by Rachel Blake
"What the fuck!" Devon's voice was hard as steel as he shoved the other man to the ground and off the now sobbing woman.
Before she realized she was moving, Gwen was kneeling beside her friend frantically working at the knots. "We're going to get you out of here. I promise."
"Why didn't— You were supposed to run."
Taking note of her shallow breaths, she smiled at the injured woman. "And let you have all the fun? Not a chance."
"Did you?"
"I talked to Jensen. They're coming." As the knot loosened beneath her fingers, Gwen sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening. Please let them be fast enough. With the knot undone, Kennly's arms fell to the floor with an audible thud.
A pained grunt caught Gwen's attention. When she looked up, she watched the shiny, silver blade sink into Devon's thigh. "This is what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you!" He pulled the knife from its resting place and Starling slashed at the other man's chest, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake.
"Feeds me? You manipulated and used me. You promised not to hurt them. You said you were helping them."
"Help me move her." As Sierra moved to help, Gwen looked to her injured friend. "Your broken ribs are going to make any movement excruciating, but I need you to be as quiet as possible." She looked to the fighting men. "They've forgotten we're here, and we need to keep it that way."
"Gag me. I'm lying still, and I already want to scream. It will be the only way," Kennly said.
Gwen slipped off what was left of Kennly's shirt and wadded it into a ball. "Are you ready?"
"Promise me, if I'm too loud, you'll run."
"Never."
Before the argument could slip past her lips, Gwen pushed the balled-up shirt into her mouth and took her place next to Sierra. "We're moving her to the bedroom and locking ourselves in with the chair. It should buy us enough time to get out the window. As soon as we get to the bedroom, I will block the door and you take the gag out of her mouth. She's struggling enough without the gag; she'll suffocate if it's there too long. On three. One. Two. Three!"
A scream sounded behind the impromptu gag, the instant they started moving her. "Don't stop, Sierra. Keep going. We're almost there."
"But, you're not going to make it." A fist took hold of Gwen's hair, pulling her back and forcing her to drop Kennly. Another scream sounded before Kennly went limp.
As she struggled against the hold, she turned to Sierra. "The gag." That was all she was able to say before something cold, wet, and hard was pressed against her throat. The knife.
"Any more fucking tricks, and I slice her throat. Don't move."
"She can't breathe," Sierra cried as she looked to the woman who was passed out in front of her.
"I don't fucking care! One more fucking step, and she won't be the only one who can't breathe."
"Okay." Raising her hands above her head, she stepped away from Kennly.
"See, Devon, this is how you get your 'baby' to do as she is told."
Gwen searched for the man without moving and came up empty. "He's not here."
"What?"
She felt the knife glide ever so slightly across her throat as she turned. The stinging confirmed her fear. He had cut her. She combatted her rising panic and took stock of herself. She was still able to breathe, no lightheadedness. Only a nick, but he was being careless.
Movement caught her attention as Sierra stepped in front of them, her arms still in the air. "I… He left me?" Tears fell from her eyes. "How could he?"
"Shut up! I can't think with your blubbering."
"You're outnumbered, Starling. You can't control both of us."
"Shut up."
Ignoring his command, Gwen continued, hoping her hunch was right and she would be able to buy some time. "He left you here to take the fall, and now it's three against one."
"I swear, if you don't stop talking right now, I am going to even out the odds."
"I have to find him," Sierra wailed as she ran for the door.
"No!" As soon as the knife left her throat, everything happened in slow motion.
Going limp, Gwen was able to slip from his hold, land on her knees, and crawl a few feet away. When he realized his mistake, Starling turned around and was met with a cast iron frying pan to the face before falling to the ground, unconscious.
Chapter 26
"Jensen?"
"Gwen, are you okay?"
A harsh laugh filled the empty forest. "I don't know if I would say okay, but I'm not dead."
Bile filled his throat as he took in the state of her throat. "I'm going to kill him."
"Will you settle for maimed?" She nodded toward the house. "He took a skillet to the face, courtesy of Kennly… or Baylor. He's now comatose and tied to a chair."
As he pushed his girl behind him, he said into his mic, "I've got Gwen."
"Jensen, you're not listening. We got them. Well, one of them."
"Where's the other?"
"I don't know; he ran after Starling stabbed him."
"Thank God." He gathered his woman in his arms and pressed the mic again. "The girls took Starling out with a frying pan."
Laughter sounded behind them before a pained moan took over. "Fuck, don't make me laugh. Broken ribs, remember?"
"Baylor, baby?" Zander emerged from the tree line.
"Don't," both women yelled as he went to wrap his arms around her.
"I took a couple of kicks to the ribs. I'll be fine, but it will take a while."
