by Skye Moon
Ember
A BHFD Novella
Skye Moon
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
About the Author
Copyright © 2020 by Reign of Literature Publications.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic or mechanical
means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Ernykah, Kema, and Jae, this one's for you ladies. I’m so grateful that you came together and formed the “think tank” to help get me through this rough patch! I appreciate you always.
xo, Skye
Introduction
em·ber | ˈem-bər
Definition of ember
: a glowing fragment (as of coal) from a fire
especially: one smoldering in ashes
Prologue
“What time are you going to be here?” Danica’s sister questioned through the phone. “Mama’s had one damn margarita too many, and is scuffing up my good floors trying to two-step with Daddy. Both of them are on the verge of getting put the hell out of my damn house.”
“Stop being so mean, Miesh, it’s Christmas.”
“I wouldn’t give a damn if it was the Fourth of July, they ain’t got no business…” Miesha’s voice trailed off as a loud crash sounded off on her end of the phone. Danica cringed in the driver’s seat of her car, bracing herself for her sister to fly off of the handle. Miesha was particular to the highest power. The only reason why she’d even agreed to host their annual family Christmas festivities, was because Danica’s house was unavailable that year due to renovations.
It took weeks for Danica to get Miesha to agree, which she only did under the circumstance that Danica would be responsible for any damage their wild ass family caused to her home. Every year something was broken or destroyed, and it appeared that year would be no different.
“I’m going to kill them,” Miesha growled into the phone. “You’re going to pull up to my house and every single member of our family is going to be dead.”
“Miesh, breathe,” Danica coached, admiring the snowfall that’d just begun. “I promise you that I’m no more than ten minutes out, and I will pay for whatever it is that Cas broke.” She assured her.
“How’d you know it was his ass?” Miesha let out a snicker.
“Because I know our brother.”
The two shared a laugh, and Danica cleared her throat, the wide smile on her face still in place. “I love you, be nice for me and I’ll see you soon.”
“Love you too, sis.”
The two ended their call, and Danica let her phone drop into her lap while coming to a stop at a red light. Inhaling deeply, she slowly expelled the oxygen from her lungs while taking in the sight of her city.
Excitement coursed through her as her eyes landed on row after row of Christmas lights, with a few decorated trees sprinkled here and there. It was her favorite time of the year. Everything about the holiday kept her in good spirits, but more importantly, she appreciated the time that it gave her with her family.
She, her brother, and sister, were all adults with their own lives, and most times, that got in the way of the time they were used to spending with their parents. It was hard trying to balance work and personal time, so Danica reveled in the week and a half break that the holidays afforded her.
Her foot gently tapped the gas when the light turned green, sending her car forward. She’d just barely made it through the intersection when her car felt as if it were hit by a cement wall. A sickening crunch sounded throughout the vehicle, and Danica’s mouth opened wide as she released a shrill scream. Snatching her hands away from the steering wheel, she grabbed for something, anything to hold on to as her car went spiraling onto its side. Flipping once, twice, then three times, the vehicle finally came to a devastating stop in the middle of the street.
Tires screeched as cars swerved to attempt to avoid the accident scene, but the only sound Danica could make out was the thumping of her ears. Blinking slowly, she attempted to clear her cloudy vision.
The reeking scent of blood filled the car, and she could feel the sticky substance trickling down her face. Whimpering softly, Danica racked her brain to try and figure out how to get herself out of the car.
Her hand flew to the seatbelt, but she was filled with despair when realizing that it was jammed.
“H-help,” She rasped, praying that somebody could hear her. “Somebody help me, please!”
A panic that Danica had never experienced in her life coursed throughout her entire body. “HELP ME!” Her voice cracked as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Ma’am, can you hear me?” An unfamiliar voice called out, causing her to panic further.
“Get me out!” She flailed, ignoring the shattered glass around her. The smell of fuel invaded her nostrils, and from the movies she’d seen, Danica knew how her scenario was likely to end if she didn’t get the hell out of the car.
“Try and stay calm, we have somebody on the way to help you.”
“Please! Please! Get me out now!”
Danica had lost all sense of herself and everything going on around her. She wanted out of the car, and she wanted it immediately.
“Everybody, clear the area!” A strong voice demanded, sending non accident related shivers through Danica’s spine. Even in the midst of chaos, she fought against the sense of peace that voice threatened to provide. Deep and rich, the undertones of the voice that belonged to whomever was speaking, let her know that somehow, she was going to be okay.
“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” That voice called out again, this time closer. Turning her head a fraction of an inch, Danica winced as a sharp pain darted through her neck, reverting her back to a state of fright.
“Get me out!” She cried, her eyes stinging with tears.
“I’m working on getting you out, okay? I just need you to stay calm, and bear with me for a minute. Can you do that for me?”
