Chapter 13
I’m following Stone back to his house to pick up an old motorcycle manual. He and his dad keep a collection of vintage ones in case we ever get a customer at the auto shop that wants a rebuild or custom order.
We park in the driveway, and I swing my leg over the seat stretching out my muscles as Stone does the same.
“Mind telling me why you’re letting my woman renovate your rental house when I’m trying everything to get her out of there and living at my place?” I ask.
“I have an idea what’s going on, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” he informs me.
I raise an eyebrow, “By who?”
“By the women in my life, and I’m not about to put my sex life in jeopardy by telling anyone, and you fall in that category,” he says with a straight face.
I scoff. “How the mighty has fallen,” I mumble as we walk up the stone path. “So you’re not even gonna give a hint or heads up?”
Raegan stands on the porch and gives a wave, but the smile she has on her face says that she’s got some news to share.
“What’s put that smile on your face, Wildcat?” Stone asks as we walk up the path and step up to the porch.
“Just got to spend some time with my best friend,” she says as she welcomes her husband home with a hug the same way Sutton does me when I come over.
“Sutton was here?” I ask looking around as if she’s hiding behind the screen door in their house. “Was she careful coming here?”
Raegan turns her head towards me, still in Stone’s embrace.
“She was. I watched her walk through the front door—”
BOOOOOM!
We feel the explosion as the windows of Stone’s house shake and rattle. We immediately take cover on the ground as Stone drops over Raegan in protection. A second later, I’m reaching for my gun in my cut and looking towards where the sound came from.
“OH MY GOD!” Raegan starts screaming, and I track her eyes.
My heart literally stops when I see the house that Sutton has been staying in was the one that just blew up and is on fire. Stone and I jump to our feet, and I take off in a dead sprint down the street. It feels like my legs are made of lead and it is taking forever to reach the driveway.
All the windows are blown out and part of the roof is caved in. Smoke is billowing out, but I don’t hesitate. I run straight in the house. The debris crunches under my boots. I use my shirt over my nose as the heavy cloud of smoke masks the entire area.
“SUTTON!” I yell out. “SUTTON!”
I try to crouch down to get a better visual of the room. The burning heat of the fire singes my skin the farther I try to move forward. On my next step, I feel a tug on the back of my cut and turn.
“We stay together, brother,” Stone calls out as he covers his nose and mouth with his shirt.
I nod and we start moving around what used to be the living area.
The heat is unbearable, but I refuse to give up.
We continue to call out Sutton’s name. Off in the distance, I can hear the vague sound of sirens.
As we clear the living space, we find the kitchen completely caved in.
The walls are down and there’s a hole in the side of the house.
Stone starts to cough, and I start to do the same, but I refuse to leave this place without my woman.
“SUTTON!”
“GET OUT OF THERE!” I hear from behind us, but don’t pay it any mind.
We make it to the breakfast nook area, and I can see firemen around the back of the house with their hoses. Stone’s hand vanishes from my cut, and I’m wrestled down to the ground.
“You can’t be in here,” someone says then puts a mask over my face.
I try to refuse it, but my lungs seize at the fresh oxygen.
I suck in as much as I can as my body goes slack.
I see out of the corner of my eye that Stone is in the same state as me.
“We’ll take you through the back,” the fireman says then hauls me up with an iron grip.
I’m a big boy and this guy is trying to maneuver me like I’m his ragdoll.
I try to fight out of his hold, but the vise he has on me is unmoving.
“My woman’s in here!” I yell out, but it’s muffled by the mask. I go to move it, but he stops me.
“The woman outside told us that there’s a lady in here somewhere. We’ve got men combing through the house,” he informs me, but I need to be looking too.
What if they miss her? What if they don’t get to her in time?
I’m not given a choice as I’m dragged to an opening at the back of the house and set out in the backyard.
Stone is laid up next to me as paramedics come over to us.
They administer albuterol and stick a new mask to our faces with a tank next to us.
They start asking questions, but my eyes never leave the burning house.
The firemen are dousing what’s left with water, but there are still flames on the far side of the structure.
