Chapter 49 Lainey
Lainey
My lungs are on fire.
FIRE.
Panic races along every nerve ending in my body.
The smoke.
I am choking on the smoke.
I can’t breathe.
There are lights, so bright that I can’t really open my eyes. I hear shouts, feel cool hands on my skin. One voice calls out to me, calming me, pulling me from my panic.
Remington.
I cough, gag. Pain lances my throat as someone removes the tube that was helping me breathe.
I gag and gasp as it clears my lips quickly.
Tears sting my eyes, and I blink them away.
The brightness of the hospital room lights shimmer into focus, but there is only one thing I want to see, one person.
Turning my aching neck to the left I see him.
“Hi.” My voice is a hollow rasp. Sandpaper and pain.
“Thank fuck,” Remington cries out. His arms are around me as soon as the doctor gives him a nod, his face buried in my neck, and he weeps.
His hot tears run down my neck, and we hold on to each other.
My own tears burn my sore eyes, but I welcome it knowing that it means I am here, alive, whole.
Complete in the arms of the man that not only loves me but saved my life—because I know without a doubt, without even knowing the story, that he was the one to pull me from the flames.
Leaning back, Remington ever so gently kisses my lips, like he’s afraid of breaking me. I press my forehead to his, letting a shiver ripple down my spine, feeling calm for the first time since before this tragedy tried to take everything from us.
“You smell smokey,” I whisper, my voice too tired and damaged to be any louder.
“I’m so sorry. I know I am gross, but I couldn’t leave you, baby, not even for a minute.” He lifts my hand, kissing the back of it.
I look at his eyes, the gorgeous honeyed-amber that I love so much is soaked in worry, red irritation, exhaustion, and pain. “How long have I been here?” I whisper.
“You are in the county ICU. You’ve been out for more than twenty-four hours.” Remington swallows hard, lines of worry creasing his brow.
“Are you okay?”
“Baby, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.” He leans in, kissing my temple.
“I will always worry about you, comes with the job. Signed a secret contract when I became your girlfriend.” He smirks at me, happy to see that I’m still here, still me.
“Ash!” I shout in a panic and then grip my neck at the ripping pain that caused my lungs and throat.
Remington gets a cup of water with a straw from the bedside table, encouraging me to take small sips. “He’s okay. Eli saved him. Took him to the vet, who said he needs rest, but he’s gonna be just fine. The Ryders are looking after him for now.”
I sink into my pillow, so relieved that our precious puppy was spared. “I wish I could see him. He must have been so scared,” I whisper as more tears spill down my face.
“I promise we will see him soon. Jess can send us some pictures while we are here, okay? Puppies are resilient little things. He is going to get lots of love and attention. We will make sure he’s fine.”
Remington runs his strong fingers through my hair, but it’s not the comfort I want. That’s when I realize I have a bandage on my face—remember the flames licking my skin. The burning, the pain, the smell. I reach up, wincing when I feel the cloth-covered area.
“I know, beautiful, I know,” Remington says, his voice full of sadness, like not touching me the way we are used to is killing him as much as it is me.
“You have a second-degree burn, borderline third, there and on your neck. The doctor said there will be some scarring, but he is hopeful you won’t need surgery. ”
I close my eyes, taking in his news. “Is it stupid to feel sad about that? I should be thankful. It could have been so much worse, should have been so much worse, Remington.”
“Lainey, you can feel any way you need to feel about all of this. But I can tell you right now, once you are healed? A scar on your face won’t stop me from touching you there .
. . kissing you there. That line along your jaw?
I ran my finger there for the first time, and I swear to you it was like an invisible string that connected right to my damn heart.
I love every inch of you, but that is like a magnet, a comfort, a high.
I refuse to let that fire take it from us, baby. Okay?”
Smiling at him, basking in his love and perfect confession, I just nod.
After that, more doctors and nurses come to check on me.
I learn exactly how close I came to dying on our bedroom floor, breaking down in tears at the news that this was not an accidental fire.
Sadness and shock roll over Remington and I as he tells me about what happened to Cora.
As much as I hated the woman, I certainly didn’t want her life to end like that.
It’s heartbreaking for her and her family.
A new blanket of fear settles over my shoulders when I look out my hospital door and see the uniformed officer standing guard and reality hits me.
Someone burned down our house.
Someone tried to kill me.
Kendra came to see me, crying nearly her whole visit and leaving me with a bag of her essentials from her home and clothes from Jess since she’s taller and more my size.
Sutton called us on FaceTime so I could see Kinsley.
Jess kept sending us a stream of photos and updates about Ash.
Her boys were over the moon to have a dog in the house, and Matt said they were already begging to have one of their own once they have to return Ash to us.
Remington’s parents were next. Both looked haunted, worried, and relieved to see that I was finally awake. Renee wanted to stay and mother me, but Remington sent them home. I was happy to see everyone but exhausted.
