Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
G RANT
“Where are you going?” I wake up to the sight of her wiggling into her jean shorts. “I was gonna get at least another couple of rounds out of you this morning.” I wrap my hand around the back of her thigh, and she smiles down at me. I glance at the clock; it’s still early. We have to be back at the hotel by eight, but we’ve got time.
“I need my morning coffee, or I’ll turn into a praying mantis and rip your head off.” She grabs an old Johnny Cash shirt off the back of her chair in the corner of the room and pulls it over her head. “It won’t take long, and I’ll be right back in bed.”
“Well… that’s fair. At least let me go get it for you then. You got some in the house?” I sit up.
“No, I always go over to Marlowe’s. I was just gonna sneak over and get one. Do you want one? ”
“I’ll get it. You just stay naked in this bed.” I slip out from under the sheets and grab my jeans, putting them on while I nod back to her side of the bed.
“If you walk over to Hotcakes with your bed head and the clothes you had on last night, word is gonna get back to Marlowe before we do.” She looks at me skeptically, her eyes falling over my appearance. “If Mrs. McDaniel sees you, the whole town is gonna know.”
“Fuck ‘em. They’re gonna know soon enough.” I wink at her and pull my shirt on as I watch her sink back onto the bed.
“But last night you said…” Her brows draw together.
“That was before we both said a lot of other things, sweetheart.” I lean over and kiss her cheek. “How do you like your coffee?”
“At this hour, black as midnight.”
“Any sugar?” I ask, and she nods. “How much?”
“If you tell Emma it’s for me. She knows.”
“All right. Back in a minute.” I head out the door and down the stairs before she can fight me anymore. But a second later, I hear the door to her apartment and the pattering of her feet down the hall after me.
“Grant!”
“Yeah, Hellfire?”
“A couple of croissants with some jam too? I’ll need the energy.” She gives me a teasing grin, and I’m half tempted to run back up the stairs to kiss it off her face. But then I remember the threat of violence without coffee and think better of it.
“You got it.” I smirk.
I don’t think I’ve been this excited to still be alive when I wake up in the morning in years. I haven’t been this fucking excited for breakfast in… well… ever.
But then I feel it—the slightest rumble under my feet before the searing blast of hot air. A fraction of a second and my whole world is ripped apart.
When I come to, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. The room is spinning, and it’s hot. So fucking hot I can barely get a breath in. I blink once, twice. Trying to sit up and get my bearings. I’m trying to remember where I am. How I got here. Everything fucking hurts from my skull down to my ankles, and I realize I’ve landed against the bar, knocking bar stools over and hitting my head on the wooden wall beneath it. I groan as I try to get to my knees. If I can just get some momentum, I can stand up.
Everything comes rushing back to me, and my head snaps to the bottom of the stairs where I’d been standing. She’d been at the top of it. Except I have no idea where the blast came from and if she was closer to it than me. If it’s blown the whole second story off the building or taken out that entire side.
“Fuuuuck,” I roar as I push myself up, trying and failing to ignore the pain ripping through my body.
I’m running on adrenaline now, taking in the devastation around me as I make my way to her. There’s fire burning heavy and thick with smoke. A crater in the ground just a few feet away where more flames lick their way up from the basement. It’s an inferno down there. All the bottles of liquor and beer fueling it into a whirlwind of flames that’s being fed by the wind blowing in from the shattered windows. It looks like hell has opened up under our feet, and we don’t have much time until we go up in flames with it. I have to find her.
I get to the bottom of the stairs, and I can see her. She’s collapsed halfway down the steps, a pile of limp limbs, her eyes closed and blood running from the top of her head and hair, dripping its way down her arm to where her hand dangles over the last step. My heart folds in on itself, and I race to her side, shouting her name over and over again.
“Dakota! Dakota!” I cough and sputter, covering my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt as I rush to her. She doesn’t answer, and I drop to my knees on the step when I get to her side. She has to be okay. She has to be breathing. I hold my hand over her mouth and nostrils, and I can still feel air. I stare at her for a moment and see her chest rise and fall with shallow breaths.
My mind floods with an overwhelming sense of guilt. She’s here because of me. If she dies, it’ll be my fault. My own greed and selfishness for wanting to have her for myself has gotten us here. If I hadn’t stayed the night, she would be at the hotel safe and sound tucked into the sheets and ready for the wedding today.
