by Lucia Grace
“We need fire on scene STAT!” another one yells into his shoulder.
Mallory screeches and screams obscenities and nonsense as officers rush and take over for Rhett. “Get the fuck off of me, you fucking cunt! I need to get to Clark. He needs me! He loves me and only me!”
“We need to get them out of here, now!”
Then, before I know it, Rhett’s rushing forward with two officers, the other two hauling Mallory to her feet and following suit. I’m grabbed and brought through the back hallway in front of them all.
“Stay low!” an officer shouts out.
Coughing and sputtering, I stick as low as I can as we run out of the building. Bursting into the fresh air, we inhale lungfuls as fast as we can. Heaving and coughing and panting.
Rhett immediately pulls me into his arms, wrapping me up tight when we’re safe. His clothes smell of smoke and ash, but I don’t care—I know I must, too—but I need him close. Holding me, comforting me, loving me.
“Fucking Christ, angel,” he growls. His hands roam my back, down my arms, before pulling me away only enough to clasp my face. Looking me over head to toe and back again, I see tears tracking down his soot-covered face. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Unable to speak, I shake my head, crying along with him.
“Thank fuck,” he swears, pulling me in tight again. His heart beating an impossible beat below my ear. “Seeing her point that gun at you. Watching her pull that trigger… then the fire…Jesus Christ. My only thought was to keep you safe, angel.” His words spoken into the hair at the top of my head.
“No!” We hear roared. Looking to see Mallory being cuffed, then hauled toward a cruiser. “I need Clark! Where is he? Clark! No, please! It’s her fault, all her fault! She did this, not me!”
I sob out an “Oh God” as one of Rhett’s hands pulls my head to his chest, covering my ears. Trying to shelter me from everything she’s yelling.
“Ma’am? Sir?” a male voice interrupts. “We need you to let the EMTs check you over for any injuries, smoke inhalation.”
As he speaks, it’s then I notice and hear the rest of the commotion around us. The sirens blaring. The shouted orders and demands. The fire hose blasting water through door and busted front windows, putting out the flames that started to spread to the front of the room.
“Just…give us a second,” Rhett answers in a deep tone of relief that we’re both okay. Physically anyway.
We’re left alone again, taking another moment before having to go to the ambulance. “I’ve never been more scared than I was in that moment,” I admit on a whisper against smoke-covered cotton. Anxiety and fear still swirling and spiraling through me.
I hear and feel him breathe deeply, tensing before releasing the breath. “I’ll risk my life for you, Kennedy. Always. I’ll give it all to you, for you. You never have to worry about that. You’ll never have to question it. All in.”
Taking in his words, burying them deep in my heart and soul, I say the only words I can. “I love you.”
Then we stand there, wrapped up in the other, watching the smoke billow from the place we met.
I SIT HUDDLED BENEATH A blanket with Saylor at my side. Her arms wrapped tight around me as we sit side by side on the couch in our apartment above the now badly burned In Ruins. She shushes me as I cry silent tears, my shoulders shaking, distraught over what happened.
Devastated that it’s all my fault.
Rhett, Gus, and Nash are finishing up their talk with the police at the front door. Being briefed on what’s happened with Mallory and the state of the bar. I heard the officers mention that the fire damage was kept at the bar itself, but smoke and water damage cover almost half of the rest of the space.
I still can’t believe any of this has happened, that Rhett and I were practically taken hostage and our lives were threatened. My thoughts run wild thinking it all over.
Once we had gathered ourselves and calmed down enough, Rhett and I made our way over to the EMTs to check us over. Assessing us both. We were scratch and bruise free so we were released quickly without any issue.
Then we were pulled away by the police. Initially they tried to split us up to question us, but one look at Rhett and hearing the feral growl that erupted from his chest had them backtracking and letting us stay together.
I wouldn’t have stood to be separated anyway.
We answered what we could. How Mallory just showed up with a gun, started talking nonsense, then started the fire. The scene escalating quickly and rapidly.
