Sinner's Kiss: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

by April Lust

She considered that for a moment. She had left behind most things when she left Craig. Some things were just too big or impractical. Important things like baby photos were easy to carry because they were all digital. They were saved online anyway. Important papers were small and easy, too, but Sara had had to leave most of her favorite toys. They had Cuddles, who’d been her bunny since she was a baby. A few other stuffed animals came along, but her bigger toys had to stay. Her bike, puzzles, most of her books and DVDs. Isabella had been slowly rebuying a lot of things, but didn’t have much budget for all that.

  For Jace, he might have lost everything. It wasn’t like he’d gotten the chance to pick out his favorite clothing, like she had. If it was gone, it was all gone. Everything from bedding to dishes to books and movies to even his car. Where was his bike? He must’ve been on it if his car was there. So his bike should be okay. But what had he lost? What was valuable to him?

  She couldn’t imagine having nothing at all except the clothes on your back. How was he handling this all so well? Shouldn’t he be freaking out or losing it right about now? Maybe he was just in shock. She looked over at him. He stared out the window, still holding her hand tight.

  “You doing okay?” she asked.

  He looked over and gave her a smile. “I’m perfect.”

  “You sure?”

  “As long as you’re safe and Sara is safe, yup.”

  “But your house burned down today. Is anything salvageable?”

  He shook his head. “Highly doubtful.”

  “That doesn’t upset you?”

  He shrugged. “It sucks, yeah. But the things that are most important to me weren’t inside the house, so it doesn’t matter that much. It’s just stuff. It can all be replaced.”

  “But you lost everything you own?”

  “Nah,” he said. “I have my bike. And this shirt and these pants.” He chuckled. “I have insurance. It’ll be fine. You can help me go shopping if you want.”

  “I do like to go shopping.”

  “See. It’ll be a fun time.”

  She let this sink in. Was he really so okay with all this? “Maybe you’re still in shock.”

  “Isabella, I’m fine.” He kissed her hand again. “Everything I care most about in the world is right here in this car or heading to the hospital.”

  ###

  Isabella turned into the hospital and Jace gave her a look. “What are you doing?”

  “You have to get your hand checked out,” she insisted. “And don’t you want to check on your friends?”

  “What about Sara?” He looked back at her.

  “She’s sleeping now and she’ll probably stay asleep. She’ll be fine.”

  They climbed out of the car and Isabella scooped Sara into her arms, wrapping her little legs around her to hold her so she could stay asleep.

  They went right to the ER. Aaron had been behind them, so wasn’t inside yet, but Derrick and Alex were there. Derrick was talking to the nurse at the window and pointed to Alex, who was sitting in a chair in the waiting area. The nurse came around the corner to him with a wheelchair and they helped Alex get into it.

  “Hey,” Jace said, and hurried over to Alex. “I’ll come check on you in a bit. Make sure that arm stays attached.” Jace lightly punched the shoulder opposite of the arm that’d been shot.

  Alex nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  Derrick and Jace bumped fists and Jace came back to where Isabella stood near the admittance window. When the nurse came back, he went over to talk to her.

  “Hi, I was here earlier for smoke inhalation and a burn, but I had an emergency and had to leave.”

  She looked up at him with an unamused expression. “Your name?”

  “Jace Peters.”

  She turned and rifled through a stack of folders. She pulled one out and flipped it open. “Right. You were the one who left without being discharged.”

  “Yeah, sorry. I had an emergency.”

  “Have a seat. We’ll give you a call.”

  Jace walked to the closest seat, Isabella right behind him with Sara in her arms. They sat and waited.

  Aaron arrived and walked over to them. “Hey, man. Where is everyone?”

  “Alex is being looked at. Derrick is with him. Haven’t seen anyone else yet. I’m waiting to be seen. Again.”

  Aaron nodded. “I’m going to the room Daniel was in.”

  “Send me an update.”

  “Will do.”

  Aaron left and Jace slumped back in the chair and closed his eyes. Isabella ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his cheek. Warmth spread through him, drawing a smile from his lips.

  “Jace Peters.”

  He opened his eyes and saw a doctor looking around the waiting room. They all stood and followed him to a small trauma room.

  Jace sat on the edge of the hospital bed, his feet dangling causally from the end. Isabella sat by his side in one of the padded chairs, still holding Sara tight in her arms, as the doctor cleaned his burn. First he sprayed some sort of antiseptic. It was cold and soothed the hot skin, but then he dabbed at the burn with a gaze pad, which took the coolness away. Next, the doctor took out some sort of wipe. Like a wet wipe, but smelling much stronger of medicine and chemicals. He wiped it across Jace’s hand. Jace tried not to react to the pressure and friction as the doctor worked, but it hurt. He gritted his teeth and tightened his other hand into a fist. Finally, it was done. The doctor smeared some ointment on the damaged skin that cooled it and made it feel a little bit better. He relaxed some. The doctor wrapped a bandage around his hand and stood up, finished and satisfied with his work.

