Safe From the Fire

by Lily Rede

  He glared at the gawking crowd, as if to say, that goes for you, too.

  Colin’s grace and easy defense of Grace against the idiots of the world made Matt feel even more like a heel. And his hand was killing him.

  “Go home, Matt,” Colin said gently, and Matt nodded.

  “Can you check on Grace? Make sure she’s okay?” he asked miserably.

  “Of course.”

  Trying to ignore the stares and whispers that followed him, Matt lumbered through the restaurant and out the door.

  DARRYL LANSKY held an ice pack to his brother’s nose in the bathroom of the house they shared and seethed. Russell was a fool, had always been a fool, but he was family, and knowing Matt Harris had done this to him over that little tramp filled him with a desire to destroy.

  It had been easy enough before. When he had to cover up Russell’s idiotic and dangerous mistakes. And they hadn’t made the connection.

  Matt had to pay, and so there would be one more fire. That beautiful, unfinished house he’d built by hand. It would be a stunning rise of flame against the sky, visible for miles, a force of heat and power. And Matt would be inside, consumed by the fire he tried to hold back.

  He felt a tingle of arousal at the very thought.

  “That guy needs to be kept on a leash,” muttered Russell, the words muffled.

  “You need to see a doctor. I’ll take you to Dr. Griggs and then I’ll take care of Matt Harris.”

  “What are you going to do to him?”

  Russell sat up straight, looking a little concerned.

  “Nothing you have to worry about. Haven’t I always taken care of you?”

  “Yeah, Darryl. Thanks.”

  Russell dabbed at his nose with a clean towel.

  “Darryl, did you have anything to do with those fires?”

  Darryl stiffened.

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “It’s just – all those houses were the same ones – ”

  His brother stood to wash his hands.

  “Put on a clean shirt and for God’s sake wash your face. I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”

  “And the houses?”

  “I promised Pops when he gave me the company that you’d always have a place here. That I’d look out for you and make sure you were okay. So that’s what I did. Be grateful that you have someone looking out for you, Russell.”

  Russell nodded, more scared of his sibling than he ever would be of anyone else. Darryl had never hurt him, but his icy glare had a way of freezing Russell to the bone, and had since they were children. He’d never really crossed him, and didn’t want to find out what might happen if he did.

  After Russell had disappeared down the hall, Darryl stepped into his closet to retrieve the gun he kept in a shoebox at the back. He checked the clip with steady hands and shoved it into his waistband.

  Matt was a big man. Better safe than sorry.

  GRACE YANKED THE DOOR open, disappointed to see Colin and Evie instead of Matt. She’d woken an hour ago, a little sore, but satiated in a way she’d never been before, blown away by what Matt was willing to do to her. For her. It was the most intensely erotic episode of her sexual life so far. And then she’d turned over and realized that Matt wasn’t there.

  Not in the shower.

  Not in the kitchen.

  And his clothes were gone.

  Grace was pissed. And scared. What if she’d disgusted him? What if she’d pushed him too far? What if he couldn’t stand to look at her now?

  What if he refused to do it again?

  She’d showered, carefully soaping newly sensitive areas and trying not to let herself drown in hypotheticals. Now dry and wearing a soft velvet tracksuit in deference to her ass, which was going to be a little sore for a day or so, she fixed her friends with her most serious librarian glare.

  “Where’s Matt?” she demanded.

  Colin took a prudent step behind Evie, who just rolled her eyes at her boyfriend and stepped inside to perch on the arm of the couch.

  “Matt got into a fight with Russell Lansky at Clark’s tonight,” said Colin, “He broke the kid’s nose.”

  “He did what?” said Adam, coming down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

  “Apparently Russell got all riled up about Matt looking at him in connection with the fires and said some kind of…explicit…things about your sister. Matt sort of lost it,” admitted Colin, “I walked in just in time to see the spectacular action sequence, but man, that kid’s face looked like ground chuck.”

  “Good,” said Adam, and Grace frowned.

