Ignite

by Karen Erickson

  “No.” Delilah sniffed, tears sliding down her dirty cheeks and leaving visible tracks. “You’re the first person I’ve found.” She hauled Harper back into her arms, holding her close, and Harper let her.

  “We’ll be fine. We’ll find her. Everything’s going to be fine.” She smoothed her hand over Delilah’s hair, trying to soothe her.

  Hoping like crazy that she was speaking the truth.

  “COME ON, MAN. We’ll find them. There’s a large group of people out back by the dock. Maybe the girls are with them,” Lane suggested, turning West around and leading him out of the building.

  Misery settled low in his gut as he tried to put on a brave face and ordered his crew to start mopping up. All he could think about was Harper. What if the girls weren’t there? Christ, he hadn’t seen Harper in days. Hadn’t held her, kissed her . . .

  Regret slammed into him like a fist, making his stomach twist and churn. His job kept him away most of the time and he didn’t mind. He usually preferred it because if he was working, at least he was doing something and getting paid. But now, thinking of Harper, how she could be hurt and he hadn’t seen her in so long . . .

  Fuck, he didn’t know what he’d do if something had happened to her. He’d never forgive himself.

  Without a word, they went outside and around to the back of the building, heading down toward the dock. Lane remained silent, and West was damn thankful.

  He had to find Harper, see her with his own eyes, hold her in his arms. Once he found her, would he be able to let her go?

  No.

  The overwhelming realization didn’t even faze him.

  “Where’s Wren?” he finally asked Lane as they drew closer to the dock.

  “With Holden. He’s on the other engine. You didn’t see him?” Lane glanced in his direction.

  West shook his head, increasing his pace. “How can you be so damn calm?” He felt like his nerves were doing a jig in his veins. His entire body was shaking, though he was doing his damnedest to appear otherwise.

  “I’m just trying to do my job,” Lane said quietly, his gaze everywhere as he took in all the people standing in small groups, huddled against each other as the temperature dropped along with the sun. Crickets chirped. The water lapped against the shore. Just another early summer night in Wildwood with the acrid scent of smoke in the air and the quiet sobs of panicked people whose lives had just flashed before their eyes.

  Yeah. West wasn’t usually prone to dramatics, but he was feeling pretty melodramatic at this particular moment. If he didn’t find Harper soon . . .

  “Lane!” The familiar sound of Delilah’s voice had them both turning. There she was. Her dark hair was a wild tangle about her head, her face was smudged and her eyes were red and watery, but otherwise she was alive. “Oh my God!”

  Delilah ran toward them but Lane was faster. He met her halfway and gathered Delilah into his arms, his mouth at her temple as he crushed her against him.

  West felt a smidgen of relief, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Where the hell was Harper?

  “You’re here.”

  West whirled around, his heart dropping to somewhere in the vicinity of his toes when he found Harper standing in front of him. Her white shirt was streaked and dirty and there was a bloody, angry scratch on her forehead, but otherwise she looked good.

  She looked alive.

  “I’m here,” he croaked just before he pulled her into his arms and held her as close as he could get her. He tangled his fingers in her soft hair, pressing her face against his chest as he closed his eyes and breathed deep, saying a little prayer of thanks that he’d found her safe and sound. He wasn’t a religious person, not by a long shot, but he was so grateful he couldn’t help it. “God, Harper, it just about destroyed me when Lane said they couldn’t find you.”

  “Is Wren okay?” she asked, pulling away slightly so she could look at him, her eyes welling up with tears.

  “Yeah, baby. Wren’s fine. She’s out front with Holden.” He smoothed his hand over her hair, pushing it away from her face. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, and then pressed her face against his chest once again. “I got separated from everyone. Wren and Delilah. They were all pushing and shoving to get out of there and I lost my shoe. Almost fell down the stairs, but I somehow got out. It was so scary.” Her voice was muffled against his chest and he kissed her forehead, trying not to touch the scratch there. “I only just found Delilah a couple of minutes ago. I think she almost squeezed me to death when she hugged me.”