Fucking hell. I can’t do this now. Right now, I have to act.
“Dakota. I need you to wake up, sweetheart. We have to get out of here.” I plead with her gently, running my hand over her arm and shaking her harder when she doesn’t respond. I bend down further and yell her name into her ear as I shake her again. “Dakota!”
There’s a soft groan from her, followed by a racking cough as her eyes open. She blinks hard and then moves to sit up quickly, crying out in pain in the process. But she’s moving, and she’s awake. I could cry I’m so fucking happy to see her coughing like this because it means she’s breathing.
“We’ve got to get out of here. There’s a bad fire, and the smoke is gonna choke us out. Can you walk, or do you need me to carry you?” I ask.
She moves to stand and falters. I put my arms underneath her shoulder to help give her some support.
“I got you. Just lean on me, and we’ll get you out of here,” I promise her. The door to the back lot isn’t far, only about fifteen feet from here. She halts suddenly, though, and looks back at the stairs and then to me. She opens her mouth to speak and sputters again, pointing up the stairs as tears form in her eyes, and then I realize what she wants.
“Okay, sweetheart. Let me get you to the door, and I’ll go get Vendetta.”
“No. She might not… for you…” She coughs again, the words fading on her lips. I know she’s warning me that Vendetta might not come for me, but I’m not about to take her up with me.
“You’re in no shape to get up those stairs. You’ll get hurt worse, and I need you safe. Please,” I beg her, but she shakes her head.
“I’ll stay here. I’ll wait then,” she insists.
“Fuck me, sweetheart. Okay. Fine. Fine. Here.” I rip part of my shirt off and tear the fabric in two, giving her a piece of it. “Cover your mouth. Try not to breathe in too much smoke. Get lower to the ground. If it gets bad, promise me you’ll crawl outside.”
She nods her agreement, and I cover my mouth and lumber up the steps as fast as I can, doing my best to shut out the pain. The smoke is already getting thicker up here, and given where the explosion happened and the way it blew out the windows, I don’t have high hopes for finding Vendetta. But I can’t let her down. She loves that cat to pieces, and she’s had her since she was a kid. I wiggle the handle but it’s locked. Or maybe just wedged shut. I kick at the door, thankful for once that she has one of those old-school doors that’s made of MDF. It only takes three swift kicks before it collapses, and I’m inside.
“Vendetta!” I call out, searching the room with my eyes as I hurry from the living room to her bedroom. I check the bathroom and the small spare bedroom she has, but she’s nowhere to be found. The cat is skittish on a good day, and I can’t imagine an explosion has helped.
I run back to her room, pulling up the skirt and looking under the bed. Vendetta always used to hide under her bed at the ranch. It’s worth a shot.
She has a dozen shoe boxes under here and a big box with photos and a photo album. One of them I know has most of her family photos in it. I yank it out and toss it up on the bed. I can at least save that for her.
“Vendetta!” I call for the cat again, choking on the thickening gray plume as I inhale too much smoke with that breath.
Fuck it. I’m going to have to try the one thing I haven’t yet. I let out a desperate meow, one that sounds as tortured as I feel right now. I can’t go down there and tell her I don’t have her cat. She’ll come up here and try to find her herself, and we’ll all die here together. If I drag her out without the cat that’s been by her side for more than a decade, she’ll never forgive me. A racked and frustrated groan leaves my chest and then, like fucking magic, I see two bright green eyes at the far side of the bed watching me. I could scream for joy that I’ve at least found her alive, but it doesn’t mean I’ll get her to come with me.
“Vendetta, you come here you little fucking brat before you get us all fucking killed,” I grumble under my breath. She does the opposite, though, pulling her paws back from my reach and curling up against the wall.
“Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” I glare at her through the smoke and shadows.
I pull the album back down to the floor, and then I flip the mattress, moving fast to snatch her up while she’s disoriented by the movement. She screams, hissing and swatting and biting as I pull her from the dusty rubble under the bed. She draws blood, marking my whole forearm as she struggles. But I have her .
