Then, removing my jacket, I set it beside the child.
Stowing my tools on my belt, I reached forward and picked the baby up. Then moved him over to the open coat and wrapped him up as best as I could without smothering him. I picked him up into my arms, cradled him to my chest, and walked to the window.
The window that was covered in bars.
It was then I knew that I’d have to walk back through the fire, and pray that I’d make it out alive.
Three minutes ago it’d been on the verge of destruction. Now, I’d be lucky to make it out alive.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, and stepped out into an inferno.
***
Tru
“You stupid, stupid man,” I whispered, looking down at the man that had such a hold on my heart that it hurt to breathe.
I’d thought my dad was joking when he’d said that Grayson had been hurt while saving an infant from a burning building.
I hadn’t heard anything on the news, which I’d been watching at the time of the call.
Surely something as big as a house fire would’ve made it, but it hadn’t.
I’d known, of course, when I started dating Grayson that being hurt in the line of duty was a very real possibility for him, but I’d always thought that it’d never happen to him.
Boy was I wrong.
It had happened to him.
From what I’d ascertained from my father, he’d made it all the way to the front door before a beam in the living room collapsed, making the integrity of the house give.
When that had happened, the roof had caved in, causing another large beam to strike him on the back of the head.
He’d held his feet, but only long enough to move out the door and collapse onto the lawn.
That’s where he’d lost consciousness and was immediately transported to the hospital.
The child had been transported in the same ambulance, but luckily he was just fine and only being observed overnight for possible smoke inhalation.
I looked from Grayson to his fire helmet that was on the rolling table next to his bed and grimaced.
It was trashed, but the thing had done its job, protecting Grayson’s head. The pieces, though, would never be put back together again.
“If he hadn’t been wearing that helmet, he’d be gone,” Sebastian said quietly from the chair across the room.
I’d known he was there, of course.
But he hadn’t said anything when I entered, and my attention had been on Grayson.
“I can see that,” I said softly, looking down at Grayson’s hand.
It was clean except for the nail beds and the creases of his knuckles which held the remnants of the terrible fire that’d nearly taken his life.
“He’s reckless,” Sebastian growled.
I didn’t look up, but I could tell he was sending that accusatory comment to the man currently lying flat on his back in a hospital bed.
I nodded again in agreement. “He’s passionate. It’s not in his nature to let someone go if he has the ability to save them.”
He had nothing to say to that, so we sat like that in companionable silence, listening to the reassuring sound of Grayson’s monitors telling us his heart was beating correctly.
“The kid’s father is FBI. Grayson’s gonna get a medal for his act of dumbassness,” Sebastian said a while later.
I looked over to him. “He won’t like that. You know how he is with getting the spotlight. He told me about the night that Tunnel died. He said the press wouldn’t leave him alone for weeks. This’ll only make them even more persistent to get their story.”
Although I’d only heard other people’s retelling of their accounts, where Tunnel had perished from smoke inhalation, I knew it to be true. Grayson hated attention.
He nodded. “Yep.”
I looked down at Grayson, noticing the stray smudges of ash and dirt on him, and walked to the sink to wet the wash cloth I’d spotted upon entering the room.
Wetting it with warm water, I took the rag to Grayson and started to clean off the smudges of dirt that I could see, starting at his face and ending with his hands.
The white rag was black by the time I was finished.
“I catch him staring at a picture of the two of you on his phone a lot,” Sebastian said when I was finished.
I did the same.
I wanted so badly to talk to him, to see him. To feel him.
Taking one last, longing look at the man that had the ability to destroy me, I walked out of the door without another word.
I knew I wasn’t alone.
I was followed everywhere I went by a few of the prospects as well as the other members of the MC. When I went to the grocery store, they followed. When I went to the doctor’s office last week, they followed. They left me alone at night, but I had a sneaking suspicion that my new place was wired, and they’d know if I ever needed anything.
One thing was for sure, and that was that Grayson worried about me. Which didn’t fit the description of an ex-girlfriend that he was through with.
As I walked to the waiting area and to my father, I wondered how long this would go on.
There was one promise I could make, though, and that was that I didn’t intend to go much more than a couple more weeks before I decided to fight. I was tired of being unhappy. I was tired of living in limbo.
I’d give him another month, and if he didn’t have it solved by then, then he’d have to find a different way. I wouldn’t be able to say away for much longer.
Chapter 18
Firemen never die, they just burn forever in the hearts of the people whose lives they saved.
-Plaque in the Benton Fire Station
Torren
Three weeks later
The front door chimed when I entered the building. As my eyes adjusted to the dim room, it took me a while to realize that Tru was in front of me at the bar.
“Torren,” she said, nodding at me before turning and making her way to a booth where she sat by herself.
My eyes clenched shut, and my heart ripped in half.
I hadn’t realized that the name Torren on her lips could sound so inexplicably wrong.
That’s not my name! I wanted to shout.
But I didn’t do anything, just walked to the table where Molly was sitting, fighting with every cell in my body not to turn around and look at her.