  “Okay,” the doctor said while making notes on his clipboard. “Keep it dry and clean. You’ll need to change the bandage once a day, and use this ointment.” He handed Jace a small white tube, which Jace stuck in his pocket. “Come back to see me in a week.”

  Jace nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks.”

  The doctor nodded at him and left the room.

  “Guess we’re all set,” Jace said, sliding down from the edge of the exam bed. “I want to check on Daniel and Alex real quick, then we can go home.”

  Isabella yawned, but smiled at him. “Sure.”

  “Want me to take her? She must be getting heavy.”

  “No, your hand. It’s okay. I’m used to carrying her.”

  In the hall, Jace took out his phone and called Aaron. “Where are you guys?”

  “With Daniel. Room 109. Man. It’s not looking good.”

  Jace swallowed hard. “We’ll be right there.”

  “How is he?” Isabella asked.

  Jace looked at her and the despair must’ve been obvious on his face before he even said anything. Her eyes grew wide. He shook his head tightly. “Not good.”

  They hurried over to room 109 and went inside. Aaron was there watching and Daniel’s girlfriend, Angie, sat close to his bed. Tubes and wires ran from Daniel, who lay in the bed, far too still. It looked like a machine was breathing for him.

  “What’s going on?” Jace asked.

  Aaron and Angie both looked at him, but Angie turned her attention back to Daniel.

  Aaron moved to stand closer to Jace so he could keep his voice down. “They said his heart stopped a few times. They were able to resuscitate him, but that’s apparently a very bad sign. They don’t think they’ll be able to bring him back a third time if his heart fails again.”

  “Okay.” He tried to let this sink in. “What are his injuries?”

  “The burns are really bad and it’s making his body go into shock. And that can cause organ failure. So they’re watching for all that now. To make sure everything keeps working.”

  Jace pulled up the other chair in the room. “Sit down, babe,” he said to Isabella.

  She sat and arranged Sara into a more comfortable position on her lap. Sara was fast asleep and Isabella looked exhausted. He was tired, too. The day had gone on far too long and held too much pain and drama. They’d leave so
on, but not until he knew his guys were going to be okay.

  Jace walked over to Angie and put a hand on her shoulder. She gripped Daniel’s hand tight. “If you need anything, let us know, okay?”

  She nodded. “I just need him to wake up.”

  “We all do.” Jace walked to the opposite side of the bed to squeeze Daniel’s other hand. “Come on, man. Hang in there. Wake up real soon.” He stood and watched him for a long while, the machines beeping and whirling in rhythm, moving his chest up and down.

  Daniel looked both pale and too red and black. The parts of his skin that were undamaged were pasty white. But he was covered in patches of bright red, some edged with black. They shined like they’d been smeared with some kind of ointment. Large sections of him were covered in soft, white bandages. Most of his face and arms. The rest of him couldn’t be seen under the blanket, but there were thick lumps there, like something was wrapped around his legs and feet.

  Little tufts of Daniel’s black hair stuck out from under and between the loops of bandage. But one side of his head didn’t seem to have any hair at all. It was raw and red with blisters. He hadn’t seemed like he was in such bad shape when he’d pulled him from the basement. He couldn’t recall seeing any burns on him at all. But then, there had been plenty of thick, black smoke, and it wasn’t like Jace was interested in a full body inspection of him at the time. He only wanted to get him out.

  Now it looked like he’d been too late. Daniel was in rough shape and even if he woke up, he must have a long recovery ahead of him. And who knew what he’d look like. He had been a good-looking guy. And his girl, Angie, was nice-looking herself. They would have made some cute babies. Would have. But now? How long would Angie stay with him if he was disfigured? He hoped she loved him, but they hadn’t been together for years. Months, sure, but was that long to commit to someone through this? He didn’t know.

  “Were you the one?” Angie asked.

  “One what?” Jace said.

  “Who went in to save him?”

  “I went in and pulled him out,” Jace said. “But it doesn’t look like I saved him.”

  “You did.” She kissed Daniel’s hand and held it tight while tears ran down her face. “Thank you. You risked your life to save him. I’ll always be grateful for that, no matter what happens.”

  Jace nodded. “He’s my friend. I wasn’t going to just let him die.”

  “You’re a good man,” Angie said. She looked over at Isabella and gave her a weak smile. “You’re lucky to have a guy like that.”

  “I know.” Isabella smiled across the room at him.

  He didn’t deserve this praise, though. Not when Daniel was lying here like this. So close to death. If he would have gotten there sooner, would have found him and gotten them out faster, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Hey, man.” Aaron clapped him on the shoulder. “I can see you beating yourself up from across the room. Give it up. You did what you could. You ran into a burning building to pull him out. Plenty of people wouldn’t have done that. You didn’t set the fire. This is on Lionel and the Ghost Reapers. And we made them pay today.”