My body is exhausted, and my jeans and shirt have holes. My skin feels raw and stings. I’ve got blotches of skin where it’s been burned from fallen embers off the wood from the walls, and my hands ache from where Stone and I crawled to stay low.
“I need to go back,” I try to say and stand up, but my body doesn’t cooperate.
“You need to rest and keep this over your nose and mouth, sir,” one of the paramedics says.
Over one of their radios, we hear a voice talking.
“They’ve found something… coming out the front… have the gurney and bus ready to transport,” they say.
“Is it Sutton? Did they find her?” I pepper them with questions.
“We don’t know, sir, but if you can stand and walk we can go out to the bus and wait,” one of them offers.
I muster every inch of strength to lift my ass off the ground.
Stone and I use the medics to lean on as we stagger around the ash and wood that was once a livable home.
A huge slot in the neighbors fence is pushed down as we pass by the side of the house.
Out front, the street is lined with people watching as the firemen continue to put out the rest of the flames.
Raegan is surrounded by police officers as she screams at them to move. Stone notices her distress and charges over to towards them.
“Kane! Havoc!” A sob leaves her throat when she sees us.
She bends slightly and shoves the officer so hard to get out of her way that he lands on his ass. The sirens from the ambulance come on, and it races off down the street. Is Sutton in there? How long did it take us to make our way around the house?
“Was that Sutton?” I ask after she pulls back from engulfing Stone in her arms.
She’s crying; her face is soaking wet from her tears.
“They carried her out and right into the ambulance,” she tells us. “She had burns everywhere. They didn’t say if she was alive!”
“I need to get to the hospital,” I say, looking around, trying to figure out my next move.
“You need to see a doctor,” Raegan states. “You’re both burned too.”
Just then a paramedic comes over.
“We need to get you both checked out at the hospital.”
“I’ll call Mom and let her know you’re coming and that Sutton is already heading there,” Raegan says. “I’ll follow in the car behind you,” she tells Stone. “Please let them check you over.”
Something in her voice must move Stone because he nods, then wraps an arm around me, and we follow the medics to their vehicle. They set us up in the back on a gurney and put the oxygen masks back over our faces.
“We need to get an IV in each of you. The hospital will want to hydrate and monitor you to make sure your lungs aren’t damaged,” the male medic tells us as he gets the instruments ready for us.
I lay my head back and look up at the ceiling of the ambulance.
“She’s gonna be okay, right?” I ask then move my head, looking to Stone for assurance.
Stone has never been one to bullshit his brothers, but when I start to see his eyes soften and his serious expression change slightly, I start to panic. My skin feels like it’s crawling.
“She’s a fighter, brother. She’s been through a lot and is still here.
If anyone can come out of it on the other side, it’s her,” he says, and I feel a wave of emotions hit me.
I haven’t cared for another person, other than my brothers and Zane, ever in my life.
And the fact that Sutton might not survive, after finding the missing piece to my soul, the person that completes mine and Zane’s family, devastates me.
The moment we arrive at the hospital, there are people everywhere asking questions, wanting my medical history, but all I want is an update on Sutton.
“Can you tell me about the woman they brought in from the explosion?” I ask a nurse, removing my mask as they wheel Stone and I through the emergency room to a cubical.
She shakes her head, “I don’t know about her condition, but they did rush her through to the burn unit for assessment.”
“Was it bad? Were you able to see if she was alive and breathing?” I keep questioning her.
“I’m not sure, sir, but I can have a doctor or someone on staff come by and speak with you while we tend to your wounds.”
They put Stone and me in rooms next to one another, and I watch as Raegan rushes by looking for her man. Before she completely passes by, she notices me and halts her movement.
“Are you okay?” she asks coming in and scans me from head to toe like anything has changed since the ride over here.
I shake my head, “I need to find out about Sutton.”
“I’m headed to see if Mom knows anything after I check on you and Kane,” she tells me. “Do you need anything?”
“Just info on my girl,” I say.
She nods in understanding.
“As soon as I find something out, you’ll be the first to know.” She pats my soot covered boot then heads out next door to Stone. I can hear muffled conversation but nothing that I can make out.