I hadn’t seen her in three weeks. Three long weeks that had been the worst weeks of my life.
When I’d broken up with her, I’d watched her walk out of the bar, her head held high. She’d made it to the car without crying, and I wanted to hug her for that.
When Molly had tried to put her arms around me again, propositioning me for a date, I’d immediately declined. Then proceeded to the bathroom where I threw up the little food I’d been able to force down before Tru had arrived.
Even now, three weeks later, I barely ate.
What little muscle and weight I’d been able to put on since my surgery went right back out. I was like a shadow of a man.
The only good thing to come out of it all was there was no more threatening letters from Colby. No more…anything. It was as if he’d disappeared.
The trap was set, though. All he had to do was trip it.
I sank down into the booth on the opposite side of Molly, staring at her blankly. “What’d you need?”
She pursed her lips, and her eyes traveled behind me. “Your ex is staring at you. She needs to get a life.”
My fists clenched.
“What. Do. You. Want?” I asked stiffly.
I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin as she reached forward and placed her hand on my forearm.
I yanked it back so fast that she came partially forward, looking at me in surprise.
Standing up, I placed my hands in my pocket and strolled out the door, looking down at my shoes as I went to try to avoid looking at the woman that was in current possession of my heart.
/> I didn’t make it.
When my eyes looked up to avoid a new waitress that was on the verge of tipping over her entire tray, my eyes caught hers, and they held.
Even when Molly caught up to me, placing her hands on mine, they still didn’t stray.
Something passed between us in that moment, and I knew she knew.
I just prayed that she stayed away for a little bit longer.
She didn’t, though.
I saw the recognition in her eyes, but I didn’t do a thing to stop her as she came slowly towards me.
Stopping with her feet touching mine, she ignored Molly’s outraged huff, as did I.
“You okay?” She asked.
I swallowed and nodded. “I’m okay.”
“I know,” she said.
She wasn’t on the state of my well-being anymore, though. She was telling me she knew that I broke it off to protect her.
And suddenly I could breathe again.
My chest expanded fully for the first time in three weeks.
“I know,” I said roughly.
She smiled and placed her hand on my forearm, exactly in the same spot that Molly had touched before.
It didn’t feel wrong.
In fact, it felt anything but wrong. It felt perfect.
“I’ll see you tonight?” She asked.
At my nod, she turned and left, and that’s when I noticed the man standing at the door.
Colby.
And by the look on his face, he knew, too.
Well, I was ready for him now. Tru may have caught on, but I’d planned for that since the moment I’d ended it with her.
I’d planned for two such instances.
One, she figured out the truth and came back to me.
Two, I couldn’t stay away.
Either way, it’d been long enough now that I could make it at least look genuine.
Game on, fucker. I glared at him. Game on.
***
Two hours later
“What’s that man’s fucking deal?” Sebastian hissed as we watched Colby drive away.
I opened my mouth, stretching my jaw to work out the soreness.
Of course, the man had found a way to pull us all over…again.
This time, though, I had the entire incident on tape thanks to my GoPro that I’d had installed on my helmet.
Fucker could hit like a freight train, but I got what I needed.
“He looked into me. Found out who I was. Who my father was. Reminded him why his childhood was shit. So he decided to take it out on someone that he knew would hurt me. That’s Tru.”
“So what…Colby wasn’t doing anything ‘that bad’ until he realized she was dating you?” Kettle asked.
I nodded. “Oh, if you count stalking, breaking and entering as ‘not that bad.’”
“So, why now?” Ross asked.
I turned to my brother and answered. “He saw Tru come up to me at the diner. Walked in when she touched me. Although it was innocent, he, of course, came in at the exact wrong time.”
Which worked well, I suppose. I hadn’t been able to incite him any other way, and if the plan Silas, my dad and I had come up with was to work, he’d have to blow. Just preferably at a place of my choosing.
“Your dad’s on his way?” Kettle clarified.
I nodded. “I called him the moment I saw Colby in the diner. He’ll be here in two hours. Guess he’ll be going to my award ceremony after all.”
***
Tru
“Come on, it’ll be okay,” I urged Rue, nearly laughing my ass off when her face went white.
She got off the bike reluctantly and reached into her saddle bags for her purse.
“But…I’ve never had my hoo-ha waxed before. Will it hurt?” She asked in concern.
I resisted the urge to say, ‘Fuck Yes!’ and instead went with, “It’ll be okay, I promise.”
Then we started to walk towards the door, and my mouth got away from me.
“If it hurts, I’ll kiss it and make it all better,” I teased.
I felt Cleo’s rapt attention on me, and my face flamed when I realized what I’d said.
When I turned to him, it was to see his mouth kicked up in a half smile. “I’d like to witness that, if you don’t mind.”
Rue threw her arm out and whacked Cleo on the shoulder, causing him to chuckle before he started his bike up and roared away.
