Spark & Blaze (A Guns & Hoses Novel) Read Online Free

up the green. The design replicated the color and stripes of his Camaro.
    “All right, let’s do this.” Flame was chalking his bar cue while Brett picked up his after chalking his hand.
    “We playing for anything?” Brett glanced up from his bent over position to break.
    “Hell no!” Flame laughed. “I just want to see if you beat me as bad as Austie does.”
    Brett didn’t comment until after he broke and watched three balls drop. Two stripes and one solid.
    “You can’t be that bad.”
    “I’m not. Austie is just that good,” Flame countered.
    They played the first game and talked about nothing important. Flame told him a little bit about his cousin, but not much. When Brett dropped the eight ball in a side pocket and Flame only had one ball on the table, he accused Brett of sandbagging.
    Brett just grinned because he did sandbag. He didn’t do it to save Flame’s ego. No, he was just used to sandbagging most of the time he played because if he wiped the table all the time at Bradley’s, his tricks would be few and far between. In the next game they played, Flame still had three balls on the table when Brett dropped the eight. His fellow firemen wasn’t a bad shot, but Brett was better.
    “I still think you’re sandbagging.” Flame grinned and racked the balls again. “Because if that is all you got, Austie is gonna wipe the table with you.”
    “Guess we’ll see,” Brett replied without any cockiness.
    “Speak of the devil,” Flame said after he stood from racking the balls. He was looking toward the door of the bar “Austie!”
    Brett turned to follow Flame’s gaze. Flame’s cousin looked enough like Flame that they could have been brothers. The man was lean, fit, and good-looking as hell. He had jet black hair and looked a few years younger than Flame.
    Following half a step behind Flame’s cousin was none other than Lucas Wolf. The arson investigator was an asshole and everyone knew it. When Flame had mentioned that his cousin worked in arson investigation, Brett didn’t even think of Lucas Wolf let alone think the nice guy Flame described could be partnered with that ass wipe.
    Poor guy , Brett thought, but said to Flame instead, “he stuck with that dick head Wolf as a partner?”
    Austin and Wolf were making their way over to the table where they were playing pool. Brett was surprised that Wolf was trailing Flame’s cousin instead of heading straight to the bar.
    “Nah, he’s not stuck with Wolf, but you have the partner part right.” Flame smirked when Brett almost choked on his drink.
    “No fucking way,” Brett mumbled after a couple of coughs to clear his throat.
    “Yep,” Flame replied and started toward his cousin. “I didn’t see that one coming either.”
    Lucas fucking Wolf, asshole extraordinaire, was gay?
    Brett couldn’t believe it. Then again he had no idea Brostowski was either. Brett took another long drink from his Jack and Coke while he watched the three men walk toward him. It wasn’t lost on him that Flame had just enlightened him to the sexual orientation of a second co-worker he knew in as many days.
    The brief thought that Flame may have shared the information because the man suspected he was gay and was trying to give him a subtle hint that he wasn’t alone, crossed Brett’s mine. He pushed it away. Now was not the time to ponder any motivations Flame might have for sharing information about Brostowski and Wolf. If, in fact, Flame had any ulterior motivations at all.
    Introductions were made and Brett wasn’t surprised that Austin was as outgoing and friendly as Flame had led him to believe. He also wasn’t surprised that Wolf retreated to a seat at the bar after bringing Austin a Corona that Brett noticed was missing the lime shoved down the neck of the bottle.
    “Let’s play!” Austin pulled a stick out of the wire stand on the floor in the corner.
    “We playing for anything?” Brett asked
    He had to resist looking Austin over from head to