That’s when Officers Sullivan and Tiego from the Sunvale PD told us everything they knew. And it nearly brought me to my knees.
In the hour since being rescued to that moment in questioning they learned more than I would have thought possible. They informed Rhett and me that they found Mallory’s car parked on the street, located her address from the registration and contacted her hometown’s local police department, who searched her house and found Clark, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. They also found numerous photos of me and of Rhett and me together.
Shock slammed into me. I already knew about Clark from what Mallory said, but I still couldn’t believe it—still can’t. And to know she had photos of me—of us together—made me feel dirty. Knowing she was stalking us, watching us. I can’t even comprehend it.
When I asked how she found me, since I had moved, Officer Tiego said they found letters from a private investigator that led her to me. Citing I was her long-lost sister as reason to why she needed to find me. Once she had my info, she hunted me down and watched me until she finally lost it and found her perfect moment. Almost a month she was in town—watching me—and I never knew.
How could I not know?
Not long after the police released us from their squad car turned makeshift interrogation room, Saylor, Gus, and Nash were finally allowed to see us. They each took a turn wrapping us up, sharing their fears, and then Gus let us know he heard yelling downstairs, which caused him to call the police.
“When I heard the pops, I knew it wasn’t any fireworks going off,” Gus recalled.
Thank God the police arrived just as he was making it downstairs to see what was going on. It saved him from Mallory and the fire. Something I’m beyond grateful for; Gus has become like a father to me. If anything bad happened to him, I don’t know what I would have done.
Enough of this is my fault; I can’t imagine having that on my conscious, too.
I run my hands down my face. “I’m so sorry.” My voice whisper-soft when I speak to Saylor. The quiet and my thoughts getting to be too much.
Her arms tighten around me. “Don’t you even dare. None of this is your fault, Kennedy. Do you hear me? None of it.”
“I didn’t even know she was watching me, stalking me. I led her here. Caused her to…to kill a man, her husband. I’m the reason behind all of this.” I shake my head and cry harder. Hands raking through my hair as I keep my sobs locked tight, not wanting to make any more of a scene.
Saylor releases me to fully turn towards me. Her hands grasp my face and lift so I look right at her. “You didn’t, doll. You didn’t. That was all on Clark and her. He cheated, not you, and that’s what caused her mania. None of this was your fault.” Her eyes implore me to believe her.
But I can’t.
I can feel Rhett’s eyes on me, no doubt watching my and Saylor’s exchange. “How can you say it isn’t? She was only here because of me. Because I slept with Clark. And because of me I put Rhett in danger, put him in the line of fire. Literally. Because of me In Ruins is now actually ruined. You and Gus are out of work until God knows when. I’ve destroyed so much.” My hands lift to cover the sob slipping from my mouth.
“You’ve destroyed nothing, Kennedy. Nothing.” Saylor’s hands now reach for mine, pulling them from my mouth and holding on for dear life. “If anything, you’ve mended and healed each of us. Completed this completely unorthodox family. You’re the last puzzle piece we�
�ve been missing. You’ve changed our lives, brightened each day…Would you tell her, big brother?”
Looking up, surprised, I see him standing above me. Nash and Gus at his back. I didn’t even hear them move, or the officers leave.
But instead of him speaking, it’s Gus who answers. “Sweetheart, not one of us blames you for that crazy woman’s actions. Not one,” he stresses. “We’re just thankful you two are safe and unharmed. The bar can be repaired. It’s all cosmetic and can be fixed. But you two.” He points a finger between Rhett and myself. “Can’t be replaced.”
Tears roll down my cheeks even harder now, touched by his words. Rhett watches on. His jaw clenching along with his fists at his sides.
“We’re a family who sticks together, Kennedy. We’ve overcome before, and we will again.” His hand lifts to squeeze Rhett’s shoulder.
