Huge tears well up in her eyes and she swallows hard. “I couldn’t leave you in there!” she points at the house that’s now in shambles. “How could I not go back for you, Dom?”
Tucker speaks up, “She found you, Mr. Powers. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and Shadow and I ran inside right behind her. We picked you up while Miss Vasco used the extinguisher to make a path for us to escape.”
I know that Tucker is purposely only giving me the bare minimum details. He knows that I know, too, since he’s using his stoic face with me right now. Shadow is the only one of us who looks even the least bit amused about how this is all playing out. There is so much more to this rescue story that they’re not telling me.
“I see,” I purposely hide behind my cool façade. “So, let me get this straight. Sophia just strolled back in the front door of a burning house, and somehow she walked straight to me in the midst of all the thick, black smoke. Then, Tucker, you and Shadow came in immediately behind her, picked me up and we all just miraculously escaped unscathed? Did I miss anything?”
Sophia and Tucker quickly look away, avoiding looking at each other and at me. Shadow quickly puts his hand over his mouth. But even as big as his hand is, it can’t hide the huge smile that’s still on his face. I’m impressed that he has actually kept from laughing out loud at this point.
“That’s about it, Mr. Powers,” Tucker responds cryptically. And then Shadow does laugh, turns his back, and tries to cover it up with a fake cough. Tucker glares at the back of Shadow’s head, throwing daggers with his eyes, before meeting my gaze again.
“Well. That’s just fucking amazing. Why do we even need the fire department then?” I ask sardonically.
“They have the big water trucks,” Sophia replies and Shadow completely loses his cool composure. He walks off, his laughter echoing across the still dark morning, even over the noise of all the emergency personnel. I look at Sophia, momentarily at a loss for words, as she sulks, “Well, they do.”
“Try again,” I state.
Shadow walks back over to us, and while his eyes still hold laughter, he has controlled his outburst. “Tucker tried to stop Sophia, but there was no way in hell she would have left you in that house, Mr. Powers. She jerked out of his grasp and took off running into the house. We both tried to catch her, but I have to admit, she’sfast,” Shadow looks at Sophia with well-founded admiration.
“Tucker ran to the garage to get the fire extinguisher and we both rushed in to find Sophia and you. She had already found you and was dragging you out as best she could. She’s the reason you don’t have more smoke inhalation than you do. She kept you low to the ground, but she was breathing in and out heavily from the exertion, so that’s why she had to keep the oxygen on longer.
“Tucker and I grabbed you from her and carried you the rest of the way out as she sprayed the extinguisher to help clear a path. We barely make it out the front door before the top floor caved in over where she found you,” Shadow finished.
Like an idiot, I stand motionless and gape at all of them. Once again, I’ve found myself searching for what to say and do next. Should I be mad that Sophia put herself in danger? If she hadn’t, would I even be alive? Should I be mad at Tucker for covering for Sophia? They all three saved my life, but Sophia led the charge.
As if she can read my thoughts, Sophia puts herself on the line again. “Please don’t be mad at Tucker, Dom. He was only trying to help me. This was all my fault. If you’re mad at anyone, be mad at me. If you want me to leave, I will go,” she sounds so sorrowful and despondent.
Her bottom lip is quivering and she’s fighting hard to hold back the tears. Somewhere in her mind, she believes this will make me send her away from me. She should know this only makes me love her more. I pull her up from her sitting position and wrap my arms around her. Lovingly whispering into her ear, I reassure her, “I love you, Sophia. You’re not going anywhere without me.”
“I thought I had lost you,” her voice cracks and her arms tighten around me.
“Never,” I promise. “You’ll never lose me, baby.” While holding her and looking at what remains of my house, something occurs to me. “You know what?”
“What?”
“You areMy Angel—my guardian angel, in fact,” I smile against her hair. Tilting her chin up with my thumb and index finger, I hold her eyes captive with mine as I reiterate, “I love you,My Angel.”
Looking at Tucker, I mumble, “You’re forgiven, too.”
Tucker smiles and chuckles at my sarcastic humor. “I’m so glad. I was so worried about that,” he deadpans.
Somberly, I look at my three saviors and tell them, “Thank you. Every one of you—I owe you my life. I mean that.”
“Can we have the day off?” Tucker responds, breaking the serious moment with his brand of levity.
“Someone just tried to kill me again. Sure, why not let my security have the day off? Sounds reasonable to me,” I reply in my own sardonic tone.
“Damn. The man has a point,” Shadow chimes in, teasing. “I guess we better get to back to work.”
Somewhere in all the commotion, the Fire Chief, Greg Floyd, arrived on the scene and started gathering information for his investigation. He makes his way over to our group and questions each of us about the details of the fire. He’s a short, stocky man with white hair, a thick, white mustache, and a keen eye.
“Mr. Powers, I can’t tell you anything official until I can conduct a full investigation, but just from how hot and fast the fire burned, I do highly suspect arson. It usually takes a well-placed accelerant to make a house blaze like yours did. I’m sure the police and my department will have questions for you once this has cooled off enough for us to conduct the tests we need to make a final determination,” Chief Floyd advises.
Tucker, Shadow, Sophia, and I give him all the information we have about the fire itself. For some reason, Shadow keeps the information about the wreck out of the conversation. I follow his lead, knowing with his background and expertise, he has a good reason for it. Floyd makes his rounds to every firefighter and policeman before he leaves the scene.
The police are instructed to not let anyone in until Floyd comes back to investigate. Since the house is considered structurally unsound, we’re not allowed to go back in to get our personal belongings that don’t have fire, water, or smoke damage. Currently, we are all in our pajamas and only Shadow has access to his clothes since he’s been staying in the guesthouse.
“Looks like Christine gets to have some fun shopping and spending my money again,” I quip.