She watched her husband go, and I felt a pang of longing hit me like a hurricane. I wanted that so bad I’d kill for it. Preferably Colby.
However, I wasn’t into jail sex, and that’s exactly where I’d be if I did anything hasty when it came to Colby.
After watching the entire first and second season of Orange Is The New Black, I knew I’d never be able to hack it in jail. I was too much of a loner, and in prison, you’d need friends who’d watch your back.
Plus, I was fairly positive Grayson wouldn’t be too happy with me if I decided to pursue that line of thinking.
“Let’s get this over with. I swear to God, if this hurts, you’re going to owe me for a very long time,” Rue growled.
I followed her as she nursed her snit.
I was getting myself waxed and coiffed for the awards banquet tonight, honoring Grayson for his heroism in saving the little baby during the fire that almost took his life.
***
Six hours later.
Rue
“Get her away from him before I beat her ass,” I murmured darkly to Cleo.
If I had to see Grayson flinch one more time from her touch, I very well might explode.
What he was thinking bringing her, I didn’t know. It was more than obvious to both of us that it was all just an act. One we’d acknowledged only three hours before, while we were both at the diner.
He also didn’t know I was here, which was bad for him, because I was about to blindside him.
This was ending tonight. I couldn’t handle this anymore. He looked horrible, and seeing him earlier in the day had only set my decision in stone. The man needed a keeper.
Cleo’s dark, ominous eyes came to me, studying me like a bug before he got up and walked across the room.
“You know,” Rue said with annoyance. “I don’t like her very much, and now there’s nowhere else to take her except for right fucking here. Thanks.”
I smiled at my friend, one that’d been with me a lot lately, keeping me company much to her husband’s annoyance. We’d had many nights in their big bed, Cleo on one side of Rue and me on the other. He’d reluctantly been a part of our friendship, and in the interim, I understood the big, dark, brooding man a lot better.
“I know. But at least I won’t be here exacerbating her whininess. Wish me luck,” I said as I stood and made my way over to the table where my man was at.
I smoothed my hands down the dress. It was a slim fitting black halter dress with shimmering crystals lining an infinity pattern that started in the middle of my chest and crisscrossed down the entire length of my side. In between each infinity symbol was a hole giving just a hint of skin.
There was also a slit up the front, showing off my newly waxed legs.
Cleo was already there, taking his sister by the arm and gently pulled her up, not letting go of her hand until she was seated next to Rue.
She glared at me as I passed, and I gave her a little wave as I went, satisfied when she nearly tripped over herself.
I could tell that he hadn’t wanted to do it, but since he cherished his sister’s well-being, he did it anyway.
I sat in the chair beside Grayson just as the city’s new mayor, Tony Leo, walked up on stage with a genuine smile on his face.
He was sitting so stiffly, that it was more than obvious he was incredibly uncomfortable being the center of attention.
The board above the mayor’s head was playing a slideshow of pictures from the time Grayson joined the department until now. I smiled at one in particular of Kettle, Grayson, and Sebastian all sitting on
the bumper of the fire truck.
Each of their heads were hung, elbows resting on their knees, covered in dirt and soot.
Scooting closer to Grayson, I smiled at my father, who sat across the table beside my mother, then leaned my head against Grayson’s shoulder before tangling my hand with his.
He grasped onto it as if it were a lifeline.
He didn’t look at me, and I didn’t look at him. But we were aware of the other on some primal level.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like you all to take your seats so we can begin,” the mayor ordered.
As the people milling about the room sat down, I caught my first good look at Colby, not surprised in the least that he had his eyes on us.
I ignored him, however. Instead turning my attention to the mayor as he introduced the Fire Chief.
I listened rapturously as he spoke about the character of the man at my side.
“Many years ago, this young man entered the fire department all piss and vinegar,” the Fire Chief rumbled. “He came right out of the rig the first fire he responded to and saved two young children, and a dog, from a fire that they’d lit to keep themselves warm. In fact, I can still remember the day clearly. I’d been standing next to the former Fire Chief, and he shook his head and said, ‘Just what we need, another damn truckie.’ And he was right. Grayson Trammel risked his life countless times, and he needs the recognition for it. He’s one hell of a man, and there’s no other man I’d want at my back.”
The waterworks truly began when a beautiful man was introduced as none other than the father of the infant Grayson had saved.
He was a tall man with pure white hair. He wasn’t old, per say, but he gave off an air of intelligence…experience… something one didn’t get by old age, but by a hard life.
He had a strong, angular jaw, and a slightly crooked nose that only added to his appeal.
Before he started talking, his eyes lit on the woman I’d seen in the restroom earlier, changing her son’s diaper.
“My wife and I tried forever, to have a child. And not for the reason your thinking. After three rounds of in-vitro, we’d just about given up hope, deciding to give other options a try, when my Lillie got a positive pregnancy test,” he cleared his throat. “Our dream came true six months ago when our son, Zachary, was born. It almost disappeared in the blink of an eye, three weeks ago, when a fire started while my wife and son were at home asleep.”
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