CHAPTER 5
ADDY
It was still early as I walked into the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a sweater, freshly showered, and feeling calmer. I needed to put aside everything Jordan had said because I needed to be there for Asher and Eli as we faced whatever was to come next. Whatever was going on between me, and the three guys that I had crushes on, could wait. Hell, I wasn’t sure it ever really needed to be addressed again. What I had told Jordan was true. There was no way I could ever make it work with any or all of them. I was way too messed up.
I grabbed some water from the refrigerator then pulled on my coat and boots and headed into the garden. I didn’t want to be in the kitchen when Jordan came down, and if I were honest, I just wanted some fresh air to clear my mind.
As I stepped out I smiled at the remnants of our half built snowman and the footsteps still in the snow all over the huge lawned areas. Was it just yesterday we’d been out here having so much fun? We’d all been so relaxed and happy, then it had been snatched away again, all at once.
I took a few gulps from the water bottle, then set it down beside the door so I could pull on my gloves. It was even colder than the day before and the wind was biting at my face as I pulled up my hood. I knew I couldn’t stay out for long, but it just felt so good to have the cold, fresh air whipping around me, clearing my mind and allowing me to breathe again.
I walked down the pathway that had been cleared of snow, headed for the pergola, but stopped when large, booted feet appeared before me where I was looking down.
“You should be inside.” Kane. I looked up and smiled a little. I had barely seen him since the day he took me to the office after my therapy session, and I had missed him, even if I knew I shouldn’t admit that to myself.
“I just needed some air. I won’t stay out for long,” I promised him.
“You okay?” he looked deep into my eyes, as though he didn’t need me to answer. It was like he was getting all of the information he needed from staring into me.
“Not really, but I’m more worried about my brothers than myself right now. This is hurting them badly.”
“I know, Angel. I hate it for all of you. I wish there was more I could do.”
“They’ll be safe, won’t they, Kane? Asher and Eli? No one will try to hurt them because of this,” I worried.
“I don’t know if people will try to hurt them. People will be angry when they hear about it all in the press, and they might blame your brothers, since the old bastard is gone.”
“That’s what I was worried about,” I squeaked as tears filled my eyes.
“I do know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that no one is able to hurt them though, Addy. I have a top security team, and we’re taking every precaution to keep you all safe. I don’t want you to worry about that, okay? That’s my job and I take it very seriously.”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my hands around his waist and giving him a brief hug. Once I was pressed against him I never wanted to let go, but I knew I had to. He had a job to do and I needed to let him do it.
“Head back in now. It’s too cold out here,” he told me as he took a step back.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Are you coming to eat breakfast?” I asked hopefully.
“I’ll try. I have a few things to take care of first.” I nodded, then turned and headed back towards the house slowly. I knew if I didn’t, I’d have begged him to just come inside with me. I just wanted him close. He had this ability to soothe my raw edges, and I needed that desperately.
I turned as I neared the doors into the kitchen, just in time to see Kane open the door to the security office. He turned to me and I was sure I saw the hint of a smile, but then he was gone. The fact I had only ever seen him smile like that for me made me feel all warm inside.
Shaking the thought away, knowing I had to focus, I bent to grab my water, then started to open the door to head in. Kane was right. It was too cold and I was frozen already.
I had one foot inside when a deafening bang rent the air. The ground beneath me shook. I cowered instinctively, as I looked around me, my entire body vibrating and my heart racing.
That was when I saw the office Kane had just walked into, now alight with flames, the back half blown apart and crumbling down.
Only one thought ran through my terrified mind as I turned and set off running.
“KANE!”
I was screaming his name over and over as I ran through the garden as fast as I could. There was a security guy laid on the floor out front, unconscious, and I could see another running into the garden from around front, but I didn’t stop. I had to get to Kane before the rest of the building fell on top of him.
“KANE!” I screamed as I grabbed the handle of the door and tried to push it open. It only opened about an inch, so I slammed my shoulder into it again and again until the gap was big enough for me to get through.
I could hear voices yelling from outside, but I didn’t stop. When I stepped into the building the overwhelming heat of the flames hit me hard and made my eyes water. Smoke was everywhere and I tried to cover my mouth as I looked around frantically.
Sunlight was streaming in through the hole that had been blown in the roof, but the smoke was so thick I could barely see anything. I dropped to my knees and started to crawl in the direction I knew Kane’s office was. I was crawling over debris and who knew what else, but I didn’t care. I had to get to him.
