Smoldering Heart_Fleming Brothers [Book 1]

by Jennifer Vester

  Rolling over, I was on my feet again. With my eyes adjusted to the low light, I looked around and saw the faint lights of police cars driving up toward the barn. Three fire trucks followed them down the dirt road, and as soon as they stopped, dozens of firemen went to work pulling out hose.

  With the gag still in my mouth I couldn’t call for them, so I ran as quickly as I could in their direction. I heard a frantic keening and realized I was trying desperately to yell out beyond the cloth in my mouth.

  A Sheriff’s deputy was swinging his light back and forth across the field when he caught me in the beam. He called out, and immediately started running for me.

  I tripped over something again and went to my knees. Tears streaming down my face, I had no energy left to run toward them.

  When they reached me, they brought out a knife and started cutting through my bindings and the gag in my mouth.

  That’s when I heard it. A loud WOOSH then a thunderous noise behind me. One of the men threw himself on top of me as I heard the splintering of wood and cacophony of multiple debris landing around us.

  “Owen!” I screamed.

  The man on top of me slid off and we both looked toward the house. Half the garage was missing, and the flames were raging through the rest of the house.

  My heart sank as I watched it scatter and spread. The smoke billowed up in a black fuming mass against the moonlit sky.

  “No. No. No,” I cried in horror. This was worse than losing Jason had ever been. It was the same ugly scene in a way. Fire everywhere, and no sign of the two men that had saved my life. One particularly, that I loved deeply.

  Feeling like my heart might rip in half I turned away, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. My father leaned down and picked me up from the ground.

  “Let’s get you in an ambulance, sweetheart. Don’t you think about what’s going on back there. Let’s just make sure you’re okay.”

  I buried my head in my dad’s shoulder, until a firmer set of arms took me from him and kept carrying me the rest of the distance. When I glanced up, I saw Dale’s face.

  “You’re okay. Just going to get you checked,” he said.

  “Where’s Dad?” I asked on a sob.

  “He’s directing the crew, kiddo. Let him do what he can.”

  “Owen and Noah were in there.”

  “I know,” he said and clenched his jaw. “We’ll see what happens. You have to take a trip to the hospital now to get checked out. Your head has a nasty gash on it and you’ve got some bruising.”

  It was hard to hear what he was saying with the noise around us. People were running toward the chaos of the house. The fire at the barn was out with embers still smoldering under the mass of burnt wood. There was an occasional cracking sound from the rubble, and the air was thick with the smell of smoke.

  Something inside me closed down. It pulled all of my chaotic emotions inward into a small dark space. My tears stopped falling, the sounds around me faded to background noise, and the sights around me barely registered. It was like watching a movie on mute with absolutely no risk of continued pain.

  My breathing slowed, and I barely registered another set of arms as they transferred me to the back of the ambulance.

  A man’s face came into view as I stared at the ceiling, he was saying something to me but whatever it was, didn’t register. When he applied something to my head that stung worse than my head hitting the ground earlier I bucked. He had a light that he directed at my eyes and made me blink rapidly. Then he squeezed my arm and smiled.

  Smiled. As if there was something to smile about.

  Things started to fade and go out of focus. My head felt dizzy and off balance. The edges of my vision started to go black, and I felt cold as my eyes rolled back and closed.

  My nose filled with the most noxious smell I’d ever encountered. My eyes came open and my arm flew out to move the man’s hand away from my nose. Suddenly, the sounds of the world came back to me.

  I shook my head to clear the smell from my nostrils and grimaced as I felt another sting on my head. The smell of alcohol surrounded me.

  “There you are. Just treating this little scratch. They said gash to be honest, but this is nothing. Bleeds worse on the head. You’re going to have a nice bruise tomorrow and a headache. You checked out there for a second so what you just smelled was an ammonia capsule. Nasty, but there’s no fainting allowed on my truck.”

  The radio crackled in the background and a voice said, “19 code 2, 432 en route.”

  The EMT grabbed the radio and said something back before lifting a strap to go over my arms.

  “Falling off the gurney is also not allowed. Let’s get you over to the hospital and have them check you out. You’ll be back home before you know it.”

  I frowned at him, then watched as he exited the back of the truck. The only home I had to go back to was Owen’s house and I would never step foot in it again if he was gone. My heart wrenched in my chest at the memory of his smell and I closed my eyes.

  I heard the back doors open and close again, then the engine turned over.

  “Hey, baby, open your eyes,” a familiar voice said.

  My eyelids peeled back slowly, hoping it wasn’t a memory or a dream. Owen’s face came into view, smudged with dirt and blood, smelling of smoke.

  “Owen,” I whispered, as tears rolled down my face

  He smirked. “Who else would it be? I hope you weren’t waiting around for some other asshole, because I don’t want to have to kick anyone else’s ass tonight.”

  His hand brushed my hair. He placed a small kiss on my forehead and my heart leapt. Relief washed over me in waves but didn’t stem the flow of tears.

  “Hey, no crying. I told you I would always think of you if shit got crazy.”

  “What happened?” I whispered, barely able to control my wavering voice.