It’s quiet for a few minutes. All of us contemplative. Before Rhett finally speaks. “Mind giving us a minute?” His deep voice rumbles around the room.
Gus nods as he drops his hand from Rhett’s shoulder. “The police and fire department cleared the bar; we’ll head down there to check things out.”
Saylor kisses my cheek, then stands. I watch her walk up to Nash, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. His lips to the top of her head as they follow Gus through the door.
Rhett’s silent as he walks around the coffee table and sits next to me. We’re thigh-to-thigh when he reaches over and wraps his safe, strong arms around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my messy hair.
I shake my head. “I just can’t shake the feeling. Of knowing she watched us. Of knowing she killed Clark. Of the gunshots and the flames.” I shiver and shudder. “This whole night. I just—I can’t believe it happened. That it’s my fault.”
“Bullshit,” he spits out.
My eyes shoot to his.
“I heard what Saylor said to you, and she’s right. Just like Gus said, none of what happened is your fault, and if I hear you say it again I’ll tan your ass red, you hear me? That woman clearly lost her damn mind, and that wasn’t because of you. That’s on her cheating husband.”
“And he cheated with me…”
“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter, angel. That man made a choice, one that had dire consequences for him, his wife, us. But in no way, shape, or form does that mean any of it is on you. Nothing. You’re a victim in this, baby. Not the cause.”
I think his words over, realizing he’s right. I can’t help but feel some responsibility in what happened. But I was used by Clark just as Mallory was cheated by him. It doesn’t mean he deserved his fate though. Despite everything she did, I truly hope Mallory can get the help she so desperately needs.
“Come here,” Rhett all of a sudden says as he pulls me across his lap, arms banding tighter around me.
Strong. Safe. Loving.
My mind gets to thinking about the night as the silence surrounds us again. Shame tints my cheeks in embarrassment when I think back to all Mallory said. “What you heard tonight…” I start but don’t get to finish.
“Changes absolutely nothing between us, angel.” The stark conviction in Rhett’s tone slams through me, rocking me to my very core.
I look up into his devastatingly handsome face to see nothing but truth and love staring back at me.
“I love you, Kennedy. Every part of you. Your past, your scars, your fears, our future. Everything she spewed and spit tonight doesn’t matter because every step, every mistake, every move you ever made led you right here, to me, right where you belong.”
His words wrap around my fragile heart, yet again pumping love and strength straight into every beat.
Just when I think I can’t ever love him more, he proves me wrong. Despite everything we just endured, I’ve never felt like I belong more than I do right now in this moment.
And I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve finally found my love…my home.
MY HAND FLIES OVER THE page as the sketch I’m working on comes to life.
“I know what I want.” Her sweet voice breaks the silence.
I look up from the sketch pad to see Kennedy’s piercing eyes locked right on me from her position on the couch I had moved out back after the dust settled. Knowing I’d never want her far from me, especially after what happened.
That night is engrained in my mind, in my very soul. In who I am.
The fear. The gun. The fire. Kennedy’s terrified cries. Needing to keep her safe.
It’s been almost two months, and her nightmares are just finally starting to end. They were every night she closed her eyes. I’d wake up to her cries and screams of terror, having to hold her close the rest of the night to keep her calm. Make her feel safe.
But we’re finally climbing that hurdle, finding sturdy ground again. Getting back to our normal. In Ruins is almost there, too. The renovations almost complete.
That night still vivid, but not ruling our lives.
“What you want?” I ask, coming out of my thoughts. Confused.
“For a tattoo. I know what I want you to ink on my skin.”
My pulse shoots off through my veins. Flowing wildly and pumping furiously. Excitement and nerves battling for dominance.
“You want a tattoo?” I probably sound like an idiot, but I don’t give a fuck. We haven’t talked tattoos in weeks, and because of what happened recently, those thoughts were far from my mind. They weren’t even in the same stratosphere.
She nods her head.
“Okay,” I swallow harshly. Suddenly nervous for some reason. “What do you want, angel?”
