Fire and Love (Hope Falls Book 13)

by Melanie Shawn

  Larry glanced to Eli’s right where Gabe stood and did a double take. “Do I know you, man?”

  “I don’t think so.” Gabe shook his head and reached out his hand. “Gabe Maguire.”

  “I never forget a face.” The corners of Larry’s eyes squinted as he started to shake Gabe’s hand when something caught his attention behind them. “Hey! This is private property.”

  Eli turned and saw Theo. “He’s with us.”

  “I don’t care if he’s with the Queen of England, no cameras.”

  “Got it.” Eli motioned for Theo to cut the camera.

  He understood Larry’s position. The people that stayed here were most likely not doing things they’d like recorded.

  “Room nine, right?” Eli confirmed.

  Larry’s beady stare was still pointed at Theo. “What’s he with you for?”

  “A documentary.”

  “About the fire department?” Larry’s wild brows furrowed so deep that two long, stray strands crossed each other.

  “About Gabe.” Eli tried not to stare at the hairy X between Larry’s eyes. “He’s an MMA fighter.”

  Larry snapped his finger. “That’s it! I knew I’d seen you before. You were that fighter that got ball cancer.”

  “It was Osteosarcoma,” Gabe corrected.

  “Whatever.” Larry turned his head and spit again. “I thought you died.”

  “Nope.” Gabe shook his head, and from the resigned expression on his face, Eli would guess that wasn’t the first time he’d heard that. “Still here.”

  “Are you guys here to help the young lady having a baby?”

  Eli looked and saw an elderly woman sticking her head out of her motel room door.

  “What lady?” Marco asked from beside him.

  “The lady that’s been hollerin’. I saw her go into the room when I was waiting for Edgar to come back from getting ice. She was holding her stomach and obviously having contractions.”

  It looked like they weren’t going to be waiting for law enforcement.

  He grabbed the medic bag and crossed the parking lot. Marco and Gabe followed beside him. When he got to the door he saw that it was ajar. A woman was lying on the bed bleeding. He stepped in, and the first thing that hit him was the overwhelming odor of stale cigarettes, urine, and foul body odor. Lifting his hand to his nose, he breathed in through his mouth and turned his attention to the woman on the bed.

  She was curled up in the fetal position wearing an oversized dingy T-shirt. There were blood stains on the sheets by her legs, and her hair was damp with perspiration.

  Eli knelt beside her and began taking her vitals. Her pulse was faint and slow. “Ma’am, what’s your name?”

  Her eyes were closed, and she shook her head as she moaned.

  He called over his shoulder to Marco. “Get an ETA on the ambulance.”

  “How far along are you?”

  She continued moaning and shaking her head.

  “Ma’am, can you hear me?” Eli placed his hand on her stomach to try and get a sense of her size, which was difficult to assess with her position.

  A door slammed behind Eli, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement. He sliced his gaze toward it and saw Gabe take several steps back with his hands lifted in the air. Eli raised his eyes to the reflection of the mirror above the sink and he saw a man behind him holding a gun pointed at his back.

  “Get the fuck away from her!” the man shouted.

  “I’m helping her,” Eli explained calmly.

  Even through the mirror’s reflection, Eli could easily make out that the man’s bloodshot eyes were bulging from the sockets. It was evident that he was on something. “She doesn’t need your help.”

  The woman screamed again as Eli felt her stomach tighten in contraction.

  “It’s okay,” Eli concentrated on her. “You’re okay.”

  “It hurts!” she cried out. “It hurts!”

  “Fuck, make her stop!” He saw that the man lifted his hand to his ear as his face contorted and a gunshot rang out.

  As chaos erupted around him, Eli’s mind slowed down and he started compartmentalizing the situation. The bullet went through the ceiling. The woman was delivering a baby, and she might be bleeding out. She needed immediate medical attention. They were in a small, enclosed space and the only exit was blocked by a man on drugs with a gun.

