Reduced to Ashes

by Kay Gordon

  Christos joined my other side and he and Hughes basically carried me to the third ambulance our lieutenant was standing by. His SCBA mask was off, dangling at his waist, and his blue eyes were angry as he glared at me.

  “That was fucking stupid, Victoria,” he said the moment I was close enough. Before I could even defend myself, Captain Stevenson was next to him, his face just as pissed off.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Jones? You not only put yourself as risk but everyone else in this company! You’re lucky to be alive right now and if you weren’t hurt, I’d be kicking your ass!”

  “Cap,” I started but he silenced me with a look.

  “Get in the ambulance. You do not leave the hospital until I get there and say you can leave. Do you understand me?”

  I nodded my head, coughing again, and leaned more of my weight into the men on either side of me. “I understand, Captain.”

  He nodded at me once before heading back to the house to direct our company.

  Owens stared at me for another moment. Suddenly, he took three steps and closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug, forcing the other two to let me go.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” he whispered, squeezing me even tighter. I hugged him back, feeling tears sting the backs of my eyes. Between Simon Owens and Nick Christos, I had more brothers than I ever wanted.

  He loosened his grip slowly, ensuring Hughes and Christos had me again before dropping his arms completely. “Get her in the bus and then we need to get to work. I’ll see you at the hospital in a bit, Jones.”

  Despite my protests, I found myself strapped to the stretcher with an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth. From the back of the ambulance, I watched both Christos and Hughes grin at me before the former held his hand up in a wave.

  “We’ll be by to visit you in a bit,” he said, taking great pleasure in my helplessness.

  When I raised my own hand and extended my middle finger, he just laughed and the doors were shut.

  Chapter Six

  Evan

  My head hurt. My eyes burned. My chest felt tight. I ignored it all, though, and sat next to the hospital bed with Gracie’s hand in my own.

  She looked so small. Covered by blankets, all of her body was hidden from the neck down. Despite the wipe down she’d received from the nurses, small traces of black soot streaked across her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed and you might have thought she was simply sleeping if it weren’t for the respiratory tube sticking out of her throat.

  Acute respiratory distress caused by severe smoke inhalation is what they had called it. Her airway had been so swollen that it was lucky she could breathe at all. I heard people saying that another few minutes of breathing in the smoke would have killed her. If it hadn’t been for the firefighter who ran in after her and gave up her own mask for my niece, Grace would be dead. Either from smoke inhalation or the explosion that had happened just minutes after the woman had disappeared back inside.

  She saved Grace’s life.

  Ruby and Jade were fine. Both of them had minor smoke inhalation but they were going to be okay. Both Keith and I had both been told that our smoke inhalation was more severe and they were keeping him overnight.

  Someone had put a bandage over the gash on my shoulder from where a piece of falling debris got me and then given me a pair of scrubs to wear. I’d cleaned up in the bathroom but I knew I still looked like shit. I didn’t care, though. We were alive.

  Ruby and Jade were currently in the cafeteria to get the little one something to eat. Keith was asleep in his room and I promised Ruby that I wouldn’t leave Grace.

  I had my own oxygen mask I was supposed to be wearing but I refused to leave her side. They were keeping her asleep for the next several hours to give her small body time to rest. Everyone told me that she’d be okay, though, and that small piece of knowledge had been enough to bring me to tears.

  About five hours after we’d been brought in, Gracie’s door burst open and both Dominic and Becca appeared. My best friend was stoic and his wife burst into tears the second she saw her daughter. She moved towards the bed and grabbed Grace’s other hand as she sobbed.

  “Evan.” Dominic’s voice was tight as he approached me and I stood from the side of the bed, wrapping my arms around my best friend. He embraced me tight and I could tell he was trying his best to hold it together for his wife.

  When we parted, he shook his head and glanced over at his daughter. “Mom says you saved Dad and tried to get to Gracie. I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you.”

  “That’s not something you should ever thank me for,” I told him honestly. “You guys are family. I’d do anything for you.”

  Becca let out another sob and stood from the chair before throwing herself into my arms. I held her tight as Dom went to his daughter’s side and pressed his lips to her forehead.

  She cried for about five minutes before she was reduced to just sniffles and she looked at me as she wiped her face with a tissue.

  Bec was still every bit as gorgeous in that moment as she had been when Dom and I met her in high school. Her tall, slender physique was the stuff models dreamed of and her brown complexion was flawless. She had light brown hair that was in tight spirals, much like her older daughter’s and her eyes were a rich brown that darkened or lightened depending on her mood.

  A decade later hadn’t changed how beautiful she was on the inside or the outside. Rebecca Morris was the sister I’d always wanted.

  “Is that your oxygen mask?” She pointed at it with a frown. “Put it back on now.”

  “Anything you say, Bec.” I smiled at her and took a seat so I could cover my nose and mouth with it. The three of us surrounded Grace without saying anything until Ruby reappeared. Becca immediately hugged her mother-in-law and then held her youngest daughter in a hug so tight that I wasn’t sure Jade could breathe.

  About ten minutes later, the three of them left to go see Keith and it was just Dominic and me in the room with Grace.

