Until Forever (Providence Series Book 3)

by Mary B. Moore

  Getting into bed, I lay back and started going through the memories that I had of her. The billion laughs that we’d had together, the sad times, the times when we had kept the other one standing…there were so many. I smiled thinking of my favorite memory of us and saw her with tears streaming down her face as she laughed. Then, when I was seven, and she put a string around my tooth and slammed the door to pull it out and the doorknob had fallen off the door. There were so many beautiful precious memories that were just mine. The one memory that I never wanted to think of came into my head before I could stop it, and I saw her lying on that couch pale, cold and just gone.

  Turning onto my side, I closed my eyes and cried until I fell asleep. I would give anything to have her back…

  I woke up coughing and struggled to see around the room. What the…my bedroom was filled with smoke?

  Throwing the bedding off, I ran to the door and opened it seeing my living room on fire and any access to the front door cut off. What the fuck was I going to do?

  I closed the door and dragged my duvet off the bed, using it to stop the smoke coming in under the bottom of the door. Think Ebru, think…

  I went to the window and opened it. There was a group of tenants from the building standing there and staring up in horror with fire trucks scattered around. I was on the third floor so I couldn’t just jump out of the window; even if I hung from the window ledge like they tell you to it would be too far to fall.

  “HELP!” I screamed, trying to get their attention but I couldn’t stop coughing.

  “There’s someone up there,” one of my neighbors yelled and a team of firefighters quickly formed beneath me talking into their radios.

  The smoke was so thick that even hanging out the window as far as I could, it was hard to breathe as it surrounded me in a thick, acrid mass.

  Coughing and wheezing, all I could think was, maybe today was the day I’d see Lou again? The irony of me dying in this fire on the same day that she died wasn’t lost on me…

  Cole

  My phone ringing beside my head interrupted the dream that I was having of Ebru, and fuck me it was a good one.

  “Lo?”

  “You need to get here fucking now!” My friend who lived near Ebru shouted down the phone. I could hear some sirens in the background and the sounds of engines and people yelling.

  “What the fuck Sam? It’s fuckin’ 4 in the morning!” I was going to kill him. It wasn’t the first time he’d called me through the night to go and meet him, but tonight I’d been having the best dream of my life.

  “Her building’s on fire, man!”

  That woke me up, and I tried to untangle myself from the sheets so that I could throw on some clothes.

  “Talk to me.” Please let her be okay, please let her be okay.

  “It’s on her side of the building and looks like it’s in her apartment. I’m walking around trying to find her, but not all of the residents are out yet.”

  I put him on speaker as he continued to look around and threw on some clothes. Running down to the car, I put my foot to the floor and continued to listen to him, adamant that I’d make the ten-minute journey in five.

  Watching the road ahead of me, I heard someone yell in the background.

  “What was that?” I was almost there, but the road was shut off by the Police so I was going to have to get out and make the journey on foot.

  “Oh fuck, it’s Ebru. She’s hanging out her window,” Sam shouted over the noise of people screaming and the engines of the fire trucks.

  I got to the police cordon and tried to go under it. “Sorry, Sir, you can’t do that.”

  “My girlfriend is hanging out of her window while her apartment burns.” I was embellishing, but right now I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t burn in hell for that lie. “Please!”

  A friend of mine, Milo, who had moved back to Piersville three months ago and joined the Police, came up to the cordon tape.

  “Your girl’s in there, Cole?”

  “Yeah, apartment fourteen, man.” Not saying anything else, he lifted the tape and waved me under it. “Thanks,” I said as I passed by him and broke into a run in the direction of Ebru’s building.

  I got there just as they were mobilizing the ladder up to her window, but I could see her choking and sagging as the dark smoke came pouring out of her window. I’d never felt so helpless in my life as I ran up to Sam, not even when Isla was shot.

  “What the fuck’s happening? Why are they taking so long?” I shouted over the screams and noise.

  “They needed to move the truck,” he nodded his head in the direction of the rig parked under her window. It seemed like it took hours for the ladder to extend, but it could only have been minutes, and then someone was finally climbing to get Ebru. “They couldn’t use the one with the cage apparently because it was needed at the back of the building.”

  I didn’t care. All I cared about was that they got to Ebru before she was hurt or suffocated or fuck even passed out and fell out of the window. Watching as the fireman helped her out and onto the ladder before they started to climb back down it, I ran in her direction as they got closer to the ground ready to take her and check her over.

  “Sir, you have to go and stand back where everyone else is. It’s not sa…” one of the firemen tried to stop me, but I was done.

  “That’s my girl! That’s her burning apartment that she was just saved from,” I yelled, moving around him in the direction of the silver back sized fireman who was now carrying her away from the rig.

  I could hear her choking and wheezing as I got closer to them.

  “Sir, you have to move back. We need to take her over to the paramedics,” the fireman said as he tried to push past me.

  “That’s my girlfriend,” I shouted over the deafening noises around us. Thank shit Ebru wasn’t with it, or she’d be kicking my balls into my brain.

  “Follow me. We’ll need you to give her details.”