  All of that was happening, and still, his mind kept coming back to one thing. Kenzie. He needed to see her face again, to kiss her lips again, to tell her all the things he hadn’t said.

  But first, he had to make it out of here alive.

  *

  Mackenzie’s eyes grew wide as she drove up to the motel that was lit up with red and blue flashing lights. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this certainly wasn’t it. Besides Engine 23 there was an ambulance, two Hope Falls’ cruisers, and one Sheriff’s SUV.

  The emergency vehicles were blocking the entrance to the parking lot that was taped off. There was a small crowd gathered around the Shady Pines Motel sign. She pulled her car to the side of the road and jumped out.

  “What’s going on?” Mackenzie asked a girl that looked to be in her late teens. The girl had purple hair pulled up in a haphazard ponytail and she wore tiny boy shorts and a white tube top with two large stains on the front and no shoes.

  “They came pounding on the door and made us get out.” The young woman took a drag of her cigarette and shivered. “Some dude’s gotta gun in there.”

  A gun.

  Was Eli in there?

  Was he okay?

  Were Theo and Gabe in there?

  Were they okay?

  Straining her neck, she tried to see past the beer-bellied men that were in front of her, but all she could make out were lights flashing on the tops of people’s heads. Grabbing her phone from her back pocket, she texted Theo.

  I’m here. What the hell is going on?

  He immediately responded.

  Where are you?

  She typed back.

  By the sign.

  Within seconds she heard her name, and she saw Theo waving for her to come over.

  “Here,” She took off the NYU sweatshirt that she’d thrown on over her tank top and handed it to the girl. “Take this.”

  “Why? What do you want?” The girl stared at it like it was going to bite.

  “I want you to take this. It’s cold.” She shoved it at the girl, not waiting to see if she took it before she ran toward Theo who was holding the tape up for her. She ducked under. “Where’s Eli? Where’s Gabe?”

  “They’re in there.”

  “In where? What’s going on?”

  “They’re in the motel room.” Theo led Mackenzie behind the firetruck. “Marco was with them too but he came out to get a medical kit and then we heard the gunshot.”

  “Gunshot?!”

  “Yeah!” Theo nodded. “There’s a guy in there with a gun. I don’t know if he’s taken them hostage or just crazy or what.”

  Her mind pulled out keywords and lit them up like neon signs. Gun. Hostage. Crazy.

  “What do you know?!” she spat out past the hysteria that was rising in her throat choking her.

  “I just told you.” Theo was frazzled as he repeated what she’d already heard. “Gabe and Eli are both in there. Marco said when they went in a woman was bleeding on the bed. Eli sent him out to get the kit. The next thing I know there’s a gunshot.”

  “Is Eli okay? Is Gabe okay?” Tears sprang to Mackenzie’s eyes as she crossed her arms over her stomach.

  “I don’t know.” He picked up the camera beside him. “The cops showed up, and everything’s been crazy. It looks like it’s getting even crazier.”

  He pointed behind the tape and saw that a news van was parked beside her car and a reporter was talking to the girl she’d given her sweatshirt to, which she was now wearing.

  Mackenzie looked around. Police were talking on their radios. The lights were flas
hing against the tall pine trees that surrounded the motel. The guests that had been evacuated were all filming with their phones.

  “This can’t be happening,” she whispered under her breath as her hand covered her mouth.

  Her breath was coming in shorter pants now. This was not a scenario she’d ever envisioned. When he’d left Mackenzie found out from his mom that Eli was in the Marines. When he got out, she’d breathed a sigh of relief.

  A few months later, her grandmother had mentioned that she’d heard Eli was a firefighter. Once again, she’d imagined the worst, telling herself that his job was dangerous and there was a real possibility that it might cost him his life. But she’d never imagined a man with a gun.

  Her mind was racing with all the possibilities of what might be happening. Eli could be hurt. Gabe could be hurt. They could be shot. They could be…dead.

