by A. J. Goode
Tim went down as if in slow motion. Sean didn’t wait to see if he got up again. He left the rookie sprawled in the dirt and dashed into the old barn.
“Maggie? Can you hear me?” There was so much smoke! He could barely see, and he didn’t know where to start. There was no time for a search.
Then he heard a faint cry from somewhere off to his left.
Maggie!
Coughing, he ran to a row of stalls and bent down low to peer inside each one. He found her in the third one, curled up on the floor with her hands tied in front of her and her ankles bound. She looked up at him, her eyes wide with terror, and tried to speak.
“Save your breath,” he told her. He tugged at the ropes at her ankles, but the knots were too tight.
She said something he couldn’t make out.
He took his own advice and saved his breath. Without another word, he hauled her to her feet and hefted her across his shoulders.
For the second time in less than two days, he found himself struggling for air as he made his way through a burning building without any gear. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he told himself, although he wasn’t entirely sure whether he was scolding himself, Tim or Maggie.
The impact came out of nowhere and caught him right across the middle, knocking any remaining air from his lungs. He tumbled backward and heard Maggie’s muffled cry of pain as he landed directly on top of her.
Blow after blow rained down on his face. He struggled against his assailant, landing a few good hits of his own, but nothing seemed to slow Tim down. Sean felt Maggie squirm free from beneath him and offered up a quick prayer of thanks that she was still moving.
Tim kept shouting that nobody was supposed to get hurt. Through the thick smoke, Sean could barely make out his face, twisted with rage and fear, and he knew there would be no reasoning with the rookie. Tim was beyond hearing anything he might try to say, and there was just no way for Sean to win this fight. The crazed kid had too much of an advantage.
And then Tim suddenly keeled over sideways. He hit the ground and lay there unmoving.
Sean saw Maggie then. She knelt beside him, with a large splintered plank between her bound hands.
He rolled to his knees and seized her. She sagged against him. He could feel and hear her wheezing gasps for air as she struggled to speak.
“Tell me later,” he coughed.
She spoke again, her lips close to his ear, just as he heard the welcome sound of sirens approaching. He shot one last despairing glance at his unmoving fellow firefighter before hoisting Maggie over his shoulder once more.
The smoke was thicker now, and Sean could see more flames. But there was still a clear path to the exit if he made it there now. Maggie had stopped moving, although he wasn’t sure if she was trying to be still to make it easier for him, or if she was so still because she had succumbed to the smoke. Either way, he had to get her out of there.
He staggered on shaking legs, stumbling a few times. Each time, he dragged himself and his precious cargo back up, back toward the clear air they both needed so desperately. I won’t give up, Maggie, he vowed silently.
He dumped her unceremoniously in the grass as soon he was clear of the building. In the distance, he saw the flashing red and blue lights of the rest of his department’s approach.
They were still too far away to help Tim.
Sean swore.
He dragged Maggie’s still form away from the danger and left her at the base of a large maple tree. She stirred, blinking up at him with bleary brown eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her.
She shook her head and clutched at him.
“Maggie . . . I have to go back for him. No matter what.”
No matter what.
Tim was on his knees by the time Sean made his way back through the smoke and flames to the barn stall. Wordlessly, he put the rookie’s arm around his shoulders and helped him up. Together, they made their way back toward the exit one last time, only to find their way blocked by flames.
“I’m sorry, Spiffy,” Tim choked.
“. . . got . . . to be another way . . . out,” Sean muttered, ignoring his words. A barn had to have more than one door, didn’t it? Problem was, his mind was spinning and he couldn’t hang onto any thought long enough to form any logical ideas. He found himself thinking back to playing in this very barn as a child, stealing kisses here with a local girl as a teenager, popping open the door to Devon Rock’s stolen car just a few days earlier.
He sank to his knees, barely aware of Tim hitting the ground beside him. He became dimly aware of flashing lights and distant shouts, but he knew it was too late to respond.
His last thought before unconsciousness claimed him was Maggie and her frantic whispered words in his ear in the smoke-filled barn, and he wished he would have taken the time to answer her.
I love you too, Maggie.
Chapter Seventeen
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty.”
Sean grunted in the general direction of the familiar voice. Every part of his body hurt, and waking up was definitely not on his list of things he wanted to do right now. He just wanted to be allowed to go back to sleep until he felt better.
Something tugged at his memory. Something urgent that he really needed to ask, something that he just had to find out.
He blinked around at the white walls and ceiling and grunted again. That was odd, because the walls in his bedroom were blue.
The hospital. He was waking up in a hospital room. He was suddenly, abruptly wide-awake as memories flooded back to him.
Maggie.
“Easy, Sean.” Ethan smiled down at him, looking immensely relieved. “Your mom is going to be furious. She’s been sitting here all night, so of course you woke up the second she and Griswold stepped out for some air.”
“Maggie?”
The smile faded. “She’s gone, Sean.”
“Gone?”
