Fanning The Fire Marshal's Flame

Midnight Chit Chat

Leviathan. Lita sat up in bed looking at her laptop and studied the image she had searched on the internet. She’d never heard the term. Apparently, there was a movie. She didn’t think the movie had anything to do with his proclamation women needed to be pried off him with a shoehorn because he was hung like a p**n star.

She got a text notification from Corry and lifted it up the light illuminating her room.

“I’m bored and can’t sleep.”

She laughed and texted her back, “I’m drunk on whiskey and doing an internet search on giant sea creatures.”

Her phone rang and she laughed and answered it. “It’s one in the morning Corry. Why are you up?”

“I had a meeting with a client tonight and he was a pompous arrogant asshole and now I want to beat something up.”

“Did you sleep with him?”

“I’d rather eat one of Chavez’ smelly Doc Marten’s,” she griped. “I love numbers and I love being a forensic accountant, but I swear if I have to work with one more federal investigator who thinks because I’m a girl I need the numbers verified I’ll lose it.”

“Why were you meeting him on a Sunday night?”

“They’re going for an indictment first thing tomorrow morning. Frankly, I hope they lose because the investigator is such a jerk. Even the prosecutor seemed embarrassed by him.” She groaned, “tell me you’re having fun with Diarmid Clooney? He can’t just be a there to make you insane.”

Lita had spilled quite a bit of her story to Corry and Chyna following their afternoon at motocross. The more time she spent with the girls, the easier a time she was having letting her past go. It felt good to have their support and their comedic relief. Corry had suggested it was her turn to make him l**t after what he would never have.

“Well,” she drawled out, “I might have lost my s**t earlier tonight and told him how his words and actions when I was most vulnerable affected my mental health and I’ve hated him for the last eight years.”

“Sheesh,” Corry exclaimed. “You don’t hold back, do you? You know you give redheads the bad name with that temper.”

“He apologized for the things he said back then and I’m trying to work through it but mostly, I need him to stay here.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he’s investigating eight fires.” She purposefully kept her voice low. She could still hear her dad and Diarmid outside in his shed just under her window. She knew they were outside and not in the house.

“Eight –” Corry went quiet, “oh fuck.”

“I called it in to Naomi who told me not to worry about it but it’s kind of hard not to worry.”

“I bet. What’s your plan?”

“He asked me to look over the files, specifically the chemical analysis to see if I could figure anything out. Of course, I can but I’m not telling him s**t,” she said smartly, “but it’s one of those situations where you keep your enemies close, you know?”

“How close you going to keep him?” Corry asked naughtily.

“Not that close,” she shot back. “He’s hiding from an ex who faked a pregnancy to try to get a ring on it.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. He attracts the lunatics,” she giggled. “She apparently used a co-worker’s urine to fake positive results. I have enough of my own crazies chasing me without adding his to my pile. I feel if I even made a play for him, she’d be outside my shower re-enacting the scene from psycho. I got a name of a lawyer for him from Jesse.”

“s**t! He must have his willy wound up tight and tucked up his a*s to keep it away from women right now.”

“Apparently it could reach,” she guffawed as she looked at the imagery on her computer screen.

“What does that mean?”

“It means we had drinks at dinner and then played a couple hands of cards and drank more and he revealed the reason women don’t want to leave him is because he is well endowed.”

“No way.”

“He also, much to my father’s horror and my delight, advised us he is well-educated on how to use it. Apparently, he had a much older female lover when he was in his twenties. He was really working hard to make dad embarrassed, and it worked but I think I found out way more information than my innocent little soul could handle.”

“Innocent little soul?”

“Yes. I’m very innocent. Innocent Little Lita.”

“Last weekend I watched you stab a man in the eye before lighting him on fire.”

“No, she’s my alter ego Lolita. Here, at home, I’m just Little Lita. Wouldn’t utter a curse word to save my life.”

Corry roared with laughter at her words. “You are so full of it.”