  “As soon as those two shits were down, I grabbed Noah and we beat it out the door before the building blew. We just ended up on the other side, and it took a while to get back around. He is one heavy motherfucker.”

  He slumped onto the floor beside me and grabbed his side.

  “How…”

  “Fuck. Long story short, Darren and your would-be boyfriend are roasting over that campfire back there, and Noah is on the way to the hospital with a bullet in his leg. That’s the second one in the same leg that he’s gotten while helping me, I might add.”

  Stunned, my mouth opened, and I just stared at him.

  He shrugged. “Sorry, that was probably a little morbid, but right now I don’t give a fuck. I think I have a broken rib, my head is killing me, because Darren kneed me, and I think Noah nicked my shoulder with his knife. He gets a little crazy sometimes.”

  “Well, yeah. I would too if I’d been shot in the leg and my brother was boxing it out with two crazy people. How did you find me?”

  He pursed his lips, which looked somewhat comical with all the dirt and muck smeared across his face. “Don’t kill me.”

  “What?” I sniffed.

  “My brother has a tracking chip that he uses to monitor people in our family. That B12 shot I gave you wasn’t a vitamin boost.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “You asshole.”

  “Babe,” he said while giving me an amused look. “It saved your life. I need a lot of love for this. Hours of it.”

  I huffed and closed my eyes again. “For some reason, I’m not surprised. Really. Guns in my shop, overbearing pushy crap, a fire, kidnapping and chips. You know, I was very happy with my quiet little shop before you came along.”

  His lips grazing mine made me open my eyes again.

  “Happy, but not as happy as you will be, sweetheart.”

  “No sex allowed in my truck!” the driver yelled from the front seat.

  I laughed as Owen chuckled.

  “I am happy with you. I just want all this crazy stuff to stop. I want to be able to have a life where my heart isn’t breaking every other day thinking that
you’re gone, missing or dead.”

  His thumb brushed against my cheek and his green eyes roamed my face. “We’ll have it. I promise. No more worrying. If you want me to quit, I will. But I’ll always need to do something to help people. Maybe I can volunteer at the retirement home or something.”

  I groaned. “Jesus, no. Those poor people don’t need wheelchair races or any crazy shit either.”

  He gave me an innocent look.

  “I don’t want you to quit, Owen. I just want us to be together. Just promise me you’ll never leave without talking. Never die on me, and never, ever, rush a man with a gun again.”

  “Deal,” he said. Then a thought passed over his face. “Hey, don’t you owe me a few dates for your dad’s house?”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. “The job isn’t done. You failed your mission because he still hasn’t replaced some furniture. You’ll never get a date with me.”

  “I’ll settle for sex., I guess.”

  I laughed. It was the oddest conversation, and I wondered if the driver could hear us. And yet, it was totally Owen to make light of things when serious stuff was happening. He had a twisted sense of humor and he would have to have one if he was joining the fire department. Nearly all of the ones I'd met in my life found the weirdest things funny in an emergency situation.

  “Owen?”

  “Yeah, babe.”

  “Can you not talk about compound fractures, and that sort of thing over the dinner table when our kids are around?”

  He chuckled and gave me a funny look. “Okay. Strange request but I think I can do that.”

  The truck, which had been moving pretty steadily the last few minutes, made a turn and came to a stop.

  The back doors opened, and two people entered as Owen backed into the corner. The bed lurched and started to slide toward the opening.

  “You have eight months to practice.”

  “What?” he called out as the hospital workers surrounded me and started wheeling me away.

  “I’m pregnant,” I called over my shoulder.

  There was a small pause before I heard his laughter and several comments about swimmers.

  I closed my eyes and let the world drift away except for the sound of his happiness.

  Epilogue

  ~Owen~

  She had me in fucking pink.

  Not entirely, but I was wearing a pink tie with a pink flower strapped to the breast pocket of my gray suit.

  Rachel was going to pay for this, eventually.

  Although technically not spring, I had insisted on moving the wedding plans along a little quicker than Rachel had planned. January was just as good as any other month to get married. Sure, there was still snow on the ground and I was still feeling my way around being a rookie on the fire department. But I wanted my wife and child tied to me as soon as possible.

  My plan had been simple. Spring the wedding on Rachel and she wouldn’t have time to arrange anything garish. Little did I know, that she had most of the details already in place and it was just a matter of saying the word wedding for her diabolical plans to start in motion.

  She had already called about the reception hall, which just happened to be one that the fire department used on occasion for celebrations. Then there was the cake, the limo, the decorations, invitations and just about every other nonsensical thing related to getting married. Everything just fell into place is what she said. I called bullshit.

  I adjusted my tie and gave myself one last look.

  “You’re still as ugly as you were yesterday,” Brock said from one of the couches in our dressing room.

  Yes, dressing room. As if changing into this monkey suit required primping for males. We would go in our sweatpants if it was allowed, but that idea was apparently not pleasing to our female counterparts.

  I turned back to look at him. He was dressed in the same light gray two-piece Armani suit I was wearing. The difference was he wasn’t wearing a pink tie.

