Stone raced towards the building and I followed, gulping and choking for air. It wasn’t from the smoke that was filling the air, it was from fear.
We both stopped abruptly as the heat from the engulfed building became too much. It felt like if I went any closer I would melt.
“Is anyone inside?” I said as I looked around. A loud noise escaped from my mouth before I was able to clap my hand over my mouth.
Parked at the side of the building were two bikes and I knew one of them was Pike’s. I felt helpless as the flames reached out for it.
“Ahhh! Fucking Henchmen,” Stone shouted as he punched the air. He started pacing back and forth looking like he might just run into the burning building. “Fuck!”
As the flame grew and swallowed more and more of the building, the gravity of the situation sunk in. Pike was inside. The whole building and everything inside would soon be turned into ash.
I took two awkward steps to the side before I fell to the ground and screamed. The tears streamed down my face.
My phone. I had to call for help. Maybe there was a chance he would be OK if I could get help here fast enough.
I took the phone out of my pocket but I couldn’t hold onto it. For some reason it felt slippery. It felt as though I was trying to hold onto a wet bar of soap.
Stone reached down and grabbed it from me. He quickly dialed for help. I could hear him talking to someone but I couldn’t understand any of the words. It was like he was speaking another language.
It wasn’t long after he dialed that I could hear the sirens in the distance. They were coming.
“Oh my God,” I cried out hitting my fists against the warm ground. My fingers stung from the impact of each blow.
I looked up at Stone. His eyes glowed with the same bright orange color of the flames.
The whole building was nearly engulfed. If there was anyone inside I was pretty sure they couldn’t survive what I was seeing.
The area around us was starting to get too hot, but I couldn’t really feel it. My body felt numb, but when I started coughing from the smoke, I knew we were too close.
Stone helped me off the ground and practically dragged me to a safer location. My heart couldn’t take any more of this. It was threatening to just give up.
With all of the ups and down it had been through over the last few days I couldn’t say I would blame it if it wanted to quit. I felt like giving up.
I was losing what I never even had a chance to have.
The lights from the fire trucks flashed against the trees and the buildings down the road. They were almost here.
But I could see… I knew that it was too late.
Chapter 18
I wiped at my face. My skin hurt as though I had been burned. I didn’t know if it was raw from all the tears I’d shed or if it had been an actual burn because of the heat from the burning building.
The sirens felt as though they were stabbing my brain. The world around me started to spin. It felt as though I was in a hazy nightmare and I couldn’t wake up. There was a shadowy figure walking around the side of the building and I didn’t even remember having seen a fireman run past me.
The figure that was moving slowly towards Stone and I was helping another person along. They were limping and grabbing onto the taller figure as though their life depended on it.
I blinked repeatedly trying to focus on the figures. It felt as though I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming. How much of any of this had been real? Maybe I never even turned around and came back to Greenwood Pass. Maybe I was at home asleep in my bed.
“Pike?” I whispered pointing at the tall shadowy figure. Somehow, through all the noises from the firetrucks, shouting and other noises, Stone must have heard me. He looked up and noticed them walking our way.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered sounding as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His voice cracked, “Pike? Dust?”
“Is it him?” I said pulling on Stone’s jeans. My eyes were wide as I looked up at him, begging for him to answer me with the words I wanted to hear. I wanted more than anything for him to tell me I wasn’t dreaming. “Is it really him?”
“It’s him,” he said before running away from me to help his friends away from the burning building.
I watched as they walked closer and closer to us. Pike’s face had several black streaks on it and he held his hand as though maybe he was hurt, or burned. His leather jacket looked as though it was melted but it was him. He was alive.
Pike and Stone helped Dust, who looked as though he was in far worse shape than Pike was. He’d suffered more severe burns and some kind of injury to his leg. He was biting his lip hard. It looked as though he wanted to scream out in agony.
“Over here,” Stone yelled out to someone behind me. Four men dressed in blue uniforms came rushing past me and quickly started tending to Dust. It was only a minute or so before they hoisted him up, set him down onto a stretcher and rolled him away towards a waiting ambulance.
Stone and Pike watched as they took their friend away. I stood up, and it wasn’t until that moment that Pike even noticed I was there.
He hadn’t expected to see me there. The look on his face was one of both surprise and happiness. Pike lowered his head and took two quick steps towards me, pulling me abruptly into his arms.
It almost looked as though he was going to cry, but I knew he wouldn’t. “Are you OK?” I asked sniffing as I gently lifted his hand that looked as though it had been burned.
“With you here, I feel better than ever before. Are you really even here or did I die in the explosion?”
I hugged his solid body, and he leaned down to kiss me. It was a kiss that verified that I had made the right choice. I was doing the right thing being here with him.