“No, not like that!” Ethan looked stricken as he realized what he’d said. “No, she’s fine! Recovering just great, in better shape than you, in fact. No, she’s gone back to Chicago. Devon Rock had her flown to some fancy-ass hospital in the city. Good riddance, I say. They just held a big press conference this morning to say the wedding has been rescheduled for next week.”
Sean closed his eyes for a moment, breathing heavily. Maggie was gone. Back to Chicago with her actor-fiancé and producers and all the fame and money she apparently wanted so badly. Charges against him had been dropped, and she had made her choice to marry Devon Rock. Obviously, she didn’t want anything to do with Sean.
He was just going to have to forget the words she had whispered in his ear when she was afraid of dying in the fire.
Another thought occurred to him. “What-- what about Tim?”
“He’ll recover, thanks to you.”
“But I didn’t get him out of there.”
“No, but you went back in after him. Griswold says they never would have found him if you hadn’t dragged him part-way out of there. Honestly, I don’t know whether he’s going to give you a medal for bravery or kick your ass for stupidity.”
“Probably both.” Gingerly, Sean touched his own face and flinched.
His friend watched him closely. “Yeah, you’re not looking very pretty right now. Tim really did a number on your face. Doc says nothing’s broken, but you sure look like hell.”
“You should see the other guy.”
“I have. His picture is all over the news. Trust me, you look worse. Listen . . . this is as good a time as any. Griswold wanted me to talk to you,” Ethan said, all traces of laughter gone from his voice. “He got a call about that interview you went on last week. They’ve decided not to offer you the job because of all of the publicity around you right now. He’s been fighting for you, told them everything was a big misunderstanding, but they just can’t have you join the department at this time. He says you may still stand a shot in a bigger city, like Detroit.”
“I
see.”
“Not like you could have told your oldest and closest friend that you were thinking about moving away or anything.”
“I would have told you eventually.”
“Like you told me about Maggie?”
“What are you, my mother?”
“No, I’m a lot nicer than she is right now. The woman is pissed off at you.” Ethan grinned at him for a moment, but the troubled look quickly returned to his handsome features. “What’s up with all the secrets, dude? Why didn’t you talk to me about what was going on in your life? We’ve always been able to talk to each other.”
Sean shrugged, instantly regretting the movement.
“I’m worried about you. We’re all worried about you. Hell, Tara’s making you a big double batch of her famous peanut-butter no-bakes, and she doesn’t even make those for me unless we’ve have a really big fight.”
He smiled but said nothing. There really wasn’t anything he could say at that moment.
Ethan suddenly swore. “The worst part of all of this,” he said, “is that she’s just going to go on with her life without any thought about the damage she’s done.”
“You mean Maggie.”
“Maggie, Maeve, Morticia, whatever she’s calling herself this week. She’s destroyed your career, made you look like some kind of a maniac, and even your mom is . . . never mind.”
“My mom is what?”
“Nothing.”
“No, you can’t bring a guy’s mother into the conversation and then say ‘never mind’. What about my mom?”
“She’s worried about the business, Sean. People have been giving her a pretty rough time. Sure, all the charges against you have been dropped, but public opinion doesn’t care about the facts. People think you’re a kidnapper and a rapist, or a car thief at the very least. Who’s going to bring their car to a garage run by a man who may have helped steal a half-million-dollar sports car? She’s losing customers over this.”
Sean closed his eyes again. His mother had spent most of her adult life building up Jackson Auto Repair and keeping it running after her husband’s death, and she made it clear that the business was every bit as much her child as Sean was. He couldn’t bear the thought of her losing it because of his own involvement with Maggie.
“Of course, your mom may have other things going on right now,” Ethan was muttering.
“What do you mean?
His friend looked uncomfortable. “It’s been a long time since your dad died, right? And your mom is . . . well, she’s been single for a long time, hasn’t she? So you’d be okay if she started seeing someone.”
“My mom is seeing someone?”
“I . . . think so.”
“Who?
Now Ethan looked really uncomfortable. “Griswold sat in here with her all night long. They kept looking at each other, you know, like deep into each other’s eyes and not speaking. It was kind of creepy, actually – what are you doing?”
“Looking for a call button for the nurse.”
“Are you in pain? Why do you need a nurse?” Ethan was on his feet in an instant, reaching for the call button.
“I’m going to need some kind of pain meds if you’re going to keep talking about my mother dating my chief.”
“Shut up, Idiot.”
# # #
Maggie refused to be a part of the press conference, no matter how hard Lindsay tried to persuade her. She’d been horrified enough to learn about the pictures that had been “leaked” of Devon at her bedside while she slept, and was furious about the way she’d been yanked out of Beach Haven without a chance to speak to Sean again.
There really hadn’t been any reason for her to stay at the hospital. Lindsay arranged for Maggie to be brought directly to her office upon her release, and there was nothing for Maggie to do but read the stack of morning newspapers while she waited for the other woman to reappear when the conference was over.
