“I’m so sorry I put you through that. I didn’t even think how it would affect you after the fire you were in. I’m a selfish prick who just wanted to hear your voice. I’m so sorry.”
“No. Don’t say that. You did exactly what I wanted you to. If I only had one last chance to speak to you, don’t you think I’d want to take it? You did the right thing.”
The knot in my chest dissolved with her absolution, but still I clung to her as tightly as she did to me. She was in my arms and I was safe. It was a hug that meant everything.
“I’m sorry to break this up, but you need to finish your medical check-up Tommy, and then we need to get you back to the station for a de-brief,” I could hear the hesitation in Houston’s voice, but she was right. No matter what had happened, I was still on the job.
“Do you think someone could make sure that Evie gets home okay?” I asked, reluctantly pulling away from her.
“No, it’s fine. Nikki drove us here and the girls are all waiting for me. They’ll make sure I get home.”
“I won’t be back until the morning, but will you stay at the flat?” I asked, knowing the only place I wanted to go when my shift ended, was to bed with my girl.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there,” she replied, and reaching up on her tip toes, gave me a quick kiss before leaving.
“Evie?” I called out, and she looked behind her.
“I’m gonna to be asking that question again real soon, so you’ll be needing to work on an answer.”
“Don’t worry,” she replied, not giving anything away. “I already have it.”
“I like her,” Houston said to me, as we watched Evelyn walking until she disappeared into the crowd. “She keeps you on your toes.”
“You think she’ll say yes?” I asked, knowing the whole watch had probably heard my proposal and would no doubt be giving me shit about it for the next few weeks.
“Less than an hour ago you nearly died, and this is what you’re worrying about?”
“It’s because I nearly died less than an hour ago that I know there’s nothing more important,” I replied, letting her drag me back to the ambulance. A call came through on Houston’s radio before I could coax her into telling me what I wanted to hear. She wandered off to take it and returned with a serious look on her face.
“You up to giving a statement to the police about what happened tonight?” she asked me.
“Yeah. No problem. What’s going on?”
“The police have a suspect in custody. They think they know who’s been starting all these fires.” It was as much information as I got from her, before the guys discovered where we were, and descended on the ambulance. Which was precisely the moment the paramedic totally lost her shit.
Chapter Twenty-Two
EVELYN
If I thought my evening couldn’t be any more dramatic, I’d be wrong. By the time I left Tommy, I was utterly and completely exhausted. Crashing from the stress of the last few hours and the relief of knowing that he was alright. That not one of the girls had left, despite Em and Marie having babies to get home to, was testament to how amazing these ladies were.
“He’s okay. He’s safe,” was the first thing I blurted out, when I spotted the girls standing together in the crowd, behind the police cordon.
“Thank God,” Em replied, rubbing her heart as though it actually hurt. Without thinking I wrapped my arms around her as comfort. She hugged me back so tightly, I knew we both needed it. Emily was like a little sister to Tommy and I knew how close the bond was between them.
“What happened?” she asked, as she pulled back to face me.
“Do you mind listening in when I explain to Tommy’s mam? She must be going out of her mind,” I said.
“Of course! Con, Kieran and his mum are with her now. She and John wanted to come down, but the boys talked her out of it. They didn’t want her witnessing the fire first hand if something bad happened to Tommy,” she explained.
“That’s really good of them, but poor Mary must be tearing her hair out waiting for news. Do you have her number?” I asked.
“Here,” Marie said, thrusting her phone towards me. The phone was already dialling.
“Hey Irish. Give me some good news baby. Mary is breaking her heart here and I don’t know what to tell her,” Kieran said, mistaking me for Marie as the call connected.
“Kieran, it’s Evelyn. I’m calling from Marie’s phone. Tommy is fine. They managed to get him out safely, but can I speak to Mary please. I need to let her know he’s okay.”
“Fuck, I needed to hear that,” Kieran replied, exhaling heavily. “Thanks Ev. I’m putting Mary on now.”
“Evelyn? Is that you? Is my little boy okay? Have you spoken to him? He’s not answering his phone and nobody at any of the stations I’ve called will tell me anything. Everyone is stopping me from coming down and I’m going to hurt somebody if I don’t find out what’s happening soon! All they told me is that he was trapped but asking for you on the radio. Then I panicked because I didn’t have your number, and I’ve been kicking myself all night that I didn’t take it when you came for dinner.” Mary paused, fractionally, to take a breath and I jumped in there before she could get herself any more worked up.
“Mary he’s safe. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He was getting checked over by the paramedics as a precaution but he seems absolutely fine,” I reassured her.
“Oh, thank God,” she whispered, her voice cracking as she allowed the truth of my words to sink in.
“As far as I can make out, the fire was in a completely different part of the building. Tommy’s team were evacuating the flats when the fire spread to the top floor. Part of the roof collapsed taking out the staircase and Tommy was separated from the rest of his watch. They escaped, but they had to bring in a big aerial platform from another station and use it to make a hole in the outside wall so they could get him out,” I explained.