  That she was trying to make a joke during a time like this was sort of unbelievable. But people did strange things when they’d had a traumatic experience. He’d seen it firsthand time and again. “You need medical attention.” West put his hands on her shoulders and pulled away so he could examine her carefully. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hurt anywhere, West, I swear. I’m fine.”

  “You have a cut on your forehead.” He stepped closer, examining it. It wasn’t too deep, but it was ugly and would probably hurt once the adrenaline wore off. “I can take you back to the engine and look at it myself. There are ambulances on site too if you’d rather have an EMT take care of you.”

  “I’m fine.” She threw herself at him, her arms coming around his waist, her face muffled against his chest once again. “I freaked out so bad, West. When I couldn’t find the girls, I didn’t know what to do. I was crying, thinking that was the last time I’d ever see them.” She sniffed and he knew she was crying, which broke his hard-as-hell heart. He hadn’t thought anyone could sneak past it, but somehow, Harper managed to. “Wren was so mad at me and Delilah right before it all happened. We got into a fight and we were leaving when the fire broke out.”

  “Wait a minute.” He pulled her away from him again, staring into her eyes. “Why was Wren mad at you?”

  Her expression instantly became guilt-ridden and she dropped her gaze. “I told her about . . . us.”

  He blinked. “She knows?”

  Harper had asked him during one of their earlier phone conversations not to mention they were seeing each other to anyone else in the family besides Lane and he’d respected her wishes. Even though it ate him up inside, thinking she might be . . . what? Ashamed of him?

  But now here she was telling Wren the truth. Could she want more from him? Could she actually want a real relationship? Being with her now, knowing that she was safe, made what they were doing seem more serious. More real. Though it had always been real with Harper. He was never just messing around with her.

  “You know I’d been keeping it from her. I figured we both had our secrets and I thought I was okay with it. But it started to eat at me. I never keep secrets from Wren. She’s my best friend and I didn’t want her to find out what was going on from someone else. I felt I owed her an explanation, you know? That she needed to hear the truth from me.”

  “Okay,” he said slowly, wondering why it was such a big deal to him. Yeah, he had his secrets, but he’d known that if he kept seeing Harper, eventually it would’ve gotten out anyway. And he’d expect their friends and family to be happy for them. Or so he’d hoped.

  “She’s always said how much she hated it when her friends became interested in her brothers. Girls used her just to get closer to you and Lane and even Holden,” Harper explained.

  He knew about it. Had dumped a couple of girls back in high school when they were dumb enough to tell him what they’d done to Wren. He would never let anyone treat his sister badly, especially a girl who was just trying to get with him. “So Wren knows about us, but she’s not happy about it?”

  Harper shrugged. “She didn’t seem happy when I told her. Though for some reason she got even angrier at Delilah.” She winced. “I told her that Delilah had a thing for Lane too. Delilah got mad at me.”

  “I doubt she’s mad anymore.” West looked over to where Lane still stood with Delilah. They were all wrapped up in each other t
oo. They even looked like a couple, though he’d bet money Lane would deny he had feelings for Delilah. He was stubborn. Hell, all the Gallaghers were. Even Wren.

  “You’re not mad I told your sister, are you?” Harper’s face crumpled. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make such a mess of this. Now I’ve turned it into this big deal and it’s so not.”

  “It’s fine.” He hugged her yet again, not able to stop himself from holding on to her, though her words still stung.

  It wasn’t a big deal to her? Why did hearing her say those words hurt so much? Is that how she really felt? Or was she just saying that? Only moments ago he’d thought she’d been truly hurt or . . . worse. Just the idea of her in pain had devastated him.

  He didn’t want to let her go. Fuck all that summer fling nonsense. He knew it was good between him and Harper. He wanted something real.