Eli came earlier with much needed clothes for Remington, toiletries, all the essentials he could think of. He has been handling so many things for us, I honestly don’t know what we’d do without him.
“Please go shower, I’ll be right here when you get back,” I beg Remington.
He looks at me suspiciously, like I might melt into the pillow or evaporate into the air if he doesn’t keep his gorgeous gaze on me at all times.
“I have a babysitter.” I motion to the officer outside my door.
“I really, really want you to climb up onto this bed and hold me, sleep with me. But I won’t let you if you are a smokey mess.
” I wrinkle my nose. “Plus, you are exhausted from your heroics and bedside vigil. A long, hot shower will feel good on your body,” I whisper.
“You know what else would feel good on my body,” Remington says smugly, moving closer.
“Nope.” I toss up my hand, halting his progress. “Shower, then you can touch me. Maybe I will convince the nurse to let you be the supervisor of my next shower when they finally let me out of this bed again? At least you aren’t stuck here.”
“How can I say no to that?” He smiles, kissing the top of my head, finally clean after a lovely older female nurse helped me with my own shower earlier—Remington nervously hovering barely outside the door the entire time.
“I will be so fast, don’t fall asleep without me,” he demands playfully.
“Okay.” I hum, sinking back into the pillow, shutting my eyes, missing our bed. Missing our house. Pain gutting me to my core, knowing that place is just a pile of smoldering rubble, a crime scene now.
I hear the door click. My eyes blink sluggishly open, heavy from being almost asleep. When I look to the side of the bed expecting to see Remington, shock has me sitting up straight to find my brother, Calvin, at the foot of my bed.
“Cal?” I rasp out, pain shooting down my strained body. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh God! Lainey, I was so worried when I heard what happened. I came right away. Are you okay?” he asks, moving up the side of the bed, closer to me.
“I will be, yes. But I don’t understand. How did you know I was here?”
“Mom, of course. She called to tell me about the fire, that the house burned down. I can’t believe it. It’s a miracle you are alive.” He reaches out for my hand, but I pull back.
I glance at the door, a sick feeling twisting not only my stomach, but my very soul. The police officer that was on guard is no longer standing at my door.
Where could he have gone?
“When did you talk to Mom?” I whisper.
“Right after you were brought in, she’s on your emergency contact form.”
He is lying. I know he’s lying because my emergency contacts, in order, are Remington, Kendra, and now Renee as of a few months ago. I changed them after the night Remington found me on the bathroom floor.
I think I am going to be sick.
“I appreciate you coming to check on me, but as you can see, Cal, I will make a full recovery.” I motion to my body.
Calvin’s eyes flicker with a cold malice that he’s apparently masked expertly our entire lives.
I knew he was never fond of me, that he was not a good person, but I didn’t think he was capable of actual evil, but that is all that is reflected in his gaze now.
That’s the terrifying thing about masks, some people are so good at crafting them, wearing them, that when you live in such close proximity to them for so long it’s only when you walk away, gain distance and perspective, you start to see them slip to reveal the real monster lurking underneath.
“What a shame that is, isn’t it?” He snarls, leaning into my space.
Sweat slicks down my back. I have no place to run, nowhere to hide from the hate oozing off of him. Slowly, he walks across the room and closes all the blinds granting a view into the hallway.
“What did you do?” I plead.
“I did what any good son would do. Dad needed me to get you to fall in line, comply, and you fucking wouldn’t.
As usual. So I decided that if he couldn’t have you by his side in the flesh, he could have you in spirit.
Sympathy is just as powerful in politics.
And driven by tragedy?” He chuckles darkly.
“Well, that’s something that could inflame his whole political platform.
” His grin was twisted, sick, proud of this awful plan.
“Killing your own sister?” I say, a stinging tear rolling free.
“You were never really part of our family. It was just supposed to be me. I was all they needed. All you ever were was a mistake, a disappointment. I had to tolerate you, same as Dad. Now I can be the one standing by his side, like it was always meant to be.”
“I was never going to be by his side, so what does it matter!” I try to raise my voice but it just trembles.
“That’s the fucking point, Lainey. He wanted you, too. And I only want it to be me.”
Stepping even closer this time, he strikes out fast, like the snake he is, wrapping both of his hands around my neck.
Cal is only a few inches taller than me, and by looking at him you would think he would be weak, but his rage is making him strong.
I claw at his fingers, but he just grips harder.
My tired, smoke-addled body can’t fight back like normal.
My eyes roam to the door, praying the officer is there again, will look in here and see this fucked-up family reunion.
“Oh, he’s not there,” Calvin hisses. “Sent him on a nice, long coffee break. On my very generous tip, of course. How could he resist? No cop likes babysitting duty. And I assured him that you’d be safe—I am your brother, after all.”
His disgusting grin and wild, beady eyes are the last things I see before his wrath pulls me back into darkness.