Free Nothing Left to Burn by Patty Blount Page B

aside and pointed to the first point she’d marked on the time line. “These points are how fire spreads. What are they?”
    “Conduction, convection, and radiation,” I answered, recalling exactly when I’d read that.
    “Oh, stop it already.” My father stood up and blocked Amanda’s diagram. “I get it. You want me to see how much Reece memorized. Very good.” He applauded slowly. “Do you mind if I get back to my lesson?”
    “I do mind,” Amanda snapped back. “I’d appreciate it if you taught a lesson instead of asking questions you know only our oldest cadets can answer.”
    Holy Jesus on a Popsicle stick.
    She told him off.
    She’d actually talked back to John Logan and lived to tell the tale.
    Damn! I wished I’d recorded this moment on my phone. I held my breath, watching my dad’s nostrils flare, the tick in his jaw getting more pronounced by the second as he gritted his teeth and chained his temper. My mouth fell open when he left the room without a word. If we’d been alone, I’d have fallen to my knees and kissed Amanda’s feet.
    “Man, what the hell are you doing?” Gage demanded as soon as Dad shut the door.
    Amanda, her hands on her hips, stared after Dad. “I’m sorry. I lost my temper. I’m just getting tired of him using this class for family crap.” She turned those angry eyes on me. “And you need to stop baiting him.”
    What? “When did I bait him?”
    “He asked you a question, and you answered. That was fine. But he kept trying to trip you up, and you were buying it. You had him, Reece. You know the material, but you kept letting him get inside you.” She jabbed a finger at her head.
    This was a disaster. I ached every time I moved. I’d done more studying over the last few days than I did all semester, and it was a waste of time. Dad was never going to give an inch. I slouched lower in my seat, stared at my book, and waited for class to end.

Chapter 8
    Amanda
    Crap, crap, shit! This class was a total train wreck. It was just like Wednesday night’s class—all John was doing was asking stuff J squad already knew and Logan didn’t. When was he going to teach us anything? He’d been a firefighter for twenty years or more. There had to be something he could teach us.
    I stared at the door John just slammed. Okay, so maybe I could have handled that better. The whole squad had been working with Logan, trying to get him all caught up. Even if John couldn’t find anything nice to say to his kid, he damn well should have said something to my cadets.
    I cursed again. Maybe I should say something to my cadets. “Guys. Thank you. You’re all doing a lot to help Reece. He’s learning fast, even if the lieutenant doesn’t see it. Right, Logan?” I slid him a look. He was pouting in his seat like a three-year-old.
    He jolted. “Um, yeah. Yes. Thank you all. So, uh, what do we do now?” He jerked his chin toward the door.
    Good question. I blew a strand of hair out of my eyes and sat down. “Okay, here’s what we’re not gonna do. We’re not gonna wait for the lieutenant to take his head out of his ass.”
    Logan choked, but when I shot him a glare, he swallowed his grin.
    “Let’s finish the lesson.” I indicated the whiteboard. “Before John stopped me, I was about to connect a few dots here. You guys know the fire triangle, and you know the basic chemical process. Let’s talk about suppression.” I got up, went back to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker. “Got any questions so far?” I asked, and Logan shot up a hand.
    “Like a dozen.”
    “Okay. Shoot.”
    “I read about a fire tetrahedron, a shape with a fourth side. Is that extra aspect the oxidation?”
    I shook my head. “Not exactly. You’re close though.”
    “Yeah, Logan. Check it out.” Max stood up, took my marker, and started adding to the diagram. “The fourth thing in that tetrahedron is the chain reaction that starts with ignition. Here. Look.” He changed my triangle to a pyramid