Firefighter's Rescue (Bakers Beach: First Responders Book 1) Page 13

  “I’m gonna count to three, and I need you to get out from under this thing. Okay?”

  Kyle nodded, but Bryan wondered if he’d be able to help at all. Until Carlos cleared that beam, it was the two of them, and Kyle needed to get free.

  Bryan stood and then crouched with the cabinet under both hands. “Ready?” he shouted as loud as he could. “One! Two! Three!”

  Then he pulled up as hard as he could.

  Chapter 28

  Elise stared at the ceiling as her connecting flight to Florida was delayed yet again due to inclement weather. She’d been on standby each leg of her trip. This was the third airport she’d been in and the second flight she’d been bumped from since arriving, but that’s what happened when you booked last-minute flights.

  It wasn’t just her, either. A smattering of other late bookers sat in the area, one holding a cup of coffee, another reading, and another trying to stretch out as much as he could so he could sleep. If Elise thought she could sleep, she would have been doing the same thing.

  Storm clouds moving across the North Carolina sky seemed to mock her as they lazily dumped rain over the entire state. How they were so slow when the wind was screaming was beyond her meteorological skills. Maybe this was her punishment for being a wimp and not flat-out telling her mother no.

  Her phone buzzed in her hand as a call came through. She brightened as Sally’s name flashed on the screen. “Hey,” she said as she answered.

  “Have you seen the news?” Sally’s words rushed out. “I bet you’ve been glued to it like I have.”

  “No, I’ve been stuck in North Carolina since, like, seven this evening.”

  “What?”

  Groaning, Elise palmed her forehead. She explained what happened with her mom the night before and apologized for not calling to tell Sally. “I just didn’t feel like fighting her.”

  “So you haven’t seen the news at all?”

  “No. What’s happening?” Dread began to fill Elise.

  Her phone chimed as a text came through. She took it from her ear, set it on speaker, and clicked the link Sally had sent.

  “It’s been streaming for about an hour or so now, according to the video feed.” Sally’s voice broke. “A fireman, a police officer, and one of the suspects are trapped inside. One officer has already been transported to the hospital, and it looks like there’s a body lying in the street. They haven’t given any names yet.”

  Moving to the edge of the seat, Elise watched with rapt attention, bile tickling the back of her throat.

  “You know that body repair garage on the far edge of town? The one that restores all those old muscle cars?”

  “Yeah.” Elise knew it well. It had been a great thing when it first opened. Lots of new jobs, a great facility. It was huge, covering nearly an acre. The plan was to not only house a museum but to restore and run auctions out of it. It was a fantastic idea, but it failed almost as soon as it opened.

  The feed began to play, and it looked like the entire building was in flames. A helicopter circled, and from the air, it was even worse. Half the building was collapsed while three different companies of firemen battled the fire. If it were a book, she’d have called it apocalyptic.

  Her heart dropped to her stomach. “Bryan.”

  “I would have called sooner, but I figured you were watching it too. I had no idea you weren’t aware.”

  “It’s okay. I should have called, but it…”

  “Your mom gets to you. I know. I am surprised you’re going to Florida, though. I thought you cared about Bryan.”

  Blinking, Elise muted the video feed, took the phone off speaker, and put it to her ear. “I do care about him. I love him.”

  The word popped out without a second thought. It was the first time she’d ever said it in conjunction with a man. She’d certainly thought it about Bryan, even if she’d deliberately stayed away from the actual word.

  Now that she’d spoken it aloud, it filled her with peace. She was certain about her career, certain about where she should live, and now she was certain when it came to Bryan. It seemed to fill so many gaps she’d felt before meeting him.

  “Then why are you going to Florida? It sounds like the trip took a lot of work, and you’re not even there yet. I mean, I know you’ve had trouble standing up to your mom in the past. I would’ve thought if nothing else spurred you to do it, it would be him, especially when he’s so worried about you and wanting to protect you.”

  “Not you too. I love him, and I’m coming back. It’s just a visit.”