  “It’s not good! He can’t pick a fight with everyone who calls me a name!” she said.

  “It’s about time someone did,” said Colin, “It should have been me. I was away too long.”

  “It’s not your fault,” said Grace.

  “No, it’s yours,” said Adam.

  His sister and the others turned to look at him in surprise. Adam was frowning, arms crossed, defiant.

  “You’ve been letting them say whatever they want about you for so long that you’re starting to believe it.

  “I am not!”

  “Then don’t let them get away with it! If you’ve got people willing to stand up and fight for you, you should at least be willing to stand up with them!”

  Adam slumped into a chair as Grace considered him, moved and humbled.

  “You’re right,” she said, quietly.

  “Matt wanted me to check on you,” Colin said, “Did you have a fight?”

  “Not exactly,” said Grace, blushing, “but I may have…broadened his horizons…a little too far, too fast.”

  “I don’t need to hear this,” said Adam, covering his ears, but Evie was grinning.

  “The guy looked a little strung out. What did you do to him?” asked Colin.

  “You don’t need to hear that, either,” said Evie, but leaned over to Grace, “I want every little detail later, Ms. Mallow.”

  “He left. When I woke up he was gone, and I’m just worried – ”

  “Give him a little time,” advised Evie, “Sometimes we need a little help readjusting when someone completely rocks our world.”

  “Thanks, baby,” said Colin.

  “Who says I was talking about you?”

  Evie pulled a sheaf of papers from her back pocket and waved them.

  “Enough about Grace’s sex life,” she began.

  “Yes, please,” muttered Adam.

  “I’ve gone over and over this employee list – checked every background, interviewed anyone who ever stubbed his toe on the job. Everyone from Russell Lansky down to the office kid. I’ve got nothing.”

  “So we’re back where we started?” asked Grace.

  “No, because we know that four of the buildings that went up in flames were Lansky buildings, at least partially. They all had construction or major renovation done in the last six months.”

  “So?” Adam looked puzzled.

  “So there’s one person who supervised all of those builds who isn’t on this list.”

  “Darryl,” breathed Grace.

  “But why would he burn down his own buildings?” asked Colin.

  “Maybe there was something wrong with them.”

  Adam hopped up and started pacing.

  “Russell mentioned that Darryl was pissed because he kept screwing up on the job. What if Darryl was going around trying to fix his little brother’s mistakes?”

  “And the other houses were decoys to keep us off the scent,” continued Evie, pulling out her phone, “Hey Zeke, it’s me. I need you to find Tony and get over to Darryl Lansky’s house. We think he’s our arsonist. Yes, really. Don’t make a move without me, I’ll be there in ten.”

  She started toward the door and Adam, Colin, and Grace quickly moved to follow her.

  “Where do you all think you’re going?” she asked in freezing tones.

  “With you,” said Colin.

  “Nuh-uh.
You’re going home to wait for my call and in the meantime you can prepare for the media hurricane you’re going to have to deal with when I bag you an arsonist.”

  “I want to check on Matt. Russell only came after him because I thought he was acting weird.”

  “You did the right thing,” said Grace, “Matt’s not answering his phone.”

  She looked at the floor.

  “Not for me, at least.”

  “Come on,” said Adam, “we’ll swing by, make sure he’s okay.”

  Heart pounding, Grace nodded.

  “Let’s do it,” said Evie, “Come hell or high water, by morning this town is going to be back to normal.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  MATT FLEXED HIS WRAPPED hand and stared at his cell phone.

  Four missed calls. All from Grace.

  He just couldn’t bring himself to pick up the phone, not until he had some idea of what he was going to say to her. The incident in the diner had been eye-opening. It was the first time that Matt had really gotten a sense of what Grace went through on a daily basis, and it made his blood boil. Sure, she might be into some kinky, unusual, wonderful sexual things, but those were nobody’s business but hers. And his.

  You’ve got to call her back, Harris.

