Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 29

Josie's Point of View.

I am standing, loudly letting the stupid swimming teacher know exactly what I think of him, as Anders pulls himself up off the floor, then storms off in the direction of the showers. I had wondered if I should come here this morning, after arriving at the Hetton Centre swimming pool, only for it to be closed. Now I am glad that I did. No sooner than I got into my fast-swimming lane, I saw Anders go under, the swimming teacher too busy fawning over a girl in a bikini to even notice. I swam under the lane barriers and dragged him out to the side. Only then did the i***t in charge of teaching adults to swim notice one of his students had practically drowned.

"I will go see if he is okay," the instructor announced, as if he was doing the world a favour.

"Don't bother, you have these people to look after, maybe do your f*****g job, a*****e!" I rage at his stupidity, before storming off towards the showers, to check on Anders.

As I round the corner and head to the shower area, I stop in my tracks. Anders is slumped on the floor against the wall under the stream of water, his face pale, and shaking like a leaf, quite clearly terrified out of his wits.

Taking a breath, I walk over, standing in front of him. I know he is terrified, but he needs to get back into the water as soon as possible.

"Hey," I gently say to him.

He doesn't respond, only sits shaking his head in his hands. I go beside him and sat on the floor, pulling my legs up to my chest.

"Anders," I softly speak once more.

Still no response. Okay, I need to pull him out of the place his mind has obviously gone.

"Oi, arse wipe, I am talking to you!" I shout at him.

Slowly he raises his head and glares at me.

"f**k off Josie," he whispers.

Okay, good, he is speaking and knows who I am. It is a start.

"I will, soon, but first you need to get back into the water," I tell him.

"What part of the words 'f**k Off' do you not understand?" he shouts up at me.

"About the same amount as you understand, I will not go out with you," I grin down at him, hoping to push his buttons, just so he gets in that water to piss me off.

"Don't worry, I got that message loud and clear, now leave me the f**k alone Firefighter Edwards," he growls at me.

"With pleasure, Mr. Maxwell, as soon as you go back into the water," I stubbornly reply, because as much as he doesn't want to go back into the pool, he has to get in the water, as soon as possible, before he loses his nerve all together. "NO! I am never getting into that pool again," Anders spits at me, but at least he is shaking a lot less than he was, so my ploy is hopefully beginning to work.

I take a breath and shuffle over closer to him.

"You know, when I first joined the brigade, I had a close call, climbing up some ladders. I nearly fell 20-feet off them. To say that I was terrified of heights after that, is an understatement. Ben, who you have met, well, him and a guy called Davey, who are my best friends at work, wouldn't let me leave the station, until I got back on that ladder. I hated them for pushing me, but eventually I gave in, after hours of arguing, and slowly got up the ladder again. They then got on the hydraulic platform, and came up beside me, so I wasn't alone. They were right, of course, because you cannot have a firefighter who is terrified of heights. After that, every day for a week, I was forced by my two friends to climb that f*****g ladder. I tell you, I plotted how to kill them every day, from putting poison in the cakes I bake, to murdering them when they went for a lie down between shouts. But it worked, because I am no longer terrified of the ladders, and can do my job. So ... Mr. Maxwell, hate me, shout at me as much as you like, but you, are not giving up on learning to swim. I will not let you."

Anders looks over to me, shaking his head at me.

"Un-f*****g-believable, careful Firefighter Edwards, I may think you care." Anders groans at me in annoyance.

"Oh, I don't, but it is fun to watch you pissed off. Now you want rid of me? Then get back in the f*****g water," I say with determination.

"No, I am not going back in, not here. I will never come back to these swimming lessons again," He growled out.

Now that is something I can get on board with, because what I just witnessed was not good. I will also be making a complaint. It is strange, because the lifeguards and instructors are normally fantastic here, but to be fair, I have never seen this kid who was doing the lessons before, and the centre needs to know he is incompetent.

"I will teach you," I offer, the words out of my mouth before I could stop them.

s**t, what have I done? Why do I always need to help people? Why could I not just leave this arsehole to his own devices?

Anders turns and looks at me, his eyes still wide with annoyance and he lets out a sarcastic laugh.

"YOU, will teach ME? Yeah right." He shakes his head.

"If that is what it takes to get you to stop being a p***y and get back in that water. Then yes, I will teach you," I say with a determination I did not really feel, inwardly cursing myself once more. Shaking his head in disbelief, a smile spread across his face, his eyes changed from being full of fear, to holding a challenge.

"Okay, on one condition." He grins at me.

f**k, I mentally face palm, what the hell is he going to ask?

"You let me take you out for one drink." He grins, as if he has found the 'get out of jail free' card on a monopoly board. Well, screw him, because I do not give up that easily.

"After you have done two lessons with me, I will go for ONE solitary drink with you." I grinned back at him.

"I am still not going back into this pool. But I am a member of a private gym, they have a pool, but do not offer lessons. So... you teach me there, and I get to take you out for one drink." He grins. "Deal." I smile down at him, extending my hand, inwardly celebrating my victory.

Anders takes it, and gives it a shake, then pulls me towards him and whispers in my ear.

