“Where’s Teddy and Sloane, sweetheart?” Chase asked, quickly making his way over to the little girl that never let her little brother out of her sight.
“Sloane a-and T-Teddy,” Deb managed to get out before a coughing fit took over. When she couldn’t stop coughing, she pointed toward the building. “B-back room…right s-side.”
Oh, god…
She’d barely finished getting out the words when Chase moved his ass. He ran inside and headed to the back rooms, barely aware that Grey was right behind him. He quickly made his way past the pool, the physical therapy room, break room, and kept going, only pausing long enough to grab a fire extinguisher off the wall along the way. As soon as he reached the back hallway, he bit back a curse as white smoke poured out from beneath the last door down the small hallway.
“Shit!” Grey bit out as they raced for the door.
“Careful it locks from the inside,” Grey said as Chase shoved the door open and felt his stomach drop when he spotted them. Teddy was on the floor curled up in a ball with his T-shirt over his face and Sloane–
Oh, god…
“Chase!” Grey snapped as Chase forced himself to look away and focus on getting them out of there.
He quickly took everything in, from the smoke pouring off the back wall to the flames racing along the cracks in the wall, letting him know that they didn’t have much time. With that in mind, he quickly made his way into the room and sprayed the wall with foam, hoping to buy them a little more time.
“Get the hell out of here!” Grey suddenly yelled, dragging his attention back to find Nikki running into the room. She ignored Grey, who was looking for something to shove beneath the door to keep it open and made her way to Teddy and Sloane.
“Are they breathing?” Chase asked only to scream it when she didn’t answer him fast enough.
Teddy’s startled cry had him slowly releasing a shaky breath.
Thank god, Chase thought only to feel like someone tore his heart out of his chest when Nikki said, “Sloane’s not breathing.”
“Get him out of here,” Chase said, dropping the empty fire extinguisher on the floor and moved his ass. With a nod, Nikki picked Teddy up and carefully cradled him in her arms as she quickly left.
“Baby, you’ve gotta wake up,” Chase said, squinting through the smoke quickly filling the room again as he reached for her, trying to pull her free, but she was stuck beneath the shelves.
“Come on, Pookie. It’s time to get up,” Chase said as he shifted his attention to the shelving unit as he tried to pull her free and–
“Pull her out!” Hunter said, suddenly there, picking the shelving unit off Sloane so that Chase could pull her free.
In seconds, Chase had Sloane in his arms and racing out of the room. Grey let the door slam shut behind them and was leading the way to the closest exit while Chase ignored the pain shooting down his back as he leaned down and covered Sloane’s mouth with his. He shoved past the firefighters filing into the building and kept going.
As soon as they were outside, Chase carefully laid Sloane down on the ground and set to work. He checked her pulse and nearly fucking sighed with relief when he found it…
It was weak, but it was there. He forced himself to focus and tried to pretend that his heart wasn’t breaking as he tilted her head back, gently pinched her nose shut and slowly blew into her mouth as Adam dropped down by his side with a jump kit.
“Come on, Pookie,” Chase muttered urgently between breaths while Adam got the oxygen ready.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Deb asked, sounding terrified as Hunter picked her up and held her.
“B-baby,” Teddy managed to get out between coughs. “You’ve gotta be careful of the baby,” he said as Chase’s focus went to Sloane’s belly and–
Oh, god, the baby.
This couldn’t be happening.
This couldn’t be fucking happening! Not now, Chase told himself as he kept breathing for her, watching as her chest rose with each breath, praying that it would be enough.
He couldn’t lose her.
He couldn’t live without her.
God, he couldn’t fucking do this!
He loved her.
He loved her so much, Chase realized.
God, did he love her. He loved everything about her. Loved the way that her eyes narrowed on him when he pissed her off, loved the way it felt to fall asleep with her in his arms, the way that she still found excuses to drop down on his lap just so that she could wrap her arms around him and he couldn’t fucking do this. He couldn’t let her go.
“Come on, Pookie,” Chase whispered between breaths. “Don’t do this to me.”
“I’ve got it, Chase,” Adam said as he moved to take over.
Shaking his head, Chase covered her mouth and kept breathing for her as he watched her chest, praying for a miracle. “Come on, Sloane!”
“Chase, we need to–” Thomas said, reaching for her.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” Chase shouted as he went to cover her mouth again only to find himself suddenly yanked back.
“Get your fucking hands off me!” he snapped as Hunter and Grey pulled him back and held him down while he was forced to watch as Thomas and Adam took over.
“She’s going to be fine,” Hunter promised him as Chase was forced to lay there, watching as they intubated Sloane.
“This can’t be happening,” Chase said, squeezing his eyes shut as he pressed his forehead against the ground.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Not to them. Not after everything he’d already been through. He couldn’t lose his family like this. He couldn’t lose Sloane, not before she knew just how much he loved her. He couldn’t imagine his life without her, didn’t want to.
This wasn’t right.
This wasn’t fucking right!
Sloane was his salvation. She was everything that he could ever hope for and he…
He’d never told her.
He’d never told her that he loved her. He’d never told her that he loved her smile, the way that she put her heart into everything she did, the way that she couldn’t fall asleep until she kissed his chin, the way that she called him a stubborn jerk whenever he didn’t listen to her, and…
He loved her.
He loved her and he wanted to spend the rest of his life showing her just how much she meant to him. As soon as she opened her eyes, he would tell her. He would tell her everything and make sure that she knew how much she meant to him and then, he would marry her. They would fill that house with babies with their mother’s eyes and watch them grow up. They were supposed to grow old together and if she wasn’t there to torment him, then…
“Don’t take her away from me,” Chase said, feeling sick to his stomach. “Please, don’t take her away from me. Don’t do this to me…”
“We’re losing her!”
Oh, god…
Chapter 44
“Shhh, it’s okay,” came the softly murmured words as Sloane slowly opened her eyes to find Chase, who looked like he’d been through hell, standing over her.
“Where am I?” she asked in a hoarse whisper only to wince when the move caused pain to spread down her throat. God, it felt like she’d gargled broken glass, Sloane thought as she watched Chase grab a small cup off the tray by her bed.