“I’m not leaving her side.”
She sighs. “Fine.”
I hold Juliette’s hand, ignoring the unbelievable pain that radiates up my arm, as they direct us over to the back of the ambulance. As I sit on the tailgate, I watch two teams of two firefighters each run out of the house before they start blasting it with water. It’s funny, I’ve lived in this house for five years but when I think about what I’m going to miss about the place, it’s only my memories of being with Juliette in there that make me feel sad. I peek over at her as they listen to her heart and ask her what she remembers.
“Not much,” she answers, shaking her head, as a bewildered look crosses her face.
“Let’s see that burn,” one of the paramedics says, arching a brow as she stares down at me and I sigh as I pull my hand from Juliette’s and show her my palm.
“Are you hurt?” Juliette asks, turning to me and her eyes widen with concern. I shake my head, flashing her a smile that I don’t quite feel.
“Just a flesh wound, baby.”
The paramedic sighs. “It’s a second-degree burn but it’s not too bad so I suppose you’re right.”
“See?” I say, turning back to Juliette as the paramedic begins applying some cream to my hand and wrapping it. She sighs and sinks back into the gurney, looking a little pale. “Are you okay, Juliette?”
She nods. “My head just hurts.”
“Did you fall and hit your head?” the paramedic working on her asks as she examines her head. Juliette scowls.
“I don’t think so.”
I shake my head. “I found her in the middle of the floor.”
“You’ve got a pretty good lump on the back of your head.”
I scowl. The back of her head? Almost like someone hit her with something and knocked her out. Holy shit… was there someone else in the house?
She meets my gaze, fear filling her eyes, and I nod. This is the third time she’s come close to death recently and I’m less inclined to believe it’s a coincidence at this point. A firefighter and a police officer walk up to the back of the ambulance and the firefighter holds up a plastic bag with a charred mess inside of it.
“Am I supposed to know what that is?”
He shakes his head. “This is what started the fire in your home.”
“That still doesn’t tell me what that is,” I tell them, looking up at the house as the rest of his team continue to battle the blaze, which has now moved to the front of the house.
Glancing at the police officer, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “It’s a timer. It was located in the back bedroom and we also smelled gasoline all over that room.”
“Are you saying this fire was set intentionally?” I ask, like I didn’t already know that, and he nods. I turn to Juliette and she stares back at me with wide eyes. If she had any lingering doubts about her safety, they’re all gone now.
“Do you know of anyone that would want to hurt either one of you? Does anyone have a grudge against you?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“And you, ma’am?” the officer asks, turning to look at Juliette. She meets my gaze for just a moment before shaking her head.
“No.”
He nods. “Sometimes these things are just random but I assure you, we will do everything we can to find whoever did this.” I nod and after we shake hands, they leave us in the care of the paramedics.
“There,” the one working on my hand says as she finishes wrapping my burn. “Try to rest that hand.”
“You got it,” I say, standing up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
She nods and takes a step back, turning to help her partner look over Juliette. I walk across the street and pull my phone out of my pocket, dialing Streak’s number.
“Yo,” he answers. “What’s up?”
I suck in a breath and run my hand through my hair. “I’m watching my house burn down right now.”
“Fuck! Are you serious?”
“You think I’d joke about this?” I growl.
“No, of course not.”
“This is the third time Juliette has almost died in a month. Have you found anything?”
He sighs. “How about we meet up tomorrow and I’ll fill y’all in but I gotta warn you, it’s not much.”
“Yeah, okay. We’ll talk tomorrow,” I tell him and after we hang up, I run my hand through my hair again, staring up at the dying flames and the charred rubble that I used to call a home. I just hope I can end this before whoever is trying to hurt my girl actually succeeds.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Juliette
“What is that frown for, sweetheart?” Sawyer asks, smoothing his thumb over my eyebrows as we lay on the bed in his room at the clubhouse. I sigh as I turn to him. My teeth sink into my bottom lip and my stomach rolls.
“Sawyer… I’m so sorry about your house.”
The guilt has been eating away at me since I saw the flames consuming his house last night but he hasn’t once blamed me even though we both know I’m the one that brought all this drama into his life. He’s just amazing and he deserves a whole lot better than I’m giving him. Sighing, he pulls me into his arms.
“Baby, I’ve told you multiple times that it doesn’t matter. It’s just a house.”
“I’m going to buy you a new one,” I promise and he shakes his head. It’s the least I can do. I mean, the man literally carried me out of a house as it burned down around us and sat with me all night in the emergency room as they treated both of us for smoke inhalation. They tried to put us in different rooms but Sawyer wasn’t having any of that and after arguing with him for ten minutes, they just gave in and cleared a space for him in my room.
“Us. We’re going to buy us a new house.”
I peek up at him with a pleading look. “Please let me make this up to you. It would be nothing for me to buy any house you want.”
“Baby girl,” he breathes. “The only damn house I want is the one you’re in so how about we take this shitty situation and use it as an opportunity to start over and build our home, together.”
“You’re amazing.”
He grins. “I know.”
“Oh my God. You just ruined the moment,” I say, rolling my eyes as I push him away from me and he laughs as he pulls me back into his body and presses his lips to mine. Moaning, I melt against him as my eyes close but he pulls away too soon.
“Are you ready to get out of bed and go talk to Streak?”
My heart skips a beat. “Has he found anything?”
“Only one way to find out, angel. And we should do it soon since I need to go soon.”
“Okay,” I sigh, nodding. I’m not sure that I’m ready to find out any information that Streak may have uncovered but it’s time to face this thing head on. After the car accident, I assumed it was just that - an accident - but after being shot at and almost burning to death in a fire, I have to admit that something more is going on here.
After we get dressed, Sawyer takes my hand and leads me down the hallway to Streak’s room, or as Sawyer called it, his lair before he knocks.