Chapter 15
Better Man
? Hymn to Virgil - Hozier
Ruby
“That’s all!” Aiden holds out the completed grocery list with his scribbled check marks beside each item.
I scan the cart to double-check and head to the checkout. Carmen is working today, and she shows me the completed tattoo, chatting animatedly about how the artist is a big fan.
As I’m picking up the last of our bags, there’s a deafening bang in the distance. A chorus of startled gasps reverberates through the market, and several people rush outside to investigate the source of the sound.
It’s pure chaos when we step out onto the sidewalk. Sirens wail as police, firetrucks, and ambulances speed toward the smoke billowing from an apartment complex just off Main Street. When the fifth fire truck passes, I know it’s bad.
I round the corner and head inside the diner with Aiden, not wanting him to witness firsthand what his father’s job entails.
Aiden’s dealt with enough in his short life; the last thing he needs is a taste of the existential dread that fills me every time Liam walks out the door for work.
I’m consciously aware that every time could be his last.
“Rosie, would you mind watching Aiden for me?” I ask.
She agrees without a moment of hesitation. “What do you say we make a pie, kiddo?”
Aiden nods vigorously and rushes through the swinging doors into the kitchen.
Rosie eyes me with a concerned expression.
“I’ll come back when I know what’s going on.”
“You keep us posted. Livie and Wilder will be in shortly, and they can take Aiden up to the ranch if need be.”
“Thanks, Ro. I owe you.”
“That’s what family does, sweet girl. Go on.”
I rush out the door. Instead of getting into my truck, I jog down the street and stop beside the small crowd forming in the parking lot of The Ridge. Cade and Paige are there, along with the other bartender whose name I can’t remember.
“What’s going on?” I ask, taking in the despair on Paige’s face as she clings to Cade.
“That’s Dean’s apartment,” she says. “We haven’t heard from him or Cara since the fire started.”
My heart sinks, and I pull out my phone, shooting off a text to Liam in the futile hope that maybe he wasn’t dispatched.
Ruby: Are you at the fire on Main?
Ruby: Please be safe.
There’s a frenzy of activity around the building. People in uniform rush around with hoses while another team works to get the ladder in position near one of the upper-floor windows. My body is shaking. What will happen to Liam, and to our friends?
An arm bands around my shoulders. It’s Cade pulling me into his side. “He’ll be ok,” he murmurs, his voice wavering slightly. “They’ll all be ok.”
I’m not sure if he’s saying it for my benefit or his own.
“Is he in there? Did you see him?” I don’t have to say his name. Cade knows.
“No, but it looks like everyone available was sent out today.”
My hands shake, and it’s all I can do to stay upright. The flames only seem to lick higher the longer we watch. The smell of smoke assaults my senses, creating an intense burning in my lungs. It's nothing compared to the fear coursing through my veins.
Part of the roof collapses inwards seconds before a man in a uniform comes out carrying an unconscious woman over his shoulder. He passes her off to the paramedics, and I get a glimpse of red hair—Cara. Paige gasps, and my entire body seizes.
When her rescuer turns, spotting me from across the road, time slows. The world around me quiets, and every bit of strength I had left vanishes. He’s wearing a mask, but I know it’s him. My whole body is begging me to go to him.
He shakes his head and barrels back into the building.
A scream tears from my throat, and my body jolts forward, but Cade holds me tighter.
My effort to get away is futile, and my words are a garbled mess. “I’m going to lose him!”
He releases Paige to wrap both arms around my waist, stopping me from running after him. “Breathe, Ruby. Let him do his job. You have to trust that he’ll do everything he can to come back to you.”
When I stop fighting, Cade loosens his grip, and I blow out a long, steadying breath. The smoke grows thicker as the flames die out, but Liam is still nowhere to be found. In a flurry of activity, another team enters the building.
Time passes in a blur until they bring out another woman who looks to be about my age. I don’t recognize her. She’s fully conscious and placed on a gurney.
Out of my periphery, I see them dragging out an unconscious and bloodied Dean. He’s wearing one of the masks, and Liam isn’t with him. My stomach roils, and a persistent ache settles heavy in my chest as my mind cycles through every possible outcome.
It feels like an eternity later when a firefighter carries out another man in uniform. He's limp, missing some of his gear, and there’s a shock of red hair barely visible beneath a layer of soot. I collapse to my knees. Violent sobs rack my body.