  Angie looked up at this. “You did? How?”

  “We took them out,” Aaron said simply.

  “Good.” Angie stroked part of Daniel’s cheek that was visible through the bandages and burned patches. “Hear that, baby? The Hawks got them. They took revenge on those assholes for you.”

  “Yeah,” Jace said. “But revenge won’t make him get better faster.” Nothing would, except a lot of time and hoping for the best. Jace turned to Aaron. “You hear from Derrick or Alex?”

  He nodded. “They’re taking Alex into surgery to remove the bullet. He’ll be okay, though. They said it was a clean shot. No shattered bones or anything like that.”

  “Good. Do you know how it happened?”

  “Not sure, but it was during the fight when you were dealing with Lionel. A lot of shots back and forth. We got lucky.”

  Jace nodded and dropped his voice. “Did we leave any alive? Any get away?”

  “Not that I know of. Unless some of them weren’t there at all. We took them all down. It’s amazing how unskilled those guys were. They must not have gone to the range very often.”

  “That’s why weekly is my minimum requirement,” Jace said, glad more than ever that he’d made that rule. It had seemed a little strong at first. Making every one of his guys practice shooting every single week. Some had complained at first. But they did it. And now they’d all seen why. It kept them sharp and practiced. He’d also made them try out different guns and get varied practice. You never knew when you’d be shooting a gun that wasn’t your own, and they needed to be skilled in all types and ready for anything.

  “I don’t think anyone will ever question that again,” Aaron said. “Not that I ever did.”

  Jace laughed. “Surprised you don’t own a range by now.”

  “If I had more land, I would.”

  A text came in from Derrick. Alex just got out of surgery. Everything’s looking good. Heading to see Daniel.

  Me and Aaron are here now, Jace sent back.

  A few minutes later, Derrick walked in. He took one look at Daniel and dropped his head. “So, no improvement?”

  “Afraid not,” Aaron said.

  Derrick came to stand beside them. “I don’t know what happened. We were all in the basement when the smoke started. He was in the bathroom, but the bathroom is right there. How did he not get out in time? It doesn’t make any sense.” Derrick shook his head. “He looks bad.”

  “We all thought he was right behind us,” Aaron said. “Maybe he tripped or something? I’ve been trying to figure it out myself.”

  “Alex even went back in. He said the bathroom was empty.” Derrick shook his head.

  “That smoke was nuts,” Jace said. “If I didn’t know my own house so well, I’d have gotten turned around. I almost did. I walk down there in the dark so often, though, I was able to figure out where I was. Maybe the smoke just got too much and he couldn’t see. They say that happens.”

  Aaron and Derrick nodded and looked at Daniel’s lifeless body.

  “He’s gotta wake up,” Derrick said.

  Jace’s phone buzzed with a text from Alex. I’ll be okay. How’s Daniel?

  He answered, Hanging in there for now.

  As they stood together, watching, there was a sudden loud and steady beep. It came from one of the machines hooked up to Daniel. On the heart monitor there was only a flat line.

  Jace looked at Aaron and Derrick in horror and his heart leapt to his throat. Seconds later, several nurses and doctors rushed in. They shoved them out of the way. The guys went to the other side of the room to stand with the women, since that side was closer to the door and had slightly more room. They stood close together, huddled in a watchful dismay, to give the medical staff space to work.

  A nurse took out paddles, rubbed some goo on them, and pushed them against Daniel’s chest to shock him. His whole body jumped with the electricity. Jace had to look away. He looked instead at Isabella. Her eyes were wild with fear. He heard the sounds of the machine booting up and they shocked him again. Several times, they tried. They worked and shouted commands back and forth. But after several minutes, they stopped. The room fell eerily quiet. He heard someone say, “Call it,” and he refused to think about what that meant.

  It had all happened too fast. Just a minute ago, they were standing around his body. His still, but still alive body. Could they be done working on him already? They’d given up far too soon. There had to be more they could do. He looked from Aaron to Derrick. Did they agree? Did they think this was outrageous that the medical staff was done working already? How long had it been? A minute or two? They should give it at least a half hour. An hour even. This was his friend. Didn’t they know how important he was to them?

  One of the doctors walked over to the group of onlookers. His face was tight, and sweat glistened on his foreh
ead. “I’m sorry,” he said. “He’s passed.”

  “What?” Jace said. “You’re done working on him already? You gave up too soon!”

  Jace wanted to clock the guy. As if Aaron sensed this, he stepped closer to Jace, to put himself between him and the doctor.

  “I’m sorry. We did everything we could,” the doctor said. “But after forty minutes, there’s really nothing else we can do.”

  Forty minutes? It hadn’t been anywhere near that long, had it? He looked at his phone. The text he’d sent to Alex, the one telling him Daniel was still hanging in there, said it was sent forty-five minutes ago. And that had been a very short time before Daniel’s heart had stopped.