“I am too,” she giggled. “I have half a mind to slip a camera into the bathroom to catch him but then I’m scared I’d catch my dad instead.” She made a fake vomiting noise.

“I’ll monitor the camera for you.”

“If I gave you permission to put the camera in there, you would be holding it in your hand in perched on the edge of the tub trying to catch my dad.”

“He’s a good-looking man, Lita.”

“He’s my dad, Corry. You’re nasty.”

She groaned loudly, “I’m bored with the guys we keep finding in clubs. I’m not looking for commitment or marriage, because hell f*****g no, but having the same hook-up who actually learns what I like instead would be moderately pleasant.”

“I highly suggest not doing such a thing. I did it with Stavros and he’s banging down my door.”

“Seriously though, how flexible are you?”

“You’ve seen me dance. I could be a contortionist if I wanted. He likes me because I’m a screamer and I don’t stick around. He just thinks he wants me to stick around. The minute I do, he’ll bail.”

“Do you want him to bail?”

“Corry,” she sighed as she pushed her laptop off and lay on her bed, her buzz from the alcohol slowly dissipating. “He’s a mafia boss. I am not stupid enough to think I could wrap him around my pinky the way Addy is wrapped around Arwen’s fingers.”

“He is whipped.”

“Dee told me Arwen came home after our last mission where, I might add she openly mocked him in front of all of us, and he carried her into the house because she had done enough for one day.”

“What?”

“Yeah, apparently, he felt she didn’t need to walk. Carried her right upstairs, put her in a warm bath, and then took her to bed.”

“He beats her you know.” Corry said mockingly.

“With whips she provides him. She told me he also likes to dump candle wax on her. I’d rather he just uses the flame.”

“Pyro.”

“f*****g right,” Lita giggled. “Pretty sure half the reason Stavros makes me have multiples is because he’s from Greece. He complains all the time how cold it is here in New York, so he keeps the fireplace on in the bedroom.”

“Oh, it’s not him, it’s the flames.”

“It’s damn good combination.”

“Do you really get off from fire?”

She was quiet as she considered how much sharing was oversharing and then shrugged, “some women get turned on by p**n. Others get turned on my sexy music, massage oil or like Arwen the sight of leather riding crops. For me it’s fire. The sound, the smell, the way it moves.” She gave a shaky exhale as she drew silent admitting her kink was hard, but she was getting better at it with her teammates, though technically Corry was on another team.

“Christmas with the family around must be a b***h,” Corry said suddenly breaking the tension.

“What do you mean?”

She giggled, “my family is big into yule logs. Do you have to wear blinders?”

Lita giggled too, “no, what’s bad is when dad has a fire going in the pit out back and I get lost in it. I can’t tell you how many times he would have Diarmid and Baker over and they would be all sitting around the pit and Diarmid would throw a log onto the fire, and I’d be sitting there ogling Diarmid with wet panties and on the edge of o****m. They thought I was just a weird quiet kid, but I was on the precipice of exploding every time he would play with the fire.”

“He is hot.” Corry sighed dramatically.

“He is but he’s also off limits. I can’t go there. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact he’s in my house. I know, realistically, it wasn’t his fault but emotionally, I still feel supercharged every time I think of the disappointment, I felt the night of the ball. When I heard he bailed. I know he wasn’t coming for me. I know I was a kid. I know the attraction was all one-sided. Yet, my vulnerable fantastical heart had delusions he would come to his senses the minute he danced with me because I was a ballerina like in Cinderella and he was my Prince Charming. The spiteful, bratty decision to make him jealous even though he was in another f*****g state, forever changed the course of my life, Corry.”

“How are you coping with him there?”

“I’m using my Bellona training to it’s limits. Compartmentalize. Staying focused on making Dad think everything is normal and fine. I danced for a bit after a run today. It’s not easy but I can’t let myself be defeated by bad memories. At the worst, in two weeks I will have gotten through this and be tougher for it. At best, I can work through the pain, accept he’s part of dad’s life again and will be around and it won’t be unpleasant. I’m hoping it’s the latter. Playing cards tonight was fun and a good distraction from the anger I was feeling earlier.”

