I ran back to my room and grabbed the phone and hit 911 as I slammed my door, then ran into my bathroom. I grabbed towels and threw them in the tub and got them wet.
“911, what is your emergency,” I heard a woman say on the phone.
“This is Maria Roark, a Prosecutor with the Bronx DA, someone threw a Molotov cocktail through my window a minute ago, my living room is in flames,” I said calmly and then grabbed the wet towels and threw them in front of the door to my bedroom and pushed them up against the crack.
“Ma’am, I have dispatched the fire department, can you tell me where are you currently?” the woman said briskly.
“In the master bedroom, the living room is right next to the stairs, I cannot get down,” I said and ran to the window. “There is a roof out my window, I can get out there and wait.”
“Hang on, ma’am, I am letting the firemen know where you are,” she said and I took a deep breath and waited.
I heard more glass breaking, and the whoosh of flames as they erupted, and I said quickly, “They are still here, I hear glass breaking and more small explosions.”
“Remain calm, the fire department is on its way, ma’am, open your window but do not crawl out, you do not know where the fire is,” the woman said and I nodded and then opened my window and looked down. I heard the sirens in the distance and then narrowed my eyes.
“I hear them, and I see two men running from the front of my house.”
The woman relayed what I was saying to someone else. I sucked in a breath and coughed, then turned around, the smoke was coming in through the door. I looked back and prayed the firemen would be here soon.
The smoke was getting thick, really thick, I coughed and said to the woman on the phone, “The smoke is bad.”
“Can you feel your door and see if it is hot?” she said briskly. I ran to the door and touched it and pulled my hand back with a hiss.
“Fuck,” I swore, “it is hot.”
“Okay, they are almost there. Can you get a clean towel and wet it down, put it over your mouth and breathe slowly through it, it will help filter the smoke?”
I put the phone down and did what she said, then I grabbed the phone and ran back to the window as the trucks began to arrive.
“They are here,” I said with a muffled voice and she told me to hang up and wait.
I did and waved as the men began to get out of their trucks. I heard cracking and turned around, my door was on fire, shit. I looked back and the firemen were moving but they weren’t moving fast enough, dammit. I threw the towel on the floor and then crawled out of my window. I had to, there was nowhere else to go.
I heard the men yelling, and I also heard my door explode as I hit the roof and protected my head from the flames licking out my window. When I felt the heat lessen, I raised my head and yelled to the firemen, “Help!”
“Ma’am?” a man yelled. “I need you to jump.”
I leaned over the edge of the roof and my eyes widened. Seriously, they wanted me to jump? Into what?
“Where?” I screeched.
The fireman yelled, “The room directly under you is on fire, jump,” and I heard more glass breaking.
“Fuck,” I muttered and stood and looked down, a group of men were there, and they were looking up at me. “Fine.”
“Straight down, do not lock your legs, tuck and roll,” the man yelled and I muttered under my breath.
Before I thought about it, I did exactly what they said and jumped over the edge.
“Where in the hell is my daughter!” I heard my dad yell and I grimaced. Shit, I really wish they would have called Tony before they called my parents, unfortunately, I had been in shock after being brought to the hospital and gave them my parents’ number.
“Sir!” I heard a nurse yell and I grimaced. Oh yeah, my dad was going to be arrested.
“Dad!” I heard Tony yell and also numerous other voices, and I groaned, great, they were all here.
The curtain that was pulled in front of the door to the room I was in flung open and I saw my father looking wild-eyed and completely disheveled, still in his robe and pajamas. Oh my God he was wearing his slippers, I thought and then opened my mouth to speak when my mother barreled into the room with her hair in curlers and wearing her robe as well.
“Oh my God,” she yelled and grabbed my hand.
“People,” the nurse said in a frustrated voice as more people came into the room. Sonia, Reilly, Ms. Maddie, hell, none of them were dressed, did no one pause to grab clothes?
Tony stepped behind her and shook his head and said loudly, “Just go with it, you will not get them out of this room until they know for sure Maria is okay.”