The door had been blown from his office when I got to it, so I was able to get through, constantly feeling all around me on the floor for warm skin, praying he was still alive. I tried to call for him, but I could barely breathe and all that came out was rough, barking coughs. Then I felt it. A hand. I moved faster and got lower until I could make out Kane’s unconscious body laid out on the floor beside his upturned desk. I wanted to check his pulse, but there was no time. I could hear the building smashing to the ground on the other end and knew this part could be at risk too, not to mention the fire and smoke spreading by the second.
He's alive , I told myself, as I grabbed both of his hands in mine and just started dragging him. He weighed a ton and I could hardly breathe, my body weakening beneath me with every second that passed, but I refused to leave him.
I managed to get him out of his office, but before I could move any more, my legs gave out and I collapsed down as coughs racked my body. Tears were streaming from my eyes as I realized I just didn’t have the strength to get him out. But I refused to give in. I forced myself to get to my knees, then I grabbed his hands again and tried to pull with everything left in me. Just when I started to despair that he wasn’t moving, a strong hand landed on my shoulder. I turned and saw Adam with something tied around his face, over his mouth. He nodded to where a giant of a figure, who could only be Asher, was gathering Kane up and hoisting him over his shoulder, then I was in Adam’s arms and being carried out.
I was coughing harder than I ever had in my life and gasping for oxygen as the fresh air hit me. Adam set me on the snow covered ground, then Eli and Jordan were at my side. They were speaking to me, but I didn’t register any words as I frantically looked around for Asher and Kane.
“K-Kane!” I gasped. It barely came out as Asher laid Kane down on the ground and felt for his pulse, I just watched on, each second feeling like an eternity as I waited for Asher’s reaction. Kane couldn’t die. He couldn’t. I couldn’t lose him. I needed him.
“Pulse is steady,” I heard Asher say.
“He’s breathing,” Adam added. “Looks like he took a hit to the head.”
“Eli? Is she okay?” Asher called as he looked over to me. Tears were streaming down my face again, but this time it was relief that overwhelmed me. Kane was alive.
“Her breathing sounds bad! Where are the EMT’s?” he cried.
Exhaustion and relief overwhelmed me and I just managed to lean towards Jordan before everything went black and my fight to breathe came to an end. Kane was safe. That was all that mattered.
JORDAN
“Addy,” I gasped as she slumped forwards against me. I grabbed her and pulled her up, desperate to see her eyes looking back at me, but they were closed.
“Addy?” Eli panicked as he grabbed her and lay her back on the ground. As soon as she lay flat I pressed my fingers to her neck to check her pulse, but it was there and pounding hard.
“I think she just passed out,” I told Eli as I pulled the hood on Addy’s coat up over her head so it wasn’t lying in the cold snow.
“Her heart?” Asher asked as he dropped to the ground opposite me, on Addy’s other side.
“Her pulse is strong and fast. It’s not like last time,” I assured him.
“Where’s the ambulance? Her breathing…” I got why Eli was panicking. Addy’s breaths were so loud, each intake of air a deep, raspy wheeze.
“She’ll be okay, Eli,” I whispered as I brushed wild strands of hair from Addy’s soot covered face. I had one of her hands gripped tightly in mine as I tried to rein in my own panic.
I’d almost had a damned heart attack when I heard that explosion. I think I’d leapt the whole staircase in two strides in my race to get downstairs, where I had already heard Addy head that morning.
I’d gotten to the kitchen door just in time to see her go into the burning building and I had lost it then. The fear of losing her had adrenaline coursing through every cell of my body as I ran out after her. Asher and Adam had been right behind me, and my brother had stopped me from running into the office after Addy, pushing me back and charging in himself instead, Asher right on his heels.
Eli and I had been helpless to do anything but just stand and wait for everyone we cared about to come back out of that crumbling building.
“We need to get some security here, Ash, don’t we? Who did that?” Eli panicked as he looked from the almost completely decimated building, then to his brother.
“I’ll ready sent texts to Leo and Pierce. They’re on the way, but we’re going to need more. I’ll handle it,” Asher assured us all.
I had missed the way he and Adam both seemed to have their heads on a swivel, checking all around us constantly for threats. It had been ignorant of me not to have been doing the same thing, I realized. Someone had just blown up a building on our property. Why would they do that unless it was part of a bigger plan?
“We should get Addy inside. It’s safer,” I suggested as I looked to my brother with concern. I saw my own worry reflected in his face, but he was staying with Kane, who was bleeding from the back of his head and still out cold.
Before anyone could say another word, the sound of ambulance sirens filled the air around us. Minutes later EMTs were checking over Addy and Kane and loading them into two separate ambulances. The EMT’s explained they both had low oxygen levels and that Kane would need a head CT, but that was all they would give us.