“You said earlier it wasn’t his fault and I know you want to believe it but oftentimes the heart and the mind don’t connect. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you find you’re slipping and giving him attitude or telling him to f**k off.”

“You sound like Psych-One.”

“Just speaking from experience. My mom lost custody of me to my dad. She didn’t have the money to take him on and he had enough witnesses come forward to say she abused me. She didn’t get to see me again until I was an adult and he moved me out of the state clear across the country and she had no idea where I was. When I found her when I turned eighteen it was to tell her how much I hated her. I hated her guts for leaving me with him. Hated her. It’s been twelve years and while she and I have been to therapy together and apart, I still have days where I slip and I want to punch her, a wall, and anything around.” She spoke lowly, “it wasn’t her fault he did what he did but occasionally the monsters we’ve built up in our heads are harder to let go of than we like.”

“I don’t want to hate him.” She said quietly. “I wish I had it in me to accept he did nothing wrong but –”

“You need a person to blame, and he’s been your excuse. Now he’s in your face and you have to accept he wasn’t the reason. Reardon is at fault. Just like my father was the one responsible for torturing me and selling me to his rich friends on the weekends. My mom, Diarmid, they may have been part of the show, but they weren’t part of the plot. It still doesn’t make it easier and you’re going to snap at him.”

“Thanks Corry.”

“You’re welcome,” she groaned. “I think I’m finally tired. All it takes is a little emotional chat and I’m exhausted like I ran a marathon.”

“Me too. I should try to sleep. I need to get up and go help in the offices tomorrow morning and I need to report to Psych-One because of having all this s**t going on.”

“It was smart to call it in.”

“It was f*****g weird to see my work splayed all over my coffee table and be asked if I could recognize any chemical compositions his team hadn’t picked up.”

“I can’t even imagine. It would be like a cop asking me to identify the stab markings on someone I fileted.”

She giggled. “It’s pretty damn close. Now I’ve been ordered to go for eval because I’m panicking over this.”

“Don’t panic. Do you really think everything we do in this world doesn’t get scrutinized? Christ, Arwen just made top three unknown female assassin with Interpol.”

“Yes, but she’s not living with her investigator for two weeks.”

“She would seriously f**k with him if she were. She’s such a badass.”

“So are you, Corry!” Lita said earnestly. “Your count is up there with Jesse and Cat’s.’

“Yours would be too if you hadn’t opted to stay in the office so long.”

“I felt safe there.”

“And now?”

“Now I need to spread my wings and see what I’m really capable of.”

“I know what you’re capable of, Lolita,” Corry said seriously. “There isn’t anything you can’t do. If you want to go nuclear on this whole city, girl, I’ve got your back. I’ll carry your supplies for you.”

“Thanks Corry but I’d rather just burn one perv at a time.” She giggled.

“I’m going to bed now. I’m wiped. I’ll see you later this week.”

“Good night, Corry.” She hung up the phone and then stood off the bed and closed her laptop, sliding it onto the desk in her room. She changed into a pair of flannel pjs and cursed the October cool air and then walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.

She was exhausted and the entire day had been an emotional trainwreck. All she wanted was to crawl into her bed and sleep the events into yesterday. She pushed the bathroom door open and then froze at the image in front of her.

The only light on in the bathroom was the weird glowing blue light her father had installed under the toilet seat so he could go pee in the middle of the night without having to turn all the lights on and blind himself. The only other light was from the hall behind which cascaded over her shoulder and directly on the vision in front of her. Diarmid was turning from the toilet, clearly just finishing, and was just tucking himself, easily longer than his hand, into his unbuttoned jeans. Her eyes bugged at the image in front of her and she flicked her glance up, met his startled gaze and then she turned and raced back into her bedroom, slammed the door behind her and locked it in good measure.

Maybe, just for once and the first time in her life, she did not need to brush her teeth before bed.