Chapter 17
SEBASTIAN
The automatic doors hadn’t even finished sliding shut behind me when my voice cut through the room, commanding attention and wide-eyed stares from every person waiting to be seen. “Granger! Where is Claudia Granger?” I shouted.
Was I being too loud?
Did I give a shit?
I cared about nothing but seeing her since I got the call telling me about the fire and the woman found lying unconscious outside the restaurant. She had told me she was thinking about working in the new kitchen, making everything perfect for the soft opening.
Now, here I was, facing the possibility of losing her along with the new kitchen.
The woman at the triage desk waved me over, holding a finger to her lips as if that would do anything but make me more determined to scream. “Who are you looking for, sir?” she asked because, apparently, I hadn’t been loud enough the first time around.
Barely suppressed rage made my voice tremble. “Claudia Granger. There was a fire. She was brought in from the scene.”
“Of course. Wait one moment, please, and I will find out—”
“You’ll find out now where she is, or I’ll go back there on my own. It doesn’t matter,” I declared, already on my way to the swinging doors leading back to the emergency room bays.
“Sir! We can’t let you do that,” the woman called out as if I’d asked for permission. A nurse exiting the ER opened the doors with her badge, and I took advantage by sliding past her.
“Claudia Granger!” I shouted, gaining the attention of nurses and orderlies who stopped in their tracks to stare at me as I searched.
“Sir?” A nurse came trotting my way, looking stern. “I can’t allow you to run through here, shouting and disturbing the patients. I’m going to have security escort you out.”
Instead of tearing her head off, I grunted, “My name is Sebastian Kennedy. It was my restaurant that caught fire.” Fuck, I could barely get the words out. “I’m looking for Claudia Granger. I was told they brought her here.”
“I see.” Her features pitched together in something closer to sympathy. “I’ll take you to her. Don’t worry. Smoke inhalation, that’s all. She was very lucky.”
That was serious enough, but in the grand scheme of things, it was the best I could hope for. There I was, imagining her badly burned. My mind had gone to the worst-case scenario immediately upon getting the call.
What I found upon entering the curtained-off area where Claudia waited on a gurney was still harrowing. Her face was streaked with soot left behind by so much smoke. The odor clung to her, almost choking me the closer I drew. Not that it would have kept me away. Nothing could have.
She breathed slowly, haltingly from the mask placed over her face, pumping the oxygen she desperately needed. A hacking cough left her convulsing. The sound and the sight of it broke through my shock, and I went to her, standing by the gurney, stroking her hair.
Her eyes slowly opened and moved over my face. A strangled cry threatened to tear itself from me. She was alive, looking up at me when I was so sure I would never speak to her again. “Thank God,” I whispered, bending to brush my lips against her forehead. “Oh, thank God. You’re all right.”
I was only able to hear because I was so close. “Define… all right…” She wheezed before coughing again. Even now, she couldn’t help but be a smartass. I was never so grateful to hear it.
“You’re here, and you’re looking up at me, and that’s a good place to start.”
“But… kitchen… restaurant…” She closed her eyes, wincing like it hurt to speak, which I had no doubt it did.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I insisted, finding her grimy hand and closing mine around it. “Nothing matters but you being safe.”
Though now that I knew she was safe, unburned, and receiving treatment, other thoughts managed to work their way into my overheated mind. Questions. How? Why?
“It was me,” she rasped, squeezing my hand tight. “Had to be.”
She was certain. I was not. I was certain of other things, such as knowing it was now close to eight o’clock on the East Coast. The morning shows would be starting, and soon the word would start to spread. America’s Best Baker had nearly burned to death in a fire.
“It doesn’t matter,” I insisted, ignoring the way she groaned. “We’ll work it all out. For now, I’ll take you home with me once you’re cleared for release. In the meantime, I have a few phone calls to make. Word is going to get out. I’ll need to help manage the press.”
Leaning down, I kissed her forehead again, then made the impulsive move of lifting the oxygen mask to press a quick, fervent kiss against her mouth. “Rest. Breathe. I’ll be right back.”