“Liam.” His name is a whisper on my lips. There’s a stinging in my knees from where I hit the pavement, and I can hardly see through the tears as a pair of strong arms lifts me off the ground.
“I’ve got you, sis.”
“Wilder?”
“I’m here. Rosie told me where to find you.”
I wrap my arms around his waist and hold on tight, watching as they load the man I love onto a gurney. The moment they wheel him toward the ambulance, I shove out of Wilder’s hold and barrel toward the truck, coughing against the onslaught of smoke.
“Please! That’s my…” I shake my head. “I just… I need to go with him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. We can’t—”
A powerful voice interrupts their dismissal. “Let her go.”
I turn to face the concerned gaze of Liam’s boss, Chief Grant, and he nods for me to climb inside the rig.
“Thank you,” I say, the words broken by my quiet sobs as the doors close.
During the short drive to the hospital, Liam’s clothes are cut open, and they attach various monitors to his body. He’s covered in soot and ash. There's a large gash over his forehead. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was asleep.
“Can I hold his hand?” I ask.
One of the paramedics nods as she hangs an IV bag. I clasp his hand between both of mine and rest my forehead on the side of the gurney. “Please, please be ok. I can’t live without you.”
Before long, the engine stops, and the doors are flung open. “We need you to let go now. You can find somewhere to sit in the waiting room, and someone will update you when they can.”
“Is he going to be ok?”
“We’re doing everything we can, ma’am. Your husband is a hero.”
“He’s not my—” Husband. “He is.”
Liam
“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!”
That voice. I know that voice. “Dean? Cara? Are you in here?”
The flames lick higher as I climb the rickety stairs.
The entire historical building is covered in wood trims and wallpaper, and it’s all going up in flames like tinder.
The smoke is so thick that I can’t see a foot in front of my face.
I head up another flight of stairs toward Dean’s apartment, climbing over a beam that’s blocking a portion of the landing.
In the distance, I hear the other team members clearing the rest of the building, but I’m too focused to care.
Lying in the hallway near the elevator doors are Cara and Dean, holding washcloths over their mouths.
Dean is pinned beneath a partially collapsed ceiling, and Cara is clinging to his hand, unconscious.
“Get her out of here, man.” He coughs, and in a scratchy voice, he says, “Please.”
These are my friends, but I have a job to do.
I speak calmly and clearly over the comms. “Engine 7241 to Command. We have located two victims in the third-floor corridor. Victim number one is unconscious but breathing. Victim number two is awake and speaking, pinned beneath fallen debris. Heavy smoke in the area, flames are nearing my location.”
I glance back at Dean. “I’ll come back for you.”
He coughs again, tears streaming down his cheeks.
A lump forms in my throat, but I can’t afford to get emotional right now. I need to get Cara out of here and come back for Dean. “Initiating rescue efforts on the unconscious victim.”
I drag her toward the stairs, but I can’t get her past the fallen beam, so I hoist her up my body into a fireman’s hold and carry her down. Seconds before we reach the door, there’s a loud crash. I don’t stop to see what’s happening. My sole focus is getting Cara to safety.
Once we’re outside, I pass her off to triage.
“I’ll send someone else in,” Chief says, looking me over.
“No. I promised I’d go back for him.”
“You’ve done enough, son. Let someone else go.”
“No. I gave him my word.” If something happens, I need to know I did everything I could. I turn to head back inside, but I’m stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes land on the woman standing in the parking lot across the street.
Ruby is here.
She takes a measured step in my direction, reaching out for me. I’m certain she has no idea she’s doing it. I shake my head, willing her to stay put. My heart is beating out of my chest with the need to go to her—to reassure her—but there’s no time.
I rush back into the building, only to find a portion of the stairway completely collapsed and a gaping hole in the side of the building leading out to a clear blue sky that is partially obscured by smoke and flames.
I make my way around what little of the stairs remain intact as my team urges me to stay down.
I made a promise and I intend to keep it.
When I reach the third-floor landing, I spot him. He’s covered in soot and barely conscious. His body is prone. Blood pools around his crushed leg.
The flames have overtaken the nearby apartment, and I won’t have long to move him. I lift some of the debris that’s keeping him pinned.
He wheezes, his eyes heavily lidded. “It’s ok, Liam,” he says. “Go.”