Page 14

Chapter Fourteen

Tristan

A ddy was no longer responding to me. My heart was racing so fast that I was sure I was either going to have a heart attack or a stroke. I had to fucking get to her before it was too late. The part of the building that she was trapped in was already burning high and hot.

“I’ll go through the back,” I informed Jesup. “The fire shouldn’t be too bad in there.”

He nodded, still speaking to the 9-1-1 operator on the phone. I rushed around the back of the building, Troy hot on my heels. I was terrified that something had happened to Adelaide. I could barely fucking think past the panic swirling in my head, creating every worst-case scenario.

I looked at Troy when we reached the back of the building. “If I’m not out in two minutes, something happened,” I told him.

Troy nodded. “Be careful, bro.”

I nodded, rushing in. The heat and the smoke were almost unbearable, but I pushed through, desperate to get to Addy. She was the only one who hadn’t been able to get out.

And then, I saw why.

There were burning boards all around her, blocking any escape route she could have taken. She was passed out on the floor, but I knew she wasn’t going to last much longer if I didn’t figure out how to get her the fuck out of there.

Whoever had set up that explosion had done it perfectly. It kept Adelaide from being saved.

And something in my gut told me that was the plan all along. Someone wanted to shut Addy up.

“Troy, I need help!” I roared.

I heard him behind me a moment later, and he cursed. “What’s the plan?” he asked me as he looked around the burning building, trying to find a way to her.

“We’ve got to get one of these boards out of the way,” I told him, the panic in my mind making it extremely hard to think straight. All I knew was that I fucking needed to get to her before it was too late.

He nodded in understanding.

Fucking hell, please let her be okay .

I couldn’t lose her.

“Help is here!” Jesup shouted into the burning building.

I was conflicted. I knew the firefighters could get her out, but I couldn’t bring myself to move, to leave her here by herself. She was unconscious and unable to help herself.

Troy grabbed my arm when he realized that I wasn’t making any plans to move. “I know you want to get her out, but you’ve got to let the firemen do what they can,” he told me. “We’re only going to be in their way. She’ll be alright, man. They have gear that we don’t, and they’re trained for this,” he tried assuring me.

But I wouldn’t feel better until she was back in my arms and out of danger.

Troy managed to get me out of the building, and a couple of minutes later, one of the firemen strode out, carrying Addy in his arms. I instantly rushed forward. “Give her here,” I commanded.

“Sir, she needs help?—”

“And she’ll get fucking help!” I roared at him, finally losing my fucking cool. “Give my fucking woman here so I can take her over to the fucking paramedic!”

Without another word, he handed her over to me, and I strode over to the ambulance, pressing kisses to her sooty forehead as I did so. Her breaths were too shallow, her chest rattling with every inhale, and I knew if she’d been in there any longer, she’d have died.

I almost lost her. That knowledge settled in my gut like battery acid.

“Sir, we have to take her to the hospital to get her proper help,” the paramedic informed me as he listened to her breathing. “I’m almost positive she has smoke poisoning, and she needs a steady stream of oxygen. You can ride with us, or you can follow in your own vehicle, but I need to get her moved.”

Without hesitation, I jumped into the back of the ambulance, sitting beside her head as the paramedic worked on hooking her to an oxygen mask. I knew Jesup could take care of everything in my absence. It was one of the reasons he was my VP. There was no way in fuck I was leaving her side unless a doctor ordered me to.

“Is there anything we should inform the hospital of?” the paramedic asked me as he began to check her vitals.

“She’s pregnant,” I informed him, my voice rough.

I brushed my fingertips over her cheek.

Please, just let her be okay.

I couldn’t lose her, too.