Despite her anxiety, she managed to give a shaky nod.
“Tuck, the door is jammed.” Another voice rang out as Danica’s breath quickened.
“Get the jaws,” the first man replied. “Have Wade cut into the furthest hinge, and the first chance you get, I want the door open.”
“I don’t want to die,” Danica whispered, finally allowing her tears to fall.
“Can you look at me?” The rhythm of his voice was calm and steady, everything she needed in that moment to keep her from losing her shit more than she already was. It called to her, so much so that it was impossible to avoid. Shifting slightly, Danica’s eyes met the warm, unsettlingly deep brown eyes of the man squatting at her shattered window. “What’s your name?”
“D-Danica.” She stuttered her response.
“That’s a pretty name, Danica.” His smile was just as inviting as his eyes were.
“Thank you, it’s Slavic.” Danica had no idea why she was rambling about something so stupid. The thought of her family sitting around waiting on her sent her into a fit of hysteria, and her tears started all over again. “I’m supposed to be with my family.” She wailed, jerking in her seat to try and free herself from the restraint holding her place. “I can’t die!”
“Danica,” the power in that voice was enough to still her movement, but not her rapid b
reathing.
“Sweetheart, listen to me, my name is Keaghan Tucker, and I promise you I’m not going to let you die, okay? I’m gonna get you out of here. I just need you to trust me and take deep breaths.” Closing her eyes, Danica tried her hardest to do as he asked. “Can you undo your seatbelt?” He questioned, and she shook her head no.
A screeching sound rocked through the car, her eyes popped open and she let out a scream before realizing it was just the firemen wrenching her door away from the wrecked vehicle.
“Danica,” Tucker called again. “Can you get out of your seatbelt?”
“No,” she whimpered in response. “It’s stuck.”
“WADE!” He yelled, making her wince. “I need the seatbelt cutter!”
“Heard!”
“Okay, sweetheart,” his voice dropped as he focused his attention back on Danica. “When I cut you out, I need…”
“TUCK, WE GOT A LIVE WIRE!” Someone screeched, sending a wave of nausea through her.
“Fuck,” Tucker hissed lowly. “I need those cutters, NOW!”
Everything seemed to go in slow motion as somebody rushed over to him with an instrument that she couldn’t make out. Tucker pushed his arms inside the vehicle for just a moment, and before she knew it, Danica was free.
Frantically grasping at his shoulders, she heaved a sigh of relief as he pulled her out and into his arms.
“Everybody get back, NOW!” He shouted, holding Danica tightly in his arms. The words had barely left his mouth before the thundering sound of an explosion pierced her ears. A spurt of flames shot into the air, licking away at the descending snowflakes.
The rush of heat that engulfed Tucker and Danica went away just as quickly as it came, and he pushed forward to get her to the back of the ambulance.
“You okay?” He questioned gruffly, placing a gloved hand against her cheek. Their eyes met again, and Danica’s breath evaporated. Now that she was able to get a good enough look at him, Tucker was one of the most handsome men she’d see in her life.
His skin was the color of rich, dark chocolate, and even with him wearing the bulky turn out gear that most firefighters wore, she could tell his body was a sight to see. What threw her off was that he seemed just as taken with her as she was with him. When their eyes connected again, the both of them found themselves suspended in time.
Even amid all the chaos surrounding them, Tucker and Danica remained fixated on each other until the spell was broken.
“Tuck, I got her.” A soothing, singsong voice called out. “I need to stop the bleeding of her wrist.”
Until the woman said it, Danica didn’t know she’d suffered another injury outside of the one on her head.
Nodding once, Tucker gave Danica a small smile before rushing to help out the rest of his crew.
“Okay, honey,” a pair of hazel eyes replaced the ones that Danica found herself longing for. “I need you to let me know if any of this hurts, okay?”
“Okay.” She replied meekly, only half listening. Her eyes were glued to the man who saved her life, and in the same token, called out to her heart.
Keaghan Tucker. It was a name that she’d remember for the rest of her life.
Chapter 1
Two years later…
Fingering the scar on her wrist, Danica’s teeth sank into her bottom lip. She was so zoned out that she didn’t even hear her sister calling her name. “Dani!” Miesha shouted at the top of her lungs, finally snapping Danica out of her daze.
“Hmm?” She hummed, letting her wrist go.
Frowning slightly, Miesha placed the dish she was holding in her hand. “I asked you if this was the cabinet where you wanted the plates to go.” She repeated, brushing her hair out her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Danica sighed, getting back into gear and focusing on the tedious task of unpacking her kitchen. After spending a year and a half away from her hometown, she was finally back and getting reacquainted with Brighton Heights. While she was happy to be reunited with her family, she couldn’t help the pain that engulfed her every time she fell into the trap of remembering why she was home in the first place. “I’m okay, and yes, that’s the right cabinet.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, Miesha placed the china in her hands down on the counter.