In the few minutes since I had found Claudia, I’d received three phone calls and a half-dozen texts. One of them was from Sienna Black, as it turned out.
Sienna: Call ASAP. Need to put a story together.
There wasn’t much of a story to be told. “Claudia is fine, unharmed except for smoke inhalation.” Saying the words reminded me how much worse this could have gone. “It’s too soon to tell the level of damage that was done. I haven’t been out there yet, but I’m sure I’ll get a full report.”
“Please, give her my best wishes,” Sienna urged.
“I’ll take care of things on this end.” At least I had that out of the way by the time I ended the call, then immediately sent out a group text so my friends would know I had things under control.
They were all early risers, like me, and would surely get word quickly.
Another text, this time to my family so they wouldn’t worry.
Sebastian: Everything okay. Claudia fine. We’ll get through this. I’ll keep you posted.
Finally, I called Felix, who, until now, I had only texted on my way out to the car. Never in my life had I gotten a call like that, one of those middle-of-the-night heartstoppers…
“We’re sorry, Mr. Kennedy, but there’s a fire at your new restaurant. Crews are there now, fighting the blaze. A woman was taken from the scene. She managed to get herself out. She had her purse with her. It’s Claudia Granger.”
Of course, she had managed to get herself out. She wasn’t a quitter. My heart swelled with pride, and it was the reminder of how brave she must have been that stiffened my spine and confirmed my resolve by the time Felix answered, sounding groggy.
“I hate to wake you up this way…” I told him, “… but I need you to head out to the new location.”
Drawing a breath, I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall to my back. Reality was beginning to seep in now that adrenaline was wearing off. There was no hope of making our opening this close to the scheduled date. “It’s looking like everything went up in smoke.”
And I had a sick, sinking feeling I knew who was behind it.
With that in mind, I made eye contact with one of the cops lingering by the ambulance bay after noticing the way he kept glancing toward me. “Sebastian Kennedy,” I said as I approached. “It was my restaurant that burned. What can I do to help with the investigation?”
“You need to keep your head propped up. Remember what the doctor said.” Sliding another pillow under her head, I ignored the way she crumbled.
After three days of looking after her, I was starting to believe the woman was determined to do the opposite of everything I suggested.
“Maybe I should tell you to lie flat on your back, then you would do what you’re supposed to do to defy me. ”
“Very funny. Here I am, laughing,” she muttered, doing anything but.
Even now, driven half crazy by her stubbornness, I had to chuckle.
She was feeling grumpy, which meant she was alive and getting healthier all the time.
I’d been instructed to keep an eye on her for three or four days after the fire and look for any signs of deeper issues, pneumonia being the biggest culprit.
So far, her biggest problem was her inability to listen to reason.
Not even multiple calls from Hadley could convince her.
Hadley wasn’t the only one calling, either. More than once, I’d noticed a call coming in from someone she’d named Cheating Asshole. It didn’t take a genius to know who that meant. The balls on that cheating asshole. At least she was smart enough to send him straight to voicemail.
I climbed into bed with her now, prepared to sleep lightly again while I listened to make sure she was breathing well.
Anyone witnessing this would tell me I was losing my mind, but they didn’t understand.
They hadn’t seen her lying there, helpless, caked with soot, and unable to breathe without an oxygen mask.
They wouldn’t understand the guilt of knowing she was like that because of something they had gotten her roped into, even unintentionally.
There was no reason for the place to go up in smoke like it had without some sort of interference.
I found it hard to believe any other theory while waiting for a full Fire Incident Report from the fire marshal.
I’d been assured multiple times they were working as fast as they could, but it wasn’t fast enough for me.
Between looking after Claudia and dealing with endless phone calls, requests for interviews, virtual meetings surrounding our plans going forward, I was damn near exhausted.
Not so exhausted that my heart didn’t warm when Claudia snuggled up against me, fitting her body to mine the way she was so good at doing.
I had almost lost this. Her. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
It kept popping up like a familiar refrain, haunting me.
She could have died if she had given up and stopped fighting to get outside.
She could have burned, could have succumbed to the smoke.
But no, she had fought, and I was holding her.
I was holding the woman I was starting to believe I might love.