  “Do you have any idea what happened?”

  I shook my head and coughed slightly while dropping the mask again. It wasn’t the first time someone had asked me that.

  From what I understood, the fire had started upstairs in the far bedroom, although they wouldn’t know what caused it for a few days. The second story was completely destroyed but Keith and Ruby would be allowed back in later at some point to see what could be salvaged from downstairs.

  “I don’t know. Something woke me up but I don’t know what and it was on fire when I looked out the window. If your parents’ room had been upstairs, I don’t know that everyone would be here, honestly.”

  I recited the whole story to him, starting from when I broke the window to when the explosion happened with the firefighter and Gracie inside.

  “She saved her,” I said to Dom with a lump in my throat. “If she hadn’t gone back in…”

  He nodded but didn’t reply. He just looked down at his daughter and we lapsed back into silence.

  Becca came back in with Jade a little while later and I sat in the room with the family. No one spoke but that was okay. My mask had been forced back on my face and I felt the exhaustion taking over my body. I was dozing off when I thought I saw a firefighter walk by the door. I stood up quickly and dropped the oxygen mask.

  “I’m going to go see if I can get the name of the person who saved Gracie.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Dom stood up to follow me out of the room, pausing only to kiss his girls.

  Two men, obviously firefighters, were standing at the nurse’s station when I walked out of the room. Both were dirty, wearing NHFD t-shirts, and reflective pants held up by suspenders. I recognized one of them, the dark haired guy, as one who helped me out of the house. Hope filled my chest and I walked towards them quickly. When I got closer, I could hear them talking to the woman sitting at the desk.

  “And she ha
sn’t killed anyone yet?” the blonde guy I didn’t recognize was saying with a slight chuckle. The woman shook her head.

  “Not so far. She has quite a mouth on her, though.”

  The other guy let out a loud laugh. “Tori would make a sailor blush. She must be feeling okay if she’s cussing.”

  “Well, nothing is broken but she reinjured the ligament in her ankle. It looks like she’ll be on crutches for a couple of weeks. She has a lot of bruising and her left hand has some second degree burns. She didn’t inhale too much smoke but the doctor has her on oxygen just in case. She should be able to go home shortly.”

  “I’ll make her come home with us so Megan can fawn over her,” the first guy told the second as he straightened up. The second nodded his head.

  “Kel will want her with us but Eli was up three times last night. Your place is much more peaceful.”

  “Excuse me,” I said and both heads turned to look in my direction. I saw recognition in the taller man’s eyes. “I’m Evan Coleman and this is Dominic Morris. His parents and daughters were the ones in the house tonight.”

  The brunette held his hand out to both of us. “I’m Nick Christos and this is my lieutenant, Simon Owens.”

  “How’s your daughter?” Simon asked after he and Dom dropped hands and my friend nodded, obviously choked up with emotion.

  “Alive, thanks to your co-worker. How is she?”

  Nick grinned. “In a shit ton of trouble but she’s okay.”

  “In trouble?” I asked and Simon glared at Nick before sighing.

  “She went against orders to go back into that house. We had protocol and she broke it.”

  “To save a little girl.” I shook my head, disgusted with the fact that she was in trouble for saving Grace’s life. “If she hadn’t gone in, Gracie would be dead. You know it. I know it. She knew it. She’s a hero.”

  “We know,” Nick said, his tone placating. “Everything will be okay.”

  Simon nodded his head. “She knew what she was doing and Tori will accept the slap on the wrist willingly.”

  I exhaled a long breath and nodded my head. “We’d like to see her and say thank you.”

  “Hell, it might help calm her down.” Simon gestured for us to follow. “Come on.”

  The four of us headed down the hall opposite of where Grace and Keith’s rooms were and Nick knocked on a door before pushing it open.

  “You decent, Jones? You’ve got company.”

  “Yup,” was all that was said and Simon and Nick shared a look before pushing open the door.

  The TV was on in the small room and a guy was sitting next to the hospital bed with his feet propped up on the other chair. He looked to be in his late-thirties and from his large build, it was obvious he was also a firefighter.

  On the bed with her ankle elevated and an ice pack on her shoulder was a woman. Her blonde hair fell in waves almost to her shoulders, fanning the pillow behind her. She was in a polka-dot hospital gown that did nothing to hide what great shape she was in. One of her hands was wrapped in gauze and bruises dotted her face and arms.

  Even with everything marring her creamy skin, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

  And familiar.

  She glanced at me and then Dom without recognition in those green eyes and a polite smile on her face.

  I froze where I was but no one seemed to notice as they filed into the room. Simon went to the same side that the other man was at and gestured to us.

  “This is Dominic Morris, he’s the father of the little girl, and Evan Coleman, he was trying to get upstairs. Guys, meet Tori Jones- hero firefighter and pain in my ass.”

  Everyone in the room chuckled except for me and Victoria. The second Simon said my name, her eyes had snapped back to me and I knew she remembered exactly who I was. Dom had frozen next to me, obviously having recognized her name, and no one spoke as the tension between us became obvious.