The nurse tried to push in and then she threw up her hands when the doctor walked up and said, “Sir, I am sor…”
The doctor shook his head and I heard him say, “It’s okay, they were here a few nights ago as well, can you just get her discharge orders so we can let her go?”
The nurse nodded, thank goodness. The doctor walked into the room and grabbed the chart and smiled at me, ignoring the rest of them. “Maria, I called in your prescriptions, they should be ready for you when you leave here, just check in the pharmacy in the front. If there are any issues with your breathing, or prolonged pain, check in with your doctor immediately, okay?”
I nodded and my mother said, “Wait, medicine, she was in a fire, you should be admitting her, shouldn’t you?”
The doctor smiled and shook his head. “Mrs. Roark, I can assure you, Maria is fine, a little smoke inhalation, and some bumps and bruises but other than that, she is good.”
My mother looked at me closely and then back to the doctor and nodded. They waited until he left the room before peppering me with questions, which I answered each question slowly until they were all finally quiet and calm.
Then it happened, like it always happened when these people got together. I swear, someone needed to give them all some valium. “Oh my God,” my mother gasped and I looked at her with a frown.
“What?”
“Your hair, it’s burnt on the ends. We need to make an appointment,” my mother said and I looked at her, glaring.
“Really? You are worried about my hair?”
“Of course not just your hair, your father and the boys will all worry about the rest, I, on the other hand, worry about your hair so I don’t have to think about you burning to a crisp,” my mother said and my mouth dropped open.
“Ma,” I said.
Then Olivia stepped up and touched my hair before she said, “Don’t worry, a hot oil treatment and a trim, she will be back to new.”
“People,” I snapped and suddenly everyone in the room froze when we all heard someone bellow loudly.
“Well shit,” my father said and looked to the ground and shook his head.
“What?” I snapped and my father kept shaking his head.
Tony leaned out of the room and whistled to someone and I frowned deeper. “What in the hell?” Then I heard it again and I knew the owner of the voice.
“Where in the fuck is she?” I heard Ranger yell and I sucked in a breath. Oh shit, I thought when I saw him come into my line of sight. “Maria?”
“I am fine!” I said quickly.
Chapter Five
Ranger
Fucking A, getting the call in the middle of the night saying Maria’s house had been torched and she had been taken to the hospital, scared the ever living crap out of me. Damn, it reminded me of the night…nope I was not going there.
Rucker was running alongside me as we entered the ER, we didn’t stop, we ran right through the lobby and through the doors marked ‘Emergency Personnel Only’. When I finally entered the main room, I yelled, I wasn’t going to wait for someone to tell me anything, so I didn’t. It was worth it, because I saw Tony lean out of a room and whistle and then wave. Rucker ran in front of me, he must have seen them before I did because he was one step ahead.
“Where the fuck is she?
” I yelled and then I saw her, I didn’t see anyone else just her, sitting in the bed, eyes open, looking disheveled but alive. “Maria?” I said just to make sure and she held up her hand and said she was fine.
Rucker flung himself onto her bed and cried, loudly, and I bent over and looked at the floor, willing my heartrate to slow down enough to catch my breath. I felt a hand on my back but I didn’t move, fuck I couldn’t.
“Son,” I heard Anthony Roark say quietly to me, he was the one bent over, he was the one who had his hand on my shoulder. Fuck.
“Yeah,” I whispered and the man got a little closer and he whispered.
“Hold it together for a little while longer, Ranger.”
I nodded and then pushed off my knees and stood. Maria was looking at me worriedly and Rucker had wrapped himself around her, his head shoved into her neck and he was still crying. Fuck! I inwardly screamed. Took a deep breath and gave myself a pep talk. Okay, I got this shit, I thought and then took another deep breath and walked the remaining step into the room. I caught sight of Mrs. Honeychil entering in the ER out of the corner of my eye as I did. Shit, I forgot she had been in the car, both Rucker and I had bailed when the car stopped and ran. I would apologize, later.
