20. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Medusa
T wo months later
Noah and I fell into a routine. We exchanged keys and took turns spending the night at each other’s houses. It was nice. The clubhouse was calm, and Tripline and I were back to being us again, which I love. The businesses are thriving and we are making money while still giving back to the community.
I’m sitting at my desk with Kelly “Flanagan” Wilkinson, who is our Treasurer. She keeps the books but is also our bartender. She got the nickname because she does the tricks like Tom Cruise’s character in Cocktails when she’s mixing drinks, which brings a lot of people in when she’s behind the bar. “We are making some good money this month. I don’t know what the boom is, but I’m happy. We need to figure out what charities we’re donating to. It’s getting close to Christmas and the businesses are running a charity for new toys in exchange for a gift certificate with some of the different products at the spa. TJ’s is offering a free oil change with every toy over twenty dollars. They show the receipt for proof as they give the toy. It was Noah’s idea.”
“They are winning against the girls, aren’t they?” I ask, trying to hide my giddiness from the competition.
“Oh, the girls are trying to think of ways to beat them. It’s hilarious.” We both laugh. The door opens quickly with a loud bang and I about yell, but Tripline’s face tells me something is wrong.
“It’s TJ’s shop!” I don’t wait for more. We all get up and race out to our bikes. The gates are opening, so we don’t need to stop. I hit the gas and swerve slightly but keep it upright. As I get onto the main road, I can see black smoke in the sky and hear the sirens in the distance.
“Fuck!” I yell into the wind. The fire department has blocked off a lot of the street. We stop about a few feet away from everyone. After getting off my bike, I ran toward the crowd scanning everyone. We stop at the yellow tape. I turn to Tripline and Flanagan, “Take pictures. Have the prospects get license plate numbers. I want to know everyone who is here.” I feel the burn of tears as I look around at the shop. I don’t see anyone. I hear the squeal of tires and see Derby and TJ getting out of his truck.
“What the fuck?” TJ runs before being stopped by the police. “This is my shop. Where is Noah?” I hear his name and connect eyes with Derby. I’m small enough that no one is paying attention to me. I try to run toward the fire. The body shop is fully engulfed by now and the firemen are battling the blaze throwing all the water they can. I get about five feet from the shop when an explosion happens and we all get pushed back from the strength of it. I fell on my back hitting my head. I blink a few times then try taking a deep breath. The fall took my breath away. TJ’s standing over me. “What were you thinking?”
I wheeze out, “Noah.” He picks me up, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know. The explosion is having people being pushed back.” He hands me to the EMTs who check me over. “Do you know if they found anyone in there? My worker Noah was in there.” The paramedic is checking my oxygen and trying to ask me questions, but I’m refusing right now. “She won’t let you do anything until she knows her boyfriend Noah is okay.” My boyfriend. Is that what Noah is to me? The paramedic asks her partner to go find out. They had just arrived on the scene. I breathe in deeply and wince at the pain in my back. “Where are you hurting?” He asked me. I tell him my back and head. I hit hard when I landed. The paramedic looks me over. She’s shining a pen in my eyes.
“You’re going to be sore tomorrow. I don’t think you broke anything. I think you have a mild concussion and should go to the hospital to get checked out just to be sure.”
“I need to know about Noah first. Please.” She nods, handing me a bottle of water. She walks away. “TJ, what the fuck happened?”
“Ruby and I left to get lunch. We usually leave around this time every Thursday because I take the money to the bank. Noah was working on some paperwork, finalizing it to practice law here. He gave me his order and we left. We were closing early today because thanks to him, all the cars are done. My customers picked them up this morning.”
“Have the other people been around lately?” I whisper. He shakes his head. He told me about the yellow corvette guy. His name is Luca Rossi. We’re still doing a deep dive on him.
“Ma’am, we found your boyfriend. They got to him before the second explosion and sent him to St Carol’s Hospital about thirty minutes ago. Can I take you now?” I nod.
“Can you have Derby take my bike to the clubhouse and you come to the hospital when you can?” TJ kisses my forehead and tells me after he talks to the fire marshal and the police captain he’ll be there. I hug him tight and get taken to the hospital. My stats are good, but my eyes flutter close because the stress of worrying about Noah has me crashing with relief that he’s at least at the hospital. I opened my eyes, “You didn’t tell me how my boyfriend was.”
“I don’t know his condition, just that they took him to the hospital as soon as the firemen were on scene. Once we get there, I’ll try to find out while they examine you.”
“Thank you. I’m not used to being this scared for someone other than my family. It’s new.” She chuckles and tells me she understands. As we stop and the doors fly open, she rattles off a bunch of numbers and words that make no sense to me. The lights in the hospital emergency room are bright. I don’t remember them being so bad before and I wince as I open my eyes when they tell me. There’s a nurse talking to me and I’m tuning her out. The paramedic informs me she’ll look for Noah for me. I thank her and ask the nurse to lower the lights. Some of them are bright, hurting my eyes.
The nurse leaves after shutting the lights off, and there’s a knock on the door. I hoarsely tell the person to come in. It’s the paramedic.
“I found Noah.” The grim look on her face has me trying to stand. “It’s not good news.” As she’s giving me the news, I let out a scream that brings me to the time I held onto my dying Dad’s hand and fall to my knees.