44. Boom
Chapter forty-four
Boom
Owen
My heart's racing so fast, I feel like it’s going to beat out of my chest. I knew where she was before I heard her over the comms.
I made Leon lead me through the fire-lit mess to find her using her necklace, the only beacon of hope I had. My clothes are singed, so are my fingers; my eyes stinging from the smoke.
Fuck, when she started telling me not to come, that it was too dangerous, I ran fucking faster. My heart in my throat, smoke and my constricting fear making it hard to breathe.
I move the table over us, to shield us from what’s about to blow through the fucking wall.
Goddamn it, Angel. It kills me, seeing her like this, my strong, feisty woman. On the floor. Trying to give me her last words.
Never again, never-a-fucking-gain.
If those bastards aren’t dead already, they will be soon. No one does this to the woman I love, the woman I will spend the rest of my life with. Even if she did just out me for having a hero complex. Fuck, this woman, she has me. Heart and fucking soul, until the end of time. And even then, I’ll never let her go. Not again. Sliding the table against the wall, I barricade us in, to protect us as much as possible.
“I’ve got her,” I shout into the comms.
“Roger that, O,” a vaguely familiar voice confirms. I can already guess who that is. One of two people I know were on their way.
“We’ll need heavy duty cutters. These chains are solid.”
“Roger that. Five, count down.”
Kneeling next to her, the room filled with heavy smoke, choking back a cough, I hold her, eyes streaming as I try to see her in the darkness surrounding us, resting her head against my chest, wrapping my body around hers. And wait.
“Four…”
Clutching her harder, my fingers sinking into her hair, the flames licking and tormenting us in their intense heat.
“Three…Two…” I place a kiss on the top of her head.
“One.”
I close my eyes and brace my body, protecting my angel.
The deafening boom takes over the space, vibrating off the walls as the ground beneath us shakes, the table protecting us from the falling debris. Dust mingles with smoke and flames, surrounding us in a deadly haze. The wall to our left falls, creating a hole, and clean air rushes in from the outside. Looking down, she’s unconscious, but safe in my arms.
Her beautiful white blonde hair is covered in ash, just like the rest of her. She looks okay, but I’ll know more when I get her to Ethan. He’s waiting for us along with is everyone else.
She’ll be okay. She has no other option but to be okay.
Two men approach in full tactical gear, followed by Leon. I can’t see his face in the mask he’s wearing, but I’d know his bulk anywhere. Stepping forward, he kneels, using the cutters to set Charlie free from her restraints. Squeezing her hand, he helps me free her. The other two men rush towards us. I know who they are, even if I’ve never seen them before in my life.
“Owen, we need to move out. It’s going to collapse any minute now,” one of them says, sweeping a hand over Charlie’s hair. “Boo, you have a lot of explaining to do when you wake up,” he adds. Standing beside me, both of them give a worried grin at their sister lying in my arms.
Agreeing with a single nod, I stand, lifting Charlie with me. Rushing through the hole they blew in the wall to get us out, we race to the waiting vehicles, Leon close on my heels. Her brothers check her from the sides.
Climbing in the back of the van, I lie Charlie on the floor, her head in my lap, leaving room for Ethan to do what he does best—making her better. Her brothers settle in the front, starting the engine and tearing away from what was Praise.
Ethan’s done his thing. She’s going to be okay. Growing bruises all over her stomach and chest, and smoke inhalation. Ethan’s given her oxygen and she breathing easier now.
“I want a second honeymoon.” Looking down I had no idea she was awake. There’s a whisper in her raspy voice.
“A second honeymoon, huh?” She opens her eyes, meeting my gaze with sore, red, but still breathtaking, beautiful eyes. She winces slightly, trying to move.
“Yep.” How does she do this to me? Makes me smile in one of the worst situations I have ever been in.
“We kind of have to have a first one to be to be able to get a second one, Angel.” I’m teasing. And it feels great.
“You’re forgetting the whole marrying me part.” My fingers brush over her lips.
“Was that a proposal, Angel?”
“Yeah, I think it might just have been.”
Moving down so I’m lying next to her, wrapping her in my arms, I bring my lips to meet her, whispering so only she can hear me. “Yeah, I’ll marry you, Angel. I’m yours no matter what.”