Chapter 22 #2
She’d left town like I’d wanted, but it stung that she hadn’t even told me herself.
Why did I care?
“Fuck!” I shouted, grabbing a chair and throwing it across the kitchen. I grabbed another before starting to grab anything else to throw, letting out all my anger as I destroyed the kitchen.
Once I started, I couldn’t stop, storming through the house in my rage.
They never cared about me, I knew that, but they weren’t just causing trouble for me, they were causing trouble for everyone else around me too.
This house was never a home, and it never fucking would be.
Something inside me really snapped in that moment, tossing blankets and furniture into the middle of the living room. My hands shook as I shouted and threw things, my crash out continuing until the familiar smell of smoke filled my senses and my body instantly calmed from it.
My lighter clicked in my hand as I flicked it absently, watching as the orange glow ignited the room. For a second, I considered standing still and letting the whole place burn around me, knowing if I was gone that they’d eventually leave Rory and the guys alone, but what would that do to her?
Would she ever get over me? Would I haunt her every thought?
It was possible she’d blame herself, and that was what made my feet start moving from the room.
The lack of sleep and the comedown I was riding was definitely not helping me think clearly, and I thought I was hallucinating when I entered the kitchen to find Rory running inside.
“Hey, baby. Did you bring marshmallows?” I cackled, my voice sounding funny. No, I was just coughing a lot.
How long had I been in here with the fire?
I glanced around to see the fire had spread into the kitchen and was working its way along the hallway to the rest of the house, the sound of glass breaking and wood crackling getting more quiet.
There was peace in the flames, and it made me wonder if hell was as bad as everyone made it out to be, or if maybe it would soothe me.
I didn’t want the bouncy clouds and the old dude with a beard meeting me at pearly gates, I wanted the tattooed guy with slicked back hair waiting with a bottle of whiskey, telling me to join the party.
“Up you get,” someone sighed, sounding annoyed with me. Why was I on the floor? Where was Rory?
I’d probably imagined that.
I was tossed over a shoulder as I choked, trying to blink harder to focus properly. The fire was beautiful, burning down the empty mansion that had given me nothing but loneliness.
I didn’t realize how hot the fire had been until I was carried outside, the air seeming freezing in comparison.
“Hey, you still with me? Don’t die, man. She’ll fucking kill me.”
“Put me down,” I wheezed, making him scoff. It wasn’t Caden, so who the hell had come after me?
“Do you want to burn to death or get arrested?”
“I want to watch it fucking burn.” I choked some more, the person opening a door and sitting me down on something.
Then Rory was in front of me, cupping my face with panic in her pretty eyes.
“What the hell were you doing? Jesus Christ.”
“Fuck them, and fuck this stupid house,” I spat, my lungs burning from all the smoke.
“You need a hospital. You inhaled a lot of smoke,” a gruff voice said, making me look up to find Hunter watching me with his arms crossed.
“I want—”
“I heard you the first time, you fucking pyromaniac. You can’t just sit here and watch it burn though, the cops and firetrucks are on the way, and you can’t breathe properly. We need to go.”
I glanced around to find I was sitting in the back of a van, a pissed off looking Marco glaring at me from the driver’s seat.
“Hey, you’re an idiot,” he exclaimed, starting the engine and turning to face the front again. “Get him in.”
Rory climbed in and encouraged me to get in properly, and Hunter jumped in as he shut the doors, blocking my view of the blaze.
“If we take him to the hospital, they’ll know he started the fire,” Rory snapped, making me realize I kept blacking out and she was arguing with Hunter.
“He needs fucking oxygen. Who knows what kind of damage he did to his lungs in there.”
“Don’t you guys have that kind of shit laying around? You’re allergic to the hospital.”
“I’m not wasting my supplies on a rich kid who can afford proper medical treatment and a good lawyer."
“He can afford to replace yours then!”
“Why don’t you waste your crew's supplies? Oh, that’s right, they never answer the fucking phone!” Hunter barked. “You need to drop him, Donovan. He doesn’t give a goddamn shit about you.”
I heard a smacking sound, making me sit up more to try and see what the hell they were doing. Hunter had a hand around her throat as she tried punching him, and when I tried to talk, I had a coughing fit instead.
“Fine, but he’s replacing the oxygen,” Hunter said with frustration as he let Rory go so she could come to me. She sat by me and pulled me down to rest my head on her lap, her fingers stroking through my hair.
“You’re okay, baby. Rest.”
