I put the car in gear and stepped on the gas. I hadn’t even gotten my license until I was eighteen and I’ll admit, I had a tendency to drive on the lower side of other drivers’ sanity levels, earning me the nickname ‘grandpa’ from my band mates. But tonight, I’d be making the boys proud.
The woman held on for dear life as I maneuvered down the hill, avoiding a gathering of fire trucks pulled off to the side of the road. I wanted to roll down my window and inform them of the losing battle they were fighting. Any residents still in their homes weren’t coming out alive. Although, let’s be real, the firefighters were experienced enough to know this was no ordinary blaze. They might as well have been fighting the fire with garden hoses for all the good it would do them.
One fireman saw our approach and began to aggressively signal with his arms and point down the road in the universal sign of ‘Hey Idiot! Get the hell out of here.’
My passenger and I sat rapt in our seats as we pushed toward safety. We hadn’t made it two blocks before an unexpected bend in the road forced us deeper into the inferno.
“Watch out!”
Her scream pierced the cab, commanding my foot to brake even before I knew the reason for her outburst. A tree, fully engulfed in flames, crashed to the ground two car lengths in front of us, sending embers cascading up and over the windshield. My sudden deceleration caused the backend of the Range Rover to fishtail and I struggled for control. We both screamed as the truck performed an entire rotation before coming to an abrupt stop within inches of the burning obstruction.
Breathing heavily, I looked to my passenger for encouraging words of wisdom, but she had nothing more to add to the stunned silence. It occurred to me then that the yappy dog in the backseat had actually stopped barking. Apparently he wasn’t a fan of my Tilt-A-Whirl driving skills.
I placed the car in reverse to get us a safe distance from the burning blockage but with distance came clarity. This narrow road was our salvation, and now the downed tree was blocking us from deliverance. The only way out was through the punishing flames.
Slowly I turned toward my passenger, ready to explain the dire situation, but the minute our eyes met, an understanding passed between us. We were out of options. I knew it. She knew it. The sloppy-tongued caninein the backseat knew it. If we turned around and followed the fire trucks up, we would die. If we stayed put, we would die. Our lives lay on the other side of that tree.
Incredibly, the woman seemed to absorb every word I didn’t speak. Gripping my forearm, she nodded, ready to meet the challenge head-on. Even if that challenge meant driving through a stone-fire oven.
“Wait, what’s your name?” I asked, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to know this stranger beside me, the woman who faced the possibility of death with stunning courage and strength.
Her eyes softened, the fear in them temporarily abated as she answered my question. “Breeze.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly. “Breeze? Like the wind?”
Seeing the irony in her name, a tiny smile found its way to the surface. “Yes, Bodhi Beckett. Like the wind.”
8
Breeze: Sympathy Puker
There are moments in life you know will change you forever. The day Terrance had showed up, hand in hand with my beaming mother, carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers meant just for me, was one of those moments. Another occurred minutes before my beloved grandmother took her final breath. She’d opened her eyes, looked around, and asked why there were so many people gathered at her bedside. My mother and I had been alone with her at the time. And then there wasnow, staring into the eyes of the man I would face death with. I didn’t know him before today, and probably wouldn’t know him after. But for the rest of our hopefully long and prosperous lives, this would be a stitch in time that neither of us would forget.
A calm settled over me in the seconds before he leaned on the gas pedal and shot us into the flames. I’d never been known for my steely reserve, but when it counted and everything was on the line, I was brave. And so was he—more than I ever would have been if I had been driving. I just had to sit here and pray. Bodhi had to transport us through earth’s fiery core with an entire pet store in the backseat. Mason could say what he would about defective former child stars, but mine had it all going on, and then some.
Hercules whimpered from the backseat, momentarily drawing my attention away from the path ahead. I reached back to soothe him when the realization dawned. This was all on me. If I hadn’t insisted on saving the animals, we would’ve passed this spotbeforethe tree fell and we wouldn’t be trapped in a coffin rolling through hell. Why not take it a step further? Had Bodhi left me in the street back there, he’d already be at the ocean by now, safe from harm. If he died on this mountain road, it would be my fault.
I’m sorry,I wanted to say, but no way did this guy have time for apologies. He was busy keeping us alive. With a grimace of determination stamped on his chiseled profile, Bodhi maneuvered the car up and over the curb and drove us directly into the belly of the dragon. Heat penetrated through the surface of the vehicle and, almost immediately, I could feel the temperature rise inside the cab. We were being cooked alive. Sweetpea barked incessantly in his carrier, and Herc’s long, sorrowful wail sounded like a baby’s cry. I wasn’t sure how much he understood about what was happening, but he knew enough to be terrified. Even Lucy got in on the action. With her angry meows muffled from inside the bag. I caught a glimpse of one of her paws reaching up through the small opening where the zipper and duffle bag met.
“It’s not ending,” Bodhi yelled over the roar. “I can’t see the street.”
“It’s there. It has to be,” I said, trying hard to keep the hope alive for the both of us. But with every second that passed, the chances of us getting back onto the road without smashing into a tree or light pole diminished. “Just a little bit further.”
Although my words were paved more in wishful thinking than actual foresight, they seemed to be what he needed to hear.
“Okay. Hold on.”
Tightening my grip on the ‘Oh Shit’ handle, I bit back my scream as Bodhi floored it, blindly navigating his way through the smoke and fire until a sudden sharp veer to the right set the tires back on cemented ground. And although we were free from the tunnel of terror, the Range Rover had emerged from the inferno on fire. The flames licking up the hood increased the likelihood that it wasn’t the only surface of the vehicle currently sizzling. Since we were still surrounded on all sides, Bodhi had no choice but to keep driving. Stopping now was more dangerous than barreling down the two-lane road in a mobile barbeque.
Neither of us spoke as he kept his foot pressed deep on the gas pedal. The speed at which we were travelling actually worked to extinguish a fair number of the flames on the hood. Briefly prying his eyes from the road, Bodhi dared a glance in my direction. We were both breathing heavily, traumatized by the lengths it took to come out the other side.
And then it hit me. We were still alive! And more importantly, it looked like we’d stay that way as the world around us gradually returned to normal. Here, the trees were still standing. The hillside road hadn’t been reduced to a valley of flames, and the stately homes weren’t yet exploding. And world-renowned popstar Bodhi Beckett and me—we were still breathing.
I opened my mouth but no words could do any of this justice, so I held onto the silence. Without warning, Bodhi swerved over to the side of the road, put the car in park, and jumped out.
“The towel on the rat’s cage,” he said. “Give it to me.”
Springing from the car, I opened the back door and, snagging the towel off the cage, I tossed it at Bodhi. He quickly went to work slapping out random flames still smoldering on the metal. He continued batting at the melted paint long after the threat had been extinguished. Clearly he’d gone someplace else in his mind, someplace fraught with danger and distress.