  But did she?

  “Listen, I know my timing is for shit, but I need to get back to work,” he told her, hating the disappointment that crossed her pretty face. “Gotta check on my crew. I’m still on duty. I just—I had to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine. Really.” She bent her head, plucked at the front of his shirt. “I promise. I’m just glad to see you.”

  “I’m really fucking glad you’re alive.” He cupped her cheek, tilted her face up so her gaze met his. He skimmed his thumb across her skin, smudging the soot there. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  She smiled tremulously. “I was scared too.”

  He stroked her cheek again, wishing he could kiss her, but he didn’t. There were people everywhere and he was, as he told her, on duty. “Come with me to the parking lot. I’ll have someone check out your wound and bandage you up,” he said, taking her hand.

  HARPER LET WEST lead her back up to the parking lot of the restaurant, Delilah and Lane just behind them. Harper’s nose wrinkled at the lingering smoke in the air. She was exhausted, her head hurt, and her eyes burned. But she was so incredibly glad her hand was in West’s. He kept looking back at her, as if to reassure himself that she was with him, and she offered him a shy smile, wondering what could be possibly going through that mysterious brain of his.

  She knew what was going through hers. Finding herself alone among the chaos, her friends nowhere in sight, she’d firmly believed something horrible had happened to Wren and Delilah.

  Thank God they were all right.

  And she was still shaky, her fingers trembling as West tightened his grip on them. She released a shuddery breath when West introduced her to the two EMTs who sat her down on the back end of the ambulance and started checking out her head wound. She didn’t know when she got hurt, hadn’t realized the cut was even there until West had pointed out.

  “Luckily, you won’t need stitches,” the EMT said as she probed at the skin around the cut. She’d told Harper her name was Laura. “We can clean the wound up, put a butterfly bandage on it and you’ll be good as new.”

  “Will it scar?” She didn’t mean to sound vain, but she didn’t want a big jagged scar slashed across her forehead.

  “Somewhat but nothing major. The butterfly bandage should bring the skin close enough together to ensure it won’t be a bad scar.” Laura smiled, her gaze warm. Kind. “You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt worse.”

  “I don’t even know how it happened.” Harper winced when Laura started to dab ointment onto the wound. “Is everyone else okay? They found everyone, right?” She really hoped they did.

  “Yes, everyone’s been accounted for.” Laura hesitated, studying Harper’s forehead. “I heard it was crazy in there when the fire first broke out. So many people.”

  “Do they know how it happened?” When the EMT didn’t say anything, Harper went on. “The fire?”

  “I haven’t heard anything mentioned yet about the cause. I’m sure they’re investigating it.”

  “There you are.” Wren rushed up, her expression one of pure relief, though she was just as dirty as they rest of them, all from the soot and smoke. Harper felt that same relief wash over her, leaving her weak. She’d known Wren was safe, but it felt good to see her with her own two eyes. “Weston said they’d found you, but I had to see it for myself.”

  “I’m okay,” Harper said as Wren reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze. “The bar doesn’t look so good, but I’m fine. And you? West mentioned that you were with Holden.”

  “I’m okay too. It was scary though. Amazing how comforting my little brother can be when he’s in job mode.” Wren released her hand and stepped back as Laura continued to work on Harper. It was only when she was done and headed back into the ambulance to put away her supplies that Wren came and sat with Harper.

  Harper took a deep, trembling breath, telling herself it was now or never. She needed to apologize and make things right again with her best friend. Despite the nearby EMTs and the people who were still milling about, she had to do it now.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you about West,” Harper said. “I know you’re mad at me and I can understand why. I just, I didn’t know what was really going on with West and me.” She hung her head, looking down at the ground. “I still don’t and I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I don’t think he wanted me to make a big deal either.”