“Keep him awake,” Marco warned. “Hey, pyro, do you have chest pain?”
“It hurts to cough,” I rasped, my throat feeling worse by the second.
“Good, you deserve it,” he scoffed, and I focused on the soft touches that Rory gave me.
The trip wasn’t too long, and I managed to walk with Hunter’s help once we reached the Devils’ warehouse.
“Sit there and don’t move,” Hunter ordered, placing me in a chair and walking off, leaving Rory to fuss over me as Marco stood by and glared at me.
Hunter dragged out an oxygen tank, shoving the mask on my face and turning it on. I coughed a bit as the fresh oxygen filled my lungs, but it definitely helped.
“How did you know where I was?” I asked Rory, her eyes narrowing as she pointed to Hunter.
“He called me.”
“How did he know?”
“He bugged your house. The creepy fucker has been watching us. Diesel was asleep on the couch so I jumped the back fence and made Hunter get me on the way here to avoid the paparazzi,” she explained, and I shot daggers at Hunter.
“You bugged my fucking house? With cameras?”
“You’re welcome. If we hadn’t, you’d have passed out from smoke inhalation and burned to death,” Marco bit out, and when I tried to pull the mask off my face, he stalked closer and grabbed it, pressing it back against my mouth. “Keep breathing it in, idiot.”
“What happened?” Rory asked, stopping our argument. “What made you snap?”
“Lukas and Jensen got outed pretty bad in today’s articles. Someone leaked the news about Slash leaving everything to you, and speculation has started about other things. It’s my parents’ fault, Rory. They told everyone where I was and drew attention to all of this.”
“Slash left you everything?” Hunter asked with surprise, but she ignored him.
“What speculation?”
“They’re questioning your relationship with Diesel. Claiming your weight gain is a hidden pregnancy and you don’t know who the father is,” I said with a wince, Marco’s hand coming back to my mask when I went to remove it again.
“I’ll glue this to your face if you don’t leave it on,” he warned, and if I had the strength to punch him, I would have.
“What fucking weight gain?” Hunter growled, looking Rory over with a dirty look on his face. “She’s tiny. She doesn’t look knocked up.”
“Paparazzi are assholes,” I grumbled, eyeing her. “I just had a bit of a crash out and suddenly the house was on fire.”
“Crash out? That’s what we’re calling it?” Marco muttered, moving back from me now that I’d stopped trying to take my mask off. “You need to shower and get rid of those clothes if you don’t want to be a suspect.”
“They’ll know. There’s cameras all around the neighborhood,” I answered, and Hunter shrugged.
“Ask me nicely and I’ll fix that problem for you.”
“Please fix my problems, hacker daddy,” I deadpanned, amusement flashing in his eyes.
“Oh good, he’s still an asshole. He’ll be fine. Keep the oxygen flowing for a while, but Mark’s right, we really need to get the smell of smoke off you. You can’t rock up at Caden’s, the cops will be looking for you.”
“Can’t he shower at yours?” Rory asked with irritation.
“I currently have enough meth in my house to put me away for life. No, he can’t go there.”
I eyed Marco until he huffed out an annoyed breath. “Fine, he can shower at mine, but if I get any heat from this, you’re paying me back big time.”
We sat there for another half an hour until Hunter decided it was safe to head to Marco’s, dragging the oxygen tank with us.
They made me keep it on until I was getting in the shower, and Marco didn’t give a shit about my privacy as he walked into the bathroom while I was showering, snatching my smokey clothes from the floor.
“I’m burning these. Double shampoo your hair and lather a shitload of body wash on. You might think you’re clean, but smoke really sticks to you,” he explained, pointing to the bottles on the rack.
“Where’s Rory?” I asked, hoping she was joining me, but Marco’s eye roll told me that wasn’t the case.
“She’s making sure Hunter deletes all the proof of you turning your million dollar mansion into a fire ball.”
“It’s six million.”
“You make me sick. So much money, zero fucking sense. What do you have to be sad about, huh?”
“You want my money then? Because I guarantee money won’t make you happy, asshole.”
“I’d rather be sad in a mansion than here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Mansions seem nice until you realize how big and empty they are. That place was where happiness went to die,” I muttered, putting my face under the water to scrub myself.
I thought he’d leave, but when I pulled back to grab the shampoo, he was still watching me.
“You like fire?”
“I do. It’s a bit of a problem, actually,” I replied tightly, scrubbing the shampoo into my hair.
“Hurry up and I’ll show you something,” he said before leaving the room, confusing the hell out of me.