  Kenzie was pacing back and forth when the shrill sound of a woman screaming caused her to jump off the ground and spin toward the motel. When she regained her balance, she looked around, expecting to see people just as concerned and frenzied as she felt, but the expressions of the cops, the paramedics, and the onlookers were unfazed.

  “Did you hear that?” She grabbed Theo’s arm, and he lowered the camera.

  “It happens every few minutes. The woman with the blood, she’s in labor.”

  “In labor?!”

  Theo just shrugged like it was no big deal and lifted the camera again.

  “What are the police doing? Are they going to go in there? Is anyone doing anything?”

  Theo kept shooting as he said, “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  She knew that her friend was offering the platitude to try and be supportive. But Theo didn’t know what she did. He didn’t know that from one second to the next everything can change. That one day you can wake up and everything is perfect and then one phone call later your world is crashing down around you.

  She crossed her arms in front of her chest in an effort to hold herself together. She lifted up on her toes and craned her neck to try and see the room that Eli was in. It was located at the corner of the motel and police officers in protective gear crouched behind the opened doors of their squad cars with guns drawn and aimed.

  “Just be okay,” she whispered under her breath. “Please be okay.”

  Another scream broke out, and this one sounded like a dying animal. Mackenzie felt as if time was standing still as the cry went on for what seemed like an eternity. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe as she did everything she could not to let her mind run wild with what horrific things could be causing the scream.

  When it finally ended, she opened her eyes, and that’s when all hell broke loose. She saw a flash of light through the window of the motel room as a loud crack boomed. The next thing she knew she was on her stomach on the ground, her face pressed to the pavement, and something heavy was on top of her. All she saw was a flurry of light and people rushing around. Their mouths were moving as they yelled, but the only thing she could hear was white noise that reminded her of rushing water and a high ringing.

  Her head swam with confusion, but one thought rose to the surface. Eli. She needed to make sure Eli was okay. Tiny pebbles dug into her palms as she pushed off the asphalt.

  “Mackenzie.” A distant voice cut through the white noise and ringing.

  She felt arms wrap around her as she was hauled up to a seated position. Her eyes focused on the face of the person crouching front of her. It was Theo.

  “Are you okay?” he repeated.

  She nodded as she attempted to stand, but her legs felt as wobbly as a newborn foal. Theo helped her, and when she was finally upright, she saw the scene that was unfolding. A man in handcuffs was being put in a patrol car as paramedics were rushing into the motel room.

  “Eli!” Mackenzie started forward in desperation but Theo’s arm wrapped around her waist. She tried to tug out of his hold, but he held her tighter.

  “You can’t go in there,” he said calmly but firmly.

  “Let go!” She used all of her might to push his arm away, but her effort was futile.

  Panic was rising in her, and she was on the precipice of completely losing it when Eli appeared in the doorway. He had blood on his shirt and pants.

  Mackenzie didn’t know if Theo released his hold or if she broke out of it. All she knew was her feet were carrying her to Eli. She saw the moment of shock that crossed his face at seeing her and then the recognition that lit in his eyes before she threw herself into his arms.

  He wrapped her in a tight embrace. “What are you doing here?”

  She could hear anger in his voice, but she didn’t care. She didn’t answer, she couldn’t speak. All she could do was hold onto Eli. And if it were up to her, she would never let him go.

  Chapter 18

  ‡

  He was alive. He was home. He was with Kenzie.

  That was all that mattered.

  Tonight’s events were still whirling in Eli’s mind as he and Kenzie walked up the steps of his front porch. He’d never thought a day would come that he’d deliver a baby with a gun pointed at him and he had no desire to do it again.

  Things had worked out, thankfully. Both mother and child were safe and in the hospital. When the baby first came out, Eli was scared it was stillborn. The baby was blue. But after unwrapping the umbilical cord from the infant’s neck and stimulating his back, he cried.

  That’s when the father of the baby decided that the baby didn’t “look like him” and raised his gun to shoot either the mother or the baby or both. Gabe tackled him. The gun discharged, but thankfully the round hit the far wall.