There were plenty of pictures. The photos of her and Sean on the beach seemed to be the most popular, although there was a cringe-worthy side-by-side comparison of her in the wedding promo beside a shot of her being loaded into the ambulance at the barn fire. Someone had obviously done some digging to find the picture of Sean in his dress uniform; even after everything that had happened between them, Maggie felt her heart speed up at the sight of his smile.
He may have looked delicious in the picture, but the tabloid articles painted a far less attractive picture of the man. Some hinted at a plot between him and Maggie that involved stealing the car and swindling the reality show out of some sort of fortune, although the details were notably vague. The worst tabloids suggested that he was a crazed stalker who had abducted Maggie, plucking her from the church on her wedding day and hiding her out at a remote inn in the tiny resort town.
The office door opened. Lindsay Newman strode in, wearing a satisfied smile. “That went well,” she purred.
“I’m not marrying Devon Rock.”
“Of course you’re not.”
Maggie stared.
“In a few weeks, we’ll have a big, live reunion show with all of the contestants from Battle of the Brides. Devon is going to announce that he loves you enough to postpone the wedding indefinitely and give you time to recover from your ordeal. There will be lots of tears, of course, and you’ll be ever-so-grateful in front of the cameras. Then you’ll collect your check and go.”
“Then why did you just--”
“Because I won’t allow you to make Devon look bad. People are trying to turn your fireman into some kind of hero for running into a burning barn after you. We can’t have that.”
“Sean is a hero.”
Lindsay snorted. “He’s a moron. He bought everything you said, without ever questioning you. I have to say, you’re an excellent liar.”
“I just want to go home,” Maggie said quietly, trying to ignore the sudden warmth in her cheeks. “I want all of this to be over and done with so I can get on with my life. Do you need me to sign something, or is there some other reason you had me brought here?”
The producer shuffled through the stack of papers on her desk and made a point of ignoring Maggie. Just when she was about to stand up and walk out, the other woman found what she was looking for. “I’ve asked the show’s lawyers to draw up this agreement for you to sign,” she said. “It’s an addendum to the basic confidentiality agreement you already signed at the beginning of the competition. This states that you agree not to tell anyone about what you say you saw take place between Devon and me at the church, and that you will not resume your relationship with the fireman.”
“Why do you care whether I see him again or not?”
“Because, my dear, if you and the fireman get together, it will look as though you left Devon for him. It will make Devon look bad, and I won’t allow that.”
“What if I refuse to sign?”
“You won’t see a penny from this show.”
Maggie skimmed over the document. It was a lot of money, provided she signed the agreement and accepted the payment for her time on the show. It would be enough money to keep her comfortable for the next several months until she figured out her next career move.
It was a lot of money. All she had to do was sign the agreement, go along with the plan, and take the money.
All she had to do was sign the agreement.
Instead, she handed the pen and paper back to Lindsay and rose from her chair. “I think we’re done here,” she said firmly. “Do whatever you want, Lindsay. I don’t need your money that badly.”
“But what about your fireman?”
“What about him?”
Lindsay tsked. “It would be a shame if people suddenly started to remember seeing him hanging around while we were filming,” she said. “Our film crews might even be able to ‘discover’ random shots of him on set, watching you. The world already thinks he stalked and kidnaped you, so it wouldn’t take much to exploit that belief.”
“But -- but y
ou said the charges against him had all been dropped!”
“So I did. But there’s a big difference between actual charges and public opinion, Maggie. Whether he’s being charged or not, the public will never quite believe he is innocent. His family could even lose their little business.”
Maggie sank back into the chair.
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” she murmured. “He’s a good guy, Linds. He doesn’t deserve to be destroyed because of something I did. Don’t hurt him like that.”
Lindsay just smiled.
“If-if I sign, what happens to Sean?”
“If you sign this, I will issue a formal statement thanking him for all of his help taking care of you while you were lost and confused due to a head injury. We’ll sing his praises so loudly that he just might get some kind of a medal from that podunk little town. He really will be a goddamn hero by the time we’re done with him.”
Maggie bit her lip.
“If you really care about him, don’t you want what’s best for him?”
If you really care about him.
Maggie thought back to those moments during the fire, when she thought Tim was going to kill them both. She’d hit the rookie as hard as she could with that stupid board between her bound hands, wondering if she was already too late, if she could hit him hard enough to make him let go of Sean. And then, when Sean rolled to his feet and reached for her, she just knew. It hit her so hard that it took away what was left of her breath.
She loved him.
Now, sitting in Lindsay Newman’s office, she still knew it. She was in love with Sean Jackson. And the only way to protect him was to stay the hell away from him. Forever. She reached for the pen.
“Where do I sign?”
Chapter Eighteen
Life slowly returned to normal in Beach Haven. With Maggie gone and Sean refusing to answer any questions, the photographers and tabloid reporters soon left in search of new scandals, and Sean’s silence about Maggie quickly convinced others to stop asking questions. Business lagged a bit at Jackson Auto Repair, but he and Suzanne had faith that things would pick back up as the tourist season got into full swing.