She stands and makes her way over to me before lifting her shirt to just below her tits, exposing her ribs and flat stomach. Pointing an index finger to her left side, she says, “I want an infinity symbol right here.” She taps her ribcage, just barely under her breast.
I bring my large hand to her small body and drag my thumb along her skin. Goosebumps rise in its wake. “An infinity symbol right here?” I question again.
“Yes,” she breathes. Always affected by my touch. “Right over my heart. With…with the word “together” scrolled through it, connecting the lines.”
My heart explodes right then. Clear out of my chest because this woman…fuck, this woman owns every fucking piece of my battered and inked soul.
“Because we’re forever…together forever.”
Unable to resist her, especially now, I bring both hands to her waist and lift before dragging her over my lap. We roll a few inches due to my sudden movements. She breathes out a quiet giggle because of it, before I’m able to plant my booted feet solidly to the floor.
Spanning my tattooed hands across her back down to her luscious ass, she moans at my touch. “You want my ink on your skin, angel?” I breathe on her lips, angling my face down to meet hers. Despite her position straddling my lap, our height difference still has my lips a few inches above hers.
She nods, and I can’t keep my lips off of hers. I dive down, crash landing into her soft lips. Tongue driving into the sweetness of her mouth. Unable to hold back my desperation and want and fucking need for this girl. My angel.
As her hands cradle my face, one of mine lifts from the grip on her ass to fist into her long hair. Angling her head so I can get closer, take more, give it fucking all.
The kiss goes on until we’re both desperate for air, so I reluctantly slow it down, before dropping a few more pecks until I pull completely away. My forehead tilts down to meet hers. Our breathless pants mingling together.
Then her swollen-from-my-kiss lips lift into a soft smile. “I could kiss you forever.”
I groan. “Goddamn, angel. You out to ruin me tonight?” Because I swear she is. First with the tattoo talk, then with that one statement.
Her still-breathless giggle invades my heart and soul. “Not out to ruin, just giving you a truth.”
I kiss her again. No tongue. Just soft and gentle, my lips brushing hers. “You want my truth?”
She nods
her head through another kiss. “Yes.”
“I’m gonna love you forever.”
The smile she delivers hits me like a sledgehammer to the chest. Powerful. Deadly.
“You’re sure, angel? This is what you want? It’s permanent remember.” Asking again to make sure she’s certain.
“And so are we.”
It’s my turn to smile then. So fucking wide that I don’t think I’ve ever really smiled until now. “You’re fucking perfection, angel. You know that?”
She shakes her head, never understanding the true depths of my love for her.
“Not perfect. Just made for you.” She blushes that pink that drives me wild. And her words? They set my heart pounding like a stampede of buffalo.
“Damn fuckin’ straight.”
Then I move.
“What are you doing?” she shrieks as I jump up from my stool.
“No better time than the present, right? Get that sweet ass up on my chair.”
She giggles happily, pulling her shirt off as she goes, then climbs up and situates herself so her left side is exposed.
After setting up and getting my tools and ink ready, I wash my hands, slap on a pair of gloves, then prep her skin with some witch hazel.
Nerves try to take me over, but I heave a deep breath to calm down and look into my angel’s eyes; everything else melts away.
“Together.” I kiss onto her lips.
Then putting needle to skin, I create the simplest yet most meaningful tattoo on the woman who changed my very existence. The one I’d give my life for.
The one who saved my inked soul.
The End
Spotify
I Wish I Was - Maren Morris
Break On Me - Keith Urban
Remedy - Adele
All I Ask - Adele
Find Me - Boyce Avenue
Run Away With You - Michael Ray
As You Are - The Weeknd
The Feeling - Justin Bieber
Fade Into Me - David Cook
Fever - The Black Keys
Came Here to Forget - Blake Shelton
House On Fire - Sia
Fire Meet Gasoline - Sia
Fire Away - Chris Stapleton