The paramedics circled around us and started asking Pike questions. They looked at the side of his face and his hand. They poked carefully at his melted leather jacket, but it hadn’t done any damage to the skin underneath.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he grumbled as he held onto me tighter.
“They are going to need to check you out at the hospital,” one of the paramedics said to him as though it was an order.
“Nah, I’ll be fine,” he said with a cough.
“Pike,” I said squeezing him around the middle. “You need to get checked out. Just to be sure.”
He lowered his head and reluctantly agreed. Pike tilted his head up towards the paramedic, “She’s coming with… if she wants to.”
I nodded.
“Of course,” the paramedic said walking along side of us, looking as though he expected Pike to change his mind.
I climbed into the ambulance behind Pike who refused to let go of my hand. It was like he was afraid I might just vanish into thin air if he didn’t hold onto me.
When we got to the hospital, he was led to his own little room to get checked out. A doctor came into the room after maybe twenty minutes to check over his minor burns.
The one on his hand was the worst, but they told him he’d heal just fine, but that it might scar. “You can take two Tylenol for the pain, but otherwise you’re fine. A nurse will bandage you up then you’ll be free to go.”
Pike and the doctor shook hands, then he left the room.
“I don’t want you to ever leave my side again,” Pike said gazing into my eyes. I could feel all of the love he had for me in that one, simple look.
“And I don’t ever want to leave your side. This is where I belong,” I said burying myself into his arms. I clutched onto him thinking about how close I had been to losing him. We embraced, holding on to one another as if the other was our oxygen and we needed each other to live. And in a way maybe we did.
But I didn’t want to think about what could have happened to him. He was lucky and even though this rivalry between the Brother’s Rebellion and The Wild Henchmen was far from over, Pike was alive. And we were together. We could figure everything else out later.
* *
*
When we were finally able to leave, we went back to his place. We talked about our plans and Pike insisted that I move in with him as soon as I felt comfortable. He didn’t want to be without me for another day and I didn’t want to be without him either.
I worried it was too soon to move in together, but he wanted to pick up where we had left off. People would talk… but did I even care?
“I believe with all my heart that we can make this work,” he said smiling at me as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my body into his.
“I hope you’re right,” I said biting my lip.
“What are you worried about? Never mind, don’t answer that,” he said with a smirk. I think he could guess.
I had a lot of worries. Mainly what my parents would do once they found out. And they would find out. I would tell them how it was going to be and if they didn’t like it, they never had to see me or talk to me again.
Of course I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it was time they accepted they couldn’t control my life forever. I wanted happiness and for me that included having Pike in my life.
If we both wanted it to work badly enough, we’d figure it out. And I was pretty sure it was what we both wanted with every ounce of our minds, bodies and souls.
I paced back and forth in his living room with my arms crossed. “What do I do about my job?” I asked him as though he had all the answers.
“Just don’t go back.”
“I can’t do that… I need money. I can call in sick tomorrow but I’ll have to go back,” I said nervously biting my fingernail.
“Stay here. You don’t have to go back to your job,” he said sitting down on the sofa and pulling me onto his lap.
“I can’t do that,” I said shaking my head. “All my stuff is back there too. I have to go back. I have to give them notice or something.”
He rubbed his hand up and down my arm, “You don’t have to give them notice. Just quit. We’ll get your stuff… what’s the rush? Please. Just stay here with me,” he kissed the side of my neck and I leaned into him.
“What about the club?”
“What about it?”
I frowned, “They hate me.”
“You hate them,” he countered with a half-grin. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain things. They’ll get it. They are my family.”
“I’m not sure.”
“Trust me. It’ll be fine… now, let’s go make this official.”
“And what do you mean by that exactly?” I said knowing exactly what he meant.
His hand was bandaged up, and he had a few scratches, but otherwise he was physically fine. He looked into my eyes, “Let me show you.”
Pike probably had a lot on his mind but I didn’t really want to know about those things. I’m sure finding out who caused the explosion and what they were going to do about it was at the top of his list. I figured the less I knew about that part of his life the better things would be. After all, they didn’t concern me. They probably even had rules about how much he could talk about with me.
He led me to the bedroom and closed the door behind us. I was going to stay here. In the morning I’d call in sick but after that I didn’t know exactly what I would do. Whatever I did, it was going to include Pike.
If I had to give up my job and live in Greenwood Pass to be with him, I would. If I had to accept the club into my life to be with him, I would. After all, he’d have to accept my parents depending on how much they’d even want to be a part of my life from now on. It would be up to them to decide how much or how little contact they would have with me.
For the rest of the night I didn’t think about my parents, or the club. I thought of Pike and me, and our future together. The thought of us together, forever made me feel very happy.
Epilogue
Pike and I stood on the porch watching the moving truck pull up to the curb. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. I don’t think he could have looked any happier than he did at that very moment.
