Page 185 of Burning Ember

Warner’s hold on me disappears and I turn barely in time to see him fall to his back. He blinks five times but keeps his eyes on the sky. Then his gaze moves to land on my face. Blood blooms from the shot he took to the right side of his chest. I only notice the gun he starts to aim at me, when Mav rips it from his hand.

“Doll.” My eyes lock with Mav’s, which are pools of gold. “Look away, Baby.”

I think about his command for seconds though it feels like hours. I look to Warner. I want it to be over. I’m sick of having this fear teeming inside me. I’m tired of running and not being able to go home. And above all, I need to know he can’t ever get to Sunny or Will again.

Shaking my head, I rasp, “I can’t. I need to see it. I need to know he’s really gone.”

It seems like forever before he nods once. He shifts his gaze to Warner, kneels down and growls low, “If she wasn’t watchin’ I’d make you suffer. Suffer until you were beggin’ for death.” He forces Warner’s arms out to his side, stands over him and aims. In a voice laced with promise, he says, “We’ll meet again in Hell, motherfucker. You can bet your ass you’ll pay then.” He pumps five holes into Warner. A shot in each of his hands, two in his chest, and one in his forehead.

A star.

The sign of both heaven and hell.

Warner’s body jolts with each bullet and blood blooms from each wound, and only when it’s finished, do I know I’m rid of him. That he’ll never again hurt me or the people I love.

A door opens and I hear shouts. A few seconds later, a small body slams into mine stealing the last of my strength. As I fall to my knees, I wrap my arms around Will who’s shaking and sobbing.

Then Mav’s there palming my face and whispering, “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t know. I didn’t know she was in there.” He kisses my temple and wraps his arms around both Will and me. In that moment, the blanket of comfort and safety comes back. Or at least it does until I remember why I can’t close my eyes just yet.

I gasp, “Oh, God. Sunny!” I raise my head and meet Mav’s eyes.

“Where?”

“In the SUV.” Mav stands and rushes to the SUV. He searches the back seat and then moves to the back of the vehicle. He leaves my sight and a few moments later, he reappears carrying my sister in his arms.

Smoke steps in front of him. He stares at my sister. “That’s my daughter,” he says gruffly. “My Sun. Isn’t that right, baby girl?” He holds his arms out and Mav gently slides her into his waiting arms.

“Y-you . . . didn’t c-come back . . . back for me.”

Hearing Sunny speak fills me with both hope and fear. Hope because she’s alive. But fear, because she’s struggling to speak simple words.

“I know, and I’ll regret it. Regret it every goddamn day of my life. But I’m here now, Sun. And I ain’t ever leavin’ you. You hear me?”

The warm blanket returns. Mav holds me once more. My saint and my sinner. My dark angel.

I close my eyes and I feel him softly brush my hair from my face and kiss the corner of my mouth. “Doll, open your eyes, baby. Open those pretty eyes and look at me.” His voice has an echo quality to it. “Ember. Please, baby.”

But no matter how hard I try, I can’t. I can’t meet his stare this time. The weight of the pain is too much, and my eyelids are just too heavy.

I fall into that deep river of warmth and let it surround me until it is the only thing I feel.

Losing someone we love shows us how much better we should have loved.

MAVERICK

Do you know what it feels like to have the woman you love wilt in your arms? To see the life leave her eyes, and feel it fade from her body?

It feels like the air you breathe no longer exists. Like the sun on your skin will never shine again because God himself is reaching down to pluck her from your strong and capable hands, silently telling you that the treasure he entrusted you with, you no longer deserve. And I can donothing. . . not a damn thing to make it right.

Those feelings sweep through me as Ember closes her eyes and her strength drains from her limbs. They latch around my throat as I hand her frail body over to the emergency room nurses and doctors to work on. They consume me as I pace in the waiting room, and they continue to hold me speechless for two weeks.

Because even when she blinks open her eyes, she’s still gone.

She won’t look at me, talk to me, and retreats further inside herself every time I touch her. She stares for hours on end at nothing, the wall, the window, or at her hands. And it kills me, because I have no idea how to get through to her.

All I know is that I’ll do anything to fix the damage I’ve done. No matter how long it takes or how hard the road is I have ahead of me. Somehow, I’ll find a way to rekindle the spark we share, because even though it lies dormant between us now, it’s still there, and I suspect it always will be.

That alone makes her silence bearable and gives me hope that we still have a future together. I believe in her. Now I just need her to believe in me again.