Chapter 15
REECE
“She’s really okay?” Rowan asked, his frown looking far more permanent than usual.
“Yes. Thank God. If she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
“It took an enormous amount of pull to even get you here in the first place. But don’t worry, we’re excited for training.”
Even though I could hear the roll of his eyes as he said that, I ignored it.
Brooklyn was safe, and she hadn’t been hurt that badly.
Yes, a few bruises, and her palms had been scraped up, but it could have been so much worse.
I still wasn’t sure how I had been able to get her out in time.
I’d ended up with a bruise on my thigh by throwing myself on the ground as I had, and I wasn’t as young as I used to be.
Being in your forties when you throw yourself on the ground meant that you could break a hip.
At least that’s what my youngest brother kept saying.
“Well let’s get this over with,” I said dryly. “Because I want to head over to my actual job and see the girls.”
“Look at you. Your girls. How is my favorite niece?”
“Your favorite and only niece is doing pretty good. We’re about to do the whole back to school shopping thing, and I’m terrified.”
I shivered even as I thought it. I hadn’t thought of back to school anything in over twenty years. I felt far older than I should in that moment. And yet, waking up that morning with Brooklyn in my arms hadn’t felt too bad. I hadn’t felt old at all.
“You should ask Mom.” Rowan lifted his chin, and I turned to see both of our brothers walking towards us.
The three of them didn’t work in the same firehouse.
While some family members could probably make it work, my brothers each did better in different stations.
That way, they didn’t have to worry about somebody getting promoted over them.
Sure, they were all at different ranks now, but they weren’t in the same chain of command.
“What are you asking Mom to do?” Aiden asked as he took the apple from my hand that I had just picked up. I scowled at him, but didn’t care. As long as Aiden was eating fruit instead of junk food, I counted it as a win. Much like it did when it came to Bella.
“Back to school shopping,” I said with a laugh.
“Mom would like that. So would Brooklyn.” Denver raised a brow, and I knew he was fishing.
“Just ask,” I bit out.
“Are you going to ask her to move in?” Aiden asked.
“Are you going to ask her to marry you?” Rowan asked at the same time.
Denver just stared at me. “Have you told her you loved her yet?”
All three of my brothers, as well as a few other people in the station house stared at me.
“Don’t you all have somewhere to be?” I barked out at those who weren’t related to me, and they immediately went back to cleaning.
Denver beamed. “Just like you were when you worked here. Look at you, fitting into those boots.”
“Fuck off. And she was engaged just over a year ago, and I don’t think putting a ring on her finger right now would be the best thing.”
Denver said. “I think you’re wrong.”
“I think you should just have her move in first,” Aiden said.
“With Bella there?” Rowan put in, and then the three of them were having a lightly heated argument, and I didn’t have any input.
I was fucking in love with that woman. I was going to tell her. My brothers didn’t need to know that. Mostly because they’d accidentally spill it. At least Aiden would. He wouldn’t do it on purpose, but things happened. And I needed to finally tell her that I loved her.
Moving in and marriage, that would take a moment. Bella came first, and I liked where we were at.
We were figuring out who we were as a family, albeit a different one.
I never expected to be a father, not after so many years of being single, but here I was, a father, in love with a slightly younger woman, and happy.
I ran my hand over my chest, and ignored my brothers’ pointed looks.
“We’re fine. We’re figuring things out. Stop being nosy.”
“You’re the one who told us to ask,” Aiden whined, even though I knew he was just exaggerating.
“Where is Bella?” Denver asked. “I thought my favorite niece would be here so she could hang out with her favorite uncle.”
“You mean me?” Aiden put in.
I ignored their bickering once more, and sighed. “My girls are out getting ice cream. They promised themselves a girls’ day, but with the accident at the job site, they’d had to put it off. Now Brooklyn and Bella are out and they promised to bring me ice cream after we finished this up.”
“Wow. It must be serious if the two of them are out by themselves.”
“I trust Brooklyn no matter what. Hell, I trust her more than you,” I said, pointing at Aiden. He flipped me off, and yet, the smile on his face told me that he knew I was kidding.
“I hope she brings us ice cream,” Rowan said, and I ignored them once more, before heading to the conference room so we could go over the class for the day.