  Gabe was the true the hero of the night. If not for him, Eli was sure that one or more of them would be dead or injured.

  Eli opened the front door and stood to the side to let Kenzie go in front of him. He followed her inside. After shutting the door and clicking the lock in place, Eli’s muscles relaxed for the first time that night. When they did, exhaustion pulled at him as he crashed from the adrenaline that had spiked through him.

  But he was not about to give into it, not before he talked with Kenzie.

  One good thing that had come out of tonight was that he was done tiptoeing around things with the only girl he’d ever loved. He might not be able to tell her everything, but he was going to tell her that he’d never wanted to hurt her and that it had killed him to walk away from her all those years ago. He was going to tell her that he loved her and that he would do anything to protect her.

  He had a lot that he wanted to say, that he needed to say to Kenzie, but he wasn’t sure how receptive she’d be. She hadn’t spoken a word to him the entire ride home. Since they left the station, he’d asked a dozen times or more if she was okay and he hadn’t even gotten a mmmhmm. She’d barely nodded her head in response.

  “Kenzie,” he said her name softly. “We need to talk.”

  Her blonde hair swayed against her shoulders as she shook her head no. “I don’t want to talk.”

  She turned to face him, and when their eyes met, the energy that sparked between them was overwhelming. Undeniable. More intense than a thousand forest fires.

  As she stared up at him, a single tear ran down her face. Eli reached out and used his thumb to wipe it off her cheek. His chest expanded with love as she leaned into his touch and he cradled her jaw in his palm.

  “I was so scared,” she whispered as she sucked in a shaky breath. “I was so scared I was going to lose you. I can’t lose you.”

  “I’m here,” he rushed to assure her. “I’m here.”

  She nodded as more tears stained her face. Leaning down, he softly kissed her forehead. His intent had been to comfort her but when she tilted her head up and pressed her mouth to his, that changed.

  He’d thought that he was completely physically exhausted. Spent. He would’ve sworn that he’d already expended every last ounce of energy that his body had to give. He was wr
ong.

  Adrenaline shot through him like speed in his veins. He was more than awake and aware—he was hyper-awake and hyperaware. Sounds were sharper, colors brighter. Time seemed like it was speeding up and slowing down all once.

  In short, he felt more alive than he ever had. During the standoff, all he’d thought about was Kenzie. He was desperate to touch her, to hold her, to be with her.

  She might’ve felt the same thing because her lips devoured his with urgency. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him as tightly as he could. Everything about the kiss, from the way that their lips moved against each other to the way that he held her against him with all the strength in his arms, was driven by pure desperation. There was no other word for it.

  She sucked his tongue as her trembling fingers traced up and down his neck, and the sensation caused his cock to stiffen uncontrollably. He vibrated with that need as he slipped his hand underneath her shirt and caressed the soft skin of her waist. He was going to touch and lick every single inch of her skin that night. He was going to show her how alive he was, how solid and real.

  He pushed her shirt up over her head and then slid it off entirely. It took every ounce of restraint he had not to just rip every stitch of clothing off of her in two seconds flat. To not let his animal instincts take over and ravage her the way he wanted to. But, he wasn’t going to do that. That wasn’t what she needed right now. She was too emotional, too raw. It tore at his heart.

  Taking his time, he moved his head and began peppering kisses down her neck and across her collarbone. His lips grazed slowly, taking care to be gentle against her quivering body. He fought the urge to open his mouth wide and taste the sweetness of her skin. Instead, he forced himself to press his mouth softly against her delicate chest.

  When he reached the lace of her bra, he trailed his attentions across the tops of her gorgeous mounds, searing a path of pleasure with his heated lips as he unhooked her clasp from behind and pulled the straps off her shoulders and down her arms in one smooth motion.

  It fell to the ground.

  Seeing Kenzie stand in front of him with her breasts bared and her stomach quivering, ignited a ferocious need in him.