  When Sally didn’t say anything, Elise continued. “I’m not staying in Florida.”

  “I don’t really believe you. When it comes to your parents, they say jump and you ask how high. It’s always been like that, and you know it. Honestly, I’d be surprised if you ever stepped foot in Baker Beach again.”

  “That’s not how it is. You know what I’ve been through. First my house, the threatening note, and then the beach house getting shot up. I’m exhausted.”

  Sally inhaled long and loud. “I love you, Elise. You’re one of my closest and dearest friends, but you’re always exhausted. If you’re too exhausted to fight your mom about a man you claim to love, you’ll never be awake enough to stand up to her. You’re invisible because you choose to be. You don’t have a voice because you choose it.”

  Tears pooled in Elise’s eyes. She didn’t choose to be invisible. “That’s not true.”

  “It is true, but no one can fix you but you. No one can speak for you. No one can give you a voice. This is something you’ll have to do for yourself.” Sally paused. “I need to go. Jewel needs help with her homework, and Jessie is at the hospital. They called in every doctor and nurse once the first explosion went off. With the way things are looking, they’ll need everyone one of them.”

  “Okay.”

  “I love you, girl. Have a safe trip.”

  With that, Sally ended the call, leaving Elise feeling like she’d been run over with a truck. She shoved her phone into her pocket, leaned back in the chair, and stewed.

  Sally was wrong. It wasn’t even like Bryan had fought all that hard for her to stay. He hadn’t even really asked her to stay. Not for him.

  A few minutes passed, and she took out her phone again, pulling up the feed as Sally’s words played over and over in her mind.

  If you’re too exhausted to fight your mom about a man you claim to love, you’ll never be awake enough to stand up to her. You’re invisible because you choose to be. You don’t have a voice because you choose it.

  Swiping at the tear running down her cheek, Elise lifted her gaze to the ceiling. Sally was just…not wrong.

  There had never been a better time to put her foot down and tell her mom no. Not only was it a massive inconvenience to Elise, but it’d been a lot of extra work and stress on Kyle. Arranging for a car to take her to the airport, coordinating with the police department in Florida—no telling how many favors he’d had to offer, if favors worked that far away at all—and then getting an officer to pick her up at the airport. All because she was chicken.

  Elise turned the volume up on her phone as the reporter touched her ear and nodded. “We’ve just got word that the officer and the fireman have been rescued. They’re being brought out now.”

  The camera panned to the left and zoomed in as much as it could. Two firefighters carried one man who looked to be wearing a police uniform as two more emerged carrying a stretcher between them and a sheet over the body…she squeezed her eyes shut and turned the video feed off. If that was Bryan…the thought left her breathless and aching.

  She’d never told him she loved him. Not a single time. If anything, she’d spoken louder by packing everything she owned and nearly breaking her neck to get to Florida.

  Standing, she took a few deep breaths. “No.” Yeah, she’d said it to no one and not nearly loud enough to be heard by anyone in the waiting area, but she’d said it and pictured her mother when she had.


  Baker Beach was where she lived. It was where Bryan was…if he was still alive. She’d said it was where her heart was at one point, and now it had a face as well as a location.

  Florida would wait. Her mom would wait. Her life? She was done waiting to live it. She was done being invisible. Done being ignored, unheard, and looked over. Done with all of it.

  She was going home. Home to Bryan.

  Chapter 29

  Bryan took the air mask from Kyle and took a long, deep drag before handing it back. They’d worked together and managed to free him from the filing cabinet, and Kyle had been right about his ribs. His arm was also broken. Not great, but his legs weren’t. A little singed, but he’d be walking out, depending on how long it took to clear the beam blocking their only escape.

  “Are you doing okay?” Bryan asked Kyle as they sat against a wall, trying their best to make the air last.

  Kyle coughed and nodded. “Hot, tired, and hurting but okay. You?”

  “Same.” It wasn’t true, but he knew if he told Kyle that, he’d fight. It was energy they didn’t need to be extending.