  “Well, now we all know so he’s going to have to deal with the big deal.” When Harper lifted her head, she found Wren was smiling at her. “Harper, I don’t care if you’re dating my brother. I care about you and worry that he might hurt you, but I just want you happy. And I want Weston happy too. He’s not the easiest person to get along with—”

  “He’s changed,” Harper interrupted, her heart suddenly feeling lighter. She hadn’t realized how important Wren’s approval was until she had it. “I really . . . care about him.” Could see herself falling in love with him too, though she couldn’t admit that to Wren. She could hardly admit it to herself. What had just happened between her and West had left a funny feeling inside her chest. He’d looked at her as if she meant the world to him, but was that true? Or was it just the life-or-death situation? “We have fun together. Though really, it’s still very new.”

  “Just, be careful. He’s not big on commitment.” They both started to laugh. That was the understatement of the year. And hadn’t one of them said that right before the fire broke out? “Though he’s always had a soft spot for you,” Wren added softly.

  “Delilah said the same thing.” Harper’s smile faded. “You’re not mad at Delilah, are you? What you said to her was pretty harsh.”

  Wren frowned. “I know. I need to apologize to her when this is all over. I was already mad about you seeing West and that you kept it from me. Then you hit me with the Delilah and Lane thing and I saw red. I said the first thing that came to mind and I knew it would hurt her.”

  “I think it hurt her pretty bad,” Harper said quietly. “It was kind of a low blow.”

  “Yeah. I’m a jerk.” Wren shook her head. “I don’t know where she is right now, but West reassured me that he saw her and she’s fine. I’ll call her in the morning.”

  Harper decided it was best not to tell Wren that Delilah was off being comforted by Lane. They’d looked pretty cozy together, but that could’ve just been their reaction to a near-death experience. Lane rarely let any emotions show. He’d probably slip that mask right back on as soon as he was sure that Delilah was okay.

  Just like West had done once he realized that she was all right. Going back into work mode, claiming he was on duty. He was, she knew that, but she didn’t like how easily he’d walked away from her.

  Harper frowned. Was it that easy for him? Could he really keep this thing between them casual when she couldn’t? Most likely.

  And that thought was the most disturbing one of all.

  Chapter Fifteen

  IT WAS JUST after eight in the morning when Lane stopped by the station to deliver the news.

  “It was arson,” Lane said grimly after he pulled We
st outside, away from the prying eyes and curious ears of his crew. Everyone else was in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast. Tate’s engine had arrived late last night, everyone tired and dirty but relieved to be back on home turf. His crew was released and all went home, though Tate had stayed the night. He was in the garage now, checking over his engine like it was his precious baby.

  Talk about a workaholic. He was worse than West, and that was saying something.

  “No surprise.” West had fully expected to hear this. There was no other explanation for what had happened upstairs at the Wildwood BBQ & Bar last night. Before the crews finished mopping up and the prevention team came by, West had already had his suspicions, along with everyone else. He’d heard the bartender’s explanation and listened to a few witnesses explain what they saw.

  More like what they didn’t see.

  From what West could figure, it had been a premeditated fire. But why? To hurt innocent people? Or just burn down a building? Was this some sort of statement? The damage could’ve been so much worse. Whoever had done this was lucky he or she wasn’t facing murder charges.

  “Was it linked to the other fires?” West asked.

  Lane shrugged. “Not sure yet.”

  “Are we going to make this public?”

  “We’ll probably be forced to. There are already too many people curious to know what started this fire in the first place,” Lane explained.

  West would rather have the townspeople aware of what was going on than keep them in the dark. Going public with the news would be a great way to gather more information too. Someone might’ve seen something. “Should we get Tate into this discussion? He’s in the garage checking over his engine.”

  “Yeah, we better tell him.” Lane started to head over to the garage, but West stopped him with a hand on the shoulder, causing Lane to look back at him.

  “I know now is probably not the right time, but can I ask you a personal question first?” When Lane nodded, West continued. “Tell me what’s going on with you and Delilah.”