  When we got to the paramedics who were standing by and the fireman laid Ebru down on the gurney I almost lost my shit. She had black soot all over her face and looked so small and pale. I sent a text to my family and Coleman to let them know what had happened.

  I knew that Coleman would update me with the results of the investigation into the fire when he had some. Was it to do with whoever was targeting us? Why would they go after Ebru? I couldn’t stop those thoughts, even as I focused on the beautiful woman lying on the gurney in front of me.

  “Do you want to ride with us to the hospital?” The paramedics asked as they loaded her into the ambulance.

  I couldn’t lose her; I’d already lost enough and losing Ebru…I just couldn’t.

  Ebru

  The smell of smoke and burnt stuff was killing me. I’d been in the hospital for fourteen hours now, and I still couldn’t get the smell out of my nose and trust me I’d tried. I’d even gone as far as to stick some soap up there, but all that did was make me gag. Cole hadn’t left my side the whole time and his family were taking turns to bring us both stuff.

  I’m pretty certain that everything I had was now ashes, including all of my memories of Louise that I’d locked in a big metal box that I found at a thrift store, and that killed me. The photos of us together, her jewelry, her perfume, her sweater, everything, and I wouldn’t ever be able to replace any of it. My parents had some of her stuff in the attic, and I had stored a box of photos up there too, but it wasn’t the same as the ones of us together.

  “Hey, you okay?” Cole asked leaning over and grabbing my hand, making me realize that I’d been crying. It still hurt to talk, which was a blessing right now because I didn’t really talk about Louise with people, so I just shrugged. “It’s okay, baby, we’ll get you some new stuff.” I appreciated his efforts, but he didn’t know exactly what I’d lost.

  “Yo guys,” Parker greeted as he walked through the door. Getting him as my doctor while I was in here was a
relief, and I knew that he’d pulled a twenty-four hour shift just to look after me because he still here. “I swear you’ll do anything to get out of working, Eb.”

  Forgetting about how dry my throat was, I snorted and then started hacking the lung up that had been screaming at me for freedom since I’d woken up.

  “Yeah, maybe best not to do that,” the wise ass said looking over my oxygen levels and stats. “So, you’ve inhaled a lot of smoke…”

  “No shit Sherlock,” Cole snapped. “Seriously, is that the best that you can do man? All of those years in college studying and we get, ‘You’ve been in a fire and inhaled some smoke’? When you were helping our troops did you go, ‘Well, you’ve been shot…by a gun…with a bullet’?” He punctuated it with a scandalized sounding gasp.

  “What’s up with Gimpy McRimmer over here?” Parker stage-whispered. The laugh that came from the door had us all turning our heads to see the rest of the Townsends and Isla and Luke standing there with the twins.

  “Maybe he’s in pain?” Ren suggested with an evil grin, and the memories of Cole shot full of Dilaudid and running around with his ‘magical horn’ came to mind making me smile for what felt like the first time in weeks.

  “Wait,” Parker turned back to Cole. “Are you?” The evil grin was evidence enough that he wasn’t asking out of doctorly concern; he so wanted to see Cole in action again.

  “Please be in pain!” This came from Luke who only just got the words out through the laughter that was causing the baby in his arms to shake slightly, poor Dewi.

  “Shut up,” Cole hissed, glaring at everyone now standing in the room, apart from me.

  “It’s no problem, dude,” Parker stood up and turned to the door. “I can go and get you something right now. What is it? Headache? Toothache? Earache? Ingrown toenail?”

  “Uhhh…are you meant to be doing that?” Maya questioned, her bump being held as always by her husband. “I mean, that’s strong stuff.” She was right, and I knew that Parker wouldn’t actually give him the drugs, but it was funny all the same, and I couldn’t stop the wheeze of a laugh that came out of me. Unfortunately, this also brought the attention off Cole and onto me. The varying looks of pity coming from them all had me fighting tears again.

  “So, Eb,” Parker started, then stopped when Cole growled. “Problem?” He asked, turning to face Cole fully. I couldn’t see the expression on his face, but whatever it was had Cole glaring even harder.

  “No. You may proceed,” Cole replied, waving his hand in my direction.

  Turning back to me, Parker looked at all of the machines that I was hooked up to and back down at my chart. “So, your oxygen levels are up, and I’m happy with where you’re at now. I’m going to release you but on two conditions.” I raised a brow knowing exactly what those conditions were going to be. “One - you rest, and I mean rest, Ebru. You take a couple of days to lie in bed and just get your lungs free of it all. Two - you come back in if you have any issues at all breathing. Do I make myself clear?” I nodded, and then it hit me that I had nowhere to go anyway. “Where will she be staying?” Parker asked the other occupants of the room.

  Luke, Ren, and Jack put their hands over their wives mouths and looked at Cole who answered while watching me. “At mine.”

  I shook my head repeatedly and looked up at Parker begging him to say no, but the shit-eating grin was aimed at me this time. “Excellent! We’ll give her something to take home for her throat and outline all of the warning signs, but after that, she’s all yours.”

  I was going to kill him!