"Fuck, little bird, you had me worried." He grabbed her face between his hands, careful of the goose egg near her temple, and gave the crown of her head a kiss.
"I'll be fine, Z."
"She's strong."
"And bull headed."
"Sierra? Thank fuck!" Leland gathered his little sister in his arms.
"You're a little late to the party, big brother. We had to do all the heavy lifting ourselves." Her voice broke on the last word, and in a second, she was sobbing in Leland's arms.
"I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, Cici."
"I trusted a monster. Fuck, I fell in love with a monster."
"Did Atticus read you the riot act about interfering in police business?"
"I'm pretty sure his blood pressure hit an all new high."
Gwen, smiling at him from his bed, had his cock twitching. "Doesn't bode well for when we tell him about Colt."
A smirk hitched the corner of his mouth. "Maybe we will keep that one between us for a while."
"All six of us?" His eyes shifted to the bandage at her throat. "It's just a nick. Not even close to anything important."
"He could have killed you." His gut twisted into a knot just thinking of the other possible outcomes.
"He didn't. Instead, he's in the ICU with a brain bleed, fighting for his life."
"He's lucky Atticus and his guys showed up before I was able to pry myself from your arms. He'd be in the morgue."
"Still a good chance he'll end up there. Kennly, er, Baylor has some major power behind her swing."
He climbed into bed, chuckling as he replied, "It's going to take a while to get used to calling her that."
"I think it fits her better." Her eyes sliding down his body had his cock jumping again. "You're driving me crazy, bellissima."
"Then come do something about it."
"You sure?"
Her shrug caused her unruly curls to fall into her face. "I mean, if you're afraid I'm too fragile." She sat up a bit, the movement allowing the covers to slip, exposing her naked chest. Hands traveled to her breast, her fingers pulled at the rings, extracting a long, drawn out moan, before one of her hands slid below the blankets. "I can always take care of things myself."
He caught her hand before it got too far and growled, "Mine."
"Prove it."
His lips were on hers before he knew what he was doing, his tongue gliding along the seam of her lips, diving into her mouth when she finally opened
to him. After a few minutes, he pulled away, enjoying her whine of protest. "Shh. I'm not going anywhere."
As she wound her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer. "Could have fooled me, Sir."
"No." He smiled at her before running the tip of his finger gently across the small bandage at her neck. "Tonight, I need us to be us. Jensen and Gwen. Can we do that?"
"So I can kiss, touch, lick and bite you any time I want?"
"Absolutely."
"Jensen, make love to me?"
"With pleasure."
Without wasting a second, he captured her lips once more before moving down her body and landing a single kiss on the reminder of how the day could have gone.
Chapter 27
"May I have your attention please?"
"Jensen, what are you doing?" She reached for the butter knife he was clicking against his beer mug.
"What I should have done months ago. Attention, please." As the conversation around them dwindled, Gwen's face ignited in a beautiful blush. Jensen stood and held out a hand for her. "Bellissima, join me?"
Not even considering telling him no, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to drag her to the front of the room. "What are you doing?" Her whisper was a little harsher than she planned it to be.
He leaned in so only she could hear and replied, "If you're not careful, I am going to be tanning your ass as soon as I can find a quiet place. And to think, I had such fun plans for that ass later." As he caught her eyes with his, he let his brow raise in question. When her mouth snapped shut, he smiled. "That's what I thought." The chuckles of the few people close enough to hear his last remark floated to her ears.
As he then turned to the group in front of them, he smiled. "Most of you are probably wondering what the hell I am doing up here. I know she is." The smile he shot Gwen's way had her rolling her eyes. "Bellissima."
"Yes, Sir?"
"Always a professional!" one of the men from another shift yelled, causing an uproar of laughter.
"If he only knew." His smoldering look had her core melting.
"Are you going to get on with the speech, or you going to stand up there all night?"
"First, I want to thank you all for coming to this year's Fireman's Ball. I know the people who put this together put a lot of work into it." He sought out Liv in the crowded room and smiled as he continued. "And Kevin would be happy to see all of us here, supporting his wife and honoring his memory. Second, I want to let all the women here know that they are all absolutely stunning." Gwen looked down at her black dress, the fabric falling to the floor and clinging to her curves. The slit on the side that rose to mid-thigh was the only reason she was able to walk in it.
"The real reason I came up here was to tell you a story. A month ago, four of our own were kidnapped by a man none of us liked, but we never thought he was capable of that level of evil." A sad smile spread across the man's face, his regret clear. "Thirty days ago, my brothers and I found our girls in an abandoned cabin, having already saved themselves. With a frying pan, no less. Thirty days ago, I realized that life was far too short to wait any longer. It was then that I decided I was going to marry this beautiful, strong woman."
