caden, needed a ride home, I was only a beer and a half in, leaving me more than able and eager to escape the idiots.

“Caden needs a ride; I’m out.” I held up my phone, shoving my chair back. “You guys don’t get too crazy.” I threw a few bills on the table to cover my tab and headed for the door.

“I’ll get you to show me prince albert one day!” Rick shouted as I made sure to give him the one-finger salute before dipping out into the freezing cold.

*

“Thank fuck.” Caden groaned, crawling into my truck. “Mom wasn’t answering, and they took the car away again.” I shook my head. Little brother was by far the most difficult of us kids. Always fighting and messing with the girls. I had no idea how he managed to stay on the football and basketball teams with his attitude, but I suppose his skills spoke for him instead. Caden had no interest in firefighting or family legacy, half the time, he had no interest in family. They say that’s typical of most teenagers, though I was already decided on my future plans by his age.

“What’d you do this time?” I guided the truck out of the school parking lot and onto the main road. Snow was piling up quickly, typical for North Dakota this time of year.

“Failing a class. Such bullshit. When do I have time to do work or even study?” He continued to complain.

“Well, if you kept your dick in your pants, that would leave a lot of free time.”

“Hey.. you may be old and tired, but I’m young and ready to go. Can’t help it that girls love the sports guy.”

“You’re such a douche.”

“At least I’m getting laid.” He countered.

He wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t remember the last time anything but my right hand had touched my cock, that yes, was pierced though Rick would never see evidence of that. I didn’t have time to mess with relationships and attachments, I wasn’t big on the whole one night stand thing either so unless the mood just hit perfect, my hand would have to do. I ignored his smartass and continued the drive to our family home, hoping to drop him off and run back to my place to crash. Though if our Mother caught sight of me, she’d be hauling me in for a chat. I loved the woman, dearly, but I was tired of hearing the same song and dance about settling down and grandchildren.

“When’s your next game?” I asked just before pulling into the driveway. Despite how annoying Caden was, I loved sports and admired his love of it as well. He was a damn good athlete and I enjoyed going to as many of his games as I could.

“Homecoming is on Friday. You gonna be there?” He smirked. Little shit knew I had a soft spot for him and his athletics.

“I’ll plan on it. Now, get out and fast. I don’t want ….”

The front door was open before I could even finish my sentence and my sweet Mother was waving her arms all around like a lunatic. Fuck. My one night off and it’s been spent listening to idiots, teenagers and now my Mother.

“Caleb Sevenson, get your ass in here now!” She pointed a finger at me with a smile.

“Yes Ma’am” I grumbled, Caden laughed as we both trudged up the walkway to the porch where she waited.

“You, get upstairs and do some homework.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before tapping it lightly. Her eyes lit up and her arms went wide to pull me in for a hug once I stepped forward. At six foot three, I towered over her five foot seven frame.

Mom, Mrs. Penny Logan Sevenson, was a beautiful brunette. She didn’t look old enough to have this brood of us kids, but here we were and she handled us all with an iron fist. Dad believed he was in charge, but everyone knew it was Mom.

“Come in! I haven’t seen you in too long. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were trying to hide from me.” She shoved me into the house, and for a moment, when I smelled whatever she was whipping up for dinner, I was almost thankful I came inside.

“Always busy, ya know how it goes, Ma.”

“Shush. You work too hard and too much. You need time to socialize, meet a young lady…”

“Stop. Jesus. You’re fifty-three but acting like you’re eighty-three. Calm down.”

“I want to be young with my grandkids. Please, don’t let Caden be the first to give me a grandchild.”

I snorted a laugh just as he walked in the room huffing. “Mom, come on. Not cool.”

“We all know it’ll be Cameron. He’ll be married before ya know it and have a whole house full then you won’t know what to do.” Caden continued, grabbing a drink and then heading back up to his room where I knew for a fact he would not be doing any homework.

“I met someone today, she’s gorgeous. You should stop by and meet her before Cameron does.” Mom winked at me before pulling a casserole dish from the oven. The smell immediately caused my stomach to rumble and if I weren’t starved for a home cooked meal, I would’ve got up and walked away as fast as possible before she tried to set me up. “Her eyes are just the most beautiful shade of green I’ve ever seen.” She continued as she started to plate the food. Sneaky woman. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Mom, please. I’ll stay for dinner, but no set ups, okay?” I hopped up, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before stealing a plate of whatever deliciousness she’d whipped up.

She called for Caden who came down grumbling the whole way, grabbing his dinner and rushing back up to his room. Leaving Mom and I alone at the table. As much as I wanted to get away from her nagging, I felt good that I was at least here to keep her company for a bit.

“Where’s Cassidy?” I asked in between bites, or shovels of food rather. My only sister, Cassidy was also not interested in the firefighting legacy of our family. Currently she was attending college, pre-med so her duty to serve was there for sure. She was much more quiet than the rest of us, more reserved. Being the only girl in our family meant we were also very protective of her.

“A study group until ten, then she’ll be home like usual.” Mom smiled. In most cases one wouldn’t believe a young college student to be at a study group on a Friday night, but I had no doubts in my mind that Cass was indeed studying her ass off.

We finished eating while Mom was checking her phone, running a small book store in town kept her pretty busy and she was always on the hunt for new materials for the shop. I was being blown up with ridiculous texts from Cameron and Ren. Both calling me ‘old man’ and ‘grump’, teasing me for bowing out early and that I’m missing some new action. I rolled my eyes putting the phone on the table and helping clean up the plates from Mom and I while she typed away on her phone.

“Who are you texting?” I raised a brow as she usually fussed at the rest of us for texting while at the table.

“Hmm? Oh. The young lady I met today. We were just planning…”

“No! You are not planning to set me up, No.” I finished rinsing the plate and put it into the dishwasher before stepping over toward her.

“Well pardon me, Mr. Cocky. We were planning to meet up tomorrow so I could help her with some things. You are my first born and baby boy, but the world doesn’t revolve around you.” She patted my arm as she finished putting away the leftovers. “But, since you mentioned it..”

“I love you, Ma. I’m heading home.” I wrapped her in a hug before she could say anything else and headed back out into the cold.

I was content to be alone, I didn’t need anyone to make me happy or keep my bed warm. I saw what loss looked like far too often whether it be while working or during trainings. If you didn’t get yourself attached to someone, you couldn’t get hurt by the loss. I was happy, more than happy with my career choice and my life. I just wish everyone else would get the memo and leave me alone.