  Chapter Five

  Cole

  I’m not ashamed to admit that I took full advantage of Ebru’s inability to talk and quickly got her into the car. Her lack of fight was worrying, and it hadn’t escaped me that she’d been crying this morning, then again she had just lost her home.

  Pulling up in front of my house, I turned to her to fill her in on something that had just occurred to me.

  “So, listen…I don’t have any beds in the guest rooms just now.” The slow turn of her head in my direction and narrowing of her eyes pretty much screamed what she would have been actually screaming at me at that moment if she could. “I know, I know, but it’s true. So what I’m going to do is give you the bed, and I’ll take the couch okay?” The glare she was shooting at me softened a bit, and I got a second of feeling smug at my idea before she went back to it.

  Sighing, I got out of the car and walked around to her side to let her out. She still looked pale and didn’t seem to have much energy either, so I leaned in, picked her up and walked towards my door with her slapping me on the top of the head.

  “Stop, or I’ll drop you.” It was only fair to give her a warning because with my luck, I’d trip or something.

  One of Coleman’s guys, whose turn it was today to stand sentry at my door, watched her beating the shit out of me and then turned and opened the door for us. The twitching of his lips didn’t escape my notice, and I gave him a glare as I walked past; asshole. It wasn’t funny, she hit hard!

  I’d just kicked the door closed behind me when the sound of nails tapping on the floor and mini grunts sounded, making their way towards us. Fuck, I’d forgotten I was babysitting Dash and Pippa until Maya had the baby. From the sound of it, they’d been in the kitchen too which meant one thing…they’d been going through the garbage again.

  Dash had actually been better behaved with me since he’d come to stay at mine. The leg humpage hadn't been happening as often, something that I was relieved about because it was embarrassing as fuck!

  “I’m gonna put you on the couch for a minute while I go and get you something to drink so you can take the shit Parker gave you,” I told the now grinning beauty in my arms. God, I loved her smile. What I didn’t say was that I was also going to be picking up the trash that would no doubt be spread everywhere and that it was a miracle they hadn’t dragged it through here today like they normally did.

  Someone, most likely Mom, had put pillows and a throw on the couch, so I made sure she was comfortable and wrapped up before stepping over the hyper piglet and Dalmatian who was wagging his tail so hard that his entire booty was moving with it.

  “Turn around and go back in the direction you came from,” I pointed toward the kitchen. Dash gave me the sad eyes and lay down with his head on his paws which made Pippa do the same; then they both looked in Ebru’s direction. Oh, they were good! “Nuh uh, don’t you play that shit. You know what y’all have done…” I didn’t expect the kick to the ass that I got, and when I turned around, Ebru was glaring at me even harder than before.

  “I’ll remember this you little shit sniffing piss licking ass breathing fart sniffers,” I hissed, earning another kick up the ass. This one had been a bit too close to my balls for my liking, though, so I took the opportunity to move out of the way before she decided to give me another one. Like my balls hadn’t been through enough recently.

  Walking into the kitchen, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. The garbage only covered half of the room so apparently, they’d only just started. This meant, though, that they’d be getting another bath because after recording them to see what the fuck they did with it, I now knew that they ran through it like fucking bubbles and that was just nasty. Ten minutes later and a shit ton of mopping, the smell of pine reigned supreme, and the garbage was nowhere to be seen, so I walked back through to see my girl and give her the medications that Parker had given her. In my absence, the four-legged turd brains had taken over with Dash lying along the side of her with his head on her lap and Pippa curled up under her chin. Maybe Mom could look after them until after Maya had the baby?

  “Dash, Pippa, down.” I pointed at the floor, and of course, they just gave me a look. “Right, let’s get this straight then. If you don’t get down, you,” I pointed at Dash and then at my crotch and made a scissoring motion with my fingers. Fucking right he jumped down. “And you,” I p
ointed at Pippa but didn’t get to finish the threat before a little foot was flying out at me again, just missing my crotch. Looking up at its owner, I saw the same scowl as before. “And you,” I pointed at her and saw the tiniest smile, “need to take these, so sit up and then I’ll take you upstairs for a shower.”

  Had I been thinking about what I said and not focused on the smugness I was feeling over making her smile, I might have chosen my words better; unfortunately, I wasn’t. She might argue in weeks to come that it was a ‘tap’ to the crotch, but I knew for a fact that it felt like a horse had done it.

  I’d eventually managed to get up off the floor after taking a punt to the balls that an NFL player would be proud of, and I’d carried her slowly up the stairs to the ensuite in my bedroom for a shower before tucking her into my bed. Not surprisingly, she’d been out like a light, but just as I was leaving to go down to the couch, she’d started whimpering and moving around, so I’d pulled my recliner over beside the bed and gotten comfy. I was exhausted and kept falling asleep, but every couple of minutes she’d make a noise again and I’d wake up. Eventually, after an hour of this, I decided it might help if I lay out beside her and held her, so she knew that she was safe. I’d managed to get three hours of sleep before she moved her leg quickly and hit me to the side of my crotch. Close call! I’d been watching her sleep ever since and was now a pro at moving out of the way of her legs after one too many hits. She was a violent little thing both awake and asleep.