Chapter 33 Miles
“You nervous about the new shows?” Owen asks as we wait for our dinner.
I blow out a breath, shoving my hands in my pockets as I shrug and say, “Yeah, kinda.”
He smiles. “That’s pretty normal though, right?” he says, as his phone pings with an incoming text message. “It’s been a while since you guys played in front of people.”
“Nah, I mean, it’s not stage fright or whatever,” I tell him, knowing I never really suffered from that, even when we were on tour and opening for The Provocation, a Grammy Award-winning band.
“It’s the whole music thing and stuff with Daze,” I continue.
“I just don’t want everything to go to shit again. ”
“It won’t,” he says confidently. “You guys are in a good place,” he adds as his phone pings again.
“Yeah, I know,” I reply as he pulls his phone from his pocket.
“It’s probably Sloane asking for extra guacamole,” he says with a grin as he opens up the message. “She loves this— Holy shit.”
“What, what is it?”
“We gotta go,” Owen says, grabbing my arm as he pulls me away from the taco stand.
“Owen, our food, we—”
“Miles,” he says, my name catching in his throat as he turns his phone screen toward me.
Eli: Dude, can you text Miles...we just got a call out to Daisy’s shop.
I blink, not fully understanding the message and what it means.
“Miles, there’s a fire at Daisy’s shop,” Owen says, translating it for me. “We have to go. Now.”
“Fuck,” I shout, my heart hammering in my chest as I pull my phone from my pocket and immediately call Daisy. “Fuck, babe, pick up, pick up, pick up,” I say as Owen unlocks his car.
The phone rings as Owen starts the car, and I immediately try again, Owen trying Sloane as his phone connects to Bluetooth. I hear Sloane’s voice cut in, but it’s her voicemail, just as Daisy’s does the same thing.
“Daze isn’t picking up either,” I say, turning to my friend.
Owen’s mouth is set in a firm line, his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel as he flies down the road toward the bakery. I can see his pulse pounding in his neck, and I know he’s just as fucking terrified as I am right now.
As we turn the corner, I see the smoke, the billowing black cloud that all but confirms mine and Owen’s worst fucking nightmare.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, the lights of the fire truck bright in the dusk of early evening.
“We’re nearly there,” he says, his jaw clenched as he swerves to the side of the road. Our access is blocked by two fire trucks and an ambulance.
There’s a lot of smoke still, and the smell is overpowering as we open the door, but I can’t see any flames.
“DAISY!” I shout, slamming the door behind me, Owen hot on my heels. “DAZE?”
“Sloane?!” Owen calls, the two of us weaving between the fire trucks as we make our way toward the bakery.
Our path is cut off by the sudden appearance of Eli, barely recognizable in his gear, a large black smudge on one of his cheeks.
“Owen,” he says, voice firm as he puts a hand on his cousin’s chest.
“Where?” Owen chokes out.
Eli tips his head toward the ambulance. “She’s good, Owen,” he says quietly, before turning to me. “They’re both good. We got here in time.”
Owen and I both let out twin sighs of relief as we practically run toward the ambulance.
As we approach, I can see Daze and Sloane sitting in the back, a paramedic talking to both of them.
I want to storm in there and pull her into my arms so I can convince myself that she’s really alive, really okay.
But the second she sees me, Daisy hustles out of the van, pushing past the paramedic and jumping to the ground before running into my arms.
“Miles,” she cries, tears streaming down her blackened face as she wraps her arms around me. “Oh my god, the bakery, it’s—”
The rest of her words are cut off as she bursts into tears, a sob lodging in her throat as she buries her face in my neck.
I pull her close, holding her so tight I can’t tell where I end and she begins.
My heart is still pounding in my chest, adrenaline coursing through my veins as everything that did and everything that could have happened tonight hits me.
“Fuck, babe, I thought... I thought I lost,” I say, my throat raw, my words hoarse. “I thought I lost you.”
Now it’s me crying, my arms tightening as I pull her even closer. I’d thought losing Daisy that first time was bad, but it’s got nothing on the five minutes Owen and I spent driving here when I thought I might have lost her for good.
I don’t know how long we stand here, sobbing in each other’s arms, but when I eventually lift my head, swiping at my eyes, I can see Owen and Sloane, practically a mirror image of me and Daze.
Owen is whispering something I can’t hear in Sloane’s ear as she nods against his chest, her eyes scrunched shut.
“Are you okay?” I ask, turning back to my girl.
She looks up at me, a look of complete and utter devastation on her face as she shakes her head. “It’s gone,” she whispers. “It’s all gone.”
I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished speaking, as I brush my thumb across her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. “It’s okay, babe,” I murmur, dropping my forehead to hers. “It can all be replaced. It’s okay.”
“I can’t…” she starts, letting out another sob. “I can’t believe he did this.”
The fire that was coursing through my veins turns to ice at Daisy’s words as I pull back, tilting her face up to mine. “What?”
Daze licks her lips, swallowing hard, her gaze locked with mine as her hands grip the back of my T-shirt, almost like she’s holding me close because she knows exactly what’s going to happen when she says her next words.
“Isaac,” she says, that one word enough to ignite a fucking inferno of rage inside me.
