Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
NICK
“ W hat are you doing for lunch?” Mark asks, stowing his tools back on the truck.
I check my watch. It’s only eight-thirty. “Are you hungry already?”
He rubs at his stomach. “I skipped breakfast.”
“There might be chili left from the cookoff in the fridge at the station.”
He makes a face. “This early?”
I sigh, putting my own tools away, and close the hatch. Mrs. Foster had called us out to the flower shop, reporting a burning smell. We’d found a sparking outlet and stayed until the electrician could come out, since she was afraid it’d turn into something more. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Well, some of us don’t have girlfriends to make them fancy pastry breakfasts.”
His words tear the stitches out of a wound I was barely holding together, and I wince, turning away from him. I’m not sure if I even have a girlfriend right now. Not with the way we left things last night. She didn’t answer my call this morning, either.
I climb into the passenger side of the fire engine, leaving Mark to drive back, and check my phone, even knowing chances are nil that Rachel called in the short span of time I’ve been on the call.
My pulse leaps when I see notifications on the display. The happy feeling drops, though, at six missed calls, all from Rachel, along with two voicemails. Holy hell. That number is a red flag, a knot tightening low in my gut as unease threads through me.
I fumble to listen to the first voicemail, emotions running through me one right after the other without a break.
Elation that I’m no longer under suspicion.
A rising anger that Kyle broke into my house.
And an aching worry for Rachel, who sounds so distraught asking for my forgiveness.
There’s nothing to forgive. I understand where her head was at.
“Drive to the bakery,” I tell Mark when he gets in.
He raises his brows but doesn’t question me as he starts up the truck.
The next voicemail plays, my stomach dropping at the panic in Rachel’s voice. Jae is fighting Kyle? I listen to it again, still confused, and tell Mark, “Actually, go to the auto repair shop on Main.”
The operator comes over dispatch then, asking us to respond to a fire at the auto repair shop on Main.
Mark turns to me. “How’d you know?”
Goosebumps prickle down my arms. It’s a coincidence. It has to be. Rachel’s not there. She would have left by now.
I answer dispatch and flip on the sirens, then check the voicemail again. She left it less than ten minutes ago.
Fuck.
My heart is in my throat during the short time it takes to get there, and I send up a silent wish that Rachel is okay, even though I’m all out of wishes.
I’m imagining the shop engulfed in a towering inferno, thick, choking smoke hazing the area, and I sag with relief when it’s close enough to see, my terrifying vision nowhere in sight.
The fire is contained in one corner of the open garage and doesn’t appear to be spreading. Not to say it still couldn’t be dangerous with the amount of flammable materials and chemicals they keep in there, though.
“Doesn’t look like we’ll need the hose,” Mark comments.
“No,” I agree, scanning the area for Rachel.
“Why are you so tense?” Mark turns into the lot. “This’ll be a breeze to put out.”
I still don’t see anyone. “I think Rachel’s here.”
“What? The garage isn’t even open on Sundays. Why would she be here?”
That’s a great question, but I don’t have an answer for him.
Opening my door before the truck has fully stopped, I jump out, looking around one more time. Obviously, I should focus on the fire at hand, but the urge to find Rachel first is too strong. Maybe she did end up leaving before whatever happened here.
Someone runs around the far side of the building, waving at me. It’s Jae. That must mean Rachel’s here, too.
But where?
I glance again at the flames, though they’re not that bad. Mark and I can knock this out easy. Even one of us could alone.
“Rachel’s okay,” Jae calls out when she’s in earshot, as if she knows what my first question would be. “But she’s having a panic attack or something. The fire got pretty close to her before I could get her out of there.”
“You go,” Mark yells, already grabbing an extinguisher from the truck. “I’ve got this.”
Thank God.
I follow Jae around the side of the building, my heart stopping when I spot Rachel sitting with her back against the concrete wall, her knees tucked into her chest, neck bent forward and face hidden from view.
“Does she need medical attention?”
All the firefighters on staff have some EMT training, since we don’t have the budget for a dedicated EMT, but if anyone needs an ambulance, we have to call one from Kaysville, half an hour away.
“I don’t think so.” Jae jogs to keep up with me. “But she sort of froze when the fire was coming at her. I guess because of…”
Because of the fire I caused all those years ago.
I push past the sinking sensation in my stomach, compartmentalizing things the way I do on a call, and instinctively move into assessment mode.
Rachel doesn’t appear to have any burns or cuts, no coughing from inhaling smoke for too long. She’s breathing roughly, her shoulders rising and falling in fast, shallow bursts.
I kneel in front of her, saying her name, but she doesn’t respond, or maybe doesn’t hear me. I say her name again, shrugging off my turnout coat now that I don’t need it, and gently place my hand on her face, guiding it up. Her eyes are wide and glassy, no recognition in them.
My fingers move down to check her pulse. It’s thready, which I don’t like combined with how pale she is.
“Rachel.” I’m firmer this time, taking her hand and pressing it flat against my chest. “I’m here. You’re all right. Let’s try to breathe, okay?”
I inhale slowly, exaggerating it, letting her feel my chest expand and contract.