  In the chaos of diving away from the beam, he’d not just broken the extra air mask, he’d burned his hand pretty bad. His chest was hurting too since he was only taking a breath of air every other time Kyle handed it to him. It had been a long time since he’d last heard from Carlos, and without knowing how much longer it would be, he wanted to make sure Kyle had enough to breathe since he’d been trapped longer than Bryan.

  “You know. When I get out of here, I’m going to Lou’s and ordering the biggest seafood platter they have. I’ve always wanted to, but at fifty bucks a pop, I’ve always been too cheap to splurge on it,” Kyle said, handing the mask to Bryan.

  He held it on his face long enough for Kyle to think he’d taken a breath and then handed it back. “I thought about that one when I went to dinner with Elise that first day I met her.”

  Kyle coughed out a laugh. “Calendar day, right?”

  “We needed funds. I’m not too proud to flex for them.”

  “I shouldn’t rag on you. Our funds were cut too.” He elbowed Bryan. “We’ll probably have to find a different photographer, though.”

  This time, Bryan took the mask from Kyle and breathed deeply. “Probably,” he said, handing the mask over and leaning his head back. “I love her.”

  “You tell her?”

  “Nah. She was headed to Florida.”

  A long breath, and Kyle took the mask from his face. “Probably for the best. I can’t see her coming back. Once she’s there, her mom will have her under lock and key. It’s not Elise’s fault, really. Her brother’s accident changed their whole family.”

  Bryan nodded and closed his eyes. “I know.” A moment later, he felt the mask touch his face. Without looking, he lifted his hand and held the mask there.

  Just as he went to pass it back, a rumbling sound brought their attention to the far wall. He strapped his mask back in place in case he needed to move quickly. Another moment passed, and Carlos, Harris, and Liam stepped through the opening they’d made, carrying a stretcher.

  Bryan pushed off the floor and stood. “Grab Kyle. Liam and I will follow you with the suspect’s body.”

  Carlos nodded and took Kyle by the shoulders as Harris took the man’s feet. They crossed the room holding Kyle, and Bryan and Liam loaded the body on to the stretcher. Bryan stumbled as they followed the other men across the room, holding his chest as he coughed.

  As they reached where they’d first entered the building, a series of explosions went off, sending pieces of concrete and metal flying. Carlos and Harris set Kyle down and hunched over him.

  Before Bryan could dive for cover, something slammed into him from behind with a force strong enough to take him off his feet, throwing him to the ground, shoulder first. For a split second, all he felt was pain…and then nothing as everything went black.

  Chapter 30

  “Hello, Mom,” Elise said, tapping the call button on the rental car’s steering wheel. “How’s it going?”

  Her mom hesitated a second. “Uh, I’m fine. I was calling to see if you’d been able to board your last fight yet. I’m so sorry it’s taken so long. I should have checked more thoroughly. Well, no, I should have insisted you come home the moment your home burned down. That would have fixed this whole mess.”

  “I’m not on my last flight, and I’m not going to be on my last flight. I’m in a rental car, driving back to Virginia.”

  “What? Why? Elise, we talked about this.”

  “No, you talked, and I let you walk all over me. Something I’m not allowing any longer.”

  Her mom huffed. “Elise. Is that any way to speak to me? After all I’ve been through.”

  “So you’re the only one it happened to? Dad? Me? What were we? Just side characters?”

  “No. It impacted all of us. Elise, I just don’t know what’s gotten into you. Turn that car around now. You need to be with family. It’s obvious stress is clouding your judgment for you to speak to me this way.”

  “My judgment is as clear as it’s ever been.” She paused, taking a moment to compose herself. “Mom, I love you, but I’m not going to let you pull me around by the nose anymore because of an accident that had nothing to do with me. You’ve used Patrick’s accident to emotionally manipulate me for the last time.”

  Gasping, her mom said, “I have not. Stop it.” In Elise’s mind, she could see her mom clutching her chest in horror.