  Gripped with longing and indecision, he started to dial. If he’d scared her, hurt her, he’d never forgive myself.

  But what if she liked it? Matt shivered, thinking about how she’d taken him with such unconditional acceptance and gorgeous surrender.

  I want that again.

  He let that shocking thought sit in his brain for a moment, his fingers frozen on the keypad.

  There was a knock at the door.

  Grace.

  He hurried to open it, his heart nearly bursting in his chest, and frowned to see –

  Darryl.

  “We need to talk, Harris.”

  “I’m sorry I broke Russell’s nose, but it’s between me and him, Darryl. He’s an adult.”

  “Just shut up and back the fuck up,” snarled Darryl, and Matt froze at the sight of the cold steel of the gun in Darryl’s hand.

  “Easy, Darryl,” he said, but backed up into the house, with Darryl advancing.

  Darryl waved him into a hard-backed chair and took up a position near the stairs.

  “She’s really got your dick in knot, doesn’t she?” he said, and Matt gripped the edges of the chair to steady himself, “If you hadn’t been so concerned with proving baby brother had turned over a new leaf to make her happy, I could have left you alone. Russell didn’t even set the fires, you dumb shit. It was me.”

  A sharp cry had Darryl swinging his gun around to aim at Grace and Adam coming in the front door. Matt didn’t breathe.

  “Don’t move a muscle, Harris, or I’m going to put a bullet in your slutty little girlfriend’s brain.”

  He waved the siblings inside, and then grabbed a handful of bungee cords from the pile of construction materials and packing supplies just inside the doorway of the unfinished parlor behind him. Darryl tossed them to Grace.

  “Tie him and your brother to the chairs, nice and tight. I’m guessing you’re good at that.” His smile was nasty.

  Grace complied, securing them to the hard chairs. Darryl was watching closely, so she had no chance to tamper with the knots, to loosen them.

  “Let Grace go, Darryl. She has nothing to do with this,” said Matt.

  “It’s too late for that. The only way this works is if I don’t leave any loose ends. That’s the only way that I – and Russell – are safe.”

  Reaching into his pocket, he hit a few buttons on his phone, and there was a small BOOM! that rattled the house on its foundation, followed by smoke seeping up from the floorboards, from the kitchen, and in the vents.

  Matt looked horrified at the inescapable truth – Darryl Lansky had set fire to his house.

  GRACE FELT THE TEMPERATURE rising as smoke started to fill the room and flames licked along the door from the basement. She had to act quickly.

  “You don’t want to do this, Darryl! You never wanted to hurt anybody, right? Cal and Silas were an accident,” said Grace, pleading.

  “Shut up! What I want is everything to go back to normal! And that can’t happen if I let you live.”

  He trained the gun on Matt, and Grace stood in front of it.

  “Don’t! Please. I love him. You can’t do this!”

  Swearing, Darryl stepped forward, flung her to the floor with a hard shove, and pulled the trigger just as Matt twisted his body as far as the bonds would allow, and then jerked back with a cry as the bullet hit his shoulder.

  “No!” cried Grace and Adam at once.

  Darryl seemed pissed to have missed, but suddenly Russell raced through the door, his face a mess.

  “Darryl, wait!”

  He jolted at the sight of the gun, stopping short.

  “How did you get here?” Darryl frowned.

  “I stole Dr. Griggs’ car. Don’t make this worse!”

  “I’m fixing it Russell. Wait for me outside.”

  Darryl’s eyes were wide and bright as the fire started to spread, and Russell coughed, his eyes watering.

  “Listen to Russell, please,” pleaded Adam.

  “You don’t get to talk!” screamed Darryl, “You were supposed to take the blame!”

  “This is my fault, Darryl, you can’t take it out on them! I’m the one that went for the cheap materials and installed the drywall. It was only a matter of time before people would have started getting sick.”

  “So you had to burn all the buildings to hide what Russell did,” said Grace.

  “It was toxic,” said Matt, and Grace was horrified by how much blood he was losing.