I take a deep breath and look around for something to put her in. I’m too scared she’ll jump out of my arms, and I can’t carry her and the album and Dakota. I see a gym bag. The kind that has vents on the sides.
“You’re gonna have to forgive me for this.” I stuff Vendetta inside along with the album and zip it shut. A screeching meow echoes against the walls, and her green eyes look neon as she glares at me through the vent. I sling the bag over my shoulder, and I take off, racing down the stairs.
“She’s inside. Angry but alive. Let’s go!” I call to Dakota, but she doesn’t answer. She’s slumped on the floor unconscious and even bloodier than she was when I left her. “Oh god, Hellfire. Fuck. I knew I should have made you go outside. Please. Please stick with me. You can’t leave me now. Not now, sweetheart.” I pick up her limp body in my arms, and I hurry for the door, a loud protest from Vendetta at the rough ride, and my heart cracking wide open when we reach the light of the morning sun. Her hair is soaked in blood, and the cut across her forehead is deep. I can’t tell how deep from all the mess, but I know it’s not good. Not paired with the way she can’t stay conscious. I should have taken her out when I had the chance.
I collapse to my knees as we hit the blacktop and lay her down gently. I check her mouth and chest again and see that her shallow breathing is still there. I take a deep breath of the fresh air myself as I reach into my pocket for my phone and pull it out, dialing Levi immediately. Too worried to call 911 with all the harassment she’s received. Another cough racks my chest as I wait, and I press my hand to hers, wanting to make sure I can still feel the rise and fall of it.
“Just hang on. Stay with me, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
“Grant?” Levi’s confused voice comes through the line.
“Come to Seven Sins. It just exploded. Bring security. ”
“Holy fuck…” His words fade with the shock. “Be right there.”
I want to get them both somewhere safe. Vendetta somewhere Dakota won’t worry about her, and Dakota to a hospital to be evaluated. Right now, I sure as fuck don’t trust calling 911, and I’m desperately wishing I’d driven myself.
Minutes pass, and it feels like hours as we wait for someone to come get us. I feel exposed and anxious as I wait. It’s the worst fucking feeling in the world just staring at her hopelessly. No amount of money or power or fear I’ve instilled in the people in this town can save her for me. Nothing I have, no skill, no chip to call in is going to keep her alive for me. It’s just up to fate now, and I feel so sick and helpless I can barely breathe.
I want to scream for someone to help, but the alley is dead at this hour of the morning, and at the back of the building, there’s no one to see or hear us. I can hear the wail of a siren in the distance though. Someone overheard the explosion and called 911. Fuck, the patrons at Hotcakes had a front row seat for the explosion. The last thing I want to do is deal with cops who are about to show up or have them try to convince me to let her go with the EMTs. I briefly consider breaking into one of the cars and taking off to the hospital that way.
“Grant!” I hear a familiar voice and look to see Levi there with the car.
“Thank fuck. We’ve got to get her to a hospital. She’s lost a lot of blood from her head. She can’t stay conscious,” I say as he jumps out to help me load her and Vendetta into the back seat. I slide in next to her, holding her up.
He speeds off, glancing up at me in the rearview. “You want to discuss it now or later?”
“Explosion. Came from the basement. Could only be a gas leak or a bomb. I lean toward bomb with the way it ripped the place apart. Too many coincidences, considering they just cleared the place out tonight too.” I explain the thoughts that have already been running through my head.
“You think it’s the cops or them again?”
“No idea. Doesn’t feel like an accident though.”
“She get hit by something, or?”
“Blown off the stairs. I found her collapsed halfway down them. There’s too much blood, and it’s too dark for me to see. We just need an emergency room, fast.” I look down at her and press my fingers to her pulse point. She still has one, but she’s fading fast.
Levi runs three lights as he speeds his way onto the highway. The small hospital is two more exits from here, and I’m just hoping we get her there in time.
“We’re almost there, Dakota. Just hang on. Okay? Vendetta and I need you. So you gotta fight, sweetheart.” I squeeze her hand and kiss her temple. I hold my ear to her lips to listen to her breathing, and the whisper of breath in response threatens to take me under. The thought of her not making it has me ready to lose my goddamn mind. My first priority is finding a doctor who’s going to save her life whatever the cost, but then I’m going to take another when I find whoever did this.