  “No. I won’t. And you need to get used to the word. No. I’m not coming to Florida right now. No, I’m not staying in Florida. If you think I wasn’t aware that you were planning on talking me into staying, you’re kidding yourself. I’m going home. To Baker and to Bryan.”

  “You’re choosing a man over us?”

  “If that’s the way you want to take it, then, yeah, I am. I stopped living the day of Patrick’s accident, and I’m done.”

  “We never did that to you.”

  “Yeah, you did. And let’s be honest, Mom. It was that way long before the accident. I’d make A’s, and it was a pat on the head. Patrick would make A’s, and it was worthy of a town announcement. Patrick has always been the focus. The only thing the accident did was give you an excuse to do it without feeling guilty.”

  “Well, if that’s how you feel, then I guess there’s nothing left to say.”

  “I guess not.” Elise ended the call, and her eyes widened as she realized she’d hung up on her mom. Then the tension between her shoulders eased. Maybe she shouldn’t have done it, but maybe that was the only way her mom would hear her.

  Hopefully, she hadn’t shut her mom out of her life, or prompted her mom to shut herself out. That’s not what Elise wanted, but until her mom respected her, treated her as her own person, that’s how things would have to be left.

  Elise was done giving in to the demands of her mother.

  She pushed the gas pedal down a little more. The only thing she wanted was to see Bryan, tell him she loved him, and hope he loved her enough to forgive her for the horrible way she’d treated him.

  Chapter 31

  The scent of antiseptic and bland hospital food filled the air as Bryan peeled his eyes open. The first face to come into focus was Carlos’s.

  “I’ve been waiting an entire day for you to wake up, and if you didn’t look so horrible, I’d knock you back out.”

  “It’s good to see you too,” Bryan said and tried to moisten his lips. “What happened?”

  Carlos filled a cup with water, stuck a straw in it, and put it to Bryan’s lips.

  He took a long, needed drink and pushed the straw away. “Thanks.” He coughed, and it made the pressure in his head build to the point that it hurt behind his eyes.

  “You ever do something like that—”

  “You’d have done the same thing.”

  “Yeah, but it would’ve been me.” Carlos put the straw to Bryan’s lips again. “Drink some more.
You need to stay hydrated.”

  A sound from the door drew Bryan’s attention, and he rolled his head. “Elise?” His pulse jumped, and the heart monitor announced it.

  “I’ve been here hours, and the second I leave to check on Kyle, you wake up?” She walked to her purse sitting on the windowsill, dug around in it, and handed a bill to Carlos.

  Carlos chuckled. “I bet her you’d wake up almost the moment she left. Easiest ten bucks I’ve ever made.”

  “What are you doing here?” Bryan asked Elise.

  “I think that’s my cue to check on Kyle.” Carlos handed Elise the cup of water and stopped at the end of Bryan’s bed. “I still have a score to settle with you. Just ’cause you’re all beat up doesn’t mean another beating isn’t coming.”

  Bryan smiled. “Right.”

  Carlos winked at Elise, tapped the footboard, and walked out the door.

  “I thought you’d be in Florida by now,” Bryan said as she approached him. “What about your mom?”

  The mattress moved as she perched on the edge. “Yeah, I kinda told her if she was waiting for me to come to Florida, she’d better not hold her breath.”

  “What happened?”

  “I got as far as North Carolina, when Sally called me and told me about what was happening. She sort of set me straight. Something I’ve needed for a while.” She lowered her gaze to the bed. “I wouldn’t doubt it’s been said many times before, but that was the first time I actually heard it.”

  “What made you hear it this time?” He pressed the back of his hand to hers, nudging her to answer.

  Slowly, Elise’s gaze lifted to his. “I told her I loved you, and she said that if I couldn’t fight for a man I claimed to love, I’d never stand up to my mom. That I was making excuses.”

  Wait. He lifted his head. “Love me?”

  “With all my heart and soul. Enough to tell my mom to stick it.” She smiled. “I may have hung up on her too.”