Her breath hitches, as if each inhale is a fight, and I can tell the moment she’s aware it’s me in front of her.
“Nick.” Her face crumples, and she surges forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and squeezing me tight. “The fire… I couldn’t move…”
My arms encircle her automatically in response, tucking her securely against me. “We’ll worry about everything else later.”
Jae gets my attention and motions toward the front of the garage. I’ll go , she mouths, giving us some privacy.
I work on getting Rachel’s breathing back to normal, inhaling and exhaling with her. “In and out, that’s it. You’re okay.”
She’s still trembling, and I do everything I can to keep my voice steady and reassuring when inside I’m a bundle of nerves. What the hell happened to make a fire? And why was Rachel so close to it?
If those flames had spread any more, it could have turned a lot more serious. All I can do is thank whatever higher power there may be that she’s unharmed and here safe in my arms.
When her breaths are back within normal range, I unwind her arms from me gently.
“Did you get burned at all?” I ask, checking her over.
She shakes her head. “Jae pulled me out of the garage.”
“Any smoke inhalation?”
“I don’t think so.” She touches her throat. “I remember that from last time. I… I get now why Sydney freaked out at that oven fire a couple months ago. I panicked and…” She swallows hard. “I was worried I wouldn’t get to tell you I love you.”
I go still. That’s what she was concerned about? Yes, she alluded to love in that voicemail she left, but hearing it now is something else altogether.
“Say it again,” I whisper, needing to be sure it’s real.
Her hand cups my jaw, her gaze tender. “I love you.”
Relief floods me so swiftly it nearly hurts, colliding with the ache of everything we almost lost last night. “I love you.” I take her lips in a gentle kiss, curbing my instinct to kiss her hard and fast, still mindful that she’s in a delicate state and we’re out in public.
“Sorry to break it up,” Mark calls out, rounding the side of the building, “but we need to do our incident report.”
“Right,” Rachel whispers. “You’re working.”
I nod, wishing like hell I could take her home right now. I want to hear her tell me she loves me again about a thousand times before I’ll be satisfied.
“Can I see you tomorrow?” I ask, internally cursing these twenty-four-hour shifts in a way I never have before.
“Of course. Just let me know when. Sydney and Hailey can man the bakery by themselves for a while.”
I lead her back to the open bay of the garage, glad to see Mark took care of the fire.
“I’ve got Ms. Choi’s statement,” he says, and turns to Rachel. “Now I just need yours.”
“What about Kyle?” I ask. I still haven’t seen that fucker. He and I are going to have a reckoning real soon.
“He ran when the fire started.” Jae rolls her eyes. “Not that I’m surprised he bailed at the first sign of trouble.”
“Did he start the fire?”
Jae shifts nervously from foot to foot. “We both kind of did.”
“Why was he even here?” Mark said the shop is closed on Sundays and there doesn’t appear to be anyone working. “Did he break in?”
“His brother works here,” Rachel says. “But I don’t know if he had permission.”
Looks like we’ll need to do some investigating. In addition to the breaking and entering to my own house, wouldn’t that be real interesting if he ended up getting charged with more? Maybe I can even get negligent arson to stick, depending on how it plays out.
I rub Rachel’s back as she tells me and Mark her point of view of what happened, and though it doesn’t paint her friend in a good light, it doesn’t help Kyle’s case any, either, especially if he abandoned two women to a fire. Jae said she was the one to call 911.
“All right, Mark, you track down the owner of the garage and let them know what’s up. I’ll contact the police.”
“Am I getting arrested?” Jae asks worriedly.
“Let’s find out first if the owner wants to press charges. Sometimes they will for insurance purposes, depending on what was damaged.”
Rachel moves to take Jae’s hand, comforting her, and Mark and I make our calls.
Luckily, I get hold of a guy on the force I know well, and after I explain everything, he agrees he has enough probable cause between breaking into my house and what happened at the garage to arrest Kyle and bring him in for questioning.
Though I’d love to make good on my promise to Kyle and deliver him the ass kicking he deserves, this might be better. After a quick search online, he could be looking at a third-degree felony for burglary. I knew about the potential third-degree felony for negligent arson.
And besides all that, there’s his reputation in town, which is already tarnished from cheating on Rachel.
Mark is cool with letting me hang around here to finish things up with the police while he goes back to the station to write up the incident report, and once the owner arrives, he confirms Kyle didn’t have permission to be there.
Oh, sweet justice.
I don’t get a chance to talk to Rachel about anything personal again amid the flurry of activity as Officers Jensen and Patel arrive, and thankfully the owner doesn’t want to press charges against Jae, who really plays up the theatrics, crying that she was scared of what Kyle was going to do when he pushed her and how careless he was with the lighter.
I have to hand it to her, she knows what she’s doing.
Even if maybe it’s not the most ethical.
As she and Rachel are released after questioning, I manage to pull Rachel aside briefly to whisper in her ear that I love her and can’t wait to see her tomorrow. She gives me a heated look in response before letting Jae drag her off toward her car.
The fire is out. Kyle’s getting arrested. And Rachel is safe.
I really can’t ask for any more.