"Knew you liked me really," he whispers.

f**k! f**k! f**k! Guess my victory is not all it is cracked up to be. What the hell have I done? And someone please tell me why his hot breath against my ear is making my lady parts wetter than this insipid shower is?

"Just because I have a malfunction in my brain that causes me to want to help people, and save their lives, does not make you special, Mr. Maxwell. You are just one person in a long line of people who I have saved. Now, I am f*****g freezing, so I am going to get changed. Text me the details of your posh gym, and I will see you there tomorrow at 6pm sharp, for your first lesson," I state, standing up and getting the hell away from him before I get myself into more hot water.

I am in no mood to swim now, so quickly get ready, and jump into my car, avoiding any more interaction with the arsehole. I need to talk to someone about what the hell I have done! I mean, why did I do that? I have been skilfully avoiding Anders Maxwell for days. I have ignored him when he pressed my buttons. I did not give in, when I spent most of my down time thinking about the gorgeous prick, and what his prick may look like, if I am honest. Yet, here I am, now stuck in a situation I really do not want to be in. I find myself aimlessly driving around, heading towards the beach, so I decide to see if Ben is about. At least when I tell him, he will not take the piss too much, unlike the other bunch of bastards I work with. Plus, he can tell me how it went with Lucy and his big date yesterday. Yeah, that will take my mind off my idiotic decision to spend more time with a man I clearly hate, less than I think I do.

Pulling up outside Bens, I notice that his car is on the driveway, so go and knock on his door. Joanne answers, and gives me a s**t eating grin, not sure why, but guess I am about to find out.

"Josie, come in." She welcomes me happily, like really happy.

"Hey, sorry, is Ben about?" I ask his mother.

"Yeah, he is, he just got back with Lucy. She is living here for the time being now." Joanne smiled again.

Oh, so that is what the grin was about. Joanne wants nothing more than for her son to find happiness. I make my way into the living room, as Joanne heads into the kitchen.

"Josie, I have made enough dinner to feed the five thousand, do you want some?" she shouts over her shoulder to me.

Oh, roast beef, with the best Yorkshire pudding I have ever tasted, is being offered. It would be a sin to refuse.

"Yeah, if that is okay." I grinned back at her.

I walk into the living room, and find Ben sitting next to a blushing Lucy, his hand resting on the top of her thigh. Seems like things are going well.

"Hi." I smile at the pair of them.

"Hey, Josie. What's up?" Ben asks.

"I have made a terrible mistake and need to vent." I sigh, plonking down on the sofa at the side of the large room. "Hey Lucy, lovely to see you again." I then smile at the blushing girl.

"Hi." Lucy returns my greeting.

"So, what has happened?" Ben asks, looking at me quizzically.

I groan, putting my head in my hands. "I may have agreed to go out with Arsehole Maxwell for a drink," I admit.

Ben throws his head back and laughs, then looks at me. "Okay, what the hell happened?"

He knows me well enough to understand there will be a story behind it, and so I proceed to tell him, Lucy, and Joanne, over Sunday lunch.

"So, when is your first lesson?" Ben asks.

"Tomorrow at six pm, at his gym." I sigh out.

"Want me to come with you?" Ben offers.

"Don't you dare Ben." Joanne laugh's out.

"Mother, if she doesn't want to do it alone, I am not leaving her with him," Ben protests.

"Oh, my poor innocent son, of course she wants to be alone with him, else why did she really offer? Those two have s****l chemistry, and maybe a good old 'Bonk' in the changing rooms will help both of them move on." Joanne shrugs. "Mother." Ben shakes his head, as Lucy giggles slightly.

"Or they will end up at the family fun day together next week," Joanne added with a wink in my direction.

"Family fun day?" Lucy questions.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you to go with me. It is at the station, there is a BBQ, and the kids all get to play in the engines and slide down the poles or dress up in uniforms. It is good fun. The money we raise also goes to the Firefighters Benevolent Fund. We could take your niece and nephew if you want." Ben smiles down at her. I swear the big guy has hearts coming out of his eyes when he looks at her.

"I will ask Cal, but not going to go anywhere near his girlfriend." Lucy sighs.

I know there must be a story, but I will not intrude just yet, so change the subject to protect Lucy's privacy.

"Joanne, Station Officer Webber was asking if you were going this year." I smile at Ben's mother.

"Oh, Whip-Me-With-Your-Willy-Webber, man, he is a sexy beast." Joanne chuckles.

Now, here is the thing. Ben's mother has fancied our illustrious leader for years, and as vocal as she is to us about it, along with her inappropriate comments about him, she never does anything about it. In fact, the last time she saw him, he tried to speak with her, but she got all tongue tied, then high tailed it over to us out of his way. This woman is all talk and no action, trust me!

Ben shakes his head laughing, as Lucy giggles, and I shrug at Joanne, turning the tables.

"Yeah, maybe try talking to the man, he is single after all, and you can get the whipping you want from his willy," I say, winking at her.

Ben groans, shaking his head as Lucy throws back her head laughing.

Joanne laughs, then blushes before looking at me. "I will, if you take some condoms to your 'Swimming' or should I say 's*x' Lesson tomorrow, you know, safety first and all that." She laughs at me.

s**t, I guess I am not going to escape this thing or stop myself from thinking about s*x in the changing room, now. Thanks Joanne, thanks a lot.