Chapter 179

thirty seven

“Welcome, Dane! I missed you!”

“That bastard, he really is immortal. Even when a bomb goes off, he survives unscathed like this!”

“Dane Striker! Hero! Hero! Dane Striker!”

The sight of his colleagues surrounding him, showering him with words and cheering as soon as they saw his face, made Dane furrow his brow.

“Stop calling me a hero, before I beat you all up.”

As he clenched his fist and spat out the words through gritted teeth, they seemed startled for a moment, but soon burst into laughter.

“Are you embarrassed? Huh?”

“It’s true, though, what’s with that. How many people owe their lives to you?”

“Yeah, you deserve that kind of treatment. Is that a normal thing to do?”

“That’s right, I can’t do it. Actually, no one but Dane would have jumped in there.”

At the sight of the guy shaking his head, another guy chimed in.

“You need to think before you charge in now. You have to protect your own life, you idiot.”

Behind the colleague who lightly tapped Dane’s chest with the back of his hand, another man nodded. They were talking loudly, but it was clear that all these guys were genuinely worried about him. Dane scratched the back of his head, feeling embarrassed, and suddenly realized something.

“What happened to Ezra?”

Of course, Ezra’s face was not among the colleagues welcoming Dane. As soon as Ezra’s name was mentioned, they hesitated and looked at each other. No one could readily speak, but Wilkins finally appeared.

“Dane! You’re here, you rascal.”

Wilkins, who immediately hugged Dane and patted him hard on the back, stepped back, grabbed his arms, and stood at a slight distance, scanning him up and down.

“I’m all healed, I’m fine now.”

Dane answered before Wilkins could ask.

“If I rested any longer, I felt like I’d grow mold on my body.”

It was a sincere statement, but everyone burst into laughter. Wilkins smiled reassuringly, gripped Dane’s shoulder firmly, and then released it. Dane followed him without hesitation as he walked out of the locker room.

“Wilkins, just a moment.”

Wilkins, hearing the call, turned around and waited for Dane. Dane opened his mouth at the gaze that seemed to ask what was wrong.

“What happened to Ezra? Everyone seems reluctant to talk about it.”

“Ah…”

Ezra was just as troubled. He stroked his chin with one hand, averted his gaze, and then confessed honestly.

“He went to jail, obviously.”

Then, with a deep sigh, he covered his forehead with one hand.

“I never thought that bastard would do something like that…”

Everyone must have thought the same thing. If Ezra hadn’t made that slip of the tongue back then, Dane wouldn’t have expected it at all. Dane asked Wilkins, who was muttering in frustration.

“Was there anything particularly strange about him? Anything you remember?”

Wilkins shook his head and replied.

“Not at all, when that bastard first appeared in the news, we were all so surprised we nearly fell over.”

Dane opened his mouth.

“Did you meet him after that?”

“No, I went to see him, but he wouldn’t meet me.”

Again, he shook his head. “I see,” Dane muttered.

“Then you wouldn’t have heard the details.”

“That’s right. We had a lot of questions too.”

Then Wilkins opened his mouth as if he wanted to know as well.

“I didn’t know you two had become so close. Everyone was surprised that he came out willingly when Grayson called him out in the middle of the night.”

Ezra was the only one in the station who spoke to Grayson and treated him kindly. But even so, it wasn’t like Grayson to willingly respond to a call from a fellow colleague, but okay, let’s say he did. But the crucial question remained.

Why did Grayson go along so willingly?

Wilkins simply shrugged with a troubled look on his face. The only man who could answer was Ezra.

Desire Me if you can

A few days later, on a sunny day that was like yesterday, the day before, and probably many distant days in the past that he couldn’t remember, Dane drove quite a long distance. His injuries were now completely healed, and his rehabilitation was successful. He had returned to the fire station without incident, and at first glance, it seemed like he had returned to his daily life.

But Dane Striker’s life had definitely changed. He was already contracted to be on the cover of the firefighter calendar for the next three years, and he had even received offers for a separate photo book. He had even been contacted with an offer of $1 million to take nude photos. It didn’t end there. Several people who introduced themselves as editors from famous publishing houses appeared alternately and persuaded him to publish a book.

He rejected all these flashy and tempting offers. He absolutely refused to have his life become any more chaotic than it already was.

Noisy morons.

Dane muttered curses under his breath. He was exhausted every day. Not because he was suffering from overwork, but because he was tired of the loudmouths making such a fuss.

He didn’t know how they found out his address, but one day a reporter even came and knocked on his door. It was a visit from a very beautiful reporter, and if it had been the old Dane, he would have gladly agreed to an interview and achieved other results, but not this time. He politely refused and sent her away, then spent the whole day lying in bed, only getting up to feed or water Darling before returning to bed.

After spending several days in such a listless state, Dane took a long-awaited day off and left home early to find a man who had completely disappeared from everyone’s attention.

That was Ezra.

The trials of the two survivors were still ongoing, but in Ezra’s case, he had admitted his guilt early on and actively cooperated, and above all, the victim, Grayson Miller, had appealed for leniency for him, so his sentence was much lighter. As a result, Ezra was currently serving his sentence in a state prison.

Not even Wilkins, or the family he cherished so much, could meet Ezra. Therefore, Dane thought that the chances of him accepting his visitation request were extremely low. That’s why he was quite surprised when Ezra accepted the meeting he had applied for with mixed feelings. And now, he was finally going to meet him.

After driving quite a long distance and arriving at the prison, he underwent a fairly strict examination to check whether he was wearing the appropriate dress code (visiting is prohibited if you wear clothes of similar colors or shapes to the prisoner, such as an orange top or jeans, as this may be mistaken for a criminal escaping after the visit, causing an unfortunate accident, or other dress code regulations) and whether he had any prohibited items.

In the quiet room, he felt nervous for some reason and rubbed his palms together, letting out a short sigh. Then, the door inside opened and a man wearing orange clothes from top to bottom appeared with a guard. Dane, confirming his face, awkwardly stood up from his seat and looked at him. He also recognized Dane’s face and showed a momentary look of joy.

“Dane…”

“Ezra.”

Dane’s gaze naturally went to Ezra’s wrist. Ezra gave a bitter smile as if understanding Dane’s gaze that stopped at the handcuffs. And they sat facing each other across the glass.

Ezra picked up the receiver first, and Dane brought it to his ear as well. A moment of awkward silence passed. There was definitely something to say, but it didn’t come out easily. Ezra was the first to speak.

“You look healthy, I’m glad. I was worried because I heard you were badly injured.”

“Um, well. I was lucky. …You look good too.”

Ezra readily replied to the words added to ease the awkwardness.

“I’m doing okay. I’m grateful, so many people almost died because of me, but I’m doing so well, I feel sorry.”

“I see…”

After a short answer, another awkward silence came. Had it always been this difficult to talk to Ezra? Dane recalled with a troubled feeling. He was always a colleague who laughed and joked together. Who in the world would have expected to see that Ezra, who always mediated people gently and never got angry at anything, in this state here?

“Why aren’t you meeting Sandra?”

At Dane’s question, Ezra lowered his head and muttered.

“How could I meet her, how dare I?”

Not meeting the people he loved most was also a punishment for him. What was he thinking as he imposed that punishment on himself? Dane stared silently at his powerless smile and opened his mouth.

“The reason I came all the way here is because I have something I’m curious about.”

“Tell me, anything.”

Ezra readily replied. Maybe this guy also expected it and approved this meeting. Dane thought and continued.

“Why did that bastard follow those guys so willingly?”