“I will,” I repeat.
He groans, then spins and grabs me, hustling me against the wall with a hard slam he protects me from with a hand between my head and the drywall.
Our eyes lock, and then he kisses me one last time. “See you soon,” he whispers roughly against my mouth.
He’s out the door and in his car before I can register what the fuck just happened. I blink, and the room begins to spin, and then I notice the flashing in my periphery.
This is no time for a seizure, and I try to make a mental note to call my doctor about my medication as I make my way to the couch. Dropping to the cushions, I lie sideways, watching the candles flicker.
I’ll be fine. I have my phone, and I’ve dealt with this enough times that I know what to do.
It’s going to be alright.
FOURTEEN
NORTH
“You needto fucking get over there!” Easton’s screaming into my ear. Ten seconds after I got to the station, a call came in that left me in a tailspin.
There’s a fire, and the caller gave Leo’s address. It took no time at all for me to suit up, and I jumped into the truck with Camilo at the wheel. We’re making good time, but Easton is freaking the fuck out because he knows the address of the fire, but he’s on a call on the other side of town.
I don’t even know how he can possibly be feeling right now, knowing he can’t drop what he’s doing and run to his brother.
The brother he already almost lost.
It’s been forty-five minutes since I left Leo’s. Forty-five minutes since I checked on my mom and then went to work. What could have possibly happened in that span of time?
“We’re two minutes away,” I tell him.
“Do you see smoke?”
Against the bright storm clouds still heaping rain down on the city—amongst the flashes of lightning—I see black billows against the skyline.
“He’s going to be fine,” I don’t know if it’s a lie. I pray to every single god ever created by man and the universe that I’m not talking bullshit right now.
“Easton, we’ve got this,” Camilo’s voice cuts in. “Focus on what you’re doing.”
Easton’s quiet, and then he says, “I can’t lose him, Cap. Please.”
“You won’t.”
I want to believe Camilo, but I don’t know if I can. The visibility gets worse as we pull onto the street I just left, and I feel another surge of resentment because if my mom hadn’t needed me, maybe I could have been there for whatever started this.
A fire this big means that forty-five minutes ago, it had just started, and I don’t know how. Leo was fine when I left, and yeah, he had candles everywhere, but he knows what to do if one falls over.
He knows everything Easton taught him.
So how?
Was the tree in his yard struck by lightning? Was his house?
I don’t have time to really think about the answer as the truck comes to a halt a few feet away from Leo’s driveway. There are people standing under their awnings watching, and in the doorway, I see a hunched body against the door.
I act without thinking, jumping out of the truck, preparing to hurtle myself toward the scene, when Logan grabs me by the back of the shirt.
“Don’t!”
“Get the fuck off me!” I shove him off, but he doesn’t let go.