I was only one of the speakers, not the major educator, and for that I was grateful.
It had been a while since I had been an active duty firefighter, but I still trained enough that if we needed volunteers, or there was a natural disaster, I could suit up if needed.
Though now with Bella in the picture, I wasn’t sure.
Yes, my family and Brooklyn could take care of her when I was gone, but I didn’t know if I wanted to risk myself like that.
Not with people in my life that I wanted to come home to.
I leaned back against the wall, as the rest of the class ended, and checked my watch. They should have been here by now. I hadn’t been craving ice cream, but suddenly I wanted it. And I wanted to see my girls.
I pulled out my phone to call and see where they were, when it lit up with Lexington’s name.
I answered, an uneasiness settling over me. It could be anything. He was my boss after all. But I didn’t think so. Not with that odd sense of foreboding.
“Lex? What’s wrong?”
“They’re both fine.”
“What the fuck?” I asked and I was already moving towards the exit and my SUV before Lex even continued. My brothers were on my tail, the tone of my voice seeming to pull them out of whatever the hell they had been fighting about.
“Bella and Brooklyn were in her car when somebody T-boned them at a stop sign. The guy was going fast, and it...” He stopped speaking before finally continuing.
“It hit the driver’s side, but both of them are okay.
They were taken by ambulance to the hospital.
” He named the emergency room, and bile slid up my throat.
The driver’s side. Brooklyn was... Meaning Brooklyn’s side.
My daughter was tall enough now to sit in the front seat, so I’d never had to deal with car seats or the like other than when I had been at the station teaching young couples how to work with car seats to begin with.
But with the way that Lex kept saying that they were okay, I couldn’t help but not believe him.
Especially because he said the word ambulance.
“Why were they taken by ambulance if they’re okay?”
“What hospital,” Rowan asked as he took my keys before I could even say anything.
I scowled at him, but got into my passenger seat, my brothers getting into Denver’s truck.
They would leave the other two here, and we’d deal with it later.
But without words, we were on the move. I named the hospital, and Rowan nodded, before peeling out of the parking lot, the other truck behind me.
I knew they would tell the station what had happened, and hell, the accident had probably gone through the radio, but it hadn’t been in their area.
I tried to catch my breath, but all I could think of was both of the people that I loved more than anything, were broken and bloody, and all because someone had to run a fucking stop sign.
“Bella has a broken arm and Brooklyn is cut up and a little bruised. Even more so than before. I’m her emergency contact, so they called me.
My parents are already on their way here, same with her siblings.
But Reece, I know you’re Bella’s emergency contact, however, whatever was in their system wasn’t updated. They called her grandparents.”
I slammed my fist into the dashboard, cursing. “Fuck.”
“Just get here. They’re fine. I promise you.”
“If my little girl has a broken arm, then she’s in pain. And she’s not fine. And how many cuts and bruises does Brooklyn have?” I asked, my words clipped.
“Just get here.”
With that, Lex hung up, leaving me seething.
“The call went to Bluetooth, so I heard all of that,” Rowan began.
“Just drive safely, we don’t need another accident.”
Even though the words felt as if I were dead inside, I was trying. Damn it, I was trying.
It didn’t take long to get to the emergency room, as every worst case scenario rolled into one another, and there was nothing left in me but to have my knees buckle.
I jumped out of the truck, nodding at my brother, knowing he would deal with parking and everything else.
As I ran into the emergency room, I didn’t even have to wait long.
Storm Montgomery was there, a glare on his face, and he lifted his chin.
“He’s with us,” he said to the front desk, and then the nurse nodded, and I followed him down the hall.
“Brooklyn’s down here, but I know you need to get to Bella first. Her grandparents are in the waiting room on the other side.” Storm shook his head. “They took one look at her and left.”
I nearly tripped over my own feet, and stared at the father of the woman that I loved.
“What?”
“I don’t know what they were thinking, if they were scared, or just don’t fucking care.
But they’re pacing in the private waiting room, and my wife is in with your daughter right now.
We said that you two were engaged, and that’s why Everly’s in there and not a social worker.
” Storm said the last part so low that I could barely hear, and I swallowed hard, nodding tightly.
“Thank you,” I whispered.