I glance over at Owen, the look on his face telling me he already knows what I’ve just found out. He’s holding Sloane close, his chin resting on the top of her head as he watches me, waiting for my reaction.
I want to fucking kill that asshole.
“Miles,” Owen says, his voice steady, like he knows what I’m thinking right now.
“What?” I snap, harsher than I mean to. “We’re just gonna let him get away with this? He could’ve killed them, Owen, he could have—”
“I know,” Owen says, weirdly calm as he moves a slow, comforting hand up and down Sloane’s back. She’s watching us, her eyes bloodshot. “The police will take care of it. You have other things to worry about.”
He tips his head ever so slightly at Daisy, and even though every single fiber of my being wants to fight this, I know Owen is right. If I go after Isaac, if I do everything I want to do to make him pay for this, I will be no better than him.
And there is no way I want that.
I nod in acknowledgment, dropping a kiss to the top of Daisy’s head. I feel her grip on my T-shirt ease, almost like she too was preparing to stop me.
I fucking hate that she thought she needed to do that. That I thought it too.
Turning to her, I slide my hands up, cupping her jaw as I tilt her face up to mine and smile at her. “Are you okay?” I ask her again.
“No,” she breathes, her voice shaky.
I lean in, kissing her cheeks, her forehead, and eventually her lips. “Everything can be replaced, Daze,” I whisper against them. “You’re the only thing that matters here.”
“But it’s—”
“Daisy,” I say, kissing her again. “We have insurance. The shop can be rebuilt. But you... God, I—” A sudden, unexpected sob escapes.
“Miles,” she whispers, her thumbs brushing away the tears I didn’t realize I was shedding.
“If I lost you. Fuck...it would...it would...”
Whatever I am trying to say won’t come. Maybe because there are no words for what would happen if I lost her.
“Hey, how you guys holding up?”
I look up to see Eli standing beside Owen, his hand on his cousin’s shoulder, his usually smiling face awash with concern.
“Okay,” Owen says, his arms still wrapped around Sloane. “Thank you, Eli,” he continues, turning to face him. “Thank you for saving them.”
Eli gives him a tight smile, squeezing his shoulder once before he hooks an arm around Owen’s neck and pulls them both in for a quick hug. Although he’s been off the island for close to a year, I know he and Owen are close. They always have been.
He’s a few years older than us, but he’s always been like a big brother to Owen, the two of them sharing a house before Eli left for Oahu. I know he’s hurting for Owen because Owen was terrified for Sloane, which means Eli was too.
He lets them both go, brushing a quick knuckle down Sloane’s arm before he turns to us. “The police wanna get a statement. I know you probably just want to get out of here, but we need to do this. After that, if the EMTs clear you, you’re good to go.”
I nod, clearing my throat before speaking. “Thanks, Eli, seriously.”
He nods, giving us a smile as he says, “Just doing my job.”
“Maybe, but...well, thank you.”
His grin widens a little as his gaze moves to Daze. “Nice move trying to throw that chair through the window, Daze,” he says with a chuckle.
She huffs out a breath. “Fat lot of good it did,” she replies, clearly annoyed.
He laughs now. “Yeah, glass is surprisingly tough. Might be a good idea to keep a bat or something handy. For several reasons.”
“Fucking bat would be handy if that asshole shows up again,” I mutter.
“Miles,” Owen and Daisy both say at the same time, warning lacing their tone.
“I know, I know, I’m not gonna do anything,” I say.
Eli points a finger at me as he says, “Good move. Let the cops take care of it while you focus on taking care of your girl.”
“Always,” I say, tightening my arms.
Eli nods, glancing at Owen once more before he says, “Alright, I gotta finish up here. The good news, Daze, the damage doesn’t look too bad. Structurally, I think you’re okay.”
“Really?” she asks, and for the first time since I got here, I hear a tiny glimmer of hope in her voice.
“Yep,” he confirms with a nod. “I reckon a new front porch, a bit of new siding and a fresh coat of paint and you’re good to go.”
Daisy lets out a sigh, and I can almost feel the weight that lifts off her. “Thanks, Eli.”
He gives her a small salute. “Anytime,” he says, turning to Owen and Sloane. He says something I don’t catch, giving them both another quick hug before he disappears back toward the shop. I see a policeman chat with him briefly before the cop turns in our direction.
“You wanna get this done?” I ask Daze. “Then I can take you home.”
“Yeah,” she says, finally giving me a tiny smile.
After Daisy and Sloane speak to the police, they head back to the ambulance to get the all-clear to go home. Thankfully, there doesn’t appear to be any signs of smoke inhalation, although we get a list of the warning signs.
“You good to go?” I ask, standing outside the ambulance, unable to leave her side.
“Yeah, let’s go home,” Daisy says, smiling at me before she turns to Sloane.
The two of them embrace, wrapping their arms around each other. Owen and I watch as Daisy whispers something to Sloane, who then whispers something back to Daze, the two of them sharing a teary laugh before finally letting go of each other.
Owen and I say our goodbyes, making a plan to catch up tomorrow to find out what the police have managed to do, and then I take Daisy’s hand, and the two of us are walk across the side street to our house.
“Let’s go home.”