“Are you doing alright?” I asked my brother as I drove behind the ambulances in my truck. Asher had gone with Kane and Eli with Addy, and we said we’d follow. Behind us was Leo, one of Kane’s security team who had turned up just as the ambulances were leaving, in his SUV. He’d told Ash he’d call in more men to meet us at the hospital, but until they arrived he and the four of us were all the security we had.
“Fuck no! Two people I care about are in those ambulances, Jord,” Adam sighed, sounding exhausted.
“Stupid question,” I told him. “I just…I was worried…you know, because of mom and dad. Did the fire bring it all back?”
“I’m fine, Jordan,” he dismissed me. “Let’s just focus on Kane and Addy, and keeping everyone safe.” I was pretty sure he was far from fine, but I chose to let it go for now. I would, however, be keeping a close eye on him until I was sure that fire hadn’t brought back any old demons. I couldn’t lose my brother again. None of us could. We needed him and I would not allow drugs to take him from me as they had for so long before.
“Do you think they were after Addy? The people who set the explosion?” I asked.
“Seems likely, but Joseph Lyle had a lot of enemies. It could be one of them trying to scare Ash and Eli. The local PD will assess the scene and let Asher know if they find anything.” Adam’s whole body was taut with tension as he spoke and I knew he was just as terrified as I was about Addy. We both cared deeply for her and she was in so much danger right now. It would ruin both of us if we lost her. We couldn’t allow it to happen.
The rest of the drive to the hospital was quiet and when we arrived I slammed my truck into the first space I saw and leapt out, just as Adam had. We ran towards the doors into the ER and found Asher and Eli in the waiting room. Eli was sat with his head in his hands, his elbows rested on his knees, while Asher paced back and forth before him, speaking to someone on his cell.
“Eli?” I sat down beside the guy who had been my best friend for as long as I could remember and clamped a supportive hand on his shoulder. “What’s happening?”
“They wouldn’t let us stay with Addy. Asher tried to tell them she could be in danger, but they wouldn’t listen. She’s on her own back there,” he explained as he sat up and looked to me with despair.
“Who’s he talking to?” Adam asked as he sat at Eli’s other side.
“Someone he knows on the board. He said he’d fix it.”
“Then he will. She’ll be okay,” Adam assured Eli confidently.
We waited, just watching the hectic waiting room around us as Asher finished up his call. I was relieved when he was done, because he walked right up to Leo who was waiting off to the side, keeping a vigilant watch. After Asher and he spoke, Leo walked off deeper into the department and I assumed Asher had somehow arranged for there to be security with Addy.
“Addy will be moved to a private room as soon as possible and Leo can be with her for now,” Asher explained as he approached us. He too was covered in soot and coughing often, just like my brother.
“Shouldn’t you both get checked out too?” I asked as I looked between them. They’d been in that building a couple of minutes and had to have inhaled a ton of smoke.
“We’re fine,” Adam told me, dismissing me again. “What about additional security?”
“I have more of Kane’s guys on the way, but I’m concerned that it won’t be enough. If that explosion was a set up to distract us, while someone grabbed Addy, these fuckers aren’t playing around. With Kane out of commission, I’m worried.”
“Can’t we just hire a security company or something?” Eli questioned.
“We could, but I’m not happy putting Addy’s life, or that of anyone I care about in the hands of strangers,” Asher sighed.
“What are you thinking?” Adam asked. He likely had an idea of exactly what Asher was thinking already. He always did. They’d been friends for so long that they could read each other easily, just like Eli and I could.
“I could reach out to the guys I helped a few months back. I served with two of them and one of the others is amazing with a computer. They might be able to figure out what’s going on for us, so at least we’d know who the threat is,” Asher explained.
“Harris and the guys? You think they’d help us?” Eli sat up even straighter, looking a little less stressed.
“I know they would. I’m just not sure we should get them mixed up in all of this,” Asher sighed.
“They’d want to help. Just call them, Asher, for Addy. We need her to be safe,” Eli pleaded.
I looked to my brother, wondering if he knew who these guys were and if we truly could trust them. The fact that I was questioning Asher’s decisions for the first time in a very long time didn’t escape me, but this was Addy. She was everything to me and I wouldn’t allow anyone or anything to put her at risk.
“If you’re sure you can rely on these guys, then Eli’s right, Ash. We need all the help we can get. Things just escalated in a huge way and we need to know what we’re facing,” Adam added.
“I’d trust them with my life.” Asher took a deep breath then pulled his cell from his pocket.
I glanced behind me to the double doors into the treatment area of the ER and wished desperately for someone to come and give us some news. I was worried sick about Addy, but also about Kane too. He was a part of our family – albeit a reluctant part at times. We cared about him too. Addy had feelings for him and I knew it would break her all over again if anything happened to the grumpy bastard. I needed them both to be okay. We all did.