  He looked far more relaxed than he ever had in the last few years, and I had to admit that his wife was a large part of it. She calmed him. I was starting to understand the feeling. Had it been up to Maddie and me, we would have had a small ceremony at the house and been done with it. But loyal as always to her sister, we had approached her first.

  It wasn’t a total bust. There was apparently plenty of food at the reception hall which happened to be about two blocks from the little church we were about to say our vows in. Appealing to Rachel’s sense of romance, I had won the argument to keep the actual wedding small between family. I used the excuse that it was traditional with the Fleming's, which was a total lie, but it worked.

  The door opened to the hall, and Noah was wheeled in by Kelly. Even in a wheelchair he had been forced to wear his suit as well.

  “Just dropping off your brother. You guys look sharp!”

  “I’m perfectly able to wheel myself around. Can you please tell that woman that I don’t need a personal assistant to help me get around?”

  Kelly laughed. “You tell her. Plus, this means I get to be at the wedding. I’m not complaining.”

  There were two very familiar raised voices coming from the hallway.

  Kelly smirked. “Here she comes now. Prime opportunity to say something, old man.”

  “I’m not that old,” Noah growled.

  The doors burst open and my bride walked through wearing her wedding dress with an angry frown on her face.

  Had it not been for the angry frown, I would have been stunned into silence for a good hour just looking at her. The white lace looked like it was dripping off her pale skin in a way that made her look innocent and inviting at the same time. Her long dress billowed around her legs as she walked and teased at what lay beneath.

  “Sweetheart?” I asked and held out my hand. Everyone in the room moved toward the door, except Rachel who was scowling at Maddie’s back.

  “It’s bad luck to see the groom before the wedding!” she screeched.

  Noah grabbed her hand and pulled her down into his lap where he trapped her with his arm. She squealed and started smacking him on the shoulder.

  “Let them have some privacy. When you get married you might not want to listen to some banshee tell you what to do either.”

  Rachel scowled at him. “I won’t have to, since I already have it planned!”

  “You do, do you? Who’s the lucky guy?”

  She huffed and looked away, as he wheeled her out into the hallway.

  Someone, probably Kelly, shut the door after everyone left.

  “What’s wrong, beautiful?” I asked Maddie, who was still frowning.

  Her beautiful blue eyes met mine and she gave me a small grimace. “Nothing, I guess. I’m just sick of this already. Why does she have to plan absolutely everything down to the underwear I’m supposed to wear?”

  I smirked at first, then started chuckling. Maddie’s scowl turned murderous for a minute before I grabbed her around the waist.

  My hand slid down to her belly to rub the small bump she had developed.

  Moving my feet, I swayed slowly with her in the center of the room as if there was music playing just for us.

  “So, what was it today?”

  She wrapped her arm around my waist and let me move her with my body. Her thick hair was piled up in ringlets on the back of her head. My hands twitched for a moment with the desire to pull the up-do apart and let the entire thing fall to her shoulders. She was beautiful every day, but today she was my bride, and it made a significant difference.

  To say I was deeply in love with my soon-to-be wife was an understatement. I may have fallen the moment I saw her, but time had just deepened that feeling.

  “First, she said that she’s already started decorating the new shop. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I haven’t even seen the damn place, so how do I know what I want in it? It’s my store.”

  “It’s nice, you’ll like it.”

  “I really wish both of you wo
uld stop conspiring on that one.”

  “We didn’t conspire, we’re surprising you. Let us do it.”

  She huffed. “Fine.”

  Her new shop really was nice. Better coolers, better tables and organization all thanks to Rachel. And it was only three doors down from Rachel’s shop. Not the precise location of her mother’s place but in some ways, this was a fresh new start for Maddie. Something she could say she had done somewhat on her own, in her family’s tradition.

  The insurance on the shop had made it more than possible to start over and she’d refused any other help with it. Other than letting me pay Rachel for an interior design overhaul.

  “What else?” I asked as I took her hand in mine and held it out. Still moving slowly, I moved us across the floor toward the windows.

  “Do you want the list? She said that she had the reception catered, even though it didn’t need to be anything more than cake and punch.”

  “Hmm,” I said and gave her a kiss on her temple. She smelled like cookies again today.

  “Then it was my hair. Up or down. I wanted down.”

  “Me too.”

  “See! Then the decorations. Why the hell do we need all these decorations when it’s just family here?”

  “We can always skip out and go to Vegas.”

  She swatted my back. “Not on your life. I’m already in this dress and have my makeup on.”

  I smirked and looked up at the ceiling. The stuff she trapped herself into. “If I took off the dress and smudged your makeup on the couch by bending you over, could we go to Vegas?”

  She stiffened for a moment then kept swaying. “No, although I’m not totally opposed to that later.”

  “Good to know. So, what kind of underwear are you wearing?”

  She lifted her head to look at me and I saw a pink tint slip across her beautiful cheeks. She remained silent and didn’t say anything.

  When my eyebrow arched she finally whispered, “What underwear?”

  I felt my dick harden. This was going to be the shortest wedding and reception ever witnessed if I had anything to say about it. And I was just that kind of asshole.