Stalking the Firedawg

By Keely Jakes

Stewart never expected to become a stalker when he called for help getting a cat out of a tree, but after meeting Sergeant “Hawk” Hawkins, he can’t help himself. The firedawg is everything Stewart wants in a man.

Hawk has always hated hospitals, and would do anything to get out of the one he ends up stuck in. With both a broken ankle and wrist, he can’t reach his third-floor dorm room in the barracks, and having just arrived on base, he has no one to ask for help...

Will Stewart do more than deliver food to the hospitalized Hawk? Will Hawk be able to help Stewart study for his paramedic classes? Will the men ever admit their feelings for each other, or will they remain roommates with benefits for the duration of Hawk’s recovery?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781773398532

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2018 Keely Jakes

ISBN: 978-1-77339-853-2

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To those who run in when others run away.

STALKING THE FIREDAWG

Stalking Love, 2

Keely Jakes

Copyright © 2018

Chapter One

Boing. Boing. Boing.

The metallic bong sounds silenced the chatter in the room as the members of B shift waited to hear who dispatch was calling out. Though on alert and ready to jump and run for the ladder truck he commanded, Justice Hawk Hawkins kept eating. As a Marine Corps firefighter who had been stationed around the world, the chance to eat a hot meal someone else cooked was a luxury he never passed up. Especially since his own cooking sucked sewer water.

Ladder one, report to base commander’s residence. Pie’s up the tree. Again. The dispatcher’s tone was cool and collected, though her terminology was hardly professional.

Hawk looked around the table when no one moved, wondering what the hell was going on. He had just transferred into the base, and after two weeks of classes in Raleigh to renew his certifications in the States and learn the particulars of the North Carolina fire code, he was finally working his first shift.

Turning to the shift captain, he asked, What’s a Pie?

Piewhackit is Mrs. Brigadier General Randall’s cat. He is a housecat, but on bath day he always finds a way to escape. Sometimes more often if the Randalls are traveling and he has a new cat sitter. He thinks he is a squirrel, except once he’s up the tree in the general’s front yard, he refuses to get himself back down again.

Hawk nodded as the other three men from Ladder One continued eating. Okay, so we have an angry cat who climbs trees. What are we supposed to do about it?

The captain smiled. Get the cat out of the tree and back in the house before the general’s wife comes home.

Uh-huh, Hawk said.

By this time, Hawk and the rest of his crew had finished eating. Leaving the dishes for others on the shift to deal with, the four men headed to their truck. Stepping out of the living quarters into the bay, Hawk paused a moment as the heat and humidity of eastern North Carolina in July wrapped around him like a wet wool blanket. He wondered how long it would take to get accustomed to the sauna-like weather.

Watching the others, he mirrored their actions, tossing his turnout gear into the back of the truck cab. One of the base rules he could get behind was that for routine calls like this, the heavy turnout gear was carried in the truck, but not worn. It was too hot to wear an additional sixty pounds of gear in this heat unless they were actually fighting a fire.

As the newest member of the team, even though he was the highest ranking, Hawk climbed into the back seat. He had never been one to pull rank, preferring to ride in the back where there was more leg room. At six foot three, he was thankful for every spare inch he could get. Fastening his seatbelt, Hawk met the driver’s eyes as the man looked over his shoulder, Okay, boys, let’s go get Pie out of the tree.

****

Come on, Piewhackit. Please come down. Stewart Lytle fought back tears as he pleaded with the cat, who looked down from his perch high in the maple tree.

Holding up the small can of herring he had found in the kitchen, Stewart hoped to coax the spoiled cat down from her spot in the tree before the fire department showed up. After all, it was his fault he was up there, and not in the house as he was supposed to be. After taking the uber-spoiled cat to his vet appointment for Mrs. Randall, Stewart had returned him home, then been distracted by a phone call from his ex-boyfriend.

Fred Winston did not seem to understand that nothing in Heaven or on Earth would entice him to get back together with the man he had broken up with a month ago. A man who cheated and then lied about it was bad enough, especially when Stewart was not sure if he was the cheater or cheatee. What scared Stewart more than that was when confronted about his cheating and being told they were through, Fred had gotten physically violent. It was not the first time, but it had been the last time Fred had hit him.

The bruises had healed, but Stewart would never trust Fred again even if he wanted to get back together with the man, which he did not. But Fred did not seem capable of understanding it was time to move on. As soon as he answered the phone, Fred began ranting about how they were soulmates and would be together forever. Stewart listened only long enough to confirm it was Fred before disconnecting. He was still brooding about how to deal with his ex, and not thinking about where he was, when he opened the front door to leave. He had several others errands to run for Mrs. Randall before he could call it a day. Unfortunately, he was too slow slipping out the door and Piewhackit brushed past his ankles. In the next second, the damn cat was up the tree before Stewart could process that he was out of the house.

Come on, Pie, I opened a can of the general’s best herring just for you. All you have to do is come down and you can have it.

That just earned him another sad meow.

"What am I going to tell your