He kissed the top of my head and I twisted my body so I could wrap my arms around his muscular body.
“I guess it’s official,” I said raising my eyebrow.
“Felt like it took forever, babe, but I’m glad you’re with me now,” Pike said nodding at one of the movers as if he knew him.
I shook my head but smiled. It had taken less than two weeks and I’d stayed with him every night, except for one, while I took care of things at my apartment.
“Have you told your parents your back yet?”
“No. Not yet. They still think I’m in the city. I’ve been avoiding my mom’s calls.”
He looked at me with serious eyes, “You’re going to have to tell her sooner or later. I’ll come with you if you want me to.”
“No, I know. Of course, and I will, but not yet. For all I know, she already knows. It wouldn’t surprise me considering,” I said letting my arms drop to my sides. “A lot of gossip in this town. Someone will surely mention the moving truck spotted at your house.”
“It would probably be better if she heard it from you,” Pike said gesturing at one of the movers. He quickly kissed my cheek, “I’ll be back. Hey! Be careful with that!”
The movers were loading everything into the garage until we could figure out how we wanted to arrange everything. We would have more stuff than there would be room in the house for all of it. Whatever we didn’t keep, we’d just have to sell.
Pike told me over and over again that his house was as much mine as it was his. I’ve been living with him for nearly two weeks and if I was being totally honest with myself, it felt like it was our house.
I sat down on the porch steps and watched the movers unload the truck. Pike stood off to the side of the driveway watching them with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked incredible, and I felt extremely lucky to have him after all this time.
After they finished unloading everything, Pike closed the garage door and walked over to me. He smiled at me and I was pretty sure I knew what he was thinking about.
Pike reached out for my hand and pulled me along. He opened the front door and led me to the living room.
“Wait right here,” he said stepping towards the hallway holding his palm up to stop me from following. “I’ll be right back.”
After a few seconds he came back into the living room. He swallowed hard and ran his hand through his hair, letting it fall around his face.
“I didn’t think I was going to feel this nervous,” he said with a small chuckle.
“Nervous about what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
Pike took a slow breath and then dropped down to one knee. He popped open a small black jewelry box and looked up at me.
“Oh. Oh wow. No way,” I said putting my hand over my mouth. I knew exactly what was about to happen and I already knew what I would say. “My parents will never come.”
I didn’t know if he had thought everything through. Even though it was amazing, and I was excited beyond belief, there was still the matter of my parents. It wasn’t like they’d ever be OK with any of this. But if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have to come.
“It doesn’t have to be a big deal. We can just go to the courthouse… it doesn’t matter as long as you say yes.”
I smiled, and he cleared his throat.
“Jamie, I love you so fucking much it hurts. No two people in this entire world were meant to be together more than we were. Will you make me the happiest man on the face of this earth? Will you be my wife?” He cleared his throat, “Jamie, will you marry me?”
I didn’t need a big wedding. Hell, I didn’t even need my parents to be there. I’d like it if they were but I didn’t need it. What I really wanted was to be with Pike forever and if anyone didn’t like it, well, that was their problem. Not ours.
“Well?”
“Oh God yes! I’ll marry you Hyde!” I said with a squeak. I dropped down to my knees and wrapped my arms around his
neck. “I want to be your wife more than anything. I think it’s what I’ve always wanted, but I was just too afraid. But I’m not afraid any more. As long as I’m with you, I don’t have anything to be afraid of.”
Pike reached out for my hand and smiled as he slid the ring on my finger. “Perfect.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said as it glimmered and sparkled.
“It was my grandma’s. No one ever thought I’d actually give it to anyone though. If you don’t like it, I can get you something else. I’m not even sure if it’s even an engagement ring,” he said with a shrug.
“It so doesn’t matter, but I can’t take this.”
He crossed his arms, “Of course you can. I want you to have it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I couldn’t be more sure.”
We hugged so hard no one could have ripped us apart. A wave of excitement and happiness like I’ve never felt before jolted through my entire body. Pike kissed me like never before and I melted into him.
He was going to be my husband. I couldn’t stop smiling.
“When is the soonest you’d feel comfortable heading to the courthouse?” he said his lip curling up on one side, but I believed his question was a serious one. If I would have said I was ready at that very moment, he would have dropped everything and drove us there. I was almost sure of it.
“Well we should talk to my parents, but then whenever you’re ready,” I said smiling back. I didn’t want to delay things any longer than we already had. We had missed out on so many years together. It felt as though we had to make up for lost time.
We would be together forever. I loved him. And I knew he loved me.
For the first time in my entire life… everything was perfect.
* * *
I twisted the ring on my finger and watched it sparkle as it caught a glint of sunlight. It’s been two years since Pike gave me this ring and I don’t think I’ve taken it off since.
Revenge - A Second Chance, First Time Romance Page 26