“Dani,” she spoke quietly, tapping her nail against the counter. “You know that no matter what, there’s nothing you could have done, right?”
Despair took hold of Danica, wrapping itself around her and squeezing as if it were a snake preparing to devour its last meal. Tears sprang to her eyes as she worked to swallow the choking sob fighting to escape.
Sucking in a deep breath, she turned to the island, placing her hands down on the cool, marble surface. Danica cleared her throat, using every bit of self control she possessed to keep her composure.
She didn’t answer Miesha until she was one hundred percent sure she wouldn’t break down.
“Yeah, Miesh.” Danica finally responded. “I know.”
“Okay.”
Knowing her sister as well as she did, Danica was sure that Miesha wanted to press the issue, and was grateful that she didn’t. Times had been hard enough for her recently. She’d just gotten to the point where she could make it through an entire twenty four hours without crying, and didn’t want to set back her healing process.
“Yoooo!” A deep voice rang out, bringing a smile to Danica’s face and breaking up the tense moment. “Where y’all at?”
“In the kitchen, loud ass!” Miesha yelled with a smile, and Danica spun around to see the tall, lanky frame of their younger brother, Casimir, strolling into the kitchen with a Henry’s bag in one hand, and a case of beer in the other.
“Your ass was supposed to be here an hour ago to help,” Danica frowned.
Casimir shot her a crooked smile, holding up the items in his hands. “I am helping, I brought the necessities.”
“Thank you,” Miesha swiftly relieved him of the food and beer. “While we take a break and eat, there’s a couple more boxes in the moving truck that were too heavy for us to grab. Enjoy.”
His face dropped, but he knew better than to try and battle his two sisters head on. Grumbling under his breath, Casimir exited the same way that he came, while Miesha washed her hands before removing two beer bottles from the case and digging into the bag to sort out the food.
“Oh my God,” Danica’s stomach flip flopped as Miesha handed her a beer. “I haven’t had Henry’s in so long.”
“Hometown staple,” Miesha grinned. “You know fried chicken ain’t hitting unless it’s from Henry’s.”
“You ain’t lied about that.”
Finally getting the food onto a couple of paper plates, Miesha and Danica popped open their beers and clinked them together before digging in.
“Oh, before I forget,” Miesha began through a mouthful of yams. “The fire station is having their annual family and friends cookout in a few days. Ma and I go every year to take them a pie and show our gratitude, and I figured maybe this year you might want to tag along.”
Danica froze as memories of the night when she was saved by a handsome stranger flooded her brain. It didn’t happen often, but there were moments when she could vividly remember every detail about the accident that almost cost her, her life.
The stench of the fuel was sometimes so overwhelming that she had to remind herself it was just a memory and not her reality. The thing that she remembered most, was the face of the man that put his life on the line to save hers.
Forever burned in her memory was Keaghan Tucker’s strong, square cut jaw line, his sparkling brown eyes, and smooth chocolate skin.
“Dani,” Miesha’s head dropped a fraction as she once again pulled her sister back to reality.
“Yeah?” She answered hurriedly, plastering a smile on her face. “I would love to go.”
“Go where?” Casimir questioned, entering the kitchen with a thin veil of sweat covering his forehead.
“You got those boxes in here that quickly?” One of Miesha’s eyebrows shot into the air while she picked at her chicken.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in here, now would I?” He replied, washing his hands. “And y’all didn’t answer my question. Where we going?”
“To the cookout at the fire station.” Miesha answered before Danica could.
A playful grin crossed his face. “Doesn’t that firefighter that Dani had a crush on work ther…”
“Okay!” Danica shouted over him, getting a laugh out of her siblings. “That was a long time ago, and we’re not going there. I’m only showing my face since I never got the opportunity to give him a proper thank you.”
“I bet you do want to give him a proper thank you.” Casimir’s smile converted into a smirk.
Danica gasped loudly, throwing a balled up paper towel at him as Miesha giggled. “You’re so fucking sick.”
The three of them shared a round of laughter, and finally, Danica felt a sense of peace since making the decision to return home. Quality time with her family was exactly what the doctor ordered to get her out of the rut she’d been stuck in for months.
They finished dinner, and continued working well into the night to get the house looking at least halfway decent. By the time they called it quits, two of the bathrooms, living room, and Danica’s bedroom, were all set up enough for her to be comfortable until they could tackle another round of unpacking.
Leaving Miesha and Casimir to their own devices, Danica went to take a quick shower to wash the day away and help relieve some of the stiff tension in her muscles. Stumbling out, she stopped short upon seeing Miesha sprawled out in the king size bed in her pajamas.