Gwen's mouth dropped open as Jensen sank to one knee in front of her. "What are you doing?"
His dopey smile was back. "Proposing, bellissima."
"But why?" At his questioning look, she went on to explain, her voice a whisper, "You don't ask, Sir. You tell."
"Okay." He stood back up, opened the previously unnoticed box, pulled the beautiful ring from its resting place and slid it on her finger before he pulled her into his arms. "Thirty days ago, I decided I was going to marry this woman, and next month, I will be doing just that."
"Next month, Sir?"
"Are you ever going to stop whispering?" He landed a kiss to the top of her head as she nodded. "Yes, a month. That's enough time to plan the necessary things and screw the rest. If I learned anything in those thirteen hours you were gone, it was that life is too short to wait. I want you as my wife, and I want it as soon as possible."
With a tear running down her face, she turned to the crowd that consisted of firefighters, medics and their spouses. Their people. Some, she knew well, others, she didn't, but it didn't matter; they were their people. "A month."
Cheers erupted around them as he lifted her from the floor with his hands on her ass and planted a heavy kiss on her lips. "You're going to be mine forever, little medic."
"I know, Sir."
"God, I can't wait."
Epilogue
Who knew? All it would take to get into their good graces was a single good deed. A spur of the moment decision. A few strategically wasted minutes. He was one of them. No longer an outsider.
Months of planning and strategizing had nearly gone to waste when the copycat made his appearance, but in the end, he ended up deeper into the fold than he ever thought he would. All thanks to Starling. It was too bad that he had to be taken care of. He was such an asset. Even if he was a pain in the ass.
As he stood from the table, a small hand wrapped around his forearm. "Don't leave yet.
"Trust me; no one leaves the Fireman's Ball this early, just stretching my legs. I'll be right back."
He turned toward the door, his lip raised in a snarl. She wasn't one of his girls. She was a wanna be. She lacked the finesse of his girls. The poise. Their fire. For now, she was what he had to settle for.
Once outside, he grabbed the ever present lighter from his pocket. The excitement of watching the hot, minute, crimson ember as it burned the white stick to a stub was too much to resist. Inhaling made him cough, as it always did, but the power he held between his fingers was too much to resist.
Power. A single misplaced or perfectly placed coal held such possibilities.
The need to burn something bigger was starting to mount. He could sense it like a bag of rocks in the pit of his stomach, growing heavier with every passing second.
He pushed the feeling aside and looked through the window. Smiles on every one of their faces. Their eyes glowing. The spark. It's what drew him to them in the first place, because it reminded him so much of her.
The fist tightened around his heart, making it hard for him to breath. Guilt.
He would be damned if he let theirs go out as hers did.
Another inhale, another coughing fit.
"I'm on to you."
As he spun on his heels, he came face to face with Baylor. "I'm sorry?"
"Come out here to smoke a cigarette that makes you cough every time you take a puff." She pulled out her own pack, flicking her lighter and setting the thin stick ablaze. "I'm trying to quit, too. Z says I'm too pretty for such a nasty habit." Her eyes never left his as she took a long drag. seeming to look into his soul. "It's a need, really. Watching the cherry burn the cigarette to nothing. Satisfying."
"He's right." As he plucked the offending object from between her lips, he tossed it to the pavement and ground it in with the heel of his shoe, trying his hardest not to let the panic show. Her words so closely echoed the thoughts that had run through his head. "Go back inside before you get yourself in trouble."
She simply smiled. "You're probably right. Can't risk getting caught, not with the promised consequences."
Did she see his secrets? His guilt? How much he wished to go back and change so many things? Did she know who he was, or was his mind simply toying with him?
He took another drag and knew it was time. The last fire had appeased the need to burn for a while, but it wouldn't hold for much longer. The media didn't care about him any longer. A tragic story thrown to the sidelines for some bigwig who'd made a touchdown, but with the copycat gone, it was time for the city's focus to shift back to him and his work. It already had, but it was with reports that the real Hill City arsonist had gone into hiding.
No hiding, never hiding. Just waiting in the dark until the need overcame him again.
"About time to remind everyone that
I am still here."
The End
Rachel Blake
I have been writing since high school, but truthfully never thought it would go any further than a few short stories hidden deep within my laptop. It wasn’t until my family moved away from everything we knew that I started writing stories worth sharing. Now, my husband, three kids, our plethora of animals and I live in the Midwest. When I’m not running around like your stereotypical soccer mom (sans the minivan) I am writing the type of stories I have always secretly treasured: love stories with a sexy alpha and a strong submissive counterpart.
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Don’t miss these exciting titles by Rachel Blake and Blushing Books!
Hill City Heroes
Fire Princess - Book One
Beautiful Burn - Book Two
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