“But you’re sure he’s safe? Have you spoken to him in person or was it over the radio? Because if it was over the radio it might be fake. This fire is all over the news and he could still be trapped in there but they’re pretending that he’s out because they don’t want us worrying or questioning what’s going on,” she rambled. I wasn’t quite sure where her level of paranoia was coming from, but I guess stress did strange things to some people.
“I promise you he’s out Mary and he’s not going back in. I held him in my arms less than ten minutes ago. He asked me to marry him.”
The line went quiet, and I realised it was the only time I’d ever heard Mary Riordon lost for words. I had no idea why I’d blurted that out. It was entirely possible that Tommy had said it in the heat of the moment and that he didn’t mean it at all, and if that was the case I was going to look like a prize idiot in front of his friends. But saying it out loud made it feel real. Reminded me that, even if he took them back later on, he’d said those words and had been thinking about me as his wife.
“Holy shit! Tonight has been like the best episode of the best soap opera I’ve ever seen!” Nikki said, breaking the tension a little.
“What did you say to him?” she asked, and all the girls looked at me expectantly with big smiles spread across their faces.
“Well?” Mary prompted.
“Um I didn’t say anything. The battery on his radio cut out before I had a chance to reply, and after he was rescued he didn’t mention it, so I don’t know if he means it, or if it was just something he threw out when he thought he was going to die,” I admitted.
“Of course he meant it,” Mary said with huff, as though the idea of anything else was quite ridiculous. “Now when would be the best time for a wedding? How about March? Having it in the same month as St Patrick’s Day would be a good omen, and I do love a Spring wedding. We’ll be more than a little tight on time, but with a bit of planning and organisation, I’m sure we could pull it off.”
“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t…I haven’t given him an answer and he hasn�
�t really even asked me properly. I really don’t think it counts if you ask someone but you think you’ll be dead soon so you don’t really have to follow through with it, so maybe it’s a little early to start planning anything,” I responded, absolutely stunned that Mary could go from near hysteria to wedding planning in the space of a couple of sentences. Seeing my predicament, and taking pity on me, Em gestured for me to hand over the phone. When I did, she took it off loudspeaker.
“Hi Mary, it’s Emily. How’s my husband doing?” I could hear the high pitched chatter down the line although I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Well thanks for looking after both of them for me. You know how scared for Tommy Kieran and Con were and I’m just glad they had you there to support them,” she said after a while.
“Don’t worry. We’re taking good care of Evelyn. She’s pretty exhausted after everything that’s happened so we’re going to take her home now.
“Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll pass the message on and I’m sure Tommy will call you as soon as he can.”
Hearing a one-sided conversation was a little odd, but Em knew exactly how to handle Mary, and I was so grateful.
“Yes. Absolutely. A cup of tea will do wonders for your nerves. Yes. Take care Mary. I love you too.” Em hung up, and handed the phone back to Marie.
“Thank you so much. If I don’t know why I told her that and I had no idea how to handle the situation once it escalated,” I confessed.
“Don’t worry. You’ll figure out how to handle her. She may be a little full on, but Mary has a heart of absolute gold. And you didn’t do anything wrong by telling her what Tommy had said. Even if he hadn’t proposed, she was thoroughly invested from the minute you and Tommy started dating,” Em replied.
“You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d already drawn up a list of potential names for your kids,” Marie added.
“Leave her alone,” Em scolded, nudging Marie with her elbow. “She’s joking,” she added to me. “Mary is a little full on sometimes, but she really is the loveliest person in the world and nobody can handle her like Tommy can. She’ll settle down after she gets to speak to him.” Em smiled at me reassuringly, but Nikki and Marie were still grinning like fools.
“You know Marie will sort you out with a great discount on your wedding dress,” Nikki said.
“Guys! I am not getting married!” I protested. Em rolled her eyes at the girls’ antics and hooked her arm through mine as we headed to where I assumed they’d parked.
“Whatever you say,” Marie replied, but it didn’t stop her and Nikki from humming Here Comes the Bride all the way back to the car.
By the time they dropped me home, it was nearly 2am. It was funny that I didn’t even live at the apartment, yet still considered it home. Since Tommy and his friends had decorated a few weeks ago, I was slowly moving more of my things in. Tommy wasn’t subtle about encouraging it either. He used the bathroom at Joe’s once, and the next day I found that he’d bought me the exact brand of shampoo, conditioner, electric toothbrush and toothpaste I always used, just to keep at his flat. In fact, I spent so much of my time there, Joe had abandoned the sofa and gone back to sleeping in his own room.
My clothes were evenly split between two places, but every time I mentioned the idea of taking them back to Joe’s with me, Tommy scoffed and found a ton of reasons why I should bring over the rest. He knew why I wouldn’t though. As much as I loved playing house together, I would never fully move in unless we were married. It was an old fashioned way of thinking, but it was just how I was built.
“Come on. We’ll walk you in,” Em said as we pulled up outside.
“Don’t be silly,” I protested. “The front door is right there.” I pointed to the main entrance door to the building, which wasn’t more than twenty feet away. “It’s ridiculously late and you guys have families to get home to. You’re going to be up at the crack of dawn with the kids as it is.”
“Rub it in why don’t you,” Nikki joked. “It’s not like I have any cute babies to show off or a man at home warming my bed.”