  Victoria mashed her lips together, like she wanted to say something to me, but she didn’t. Instead, she turned her gaze on Dominic and offered him a small smile.

  “I heard that your daughter is going to be fine. I’m glad.”

  My friend shook out of his daze and nodded while stepping towards her with his hand out. “I can never thank you enough for what you did for her. You saved her life.”

  “Just doing my job.” She dropped his hand and glanced at me for a split second before moving her gaze to the guy who’d been sitting with her before. “I think those pain meds are kicking in.”

  He nodded his head and looked up at us. “Thanks for stopping by, gentleman, but Tori needs her rest.”

  “Yeah, of course.” Dom smiled and took a step back. “Thank you again- all of you. My family can’t thank you enough.”

  Victoria looked back over at us and our eyes locked again. There was a fire in her green depths that had me mesmerized. It was like we were transported to seven years before and I felt just as powerless in that moment as I had then.

  “Ev, let’s go.” Dominic nudged my shoulder with his and snapped me out of my trance. I blinked several times and glanced around, finding several sets of eyes on me. I forced a weak smile to my face and turned to follow my best friend out of the room. The second we were in the hallway, Dominic gave me a frantic look.

  “Holy shit.”

  God, my stomach felt sick. I closed my eyes and leaned into the wall. “Victoria Jones. My family wrecked her life and she ended up risking it in the end to save us. How messed up is that?”

  “First of all…” Dominic put his hands on his shoulders and gave me a hard look. “Your so-called family is a piece of shit. You’re as much a part of them as I am the Manson family. Second of all, you did everything you could to protect her back then. She might not know it, but you had her back when the sharks were circling.”

  He was right. I had been a detective in Las Vegas for only a year when I received a phone call from my mother that told me my little brother had been arrested. She was crying so hard that it was difficult to understand her so I dropped everything and drove across the city to where he was being held.

  My stepfather, Lewis Dunsworth, was already there and throwing his weight around as Tristan’s lawyer. When he saw me, he took me aside and told me that I needed to make it go away. I had no idea what had even happened but I knew that my little brother didn’t even look chagrined despite being in cuffs.

  When I learned what he’d done to his co-worker, Victoria Jones, I wanted to kill him. He was booked on charges of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, which was just a fancy way of saying he leaked nude pictures and video of someone who had no idea he’d even taken them.

  The victim was a twenty-one-year-old woman who had done absolutely nothing to wrong my brother in the slightest. He’d embarrassed her and had no remorse. He was still pissed to this day that she was a better firefighter that he was.

  My father began a smear campaign against her. He painted Victoria Jones as a slut and a tease, as a woman who paraded around the fire station in little to no clothing in an attempt to seduce men to her bed.

  Men she worked with testified, some backing up his claim but most refuting it. It sounded like she was a hard worker that had a good comradery with her co-workers and worked her ass off every day to prove she could keep up with everyone.

  As the trial continued on, I saw her retreat into herself. That spitfire of a woman that most of her coworkers talked about was gone and that was thanks to my asshole brother.

  Lewis and my mother insisted that I use my position to help. They wanted insider knowledge, they wanted me to poison minds, and they wanted me to skew things in their favor.

  I did the opposite, though. When I felt the investigators on the case were dirty, allowing my stepfather to bribe them, I turned them in. When I found that witnesses were lying, I informed the prosecutor. When I realized that Victoria was being harassed in and out of work, I dedicated myself to ta
king them all out.

  The problem was, I did it all in secret. On the outside, it looked like I was the perfect son and brother, siding with my family. I knew that was all Victoria really saw and it’d always rubbed me the wrong way.

  Thanks to my father’s connections, Tristan ended up only serving one year of a four year sentence. He did, however, lose his job due to the felony conviction. My useless brother had a job at his father’s firm as some sort of admin assistant but he didn’t actually work. He spent his days living off his daddy’s money and partying it up.

  After the trial was over, I severed whatever ties were left between me and my family. I stayed in the city for a few more years but I always planned to leave after the Morris family did. Ending up in the same place as them was awesome.

  “I know,” I said to Dominic quietly, pushing away from the wall so we could head back to his daughter’s room. “But it still sucks.”

  I had no idea why but the thought of Victoria Jones hating me had always bothered me. Seeing her again and knowing she thought I was just like my brother?

  It was hard to stomach.

  Chapter Seven

  Tori

  “Wow,” I murmured as I looked over my shoulder and into the mirror attached to the dresser. The flesh on my back was covered in bruises, most of them dark purple and blue but some red and yellow as well. They started at my shoulder, stopped at the middle of my back, and picked up again along my thighs and calves.

  “It looks worse than it feels,” I said to the old Golden Retriever that was laying on the floor, two seconds away from falling asleep. “Well, if you’re not worried, I’m not worried, Simba.”

  I was released in the early morning hours following the fire. Megan came to pick me up since Owens and Christos had to go back to the stationhouse to finish out our shift. Once I’d been picked up by the female Owens, I’d been basically held prisoner in their home. She mother-henned me constantly and refused to let me do more than go to the bathroom by myself when she was home. I had to wait until she went to work just to be able to shower.