30. Kara
30
KARA
A FEW MINUTES EARLIER
I had two left feet, but even I could handle swaying slowly in Grayson’s arms, smiling up at him while he repeated a joke Hayden’s nephew had just told him.
I laughed when it was clear from his expression that he’d gotten to the punchline, even though it honestly wasn’t funny. The happiness on his face was all I cared about.
He pulled me a little closer, until my chest was pressed to his and his arm snaked around my back, holding me tight. “Telling you bad jokes, while slow dancing to fast songs, might be my new favorite thing to do.”
“Mine too.”
“You seem happy.”
I twisted my fingers in his shirt. “I am. I’ve needed this closure. Needed to let her go so I can move on.”
He kissed my forehead softly, his lips lingering. “Good.”
Smoke tickled my nose, and I wrinkled it, Grayson making the same face and twisting us away from the grill Aloha was handling with an apron tied around his solid middle.
But the smoke didn’t get any better. If anything, it got worse.
Grayson paused.
I glanced up, following his line of sight.
It took a good second for me to understand what I was looking at. That the glowing red and orange in the woods was no longer the setting sun.
The sun was gone.
But flames flickered through the trees.
“Fire!” Grayson shouted.
Someone screamed, and then another. Until screams cut through the night, terrifyingly real, even though I was frozen to the spot.
People shouted, and Gray put his phone to his ear, barking down the line at a 911 dispatcher.
“Hayley Jade!” Her name came out as a hoarse shout, and I spun around, searching through the group for her.
Kids and adults alike ran everywhere, food dropped in the process of everyone trying to find their families and War trying to herd everyone back from the danger.
Hawk and Hayden came sprinting out of the clubhouse, both of them shirtless, their jeans undone, boot laces trailing on the ground, but Hayley Jade wasn’t with either of them.
“Jax! Hayley Jade!” The scream hurt my throat. I stumbled desperately, nearly tripping over a chair that had been knocked over.
“I’ve got her, Kara!” someone shouted behind me.
Relief flooded through me, catching sight of Hayley Jade being guided back with the other kids by Queenie and Jax.
“The firefighters are twenty minutes away,” Grayson muttered, staring at the flames gaining traction by the second.
Hayden surveyed the scene. “There’s nothing behind us but more fuel for it to burn.”
Grayson nodded. “If it really gets going, it’ll be quick. Outrunning it with all those kids…”
My heart sank.
Hawk swore under his breath. “There’s a lot of us. We can put it out if we move fast.”
Terror gripped my throat. But there was no other way. We were on our own. Too remote to wait for help.
Hawk sprinted for the garden shed, pulling out a shovel and then running for the flames. Hayden and Grayson followed a moment later, the three of them sprinting toward the danger with nothing more than garden tools as weapons.
Hayden glanced back at me, shoveling dirt on top of the flames to snuff them out. “Stay with Hayley Jade!”
But it was clear to me, even as the rest of the Slayers joined the fight, that we needed more sets of hands than just the men. I looked around frantically, spotting the heavy cloth grill cover.
I caught Queenie’s eye, and neither of us had to say anything. I knew she’d protect those kids with her life. Bliss pushed Ridge into Rebel’s arms and shouted for her to go with Queenie and the kids.
Rebel seemed like she wanted to argue, but she was heavily pregnant, and Bliss didn’t stop to see if she agreed or not.
And neither did I. There was no time for arguing. Or discussions. Or negotiations over who would stay behind and who would go to the flames.
The men didn’t get to be protective.
We needed everyone to fight.
We all knew it.
I picked the cloth covering up and ran toward the flames, coughing into the thicker smoke. I hit the nearest flame with the bag, smothering it, and then again. And again.
Around me, my family did the same. Bliss had found a blanket and had taken up a spot beside me, beating back the flames the same way I was. Others dug up dirt to throw onto it. Heavy motorcycle boots stomped out what they could.
The two kitchen extinguishers Hayden had insisted on installing when he’d first started cooking here made the biggest dent in the flames, but we hit back with whatever we could find.
Smoke got in my eyes. The heat from the flames burned.
But by the time sirens rang in the distance, the fire was out.
Cheers went up as Hawk stomped out the last ember. Soot and dirt streaked his torso and face.
Grayson strode through the trees, gaze running all over my body when he found me. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head quickly, and he nodded once, giving me a lingering look like he wanted to stay, but we both knew he needed to see if anyone was injured. Down the line, Hawk’s gaze met mine. I gave him a quick nod, telling him I was okay, and then he turned away to help Aloha with a burn on his hand.
War and Nash helped Bliss to a seat, all three of them coughing. Gunner slumped beneath a tree, some of my nurse friends from the hospital going to him to take his pulse.
I stared at the scorched ground, fingers shaking, but I couldn’t stay another second. I needed to get to Hayley Jade.
Ignoring all the parts of me that hurt, I turned and ran, following the lay of the land, knowing the kids had to be down here somewhere.
“Kara.”
I stopped.
Ice was coming up the hill with Hayley Jade in his arms. Her eyes were red and her cheeks streaked with tears, but she didn’t appear to be hurt. Relief flooded me and I ran to them, reaching for her.
He twisted away, not letting me take her.
“What are you doing?” I tried again. “Ice, give her to me.” But this time, when he twisted out of my reach, I saw the gun in his hand, pointed right at Hayley Jade’s stomach.
It wasn’t unusual for one of the guys to have a gun. But Ice had never been so careless with one around Hayley Jade before. “Ice! Your gun!”
He glanced down at it. “Oh, sorry.”
But when he moved it from pressing against Hayley Jade’s stomach and very deliberately pointed it at me, his voice was as cold as his road name. “Josiah says hello.”