“So, Kieran must be wrong then?” Marie said, smirking.
“What are you talking about?” Em replied, sensing a bit of juicy gossip in the air.
“Well, he keeps in touch with your friend Ryan from university Em. Anyway, they were on the phone the other day and Ryan mentioned that he was between business trips for a month and staying in Canary Wharf. Thing is, there’s only one other person we know in Canary Wharf, but I guess Kieran was clutching at straws, huh?”
Nikki’s face flushed red, and it was the first time I’d ever seen her blush.
“Fuck the pair of you,” Nikki responded, giving them both the finger without bothering to turn around. The pair of them collapsed into a fit of laughter, rocking the back of the car. I had no idea who Ryan was, but I guessed it was a sensitive subject for Nikki, so I left it alone.
“Thanks again for everything tonight. You’ve been amazing,” I told her, and meant every word. It was only the first time we’d met, but she was so easy to talk to, I felt like I’d known her and the other girls for years.
“You’re more than welcome Ev. It was great to meet you and I’m glad everything worked out with Tommy. Don’t forget my invite to the wedding,” she said. I rolled my eyes, but smiled at her teasing.
“See you all soon,” I said, getting out of the car.
“We’ll wait here until you’re through the door,” she said, and I appreciated her looking out for me.
“Bye Ev,” the girls added, keeping their voices hushed in deference to the late hour.
“Bye, and thanks again,” I responded, waving back at them after letting myself in through the main door. Shutting it behind me, I thought it was odd that the hallway lights were off. I figured in a communal space they’d be left on all night, but then again, I’d never got home this late before so maybe they were on a timer. Still, the street lamps outside let in more than enough light to see by. My foot was on the first step when I realised that something wasn’t right. The goose bumps of fear that rippled across my skin were the only warning I had before I was grabbed from behind.
A sharp scream escaped me, before a meaty hand clamped tight over my mouth.
“Make one more fucking sound, and I’ll stick something in that whore mouth of yours that’ll have you gagging so hard you won’t be able to breathe, let alone scream.”
I was so terrified, I froze completely, unable to do anything more than stop myself from hyperventilating. After a few seconds, the synapses in my brain began to fire again, allowing me to notice things. The voice in my ear had been Irish, and if the smell was anything to go by, he’d had a lot to drink. But even if that meant my reflexes were quicker than his, he was huge, and from the grip he had on me, I wasn’t going anywhere soon.
“Good girl,” he replied, taking my catatonic state as compliance. “You like being told what to do, don’t you?” Given that he’d ordered me to stay quiet, I was guessing the question was rhetorical. When he unclasped his hand, I felt a momentary sense of relief that he was letting me go. My reprieve was short-lived and I stifled another scream, when he grabbed me around the throat and pulled me tight against his body.
“You like that, don’t you?” he asked, grinding his erection into by buttocks. I whimpered in revulsion, glad that Marie had made me pull some leggings on over my shorts. It was a small measure of protection against his invasion, but it was something.
“Yeah, you like that,” he said. My fear was as tangible as it was uncontrollable, and any sob or cry seemed to make him more aroused.
“All those years I watched you, I had you pegged all wrong. I thought you were such a good girl. Beautiful red hair, quiet, likes church. I thought to myself that you’d make a fine wife. In a way Tommy Riordon did me a favour. Better to find out now you’re a whore, than later. I wasted years waiting on the right time to ask you out. Now you’re gonna pay me back for all that pointless time by
doing what whores do best.”
If he’d loosened his hold on my throat even a little, I would’ve vomited. Right at the moment I realised Declan Murphy was going to rape me.
“No!” I cried out as loud as I could, but he knocked the air out of me when he dragged me off the step and threw me against the wall. One hand wrapped itself back around my throat and squeezed, while the other roughly pulled at the waistband of my leggings.
I fought. As hard as I could. Pushing against the wall to close the distance between us so that he couldn’t get at my clothes. Kicking the wall to make noise. Anything to attract the attention of one of the residents. The harder I fought, the harder he squeezed. Grunting the whole time like he was enjoying my resistance.
Finally. When I’d just about given up all hope, I heard the rattle of a chain and a door opened.
“Who’s there?” The voice was old and frail. It made sense that most of the ground floor flats would be occupied by the elderly, but when I heard the lady speak, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. If he’d hurt her because of me, I’d never have forgiven myself. I wanted to call out and warn her, but his grip around my throat was like iron.
“Fuck off and mind your own business, you noisy old bat,” Declan spat. The door slammed shut and the chain rattled once again, leaving me alone in the dark with a monster.
“I’m calling the police.” Her words were a gift that saved me.
“This isn’t over. I want what’s owing to me and there’s nothing that little bitch Tommy or the old man can do about it,” he whispered, before letting me go, only to shove me hard into the wall. I turned around, as he let himself out of the main door and I threw my weight behind it until the lock clicked. I only hoped he’d slipped in with another resident and that he didn’t have a key.
“Did you really call the police?” I asked the darkness.
“No. Do you want me too?” Asked the voice of my saviour.
The Fire (Hurricane Book 4) Page 20