“What happened?” I said darkly to anyone in the room who wanted to tell me. I stopped close to the bed and wanted to take Maria’s hand but something stopped me. Shit, I had been so scared, I can’t go through this again, was my only thought.
“Someone threw about four Molotov cocktails through Maria’s front window and ignited her house. Last we heard the fire department said it is a total loss. Nothing to salvage,” Fin said grimly and then Tony added.
“Yeah, they also said it was some kind of chemical they had never seen before, shit practically repelled the water, and it moved fast. They said if she hadn’t gotten out when she did, she would have gone up with it.”
I closed my eyes and pinched my nose between two fingers and asked, “Do we know who yet?”
When I didn’t get an immediate answer I opened my eyes to see Maria smiling and then she shook her head and whispered, “Only have one case. Was just assigned this morning, my boss said it was top priority.”
My eyes narrowed and I stared and her closely, “You go out to Rikers today?”
Maria nodded slowly and I cursed and then turned to Tony and Fin. “We need someplace safe, now, for her, Rucker, Mrs. Honeychil, and me to stay. Need it to have full security system already in place. Also need an around the clock guard on all of them.”
I should have known this was all gonna wrap around, fucking knew when I heard it was a cop. I should have protected Maria, fuck, I didn’t think to check on her. I was too wrapped up in my own shit to think.
“Ranger,” Tony said and I turned and glared at him and then walked out of the room. I couldn’t let Rucker hear this, not now. All of the guys followed me, all of them, they must have seen the look on my face, because I was deadly serious right now.
“Man, what has you tweaked?” Tony asked and I put a hand to the back of my neck and rubbed.
“I wish I wasn’t the one who had to tell you this, I just found out about it. I was going to tell you, just tomorrow, and I should have fucking known they wouldn’t wait, I should have known,” I said and they all looked at me like I was going crazy for a second.
“Man, is this about this afternoon. I mean, we knew you got bad news and your captain was worried about it. We know about…” Tony said and I shook my head.
“You know partial, that is it. The gun to kill my wife, to kill a kid, and to shoot Falon are one in the same. Not only that, they know it is tied to a gang, a very bad gang, and they also believe a cop is involved in some way,” I whispered and everyone went still. They hadn’t known about the cop, it made things all the worse. He knew it because he was feeling it still.
“What the heck?” Anthony Sr. said and looked at me and frowned. “How in the h—”
“Dad,” Tony said and held out his hand. “Right now, it doesn’t matter, what does is that whatever Ranger said is the truth, if he thinks they need protection they do. So right now, let’s put our heads together, figure out where we can put them, out of the way, that already has security, and we can deal with the rest later. I don’t like sitting out here in the middle of the ER discussing this.”
They all nodded and then his father snapped, “They will go home with us.”
Tony grimaced and turned to his dad and said, “Sorry, Dad, Maria and Mom in one house again, I’d give that no more than twenty-four hours, so hell no.”
“What? Why?” Senior said. “She stayed last time with us.” Tony rolled his eyes.
“It almost turned into a blood bath. The only thing that kept it contained was because you and Mom left for Cali.”
“Well—” Senior started and Fin interrupted.
“Hey, Kink owns his parents’ house now, he had renters in there, but they moved out. I was just fixing to put up the ad in the paper since we look after it. You can stay there, hell, it is smack dab in the middle of all of our places, we can all keep watch.”
I stared at him intently. “Security?”
“State of the art, you know Kink, man, the renters never used it though, we would only need to hook it back up. Hell, it even has a mother-in-law’s house in the back. Mrs. Honeychil could stay there, and you, Rucker, and Maria could stay in the house.”
Fin laughed and then said, “And since Maria is apparently without a car since it is buried under rubble, I will call Kink and see if she can use the ‘Stang. It’s in storage and his Camaro is at Dad’s.”
Tony’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “Oh hell no, she is not driving the ‘Stang.”