  “They have to die, Russell, and this house needs to burn. Or the cops will know.”

  Russell threw his hands in the air.

  “They’re going to know! Even if you kill them all, the cops will know. Soon everyone is going to know! What do you think is going to happen to the company after that? What’s Pops going to say?”

  “I was trying to look out for you. That’s the only thing he wanted me to do.”

  But a note of horror crept into Darryl’s voice. Russell’s voice was caught between panic and terror.

  “And you did. But now I’ve got to look out for you. This is really bad, Darryl. Please. It’ll be okay if you just let me help you.”

  For a long moment, Darryl stared at him.

  “It’s ruined. No matter what happens from now on, I ruined it. So the answer is no, Russell. I can’t let you help me,” he said, and in one swift move, pushed the gun up to his head and pulled the trigger.

  BANG! THE SOUND OF the shot was not as shocking as the splatter of Darryl’s brains across Matt’s unfinished floor. Russell stood there looking shocked as his brother’s body tumbled to the floor, the gun dropping from his hand.

  Matt was too focused on the fire to feel any sort of relief or remorse.

  The flames were creeping up the walls now, hissing and crackling as the wallpaper melted, and Grace knelt to try and work the knots free.

  “I can’t loosen them!” she cried, “They’re too tight!”

  “Grace,” said Matt, keeping his voice even, “Run into the kitchen and get a knife.”

  She nodded and was back in seconds, slashing at Adam’s bonds.

  “Adam, get Russell out of here. Call Evie. We’ll be right behind you.”

  “But – ”

  “Now!”

  Adam jumped into action, grabbing Russell and steering him toward the door as the flames climbed higher.

  Grace tried to hurry and Matt winced as she nicked his arm.

  “Sorry,” she said, “Oh God.”

  “It’s okay,” said Matt, keeping an eye on the flames and the cloud of toxic smoke that was quickly filling the room, “You’re doing fine. And just think, someday you can tell our kids about the time you saved my life while the house burned down around us.�
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  “I’m so sorry, Matt,” said Grace, desperate, “I didn’t mean to push you so far. I keep forgetting that you may not be ready.”

  “I was afraid I hurt you,” said Matt.

  Grace paused, shocked.

  “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done. You are the most incredible – ”

  She stopped and focused on the ropes, which finally came free. Matt wasted no time, flinging Grace over his good shoulder and using a throw blanket from the couch to beat a path to the door. They emerged into night and chaos, gasping for air, and Matt had never felt anything better than the spray of water on his face as Rafael, Lance, and his other firefighter brothers let loose.

  “You’re fighting fires without gear now? You’re going to make the rest of us look bad, man,” joked Rafael, hurrying forward to lift Grace down and help them toward safety.

  Matt’s shoulder was in agony, and behind them his house was a raging fireball, but Matt ignored these minor details and wrapped his arms around Grace, who was still gulping sweet air into her lungs.

  Wiping the soot from her face, he kissed her, sending up a prayer of thanks when she kissed him back.

  “I love you, too,” he said.

  GRACE ADMITTED TO HERSELF that Evie was usually right, but although the town did indeed seem back to normal the following morning, there were a few changes, some subtle and some not-so-subtle. News of Darryl’s guilt and subsequent suicide had spread like..well…wildfire…and Grace was curious to see how story would affect Adam’s life in Bright’s Ferry.

  It started when Althea stopped by Grace’s house early this morning with an update on Cal, who was improving, but had a long way to go. She surprised Adam by asking him if he’d run the store for them until Cal’s return. Shocked and thrilled, Adam could only nod as she handed over the keys.

  The second surprise came when Dreyer stopped by the library main desk to ask about Matt and offer his sympathy over her ordeal, with no irony whatsoever.

  “Enjoy it while you can,” said Fiona, who was pale from stress and a lack of sleep, but had regained her sass now that Cal was on the mend, “I think he likes Cal more than he’d like to admit, and it’s messing with his empathy circuits.”