Reed spoke for the first time, “None of the women should be allowed to drive Kink’s cars! Petal used the Camaro while her bike was in getting serviced. I rode in it with her and I am still having nightmares. She was going to use it during the winter. No way, Bry and I will buy her a four-wheel drive jeep, maybe a tank. Petal handles her motorcycle like it was born between her legs. A supped up car, yeah, not so much.
While Reed was talking, Senior looked at Reilly who whispered, “What is a ‘Stang?”
The other man shrugged and said, “Hope it’s not a motorcycle, Maria is a bit of a daredevil, I am pretty sure Kink wouldn’t be happy if she dumped his bike.”
“I’m pretty sure Kink doesn’t want any of his vehicles dumped,” Michael chimed in.
Senior nodded and then said, “If it will make it easier, I will drive this ‘Stang, until Maria gets a rental. She can use the Buick.”
All of them turned and looked at the older men with their mouths open and Senior said, “What? Kink and I developed a bond while I was in California. He wouldn’t mind.”
“Hate like hell to tell you this, Dad, but I bet he would feel better if Maria took his car.” Tony chuckled and then Senior hit him on the back of the head.
I nodded and said, “Okay, you guys get Maria, Rucker, and Mrs. Honeychil to the house, I will go back home, grab stuff for all of us, and meet you there.”
Bry stepped up. “You think it is safe for you to go back home by yourself? I mean, if they shot Falon, Noel, and some kid, fire bombed Maria’s house, it’s only a matter of time before they come after you. Hell, for all you know they could already have been watching you.”
I swore under my breath, I wish they would come after me, I really did, but dammit, I had Rucker to think about. I looked at Tony and said, “Have Jet meet me out front in a half an hour, let me go in and talk to Maria and Mrs. Honeychil, fill them in a little, make sure they are all okay. I need to check on Rucker, he was pretty upset.”
“We’ll meet in the morning,” Anthony Sr. said, pointing a finger at the group. “Then, we are gonna get on the same gosh darn page, I don’t think I can take much more of this shit.”
I grimaced and nodded and looked at the others. “Tomorrow, early, I have to report back to the captain.”
&nb
sp; I walked back into the room where Maria was still holding Rucker, but he had settled down and was whispering to her softly.
“I was scared,” he said and I froze. Maria looked up at me and I saw the look of sadness in her eyes.
“I know, sweetie, and I am sorry, I am,” Maria said and Rucker nodded and asked.
“How’d your house start on fire?”
I stepped closer and put my hand on the back of my son’s head and I said, “Hey, big guy, why don’t you get off Maria so she can get changed and we can get outta here.”
“I don’t wanna,” Rucker said and gripped her tighter.
“Rucker,” I said and leaned over and whispered, “It is okay, she is just gonna get changed and then we are all going to go somewhere together, so we are all safe.”
His head lifted up and looked me in the eyes, “Really?”
I nodded and whispered, “Mrs. Honeychil is even coming, we found somewhere closer to Tony and Fin.”
“Together? All of us?” Rucker said as if I told him it was Christmas morning or something. My chest tightened, I knew Rucker was close to Maria, but this close? Fuck me.
“Yeah, big guy, all of us. Now why don’t we let Maria get up and get ready so we can get to it. I am gonna run home and grab some of our stuff,” I said and Rucker nodded.
Mrs. Honeychil said behind me, “I don’t need…”
I turned and my eyes pierced her, “Yes you do, all of us.”
The older woman looked at my expression and she nodded slowly. Yeah, she was getting it, none of them were safe right now.
Chapter Six
Maria
I had no idea how I was hoodwinked into this mess, but I was. I mean sure, I could have gone to my parents’ house, but really was that something a sane person would do? However, this was totally a close second to being completely nuts. Me and Ranger in closed quarters? Madness. I will never survive this. The only way I made it through actually being around him for long periods of time was because I knew that later, I would be home, in my own private sanctuary, with my own private space to use my vibrator, and dammit, this was not conducive in this house. I couldn’t just say ‘Rucker, watch some TV while I go masturbate to the thoughts of your father’, now could I.
Cuffed and Briefed Page 4